"That's basically it. Mm… Harley became Draco's dance partner," Kasenhis explained to Snape, who was standing in front of him practically radiating anger.
"Did you see it with your own eyes?" Snape asked.
"Sirius told me. Then I told you," Kasenhis replied.
"Uh… fine, then. They're children, after all. And Draco is a Slytherin," Snape sighed and muttered.
"What does this have to do with Slytherin? And do you have Parkinson's or something?" Kasenhis asked, completely baffled.
But he quickly stopped thinking about it. He'd never liked pointless mental self-consumption anyway.
"So what are you going to do now?" he asked.
"...Sleep?" Snape replied.
....
In the blink of an eye, Christmas arrived.
Logically speaking, Christmas should count as winter, but for some reason, Hogwarts always carried a faint scent of hormones.
For example, right at this very moment, Kasenhis was staring at the gift beside his bed…
Why would someone give him a bottle of whisky laced with a Love Potion?
He lifted the bottle of whisky out on its own and decisively chose to turn it into nourishment for the potted plant beside him.
"Perfect. Hogwarts really is too dangerous," Kasenhis let out a long breath, did a quick wash-up, and left his office.
The atmosphere in the Great Hall was completely different.
Every little witch and wizard below was chattering nonstop, like they all had some kind of elementary school spring-outing syndrome. He had no doubt that most of them hadn't slept at all the night before.
They were just too excited.
On the professors' table, on the other hand, things were much calmer.
After all, compared to other magical schools and workplaces, the proportion of happily settled families among Hogwarts staff was… frankly tragic.
This year, they'd finally managed to make a pair, and it was Dumbledore and Grindelwald, those two old geezers. Kasenhis honestly had no idea what kind of psychological trauma it would inflict on the other two visiting schools if those two started holding each other in the middle of the dance floor.
Anyway, Kasenhis himself planned to camp out in some tiny corner of the ball and make sure none of the food prepared by the house-elves went to waste.
Cherish food. Traditional virtue.
Soon enough, breakfast ended, and Kasenhis began his primary job… and his side job as well: teaching class.
But looking at the overly excited little wizards below, he knew full well that no matter how much knowledge he lectured at them, none of it would sink in.
So he decisively chose to slack off.
It wasn't like attending one more class would turn them into Nicolas Flamel. And what was wrong with skipping one lesson to rest?
Kasenhis led the students through the large and small corridors of Hogwarts, performing maintenance on various alchemical rails and even iron golems.
Since the little wizards clearly couldn't absorb any lessons at a time like this, they might as well do some work. No problem there.
Soon, evening arrived.
Hogwarts had already lit the chandeliers and activated its lighting charms throughout every room.
Kasenhis and Snape had long since moved two small stools into a corner of the Great Hall and sat down. Lupin and Sirius did the same, as did the dragon handlers from the dragon paddock—after all, there was no one their age here to dance with.
After all, it wouldn't do for an old ox to eat young grass, or a little horse to pull a big cart.
As for why there were two separate corners…
To be honest, did Snape look like the kind of person who'd be popular?
"About time, isn't it?" Snape suddenly asked.
Kasenhis pulled out a small clock from inside his robe. But instead of numbers, it had a disc showing the cycle of the sun and moon.
Emmmm...…
"Never mind," Snape said, the corner of his mouth twitching as he looked at the clock in Kasenhis's hand, which wasn't much bigger than a pocket watch.
"It should be soon, I guess… But Severus, have you always not been very fond of smiling?" Kasenhis said casually as he put the clock away.
"Don't you think that looks stupid?" Snape asked.
"Not really. I just think you're too gloomy. If you smiled a bit—… never mind, you'd better not smile," Kasenhis cut himself off halfway, because Snape was staring toward a figure at the entrance of the Great Hall.
And honestly, the smile on his face was not something most people would dare compliment.
Kasenhis looked over as well. Hogwarts' two champions arrived with their respective partners: Cedric with Cho Chang, and Harry—ehm.. Miss Harley with… Draco.
"Absolutely surreal," Kasenhis muttered, the corner of his mouth twitching with a faint smile.
Draco, holding Harley's hand, was also bobbing his head around oddly, scanning the hall as if searching for someone.
"Speaking of which, where's that scarhead? As a champion, shouldn't he be opening the dance? Did he chicken out at the last moment?"
Beside him, Harry took a deep breath. At a time like this, she had to stay calm. She couldn't possibly really act like a girlfriend and lean lightly against Draco's shoulder to whisper, "Are you an idiot, Draco?"
Even though he really was kind of an idiot. He still hadn't realized she'd been gender-swapped this whole time.
If only this could keep going—Harry Potter just happened to get hit by something and slept in his dorm for over a month, while Harley was merely an apprentice witch who'd come to Hogwarts to experience life.
Perfect.
And then… Professor McGonagall hurried over, practically gliding. "Harry—Ehm… Malfoy, never mind. How is the two of you doing with your dance practice? There mustn't be any mistakes when opening the ball."
Draco's face stiffened. "But isn't opening the dance the champions' responsibility?"
McGonagall gave the two of them a strange look and completely ignored Harry's pleading glance. "Isn't Harry a champion?"
"Huh?" Not just Draco—many other uninformed young witches and wizards let out equally baffled noises.
Originally, they had simply assumed that Harry's long absence from class was because he'd been accidentally injured or… well, actually, that excuse didn't really hold up.
In truth, most of the students had already suspected that Harry and this 'Harley' were the same person. Magic, after all—perfectly normal. No need to panic.
The only one truly panicking was Draco, the fool who'd forgotten his brain in favor of his eyes. Completely blinded by beauty, he charged straight in without thinking, not even stopping to consider where this suddenly-appearing Harry had come from before charging in headfirst.
A true Slytherin moment of charm—daring to think and daring to act. Which, honestly, sounded more like a Gryffindor trait.
_________
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