Who let this Dementor into Hogwarts!

Chapter 354 Edward's Bizarre Adventure (Underwater Version)

"Anyone who didn't know better would think they were competing in a three-way battle..." Cohen said helplessly after encountering countless screaming and fleeing little mermaids.

“At least there was less trouble…” Harry said with lingering fear. He always felt that if Cohen hadn’t been there, he would have had to deal with the group of merfolk wielding poisoned spears.

Soon, Cohen and Harry found the stolen "treasure" in a place that resembled a village square.

In the center of the square stood a crude statue, a giant mermaid carved from a boulder, with five unconscious people tied to its tail.

Cohen spotted Edward immediately. Edward had his head down, his golden hair was soaking in the water like seaweed, and a string of tiny bubbles kept coming out of his mouth.

A curious female mermaid was peering closely at Edward, seemingly interested in him.

"Although this sounds a bit strange, but..."

Cohen said strangely,
"Can you please stop touching my dad? My mom is still alive."

The female mermaid screamed and swam away as Cohen approached, leaving Edward with his clothes somewhat disheveled.

"Why didn't any merman make a move on Ron? He's obviously younger..." Cohen asked Harry, somewhat puzzled.

“This is clearly not the time to discuss this,” Harry said anxiously, looking at the hostages kidnapped by the mermaids. “If they aren’t rescued… they’ll drown—”

Harry's hostage is Ron, Krum's is Hermione, Cedric's is Cho Chang, and Fleur's is a silver-haired little girl—her sister.

Apart from Edward, three of the remaining four hostages were very important to Harry, and at first glance, Harry couldn't even tell who the hostages he was supposed to save were.

"It's still early, we can get him out now." Cohen had already started untying Edward's ropes.

The rope woven from seaweed was slippery and thin, and the underwater visibility was unreliable, so Cohen abandoned the idea of ​​using the Cutting Charm, as it would easily hit Edward.

She's already a homebody, and if she gets injured again, she'll probably be fussing and refusing to get out of bed for another two weeks...

"Bring me the spear," Cohen demanded of the nearest mermaid.

This mermaid had a green beard, wore a short necklace made of shark teeth, and had scars on her face, making her look extremely fierce.

“We cannot help,” the merman said in a hoarse, low voice, “and only a warrior can take his hostages away—”

“I am one of the warriors, and I earned this spear myself.” Cohen snatched the spear directly from the merman’s hand. “Any objections?”

It glanced at Edward, then at Cohen in his Dementor form, seemingly pondering the commonalities between the two species.

After her fierce and menacing outburst, the mermaid chose to back down.

Rules are important, but one's own life is obviously more important.

After cutting Edward's ropes with the spear, Cohen threw the spear to Harry, intending to take Edward away.

"What about Hermione and the others?" Harry asked as he untied Ron's ropes. "Should we—"

Just as Harry was debating whether or not to rescue everyone, something unexpected happened.

Above the mermaid village, a huge black shadow rushed into the center of the village from outside, along with a group of unconscious mermaid warriors.

"&%@#（@！" A nearby mermaid carrying a spear mumbled something in Mermaid language. The green-bearded mermaid whose spear had been snatched by Cohen quickly swam to Harry's side, took the spear from Harry, and planned to go with his fellow mermaids to drive away the giant squid.

Before Harry could say anything, the giant squid had already swum over their heads—this was its destination.

It wrapped its tentacles around Cohen and Edward, whom Cohen was holding, completely ignoring the spear the mermaid was thrusting at it—it wasn't even enough to tickle it.

“What…” Harry’s voice faded into the distance. Cohen felt that Harry might have thrown a few more spells, but they were meaningless to the giant squid and could not stop it at all.

Cohen felt that he and Edward were wrapped deep inside by the giant squid's tentacles—but its emotions indicated that it meant no harm, and was even somewhat anxious, so Cohen did not attack it in return.

Cohen had felt this emotion in Sissoko, especially when Sissoko approached Cohen in his second year of high school...

“Don’t tell me…” Cohen said to the giant squid.

But the giant squid can't speak, so it would only symbolically touch Cohen with its tentacles as a gesture of reassurance.

After a considerable amount of time, Cohen and Edward were thrown out of the water by the giant squid.

"???"

Cohen immediately transformed back into human form upon contact with the air and the ground, but soon discovered that this was not a lakeshore, but a dark and damp cave.

The giant squid extended one of its tentacles out of the lake and pointed it in a direction to Cohen.

"Cough-cough-"

Edward's spell vanished upon contact with air—he awoke with a start and saw his shirtless son and a squid tentacle that plunged into the water with a splash.

Then, he noticed that his clothes seemed to have been torn open and that he was surrounded by a dark cave...

"You're awake! Congratulations, you were just—"

“Don’t tell your mother…” Edward said with a strange expression.

“Go back to sleep,” Cohen said dryly.

"Alright, alright, just kidding—what happened?" Edward quickly got up from the ground, stretched his limbs, and reassessed his surroundings. "Shouldn't you be in the game? How did we get here..."

“Because right after I rescued you, I was caught by the giant squid. It brought us to this place and even pointed me in that direction.” Cohen pointed to the depths of the cave.

Inside, you can see a long, thin soul with a soul strength of forty points—but it's definitely not Sissoko or the Old Serpent Monster; they don't need the giant squid interfering during the competition to find themselves.

"A silver key?" Edward said warily, starting to fumble for his wand in his pocket.

“No, it’s an animal—but it shouldn’t be a relative. Nightmares, basilisks, chimeras, and dementors are all in my box. Rose and Herbert are waiting in the stands. With you here, I shouldn’t have any parents who have been separated from their families…” Cohen said.

“I feel like my importance has suddenly plummeted—wait a minute… what did you just say? You have a Dementor in your box?!” Edward said alertly. “I haven’t seen one every time I went in!”

“Because it’s a bit shy,” Cohen said. “It even calls me ‘Dad,’ so in a way, you’re already a grandfather—”

(End of this chapter)