Who let this Dementor into Hogwarts!

Chapter 460 Who Let This Dementor into Hogwarts?

"On the contrary, when I insist on refusing to help them, do you think the other politicians in the Ministry of Magic would prefer Crouch as Minister, or another Minister who can win over Cohen, maintain social stability, and solve the Dementor breakout?"

“It sounds like he should have tried to win you over a long time ago,” the count said. “Why didn’t he?”

“He did it, and much more than Fudge.” Cohen shook his head. “He was just too greedy. He wanted to work with me, but he also wanted me to sacrifice something so that he could gain more political prestige.”

If Crouch had told Edward to have Cohen secretly bring the Dementors back, Edward might have agreed.

After all, an Auror's life is also a life, and with the threat of Voldemort still looming over them, they need to focus their energy on more important things.

Unfortunately, Crouch chose the option Edward resisted the most—to have Cohen give up his own life to help Crouch's political career.

“It’s like ruining my school life would make me agree to work with him,” Cohen sighed. “I thought he’d started to get better after his son died.”

“Sounding like this, it could also be information spread by your father…” the Earl guessed. “Crouch can’t be that stupid, can he?”

“Edward wouldn’t do that,” Cohen said confidently. “He wouldn’t think of it.”

“You really know your father,” the Earl clicked his tongue.

By the time Cohen and the Earl returned to Hogwarts, it was already afternoon.

Just as Cohen was about to sneak back to his dorm, Herbert caught him red-handed.

"I should have sneaked back invisibly."

“Even if you were invisible, I could sense whether you had passed by the door,” Herbert said sternly. “Where did you go?”

“I went out for a walk—to see Hagrid,” Cohen offered his go-to excuse.

“I asked Hagrid,” Herbert said.

“Okay…” Cohen said, “I went to see my pen pal—a little girl with gray hair.”

"You—" Herbert was about to say something, but when he heard that Cohen was going to see the "little girl," he couldn't finish his sentence. "Sigh..."

We can't just throw cold water on Cohen's plans when he finally decides to find a girlfriend...

"Why did you suddenly want to see me?" Cohen asked.

“Running around on Christmas Day.” Herbert pulled Cohen into the office, which was still exactly as Edward had remodeled it; Herbert hadn’t made many changes. “And…did you see this morning’s newspaper?”

Herbert pointed to a copy of the Daily Prophet lying on his desk.

“I’ve seen it, my disguise has been exposed—” Cohen said.

“Dumbledore is furious. He went to the Ministry of Magic this morning,” Herbert said.

"Did Crouch do it?" Cohen asked.

“No, it was someone else from the Ministry of Magic who gave the interview,” Herbert said. “But it’s clear that Crouch approved of it, otherwise the news wouldn’t have been published in the Daily Prophet.”

“I feel like this is a good thing for Edward,” Cohen said, raising an eyebrow. “Now his chances of becoming minister have increased.”

"What kind of minister?" Herbert frowned.

“What minister? He’s obviously the Minister of Magic,” Cohen said. “Didn’t he tell you? Otherwise, why would he suddenly resign?”

“He’s planning to get involved in the Order of the Phoenix’s operations,” Herbert said. “He said he’d poison all the brainfish in the Ministry of Magic while he was on duty in the Department of Mysteries—he’s even bought the poison potion.”

"???"

Cohen's eyes widened. No.

what?
what?
So all the groundwork Edward laid beforehand, even skipping Christmas to "busy himself," was actually just to kill all those brainless monsters, not to usurp the throne?
"You think he's going to look for a job?" Herbert was also somewhat amused and exasperated by Cohen's idea. "Edward has supported you for so many years, don't you know his personality?"

"..." Cohen felt he would never laugh again.

I thought Edward had finally become somewhat successful...

But why do I still have this "Holy crap, but if it were you, it would actually make sense" feeling...?

"So, my disguise was exposed for nothing," Cohen said slowly.

“We should be able to discuss a solution when Dumbledore returns,” Herbert said. “There’s no point in forcing the Daily Prophet to take this news down now. Everyone has seen it now, and taking it down or explaining it would only make it seem more real… I wonder if other students will be too scared to go to school because of this. If that happens, you might need to transfer to Durmstrang or Beauxbatons…”

“Then I’ll just drop out,” Cohen said, “and start working on my graduation plans—”

“Dumbledore won’t allow it,” Herbert said. “But here’s the problem—I can’t think of any solution to this; this article is too chilling…”

“So Crouch wanted to use this method to persuade Edward to send me to deal with the Dementors, so that the wizarding world would forget the ‘evil’ things I might have done because of my contribution, right?” Cohen said.

"..." Herbert didn't speak, but it was clear that what Cohen said was true.

“I told Edward about it before.”

Cohen said,
“This time, I’ll listen to him.”
-
There are certainly more than one solution to this problem, but Cohen intends to keep his promise and leave the decision to Edward.

Although a fierce storm was raging outside, Cohen's Christmas at Hogwarts was relatively peaceful.

Edward did not send a message back, and Dumbledore did not speak with Cohen after returning to school.

Everything was as if that report had never happened.

The only slightly important letter was from Voldemort: "Plan A has failed. Plan B will begin at the end of January. Be prepared."

In other words, at the end of January, Cohen will be taking Harry to the Department of Mysteries.

This calm lasted until the day after the Christmas holidays ended, when students returned to school, and rumors exploded like a time bomb.

People were talking about it everywhere—in the corridors, inside the courtyard walls, and on the grounds.

"Is he really that monster who killed thousands of people?"

"Shh—keep your voice down, or he might turn into a Dementor and pounce on you..."

"No wonder the upperclassmen said that Professor Norton was initially unwilling to teach them the Patronus Charm..."

"How do you think Professor Norton got together with...you know...Dementors..."

"He looks no different from a human. If he could switch between being a human and a Dementor... that would be really cool..."

"Don't be silly, Dementors eat happiness and souls—maybe he secretly snatches students to eat every day..."

"Oh my god—he's coming—shut up, don't anger him..."

"You guys keep talking, I'll just listen from the side. It's quite interesting."

Cohen stood with his hands behind his back behind a group of chattering first and second graders on the field, and said kindly,

"Don't worry, I won't eat you. I'm the prefect."

(End of this chapter)