At noon the next day, Kasenhis finally emerged from his room.
After sleeping through the afternoon, getting up to eat, and then diving straight back into bed until now, he had to admit...
Compared to sleep, all other joys in life were insignificant.
It was just that the Dumbledore who had originally been embedded in the wall outside his room and used as a decoration had somehow been pried out and stolen by some sticky-fingered thief.
"Honestly, this world has become too cruel. They won't even leave a middle-aged, single male professor his last remaining ornament. Does this magical world have any hope left? Does it even have a tomorrow?"
Kasenhis complained indignantly, before a breeze from the window at the end of the corridor woke him up a little.
Not because he had suddenly realised how absurd it was that he'd used Dumbledore embedded in a wall as a decoration, but because the future of the magical world had always been half-dead anyway.
There was no helping it. Voldemort, then Fudge, and after Fudge retired from the ecosystem, Voldemort came back again. Three eras, two people, dark, light, dark, tormenting magical Britain for an entire age. If the British magical world still had hope after that, that would be truly strange.
"Forget it, forget it. Better not talk politics."
Kasenhis sighed, took a deep breath, and headed downstairs. He found a few scattered souls with no jobs, no children, no worries, and no money, such as Lupin. Of course, there were rich ones too, like Sirius. The two were sitting in a corner, whispering about some secret or another.
Kasenhis quickly walked over, and both men waved when they saw him.
"What are you talking about?" he asked.
"I was trying to teach Sirius a concept," Lupin said in a perfectly ordinary tone. "The Killing Curse is actually a very timid spell. So if Sirius ever encounters a wild Killing Curse somewhere, he can suddenly jump out in front of it and scare it half to death."
"And Sirius? What were you saying just now?" Kasenhis continued.
"I was saying that if this old sod Remus keeps treating me like an idiot and keeps spewing this abstract nonsense, I'm going to fold him into a regular sixteen-faced polyhedron, shove him into a toilet in front of Tonks, and repeatedly mash the flush button," Sirius replied without the slightest politeness.
"Tonks' toilet?" As soon as Lupin uttered those words, both men immediately went pale. Their eyes widened, mouths slightly agape, and air hissed uncontrollably from their nostrils.
"Did you just say something incredibly perverted?"
The two exchanged a glance, then synchronously grabbed Lupin by the shoulders from both sides and sent him flying out of the Black residence through the window.
"Remus is far too yellow-hearted. I refuse to associate with him!" Sirius said disdainfully, pulling out his wand and repairing the shattered window Lupin had crashed through.
"Same here, same here." Kasenhis nodded in wholehearted agreement.
Just then, they heard a series of light but hurried footsteps behind them.
"Oh, Kasenhis, there you are. I just went to your room looking for you and couldn't find you!"
Kasenhis turned around and saw Dumbledore standing there, positively glowing with vitality. With how red and healthy he looked, if it weren't for the possibility that yesterday's kick had hit him so hard that he was now enjoying a final burst of life before death...
Then the only explanation was that Kasenhis had kicked him so well yesterday that he'd enjoyed it.
"Ugh, disgusting." Kasenhis immediately put on a pained expression.
"Hm? Is something dirty on me?" Dumbledore looked down at his retired old man's outfit in confusion. It was perfectly clean, with nothing wrong at all.
"By the way, Dumbledore, why have you been wearing Muggle clothes so often lately?" Sirius asked curiously.
"Because there's a Muggle square right outside this house. Dressing like this makes it much easier to go out for a stroll, doesn't it?" Dumbledore replied casually, before turning back to Kasenhis. "What did you mean by 'disgusting' just now?"
"Oh, nothing. Just pretend I had a strange dream. What did you need?" Kasenhis changed the subject.
"I need you to deliver the appointment letter for the Defence Against the Dark Arts position to Severus. Important things like this aren't particularly safe to send by owl these days, as you know."
Dumbledore took an elegant envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Kasenhis.
"Alright. Is his address on here?" Kasenhis looked at the envelope, which listed a place called Spinner's End.
"During the holidays, whenever he isn't away on holiday, attending meetings, or going to gatherings, he'll be there quietly conducting magical experiments or waiting for Hogwarts to reopen," Dumbledore explained.
"Holidays, meetings, gatherings. He's been living quite the carefree life these past few years," Sirius said with a roll of his eyes.
"I don't think so. I can't sense a trace of relaxation about him. In fact, no matter what he's doing, he always gives me the impression that he's on the clock," Kasenhis defended Snape.
"Fine, not that it concerns me. Are you coming back for dinner tonight?" Sirius shrugged.
"No idea. We'll see whether Severus feels like entertaining me."
With that, Kasenhis looked at the address in his hand and Ender Teleported away.
Naturally, he didn't teleport directly to Spinner's End. After all, he had no idea where Spinner's End actually was.
Instead, he chose to visit a taxi company. He found a taxi parked nearby, climbed inside, paid his fare, and comfortably closed his eyes.
...
"We're here, sir. That'll be seventy-two pounds."
After the driver woke Kasenhis up and, upon receiving the money, promptly dumped him off and sped away...
"Hm? Severus lives in a place like this? With his salary, he really shouldn't."
Standing in mud so thick it felt as though it would permanently glue itself to the soles of his shoes, Kasenhis sighed helplessly.
Then he trudged forward with a squelch accompanying every step. Each footfall sent mud splattering everywhere, with remarkable precision landing on his legs and backside.
"I think I finally understand why Severus is always wearing that great cloak of his."
He let out a resigned sigh.
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