Who let this Dementor into Hogwarts!

Chapter 432 "The Senior Vice Minister of Magic, a Half-Blood Monster Suspected of Disguising Himself as a Wizard, Attacks Students"

Cohen's suspenseful behavior made Harry feel like a basilisk was crawling inside him—

"What exactly is it—tell me!"

On the way back to the Gryffindor tower, Harry would pester Cohen with questions every now and then.

“We have Defense Against the Dark Arts class the day after tomorrow, right? It’s no fun just to say it outright,” Cohen said discreetly. “It’s going to be really exciting—you can borrow a camera from Colin and film it.”

"Do we need to come back for solitary confinement tomorrow?" Harry asked.

“No, not anymore.” Cohen raised his eyebrows. “You won’t even be able to see her outside the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom anymore.”

"Why? Did you curse her?" Harry asked curiously. "But won't the people from the Ministry of Magic come to the school..."

“Am I such a rude person?” Cohen raised his eyebrows. “No need for curses.”

Although a little bit might actually have been used...

Cohen used a liquid curse when destroying Umbridge's original body because it was a quicker and cleaner way to destroy it. The Shattering Curse or the Avada Kedavra curse were too "spells" and would be easy to find traces of.

When Umbridge awoke from her coma, she probably felt like she had just had a nightmare, until she discovered that she had completely become a "Muggle"...

When they returned to the eighth floor, they ran into Mr. Crouch.

He had just come out from the direction of Dumbledore's headmaster's office.

“Mr. Crouch? Aren’t you going to…” Harry asked in surprise. Didn’t Mr. Crouch say he was going back to finish a report? Why is he still at school?

"Discuss the interview topic for the Daily Prophet with Dumbledore," Mr. Crouch said meticulously. "Is your confinement over?"

Harry's eyes darted away—because according to the original plan, their confinement wouldn't end until at least nine o'clock, but they were released at six o'clock.

“Perfect, saves me the trouble of going back to Dolores to find you,” said Mr. Crouch. “Cohen, go to the Headmaster’s office; Dumbledore wants to speak with you.”

“Okay,” Cohen said.

Harry was somewhat disappointed—after witnessing Voldemort's resurrection last year, Dumbledore hadn't said a word to him since the summer holidays.

“Then I’ll head back first, and while I’m at it, I’ll see how Hermione’s studies are going—” Harry said casually.
-
Cohen went to the principal's office.

The stone beast at the entrance muttered something as usual before leaping away.

"Dong dong."

"Come in, Cohen." Dumbledore's voice sounded somewhat tired.

Cohen pushed the door open and walked in.

“This semester has been busy, hasn’t it?” Dumbledore asked Cohen with a smile as he sat behind his desk.

"It's alright, I just copy all my homework and daydream in class," Cohen said.

“Minerva told me that you and Harry had some disagreements with Dolores in class,” Dumbledore said. “Is detention over?”

“It’s over,” Cohen said. “Honestly, couldn’t you find any other Defense Against the Dark Arts professor? We still have the OWL exams this year, and you, as the headmaster, don’t seem to care at all about the students’ pass rate…” “That is indeed my problem,” Dumbledore said, looking a little older. “As you get older, it’s harder to manage many things…”

“Harry wants to ask you why you don’t talk to him,” Cohen said bluntly. “He’s going to have bipolar disorder soon—everyone thinks he’s a fraud, you’re avoiding him, and he keeps having nightmares about Voldemort. If I hadn’t told people about the Dementors’ rebellion and shared some of the publicity, Harry would have been driven crazy by the disgust.”

"..." Dumbledore remained silent.

After a while.

“I’m glad you’re here to support him as friends during this difficult time,” Dumbledore sighed. “But I can’t talk to him too much right now—I’m worried…”

“You’re worried that Voldemort will realize the connection between Harry and him, and then use that as your weakness, right?” Cohen said. “I didn’t ask you about that. I asked how I should explain to Harry that you can’t just use ‘busy’ as an excuse for a whole year.”

“Perhaps this is truly the only thing I can do,” Dumbledore said wearily. “I’ve almost forgotten the mindset of youth, but there’s no doubt that, given the uncertainty about whether Voldemort and Harry have developed a conscious connection, this is a necessary precaution…”

"Okay, I'll tell Harry you're exhausted." Cohen nodded knowingly.

“It’s not to the point of ‘death’…” Dumbledore chuckled softly. “Regarding the Daily Prophet’s interview with Dolores at the school, when do you think would be a suitable time?”

"Is this what you and I are going to arrange?" Cohen raised his eyebrows.

“As the principal, it’s certainly possible to regulate the entry and exit times for outsiders.” A glint of light flashed in Dumbledore’s azure eyes.

"The third and fourth periods are the day after tomorrow morning," Cohen said.

"can."
-
Dumbledore may know something, but it's unlikely that he knows anything at all.

There were no Hogwarts paintings in Umbridge's office.

Therefore, Cohen decided to label Dumbledore's sudden remarks as "Dumbledore's jolt"—because Dumbledore often said he had a magical intuition.

Back in the common room, Cohen ran into Hermione, who was pacing excitedly at the entrance, and Ron and Harry, who both looked exasperated.

“Cohen! The goat said he can teach him anything!” Hermione exclaimed excitedly. “I told him all the spells I found—and he knows them all—”

Hermione changed it to "him" so that in the ears of the others in the lounge it would sound like a man nicknamed "Goat".

“That saves me a lot of trouble,” Cohen said. “But I think we won’t have to worry about teaching in a few days—”

“There’s really no need to worry,” Hermione said happily. “Let’s learn a part first, then we’ll form a study group and bring the other students along to learn together…”

“Hermione, how can you be so sure we can learn it…” Ron couldn’t help but interject, “Besides, no one would want to learn Defense Against the Dark Arts from us, we’re still students.”

“Yes, yes,” Harry nodded repeatedly.

“Don’t be silly.” Hermione shook her head. “If I were to teach them, I might not be able to convince them, but Harry and Cohen are different, aren’t they? They are Triwizard Tournament champions, have defeated two basilisks, and have fought against Vanderbilt multiple times—Harry even escaped from Vanderbilt once…”

“You’ve got it backwards,” Ron yawned.

“They think I’m a fraud,” Harry said. “And there’s already talk outside that Cohen is a human Dementor—I think they’re avoiding us like the plague.”

“What I mean is…we might have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in a few days,” Cohen said. “Or maybe in a week—it’ll be soon anyway.”

(End of this chapter)