Who let this Dementor into Hogwarts!

Chapter 242 It's love, it's love to the point of madness!
"You're not going to make me recreate myself, are you?" Cohen asked.

“Your existence is irreplaceable,” Nico said. “You just need to keep injecting humanity into it, not just yours—but also that of those who love you. Until that mixture of humanity can survive like a living organism.”

“Like Edward and Rose?” Cohen asked.

“Your parents are the best option, of course, but you have to make sure it doesn’t hurt them,” Nico said. “People can produce these indefinitely—but don’t take too many at once, it will affect family harmony… I remember when Perenaar and I had a week-long cold war when the Philosopher’s Stone was first made—it was pretty terrible.”

As he spoke, Nicole's portrait shuddered in his recollection.

"I'd better just tell them the facts directly."

Cohen pondered and said,
"Going out with a wand to slap their 'humanity' without saying a word looks a bit like a plot from a heart-wrenching 300,000-word novel that's been misunderstood and then forced to reveal..."

“And I bet nobody likes watching this.” The count yawned. “This kind of plot usually includes some old tropes like ‘the protagonist keeps explaining, but the stupid supporting character never believes it until the world is about to end, at which point he suddenly realizes and starts to get sentimental.’”

“That makes sense.” Cohen nodded.

“Of course that makes sense,” the count said matter-of-factly.

“Right, right?” Nicole didn’t quite understand what the two were talking about.
-
"I have something to announce—where's Mom?"

Cohen left the workshop with the book containing Nico's portrait, but when he went downstairs, he only saw Edward.

“Your mother went to see other men,” Edward said, his voice laced with jealousy.

"Really?" Cohen asked suspiciously. "You just asked your mom to go out for a business dinner because the colleague she was asking you to is more handsome than you, right?"

"He has a Hitler mustache, abs, and a silver tongue... but that's not the point. The point is that he clearly has feelings for your mother, otherwise why would he suddenly come to our house on the weekend and ask her to come to the editorial office—" Edward replied, "No, I can't just sit here and wait to die—I have to go out and work!"

“Ed has grown up…”

Cohen sighed,
"Wait, isn't the newspaper office full of Muggles now?"

"Hmm?" Edward asked, "What's wrong with Muggles?"

“You’re a wizard!” Cohen commanded. “You think you can let Muggles treat you like this? Be ruthless, go and clog his toilet with cement.”

“That would be too dirty. I’m going to beat him by the proper means,” Edward said angrily. “Just wait, I’ll write my job application for the newspaper this afternoon—what were you saying you were going to announce again?”

“I just went to see Nicolas Flamel.”

Cohen placed Nicole's book on the coffee table.
"Regarding my problems—perhaps it would be more appropriate for him to explain them to you..."

Edward stared in surprise at the portrait of Nicolas Flamel, but before he could exchange a few pleasantries with the alchemist, Flamel cut straight to the point.

As soon as the topic of how Cohen "preserves humanity" was raised, Edward abandoned his polite tone and asked eagerly:

"What should I do? Split my soul again? I—"

“It’s not that bad…” Cohen stopped Edward, who wanted to tear open the soul again. “If you tear it any more, you’ll turn into breadcrumbs. It’s just a matter of periodically taking a little ‘humanity’—it sounds like I’m some kind of parasite clinging to you, eating your souls and sucking your humanity…”

“Don’t talk nonsense,” Edward said in a tone he had never used before. “You are my son—you are not allowed to call yourself a parasite.”

“Okay.” Cohen shut his mouth. “I just wanted to lighten the mood…” After understanding the whole process, Edward was even more eager than Cohen to finish making the “Hermes Bottle”.

Unfortunately, the human impurities in the bottle need time to develop, and Edward's alone is clearly not enough.

Cohen intends to extend the timeframe slightly.

"Isn't that enough?" Edward asked, still uneasy, after pouring a wisp of murky mist, the color of which was indistinct, into the Hermes Bottle. "I feel fine now, can you add some more?"

"Don't add any more. You still have to write your job application this afternoon." Cohen closed the bottle.

“I don’t really feel like writing anymore,” Edward said.

“That means your current situation isn’t ‘I feel okay right now.’” Cohen rejected Edward’s request. “Go write your job application, and then go to the newspaper and give that old man who’s eyeing my mother a good kick.”

"Snapped!"

The front door opened, and Rose stormed back in.

“He doesn’t do any work himself and expects me to work overtime for him. Does he think I’m some kind of weak little girl who can’t stand up for myself and gets exploited by her boss?” Rose said angrily. “That damn Hord—what were you two talking about? I think I heard Cohen say again… ‘He’s after my mom’?”

“Edward said he’s going to work for the newspaper!” Cohen blurted out.

"No!" Edward waved his hand hastily. "I feel like I'm having a cramp—oh no, my back hurts so much—I'm doomed, Cohen, quick, help me back to the bedroom—I think I'm having a cramp—I'm in so much pain I'm talking nonsense..."

“This is ‘the syndrome of feeling weak and aching all over at the mere mention of work,’” Cohen said. “At Hogwarts, you can’t get a day off for that reason.”

“If you’re interested, I do have a position for you,” Rose said skeptically. “But why the sudden urge to work? Are you feeling dizzy all the time? Or is it because of your house-elf? I can arrange for it to stay with a friend; if that makes you feel better…”

"What's causing your dizziness?" Cohen asked curiously.

“Because…emmmm…it was because of war?” Edward said vaguely.

Cohen felt it was more like the aftereffects of tearing apart the soul—Edward's soul was damaged far more severely than Rose's.

The discussion about Edward's employment didn't last long. Soon Rose was also told that Cohen needed to 'preserve humanity,' and her choice was almost identical to Edward's.

After collecting a small portion of humanity, Cohen took Nicole's book back to his room.

"Is there any way to help my parents mend their souls?" Cohen suddenly asked. "Will having a flaw in one's soul have any negative consequences...?"

“It has an impact, but not much,” Nico said. “However, I’m sorry, repairing a soul damaged by dark magic isn’t difficult, but this kind of…”

"Why can't they do it?" Cohen frowned.

“They were souls torn apart by love,” Nicole said. “The missing part of their souls… made you, and became part of the ‘gold’.”

“You can tear gold apart and contaminate it, but you can’t break it down.”

(End of this chapter)