Who let this Dementor into Hogwarts!

Chapter 286 The Curse of Unwavering Loyalty? The Secret Keeper is...

"Huh?" the timid bald-headed Number Four exclaimed in surprise, "But... isn't the Minister of Magic... a bit too..."

Bald No. 5, who had just woken up, fainted again.

"Shut up!" Baldy Number Three roared at the cowardly Baldy Number Four. "Are you being cowardly? This is the Lord's command!"

"The Lord's robe...smells of lavender—"

"..." Cohen kicked away the bald number two who was grabbing the hem of his robe and kissing him passionately.

too disgusting!

Why did Voldemort train the Death Eaters into such a monstrous state?
Indeed, some people are born to go to Azkaban—but not now.

They now have to fulfill Cohen's demands.

“If…if we fail…” Bald No. 1, who was following behind Bald No. 2 and kowtowing, said with a trembling voice.

"You know what will happen..."

In just a second or two, Cohen transformed back into his Dementor form.

The large, tattered cloak fluttered gently in the air, instantly chilling the air and even causing frost to form on the cups containing the residue of the compound decoction.

The faceless face beneath Cohen's cloak approached the bald third man, who was suspected to be the leader of the five, and whispered...

“I don’t need the faith of the useless; you can serve as inferior sacrifices…”

“Lord, we are all willing to become the ashes after your burning dream…” Bald Number Three said reverently.
-
To create a mysterious atmosphere, Cohen chose to become invisible on the spot and then controlled the influence of his Dementor form on the surrounding temperature.

It was clear that Cohen's sudden disappearance into thin air had greatly excited the five Silver Key members—to become a talking Dementor, so aloof, and demanding the current Minister of Magic as a sacrifice…

This clearly shows that the Lord has awakened!

The Lord needs them to demonstrate their loyalty so that, after the Lord destroys the entire false world, their souls can rebuild a new, real world with the Lord.

But the only problem is...

“Boss, I really want to help the leader kill that Fudge…” Number Four said sadly, “but he should have a group of Aurors protecting him, we’ll die…”

"I'm sure I'll die..." Number One said with equal worry.

"Then offer us up to the Lord!" Number Three glared at the two men. "Wait—what are you doing?"

As she spoke, Number Three looked toward Number Two, who was still searching for Cohen's scent at the spot where Cohen had disappeared.

"The Lord's scent has faded..." Number Two said dejectedly.

"You son of a bitch—" Number Three kicked Number Two's butt in exasperation, "What should excite you is the fact that you are about to dedicate yourself to the Lord, not lying on the ground obsessed with the Lord's scent!"

"But I really like the scent of lavender—"

"Fainted and collapsed!" Number Three drew his wand and instantly knocked out Number Two.

"All right."

After seeing that Number Two was kneeling and lying unconscious on the ground in an extremely strange posture, Number Three said with satisfaction:

"It's much quieter now—we need to change our plans... First like this... then like this... and finally..."

He went on and on in a lot of gibberish, but Cohen didn't really listen to much of what he was saying.

It was roughly a case of four people causing trouble in the camp while one person took advantage of the chaos to launch an attack.

Cohen was not at all surprised by this crude plan. After all, the main purpose of this matter was to send Silver Key to his death, not to actually use this rabble to kill Fudge.
-
Back in his tent, Dobby had already prepared food and gone home immediately—leaving Edward to feast alone.

"So? Anything interesting happened?" Edward asked Cohen. "A French girl? Fantastic creatures? Players from the Bulgarian and Irish teams? I heard that Krum from the Bulgarian team is pretty good..."

"I didn't see the French girl or the magical creatures," Cohen said, taking off his robe and tossing it aside. "But I did run into a pervert who kissed my robe—"

"Pervert?" Edward swallowed the food he had just put in his mouth and asked warily, "What pervert? Where? What did he do to you? Male or female? If it's a male, where is he? I'm coming right now—"

“No need.” Cohen shook his head. “It’s not as bad as you think. It’s just that the clothes need to be washed.”

“Alright—I’m finished eating.” Edward quickly finished his breakfast. “Let’s go out for a walk, shall we? Let’s check on Arthur and the others. Our tickets are still in the penthouse… Speaking of which, Arnold is pretty amazing; those penthouse tickets are really hard to get.”

