148: Sirius Black wants to kill me?

Thump thump thump!

Not long after, Harry came running back, and very grandly slapped a big stack of pounds on the table.

Kasenhis looked at the beaming, praise-seeking Harry, went silent for a moment, then turned to Lupin, hoping he'd throw him a lifeline or something.

But Lupin just shrugged casually. In fact, he looked quite pleased with what Harry had done.

"…Alright, Harry. As an adult, taking money from a kid like you is pretty embarrassing, but—since you've got the heart for it, I won't shut you down completely… Just don't do it again," Kasenhis said, taking the wad of bills and subconsciously checking the serial numbers.

They were real!!!

"Right, Professor, how did you suddenly show up on Privet Drive? And what's up with that guy, the uncle, and Malfoy's dad?" Harry asked.

"Dumbledore told me," Kasenhis replied. "And as for this guy—he's your Defense Against the Dark Arts professor next term: Professor Remus Lupin. Compared to Quirrell and Lockhart, he's a lot more reliable."

"As for why they were on Privet Drive… Pure coincidence."

Harry gave Kasenhis a squinty-eyed look that screamed "Really?"

"…Fine, Lupin, could you explain to Harry, please?" Kasenhis caved under the weight of Harry's weird stare.

Lupin cleared his throat and began in a low voice, "Before the enchanted book therapy incident, Lucius Malfoy had been secretly funding Greyback and the werewolf group under his command…"

"Greyback was basically Lucius Malfoy's go-to knife for dirty work."

"But after the enchanted book therapy came around, wizards stopped being afraid of werewolves—after all, for about a Galleon, the condition could be completely cured. Lucius Malfoy then unilaterally cut off his funding to Greyback, which made him absolutely furious."

"And today, Lucius Malfoy must've found out about Dobby's situation and came looking for Harry. To be honest, when I first saw Lucius Malfoy, I wasn't that worried. First, he's not exactly a master duelist, and although he clings to pureblood ideology, he's a lot more rational and reasonable compared to some of the truly unhinged pureblood families in the wizarding world."

"That's why I didn't worry about him doing anything to your uncle and aunt. Though, yeah, they were definitely going to get a taste of his attitude."

"But Greyback was another story. He clearly held a serious grudge against Lucius. Somehow, he managed to get ahold of Lucius's schedule. The two of them arrived on Privet Drive almost back-to-back."

"That's when I snuck into Harry's house." Lupin looked at Kasenhis.

"That's my aunt's house," Harry muttered.

"Well, it's also your home… Little wizards need a home," Lupin said gently.

"I think Hogwarts feels more like my home," Harry replied.

"Yeah… Fair enough," Lupin agreed, switching stances so fast that Kasenhis was a bit stunned.

"Wait, so at that time, strictly speaking, Greyback and Lucius Malfoy weren't actually working together?" Kasenhis asked.

"If I hadn't been there, then the actual standoff would probably have been between Lucius Malfoy and Greyback," Lupin explained. "Of course, more likely, Lucius would've just paid Greyback off and then quietly arranged for someone to take him out later."

"Hmm.. Makes sense," Kasenhis nodded… then after a short pause, asked again, "What kind of person is that Lucius Malfoy, anyway? I've only had a few run-ins with him and he seemed like a good person the first time."

"He's… a very clever guy. He's a master at playing both sides. Basically, ever since the Malfoy family was founded, they've been skating through history by betting on the right horse and never getting burned. At least, that's what I remember from some old underground books I read as a student. I never really had your level of exposure to high society," Lupin said as he scooped another bite of ice cream.

"And how do they view Muggles?" Kasenhis asked.

"Somewhere between moderate pureblood ideology and centrist. They're not as inclusive as the Weasley or Abbot families, obviously. But compared to the Lestranges or the Blacks—who literally used to torture Muggles for fun when Voldemort was at his peak, and even before that—they're practically refined. The Malfoys mostly just went with the flow in Voldemort's camp. Not overly enthusiastic, not totally resistant either. And it's not like they didn't do anything shady. Really, if you want the details, you should ask Snape. He'd know way more than I do."

"Huh? Why?" Kasenhis and Harry asked in unison.

"Uh… well.. you'll understand when you ask him yourself," Lupin said with a slightly guilty look.

Harry, seeing his reaction, shook his head with difficulty. "Then maybe I'd rather not ask."

But Kasenhis was different—he was already sneaking a little notebook out under the table and jotting things down.

"By the way, Professor Lupin, why were you at Privet Drive?" Harry asked while taking a bite of his ice cream.

"To protect you," Lupin replied after a moment of thought, his eyes lowered.

"Just for what happened today?" Harry tilted his head.

"No, today was an accident. Don't you usually subscribe to the Daily Prophet during the holidays?"

Harry shook his head. "They don't even let me go outside, let alone have owls flying to and from the roof all day."

"They treat you that badly? I always thought you just didn't go out because you found the holidays boring," Lupin said, surprised.

"If you'd ever seen what he's like at Hogwarts, you wouldn't ask something like that," Kasenhis muttered quietly.

"Sorry..." Lupin apologized as he reached into his coat pocket, pulled out a folded newspaper, and handed it to Harry after smoothing it flat.

Harry took the newspaper and casually glanced through it, but his eyes were quickly drawn to the front-page headline.

"So, this guy named Sirius Black broke out of prison just to kill me?" Harry asked calmly.

"Technically, most normal kids wouldn't respond to this kind of news so... calmly," Lupin said.

"Well... I've kind of been through something like this before," Harry replied a bit sheepishly.

Lupin gave Kasenhis a strange look, and the latter just shrugged helplessly.

"Dumbledore still doesn't know, does he?"

"Uh... yeah, I guess not."

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