Who let this Dementor into Hogwarts!

Chapter 320 Just how many things have you two been keeping behind my back?!

Now that Herbert had accepted what was to come, Cohen had no more reservations and began to explain the actual situation to Edward and Rose.

From the death of Herbert's son, Cohen Burke, to the Burke family inviting Herbert to participate in experiments, and then to the Burke family turning their attention to Rose's children.

Herbert was not the kidnapper, and after discovering that the Burke family had kidnapped Rose's child, he tried to stop the experiment to save the child—but he failed and was imprisoned by the family until the manor was destroyed and the newborn Cohen released him, which is how he happened to run into Edward and Rose.

"..." Edward and Rose looked at Herbert, speechless for a long time.

"Why did you admit it back then..." Rose looked at Herbert, her voice a little hoarse, "Back then... I never doubted you—you were the only Burke I never hated..."

“All I wanted to do then was die…” Herbert raised his head, his eyes blurry as he looked at Rose. “All I wanted to do was die… I thought you would kill me—you should have killed me—I could have stopped it…”

“Oh…” Arnold stood in the corner, stunned, wiping away his tears of emotion—it was the first time he had ever heard such a complicated story.

“You have no sense of boundaries, bald uncle,” Cohen criticized. “I should be the one to ruin the atmosphere.”

"I won't speak," Arnold quickly shut his mouth.

"So who should I punch now?" Edward tried to lighten the mood, but it didn't work. "Okay... isn't it funny?"

With her eyes red and her face bruised and swollen, Rose and Herbert didn't look like they could laugh at all.

“I should have told you to learn from me,” Cohen said.

"Alright, alright." Rose rubbed her eyes. "Cohen has a game tomorrow. We're here to watch the game, not to ruin it..."

“Get up, I’ll go get you some medicine—and try the Restoration Charm again…” Edward pulled Herbert up from the ground, muttering, “If you had told me earlier, I wouldn’t have been so ruthless… I at least brought Cohen to see you during the holiday, instead of you suffering like this…”

"Is that all?" Arnold blinked.

"You expect Herbert to turn around and beat me back for beating him?" Edward said irritably.

“Then I won’t disturb you any longer—you two catch up, I’ll go out for a stroll—” Arnold made an excuse and slipped out.

“He was supposed to be here guarding things, right?” Cohen raised his eyebrows.

“Of course we left when there was no more entertainment.” Edward helped Herbert to another chair. “He often tells me he wants to go back to Hogwarts and visit all the places he wasn’t allowed to go before, like the Forbidden Forest.”

"No way, no way?" Cohen's eyes widened. "There really are people who study at Hogwarts and have never been to the Forbidden Forest even once?"

Edward couldn't find the medicine, but the Restoration Charm was still quite effective for this kind of superficial injury; at least the bruises on Herbert's face had subsided considerably.

Out of apology for throwing too hard, Edward poured him a glass of water.

"Forget about the Forbidden Forest. What have you prepared for the first project? It starts tomorrow. Do you want Dad to give you some advice?" Edward pulled Cohen to sit next to Rose and asked with great interest.

"Are you nervous?" Rose asked worriedly. "After all, they didn't even tell you what you'd be facing on the first project—"

“It’s a fire dragon,” Cohen said.

"What?!" Rose's voice involuntarily rose.

"A dragon? Cough cough—" Herbert choked on the water he had just drunk. "Are the people organizing this competition crazy—you're only fourteen! Even adult wizards would need several of them to subdue a dragon—"

“Thank goodness…” Edward breathed a sigh of relief, but was immediately spotted by Rose. “Isn’t the fire dragon dangerous enough?” Rose said angrily, “No, this competition—”

“I can’t not participate, and I have a way to do it,” Cohen said.

“Eye-Bleeding Curse? I remember dragons’ eyes are very vulnerable,” Edward recalled. “But they’re still dangerous. Even if they’re blind, their random trampling and fire breath are still formidable… But with Norber’s experience, they should be fine, right?”

“No, Norber is docile simply because I raised him from a puppy,” Cohen corrected.

“What is Norbert?” Rose asked warily. “You keep a dragon?! When? Where?”

!

I was so busy discussing dragons with Edward!
“Um…Nober is Cohen’s pet…” Edward tried to smooth things over, but it seemed pointless to say anything now.

"I've started raising dragons," Cohen confessed to Rose—he had to confess sooner or later anyway, and now he had the Triwizard Tournament as a convenient excuse.

As long as Rose is proven to have the benefits of raising dragons, then...
-
"What do you mean by 'besides dragons, there are some other small animals'?"

After Cohen and Edward explained the contents of the box—the basilisk, the nightmare, and the chimera—to Rose, Rose's brow furrowed even more deeply.

"You call the basilisk and the chimera small animals?! And that box—"

“I didn’t dare tell you because I thought you would be angry if you found out,” Edward reassured Rose. “Besides, those animals are all Cohen’s relatives. Remember that experiment? The animals that were locked up all escaped—they won’t hurt Cohen.”

“Yes, yes.” Cohen nodded repeatedly.

"Is that the point?" Rose said angrily. "The point is that you and your son both kept it from me. Do I look like an unreasonable person?"

“Then I apologize, I apologize, darling,” Edward said, putting his arm around Rose’s shoulder. “I won’t hide anything from you again next time—”

"So you agree to let me keep pets?" Cohen asked hopefully.

“I never said I disagreed,” Rose said. “Besides, those ‘animals’ are practically your blood relatives…”

"That basilisk...is it called Sissoko?" Herbert suddenly asked.

"You can speak Parseltongue?" Cohen asked in surprise. "Did he talk to you?"

“No,” Herbert recalled. “I named him Sissoko. Someone brought back a nest of basilisk eggs, and I felt something was off…basilisks shouldn’t have eggs, right?”

"What's your relationship with him?" Cohen asked curiously.

“A friend… if you could call him…” Herbert said, “Could I meet him?”

“I’d like to see them too,” Rose said, “but Cohen…”

"Hmm?" Cohen gave an obedient hum.

"If I remember correctly, it's class time now, right?"

(End of this chapter)