“A treacherous backroom deal…” Cohen shook his head.

Cohen dislikes two types of people: those who rely on connections and those who don't allow themselves to rely on connections.

Edward and Cohen ran into Arthur, who was discussing Quidditch with Ludo Bagman and his family, as they went outside.

Harry and Hermione helped Sirius shake off a middle-aged woman.

“Sirius!” The woman shook Sirius’s hand vigorously. “I read the Daily Prophet’s report about you in May. I can’t believe you were framed by Lupin the Pettigrew for so long…”

“It’s Peter, not Lupin…” Sirius said, pursing his lips, trying to pull his hand back. “Bertha, when did your memory become so bad…”

Harry and Hermione also came to the rescue, helping Sirius escape from Bertha Jorkins's clutches.

“Ms. Jorkins, this is the fifth time you’ve asked this question—” Harry reminded her.

"Is...is that so?"

Bertha blinked, looking confused, then turned and saw Sirius Black, and so—

“Sirius!” Bertha grabbed Sirius’s hand again and shook it hard. “I read the Daily Prophet’s report about you in May, and I can’t believe you were framed by Lupin the Pettigrew for so long…”

“Alright, Bertha, you still need to register the camp's water meters, hurry up and go—” Ludo Bagman called to Bertha, “It’d better be done before dinner starts—but it’s okay if you don’t—”

Bertha left at Mr. Bagman's suggestion, which relieved Sirius—he simply couldn't figure out how to get rid of someone who had suddenly started refreshing his memories and repeatedly performing the same set of actions.

“Poor old Bertha… her memory is like a leaky cauldron,” Bagman said casually. “But don’t worry about it, just let her find something to do to kill time. She can fill out an entire registration form next to a tap—Edward!”

When Bagman saw Edward, he perked up and opened his arms to hug Edward.

"I haven't seen you and Rose for over a decade—I heard you've got a dangerous pet—"

"Ahem." Edward coughed a few times, stopping Bagman from saying anything more. "I've been staying home taking care of the kids these past few years. It's quieter away from the wizarding world..."

“Oh—this must be your son Cohen.” Bagman then noticed Cohen standing next to Edward. “He looks a lot like you—I mean—” “If you can’t speak, you don’t have to…” Edward said, covering his face.

“It’s okay, I think we actually look quite alike, except for our hair color and face shape,” Cohen patted Edward on the back reassuringly. “If you want, I can dye my hair blonde too—”

“You too.” Edward smacked Cohen on the head with his knuckles.

“How about we talk about something more interesting? I was just discussing this match with Arthur and the others—want to place a bet? I’ve convinced Roddy Punnett to bet with me that Bulgaria will score the first goal—but Ireland’s number three striker is the best I’ve seen in years—” Bagman changed the subject, “Little Agatha Tims has staked half her eel farm stock on a bet that the match will last a week, and even Arthur just placed a Galleon!”

“And us, and us!” Fred and George squeezed in. “We’re betting thirty-seven Galleons, fifteen Sickles, and three Nats—on Ireland to win, but Krum will catch the Golden Snitch—oh, and we’ll add a fake wand to that.”

As he spoke, Fred pulled a lifelike black wand from his pocket.

“Don’t do these things…” Percy seemed to want to stop his brothers from doing something foolish in front of the Ministry of Magic officials.

But when Mr. Bagman took the wand from Fred and saw it squawk and turn into a rubber chick, he burst into laughter.

“Fantastic! I’ll pay five Galleons for it!” Bagman exclaimed excitedly.

Arthur wanted to persuade Fred and George not to gamble, but Bagman rudely stopped him.

“The kids are all grown up now, they all know what they want—Edward, would you like to join in? Try your luck?” Bagman turned to Edward and asked.

"Cohen, who do you think will win?" Edward whispered in Cohen's ear. "Or maybe you should ask your horned water snake—I mean..."

“Ireland will win, but Krum will catch the Golden Snitch,” Cohen said dryly. “But don’t even think about gambling here—”

"Knowing the outcome and not gambling is foolish," Edward said. "Wait until you make a fortune—"

"I'll tell Mom."

With just one sentence, Cohen made Edward pull back his hand that was about to reach out to Bagman.

Bagman shook his head in disappointment.

