"Hmm…" the Sorting Hat murmured softly on Kaisen's head.
The next moment, before it could speak, Dumbledore pulled it off.
He placed the Hat back on the cabinet and looked at Kaisen, his eyes full of amusement.
"...I need a damn explanation! The Sorting Hat and I were getting along perfectly. What right do you, a monster, have to object?"
"Because you're not ready yet. Trust me, it'll be soon... But let's get back to the main topic. Are you asking if the sound Harry heard could have been from the Basilisk, or from Tom controlling the Basilisk?"
Kaisen subtly glanced at the Sorting Hat, which had been placed back on the cabinet, determined to take it away when Dumbledore wasn't around.
However, he didn't show any of his thoughts on his face, but instead said seriously, "magic is so vast; such situations should be possible, right?"
Dumbledore nodded, "Indeed, like Parseltongue."
"...Can hear snakes speak?"
"More than that, you can also speak the language of snakes and command them."
"Harry should be quite happy to hear that. No matter what, it's a special skill," Kaisen said.
"Not necessarily. Parseltongue is one of Salazar Slytherin's hallmarks. Since him, every Parselmouth recorded has been an incredibly powerful Dark Wizard. You'd best make it clear to him and tell him to guard his secret well."
"Isn't that just pure survivor bias? It's a pity no one in the Wizarding world teaches mathematics." Kaisen watched Dumbledore stand up and pouted, then stood up himself.
"I'm going to check the corridor Harry mentioned. Perhaps I can find their hiding place through the pipes. If you haven't taken enough, you can take a few more bottles," Dumbledore said, pointing to the cabinet in the corner.
"Really?"
"Of course, as long as you accept me pre-paying your salary."
"Uh..."
Back in the office, Kaisen stretched widely. Harry was leisurely leaning on the sofa, eating potato chips, while poor Neville was hunched over, a Runes dictionary in his left hand and an enchantment book in his right.
At this moment, he was pondering why this damned Runes character had to be used in such a way.
Is this a bug?
Does Professor Kaisen's work also have bugs?
Impossible, it must be his own mistake. He needed to re-examine it.
If Neville's internal monologue had been known to Kaisen... it wouldn't have mattered much, as strictly speaking, it wasn't a bug, but a feature.
It's reproducible, so how isn't it a feature?
"Professor, how did your inquiry go?" Harry asked.
"Oh, it's nothing major. The voice you heard should be the Basilisk's. In other words, you are a Parselmouth."
Neville, who was checking calculations on a blank parchment, lost control of his hand, almost drawing his quill from the parchment onto Harry's face.
He looked up at a bewildered Harry and a relaxed Kaisen.
"This isn't right, is it? Harry is a Parselmouth?"
Kaisen nodded, "Hmm, at least according to what Harry said, yes."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked, a bit confused.
"From ancient times until now, almost all recorded Parselmouths have been famous Dark Wizards from Slytherin, from Salazar Slytherin to the most recent Lord Voldemort, all of them," Kaisen said, while pressing Neville, who had looked up, back down.
Students should act like students, right?
At the same time, he mischievously scared Harry.
Harry, meanwhile, looked as if his spine had been pulled out, slumping limply onto the sofa, even the sparkle gone from his eyes.
"I'm a Dark Wizard... I'm a Dark Wizard... I'm a Dark Wizard... No wonder the Sorting Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin... I'm a Dark Wizard..."
"Who said you're a Dark Wizard? It's just that those other famous Dark Wizards happen to have the same trait as you," Kaisen said, strangely patting Harry's head.
"I'm a Dark Wizard... I'm a Dark Wizard... I'm a Dark Wizard... Waaah... I don't want to be a Dark Wizard... I'm a Dark Wizard..."
"Does he do this in the dormitory too?" Kaisen asked Neville.
"Actually, only when he's with you... Um... I think it might be like a child acting spoiled towards their father. Ron always interacts with his father like this at home," Neville recalled and explained.
"I really thank you, Harry, you made me, a pure-hearted young man... Um... A male Professor, become a father."
He had graduated from Manchester five years ago...
Hmm... Strictly speaking, he was no longer a young man.
"Professor, what should I do?" Harry asked Kaisen, as if suddenly turning on.
"Don't tell anyone about this except your closest friends. Your close friends will constantly comfort you and do everything they can to make you feel better, but if you tell others, it will be used as a reason to attack you."
Harry nodded vaguely, "But Professor, why does your expression look so strange?"
Kaisen waved his hand, "It's nothing. Didn't you say earlier that the Sorting Hat wanted to put you in Slytherin? It just reminded me of an annoying thing."
"What?" Harry and Neville, who should have been diligently solving problems, simultaneously looked up.
"Just now, I was in the Headmaster's office, wanting the Sorting Hat to sort me, but Dumbledore interrupted... That old busybody... That old geezer!"
"Never mind that, did you remember everything I told you?" Kaisen asked Harry.
Harry nodded, though it was unclear if he actually remembered anything. In any case, when he left, he forgot to ask Neville to ride brooms out, perhaps his head was buzzing and he hadn't fully processed it yet.
"Professor... come here and look at these two symbols. I just can't shake the feeling that they're wrong," Neville finally returned to normal after Harry left and asked Kaisen.
"Yes, Neville, this is the meaning of why I made you study. There's a big difference between the Runes in the dictionary and the Runes used in practice," Kaisen said, sitting on the sofa, holding a magazine, and speaking with intonation.
"Then this essay..."
"The essay is still ten feet or five thousand words. If it's well-written, there's a chance it could be published in the European Alchemy Journal."
"Professor..."
"Hmm?"
"I kinda want to die..."
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
[The last two chapters somehow seem to be stuck in review, please wait]
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