Kasenhis stared blankly at Dumbledore, utterly confused.
Dumbledore winked at him. "I said we weren't ready yet—not that you couldn't be Sorted."
"You explicitly said I wasn't ready," Kasenhis muttered under his breath.
"Same same, but different. Now, hurry up." Dumbledore grinned, urging him forward.
With no other choice, Kasenhis reluctantly walked toward Professor McGonagall. As he sat down, he whispered, "You really should have consulted me first—this is embarrassing."
"Consider it a surprise."
McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat firmly on his head.
The entire Great Hall erupted into thunderous applause, so loud it was almost frightening.
Professor Sprout stood up gracefully from the staff table, held her head high, and proudly walked down toward Kasenhis.
She then bowed twice—once to the students of all four houses and once to her fellow professors at the staff table.
Kasenhis, feeling incredibly awkward, stood up, placed the Sorting Hat back on the chair, and prepared to leave. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝⁂𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖⁂𝕟𝕖𝕥
After all, this was practically public humiliation—But Professor Sprout stopped him.
Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out an intricately crafted brooch made of obsidian and gold.
"Come on, try it on."
Kasenhis took the brooch and pinned it to his chest.
"As long as it looks good, that's all that matters," Professor Sprout nodded approvingly before turning to face the Hufflepuff table.
"Welcome your new housemate."
Kasenhis suddenly had a bad feeling.
The next second, the entire Hufflepuff table rushed toward him.
Kasenhis was about to run, deciding not to use teleportation but his own legs instead.
Then, he was grabbed from both sides by two familiar redheads.
"Wait, aren't you guys Gryffindors?" he asked in confusion.
The twins exchanged a glance, then shrugged.
"Doesn't matter—tonight, we're all Hufflepuffs."
As soon as the twins said that, it was as if the other three houses had discovered a whole new world. The only difference was that Gryffindor and Ravenclaw joined in purely for the fun of it.
Slytherin, on the other hand, only had the students who took Alchemy rushing toward Kasenhis.
"Professor, do you know what's about to happen?" Cedric suddenly grabbed Kasenhis by the shoulder and asked in a low voice.
"…You guys aren't going to toss me into the air like after a Quidditch victory, are you?"
Cedric flashed a bright smile, showing all eight teeth. "Heh heh."
"…You wouldn't do that, right?"
Seated at the professors' table, Snape clutched a mithril and emerald brooch in his hand before, looking somewhat awkward, he quietly slipped it back into his pocket.
Meanwhile, Professor McGonagall held a gold and ruby brooch in her left hand and a lapis lazuli and silver brooch in her right, with bronze accents decorating it.
"Severus, I recall you also made a brooch," she remarked.
Snape shook his head. "No, you must be mistaken."
"Oh, come on, Severus. After all these years, you're still this stubborn?" Professor Flitwick commented sharply before using a spell to snatch the brooch from Snape's pocket and hand it to McGonagall.
"If Kasenhis finds out he's missing a Slytherin brooch, he might think you have something against him. I'll just deliver this to him myself," McGonagall said, holding the Slytherin brooch.
"Do as you please." Snape buried himself in his meal.
…For the first time since becoming a professor, he was actually enjoying his food.
"Students, put your poor Professor Kasenhis down—you still have a feast to enjoy," McGonagall called out.
After some time, Kasenhis' feet finally touched the ground again.
"Thanks a lot, guys... Someone help me stand properly..."
"Seriously, I actually have a bit of a fear of heights—well, only when I'm not flying. Once I'm on a broomstick, it's totally fine."
Kasenhis barely finished speaking before a Hufflepuff student rushed over, taking two quick steps at a time to support him back to the professors' table.
Professor McGonagall transfigured three small, delicate gift boxes, placed the respective brooches inside, and handed them to Kasenhis.
"Much appreciated! Can I open them now?"
Kasenhis unwrapped all three boxes, and soon, his chest was adorned with three more brooches.
"I've collected all four house brooches now. How come I don't have a Hogwarts crest brooch?" He muttered near Dumbledore's ear.
"I'm just an old man over a hundred years old—I don't know a damn thing about alchemy, right? Humph! Where would I even find the time to make you a Hogwarts brooch?" Dumbledore replied with his eyes half-closed.
"Uh… You really don't have to repeat that so many times. Also, Nicolas Flamel said the same thing."
"Which is why I gave you his Philosopher's Stone. Originally, I planned to return it to Flamel and publicly claim I destroyed it," Dumbledore explained.
"Alright, alright…" Kasenhis shrugged.
"But I really didn't expect you to be afraid of heights," Professor Flitwick, who had been listening nearby, poked his head over and asked.
"Something like that. My fear of heights is quite specific—I'm completely fine when I prepare for it, like when I ride a broomstick. But if I'm suddenly suspended midair without warning, my heart rate skyrockets to an alarming speed."
"This is simply the body's natural response to mortal danger. Strictly speaking, it doesn't qualify as acrophobia."
Snape, who had been eating gracefully, took a moment to comment.
"Yeah, maybe," Kasenhis replied, resting his chin on one hand.
Too bad, after all this time, he still hadn't managed to get an Elytra.
But… if it's about flight…
For once, he fell into serious thought.
The thaumcraft mod he was currently studying didn't actually contain much traditional magic—just the usual fire, lightning, and light-based spells.
What he really relied on were elemental forces.
For example, once he fully understood the fire element, he could directly cast fire magic. Likewise, mastering the electric element allowed him to use lightning-based spells.
So, if he were to combine the wind element with motion, and synthesize a flight element…
"…Hmm… This might actually work!"
(～￣▽￣)～Read two weeks ahead: