HP: Alchemy? Nah, It's Crafting

[Preface: This chapter includes enchantment attributes (Curse of Vanishing/disappearance) and magic modification, falling under secondary creation.]

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A figure clad in a black robe, their face obscured, was kneeling on the ground. In front of them lay a gravely injured unicorn, its silver blood flowing from its neck.

The black-robed figure was hunched over, licking the blood away, mouthful by mouthful.

Initially, the two sides weren't supposed to cross paths—one group following the planned route, merely patrolling, while the other had deliberately chosen this desolate spot, both unaware parties were silently agreeing to avoid unnecessary complications.

Well, fate is a bitch...

Everything was going fine, until Kasenhis, in a moment of sheer misfortune, decided to take a shortcut. And so, they stumbled into each other.

The black-robed figure turned their head, noticing Kasenhis and the young wizards.

"Scatter and find cover!" Kasenhis ordered without hesitation. This was no time to delay—unlike Ronan, who was a natural resident of the Forbidden Forest with no malicious intent, the individual before them was a stark contrast.

This figure, sneaking into the Forbidden Forest in the dead of night to slay a unicorn and drink its blood, was undeniably a Dark Wizard. And a Dark Wizard had to be dealt with swiftly and decisively.

Three wither skulls, radiating decay and death, shrieked through the air as they hurtled toward the black-robed figure.

The figure raised its wand, deflecting one of the skulls with lightning speed, but as the other two bore down on them, it had no choice but to roll to the side in a hasty attempt to evade.

One wither skull struck the ground with a deafening explosion, while the other, deflected, collided with a towering tree, detonating on impact.

Boom!

At the sites of the two explosions, a visible wither effect rapidly spread. The soil turned black and crumbled, while the unfortunate tree was instantly reduced to a charcoal-like structure.

"Oh?~ The renowned Professor Kasenhis of Hogwarts, stooping to use Dark Magic?" the black-robed figure rasped.

"If it's to kill a Dark Wizard like you, I only regret not knowing the Killing Curse!" Kasenhis retorted sharply.

In the corner of the battlefield, the four Gryffindor students peeked nervously.

This wasn't the usual gentle Kasenhis they knew. His eyes, colder than Snape's when grading Neville's troll like essays, were terrifying beyond words.

The warm, sunny Professor Kasenhis was gone, replaced by a bitter northern wind, bent on annihilating the Dark Wizard before him.

"Avada Kedavra!"

A sickly green light shot from the black-robed figure's wand.

Kasenhis raised his hand, conjuring an obsidian wall that absorbed the Killing Curse.

With a wave of his hand, the wall shattered into countless razor-sharp obsidian shards, which flew toward the black-robed figure like a deadly storm.

"Fiendfyre!"

A roaring blood-red fire erupted, consuming the incoming obsidian fragments entirely.

Kasenhis snorted coldly and flicked his wand again, sending several Ender Crystals hurtling toward the figure obscured behind the flames.

The explosion of the crystals unleashed a massive shockwave that rippled through the Fiendfyre, causing it to tremble violently. Yet the figure remained standing, their body glowing with an eerie light. Despite the force of the blast, it stubbornly refused to fall.

"Stay here and die!" The black-robed figure pulled a shattered glass cup from their pocket. It shimmered with spatial ripples—it was a Portkey.

The moment the figure activated the Portkey, they vanished abruptly. The wall of fire in front of Kasenhis, now untethered from its master, began to spread and consume everything in its path.

"Professor! Can you use the spell you used during the dueling demonstration?" Hermione peeked out from her hiding spot and shouted.

"This fire is vast and untamed! That spell won't work this time!" Kasenhis replied quickly, pulling out parchment and a quill.

The quill tip flew across the parchment, sketching an intricate array of symbols. Finally, he summoned an enchanting table.

"If I catch that guy, I swear he'll regret it!" Kasenhis growled as he placed the parchment onto the floating book atop the enchanting table. The book flipped its pages rapidly, and a surge of majestic purple magic enveloped the all-consuming Fiendfyre.

"Curse of Vanishing!"

Buzz!

As the magical book snapped shut in Kasenhis's hands, the Fiendfyre, which had been devouring everything moments ago, vanished into thin air. If it weren't for the scorched land and the forest reduced to ash and charcoal, the young wizards might have thought it had all been a nightmare.

Boom!

A burst of gold and crimson light flared nearby.

Kasenhis, trembling slightly, gripped his wand tightly and turned bloodshot eyes toward the figures emerging from the flames.

Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Snape, and Flitwick.

"Kasen!"

"Professor!"

Harry and Neville, who had been keeping a close eye on Kasenhis, quickly climbed over their cover to catch him before he could collapse face-first to the ground.

Dumbledore approached swiftly, his expression a mix of fear and barely concealed anger. Yet he forced himself to remain calm, striding forward. "…It's just exhaustion from overextending his self-protection. Severus."

Snape immediately pulled two bottles of magic-restoring potion from his robes. With practiced efficiency, he shoved Harry and Neville aside as if moving useless objects, opened one of the potion bottles, and began pouring it into Kasenhis's mouth. He even tilted Kasenhis's chin to prevent choking.

"That damned Dark Wizard… how dare he—how could he!" Professor McGonagall's eyes were red with fury as she surveyed the devastated battlefield and the unconscious Kasenhis lying on the ground.

She couldn't bear to think about what might have happened if Kasenhis hadn't been here. If Hagrid had been the one to lead these young wizards on patrol tonight...

A wave of suffocating guilt washed over her.

She had only wanted to teach the five misbehaving students a stern lesson, but instead...

Meanwhile, Professors Flitwick and Sprout were scanning the area with their wands, ensuring that no lingering embers from the Fiendfyre remained. Any overlooked sparks could spell disaster.

"Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor Kasenhis, is he…?" The other three young wizards ran over, looking at Dumbledore anxiously.

"In this matter, Severus is the expert," Dumbledore replied.

"Probably…His magic reserves are depleted, but they can be restored. Two bottles of potion should do the trick. However, his mental exhaustion... he won't be fit to teach for at least a week," Snape said with a furrowed brow.

Dumbledore nodded. "That's already the best outcome we could hope for. Let's get him back to his office."

"Not sending him to the hospital wing... oh." Harry started to speak instinctively but quickly stopped himself, realizing that the hospital wing also housed Professor Quirrell, the Dark Wizard who didn't get along with Professor Kasenhis.

In Kasenhis's current state, sending him there would be like serving him up on a platter to Quirrell. Going to his own office was undoubtedly the better choice, so Harry quickly held his tongue.

Dumbledore glanced at Harry, nodded in agreement, and said, "Severus, I'll need you to brew some potions." 

With that, he gathered everyone together. In a flash of flames, they reappeared in the Alchemy office.

After dismissing the others, the office was left with only Dumbledore, Snape, and the unconscious Kasenhis lying on the bed.

Now, it was Dumbledore's turn to leave.

"Where are you going?" Snape asked.

"To find my old alchemy textbooks from my school days. It seems I'll need to step in as the Alchemy substitute professor for the week."

"I don't think that's necessary!" 

The previously unconscious Kasenhis suddenly struggled to sit up in bed. 

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