Who let this Dementor into Hogwarts!

Chapter 471 The Silver Key
When they went inside, there was one more person besides the newly appeared, towering cross and the gray-haired corpse on it.

A man with dry, white hair wearing a silver mask.

He sat at the top of the series of steps in the execution chamber, wearing a gray cloak, looking down at them.

“You’ve come.” The man’s voice sounded extremely old. “Cohen.”

When Harry and the others heard this strange man calling Cohen's name, they all looked toward Cohen's location.

Cohen kept staring at the man without saying a word.

"Who is he?" Harry whispered to Cohen.

“An old pervert I don’t know,” Cohen whispered to Harry. “I heard he bought the crotch of a skinny guy.”

Harry let out a long "oh".

"I can hear you."

"That's what the masked man said."

"You really bought Miguel's groin?" Cohen shouted at the masked man. "This guy doesn't even look good, and you sound so old... tsk..."

The solemn atmosphere in the execution chamber was instantly shattered.

"Are you the leader of that criminal gang?" Hermione spotted the symbol on the masked man's cloak. "The silver key?"

“Yes, little girl,” the masked man said softly, “but I didn’t come here for you—”

“His unwillingness to answer my question directly shows that he knows he has a weird psychic fetish.” Cohen explained to Harry in a low voice the hidden meaning behind the scene. “Some people are like that; they want to show their perverted psychic fetish to others, but they are also unwilling to admit it in public because of their sense of shame…”

“It’s very impolite to interrupt someone,” the masked man said.

“It’s also impolite to ruin someone else’s life,” Cohen said. “Trying to compare morality with me?”

"Do you really think... your life is your own?" The masked man didn't discuss who was more moral with Cohen, but instead asked Cohen a question in return.

"?"

"?"

"?"

Three question marks were cast at Cohen.

"?" Cohen tilted his head and looked at the masked man.

Does it mean that he, as an outsider, infiltrated Cohen Norton's body and stole someone else's life?
That's a bit too much to ask. The original Cohen Norton was practically dying, and he was eagerly awaiting this opportunity, but this old man has turned it into me stealing someone else's life.

A good life earned through one's own abilities is far better than one who plots to destroy the good lives of others from the shadows.

"Do you need me to help you remember?" the masked man asked. "Little Dementor?"

"I thought you guys really idolized me," Cohen raised an eyebrow. "Calling me 'Master' when you need me, and 'Little Dementors' when you don't, huh?"

“They are called believers because they have faith in a fictional god who can save them,” the masked man said. “And the god they believe in… is one I created.”

"Wait a minute—" Harry suddenly realized something, "Cohen, you said you were..."

“He was created by a group of dark wizards, but that’s not what he meant.” Cohen rubbed his forehead. “He meant that he created a religion around me and then used those believers to do his work. He wasn’t from Burke Manor. Everyone at Burke Manor at the time except Herbert was dead.”

"Oh, oh, oh!" Harry and Ron exclaimed in unison, as if suddenly realizing something.

“So you’re the ‘Silver Key,’ right?” Cohen said. “How could anyone give themselves such a name…” “The Silver Key is what I’m searching for,” the masked man said. “A key that can open all the ‘doors’ in the world, a key that can travel through time and space to another world.”

“And this key is you,” the masked man continued, “or rather, your body.”

"Oh, is that so? You're lusting after my body? That's a shame. Even if you beg me, I won't go easy on you."

As Cohen spoke, he pointed his wand at the "silver key".
"Harry, turn your backs, what's about to happen is violent—"

"Wait!" the masked man interrupted. "I know you definitely want to get something from me—"

“I don’t want to. There wasn’t a single thing about you that interested me from beginning to end. To be honest—I won’t even use women as examples, because I’m afraid you, as someone from Nantong, wouldn’t understand—Dumbledore has more sexual tension than you.”

Cohen said,
"At least he's tall—some people like tall, imposing people."

Harry and the others had already turned their backs—there's no need to work hard for things that can be won effortlessly; just leave it to Cohen.

The masked man looked like he was afraid to fight Cohen with bayonets.

I know about your past—

“I know that myself,” Cohen said.

I know the last thing you said before—

“‘Thank you, Cohen,’ I’m glad you invited me. I’ve heard about you a long time ago; your news is as old as you are.” Cohen said, “You didn’t come here just to die, did you?”

"Don't you care about the girl you saved?" the masked man said, pointing to the gray-haired corpse on the cross.

"You're already dead, why should I give you an award for killing someone?"

Cohen said,
"I'm in good guy form right now because my dad just became minister, otherwise you'd have taken an Avada Kedavra shot by now—"

A beam of green light shot out from Cohen's wand, grazing the old man and nearly hitting him.

"Hey, how come this spell popped up on its own? Sorry, my wand has a mind of its own," Cohen said in surprise. "Next time I'll definitely aim more precisely."

Of course, any wizard knows that spells don't just "come out on their own."

To Cohen's surprise, the man didn't even flinch when the Death Curse was aimed at him.

This is inconsistent with his earlier action of calling a halt; a person who is afraid of death would not remain motionless when someone is shooting at him.

“I am not afraid of death; on the contrary, I have come here to die.” Seeing that Cohen’s next spell had not come, Silver Key realized that he still had time to finish what he had to say. “I just feel that there are some things I need to say to you in person.”

“That’s why I chose to meet you here.” Then he stood up and started walking down the stairs. He happened to be opposite Cohen on the other side of the archway, and through the empty archway, Cohen’s appearance looked somewhat distorted.

He removed his mask, revealing an unfamiliar, aged face.

“Wait, I think I remember him—” Hermione suddenly said.

“Didn’t I tell you to turn around?” Cohen sighed and turned to look at Harry and the others.

Unsurprisingly, all three of them secretly turned around to peek.

“However, the violent part is going to be removed, and this person is going to commit suicide,” Cohen said.

“He is Ignatius Taft, Minister for Magic who took office in 1959,” Hermione said quickly.

(End of this chapter)