Soon enough, Professor McGonagall led the new first-years in from the entrance hall towards the Sorting Hat, and the Sorting Ceremony for the new school year officially began.
Kasenhis, however, had little interest in it.
All he needed to do was glance at each child when Professor McGonagall called their name and commit their face to memory.
As for what family they belonged to or which House they entered, he genuinely had no interest in knowing.
If anyone was good at that sort of thing, it was the Slughorn sitting next to him.
As for the Sorting Ceremony itself, every student found it fascinating the first time, including Kasenhis, who had made up his own Sorting Ceremony in the past. After the first experience, however, one tended to become rather indifferent to it. This was already the sixth... no, seventh Sorting Ceremony he had witnessed.
And unless something unexpected happened, there would be many more in his future.
So it was best to maintain a calm mindset.
Compared to the Sorting Ceremony, what interested him far more was what delicious dishes the house-elves had prepared today.
During his stay at the Black residence, he had certainly never gone hungry or thirsty, but Mrs Weasley's recipes were simply too healthy. They were still delicious, of course, but compared to healthy food, he preferred things that were slightly more damaging to one's body...
For example, Mrs Weasley's menu didn't even include chips.
The reason?
Fried food was unhealthy.
So there was only mashed potato.
Sigh...
He really ought to introduce Mrs Weasley to the wonders of milk. Forget eating fried food; even if someone ate a neutron star, as long as they drank a bucket of milk afterwards, they'd be restored to full health.
Oh...
Actually, full restoration wouldn't work quite like that.
You'd need to pair it with a Healing Potion...
But it was enough just to know that.
Soon, as the Sorting Ceremony concluded, Dumbledore delivered a brief speech, and with his final words—"Let the feast begin!"—the tables instantly filled with all manner of sugar-fat combinations.
Exactly what Kasenhis, who had suffered from excessive healthiness for so long and desperately needed some junk food, had been waiting for.
Steve, who was freeloading dinner at the Hufflepuff table, heard the series of crunch crunch crunch crunch... burp noises coming from Kasenhis at the staff table and felt utterly ashamed.
His predecessor had disgraced him.
What was a young skeleton still in puberty supposed to do about that?
What else?
Feel embarrassed, obviously.
In the end, Steve decisively moved from the front of the Hufflepuff table to the very end of it.
That way, he'd be farther away from Kasenhis.
As the saying went: out of sight, out of mind.
He could eat in peace.
Much better!
...
"Much better!"
The next morning, Kasenhis slowly sat up in bed. After washing up, he found that the house-elves had already delivered the registration forms for his advanced classes to his office desk.
These were the students who had signed up for his N.E.W.T.-level classes.
He skimmed through them.
Apart from a handful who simply couldn't keep up academically, and a few Slytherins who didn't dare approach him because their parents were Death Eaters...
Everyone else had signed up.
This included Harry and Neville, whom he had previously told to devote their time to more important subjects. At the time, they had agreed with aggrieved expressions, and yet here they were, signing up for his advanced class anyway.
What was he supposed to do?
Obviously, he had to respect their decision and teach them with every ounce of effort he had!
Otherwise, wouldn't he be betraying the trust these children had placed in him?
So, with a grand flourish of his pen, he circled every single application.
That meant approved.
Then came the beloved breakfast session, which usually also came with a fresh serving of gossip straight from the oven.
For example, Hagrid looked rather miserable at breakfast because very few students had signed up for his advanced class. Although the registration period lasted a full week and this was only the first day, so there was really no need to panic...
It was just difficult not to when every other professor's classes were filling up so quickly.
Charms, Transfiguration, Alchemy, Herbology...
Even Potions, the least popular subject among students, taught by the least popular professor, Snape, had attracted huge numbers of applicants.
Early that morning, Slughorn had been carrying around a thick stack of application forms, and Hagrid had looked at them with immense envy.
As for Snape, Hagrid had personally witnessed several students signing up for his Defence Against the Dark Arts advanced class while trembling in fear. They might not have liked Professor Snape at all, but they still chose the subject.
The other electives, such as Divination, Muggle Studies, and Ancient Runes, also had large numbers of applicants.
At this point, only his own Care of Magical Creatures class had received...
Two applications.
"Why d'you think that is, Kasenhis?" Hagrid asked helplessly as the two of them walked side by side outside Hogwarts Castle.
"Well, I think your teaching is perfectly good. At the very least, you don't randomly produce some hideous, dangerous magical creature and then spend an entire lesson having students feed it one bag of food each. So it's definitely not a problem with your teaching ability. Your teaching is beyond question. Every lesson, you introduce the students to a new magical creature and teach them about its habits, danger level, and how to deal with it."
"So your teaching definitely isn't the issue. The reason so few people sign up for your class is perhaps because... the subject itself just isn't that important. Most other subjects lead to corresponding professions: Aurors, Potioneers, Alchemists. As for Charms, that hardly needs explaining. It's a fundamental skill for every wizard."
"But if someone specialises in magical creatures, their future career paths are probably the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, adventuring, or becoming a magical creature keeper. Unfortunately, out of those three careers related to magical creatures, only the last one actually requires N.E.W.T.-level Care of Magical Creatures."
Kasenhis explained gently.
"I get it," Hagrid said. "You're trying to cheer me up by saying it's the subject's fault, not mine, right?"
"Exactly, Hagrid."
Kasenhis nodded.
"I'm still a bit sad. Magical creatures are so interestin', though."
"But interesting doesn't put food on the table, Hagrid," Kasenhis replied.
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