"What's with him?" Lupin asked, puzzled.
"I didn't really understand before, but ever since Sirius told me about what happened during your school days, I totally get it now," Kasenhis replied flatly.
"Yeah, poor Professor Snape had to hang out with his best friend and the person he hated the most at the same time—it made him so angry he cried and..."
Before Lupin could finish, Kasenhis interrupted him with a speechless look: "...There's a reason he hates you."
"Alright, I'll go check on Harry and the others. They probably got the letter too." Lupin put down his utensils and walked toward the Gryffindor table.
"Mhm, I'll go check on Severus." Kasenhis stood up and headed toward the dungeons.
A short while later, the two of them returned to their seats.
"How'd it go?" Kasenhis asked.
"This weekend's going to be fun."
Lupin responded with an instinctive bit of excitement, completely forgetting that, technically speaking, he and Sirius were still in a cold war.
"Hello, Professor." Harry and the others showed up right on time, just as Kasenhis, who had just woken up, came downstairs.
Because of the heavy foot traffic, he hadn't locked his office in a long time. Sometimes the little wizards would come by to take a stroll, make out, go on dates, or bring Kasenhis breakfast.
As for the more delicate magical machinery and alchemical constructs, they were all securely enclosed behind thick glass walls.
Since he had decided to open up his office as a hangout spot for students, he had to take appropriate precautions. It wasn't that he was afraid of anything going wrong with the alchemical devices—after all, to him, those big guys weren't high-tech at all, more like building blocks.
But to the little wizards, they were potentially dangerous. Better to keep them sealed up—it didn't affect their use anyway.
"Mm... where's Lupin? Still not awake?" Kasenhis yawned as he slumped onto the couch.
"He's still eating. Here's your breakfast." Neville handed over a bulging brown paper bag.
"Thanks. Oh, and while you're at it, give me a cleaning charm—my shampoo's out and the new one hasn't arrived yet," Kasenhis added casually.
"No problem, Professor." Neville pulled out his wand, muttered a quick incantation, and a streak of magical light flew toward Kasenhis.
The icy-cool sensation made him shudder, and he immediately felt more awake. He let out a refreshed sigh.
"Magic really does change your life. So convenient."
Soon, Lupin finally finished eating, got dressed, and came over.
"Is there anything else? If not, let's get going!"
Kasenhis shook his head. "We can go now." As he spoke, his domain enveloped the group, and with an Ender teleport, they suddenly reappeared at...
"Uh... weren't we going to Grimmauld Place? This… doesn't look right?" Hermione glanced out the window, a bit confused.
"Well, actually, I don't know where Grimmauld Place is. I've never been there before, so I can't teleport directly... Plus..." Kasenhis looked toward the sofa he used to sit on and noticed someone else's butt imprint on it—and strange sounds coming from the bathroom…
"Sherlock!" He suddenly charged into the bathroom on the first floor, and not long after, dragged out a man wrapped in a towel. The sight left Lupin and the young wizards stunned.
Hermione thought for a moment and decided to turn around, but then quickly figured it was unnecessary and turned back.
"I had no choice. John brought his girlfriend home. I had nowhere else to go," Sherlock said helplessly, sitting down on the sofa to explain.
"Oh, so I should be thanking you for gracing my house with your presence? Harry, hit him with a Drying Charm!" Kasenhis said furiously.
Harry nodded, pulled out his wand, and cast the spell. As the warm magic landed on him, Sherlock touched his now-dry hair. "Wow, amazing magic."
The moment he said that, the four young wizards all widened their eyes—because they had just realized that this strange neighbor who appeared in their professor's home was actually a Muggle.
Meanwhile, Lupin still stood calmly watching the farce… quite entertaining.
Just then, after experiencing the wonder of magic, Sherlock looked at Kasenhis again. "You said 'a Drying Charm'—that sounds like a general term rather than the actual spell name. And you had this young man cast it instead of doing it yourself… Oh, I see, there's a significant difference between your magic and theirs, isn't there?" Follow current novᴇls on 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝※𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖※𝕟𝕖𝕥
"If you're that bored, go investigate why my trash bin is always full instead of staring me up and down," Kasenhis said, speechless.
"Oh, that's easy. Sometimes John saves up too much trash and throws it into your bin," Sherlock replied.
"You paused just now… so that trash was actually yours, wasn't it?"
"It was a joint contribution."
"I should've installed a formaldehyde package when I renovated for you two," Kasenhis said with a deadpan look.
"Wouldn't bother us. We'd just open the windows for ventilation."
"Fine... I remember you don't have a key to my house," Kasenhis said helplessly, sitting down, determined to get to the bottom of things and figure out just how many shameless things the detective in front of him had done.
"You asked John to take care of your money tree," Sherlock replied succinctly.
"So you took the opportunity to make a copy of the key?"
"No, I directly changed the lock and then put the new key on your keychain."
"Ahem, Kasen, there are kids present!" Lupin quickly stepped in to stop Kasenhis from cursing.
"And by the way, your jacuzzi's not bad..."
Kasenhis once again froze with an expression that was a mix of indignation and anger. "So the public bathrooms downstairs weren't good enough for you? What kind of damn bathtub is worth breaking and entering just to try it out—"
"Because I discovered the jacuzzi's hidden functions. Come on, I'll show you." As he spoke, Sherlock suddenly perked up, grabbed Kasenhis, and dragged him upstairs.
Everyone on the first floor just heard some cheerful chatter, followed by silence, then the sound of someone fleeing at full speed—and a terrifying thud that shook the entire house.
Wrapped in a towel, Sherlock bolted downstairs at top speed, not even bothering to put on clothes as he dashed straight toward the house next door.
Right behind him, Kasenhis stormed down the stairs, holding the entire bathtub in one hand like it weighed nothing. The moment he got outside, he took aim—and hurled the bathtub with a mighty throw.
Hearing the sound of something slicing through the air, Sherlock glanced back, did a quick mental calculation, and decisively dove to the ground—only to be completely and tightly covered by the bathtub.
"Oh... motherfu—!" came Sherlock's muffled voice from inside the tub.
The young wizards who had witnessed the whole thing all swallowed nervously.
"Professor... you're basically Superman!"
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