Who let this Dementor into Hogwarts!

Chapter 434 Reporters at the Open Class
Cohen's letter was for Voldemort.

Of course, it wasn't really about giving the Earl to him as a gift, but rather about asking Voldemort about stealing the Prophecy Orb.

I just heard from Umbridge that Fudge said the Silent Ones of the Department of Mysteries have developed a way to deal with Dementors, and coincidentally—Voldemort has created another opportunity for Cohen to easily infiltrate the Ministry of Magic.

So those things used to deal with Dementors are destined not to survive this year.

“I’ll just copy Hermione’s tomorrow.” Harry gave up on searching through piles of books for the antidote Flitwick had set up. “There’s no way I could find that spell in these dozens of books that I haven’t even looked at… I guess Hermione wouldn’t even need to flip through the books to find it.”

“If all else fails, we can just write down ‘curse-stopping’ on it.” Cohen tossed the Earl, who was still peeking out of the snack bag, out the window. “Professor Flitwick never gives zero marks to those who write down answers.”

After stopping racking their brains over their homework, Harry and Cohen returned to their dormitory.

Professor McGonagall had Seamus and Neville switch dorm rooms, and Neville made his stance clear as soon as he entered.

“My grandma said the Ministry of Magic talks nonsense,” Neville said. “I always—”

“Neville, we weren’t that…” Harry scratched his head. “Seamus fell out with us just because he called me a liar first…”

“And you already told me that once on the train,” Cohen said.

“Okay…” Neville chuckled sheepishly, “Well… can I ask you something? It’s about the Dementors that Cohen talked about in class… I want to write to my grandma about it…”

“The Dementors have indeed all run away,” Cohen said. “It’ll be in the papers in a few days—the Ministry of Magic can’t hide it, but they might try to pin the blame on Dumbledore.”

“That doesn’t sound surprising at all,” Ron muttered.

"Will Professor Dumbledore be in trouble?" Harry asked, lying in bed looking at the curtains above him.

“Given Dumbledore’s loathing of Dementors, I don’t think this plot is even remotely feasible,” Cohen said. “Besides, nobody can catch him.”

“Everything seems to have changed since the mysterious man came back.” Neville shrank back.
-
Up until Wednesday, Harry and his friends tried very hard to get information out of Cohen in advance, hoping to find out what interesting things would happen in Umbridge's class.

At breakfast time, the Earl returned with a letter.

"Why so late?" Cohen asked, a pie in his mouth.

“Because he is not here,” the count said.

Cohen glanced at Voldemort's reply, which contained only one sentence.

Christmas Eve

“Umbridge hasn’t shown up for two mornings.” Ron glanced at the faculty dining table and asked curiously, “Cohen, what have you been up to?”

“You said the same thing yesterday morning,” Cohen said. “We’ll know in two more classes, don’t be so impatient.”

With this gimmick, Harry and Ron were in no mood for anything during the first and second classes.

As soon as the second class ended, Harry and Ron dragged Cohen and Hermione upstairs.

“You all look like you really want to take Umbridge’s class…” Hermione said helplessly.

“We were so eager to see her make a fool of herself,” Harry said. “Why didn’t Cohen tell us what was going to happen—”

“Wouldn’t that make me look like the real culprit?” Cohen said in a low voice.

“Look outside!” Ron said, pointing to the large group of people gathered at the entrance to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. “Reporters? Why are they at Hogwarts?” Hermione frowned. “There looks like more than just the Daily Prophet—”

“An interview with Umbridge, about his impressions of taking office as Hogwarts’ first ‘Senior Investigator’,” Cohen said.

“But it’s class time now—” Hermione said.

“They probably aren’t going in,” Harry said. “They’re all waiting outside, probably until get out of class is over.”

Harry was right. The reporters with cameras were just waiting outside, occasionally grabbing a passing student to ask them questions.

They were also "unfortunate" enough to be caught.

“What do you think of Dolores Umbridge’s classes?” a brown-haired wizard pulled Hermione aside and asked. “You and your friends seem to be—my goodness, Harry Potter!”

The wizard exclaimed in surprise upon noticing the scar on Harry's head, and then his conversation completely shifted from Umbridge's lesson to "the motives behind spreading rumors of Voldemort's resurrection."

“I’m not lying,” Harry said coldly. “You can ask me a hundred times, and I won’t change my mind.”

"You're blocking our way to class," Hermione said, clearly annoyed.

“Wait a minute—if you were Potter…” The brown-haired wizard’s gaze swept over Cohen and Ron—he was certain that Harry Potter’s dark-haired friend was the one who had spread the news of the “Dementors’ breakout.”

Then, he excitedly grabbed Cohen, wanting to ask why he was spreading the lie about the Dementors escaping from prison.

"I don't have time to talk to brainless people right now." Cohen used a little Dementor-like scare tactic, and the chattering reporter immediately lost interest.

"Cohen!" Hermione whispered to Cohen as they entered the classroom, "You shouldn't just take away someone's happiness so easily—"

“There are some things he can’t help, and this person has too few boundaries,” Cohen said.

“Hermione, stop talking about Cohen,” Ron said, speaking up for Cohen. “If I were Cohen, that guy would have been screaming for his mommy by now—coming up here and saying he and Harry are liars, what kind of interview is that…”

"Professor Dumbledore would be very angry if he found out..." Hermione said worriedly.

“It might have been possible before, but it certainly won’t be now,” Cohen asserted.

Before long, the classroom gradually filled with people.

Having learned from their previous experience with Umbridge's class, everyone reluctantly put away their wands and spread out their copies of "Defense of Magic Theory" on the table.

Before the school bell rang, Umbridge was giving a brief interview to several reporters behind the podium.

What is your opinion on Hogwarts' current educational approach?

"Students have pointed out that your teaching style is vastly different from that of previous professors. What are your thoughts on this?"

"Regarding the rumor about a 'mass escape of Dementors' that surfaced in your class, as Senior Deputy Minister of Magic, could you tell us something about it...?"

“Ahem, ahem.” Umbridge cleared her throat and said in a very official tone, “During my time in office, I realized that Hogwarts’ original education was chaotic and in dire need of a thorough, comprehensive, effective, and positive reform…”

"...Furthermore, the headmaster of Hogwarts has been absent from class very frequently these days, which is clearly a very irresponsible act..."

She spared no effort in smearing Dumbledore as Fudge had suggested, and intentionally or unintentionally pointed out that "Dumbledore often went to the North Sea," which was the location of Azkaban.

(End of this chapter)