Kasen shamefully voiced the question that came from the depths of his soul as well.
"That's exactly what we're curious about too, Professor."
At some point, the Weasley twins had also suddenly appeared behind Kasen.
"??? Shouldn't you two be in Diagon Alley right now?"
"But spending time with our younger siblings and our teacher is equally important," the Weasley twins said with shrugs.
"Oh, that warms my heart. Lupin, give me a bottle so I can cool myself down."
Kasen stretched out a hand toward Lupin beside him, and before long, an ice-cold bottle of beer appeared in it.
"Didn't you say you were quitting alcohol?" Lupin asked suspiciously.
"You misheard me. I said I was giving up women."
Kasen happily poured half the bottle down his throat before answering.
"...All right."
"Then what are you going to do, Professor?" Neville asked.
"What exactly do you want me to do?" Kasen turned to look at the people gathered around him.
"Break up Ron and Lavender. Otherwise, what's Hermione supposed to do?" George said first.
The air immediately fell silent.
Before long, one of the Weasleys added, "If you were the older brothers, wouldn't you also rather have a sister-in-law like Hermione?"
"That makes sense."
"Definitely."
Kasen remained unmoved, casually drinking with Lupin beside him and coaxing the beer in their bottles into their stomachs.
"Professor, say something."
Kasen suddenly felt his ear itch and reached up to scratch it.
"Professor?" Harry asked again.
Kasen turned around helplessly.
"What do you expect me to do? How can you people even say something like breaking up a loving couple? Is that right?"
"But compared to Hermione, we barely know Lavender at all," Neville said.
"But Ron is the one in the relationship, not any of you. They're a handsome young couple. What does that have to do with you lot of... friends and family?"
Kasen ultimately stopped himself from saying monsters.
After all, none of these young wizards looked particularly misshapen.
Mm. Quite pleasant-looking, actually.
Confirmed.
"But Professor... um... what if Hermione came and asked you herself?" Neville continued.
"Even if Mrs Weasley told me she didn't like Lavender Brown as a daughter-in-law, that would still only be her own opinion. She can't force it onto Ron," Kasen said faintly.
"So, Professor, you'll protect my love life, right?"
Ron's head suddenly squeezed its way from the outermost edge of the group all the way to the centre as he spoke excitedly.
Kasen looked at Ron, then rubbed his chin.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk... You'll have to ask Dumbledore about that. I'm only a young man in my twenties. I don't understand these emotional matters."
"Your professor is actually in his thirties," Lupin said as he waved his hand and directly shooed everyone surrounding them away.
"If you don't need that mouth of yours, cut it off. I'll braise it in premium master stock later," Kasen said, utterly triggered.
"Forget me for a moment. Let's talk about you. When Ron asked you to defend his love life just now, why did you act so awkward?" Lupin asked curiously.
"How should I put it..." Kasen rubbed his chin. "At first, I thought Ron was serious about her. But when he shoved his head in here and started fooling around, I realised he hasn't genuinely invested his feelings in Lavender."
"If Hermione were the one dating him right now, and his friends were sitting here discussing how to make him break up with her, he would've exploded ages ago. But right now, he still has the mood to sit here joking around with me. Obviously, he doesn't really care about Lavender at all."
Lupin raised an eyebrow. "I didn't expect you to have this kind of emotional intelligence. So you're going to match him up with Hermione?"
Kasen shook his head. "No. Ron and Hermione are already so ambiguous with each other, but then he suddenly starts dating Lavender? I just think something about that feels off. Maybe I'm getting old?"
"It's just a pity I've never dated before. Otherwise, maybe I'd understand what Ron is thinking right now. What's going on in his head? As a pure-love warrior, I can't understand it."
Kasen looked at Lupin.
The latter shrugged. "I've been single since birth too. Don't look at me."
"Hm... hm... hm-hm-hm... hm-hm-hm-hm-hm-hm... hm-hm-hm-hm..."
Sirius walked past behind them, leaving behind a trail of humming.
"Him?" Kasen pointed at Sirius behind them.
Lupin nodded. "Exactly. He was famously charming with women back in school."
Very soon, the two of them dragged Sirius over and made him sit between them.
"Um... uh... what happened?" Sirius asked, utterly confused.
"We have a question for you," Kasen said.
"If even a big academic like you doesn't know, what could I possibly know?"
Sirius started to get up and leave.
"It's about romance," Lupin added.
"That, I can have a proper talk with you about."
Sirius naturally sat back down.
"What knowledge do you need me to explain? Which one of you is in love? Lupin? No, you and Tonks are practically glued together right now. So it's you, Kasen? That doesn't make sense. With your face and talent, there's no way nobody's pursued you until now."
Kasen's mouth twitched uncontrollably.
"Be serious. I know a boy. He and another girl are basically childhood sweethearts. They both like each other, but now this boy has suddenly started dating a different girl. What's going on?"
Sirius scratched his head. "Practice? That should be the only explanation, right?"
Kasen's expression stiffened. "Practice?"
Sirius nodded. "Yeah. Before getting together with the person you truly love, you date someone else first to get a feel for what romance is like. That's what I did back then, anyway."
Lupin curled his lips. "And even today, you still haven't found the person you truly love."
"The problem is... what about loyalty?" Kasen instantly felt his head starting to hurt.
"Of course I don't approve of that kind of behaviour. There could be another reason too, like the boy wanting to make the girl jealous? But then the question is, why?"
Halfway through speaking, Sirius confused himself as well.
Kasen nodded. "Exactly. Why?"
Ginny, who happened to be passing by, overheard their conversation and slowly walked over.
"I think I know why."
"Why?"
The three of them asked at the same time.
Ginny raised an eyebrow. "Two years ago, I don't know if you remember someone named Viktor Krum. That pretty famous Quidditch player."
...
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