Who let this Dementor into Hogwarts!

Chapter 304 already states it, Cohen represents Azkaban.

It seems a bit inappropriate to leave Ron here alone...

But there was nothing they could do; the place was already full—to prevent Hogwarts from having three warriors, Cohen had even blatantly written the prefix "Azkaban" on the note.

"Go to that room, Cohen," Dumbledore said, pointing to Cohen as he came up.

As Cohen passed the faculty desks, he not only heard whispers from the students, but also from the professors.

Cohen pushed open the door that Harry had just closed but hadn't closed properly and went inside.

"impossible."

As soon as Cohen entered, he heard Hibiscus angrily denouncing the unfairness of the competition.

She and the other warriors sat around the fireplace, all staring intently at Harry, who stood helplessly before them.

“He’s too young,” Furong said. “It’s obvious that he can’t participate in the competition.”

"Cohen?" Harry, who was standing to the side not knowing what to say, noticed Cohen who had just walked in and immediately came over as if he had seen some savior.

"Did Dumbledore offer some solution?" Cedric remembered Cohen—because Hopkins from Hufflepuff had been visiting Cohen frequently this semester.

“This is hard to explain,” Cohen said. “Now we have five warriors.”

“What?” Krum’s thick eyebrows furrowed as he spoke with a heavy accent, “You’re a Hogwarts student, aren’t you? I saw you wearing your Hogwarts uniform.”

"Hogwarts has three champions?" Fleur questioned. "That's not fair."

“It is indeed quite unfair.” Cohen nodded, showing no remorse as the “instigator of rule-breaking.”

"Snapped--"

The door to the room was pushed open, and a crowd of people rushed in: the three headmasters, Professor McGonagall, Snape, Moody, and Fudge and Crouch.

"Ms. Maxim!" Fleur ran over as soon as she saw her principal enter. "These two little boys say they want to participate in the competition too!"

“What’s going on here, Dumbledore?” Madam Maxime asked Dumbledore. “This shouldn’t be included in the charter we’re discussing.”

“I’d like to know that too, Dumbledore.” Karkaroff wore a cold, emotionless smile, his voice greasy and slick. “Hogwarts alone has more champions than the other two schools combined. I don’t recall anyone telling me that the host school can have more champions—or perhaps I haven’t read these bylaws carefully enough?”

“But it’s already happened.” Fudge wiped his brow. “There might really be something wrong with the Goblet of Fire—Barty, shouldn’t we…”

“According to the rules, anyone whose name is uttered from the Goblet of Fire must participate in the tournament,” Crouch said in an extremely formal manner. Then, he turned to Dumbledore, “Dumbledore, may I see the parchment these champions use to vote?”

Dumbledore handed the five parchments with each person's name on them to Barty.

“Look at the handwriting, Batty,” Moody said, leaning on his cane as he moved closer to Batty. “We can’t rule out the possibility that the killer had someone else write it—but that would narrow down our search area even further; there aren’t that many students in the school…”

“The murderer?” Professor McGonagall exclaimed in horror. “Alastor, you mean someone wants to…”

"Are you trying to shift the blame?" Karkaroff shouted. "The problem now is that there are three champions at Hogwarts! Three!"

“This is unreasonable. Hogwarts cannot have so many warriors. It’s extremely unfair,” Ms. Maxim said. “They cannot participate.”

"You didn't put your names in the Goblet of Fire, did you?" Dumbledore asked Harry and Cohen calmly, ignoring the questions from the other two headmasters. "No," Cohen and Harry replied.

“Children’s words are not to be trusted,” Karkarov said slyly.

“But there is no evidence that they did so, Igor,” Dumbledore said. “Perhaps you have more obvious evidence?”

“You said your age limit would exclude underage competitors,” Karkaroff changed the subject and questioned, “otherwise we would certainly bring more candidates from our schools.”

“Harry Potter’s affiliation is unclear, but Cohen Norton is clearly not a Hogwarts champion,” Crouch said suddenly, staring at the last piece of parchment in his hand.

“Even after removing one, Hogwarts still has the advantage,” Mrs. Maxime said.

Moody glanced at the contents of the small note in Barty's hand, then at Cohen, whose magic eye began to spin rapidly.

“No, I didn’t say Norton isn’t a champion,” Crouch unfolded the note with Cohen’s name on it, “but that he doesn’t belong at Hogwarts—”

The words on the note were small, but almost everyone was close enough to see them very clearly.

The name written on it left everyone speechless.

Azkaban

“Is this some kind of April Fool’s joke?” Ms. Maxim said. “It’s rather inappropriate for this occasion.”

Karkaroff fell silent, and upon seeing the name, he didn't even dare to look Cohen in the eye.

"..." Fudge stared intently at Cohen, but Cohen still acted as if he knew nothing.

Without even thinking, Fudge was already starting to believe that Cohen really was involved in the Dementor riots.

“Dumbledore?” Crouch asked Dumbledore. “Should we explain publicly, or privately…”

“Go back now, warriors,” Dumbledore said. “We will share the results with the headmasters. As for whether the results should be shared with you, that is up to the headmasters—Cohen, you stay.”

"Hmph." At Ms. Maxim's request, Fleur tossed her hair and left.

Krum also left quietly.

Harry wanted to stay, but Cedric dragged him away.

“Calm down,” Cedric whispered. “Don’t do it in front of other schools…”

After the warriors left, only a bunch of adults and Cohen standing here alone remained.

“Alright, now you can speak, Dumbledore,” said Mrs. Maxim.

But she suddenly noticed that everyone around her seemed to have a hint of unease on their faces—as if everyone except her knew about Cohen's relationship with Azkaban.

"Why do I feel like you all know about this?" Ms. Maxim looked at Karkaroff. "Professor Karkaroff, you know about it too?"

(End of this chapter)