Who let this Dementor into Hogwarts!

Chapter 244 Let the Hogwarts elders think of a solution.
As soon as the dinner ended, Harry and Ron couldn't wait to drag Korn and Hermione into an empty classroom.

"We've run into Sirius Black!"

Harry's first words were a bombshell.

"What!" Hermione's eyes widened.

“Not surprising at all.” Cohen looked at Ron.

Someone had just said before Christmas, "I'll try to talk to Harry."

“It wasn’t us who went to him—” Ron quickly explained, “It was him who came to us!”

“We were on our way to find Hagrid on Christmas Day when we ran into a big black dog on the field,” Harry said hurriedly. “You should remember Korn—the big dog we saw on Privet Drive—Ron insisted it was bad luck…”

“How would I know that dog would turn into a human!” Ron retorted. “And that it would say it’s your godfather…”

"A dog turned into a human? Animagus?" Hermione remembered what Cohen had told her on the train last time.

Dementors' diet consists only of humans; other animals will not be attacked by Dementors.

“No wonder…” Hermione murmured, “But he didn’t hurt Harry? Or… has he already been captured?”

“That’s something Harry and I don’t quite understand either,” Ron said. “Back then, he grabbed Harry by the clothes and led us to the edge of the Forbidden Forest—and then turned into what he looks like on the wanted poster—”

"Harry actually managed to refrain from killing him?" Cohen frowned.

“That’s what I initially thought…” Harry scratched his head.

“I knew it…” Hermione said, covering her forehead.

“But you couldn’t beat him, right?” Cohen had already guessed the outcome.

If Sirius were determined to die, Harry might be able to ride on his back and unleash a barrage of attacks.

But Sirius has already been persuaded by Cohen to take care of Harry, so this time Sirius is definitely prepared to let Harry "calm down" first.

“We didn’t hit him, but he didn’t lay a hand on us either,” Ron said. “He told Harry something absurd—that Peter Pettigrew was still alive, and that Peter was the informant and the murderer.”

“But Peter Pettigrew died twelve years ago?” Hermione asked. “Killed by Sirius Black—”

“The rest is even more ridiculous,” Ron said, his face grim. “He said Peter Pettigrew is Scabbers…”

“After all, he turned into a dog, so it's not entirely impossible for Peter Pettigrew to turn into a mouse…” Harry said uncertainly, then looked at Cohen, “Sirius Black also said that Cohen knows about this—”

"Ok?"

Cohen's eyes widened.
"Ah...I do know a little..."

“But you never told us!” Ron asked incredulously.

“You didn’t even ask me,” Cohen said matter-of-factly. “Besides, I was planning to tell Harry all at once when I took him to Hogsmeade to meet Sirius, preferably with Scabbers as proof—but unfortunately, Scabbers is missing—” “Don’t tell me that the rat I’ve been raising all these years is actually a short, ugly middle-aged man.” Ron seemed to have his last bit of psychological defenses breached.

“That’s right.” Cohen nodded.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhh!!!" Ron covered his head and plopped down in a chair, contemplating the meaning of life.

"Did you tell the professors?" Hermione asked anxiously.

“We can’t tell the professor,” Harry said decisively. “If we tell the professor, Sirius will be caught, and Scabbers isn’t here now, so we can’t prove his innocence.”

“You’re already on his side, Harry!” Hermione said worriedly. “What if he’s lying to you? He’s a wanted criminal!”

“If he wanted to kill me, he would have done it then, wouldn’t he?” Harry exclaimed excitedly. “Now Cohen has proven it—and Sirius said that if we could catch Scabbers and clear his name… he could take me to his house—I wouldn’t have to live with the Dursleys anymore…”

"Besides, he also gave me a fire bolt." Harry was racking his brains for a reason to hide Sirius's location.

"Oh, it's mainly because of the fire crossbow bolts," Cohen said, suddenly realizing.

“Fire bolts are really expensive.” Ron, who had just been contemplating life, suddenly said, “Now I also feel that there might really be something more to the Sirius Black affair—after Cohen also confirmed it…”

“It’s because I want to know the truth!” Harry raised his voice unconsciously. “If all of this is true… I can have a family again—he’s my godfather—I saw him in the album Hagrid gave me, at my parents’ wedding!”

“But Cohen… I mean…” Hermione glanced uneasily at Cohen’s location, “if you’re really going to do this…”

"You're not going to secretly tell Professor McGonagall, are you?" Ron asked warily.

“Of course not,” Hermione said. “I… alright… if you want to find out the truth, I’ll definitely help you—maybe I’ll have to practice a few useful spells to hopefully handle some unexpected situations…”

“The problem now is how to find Peter who escaped,” Harry said, his head pounding. “He’s probably not even in the castle anymore. I don’t see his name on the Marauder’s Map… We’re searching the whole world for a bald rat…”

“He’s a coward, he definitely wouldn’t dare leave,” Cohen said. “There are Dementors outside and Sirius Black chasing him, not only that, I think Voldemort’s former henchmen are probably also after him.”

"Why?" Harry asked, somewhat confused. "Why would Voldemort's former henchmen be hunting him down? Weren't they all in cahoots?"

“Don’t say that name…” Ron groaned.

“Think about it, Peter revealed your parents’ location to their master, and as soon as their master arrived, they were gone—what will these Death Eaters think? They’ll scatter like leaves in the wind, some will run away, some will go to jail, and their once high and mighty lives will be shattered in an instant…” Cohen said, “Peter Pettigrew clearly killed both your parents and Voldemort at the same time, so he’s not happy with either side.”

"Shall we search the castle?" Harry asked. "Wouldn't that be too difficult... to find even a mouse?"

“I can release the old basilisk,” Cohen said. “It knows Hogwarts well; finding a human-like rat should be easy.”

This statement was, of course, meant to fool the three of them—the real Peter Pettigrew was in Cohen's box, while the fake Peter Pettigrew was hidden by Cohen in a mouse hole in the castle. To reasonably "find" the fake Peter, Cohen would need to come up with some plausible reasons.

For example, having the older generation of Hogwarts "catch Peter".

(End of this chapter)