Who let this Dementor into Hogwarts!

Chapter 479 If only I had known that ancient magic also existed...

Cohen went straight into the alchemy classroom, where the door was unlocked—because no classes had been held there for several years.

The materials cabinets in the alchemy classroom were tightly closed, and the places that should have had handles and locks were replaced by a gargoyle face.

The gargoyle was snoring and didn't wake up even when Cohen got close.

So Cohen poked its nose.

"Snoring—what! Where did these students come from? Has this school not closed down yet?" the gargoyle mumbled sleepily. "Stop fooling around, I want to sleep—"

“I’m here to collect materials, mithril and meteorite fragments, two ounces of each,” Cohen said.

"Hmm?" The gargoyle became more alert, blinking its eyes, which were filled with grayish-white stone, as if trying to figure out what Cohen was.

"are you human?"

“I think I am,” Cohen said confidently.

"Alright... The purpose of the materials, as well as your name and college, need to be reported to the principal." The gargoyle said in a monotonous tone, as if he were back at his workstation, just going through the motions.

“To save the world,” Cohen said. “Cohen Norton, Gryffindor, the headmaster will agree.”

After Cohen finished speaking, the gargoyle lock turned back into a cold, lifeless stone, remaining motionless.

A minute later, it started moving again and spat out two stones to Cohen.

One piece is silver, and the other piece is also silver.

Immediately afterwards, the gargoyle closed its eyes and fell fast asleep again.

It has the aura of a typical office worker.

Cohen had already prepared all the remaining materials for the mind-coordinator in his pocket, and he could simply borrow the classroom equipment to work on it.

Unfold the blueprints, first of all...

To carve a template that would be easy to hang around the neck or ears, Cohen chose a semi-circular shape, just like headphones that hang around the neck, so that Edward could easily hide it under the collar of his robe.

The base material is melted, cast into a model, and then the internal structure is carved.

The materials to be stuffed inside next are quite bizarre—such as the tears of Dementors.

Dementors don't have eyes, so of course they don't have tears.

They don't even have any matter on them—something only Cohen can do.

The melting process alone takes an hour, followed by tedious carving and tear-inducing time.

Cohen had never found it so difficult to cry before; he felt as if he didn't have tear ducts at all.

Cohen eventually punched himself in the eye to squeeze out a little something that he couldn't tell if it was a tear.

Then came the injection of various alchemical mixtures, which reacted violently with Cohen's tears, to the point that Cohen almost thought he would have to ask for more materials.

Fortunately, the unstable state only lasted a few minutes, and after the tuner stabilized, it changed from a bright red back to a dull silver-gray.

The final rune engraving was straightforward for Cohen.

No one can surpass "The Man in the Bottle" in the realm of figurine making.

Mission accomplished. Cohen only needed to find someone to test if it worked, have the person wear it, and then communicate with them in the manner of a Dementor.

Mick could have been used to experiment with himself, but Mick was given to Herbert by Cohen at Christmas—the little guy didn't seem to mind going to Herbert, as if he was actually quite close to Herbert.

Furthermore, Herbert didn't send Mick back after taking in the little Dementor, indicating that he was also a ruthless person who could tolerate Dementors. ...

“get out of class is over now…” Herbert looked at Cohen, who had just arrived at the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom after class, and said with a hint of helplessness, “You don’t need to be in the bathroom for this long, do you have an upset stomach?”

“I didn’t say I needed to go to the bathroom,” Cohen said, his eyes wide. “My gesture meant I wanted to skip class—”

"..."

"Alright, alright, no need for that look. I didn't skip class to sleep. I made something very important, and I need you to test it out for me." Cohen said, handing the newly completed mind-synchronization device to Herbert.

"what is this?"

“A hearing aid,” Cohen said. “It lets people hear the Dementors—you can try this on and see if you can talk to Mick. If it works, I’ll make another one for Edward so he can go and bring back the Dementors who escaped from Azkaban.”

Upon hearing that it was about research on stabilizing Dementors, Herbert didn't even put away his lesson plan before heading to the office with Cohen.

Mick was left in the bedroom so as not to frighten the students.

When Cohen encountered Mick again, Mick was still wearing a bunch of mismatched sweaters. He happily approached Cohen, wanting to share some more happiness with him, showing no signs of being a Dementor.

Herbert hung the mind-sync device around his neck, just as Cohen had instructed.

"Don't say it aloud, just think it in your head," Cohen said to Herbert. "And also, don't use Occlumency."

Herbert did as instructed, and then Cohen heard Herbert say "Hello" to Mick.

[Dad?] Mick's hood was turned toward Herbert.

"?"

No, so you used to call everyone "Dad"?

No, the first three years couldn't all have been wishful thinking...

Mick calling Herbert "Dad" is probably because Dementors don't have grandfathers, so they only have the concept of "Dad"...

Cohen felt that this must be due to the chaotic family relationships in his own home, or that Mick had been corrupted by the little snake monster.

Mick's question went unanswered. Herbert was frozen in place, his mouth slightly agape, staring at the darkness beneath Mick's hood.

"Why don't you catch up with it first, and then I'll make one for Edward." Cohen quickly slipped out of Herbert's bedroom before Herbert could react, leaving this part to Herbert and Mick to talk about themselves.

Cohen couldn't quite explain the relationship between Mick and Herbert: one was a Dementor hatched from Cohen's corpse, and the other was an old father who had lost Cohen twice.

If Herbert could see Mick as "a living Cohen," he wouldn't have to live in the shadow of the past forever.

Some wounds will not heal on their own if left exposed to air.

"Two more ounces," Cohen said as he returned to the alchemy classroom.

The unfortunate gargoyle was woken up by Cohen again. This time, he was too lazy to even ask Dumbledore again and simply spat out several pieces of material, as if to tell Cohen to stop bothering him about this.

Having learned from his previous experience, Cohen was much more adept at this task, even becoming more skilled at the step of collecting tears.

"Don't fight in the classroom..." the gargoyle murmured in its sleep.

By the time the second hearing aid was finished, it was almost noon, the perfect time for lunch.

Leaving the alchemy classroom and entering the outer corridor, Cohen caught a glimpse of the spiral staircase at the other end of the Sleeping Dragon statue.

It looked familiar, like something sweet was tempting me...

(End of this chapter)