Who let this Dementor into Hogwarts!

Chapter 368 The Eve of the Game
“They should be watching the game from the stands during the third event,” Dumbledore said, frowning.

“That’s the problem. The trophy is a Portkey—it was Voldemort’s plan. At first, I thought the Portkey brought me to that place…” Cohen said, “but now I suspect the Silver Key also tampered with the trophy, but Harry wasn’t there…”

“Your family won’t touch the trophy,” Dumbledore said. “The Triwizard Tournament trophy is for display, not a prize. Even the victorious warrior can’t take it home. For now, I’m more inclined to believe the theory that ‘you are real, and your family is fake’—perhaps you will in some extreme situation…”

“Then I’ll have to break the vow I made to Edward,” Cohen said. “Under what circumstances would I choose… wait—”

Cohen suddenly thought of a possibility.

I do have many ways to kill a Silver Key member, but what if those ways don't work on the Silver Key member who's "pretending to be Edward"?
If the soul strength of that "fake Edward" far exceeds that of Cohen's current soul strength, then the Death Curse seems to become necessary.

A Silver Key member with a soul strength exceeding 49 points seems unlikely, but not entirely impossible...

It's a bit too outrageous that someone with such power would go and start a cult...

But Cohen was certain that the silver key had gotten Edward's hair through that Ravenclaw bumbling student—and perhaps Herbert's and Rose's as well.

It seems more plausible that "Cohen was forced to use the Death Curse".

The only regret is that I broke the oath I had recently made: "Whoever uses the Death Curse is a lowly Dementor."

"What came to mind, Cohen?"

After a long silence between them, Dumbledore asked with concern.

“I feel like I know something,” Cohen said with a sigh of relief. “The most important thing now is to prevent Edward from becoming Minister of Magic…”

"?"

……

Dumbledore didn't press Cohen about what he was thinking.

Although he was very reluctant to let Cohen be tainted by the Unforgivable Curse—compared to a more troublesome ending, Edward's death, Cohen suddenly found the idea of ​​certain terrorists using the Death Curse quite agreeable.

However, it's still necessary to remind you of the points that need to be mentioned.

Don't let your heart turn towards—

"Edward has already said these things to me once..."

After listening to Dumbledore repeat something about the "Unforgivable Curse causing a crack in your heart," Cohen waved his hand and said...

"I will not yearn for the mad fire."
-

After figuring out that future, Cohen felt less stressed about life—at least he didn't have to keep thinking about putting Edward in the box.

Before this, Cohen had even considered sucking Edward's soul out in advance and putting it in a jar, or simply locking him in a box and having the Chimera Beast guard it until the end of the Triwizard Tournament.

The house is always ready to grant requests.

“Although I’m not human, doing this sounds incredibly inhumane,” the Count said as Cohen busied himself practicing his spell. “In human literature, this would be considered yandere.”

“You're something else, you can’t utter a single kind word,” Cohen said. “I thought he was going to die—”

“But he might not actually die,” the Earl reasoned. “Think about it, your parents tore their own souls apart and stuffed them into the body of a living being—guess what that’s called? That’s called making a Horcrux…”

"?" "Think about it again. Don't you have a special feeling for them? Anyone who has been a Horcrux knows..."

"You don't need to talk like you were a Horcrux," Cohen said, pursing his lips.

Although what the count said was outrageous—it also somehow made sense…

“It’s a rhetorical device!” The count ruffled his feathers. “Pretending to be the person involved makes what I say more believable—I learned it from a speaker in a tavern.”

"I was wondering why you have a mustache and a German accent," Cohen said absentmindedly. "If you're going to start World War III, take me with you."

“Where do I have a German accent!” the count retorted. “Besides, birds don’t grow whiskers, and I don’t need whiskers to hold my food.”

“ja~” Cohen replied.

"What is that?" the Earl asked, puzzled, after hearing Cohen utter a very unfamiliar syllable.

“You just said essen (German for ‘eat,’ which the count pronounced quickly in ‘eat something,’ so I replied with ja (German for ‘yes’). We’re both mixing up German and English, which leads to some funny situations—”

"Alright, alright, I know you don't like this way of playing," the Earl said helplessly. "I won't use it next time—don't torture my brain with this... But why are you practicing these little spells? Stunning spell... Confusion spell... Don't you already know those?"

“Let’s study the new spells,” Cohen said. “I’ve found that studying spells and studying alchemy aren’t fundamentally different—like this one—”

As he spoke, Cohen cast a pink spell at the Earl.

“Fugax Somnium”.

The moment the spell struck, the count's eyes widened in shock—and he quickly looked down at his feathers.

Three seconds later, its eyes regained their clarity.

"What the hell did you use—how did I just turn pink—?"

"I guess it's about letting people see what they truly desire..." Cohen grinned crookedly, "You've got quite the girlish heart—"

"Screw your girlish fantasies!" The Earl spread his wings and was about to pounce on Cohen to fight him.

Unlike the relaxed atmosphere on Cohen's side, the pressure on Harry's side was significantly greater.

Throughout April and May, Cohen often saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione practicing spells in various empty classrooms in the castle, and Cohen would occasionally be pulled over to practice with them.

“Actually, I can practice with Harry, but I only charge seven Sickles an hour,” Cohen said. “You guys have exams in June, right?”

Only the warriors are exempt from final exams—Ron and Hermione's final exams end on the day of the third project, and they should have started studying much earlier.

Hermione, in particular, always starts her revision at least ten weeks in advance every year, but now she's...

"Exams are not important."

Hermione said impatiently, and posted a long list of spells in front of Cohen.
“Cohen, you and Harry need to learn as many spells as possible—especially the counterspells to bad spells. You might have to watch out for your opponents in the last project…”

“Hermione, haven’t you forgotten something—Harry and I are actually rivals,” Cohen reminded her.

(End of this chapter)