Kaisen felt a bit awkward listening to Dumbledore's praise: "Are you giving me some extremely difficult task?"
Dumbledore shook his head: "I truly was just speaking from the heart. Go send the letter. I'm going to the kitchen to have the house-elves make me something special."
"Uh-huh." Kaisen shrugged and walked into the Owlery. After quickly sending the letter, he returned to the Castle.
Upon returning to his office, he casually pulled out some block, tapped it lightly, and a series of positive emotional notifications appeared before his eyes.
Because every time he taught, a series of emotional notifications would directly pop up, to prevent him from getting startled and stumbling over his words mid-lecture by some Little Witch who seemed proper on the surface but was actually bubbling with pink hearts underneath.
From the third class onwards, he proactively turned off the notifications, only turning them back on when he remembered.
Of course, sometimes he would forget to turn them off, and that was the fault of his poor memory.
At the end of the day's classes, just as he was about to make himself a refreshing cup of green tea to reward himself, there was a sudden knock on his office door.
"The door's unlocked, come in."
A small figure pushed open the door. Kaisen raised an eyebrow; it was Neville.
Behind him were two, no, three.
Two boys and one girl, and one of them was a familiar face, Harry.
The other two...
"Please come in, all of you. It seems you're friends?"
Neville nodded excitedly.
"Congratulations, Neville, and congratulations to all of you. You've made a very good friend."
Kaisen took out four more cups and poured them green tea.
"Professor, let me introduce you. This is Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, the three friends I've made," Neville introduced excitedly.
"Uh-huh, drink the tea. It might be a bit bitter."
Kaisen waved his wand, and the teapot on his desk floated to the coffee table in the corner. After all, a Professor talking to students across a desk always felt like a lecture, but on the sofa, it was much better.
"Today, Mr. Malfoy came to bother me again. I used the Levitation Charm to lift him up and then slammed him hard onto the ground. His two cronies even tried to rush over and punch me, but Harry and Ron happened to run into me, and they helped me scare Mr. Malfoy away."
"Mr. Malfoy also said he would tell Professor Snape. When we didn't know what to do, we ran into Hermione, and she suggested we come to you. And I also wanted to tell you, I successfully resisted!"
Neville sat on the sofa, his face flushed, speaking with animated gestures.
"Uh-huh, you've taken a brave first step, and you've also made loyal and reliable friends," Kaisen nodded, praising him.
Neville's already red face became even more excited upon hearing this affirmation, while Harry and Ron felt a little embarrassed hearing such words used to describe the best of friends.
Hermione, however, still remembered the real reason they four had come.
"Professor Kaisen, Mr. Malfoy said he would tell Snape. He's definitely going to call Neville over and deduct a lot of Gryffindor points."
"Let him deduct them. Didn't Professor McGonagall deduct Slytherin points last time? What's the big deal?" Kaisen said casually.
"But... Professor, Gryffindor's points..."
"Gryffindor's points aren't actually important. What's important is that from now on, Neville won't be that bullied punching bag anymore. As for point deductions, why don't you just consider it giving Snape some face? How about that?"
Hermione shook her head: "No way. Mr. Malfoy was clearly in the wrong first, and in the end, Gryffindor's points still get deducted. That's not fair."
"...Perhaps you don't know, when I was a child and went to school in the Muggle world, from community primary school all the way to Manchester University, basically all students believed that students' conflicts should be resolved by the students themselves."
"Telling a teacher, that conventional method, doesn't solve the problem. It often doesn't truly punish the wrong party, and instead, the victim will suffer retaliation. Only by genuinely fighting back with your fists is effective," Kaisen explained.
"Uh... Professor, I didn't quite understand," Hermione said a little awkwardly.
"On the surface, my meaning is to encourage Neville to resist, but another meaning is: don't be afraid of losing points. Why isn't Mr. Malfoy, who did something wrong, afraid of losing points, but Neville, who did nothing wrong, should be afraid of losing points?"
"Should good people just let others point guns at them?"
Kaisen spread his hands, stating it bluntly.
Harry and Ron exchanged glances and nodded in deep agreement, while Neville already firmly believed what Kaisen said.
Only Hermione still felt something was off: "But the points..."
"Points aren't important. They're an illusory, so-called honor. If this illusory thing makes a Little Wizards hesitant and afraid to resist, then that honor is better off not existing."
"The Professor is absolutely right!" Neville finally couldn't help but agree.
"Uh-huh, Professor McGonagall will also be very happy to know you resisted. This matter is nothing more than deducting ten or twenty points from you. Perhaps Snape will deduct more, but it doesn't matter, just endure it and it'll pass. The Weasley Twins, Fred and George, Ron's brothers, lose ten or twenty points every day, and aren't they doing just fine?"
"Yes, I'll remember that, Professor!" Neville nodded heavily.
..........
After sending the four Little Wizardss away, Kaisen once again found himself at leisure.
Well, in reality, he wasn't that leisurely.
A phantom Phoenix, shimmering with silver-white light, suddenly appeared in his office and said: "Professor Kaisen, please come to the corridor on the fourth floor of the school, which is the forbidden area I mentioned at the start of the term."
"Amazing magic."
Kaisen stood up and walked out of his office, feeling a bit helpless, not knowing what work Dumbledore wanted him to do now.
It wasn't until he arrived at that corridor that he realized he wasn't the only one called; basically, all the Professors of the main subjects were there, as well as Hagrid, who was leading a... three-headed... one-headed, perhaps.
He was leading a huge Cerberus, trying hard to calm the large dog.
"I invited you here because I want you to help me set up obstacles. I need to guard a precious item, the Philosopher's Stone that Nicolas Flamel entrusted to me."
Dumbledore pulled out a blood-red gem from his pocket.
And Quirrell's gaze towards the Philosopher's Stone was strangely odd.
"[Satisfaction from Quirrell +10]"
"[Satisfaction from Lord Voldemort +10]"
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