Dumbledore's liquor cabinet was extremely well-stocked—so well-stocked that even after Kasen had been persistently sneaking bottles for five years, there was still an astonishing amount left.
Dumbledore casually picked out a bottle as fuel for their livers.
Kasen, meanwhile, leaned back on the sofa, sipping his drink absentmindedly while waiting for Dumbledore to speak.
After all, in the five years he had been teaching at Hogwarts, the number of times Dumbledore had taken the initiative to invite him for a drink could be counted on one hand.
So today, there was a good chance Dumbledore had something troublesome, difficult, or downright life-threatening that he needed help with.
Mm… better drink a few more bottles.
"First of all, I have to thank you, Kasen. You clearly said you wouldn't add a snack pipeline to my office, but you still did." Dumbledore pressed a button on his desk, and a delicate silver faucet popped out from the corner. All kinds of snacks began pouring out of it.
"…How about you just say what you want, Dumbledore? When you start off by praising me like this without getting to the point… honestly, it makes me nervous," Kasen said awkwardly.
"What are you thinking?" Dumbledore rolled his eyes and picked up the decanter to pour Kasen another drink.
"You're not going to make me pluck fur from Professor McGonagall's lion, are you…" Kasen looked at Dumbledore, whose behavior was becoming increasingly strange, and felt like something terrifying was about to happen to him.
"How about I return the drink? I brew my own—pure additives, zero natural ingredients," Kasen said as he started to stand, only for Dumbledore to circle behind him and press a hand onto his shoulder.
"What's the rush? You haven't even heard what it is yet," Dumbledore said leisurely.
"Alright, go ahead, sir," Kasen said helplessly as he sat back down and drained his glass in one gulp.
"Arthur Weasley was injured," Dumbledore said quietly.
"Huh? When did that happen?" Kasen asked.
"This morning… though of course, it's no longer a problem now," Dumbledore replied.
"What happened? What exactly happened?"
"The Order of the Phoenix and the Ministry were jointly guarding the prophecy orbs in the Department of Mysteries. Since Tom can be said to be obsessed with such things, we all believed that the prophecy orbs there were something he would definitely try to obtain…"
"However, during a shift change, the defenses at the Department of Mysteries were weakened. Arthur was bitten by a giant snake belonging to Voldemort. Fortunately, the Aurors who arrived later quickly drove it off, and Arthur was sent to St Mungo's… of course, he's safe now," Dumbledore explained.
"Mm, so what do you need me to do?" Kasen asked.
"I'm only informing you in advance. As a double agent, Severus's main area of activity is still within Hogwarts, so he cannot provide us with effective intelligence regarding Tom."
"At times like this, I find that we have another, better way of obtaining information—one that doesn't rely on Severus's observations, but comes directly from Tom's own mind."
"I need you to destroy the magic within Harry's beacon amulet that protects his mind," Dumbledore said.
"That's too dangerous." Kasen shook his head.
"Of course I'm not going to do this without preparation. I'll teach Harry Occlumency. That way, Harry can use it to block Tom's intrusion, while we can use Harry as a channel to obtain information from Voldemort in reverse," Dumbledore explained.
"But doesn't Voldemort know Occlumency too? Wouldn't that make this pointless?" Kasen didn't quite understand.
"However, Voldemort's soul fragment is, after all, parasitizing Harry's mind. From time to time, information from Voldemort will still flicker out through that fragment."
"This way, we can achieve reverse surveillance. Why not?" Dumbledore explained.
"Who's going to teach him Occlumency?" Kasen asked.
"I've decided to have Severus do it. What do you think?" Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.
"You're even more arrogant than I am. Do you think this is some kind of strategy game, where everyone except you is just an NPC?"
"You think putting two people with completely different traits together will automatically create a 'chemical reaction'? What's far more likely is that Severus and Harry will spend the entire time arguing in the office, arguing non-stop, and in the end both of them snap, and the whole teaching plan collapses," Kasen said, rolling his eyes.
"Then who do you think should teach him?" Dumbledore sighed. Once again, he had been scolded by Kasen like a child.
"Can't you find someone Harry likes, and who also likes Harry? Like Lupin, Sirius, or just grab any random Auror—it'd still be better than having Severus teach him," Kasen said, leaning back in his chair.
"Why don't you just have me do it myself?" Dumbledore said, somewhat speechless.
"Then just do it yourself, if you've got the time… honestly, you look pretty free right now. I mean, you spent an entire morning studying that gargoyle downstairs," Kasen said animatedly.
"Alright." After saying that, Dumbledore sighed again and made a rather sharp remark, "As it happens, I don't have much to do lately. In that case, this arduous task will be handed over to Gellert—he's even more idle than I am."
"But before that, you need to remove the magic inside Harry's amulet. The practice of Occlumency and the constant intrusion of memories complement each other."
"And the magic in Harry's amulet will prevent him from making further progress," Dumbledore explained leisurely.
"Mm-hmm, I'll do it." Kasen nodded and got up to leave.
"Oh, and don't tell Harry too much. The moment the magic in his amulet fails, Voldemort may start continuously extracting information from Harry's mind. Until he learns Occlumency, don't tell him anything," Dumbledore added.
"Not even an explanation?" Kasen asked.
"Not even an explanation!"
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