Who let this Dementor into Hogwarts!

Chapter 391 The First Wizard to Capture Grindelwald

"Yes," Cohen said. "The goat already told you to learn human language, but you wouldn't listen—I don't know if the Greek Ministry of Magic is targeting you, but nobody here is. They even built you a temple to worship you."

"Then why were they following me all this way with a sack in their hands!" the old water snake said angrily. "Those wizards' expressions were just like those of predators—"

"[So that we can keep you in the temple.]" Cohen sighed, "[There are always poachers outside. You'll be safer here than in the wild... I knew it was impossible for an official organization to hunt down a protected species like a longhorned water snake just for a fish offered as tribute...]"

[?] The old water snake was stunned. He looked at Flick, who was confused because he couldn't understand what Cohen was talking to thin air, and then looked at Cohen.

"Are you relieved now?" Cohen asked.

"So all that stealing fish from the wizard for over two thousand years was for nothing?" the old water snake said blankly. "Over two thousand years! Every few years I had to rack my brains to come up with a new method!"

"You're too lazy to learn human language." Cohen shrugged.

"What are you talking to?" Frick asked Cohen, holding his breath. "I think I heard something..."

“The water snake went invisible and stayed close to Cohen,” Newt explained to Frick. “It thought you were chasing it…”

“But we didn’t have any—or rather…” Flick recalled.

“The sack scared it,” Cohen said helplessly. “No matter how old it is, or how many people are watching, it will still be frightened if you sneak up on it with a big sack… It’s still angry.”

"Are you a Parsleyan?" Frick said breathlessly, reaching incredulously in the direction Cohen had just spoken, as if trying to touch the invisible, magical creature that had witnessed the rise and fall of the entire Greek history.

He touched the familiar keratinous texture—it was the horns of that long-horned water snake…

Next was that gem...

And then—

"If you poke your hand in my nose again, I'll bite your hand!" the old water snake roared at Flick, growing angrier with each passing thought.

“I told it I’m its relative,” Cohen said, rubbing his forehead. “It absolutely refuses to show its face here, saying you’ve wasted over two thousand years of its energy…”

"So...it's planning to stay at your place from now on?" Frick said absentmindedly.

"Hey, are you going to live the high life here or keep living in my trunk?" Cohen turned to the old water snake and asked.

"Of course I'll live with the children." The old water snake glanced deeply at the place where offerings were kept in the temple, and quickly made its decision. "I don't want to be a lone snake with a bunch of wizards who can't understand my language."

"Are you really, really decided?" Cohen said.

"My dear grandson, do you dislike me?" The old water snake looked at Cohen pitifully with its bright eyes.

[...] Cohen pursed his lips. "I wasn't going to mind—" "Then it's alright!" The old water snake happily coiled around Cohen. "Are you done with your business—let's go, let's go, we still have to help the little griffin take down its enemy."
-

Although Flick was very disappointed that he could not see the old water snake again, he still let Cohen leave with the old water snake without trying to stop or stop him.

"I saw it when I was a child."

Before Cohen and the others left, Frick said,
“Back then, not many people knew about its existence. Most thought it was some kind of mysterious sea creature—or that Poseidon had taken away the offerings. But one day, I saw it while I was praying here with my priest father. I was terrified at first… A huge, strange-looking snake was swallowing the fish on the offering table, and I thought it would attack me if it saw me…”

"But it ran away." Cohen remembered the old water snake saying that it would run away whenever it saw someone in the temple.

“It just vanished right before my eyes. When I told the adults, they thought I had mistaken the mural on the wall for a live snake.” Frick let out a long sigh. “Except for my father, who told me not to tell anyone, just let it eat. Those offerings were originally prepared for it…”

“Priests throughout history have done this, offering it up properly, so that it can protect Greece from attacks by sea creatures.”

"I can't say..."

Cohen felt that speaking out might destroy something—plus Newt had specifically reminded him not to argue with the Greeks about matters of faith…

“It’s good to know for now that it’s doing well,” Frick said. “Even with its family. By the way, which of your parents is a snake or…”

“If you count them, a few of them have snake parents, but they’re not exactly related to the old water snake…” Cohen said. “Then we’ll head back now.”

“Remember to come to the festival on the first,” Frick reminded Newt and Cohen as they left. “And whatever you do, don’t go anywhere dangerous—”

“According to him, the poachers are in Patras, right?” Cohen asked Newt on the way back. “I’m planning to go there tomorrow; you can stay here and wait for the festival—”

"Hmm?" Newt said, "You're planning to go alone?"

“You’re almost a hundred years old, and you’re still coming with me to fight the dark wizard…” Cohen said. “Dumbledore really has no conscience for dragging you into this…”

“It wasn’t Dumbledore who dragged me here,” Newt said, shaking his head. “I was already planning to come to Greece, and I was also very interested in you and your magical creatures, so I asked Dumbledore about it.”

“Then you definitely can’t come with me. Those poachers might be a cult,” Cohen warned. “If you die here, there won’t be a 63rd edition of Fantastic Beasts…”

“If I backed down from every challenge, this book wouldn’t exist,” Newt said with a chuckle, patting Cohen’s hair. “Didn’t you read the preface to my book?”

"Is it the one who was the first wizard to capture Grindelwald?" Cohen asked.

“Tina made me write it this way, and I think it’s a bit too arrogant… I received a lot of help back then, and there was a lot of luck involved…” Newt said. “As you said, I am indeed old now, but I’m still confident in dealing with some low-level dark wizards. You don’t need to go alone.”

"Damn it, if my book becomes a hit, I'm going to show off in front of young people like that too," Cohen said, pouting. "I'll say, 'While I was indeed the one who killed Voldemort, I also received a lot of help back then…'"

(End of this chapter)