With the dust settled, the people from the Romanian dragon reserve happily took the compensation in Galleons from the British Ministry of Magic and returned to Romania.
After all, cooperating with Hogwarts and losing four dragons in the process meant they had to be compensated one way or another.
No, to be precise, they lost five. Their head keeper had died here as well.
A generous compensation package was handed over to the staff who had come here and to the council backing the Romanian dragon reserve, and just like that, the matter ended on a pleasant note.
Lupin also applied for a long leave from the reserve. With Hogwarts currently in troubled times, staying here might allow him to help out in some way.
Unlike Lupin and Sirius Black, who were leisurely enjoying life after everything settled, spending their days fishing or drinking, Kasenhis was now so busy in his office that he barely had time to breathe.
The day of the second task was drawing ever closer, and the champions had basically all learned what the task would be. Nothing more than diving into the Black Lake to mess around with that sort of thing.
And that required two measures. The first was being able to breathe freely in the Black Lake. Kasenhis had already taught the young wizards underwater breathing during alchemy class, so that wasn't a concern.
The second was disengaging quickly.
A competition held in the Black Lake was something you could figure out with your knees. There would definitely be merfolk in there opposing the champions. And when it came to agility underwater, the champions absolutely couldn't compare to merfolk.
So after racking his brains, Kasenhis came up with another brilliant idea.
He combined Sea's Favor, Frost Walker, and Loyalty, mashed the three enchantments together a bit, and just like that, Sea's Disdain was born, fresh and dripping wet.
"Now I need a loyal test subject!" He grabbed the enchanted book, muttering to himself as he rushed out of the office.
Then he spotted a little cutie.
"Cedric, come with me for a bit," Kasenhis said with a smile when he saw Cedric.
"No problem, Professor."
Before long, the two of them arrived at the Black Lake.
"Professor, what are you planning to do?" Cedric asked, puzzled.
"Drink this gillywater potion and dive down. As deep as you can," Kasenhis said bluntly.
"That's it?" Cedric asked, confused.
"Of course not just that. See this?" Kasenhis said, handing him the enchanted book. "This is a new enchantment book I just made. After you dive all the way to the bottom, use it to enchant yourself."
"No problem, Professor." Cedric took the enchanted book, stripped off his clothes in a few swift motions until he was left in just his underwear, then dove straight into the water with a clean plunge.
Kasenhis took out the pocket watch Snape had given him some time ago and checked the time. Not much time had passed, so Cedric had probably already reached the bottom.
Sure enough, just as he expected, a white pillar suddenly appeared from the depths, and Cedric was blasted straight out of the water.
"Woooooaaaahhhh!"
He then landed steadily, standing on the surface of the lake.
"Damn! Professor…" Cedric looked at Kasenhis not far away and couldn't help swallowing. "Professor, this new enchantment of yours is insanely cool."
Kasenhis raised an eyebrow. "I'm your mentor. If what I make isn't cool, then what is?"
Cedric's eyes lit up. "You've agreed to be my mentor?"
Kasenhis clicked his tongue. "Weren't you the one who said I was your mentor during that interview? Now you're getting all shy about it?"
Cedric was instinctively a little excited. A mentor and a professor weren't the same thing. To put it simply, professors taught large classes, mentors taught small ones.
Or, putting it another way, a professor was a teacher, while a mentor was a master. Even if it wasn't as tight-knit as a novel's master-disciple relationship, there wasn't much difference.
"Well, back then I was just driven crazy by those reporters. I figured you were famous enough, Professor, so maybe saying that would scare them off," Cedric said, scratching the back of his head.
"Mm-hm. You overestimated me. Not only were they not scared, they went and seriously interviewed me instead. You know what happened after that. I ended up taking the blame," Kasenhis said, slinging an arm around Cedric's neck and lightly knocking his knuckles against the back of his head.
In the sky not far from them, Krum sat astride his broom, watching the interaction between the two. He wasn't particularly interested in that kind of mentor–student bonding. After all, Durmstrang's brand of relationships was, well, much rougher than Hogwarts's.
What really caught his interest was the method Cedric used to burst out of the water just now.
If the second task really was what he suspected… no, scratch that. There was no way his guess was wrong. He had seen it with his own eyes.
Hogwarts's official champion was already here training.
That meant the second task was definitely connected to the Black Lake.
All he needed to do next was figure out exactly what that method was…
How about a honey trap? In the middle of his brainstorming, a spark of inspiration suddenly flashed through Krum's mind. He turned his broom and headed toward Beauxbatons' camp.
He planned to go find Fleur.
Meanwhile, Kasenhis had returned to his office and immediately sent his newly appointed workhorse, Cedric, to go fetch Harry.
He also told Cedric to let Harry properly play around with this awesome, busted treasure.
The goal was to pull off an absolutely beautiful performance in the second task.
But only a few minutes after Cedric left, another young wizard arrived.
They stood there quietly, right in front of him.
"Mm-hm… Miss Delacour, is there something you need?" Kasenhis asked in confusion.
"You can just call me Fleur, Pro~~fessor~" Fleur said softly, her voice lilting as she leaned forward slightly, both hands braced on the desk.
"No, no. In fact, we're not close enough for that, are we?" Kasenhis shook his head.
"Oh, fine then. Professor, you can be quite boring sometimes. Has no one ever told you that?" Fleur said with a troubled expression.
"No. At least here at Hogwarts, I'm something of a model of physical and mental health," Kasenhis replied.
Fleur looked at the completely unresponsive Kasenhis and quietly took a deep breath. She suddenly regretted listening to what Krum had said and coming here to be the one in the line of fire.
After all, the professor in front of her looked perfectly proper and respectable, but in reality, wasn't he just a solid block of wood?
This was a bit ridiculous. Once she managed to seduce the enchanted book out of him, she wasn't giving it to Krum. Screw him over properly.
Why should she be the one doing all the hard work while that guy just provided one piece of information and got to sit back and reap the benefits? That wasn't fair.
Just as Fleur took another deep breath and prepared to press the attack, yet another uninvited guest arrived.
"Oh, Harry… why didn't you dry your clothes first?" Kasenhis asked in confusion.
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