It was yet another brand-new day!
Draco pushed open the door to the Alchemy office, and even though the corners of his mouth couldn't stop twitching upward as he rowed his little boat in, he still pressed his lips into a serious line.
"There's no one else here. You can laugh out loud if you want," Kasenhis said as he slowly approached Draco.
"I will next ti," Draco nodded, then took out sothing from his pocket that looked like a very finely crafted envelope.
"Professor, I'd like to invite you to spend Christmas at Malfoy Manor."
The mont Kasenhis heard Draco's invitation, he imdiately began shaking his head wildly.
"Nope, nope, not happening. It's not for any particular reason—it's just that I'm really not used to spending Christmas at soone else's house. Sa goes for eating or sleeping over at soone else's place."
"Would you mind telling why, Professor?" Draco asked.
"It's just a personality thing. Nothing else. I'm soone with a very strong sense of personal boundaries," Kasenhis explained, then quickly added in his heart: [...around people I don't know well.]
"Oh... Then do you have any plans for the holidays?" Draco continued.
"Nope."
"My father would like to invite you for a ho visit and maybe discuss alchemy a bit. Though I suspect he probably has so kind of fancy alchemy device he wants to ask you to help repair," Draco said.
Life is sotis just that casual—technically it's still the sa thing, but just phrased differently.
In Kasenhis's mind, he naturally reclassified "spending the holiday" as "working."
Compared to spending Christmas with the Malfoy family during the holidays, a ho visit to the Malfoys during the break to do a bit of maintenance on an alchemy device sounded much more acceptable.
After all, he just needed to do what needed doing, say what needed saying—didn't even have to stay for a al.
At that pace, he could probably still get ho by noon and order a Christmas pizza.
Perfect.
"So, professor, should I go with you when the ti cos?" Draco asked.
"When the ti cos, just arrange a ti with Mr. Lucius and let know. I'll head over myself," Kasenhis replied.
"Alright, then."
Watching Draco leave on his little boat, Kasenhis took a sip of water from his cup. From the start of the sester until now, it had already been a while, and he had observed quite a few of the Slytherin students.
So of them, probably because their family backgrounds weren't particularly powerful, had a good family atmosphere and didn't seem all that different from regular little wizards.
On the other hand, there were the students from those large, pure-blood Slytherin-lineage families...
Those wizarding families basically had nothing to do with love. The purpose of having children was purely to continue the family's honor and wealth.
And the young wizards who grew up in those families naturally beca molded into beings centered around the family. Of course, that's not necessarily wrong.
It's all equivalent exchange—these young wizards enjoyed privileged conditions from childhood, so it's only fair they shoulder the family's responsibilities.
But when it gets to the point where even their personalities are completely erased and they beco so kind of flesh-and-blood AI... well, that's a bit extre.
Still, he was just a professor.
He couldn't go around interfering with their family affairs recklessly, right?
He could only, from a reasonable distance, identify those wizarding families that weren't too extre, and those students who wanted to grasp their own fates—and give them a little nudge from behind.
How far they could go after that was up to them.
After all, he couldn't possibly do sothing extre in the na of so-called freedom for just one young wizard.
Like, say, hypothetically, a person is the heir of a great family, his parents are loving, and he grew up wrapped in sweetness and affection. The only requirent his parents had for him was to learn proper knowledge and etiquette, and maybe find a suitable match to marry—ideally soone he liked, but if not, then at least they could live politely together after marriage.
And then along cos so lunatic professor, loudly preaching things like "free will" and "love can't be bought with money," and then uses supre magical power to destroy his family's entire fortune—and oh, also turns his parents into Inferi.
At that point, the lunatic professor says, "Though you've lost your wealth, your power, your reputation and status, your socially-appropriate wife has left you, and your parents have beco undead... none of that matters anymore, because now—you're free! Go chase your true passions!"
Then the lunatic professor patted his butt and walked away, leaving him sitting alone on the ruins with a completely dumbfounded expression.
And what would he be thinking at that mont?
"You're insane!"
Draco still had not reached the end of this massive office in his boat, while Kasenhis, after completing a drama script in his mind, took another sip of water.
Draco, that kid, although a bit of a brat, was acting perfectly normal for his age. Just a teenager being a teenager.
And he wasn't really a bad kid. A little nudge from Kasenhis would be enough—that's all he could do anyway.
After finishing his thoughts on Draco, his mind drifted to Lucius Malfoy. He hadn't interacted with Lucius many tis. Of the few encounters they'd had—aside from the very first one—the atmosphere had never been particularly friendly.
So, he figured he'd better set up a few defenses, just in case Lucius Malfoy planned so kind of ambush dinner.
I an, people have gone to banquets with explosives under their robes, haven't they?
How's that any different from showing up to a eting without a gun or walking into a rainy night without a knife?
Just going there to eat?
Even though he seriously doubted Lucius had the strength to trap him there, Kasenhis still believed in being prepared.
It's called... ritual.
...
Unknowingly, Kasenhis had taught a few more classes, and rlin in the sky had apparently dug out so 0D white lace stockings from the bottom of his wardrobe—because snow started falling from the sky.
A steady stream of young wizards made their way from Hogwarts to Hogsade Station, and Draco had already sent over the date for the ho visit.
Besides that, Sirius cheerfully plopped a big sack of Galleons onto Kasenhis's desk.
"Remus went to visit relatives this Christmas, so I could only co to you," Sirius said with a grin.
"Just say what you want," Kasenhis replied.
"I want to buy Harry a broomstick. I've already picked one—it's this Firebolt," Sirius said, pulling out a flyer and placing it on the desk.
"Oh... max speed of 250 miles per hour... kinda la. I already gave Harry a better one," Kasenhis explained.
"What? How fast is yours?"
"About double that of the Firebolt—over 700 miles per hour. Breaks the sound barrier," Kasenhis said proudly.
"...Sound barrier? What's that?" Sirius asked, thoroughly confused.
"...Oh, right. I forgot you're illiterate."
"..."
_________
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