"Wow! I was wrong! I'll never badmouth anyone in the newspaper again, truly!"
Rita Skeeter, who had almost been suffocated by mud in the rain, lay in the muddy water, crying and wailing, while Kaisen put away his shovel and vanished from the quiet grove in the blink of an eye.
Anyway, Skeeter hadn't seen his face clearly when her head was caved in by a baseball bat, so she probably wouldn't report it to the Ministry of Magic…
Probably…
Back at Hogwarts, Kaisen shook off his rain gear and went to Dumbledore's office, gracefully placing the office expansion application form he had prepared earlier on Dumbledore's desk.
"That Rita Skeeter?"
"At least for a while, she should be much quieter."
"Hmm." Dumbledore nodded and signed his name on the form.
"Do you need me to find a construction team for you?"
"No, I'll do it myself," Kaisen said.
"By the way, the building you expand needs to match Hogwarts's style, the black brick wall kind."
"Don't worry about that, I'm a professional."
"That's for the best."
Back in his own office, Kaisen hummed a tune, took out parchment, and began to design his new office. Perhaps he could…
Knock, knock, knock…
"Come in!"
"Professor? Your office?" Neville walked in first, followed by Harry and the others.
Kaisen put away the parchment with the rough sketch he had just drawn and instead took out a teapot.
Neville was wearing the memory bracelet he had given him, and Ron, who was already sitting on the sofa stuffing his face with snacks, had also put on his new robes.
However, Neville on the other side looked at Kaisen with a hint of grievance.
Firstly, the Wizard robe he had given him was not being worn by Professor Kaisen, and what he had said at Longbottom Manor about expanding his office…
Hmm… at least he hadn't seen this office expand by even a single square meter.
A feeling called grievance suddenly choked his throat.
"Uh… Neville, what are you thinking? Your little face is all wrinkled up."
"Professor, didn't you say you were going to expand your office during the summer holiday?"
"I'm afraid I have a bit of procrastination, it's still in the sketching stage." Kaisen looked at the sensitive Little Wizards in front of him and quickly pulled out his design sketch, placing it on the desk.
"Then the new robe I gave you…"
"I just went out for a bit, and it's still raining outside. You wouldn't want me to get that new robe all dirty, would you?"
Kaisen displayed his linguistic artistry for a while before finally convincing Neville that he wasn't rejecting the robe he had given him, nor did he not want to stay a night at Longbottom Manor.
Of course, he genuinely didn't like sleeping in territory that wasn't his own; it always felt strange. But he couldn't say that, what if Neville started crying? Then he'd be the one who had to coax him.
"Tell me, what's up with you four little ones again?" Kaisen asked.
"Professor, do you know Nicolas Flamel?" Hermione asked.
"Nicolas Flamel? I don't recall that name being in the textbooks I gave you?" Kaisen scratched his head. Indeed, the textbooks he had given Hermione were just introductory ones.
They only contained general theories and a few interesting Alchemy experiments.
It wasn't time for the great Nicolas Flamel to appear yet.
"It wasn't from that book." Hermione shook her head.
"I should have asked everything at once next time. Where did you see that name?" Kaisen sighed.
The four little ones exchanged glances: "We heard it from Hagrid."
"Hagrid, oh right, you went to Hagrid's new house? How was it? Do you know who built that house for him? Never mind, you probably can't guess, it was me. Before I became a Hogwarts Professor, I was an excellent custom home designer, which is to say, a decorator…"
"Professor, please don't change the subject." Hermione sighed. She looked at the Professor, who was so clumsy at changing the subject, and for some reason, suddenly felt like he was an eleven-year-old first-year Little Wizards.
And in her opinion, Professor Kaisen's ability to change the subject and lie was not as masterful as Harry's deception of Professor McGonagall ["I really did finish the essay, I just forgot to bring it."].
"Alright, Nicolas Flamel is a very powerful Alchemist. The only Philosopher's Stone in the world was made by him. He also used this Philosopher's Stone to create the Elixir of Life, and it's said he has lived for over six hundred years, almost seven hundred… Don't any of you collect Chocolate Frog cards?"
Kaisen leaned back in his chair, arms crossed over his stomach, speaking with a somewhat resigned air.
"Since that's the case, what's hidden under that trapdoor must be this so-called Philosopher's Stone," Hermione said seriously, making Kaisen want to laugh.
How could he politely tell them that the so-called Philosopher's Stone was actually redstone, and he had even given each of them a piece?
But compared to this little idea, there was something even more important.
For example…
"Are you still investigating that trapdoor? Or are you still investigating Quirrell?"
"Uh…"
"Hmm…"
"Well…"
"Professor, do you have black tea here?"
"Alright, how far have you gotten?" Kaisen asked, deflating a bit.
"When we were having tea with Hagrid earlier, we accidentally let it slip, about Quirrell being a Dark Wizard. Then Hagrid didn't believe it, and Harry got carried away, saying Quirrell wasn't just a Dark Wizard, but also wanted to steal the Philosopher's Stone from the fourth-floor corridor."
"Then Hagrid said a lot, and he hurriedly chased us out. When he was flustered, he also mentioned Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel's plan, and then… ahem, Nicolas Flamel." Hermione shrugged, saying with great exasperation.
"Hagrid, huh… And then, now that you know what's hidden in there, do you have any other plans?" Kaisen sighed.
"Why do you want to hear our plan?"
"To hear your plan, and then formulate a corresponding plan to counter your plan."
"Is that right?" Hermione said, her expression somewhat breaking down.
"Then will you tell me?"
The four little ones exchanged glances and shook their heads in unison.
"No."
"Eh…"
The four little ones exchanged glances again. After whatever they whispered to each other, they stood up in unison.
"Goodbye, Professor Kaisen!"
Kaisen's mouth twitched as he watched them leave his office one after another.
"Gryffindor… Gryffindor…!!"