But unfortunately, for an ordinary person, it's still a bit difficult to completely erase the emotional ties that come from blood.
So Sirius opted for a more "subtle" approach—which could also be interpreted as taking advantage of Kasenhis' ignorance about the tangled web of pure-blood intermarriages.
"Narcissa Malfoy? Who's that? I don't think I've heard of her," Sirius asked with feigned casualness.
"Oh… what kind of person is she?" Sirius continued, trying to sound indifferent.
"What kind of person?" Kasenhis glanced up at the ceiling. At the time, he'd mainly been chatting with Lucius. Narcissa had just been sitting on the sofa with Draco, accompanying Lucius. As for her personality, he honestly hadn't noticed much.
But if he had to point out one trait—
"She seems pretty proud—probably because she subconsciously tilts her head up. I could see right into her nostrils."
Sirius nodded nonchalantly and quietly let out a breath.
If she could still hold onto that haughty attitude, then his sister was just as annoying as ever. On the bright side, it also meant she wasn't being mistreated in the Malfoy household.
Not that she could be, anyway. The Malfoys weren't like the old Black family with its five aunts and four uncles. These days, it was just the three of them. Besides, Narcissa and Lucius were childhood sweethearts, genuinely in love. Even if she wanted to be wronged, there was nowhere to start.
"By the way, how many days till Christmas?"
Sirius waved his hand to pull the calendar toward him. "Christmas, huh... it's tomorrow."
Kasenhis's expression froze awkwardly.
"Can an owl really make it from England to Northern Europe in one day?"
"Don't worry, they can. Owls are enchanted. Sometimes they instinctively use space magic they can't consciously control. Otherwise, how do you think the Daily Prophet gets delivered so punctually every day?" Sirius explained.
"Damn.. Alright then."
"By the way, why are you asking?"
"Oh, nothing much. Just that tomorrow, Karkaroff will most likely come to Hogwarts to rescue Peter Pettigrew. There may even be a whole bunch of Death Eaters tagging along. Congrats—you'll finally get to kill Peter tomorrow... though I'd recommend using your wand, not your mouth."
Kasenhis said it casually, but as he finished, it was like something suddenly dawned on him. He quickly began changing clothes again.
"Where are you going?" Sirius asked.
"If a bunch of Death Eaters are showing up tomorrow, don't you think it's a good idea to let the Headmaster know?"
With that, he disappeared straight into Dumbledore's office.
"...What did you want to tell me?" Dumbledore asked, putting away the Häagen-Dazs tub with only the bottom scrape left, back into his drawer.
"There's a high chance Karkaroff will come tomorrow," Kasenhis said.
Dumbledore nodded. "I know. Lucius Malfoy just sent me a letter."
"And the students? Do you have any protection plan for them?"
Dumbledore straightened his back proudly. "With my plan, they won't even set foot on Hogwarts grounds."
"And what fighting force does Hogwarts currently have?" Kasenhis asked.
"Professor McGonagall is at the Transfiguration Summit, Flitwick and Sprout have a few younger family members returning for the holidays, so they've gone home. Severus has also gone back. The other professors all have families to return to. As it stands, the only ones who can hold their own are you and me—just the two of us."
"That's enough... What about Lupin?"
"Oh... in the morning while you were out, over in the Muggle world, Severus hit Sirius with twenty-four Void Curses in a row. Lupin, being his neighbor, helped block a few of them and ended up in St. Mungo's... because Madam Pomfrey also went home for Christmas," Dumbledore explained.
"...Uh... wasn't Snape supposed to be visiting family? Wait—was it serious?"
"He just didn't want Sirius bothering him during the holidays. As for the injuries, not too bad. Severus still has a sense of proportion. Lupin will be fine after a few days once the curses fade."
After confirming that Lupin was fine, Kasenhis happily returned to his office. After all, things were bound to get lively at Hogwarts tomorrow, so he needed to hurry up and strengthen himself a bit.
He vaguely remembered having planned to make a more advanced Thaumaturgical Magic Book. All the other materials were easy to obtain—even the Totem of Undying he had already managed to replicate successfully.
The only thing left was something called a Wilderness Offering, which could only be dropped by a creature known as the Wilderness Chimera.
To summon a Wilderness Chimera, he needed to track down and kill various wilderness-type monsters across the world to gather the necessary drops.
Thankfully, he didn't need to tire himself out searching manually. He had previously crafted an oversized alchemical device that could locate anything across the globe.
He simply had to input a search tag—like Wilderness Hunter...
[Africa... Algeria... Western Desert...]
It even gave exact coordinate numbers.
"I really am a complete genius!"
Kasenhis muttered to himself as he rose into the air. Naturally, he didn't have the time to slowly buy a plane ticket and take a flight—he opted for a far more environmentally friendly and efficient method.
He flew there himself.
Strictly speaking, the distance between Britain and Algeria wasn't all that far, so by evening, Kasenhis still had time to take out a burrito he'd picked up earlier while passing through Spain and started munching on it.
And it was still only mid-afternoon...
Kasenhis slowly descended to the ground, eating the burrito in his hand while watching something that looked extremely deformed charging toward him. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭·𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢·𝗇𝗲𝘵
He casually waved his hand, and the thing shot into the sky before crashing back down and dying on impact.
Kasenhis picked up the Wilderness Horn it dropped. Strictly speaking, it couldn't truly be called a Wilderness Horn—it was just a substitute with similar attributes, and the Wilderness Hunter was likewise just a stand-in.
After all, where in nature was he supposed to find a perfectly cube-shaped monster?
Close enough was good enough.
Then a few more bizarre, deranged-looking things came charging at him. He killed them in the same fashion and stripped anything useful from their bodies.
Next came the classic fan-favorite phase: crafting.
He summoned that annoying Supreme Tree again, stacked three Wilderness Horns on it, then placed a lapis lazuli block on top, and gave it a firm slap.
Kasenhis weighed the Wilderness Summoning Tablet in his hand, satisfied, and tucked it into his pocket.
Then he quickly built an infusion altar right there in the wilderness and enchanted a massive batch of arcane stones. Afterward, he quickly hand-crafted a ritual brazier.
Finally, he destroyed the infusion altar—because leaving that kind of thing out in the wild could seriously mess up the world in uniquely magical ways.
"I'm such a good guy!"
(～￣▽￣)～Read 12 Chapters ahead: