Soon enough—well, not exactly soon, but eventually—after Kasenhis patched the last hole in the Great Hall, Grindelwald strolled in graciously, walked right past Professor McGonagall, and sat himself down at the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's seat.
Beside him, Snape lowered his eyes and began to ..meditate. Just as everyone believed, he had a fondness for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, and thus carried a faint, peculiar hostility toward every person who occupied it.
That hostility usually stayed hidden—unless the professor in question was utterly incompetent or had some personal grudge with him. The former included Quirrell and Lockhart, the latter, Lupin.
And the current Defense Against the Dark Arts professor sitting beside him was…
Snape: Eh…
Soon after, Dumbledore also entered, taking the central chair. Kasen glanced at Dumbledore, then at Grindelwald.
Tsk, tsk, tsk. Not even a flicker of eye contact… tsk, tsk, tsk.
A little while later, Professor McGonagall stepped out, then quickly returned leading in a large group of young wizards. Pulling out a roll of parchment, she cleared her throat. "The Sorting Ceremony…"
…
The Sorting Ceremony flew by quickly. And then Dumbledore, smiling so widely it looked like he could barely hold it in, rose to his feet.
"Ahem, first of all, welcome, young students, to your studies at Hogwarts. Secondly, I will now introduce to you this term's Defense Against the Dark Arts professor… Gellert Grindelwald!"
The Great Hall fell into an eerie silence. Half the professors at the staff table quietly gripped their wands. Professor McGonagall, standing in the center of the hall, stared blankly at Dumbledore as if to say, If you're under Imperius, blink twice.
At that moment, Dumbledore suddenly felt his eyes sting. He removed his glasses and rubbed at the corner of his eye—just as a blazing red spell reflected in everyone's pupils, shooting straight at the calm, composed Grindelwald sitting there.
"Oh… Hogwarts certainly has a unique way of welcoming its guests. Does everyone go through this stage?" Grindelwald merely flicked his hand, and Professor McGonagall's zero-frame-start spell was erased into nothingness.
"Ahem, Minerva, this is a misunderstanding." Dumbledore stood up like an old vegetable, playing the mediator, while on the other side Professor Sprout and Professor Flitwick were already edging backward.
They were no longer young and certainly couldn't charge in recklessly like Kasen or Snape could, so their plan was to pull back and serve as mobile artillery.
And through the minds of all the professors echoed a single thought:
Dumbledore has truly gone senile.
Dumbledore gave a helpless wave of his hand. A phoenix burst from the void, sweeping the professors and Grindelwald away together, leaving only Kasen behind at the empty staff table.
"Uh, Professor, did they just abandon you?" A Hufflepuff student ran over and asked.
"Not at all. I knew about this in advance. I was left here to keep order among you lot." Kasen shook his head as he spoke.
"Then Professor, how are you going to keep order?"
"By letting you eat. As long as your mouths and hands are busy, everything will be fine." Kasen said, immediately setting the example by using the tongs to grab a lamb chop for himself.
The young wizards quickly followed suit, eating along obediently.
Before long, Dumbledore returned with the group of professors—and Kasen noticed at once that Dumbledore's eye socket was bruised.
"Uh… what happened to you?" Kasen asked.
Dumbledore glanced back. "What about it?"
Kasen pointed at his own eye.
Dumbledore touched it. "Oh, that. I tripped and fell on the way."
"???"
"This last summer, I went to America. There, I met with the CEO of Ring Pops candy, called Bruce Wane. He suggested I visit Asia. There, I met a very powerful Tibetan monk who taught me a meditation technique for prolonging life. This swelling is just from accidentally holding my breath too long."
"You were only gone for not even ten minutes, and you still found time to meditate?" Kasen asked, completely dumbfounded.
"Yes, yes, don't ask." Dumbledore cut off the conversation and started eating.
Kasen shrugged. "Alright then."
The short feast came to an end. Grindelwald's appointment as professor was nothing short of shocking—even the other great event of the term, the Triwizard Tournament, couldn't stir up as much of a wave in comparison.
As the young wizards chattered away and left, the professors all cast strange looks at Grindelwald before retreating to their offices.
The students were the same. Though Grindelwald was very old, he was also a figure written into the history books—practically everyone recognized him.
That was exactly why they didn't dare gossip in the Great Hall. They planned to discuss it only after returning to their common rooms.
After all, badmouthing someone behind their back was impolite.
Better to do it where that person couldn't hear.
Grindelwald glanced at Kasen still shoveling food into his mouth and smiled faintly before leaving as well, ready to enjoy his first night as a professor.
The next day…
Kasen hadn't even woken up yet when Professor McGonagall shouted him down from upstairs.
"What happened?"
McGonagall waved her wand to clear his head a little and said, "Today is Grindelwald's first class. Fourth-years. I need a professor who can handle things alone to sit in."
"Why me?"
"Severus, Filius, and I all have classes. Right now, aside from Dumbledore, the only real combat power left at Hogwarts is you," Professor McGonagall explained.
"In truth, I don't have much combat power. I'm just an alchemy professor, not like the others with their overwhelming strength." Kasen protested as McGonagall dragged him along.
"I'm sorry, Kasen, but don't belittle yourself. I've heard that during the Quidditch World Cup you single-handedly dealt with over thirty Death Eaters. Your ability is beyond question. Right now Hogwarts students are at risk of being corrupted—it's time for you to keep an eye on Grindelwald… just for this one class!" McGonagall said earnestly.
"Just this one class?" Kasen asked.
"Just this one!"
"Alright." Kasen sighed, went back upstairs, changed into fresh clothes, and came down again.
Ten minutes later, he was seated at the very back of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, eating his breakfast while watching the students sit stiffly upright at their desks.
Soon, Grindelwald arrived.
"You should all already know my name. I will be your Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for the next year… perhaps longer."
"Now, I want to ask the very first question of my teaching career."
"To everyone here in the classroom—"
"Who is Dumbledore's favorite student?"
_________
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