Who let this Dementor into Hogwarts!

Chapter 390 Old man, your brain works the slowest!

"Do you want me to help you find that water snake?" Newt asked.

Water snake, escape, old age—these words all come together to describe Cohen's water snake.

But Newt didn't say it directly; he still felt that this matter should be handled according to the wishes of Cohen's water snake.

If it really wants to stay here, that's fine. But if it prefers to stay with its "relative" Cohen, then it's best not to tell Flick where that old water snake is...

“Of all the people I’ve ever met, you’re the only one who can find the magical creatures without scaring them away,” Frick said. “Maybe you can even explain to it that we mean it no harm—think about it, the temple has been dedicated to it for so many years—”

“I thought this place was dedicated to the gods from Greek mythology,” Cohen asked curiously. “So it’s animals after all—”

“We all firmly believe that wizards’ bloodline comes from magical creatures, just as humans come from apes…” Frick said, “See that hole in the ceiling?”

Cohen looked in the direction he was pointing and saw a hole that looked like it had been violently forced open in the ceiling of the northern temple. At first glance, Cohen thought it was some kind of special open-air architectural style.

But Cohen felt that in the stories he had heard before, the hole was made by Poseidon.

"I saw it..."

“In Muggle lore, this is the hole Poseidon made with his trident,” Frick said matter-of-factly, “but actually, it was the horn of that ancient horned water serpent that destroyed it—”

"..." Cohen glanced at the hidden old water snake out of the corner of his eye.

[My dear grandson—what did he say to you?]

After the white-bearded human finished speaking to Cohen in gibberish and they both looked at the hole in the ceiling, the old water snake noticed Cohen looking at him strangely and quickly explained:
Don't believe human nonsense, I didn't do it—I didn't make that hole—I...

"I'll tell you later," Cohen whispered to the old water snake.

"Besides the water snake, do you have any news about that poachers?" Newt asked. "Where are they from? Have they been active recently?"

“This is something the Auror Division should handle. I wouldn’t dare drag you into it—your wife would kill me.” Frick’s eyebrows twitched, and he shook his head. “Those guys are ruthless. We need to let the younger, stronger ones deal with them. If we get hit by a torture curse, we’ll be half-paralyzed…”

“I’m young, why don’t you tell me?” Cohen asked.

“You’re obviously not an adult yet,” Frick said, frowning. He turned to Newt. “Newt, don’t put this kid in any danger. As long as you don’t mess with those people, you can still enjoy your vacation… Also, help me find that water snake. I didn’t invite you here just to find the snake…”

Frick, still very worried, repeated to Newt three more times not to take Cohen to Patras, a city in western Greece, even if they found traces of water snakes leading there.

If this were to happen, he would immediately contact the Aurors of the Greek Ministry of Magic.

But since he had already said that, Cohen didn't need to ask any further questions—the poachers were in Patras.

Then, Frick told Newt and Cohen something.

“I will be hosting the last ceremony of my life on August 1st. Please come and have a seat,” Flick invited.

“I’ll prepare desserts for the children,” Flick added with a smile to Cohen after a moment’s thought.

"The last one?" Newt asked, frowning. "I thought you'd want to spend the rest of your life here. You're five years younger than me..."

Flick shook his head with a wry smile. Yes, a wry smile. This was the first time Cohen had ever seen someone actually put on a smile like in a novel, with their eyes lowered.

"You're going to change careers—"

"Are you going to die?"

Cohen exclaimed.

"What did I do to offend you?" Frick's carefully constructed atmosphere was shattered by Cohen's words. He slumped his shoulders and asked Cohen, "I still want to live for a few more decades—my grandson has a young son in England and insists that I go live there so I can visit him often..."

"This is boring..." Cohen wanted to show off his superb life-extending skills.

If Cohen can keep the old man alive for a year using the blood "voluntarily" donated by the unicorn, he can use that time to recreate a Philosopher's Stone.

Without a mission-driven approach, Cohen wouldn't even have the motivation to initiate the "Crafting the Philosopher's Stone" project...

“It’s not worth sounding so disappointed…” Newt’s wrinkles twitched a few times.

I can't imagine how many hellish jokes Dumbledore would have to endure while managing this kid at school.

You can call this dark magic creature "evil," but you can't call this seemingly positive dark magic creature "immoral."

It's as if the labels "kindness" and "immorality" simply can't coexist, leaving one with an inexplicable awkwardness.

“I used to think you were a pretty well-behaved kid…” Flick sighed.

“I thought you were a very cheerful old man,” Cohen said regretfully.

"You little brat, lecturing me?!" Frick glared, his beard bristling. "Do you know who I am?"

“I’m the grandson of that water snake you mentioned,” Cohen said. “I was going to send it to say goodbye, but it seems that’s no longer necessary—”

“Is this some kind of British joke?” Frick looked at Newt—but then something happened that sent chills down his spine.

Newt was reluctant to admit it, but the water snake did indeed have that kind of relationship with Cohen...

So he nodded to Flick.

"Huh?" Frick looked at Newt in disbelief, then at Cohen, as if waiting for them to say "Happy April Fool's Day," even though it was July. "No—even the funniest joke has to be realistic—he doesn't look like a snake at all—"

"Let's remove the stealth and meet up with old friends," Cohen hissed to the old water snake.

"No way," the old water snake said firmly. "He'll definitely come after me once he sees me—he's always done that when he was a kid, he'll cling to me no matter how old he gets. My dear grandson, you haven't been bribed by him, have you?"

"What kind of bribe could buy me?" Cohen said helplessly. "Don't worry, I've checked everything. He meant no harm. There's been some misunderstanding between you—those offerings were actually meant for you."

"What?!" The old water snake stared at Cohen with his vertical pupils in disbelief. "What did you say? Those fish were meant for me?"

(End of this chapter)