HP: Alchemy? Nah, It's Crafting

"I think you're being a bit too extreme," Snape said gloomily.

Kasenhis gave him a strange look.

"Should this be your line?"

"Breaking into someone else's school to assassinate their headmaster should not really be your line either," Snape replied with a dry chuckle.

"Well, I couldn't exactly let a former Death Eater come to Hogwarts and pose a threat to the little wizards, could I?" Kasenhis shrugged matter-of-factly.

Among the five people present, the only actual former Death Eater... was Snape, who felt as if a dagger had been driven straight into his chest.

"Why's your face so weird?" Kasenhis asked suspiciously.

Snape just shook his head. "It's nothing. I've got things to do," he said, turning to leave the corridor.

As soon as Kasenhis saw Snape walk off, he suddenly remembered that this was a corridor. And pretty much after every class, little wizards would walk through this very hallway and knock on his office door to come in and hang out for a bit.

The foot traffic was basically on par with the Great Hall during dinner—utterly terrifying.

"Alright, gentlemen, unless you want the little wizards to know that Sirius Black — the guy who supposedly endangers students, was the right-hand man of the Dark Lord and travels with Dementors — is currently standing right here in this corridor, I suggest you all go inside now."

Kasenhis opened his office door and waved them in quickly. After shutting the door, he even pressed the button that signaled the office was "unoccupied" before returning to his work area, where he and Dumbledore watched Lupin and Sirius huffing and puffing as they drifted their boat across the room.

…...

"Wait a minute, didn't I set up a restriction spell?" Kasenhis looked confusedly at Dumbledore, who had just teleported multiple times inside his office. The latter simply gave a faint smile.

"Which one are you talking about? That thing was constantly releasing unstable magical pulses, looked dangerous. I turned it off last time I visited," Dumbledore said, pointing to the Ender Pearl in the distance—which was supposed to be continuously emitting spatial restrictions, but had clearly been deactivated for quite a while.

"When exactly?" Kasenhis asked calmly.

"Around three days ago."

Kasenhis muttered, counting on his fingers. "Three days ago…"

Then he spotted Sirius getting off the boat and walking over.

"Three days ago, someone broke into my house and you didn't notice?! What kind of security are you running here?!"

The suddenly-scolded Sirius looked totally baffled and pointed to himself. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Ahem, ahem, not important, not important. Let's get back to our chat. We've been grilling you this whole time—now it's your turn to ask us something," Dumbledore said awkwardly, trying to smooth things over.

"Ask you guys something… Remus, how did you end up becoming a professor at Hogwarts?" Sirius turned to Lupin.

"Do you think I'm not qualified enough to be a professor?" Lupin shot back.

"No, I mean with your condition—how do you deal with full moons now? Still the Shrieking Shack?"

Lupin's eyes shifted slightly. At that moment, his Gryffindor soul was burning bright—and very soon, he came up with an idea.

"Next week is this month's full moon. Come with me then, and you'll see for yourself."

Sirius agreed almost without thinking. After all, he'd done this kind of thing countless times back in school. "Sure, no problem."

"Then it's settled. I'll come find you here when the time comes."

Sirius nodded, then turned to Dumbledore. "Earlier, I heard from Kasenhis and Harry that Harry wasn't living very well at his aunt's place?"

"That's true," Dumbledore nodded calmly.

"Those two... Muggles, I knew it'd be like that." Sirius cursed through gritted teeth.

"So now you regret it, don't you? You thought locking yourself up in Azkaban was some kind of penance, but you never considered how Harry was living... After all, you're his godfather. Emotionally speaking, you're his last living family," Dumbledore said quietly.

"...I asked Hagrid back then. He said you would take care of everything," Sirius replied awkwardly.

"Being taken care of and living well aren't the same thing. I'm not particularly well-versed in that chapter of history, but the Longbottoms were basically destroyed overnight by the remnants of the Death Eaters. For Harry to have survived safely to this day is already quite a good outcome."

Dumbledore looked at Kasenhis in mild surprise—he had just, for once, said something that actually sounded like he was speaking on Dumbledore's behalf.

That was rare. Normally, Kasenhis was either cosplaying as Snape or flinging around sarcastic jabs.

Sometimes verbal attacks weren't enough—he liked to throw in some physical aggression too.

But today's Kasenhis… who knows what medicine he'd taken wrong.

He actually said something human in Dumbledore's defense.

A joyous occasion!

A rare day indeed!

A day worthy of rewarding oneself with a nice fruit pie!

"Alright, strictly speaking, he is an orphan. He's made it to this point, but... still, I just can't accept it. His parents gave up so much for the wizarding world—for you, even—and yet their only child, the one who defeated Voldemort, Harry Potter, ended up living like that?" Sirius's words hitched halfway through as he suddenly whipped around, hitting Dumbledore with a full-frontal emotional ambush.

Dumbledore only sighed. "Not all Death Eaters had the backbone—or the guts—you did to go to Azkaban. Most of them escaped punishment through all sorts of means. I was terrified that one of those who slipped through the cracks would reach their claws toward Harry."

"Did you set up any protections for Harry?" Sirius followed up.

"I did."

"What kind of setup?"

"If you're talking about the protection on Harry himself, there's no need for anything else—he already carries the protective magic Lily left on him. But if you mean protections I put in place... well, his neighbor. Mrs. Figg," Dumbledore explained.

"Figg… Why haven't I heard that name before?"

Kasenhis coughed lightly, deciding it was time to stab Dumbledore in the back.

Speaking up for him earlier was just him being a neutral party. After all, Dumbledore had at least found a foster family for what would've been an orphaned Harry Potter—whatever that family was like, they did raise him.

But this time, Kasenhis decided it was also important to defend Sirius's right to know… well, okay, he just wanted to watch the drama unfold.

"Ahem—Mrs. Figg is a Squib."

"W-What..?"

As soon as Kasenhis finished speaking, Sirius turned to Dumbledore with a look like he had been utterly betrayed, as if to say: You trusted Harry's protection on her?!

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