Because of that decision he made more than ten years ago, their little group fell apart overnight.
One betrayed everyone, two were killed by Voldemort, and he himself was thrown into Azkaban. In the end only Lupin was left, living for over a decade in confusion and pain, not knowing the truth.
Sirius needed to do something that could give him at least a bit of comfort.
And Lupin—he'd finally found a proper, respectable job.
The Wizards who helped capture the Dementors also received a hefty reward.
All in all, everyone involved in the whole affair was very satisfied.
When the professors had been chatting idly before, they'd mentioned this too, and everyone agreed this was the most correct decision the Ministry of Magic had made in recent years.
Only very few people knew that the one who initiated the whole thing was Kael, and all the details had been drawn up by him alone—when he hadn't even graduated yet.
That alone was proof enough of his ability.
The Ministry of Magic had the nerve to let a student who hadn't graduated yet serve as a Senior Ministerial Assistant with real power—so why couldn't Hogwarts do the same?
Of course, all of this hinged on one premise: Kael himself had to be willing.
"Mm… I really do want to help you." Kael turned his head slightly. "But, you know, I'm not Dumbledore, I'm only here doing a guest appearance. If I start making decisions that make people feel something's off and they begin doubting whether 'Dumbledore' is real, that would be bad."
"What are you trying to say?" Professor McGonagall's heart sank.
"I mean… you'll have to work a bit harder for now. Let's just stick to the original procedure, how about it?" Kael said carefully.
Just now the encouragement in Professor McGonagall's eyes had almost poked him in the forehead; of course Kael knew what she meant.
Problem was, he really didn't want to take this job.
The only reason he'd agreed to take a post in the Ministry was because the Minister then was Fudge, who could be reckless. If Kael made some decision that went wrong, he could just dump all the responsibility onto Fudge in one go.
But that wouldn't work at Hogwarts. This was a school; every decision he made could affect the students. Kael certainly didn't want to shoulder that burden… at least it was still too early for him.
"Then why weren't you afraid of arousing suspicion at the start-of-term feast yesterday?" Professor McGonagall sat down opposite Kael and stared into his eyes.
"To be honest, I regretted it first thing this morning."
Kael shook his head. "Maybe it was because I was nervous. I wasn't thinking at all, I just blurted it out on impulse.
"Once is enough for this sort of thing. If it happens too often, it's bound to make people suspicious."
"You really don't plan to get yourself familiar with the Headmaster's work ahead of time?"
Professor McGonagall studied Kael for a while longer, then asked somewhat unwillingly, "This is a rare opportunity."
"I think the most important thing right now is to make everyone believe Professor Dumbledore is still here. It's fine to put the school matters on hold for a bit," Kael said.
"All right, I understand." Professor McGonagall stood up. "Then we'll do things the same way we did last year."
"Much appreciated, Professor." Kael jogged around the desk, attentively escorting Professor McGonagall out of the Headmaster's Office.
As the oak door closed again, a cold snort suddenly sounded behind him.
"Huh…"
"Headmaster Black, what's that supposed to mean?" Kael didn't even have to think; his gaze went straight to Phineas Black's portrait.
"Utterly foolish." Phineas was sitting on a rock, legs crossed in a leisurely pose. "What does that fellow Dumbledore take Hogwarts for, to actually come up with the idea of having someone use Polyjuice Potion to impersonate him?
"If it were only that, it would be one thing—but his judgment, tsk tsk…"
So… was he insulting Kael?
"Ha!" Kael raised an eyebrow slightly.
He'd been too kind. Back at No. 12 Grimmauld Place that day, he really should have taken down Phineas's portrait and made it into a perch for Fawkes.
"Don't say that. I think Albus's decision is perfectly fine." Headmaster Armando Dippet opened his eyes as well. "Right now, stabilizing everyone's emotions is what matters most."
"Yes, indeed."
"Quite right."
"It's a good arrangement."
The other Headmasters' portraits all nodded one after another.
"A bunch of idiots." Seeing no one backed him, Phineas let out a cold snort. "Haven't you thought about what happens if this gets exposed? Dumbledore's a fool, and you lot are even more foolish than he is."
"As long as we don't say anything, it won't be exposed." A big-nosed Wizard silently shuffled over, moving from his own portrait to the one beside Phineas. "But you're right to remind us—I think we should first eliminate one unstable factor."
"What do you mean?" Phineas shot to his feet.
"Simple. We need to remind a certain someone to keep his mouth shut."
"Damn it, get back to your own portrait!"
"Relax, once we're done, I'll naturally go back." The big-nosed Wizard suddenly swung his arm.
As if he'd sent out some kind of signal.
In an instant, no matter what the other Headmasters had been doing, the very next second they all rushed at Phineas as if they'd rehearsed it.
He didn't even have time to run before they'd surrounded him.
Then came a good old-fashioned beating—punches and kicks flying.
A slender Witch, unable to squeeze into the scrum, simply hopped into a knight's portrait, snatched his sword, and ran.
And that sword immediately became a coveted prize, fiercely fought over by the Headmasters.
Watching the scene, Kael rubbed his chin.
He didn't really know much about Magic Portraits, but presumably they were connected to Alchemy. If that was the case, he might be able to do some research—see if he could paint a few toys for the Headmasters to amuse themselves with.
Something like a Wolf Fang Club, or a little Mountain Axe… that sort of toy would be quite nice.
…