Kasenhis reached out and took the locket, but this one wasn't a Horcrux. He casually opened it and saw a piece of yellowed parchment inside. He quickly shut the locket again.
"This should be Regulus's final letter," he said as he placed the locket into Sirius's hand.
"Oh… thank you…" Sirius carefully tucked the locket into his most hidden and closest inner pocket. Then he wiped his face hard. "I need to find a way to recover my brother's body. You all go back first."
Dumbledore shook his head. "That's not a good idea."
Sirius paused for a moment. "Maybe you could help me. Thank you."
"Maybe a summoning charm," Lupin said as he pulled out his wand and waved it, saying, "Regulus Black!"
Unfortunately, nothing happened.
"Looks like… he… mm… maybe he's already lost his name. As he is now, he's just an ordinary Inferius," Sirius said in a tone so awful it could scrape paint off a wall.
"I'm sorry."
"No, it's not your fault."
Meanwhile, Kasenhis had already begun taking action. He pulled out the Thaumaturgy spellbook and started editing it—crafting something like a simple large-area interactive attraction spell.
After editing the spell, Kasenhis cast it directly at the nearest Inferius. As the magic struck the creature, the interactive spell took effect, instantly linking all the Inferi together.
They began floating out of the water, drawn to each other yet repelled at the same time, maintaining a relatively stable formation.
Sirius spotted his brother almost immediately—Regulus, who had always been reserved, never one to smile more than faintly and never one to lose composure—was now snarling like a beast, claws bared, lunging toward them.
Following Sirius's gaze, Kasenhis waved his hand and subtly restricted Regulus's movements, keeping them restrained but not aggressively so, and gently pulled him toward Sirius.
"Is that him?"
Sirius nodded as he looked at the familiar face flying toward them. "Yes."
With confirmation, Kasenhis immediately cast the same Singularity Magic he'd used before. In an instant, a massive number of Inferi were sucked into the air, clumped together into a giant ball of flesh.
Then—boom!—flames erupted violently from the inside out, blazing in every direction. When it was all over, a final boom sounded, and oily, pitch-black residue floated evenly across the entire lake's surface.
"Fuu~~ Let's go back," Kasenhis asked Sirius.
"..Yeah."
The group Shadow-Ported to the backyard of Number 12, Grimmauld Place. Sirius turned back to look at the old house. "Suddenly… I don't feel like selling it anymore…"
"There is honor here—radiant, unshakable honor—and it belongs to Regulus."
Soon, the four younger ones came down from their rooms. With a beautifully crafted coffin Dumbledore had somehow acquired, a short funeral was held in the backyard of the Black residence.
During dinner, Sirius held Regulus's will in his hand but couldn't bring himself to read it aloud. In the end, Dumbledore took it and read it out for everyone.
"He was a hero. After all these years, he's still better than me. But this time, I admit it willingly." Sirius rubbed at the corners of his eyes, discreetly wiping away the tears, then put on his usual carefree grin and turned to everyone.
"To him." Dumbledore was the first to raise his glass.
The others all followed, lifting their glasses silently. No one said the name, but everyone knew who they were toasting—Regulus.
After dinner, everyone started preparing to return home.
Sirius decided to sleep and head out for Privet Drive first thing in the morning. He planned to buy a house before the end-of-term holidays and have Kasenhis help make it look awesome.
While Kasenhis was tidying up his things, Lupin and Sirius started whispering to each other. After a moment, Lupin waved over at him.
"Yo! Kasen, do you have any adventure plans this holiday?"
Kasenhis scratched his head. "Technically, I shouldn't. But based on past experience—even if I don't go looking for trouble, trouble will definitely come looking for me."
"Well, if you do have any adventure plans this year, can you take us with you? Us three, and maybe Harry too?" Sirius asked.
"Oh, so you're planning to ditch us, Harry?" Ron said, mock-wounded.
"That's an adventure, not a school outing. Just bringing Harry along is already pushing it. And even if they did want to bring us, would our parents even agree?" Hermione explained.
"…Oh… yeah, that's true," Ron and Neville said, disappointed.
Even so, Kasenhis, watching everything clearly from not far away, had no intention of taking them. Strictly speaking, he didn't even want to bring Harry. But with two "dad-moms" tagging along this time, they could handle taking care of Harry.
Hmm… rounding it out, there was practically no loss in team composition—if he did decide to go adventuring this term.
Kasenhis cheerfully agreed.
As for Harry's safety, he wasn't all that worried. If he, Lupin, and Sirius together couldn't keep Harry safe, then what business did they have calling themselves wizards, let alone Hogwarts professors?
Might as well go find a streetlamp and hang themselves up as decorative charms.
"Then it's settled. If there's a plan, you've gotta let us know," Lupin said, patting Kasenhis on the shoulder.
"Of course… Besides, after my upgrade, Ender Teleportation isn't the same as Apparition—it doesn't require physical contact," Kasenhis added.
"Oh, force of habit," Lupin said awkwardly as he quickly moved his hand away.
Dumbledore also strolled over with a cheerful smile, holding a bag of self-gathering desserts in his hand.
"Don't forget to take your Headmaster with you. He hasn't boarded the train yet."
"Oh, if you didn't show up soon, I was about to think you were planning to spend the night here," Kasenhis snarked—well, half-snarked. As for the other half... he decided not to say it out loud...
After returning to the office, the young wizards all went back to their dormitories, leaving only Kasenhis and Dumbledore behind…
"Why haven't you left yet?"
"Oh? So eager to kick a poor old man out?" Dumbledore replied with a pitiful expression.
"Then spit it out already! I'm so sleepy right now!"
Dumbledore couldn't help but blush: "Let's just say… I need you to do something unethical."
Kasenhis immediately sat up straighter. "Suddenly, I'm not sleepy anymore."
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