115: Come with Me to the Ministry of Magic

"What the hell… is that?!"

A security guard, gripping his assault rifle, looked utterly confused as he pulled off his thermal goggles, staring at the fast-approaching blackened skull.

Before he could react, the Wither skull slammed into him, exploding instantly—Boom!

His body was torn to shreds, flesh and blood scattering across the floor, which immediately disintegrated into blackened dust.

"Open fire! Open fire!"

The supposed commander bellowed.

Bullets rained down in an instant, and Kasenhis moved instinctively.

A buzzing sound filled the underground chamber as they watched him, seemingly glitching in place—his movements jittering like he was stuck in a lag spike.

Bullets pierced through his body, but—

Not a single drop of blood touched the floor.

BANG!

Shhhhhh...

From the watchtower, the sniper adjusted his earpiece, irritated by the signal interference and turning the volume down.

He refocused on his scope, scanning for any unusual movement in his sights.

Bzzzzzzzz…

"Sectumsempra!"

Lupin squatted down, took off the headset from the sniper's ear and put it on his own ear. After turning up the volume, he heard a harsh noise.

"The signal is interrupted or..."

Lupin quickly took off his headset and rubbed his aching eardrum.

Bang!

A deafening explosion echoed from the underground levels of the lab, making Lupin instinctively pick up his pace.

The sheer intensity of that blast—if it wasn't a Muggle bomb, then it had to be a high-impact, large-scale magical attack…

Among wizards, he knew better than anyone how devastating Muggle firepower could be.

So at this moment, he had only one thought—get inside immediately and rescue whoever was trapped.

Whether it was a wizard who had somehow snuck in or a captive who had miraculously retrieved their wand, he needed to move fast.

If he was even a few minutes late, there was a real chance that this lab's "test subject" counter would go up by one.

Then, he saw something that didn't seem real at all—

A familiar figure, leading over a dozen wounded wizards, all leaning on one another for support, walking straight out of the laboratory building.

"…So… shouldn't you be at Hogwarts right now?" Lupin asked, looking thoroughly confused.

"Can't I give myself a vacation?" Kasenhis replied, equally puzzled by Lupin's unexpected presence.

He handed over the rescued wizards to Lupin before immediately heading for the server room and various offices.

Once Lupin had finished settling the freed wizards, he quickly ran after Kasenhis—instinctively raising his wand, ready to blow the entire place sky-high.

"Woah, woah, woah! What the hell are you doing?!" Kasenhis quickly stopped him.

"Blowing this place up! Or what, you want to leave it standing?!" Lupin retorted without thinking.

"Oh, it's definitely getting blown up—but not yet. I'm collecting evidence to show the Ministry of Magic and Dumbledore.

Sure, maybe this lab isn't officially sanctioned by England, but if they try to tell me they knew nothing about it, I'm not buying it for a second."

As Kasenhis spoke, he led Lupin through the offices, ransacking every room and digging up various paper-based experiment records.

He destroyed all data containing wizard physiology reports and classified information about the magical world, leaving behind only gruesome photographic evidence.

"You keep looking—anything with photographic proof stays. Anything that exposes wizarding secrets gets destroyed." Kasenhis handed Lupin a stack of bloody photos, then headed toward the server room.

A short while later, after collecting all the evidence, Lupin left the building and sat down among the rescued group, catching his breath.

Then—

BOOM! BOOM BOOM! BOOM BOOM BOOM!

A chain of explosions echoed behind him.

Lupin turned his head just in time to see Kasenhis adjusting his hat, dusting himself off.

"You care to explain why you're here?" Lupin asked, narrowing his eyes.

"You tell me first!"

"Saving people like me.. I was planing for this.. this is the thing I told you I needed to do the day I left." Lupin replied slowly.

"Don't tell me you were hiding in the bushes since that day." Kasen looked at him like he was seeing something baffling.

"Well, I needed to bide my time. There was a lot of security. Wait, did you actually survive all that and even succeed?!"

"Sherlock—my neighbor, the detective who was tracking you before and eventually let you go—told me there was a Muggle-run lab experimenting on wizards here. So I came to check it out. Also, do you seriously think I'm some weakling with zero combat ability?" Kasenhis said while helping the rescued wizards to their feet.

"If you're a werewolf, step forward."

Among the ten-plus wizards, about nine of them hesitated before taking a step forward, looking a bit uncertain.

"There's now a way to completely cure Lycanthropy. Do you want to be free from it?" Kasenhis asked.

The nine exchanged glances before nodding—numbly, but with hope.

"Lupin, take them to St. Mungo's. I'll meet you there shortly," Kasenhis said, pulling out an Enchanted Book and activating the magic within.

"Not Hogwarts?" Lupin asked.

"Unfortunately, Madam Pomfrey is on vacation."

Like a diligent little worker bee, Lupin began transporting the wizards to St. Mungo's.

Kasenhis cured one, and Lupin immediately sent them off—one by one.

By the time they were done, the two of them arrived at St. Mungo's almost at the same time.

"What's next?" Lupin asked.

"You stay here and help them with treatment—I'm going to go bother Dumbledore," Kasenhis said before Ender-teleporting straight to the Hogwarts Headmaster's office.

Dumbledore was already there, quill in hand, writing something on a piece of parchment.

"Take a look at this." Kasenhis casually tossed a sealed envelope onto the desk, then just as naturally poured himself a cup of tea to soothe his throat.

"....."

Dumbledore, clearly unimpressed by Kasenhis's blatant disregard for formalities, instinctively picked up the envelope and opened it.

He pulled out the first photograph inside.

And for a brief moment, his hand trembled.

Without a word, he tossed the envelope back onto his desk.

A heavy silence hung in the air for a moment before Dumbledore reached out again, retrieving the envelope and going through the rest of the photos—his brows furrowing deeper with each one.

"And the laboratory?"

"Blown to hell," Kasenhis replied immediately.

"Any survivors?"

"Twelve. Lupin took them to St. Mungo's—should be getting treated as we speak."

"Come with me to the Ministry of Magic." Dumbledore stood up, grabbed a handful of Floo Powder, and tossed it into the fireplace.

"England's Ministry of Magic."

Whoosh!

Kasenhis also grabbed a handful of powder and threw it in, quickly following Dumbledore through the green flames.

The two emerged into the Ministry of Magic's Floo Network Hall and headed straight for Minister Fudge's office.

"I've already made up my mind—if Fudge refuses to do anything about this, I'll take this directly to the Prime Minister and have a chat about how this country allows human experimentation," Kasenhis muttered under his breath as they walked.

"I agree with your opinion...but...well, we can only hope that Fudge can pick up his wisdom as a politician in matters that have nothing to do with Tom," Dumbledore commented sharply.

"uh-huh."

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P@treon: Dragonel