“Oh, by the way, Arthur, can you do me a favor? I’ve been looking for Barty Crouch, that Bulgarian official who’s my equal, and he’s been giving us the runaround, but I can’t understand a word he’s saying.” Bagman suddenly thought, “Barty can definitely solve this problem; he speaks about 150 languages.”

"Mr. Crouch?" Percy suddenly became excited and began to talk at length about Crouch's abilities, seemingly admiring the man greatly.

As if Old Barty had overheard the discussion, within seconds, a middle-aged man in a spotless, well-tailored suit appeared beside them in a phantom-like manner.

“We were just talking about you, Buddy!” Bagman said happily. “Would you like to sit by the campfire? You must be very busy—”

“No, thank you, Ludo,” Old Batty said impatiently. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere. The Bulgarians insisted that we add twelve more seats to the top-floor box.”

As he spoke, Buddy caught a glimpse of Edward, and Cohen next to Edward.

Cohen wasn't sure why Old Deng was staring at him for so long, and Old Crouch's emotions were also complicated, as chaotic as a tangled ball of thread tangled by a cat.

“Edward, I didn’t see Rose. Shouldn’t your family have come together?” Barty asked Edward.

"Rose should enjoy life without us two causing trouble at home," Edward joked, pulling Cohen behind him protectively.

“The last application was approved,” Barty said. “Amelia vouched for you.”

"That's great." Edward smiled.

After Barty left, the somber atmosphere became lively again, and they began to stroll around the camp in groups, as souvenir vendors with trays and carts would appear from time to time, and Harry and his friends had their minds completely focused on those magical souvenirs.

However, Cohen was still thinking about what Barty had said.

The Amelia he mentioned was someone Cohen recognized; she was the head of the Department of Law Enforcement.

What did Edward and Rose apply for that required the guarantee of the Chief Justice?
"What did Mr. Crouch just say?" Cohen pulled Edward aside when there were fewer people around and asked, "What did you apply for?"

“About those unnecessary surveillance things…” Edward said in a low voice, “and then there’s what you said last time, that those silver keys wanted to hurt you by targeting me and your mother—so we came up with a slightly more reliable plan.”

"What method?" Cohen asked.

"The Curse of Unwavering Loyalty," Edward said. "To put it simply... it's..."

“I know that,” Cohen said. “To hide a secret in someone’s soul so that it will never be discovered—do you mean you’d never go out? I feel like you’d suffocate… But what does that have to do with the Ministry of Magic? You don’t need the Ministry’s permission to use that spell, do you?”

“It’s not your mother and me who’s hiding, it’s our house—normally we wouldn’t need to go through the Ministry of Magic,” Edward sighed. “But we’re currently in the Ministry of Magic’s ‘regular reporting phase for security reasons,’ and if we hide the house, they’ll assume we’ve escaped—”

“This is Jill’s protection,” Cohen said, narrowing his eyes. “To label someone a ‘hit-and-run’ when there’s no crime?”

Fudge has been doing quite a lot behind the scenes; it seems the Earl's prediction that "nothing happened" was wrong.

Fudge's tinkering did indeed annoy Cohen a bit.

“I know—I know…” Edward nodded. “So I pulled some strings and got Amelia to vouch for us—I told him that the Silver Key wanted criminals were targeting our family, and the Fidelity Charm's shield would remain in place until the Ministry of Magic caught those criminals…”

"Hmm." Cohen gave a nonchalant "hmm."

“Wait…you won’t get angry about this and then…” Edward, seeing that Cohen didn’t react, quickly grabbed Cohen’s shoulders to remind him, “Don’t do anything stupid—”

"Don't worry, I'll stay right under your nose and won't go anywhere," Cohen reassured him. "Who are you planning to send as the keeper of the 'Loyalty Curse'?"

"What do you think?" Edward looked at Cohen with a subtle expression.

"Dumbledore?"

“I’m too old, I’ll die easily.” Edward shook his head.

"Martha?"

“That’s too much of a mouth,” Edward said, rubbing his forehead.

“It can’t be an earl, can it?” Cohen clicked his tongue.

While the count is quite safe, it's too naive to entrust a bird with keeping secrets.

“We’re getting closer,” Edward said.

"..." Cohen seemed to know who the person keeping the secret would be.

“You won’t reveal the location of the house where your mother and I live, right?” Edward said with a grin.

(End of this chapter)