After Kasen sent Hagrid away, the office finally returned to peace again.
Under Kasen's training, Cedric gradually grew accustomed to the two mechanical arms behind him.
From basic instructions to precise, delicate operations, Kasen created an entire learning guide for him.
Everything was going good..
Until today.
Kasen groggily sat up from his bed. He glanced at the clock—he was already at least forty minutes late for first period.
But he wasn't worried.
Because today was Sunday.
He sat up, filled a chilled cup with whiskey, swished it around in his mouth, then spat it into a flowerpot beside him.
Then he grabbed a crystal ball from his desk and tapped it. Cedric arrived shortly after.
"I suddenly realized something," Kasen said.
"What is it?" Cedric asked, confused.
"That day when I attached your mechanical arms—remember? Harry had a bit of a mood then." As Kasen spoke, he reached into the corner by his desk and pulled out something that looked like a motived backpack.
"Yes, I felt it very clearly… Honestly, I even saw the shine in Harry's eyes," Cedric said.
"So should I go get Harry so you two can… explain things to each other?" Cedric asked cautiously.
"Of course not. The person who needs to stop Harry from getting jealous isn't me—it's you. The two of you are Hogwarts' champions. Forget the so-called trophy. All you need to understand is that no matter which one of you wins…"
"It's still an honor for Hogwarts. As long as you two don't fight each other," Kasen said, handing the backpack-like device to Cedric. "And this is the gift you'll give him."
"Professor, I think he might also have some… evil feelings toward you," Cedric said awkwardly.
"Incorrect. Harry's personality is far more heroic and righteous than you think." Kasen patted Cedric's shoulder.
"Then professor, don't you need to go too?" Cedric asked.
"Get going." Kasen suddenly pulled a stern face.
"Right away, professor!" Cedric fled at full speed.
Meanwhile, Harry was in the Forbidden Forest undergoing dual training from Lupin and Sirius.
They were mostly training large-scale destructive spells that had nothing to do with emotions.
This was thanks to the Black family's extensive collection of books.
Things like pure elemental spells, raw forcefield magic, or all sorts of obscure variants of Transfiguration—the kind of spells tucked away at the very bottom of the Black family's library, the kind no one ever bothered reading.
The Blacks, including Sirius, never cared for these high-difficulty, low-intensity spells. Why bother with complicated mechanism-based magic that required studying how they worked, when there were simpler and stronger Dark spells—clean, straightforward, big numbers?
But Harry couldn't use those. Harry was a clean, pure little wizard. If he was going to stay clean, he should stay completely clean. How could they let even a speck of darkness stain him?
So these two wizards—nearly draining their brains dry—rummaged through the Black family library until they unearthed this whole pile of bottom-drawer spells.
Just when the three of them were in the middle of a heated training session in the Forbidden Forest, Cedric came over carrying an alchemy pack that, strictly speaking, wasn't really that big.
It wasn't even truly a pack. It was more like an alchemical vest—just a bit bulky.
"Cedric? Why… are you here?" Harry asked, confused.
Cedric scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Professor Kasenhis said your mood hasn't been great these past few days."
"I'm fine. My mood's been perfectly good," Harry said stiffly, embarrassed after having his feelings exposed but still clinging to his teenage pride.
"Sadly, you couldn't fool Professor Kasen. He felt you weren't doing well, so he made a gift for you. He worked on it for days—hasn't slept at all," Cedric said, lifting the alchemy pack in his hand.
"This is the gift he made for you. No idea what it does."
Harry pressed his lips together, accepted the pack, and muttered, "Thanks."
"Mmhmm." Cedric smiled, said nothing more, and turned to leave.
He hadn't followed Kasen's original script at all. In fact, in this regard, Cedric had absolutely screwed Kasen over.
As the three watched Cedric walk away, they slowly began muttering among themselves.
"From what I know of Kasen, this pack? Him working several days without sleep? You can't fool idiots that hard," Sirius said sharply.
"Agreed," Lupin added.
"What we need right now isn't agreement—it's a different perspective," Sirius said dryly.
"Then from what I know of Cedric… he must've sensed your unusual mood, so he made this alchemy pack to give you. And he was probably embarrassed or something, so he claimed it was from Kasen."
"After all… does Kasen even have that kind of emotional intelligence?" Lupin said, spreading his hands casually.
"Oh… yeah… that's true," Harry and Sirius couldn't help nodding, both holding back laughter.
Emotional intelligence…
For someone like Kasen—whose emotional awareness rose and fell like random weather—it really wasn't a dependable metric.
Once the three reached that consensus, they immediately decided to test what the alchemy pack actually did.
With everyone fumbling and tugging in different directions to help Harry put it on, the pack finally clicked into place. Then Harry saw the silver mark on his wrist light up and project a shimmering screen.
"Wow… maybe it really was a gift from Professor Kasen…" Harry muttered softly.
"What?" Lupin asked, confused.
"Oh, nothing." Harry shook his head and casually tapped one of the buttons on the screen—well, one of two buttons total.
He pressed the blue one.
In the next instant, a rippling shield materialized around him.
Sirius casually flicked a burst of his own magic at the shield. It vanished into it like a stone falling into the sea—without the slightest ripple.
"What a strong shield… let me try again." Sirius, unconvinced, used the strongest offensive spell he knew from the counter-curse branch.
This time, the shield finally reacted. It only turned slightly red, but that alone showed how absurdly powerful it was.
Harry tapped the blue button again, dismissing the shield, then pressed the red button.
Whoosh…
"Where's Harry?" Sirius stared blankly up at the sky.
"Obviously… he flew."
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