Kasenhis picked up the ring and casually set it on the table.
"Hmm..?" Just as Sirius and Lupin were looking confused, Dumbledore pulled out his wand and cast a duplication charm.
In the next moment, Kasenhis handed the original ring to Lupin, placed the duplicate ring into the teleportation device's box, and flipped the switch.
Finally, he dropped Lupin's Ender Pearl into a glass of sparkling water. "All Done!"
"Eh? That's it? That simple?" Lupin asked in surprise.
"Ah, alchemy, you know how it is." Kasenhis said proudly.
Dumbledore: "..."
"Oh… this is my first time doing spy work or undercover missions, so I don't have much experience." Lupin said with a bit of relief.
"If you really don't know what to do…" Dumbledore began, but then realized this little office wasn't exactly private—Kasenhis and Lupin were trustworthy enough, but Sirius…
So he changed his words: "I'll send you a few books later."
"Thanks, Professor." Lupin smiled.
After that, everyone put on their coats. Dumbledore sighed. "I don't really like holidays. It may sound selfish, but the Headmaster's office gets a little too lonely."
"Uh… you could come over with us. The new house I bought is pretty big," Sirius suggested.
"Bullshit! Don't listen to his nonsense—he's already got company for this holiday." Kasenhis grabbed Sirius and Lupin and blinked them straight to Hagrid's hut with Ender Teleport.
...
At that moment, Hagrid was in the yard setting up a grill, with a literal mountain of meat stacked beside it.
"Oh, Hagrid, you're having a barbecue?" Sirius asked.
"Obviously. And look—he even set out chairs for us, didn't he?" Kasenhis replied, already back from his office with two bottles of good wine the instant he saw the grill.
"...You're a bit too fast, don't you think?" Lupin said, startled.
"It's fine, isn't it? What's the problem?" Kasenhis strolled into Hagrid's hut again, came back out with some cups, poured the wine, and plopped down on a little stool like a kid waiting for dinner.
"...I'll help Hagrid then. Sirius, can you—" Lupin started to say, only to see Sirius also shamelessly sitting on a little stool.
"What? Is there a problem?" Sirius asked blankly.
"...Nothing. You two just sit and wait to eat." Lupin clearly wasn't going to ruin a good moment by talking trash. Soon, he and Hagrid got all the meat marinated... about three seconds later—
"Sirius, get over here and work! And you too, Kasenhis—are you a child?!" Lupin shouted at them, clearly venting his frustration—not just about the barbecue, but also about the prank they'd pulled on him earlier.
"No need! Hahah~ In fact, Remus, you don't have to help either—I can handle all of this myself! You lot just sit there and eat!" Hagrid said heartily.
"I knew it, Hagrid—you're still the same Hagrid as before!" Sirius said excitedly.
"Ehm.. yes.." Hagrid, however, looked just a tiny bit awkward…
After all, he had said before that he was going to tear Sirius in half or something like that… but judging from Sirius's current attitude, he clearly hadn't heard it. That was… actually kind of a good thing.
Elsewhere: "Tsk, tsk, Hogwarts… morals in decline… the old virtues, respect for the old, care for the young…" Dumbledore muttered as he stood on the Astronomy Tower, watching the distant glow from Hagrid's hut.
"Because they didn't invite you?" Grindelwald appeared behind him at some point, speaking softly.
"It's like Muggle children playing together—the parents naturally can't join in." Dumbledore said.
"Then it's fine. I booked a restaurant. Let's go." Grindelwald shrugged.
"All right."
......
Late at night, Privet Drive…
"Sirius… can you not get drunk like that! You're a person right now, not Bruce!" Kasenhis said, watching the stumbling, howling Sirius who was shouting nonsense.
Woof! Woof!
Kasenhis turned helplessly to Lupin, nearly breaking down. "And you, Lupin… if you're going to invite a dog to dance, at least remember to cast the Animagus Reversal first! Don't let ghosts stroll into the house without you even noticing!"
"...Professor, do you really have to walk on the fence railing?" Neville asked, staring at Kasenhis who was strutting like a catwalk model along the garden fence.
"This is different…" Kasenhis shook his head. "I'm just an ordinary alchemy professor. I don't have the kind of great power you lot have, walking through the dark void with your bare bodies…"
Neville sighed. "Fine. All three of them are drunk."
"Yeah, and if each of them downed two cephalosporins right now, Voldemort would laugh so hard his nose would fall off," Hermione muttered.
Soon, they finally reached Sirius's house. The young wizards struggled with all their strength to shove the three grown men into bed before they could breathe a sigh of relief.
"We really should've just listened to Hagrid and stayed the night at Hogwarts."
"Yeah… if Professor Kasenhis hadn't said there was a giant black ship above Hogwarts that snatches wizards to burn as firewood…"
......
The next day...
"So... how did we get back last night?" Kasenhis asked as he sat at the table, eating mechanically while frowning.
"Oh... Professor, you used Ender Teleportation to bring us back... though you landed us on the neighbor's roof. They thought they were being invaded by aliens..." Hermione said dryly.
"Ah, that explains why my whole body hurts." Kasenhis grimaced.
"Professor, you're in pain because after falling off the roof you hit the ground hard, and then you said the ground was the dark void."
"What..? I can't possibly do something so d—"
"Yeah, so you decided to spend the whole night walking along the wooden fence instead. You'd take a few steps, fall down, say the void hurt you, climb back up, then fall again... up and down, over and over..." Hermione continued her roast.
Meanwhile, Lupin and Sirius were grinning strangely. Hermione noticed, frowned, and said, "You two stop laughing too. Now let me slowly tell the rest..."
_________
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