Who let this Dementor into Hogwarts!

Chapter 419 Return to School (Horror Version)

Once everyone else in the dormitory had started snoring, Cohen floated out of his body in spirit form and slipped into the box that the house-elves had moved under the bed.

Tonight, all we need to scare Umbridge is a snake. Dementors are too recognizable; they'd easily remind that woman of Cohen.

[Sun!] The old water snake immediately turned towards us after noticing Cohen floating in as a physical Dementor.

"Yes." Cohen responded with an unprecedented "Yes."

"Did you bring me some new fish fry? Those other fish ate them all..." the old water snake asked, but then suddenly sensed something was off. "Wait, what did you just say?"

[I didn't say anything.] Cohen, in his Dementor form, had no face and therefore no expression. [You called me first.]

[You said "Eh!"] The old water snake looked as if facing a formidable enemy. [You never used to answer "Eh" when I called you "grandson"! You're not Cohen! Who are you?]

"If I agree and you're unhappy, then I'm going to be unhappy too." Cohen said sullenly. "Fine, I won't ask you to go out. I'll go find Sissoko and the Old Snake Monster—speaking of which, the Old Snake Monster hasn't told me yet..."

"No, no, no—that old man's asleep!" The old water snake quickly coiled its tail around Cohen and said, "Oh dear, you have no idea how tired he is today. That little snake was almost broken by him. I can barely help you with something like going out to play in the middle of the night..."

"I knew this trick would work." Cohen grabbed the old water snake by its horns and dragged it a few steps toward the exit. "Come here, let me tell you about the plan later—"

"A plan?!" Old Water Snake asked warily as Cohen dragged him near the exit of the box. "Weren't we supposed to be going out to play?"

"You need to plan your trip," Cohen said. "This time, the activity is 'Who can scare a pink toad first?'"

[Why are you crying?] The old water snake didn't understand what Cohen was saying—

"You'll see when you get there," Cohen said. "Instantly become invisible, then follow my scent."

"So...should we take the little guy with us?" the old water snake asked.

Let's just forget about it.

Cohen originally intended to bring the little snake monster, but considering that it might be killed by a single bite, dying too easily, Cohen passed on the idea.

"Let's go play!" The little snake monster suddenly sprang from the grass beneath their feet, as if it had been lurking there for a long time. "I want to go too!"

"How did you emerge from underground?" Cohen stared at the hole the little snake monster had crawled out of—the ground here was indeed a little deep, by all accounts…

When did the little snake monster learn to dig holes?

Before the little snake monster could answer, another little lion's head popped out of the hole from which the little snake monster had just crawled out, and barked at Cohen a few times.

That scorpion cub brought back from Greece can actually dig burrows...?

"That's what it taught me!" said the little basilisk. "It's fun! Much better than Harry Potter!"

You say you don't want to, but you bring it up again every day, right?
Cohen is hard to say.

However, now that the little basilisk has found a new playmate, it's not far from forgetting Harry.
-
Although Cohen's original intention was not to take the little basilisk to attack Umbridge, he couldn't resist the little basilisk's constant pleas, and the old water serpent also couldn't bear to watch and said a few words on its behalf.

Finally, with the old water snake's help, they both became invisible and followed Cohen out of the box—while the scorpion-tailed beast, who also longed to get out, was left behind.

The main reason is that Cohen cannot communicate with it, making it difficult to control the timing of the attack.

[Note: I'll take you to the second floor later. First, do this... then that... if she...]

Cohen explained in detail what he needed to do later to the two snakes.

You could see their souls nodding frantically—the little basilisk was incredibly excited, it was its first time coming out with Cohen to scare people, and it seemed much more interesting than chasing and biting the golden sheep. The old water serpent was also excited, having heard from Cohen that they were going to attack a high-ranking wizard, completely different from those fools who attacked Greece.

……

Inside Umbridge's office.

This place is completely different from the previous Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office. It doesn't look like an office at all, but more like a little girl's bedroom.

Everything was covered with a lace-trimmed cloth and a pink tablecloth. Several vases filled with dried flowers were neatly arranged on individual pink cushions, and the wall behind the desk was covered with decorative plates, each containing a brightly colored, lively cat.

Umbridge didn't go to sleep; instead, he sat behind his desk, talking to a framed photograph on it.

“Minister, I believe that the issuance of Education Decree No. 24 is absolutely necessary… There is no doubt… the students here are lazy and undisciplined…”

“Of course, of course, we don’t expect Dumbledore to be a very good teacher. So many years of unchecked growth won’t yield any very satisfactory results…” Fudge’s voice came from the picture frame.

"Who?!" Umbridge heard the noise that the detection magic at the door had failed and immediately stood up (although there was no difference in height between her standing and sitting).

The sound from the picture frame disappeared, and the whole room became completely silent, except for the occasional meows coming from the wall covered with cat food dishes.

Umbridge drew her short, thick wand and pointed it directly at the door that had suddenly opened halfway.

"Who? A ghost? A student?" Umbridge snapped. "I warn you, as Senior Undersecretary of the Ministry of Magic, that breaking into the offices of high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Magic is a serious offense, and I have the right—ah!"

She flung a red spell haphazardly toward the ground near her feet—because she had just clearly felt something sticky, slippery, like…scales, slip past her ankle.

After a brief scream, she threw a shredded spell at the floorboards next to her feet without any regard for the force, just like an ordinary Muggle encountering a cockroach.

"Snapped!"

The wooden floor shattered with a crack, but Umbridge neither saw the possibly invisible creature bleed nor did she see it reveal itself.

"Shattered to pieces! Shattered to pieces!"

Two more spells were cast, but this time there was a chilling change.

Something was crawling around her, accompanied by a hoarse hissing sound like that of someone suffocating.

“Monster! Bastard! Filthy thing! I, as the Senior Undersecretary of the Ministry of Magic, order you to reveal yourself immediately!” she shrieked, her wand continuously hurling red spells at the source of the voices.

She didn't know if she had hit the target or not—but what happened next made her even more panicked.

The vases she had neatly arranged and lined up against the wall were being knocked over one after another, as if some slender creature was crawling rapidly on them.

If that's all there is to it—at least she's located the creature.

But a strange noise was also coming from the other side. When she turned her head to look at the source of the sound, she could only see a plate that had been smashed on the ground and a huge S-shaped damp stain on the wall.

"His-"

Just as she was about to raise her hand to cast a spell at the end of the damp mark, a hissing sound came from the back of her almost invisible neck.

Just as she was facing this monster, the other monster seemed to have appeared behind her.

(End of this chapter)