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"Actually, I can handle this myself..."
"Uh... maybe an orange."
Hermione sat on a small stool, quickly peeling an orange. She broke off a segment and held it up to Kasenhis, who was lying on the bed. With an air of reluctant dignity, he opened his mouth and ate it.
The office and the bedroom were connected, and the door was left open. This allowed Kasenhis to have a clear view of what the other young wizards were doing.
For instance, Harry, holding a wand in his left hand and a cloth in his right, was diligently cleaning the office with a blend of magic and manual labor.
Neville, on the other hand, was busy washing the endless stream of fruits being brought in. Washing apples and pears made sense, but Neville was also scrubbing oranges and bananas—fruits with peels.
When asked why, Neville explained that he was afraid that unwashed fruit skins might contaminate the clean ones.
Yes... a very conscientious child... very conscientious indeed.
Meanwhile, Ron was outside the office door, moving basket after basket of fruit into the room. He carefully noted down the names and cards attached to each fruit basket before stacking them neatly on the desk.
In a corner, a small blond wizard was heating a potion bottle in a water bath. Using a mercury thermometer, he meticulously tried to maintain the temperature at exactly 37.5 degrees Celsius.
"Honestly, I'm not even injured. There's no need to go this far," Kasenhis said dryly, lying stiffly on the bed under the binding effects of what he could only describe as a "stern gaze" spell.
"Professor Snape said—"
"I suspect Severus is retaliating for the Christmas gift I gave him... though I can tell he's actually using it. Have you noticed his hair lately?"
Hermione nodded knowingly. "I did notice that since coming back from the Christmas holiday, Professor Snape's hair has looked much better."
"Exactly, that's my masterpiece. Would you like to learn? I can teach you—one-on-one, just you. None of the other students would get this treatment," Kasenhis said, sounding like the Big Bad Wolf lying in Grandma's bed, his tone full of temptation.
"…Well... as tempting as that offer is, I must decline," Hermione said with some difficulty.
"Oh... aren't you supposed to be in class? Don't tell me you skipped lessons just to look after me. Let me make it clear, I won't appreciate any behavior that involves skipping class."
"Our next class is in half an hour."
"Then go. Believe me, I'll be just fine here by myself. There's no chance I'll try to get out of bed, trip over my slippers, get thrown over my shoulder, smack my head on the floor, and end up face-to-face with Death himself," Kasenhis said, his face lighting up with exaggerated confidence.
"Our dorm mates are bringing our books for us, so no need to worry about that, Professor."
"But surely you should be heading to the classroom, right?"
"Yes, but that will be in twenty minutes."
Though those twenty minutes felt excruciatingly long, they did bring Kasenhis a small measure of comfort.
Kasenhis stared blankly at the ceiling.
When he had counted up to fifteen minutes and twenty-six seconds, Draco quickly moved across the room, carrying a potion precisely heated to 38.9°C.
This temperature was the result of Draco's meticulous calculations. Taking into account the heat conduction of the glass bottle, the specific heat capacity of the liquid, and his walking speed, the potion would reach a perfect 37.5°C by the time he arrived.
"Just leave it here. You can go," Kasenhis said.
Draco's face fell immediately, but surprisingly, he didn't respond with his usual snide remarks. He simply placed the potion on the bedside table and left without a word.
"I really must thank Severus and the entire eighteen-person radius of his family tree. Though he's responsible for putting me in this pitiful state of being watched by you all, his potion-making skills are… Wait, what's that garlic smell? Did he chop up Quirrell and mix him in?"
After much pleading and bargaining, Kasenhis finally convinced Hermione to let him sit up slightly and extend an arm out from under the covers to drink the potion himself.
But the moment the potion touched his tongue, its bizarre flavor contorted his face into an expression of pure agony.
"This morning's potion tasted like orange soda..." Kasenhis muttered, lying back on the bed in despair. He felt as though the sweat from his body had already etched a human-shaped outline into the sheets, while the blanket continued to smother him tightly.
To drink a potion warmer than room temperature under these conditions—it made him feel like he didn't need to live this long after all.
But as time passed, Kasenhis grew increasingly doubtful.
There was no way Hermione and her little group of first-year brats could come up with a spell capable of forcing him to stay obediently in bed.
Not even Dumbledore could keep him under the covers—how could they?
Finally, in Kasenhis's perception of time, twenty minutes crawled to completion. However, Hermione and the others didn't leave. Instead, they opened the office door, and a line of people began orderly filing into the room.
"What's going on?" Kasenhis asked, frowning.
Hermione clasped her hands behind her back and said sternly, "To ensure that you stay in bed and recover properly, we've invited some reinforcements."
The first young witch entered. It was Angelina from Gryffindor's third year.
Now, this was a problem. This kid was way too diligent. The same person who sent him a pair of thick gloves for Christmas, along with a reminder to wear warm clothes in the winter? If she stayed, she'd probably insist on piling two or three extra blankets on him for his "health."
For his own safety, Kasenhis shook his head furiously, a look of terror on his face. Seeing this, Angelina looked a bit disappointed but turned and left. ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝·𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖·𝕟𝕖𝕥
The next person to enter was a Hufflepuff student, Cedric Diggory, a third-year but handpicked by Kasenhis as the fourth-year Alchemy class representative.
Now, this one was a solid choice.
He was upright, adaptable, and most importantly, physically strong enough to understand Kasenhis's current predicament of feeling like a furnace. Cedric's presence offered a glimmer of hope.
Of course, none of that was true.
Kasenhis had another reason for wanting Cedric to stay—he was the type of kid you could reason with.
Maybe, just maybe, with the right words, Kasenhis could convince him to sneakily let him stretch his legs or get some fresh air?
Kasenhis managed a relieved smile. "Cedric, you stay. Yes, just you. The rest of them can go. They've got better things to do—take a walk outside or get some rest in bed. Anything's better than hanging around here."
Cedric nodded and stood quietly in the corner of the bedroom.
But Hermione simply waved the next person in.
"Uh... what's going on?" Kasenhis asked, thoroughly baffled.
"Professor, given your personality, do you really think one person is enough?"
(づ￣ 3￣)づRead Advance Chapters ahead:
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