Dumbledore's liquor cabinet was incredibly well-stocked, so much so that Kayson had been diligently stealing from it for five years, and even today, there was still an astonishing amount left.
Dumbledore casually picked out a bottle to serve as their liver's sustenance.
Kayson leaned back on the sofa, sipping his drink intermittently while waiting for Dumbledore to speak.
After all, in the five years he had been teaching at Hogwarts, the number of times Dumbledore had actively sought him out for a drink could be counted on one hand.
So, it was highly likely that Dumbledore had some difficult, tricky, or even life-threatening matter that required his help today.
Hmm… he should drink a few more bottles.
"First, I must thank you, Kayson. You clearly said you wouldn't add a snack dispenser to my office, but you did anyway." Dumbledore pressed a button on his desk, and an exquisite silver faucet popped out from the corner, from which various snacks gushed forth.
"...Why don't you just get to the point, Dumbledore? When you start by praising me without any preamble… honestly, I'm a little scared," Kayson said, feeling somewhat awkward.
"What are you thinking?" Dumbledore rolled his eyes and picked up the decanter to pour Kayson another drink.
"You're not going to ask me to pluck Professor McGonagall's lion hair, are you?" Kayson watched Dumbledore's increasingly strange behavior, feeling a sense of impending doom.
"How about I give you back the liquor? I brew my own; it's 100% natural," Kayson said, about to get up, but Dumbledore walked around behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"What's the rush? You haven't even heard what it's about yet," Dumbledore said slowly.
"OK, you old man, take your time," Kayson reluctantly sat back down, picked up his glass, and downed its contents.
"Arthur Weasley was injured," Dumbledore said softly.
"Huh? When did that happen?" Kayson asked.
"Just this morning… of course, he's fine now," Dumbledore said softly.
"What happened? What exactly happened?"
"The Order of the Phoenix and the Ministry of Magic were jointly guarding the magic prophecy orbs in the Department of Mysteries, because Tom is quite superstitious about such things, so we unanimously agreed that the magic prophecy orbs in the Department of Mysteries were something Tom would definitely want to obtain..."
"However, during a shift change, the Department of Mysteries' defenses were weak, and Arthur was bitten by one of Lord Voldemort's giant snakes. But the Aurors quickly repelled it, and Arthur was sent to St. Mungo's Hospital… Of course, he is safe now," Dumbledore explained.
"Hmm, so what do you need me to do?" Kayson asked.
"I just wanted to give you a heads-up. As a double agent, Severus's main area of activity is still Hogwarts, so he can't provide us with effective intelligence on Tom's matters."
"At this point, I feel we have another, better way to obtain intelligence, and that intelligence doesn't come from Severus's observations, but from Tom's own brain."
"I need you to destroy the magic protecting Harry's mind within his Beacon amulet," Dumbledore said.
"That's too dangerous," Kayson shook his head.
"Of course, I'm not doing this without preparation. I will teach Harry Occlumency, so we can achieve a situation where Harry uses Occlumency to block Tom's prying, but we can, through Harry, obtain information from Lord Voldemort in reverse," Dumbledore explained.
"Doesn't Lord Voldemort know Occlumency? It should be useless," Kayson didn't quite understand.
"But Lord Voldemort's soul fragment is, after all, parasitic in Harry's mind, and occasionally, information about Lord Voldemort will flash out from his soul fragment."
"This way, we can achieve reverse monitoring. Why not?" Dumbledore explained.
"Who will teach him Occlumency?" Kayson asked.
"I've decided on Severus, what do you think?" Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.
"You are far more arrogant than I am. Do you think this is some kind of strategy game, and everyone else besides you is just an NPC?"
"Do you just need to put two people with different personalities together and they'll have a chemical reaction? I think it's far more likely that Severus and Harry will constantly argue in the office, constantly argue, and finally, both will break down, and the teaching plan will directly fail, that's more normal," Kayson said, rolling his eyes.
"Then who do you think I should have teach him?" Dumbledore sighed, once again being lectured by Kayson like a grandson.
"Can't you find someone Harry likes, and who also likes Harry, like Lupin, Sirius, or just grab anyone from the Auror Office; they'd all be better than Severus teaching Harry," Kayson said, leaning back in his chair.
"Why don't you just have me do it?" Dumbledore said, somewhat speechless.
"No, you should just do it yourself, if you have the time... To be honest, you do seem quite leisurely right now. Look, you can spend an entire morning studying the dripping stone beast downstairs," Kayson said, beaming.
"Alright," Dumbledore said, then sighed again, making a pointy-headed remark: "Actually, I don't have much to do these days, so I'll leave this arduous task to Gellert. He's even more leisurely than I am right now."
"But before that, you need to remove the magic from Harry's amulet. The practice of Occlumency and the constant invasion of memories are complementary."
"And the magic in Harry's amulet will prevent him from making further progress," Dumbledore explained slowly.
"Uh-huh, I will," Kayson nodded, about to get up.
"By the way, don't tell Harry too much. The moment Harry's amulet fails, Lord Voldemort could continuously obtain information from Harry's mind. Don't say anything until he learns Occlumency," Dumbledore said.
"Not even an explanation?" Kayson asked.
"Not even an explanation!"
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