Let Me Explain

"Why... are you chopping wood?"

Kane scratched his head. "Didn't I say I was afraid of the dark? It's for making a fire."

"..."

After thinking about it all day, Dumbledore had also guessed why Kane burned a campfire instead of turning on the lights at night.

It was most likely related to the shadow that had attacked him by the Black Lake that evening. Just as only magic could defeat magic, only light tainted by shadow could drive away shadow.

"Kingsley told me that on the day you stayed at the motel, there was a fluctuation of dark magic that lasted the entire night. It was this campfire, wasn't it?" Rather than foolishly making wild guesses like most people would, Dumbledore asked directly.

"You guessed wrong this time. That was something else." Kane was naturally referring to Charlie, who had chased him from the Constant. Burning his own shadow merely kept Charlie from attacking him, but if she wanted to, she could still hide in the darkness and keep spying on him.

Compared to that, the campfire was much more useful.

"I look forward to the day you return to Hogwarts." Dumbledore watched Kane leave the office.

After leaving Hogwarts, Kane first went to the Forbidden Forest to chop a stack of wood, then went to the Black Lake to dig up a stack of Mu Jins. Finally, he arrived at Hagrid's hut and went with Hagrid to the Leaky Cauldron.

"Tom, the pub owner, is a very good man. You can ask him for help if anything comes up. If he can't solve it, write directly to Dumbledore. He'll handle those problems." Hagrid instructed Kane, then pulled a cake from behind his back as if by magic.

"Today's Harry's birthday. I figured no one had ever celebrated it for him in a family like that, so I took it upon myself... Could you give it to him for me?" Hagrid said, his large face flushed bright red.

"I will." Kane raised an eyebrow. Well, there was dinner taken care of.

Carrying the cake, Kane found the room Harry had rented. He tapped the door with the tip of his shoe, and Harry opened it soon afterward. The first thing he saw was the cake.

"Whoa, is this for me? Why is my name spelled wrong again?" Harry said in surprise.

"Ask Hagrid later. Maybe Hogwarts doesn't teach language classes." Kane placed the cake on the table in the room, found his own bed, then started pulling several Mu Jins and pieces of firewood from his pocket. With a wave of his wand, shadow swept up the materials and dropped them onto the floor, where they burst into flame.

"That... this is what you meant? A campfire?" Harry stared at the scene in shock. At that moment, not even the cake could have drawn the expression currently on his face.

"What else did you think it would be?" Kane looked at Harry in confusion. What strange thing had this kid imagined now?

"I thought your lighting over there would be something like a big oil drum with firewood burning inside it. Living off a campfire for warmth... Things have been way too rough for you since you left the Dursleys, haven't they?" After hesitating for a long time, Harry decided to put it a little more harshly.

He knew he couldn't stay at the Leaky Cauldron every time school let out or he left Hogwarts. Sooner or later, he would still have to return to the Dursleys'.

And Kane was the same. He couldn't keep sleeping under bridges during the holidays, could he? Better to say something that hit him where it hurt and snap him out of it, then have him return to the Dursleys' with him during breaks.

It was still emotional abuse, but at least there would be somewhere to live. He wouldn't need to use a campfire for warmth and lighting.

Look at poor Kane. A few days of roughing it outdoors had probably given him PTSD. Now he couldn't even sleep peacefully without staring at a campfire.

Kane, meanwhile, had no idea what Harry was thinking. Sitting on the bed, he pulled things out of his pocket one after another and tossed them onto the floor.

Wood.

"Please keep that away from the campfire. If the wood catches fire, we'll have to pay for this room."

Mu Jin.

"If you smash the floor, we'll have to pay for that too."

Two pieces of gold.

"That would be enough to cover it, but honestly, it wouldn't be worth it."

Kane looked at Harry helplessly. "You should just eat your cake."

With that, he pulled out his wand and gave it a light flick. Shadow poured from its tip, swept up all the materials on the floor, and in the blink of an eye turned them into an incredibly crude Science Machine with belts and levers.

"Huh?" Harry's eyes widened at the sight. "No way, man. Since when did you learn Transfiguration?"

Kane raised an eyebrow. "This isn't Transfiguration. I made it myself with materials."

Harry stood there with his mouth open, unsure what he was supposed to say. Should he say that was awesome? Or that Kane was trying to fool a ghost?

In the end, he said nothing. A mature person had to tolerate a friend's strange little quirks.

After brushing Harry off, another person came online. Maxwell stroked his chin as he looked at the Science Machine Kane had made. "What do you need that thing for?"

"Um... to make an Alchemy Engine?" Kane gave his answer.

"I see. You're making an Alchemy Engine so you can make a Spirit Particle Disintegrator, right?" Maxwell said helplessly.

"Smart as always, Old Max. No wonder you became the Lord of the Constant." Kane dismissed Maxwell as he spoke, casually ate two small cakes, brushed his teeth, lit the fire, and went to sleep in one smooth sequence.

"Wait."

Kane sat up from the bed. "What is it?"

"Won't this fire give us carbon monoxide poisoning by tomorrow?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"Poisoning is a low-probability event. But if I didn't have this fire, when you woke up tomorrow, you'd most likely see a skeleton." Kane covered himself up again as he spoke.

In the blink of an eye, it was the next day.

"Ugh, feels like my Sanity dropped again. Probably because of this wand." Kane looked at the wand in his hand helplessly. He had to find a way to restore some Sanity.

Restoring Sanity was simple. First, he could turn into a bottomless pit and gorge himself on a pile of delicious food. Second...

"I wonder if Diagon Alley sells flower garlands." Kane helplessly nudged the sleeping Harry and asked in a ghostly voice, "Where's your money?"

Still half-asleep, Harry dug a glittering object out of the bedside table. "Vault key. Go get it yourself."

Holding the key, Kane looked at Harry with wholehearted approval and nodded repeatedly.

"Now this is what a true bro looks like."

Gringotts appeared to operate twenty-four hours a day. Less than half an hour after entering, Kane came back out with five Galleons.

After all, he only wanted to buy a flower garland. Was he supposed to empty Harry's vault?

Anyone who had that idea could be called the most heartless person alive.

But when Kane put the flower garland fused with his own shadow on his head, sat at the bar downstairs, and felt his Sanity recovering, he suddenly thought of a serious problem.

As a full-blooded man, wearing this flower garland felt... kind of gay.

"Would you think so too?" Kane looked at Tom across from him, who was always polishing glasses, and asked this profound question.

"You're still young. Young people can do no wrong," Tom comforted him.

"That's good, then." Kane breathed a sigh of relief, jumped down from his stool, turned around, and saw Harry standing there with a blank look on his face.

"Let me explain! I'm totally straight, bro!"