Who let this Dementor into Hogwarts!

Chapter 483 OWL Exam
The final plan was for Hagrid to provide the funds, and Cohen to contact Newt to buy it back—it had been over four years, and his bird-snake should have grown back to its full plumage.

Grop was awakened by their noise. When he woke up, the ropes binding his hands and feet were pulling on the old tree at the other end, causing the treetops to rustle against each other.

A bird's nest above them had been overturned, and bird eggs rained down on them like bombs from an air raid.

"Armor protection!"

Hermione reacted quickly, using a spell to deflect the bird eggs that were hurtling towards them, but this wasn't the only trouble Groop had after waking up.

The giant first sat up and rubbed his eyes. They could now see Grop's face—Grop's features didn't look...harmonious. He had a short, thick nose, a crooked mouth, and small eyes, making him look like a novice stone carver sculpting a large, spherical rock.

Unfortunately, if all giants are like this, then Hagrid's father probably didn't mate with the Giantess willingly, but was captured and used as a Starfist...

“Hagrid! Don’t stand there—” Harry shouted at Hagrid, who had already started walking forward, because Gloucester looked a bit grumpy after being woken up.

"Glopp! I brought you a friend!" Hagrid shouted, waving at Grop. "And you're moving to a new place soon! Aren't you excited? You won't be tied up with ropes anymore..."

“I don’t think the centaurs don’t know Hagrid is keeping another giant here…” Hermione whispered. “If they get angry—oh dear…”

Hermione's words were interrupted by a muffled thud. Groop casually punched Hagrid—he probably just wanted to push Hagrid away from the dead tree trunk he had stuck in the ground, but he didn't realize that his strength was a bit too much for Hagrid.

"Bad boy! You need to learn to control your strength!"

Hagrid scrambled to his feet, clutching his nose, which appeared to be broken. His hands were covered in blood.

“He seems more suited to living with dragons.” Ron took a step back. “He looks about the same size as a dragon—oh, no…”

Grop was reminded by Hagrid poking his thigh with a twig, so he looked over at Cohen and the others.

He curiously reached out his hand towards them and was about to grab Hermione—he was a genius among toddlers, the first person he grabbed was the only female in the group.

Harry quickly pulled Hermione back a little, and Gropp missed.

However, perhaps it was the Chimera beasts that instilled courage in them, because without claws, Grop wasn't as terrifying as when a lion with its jaws wide open roared and pounced on them.

"Don't arrest people! Grop! What did I teach you?" Hagrid said angrily.

Gropp looked puzzled.

“I need to introduce you to him—” Hagrid walked over to them, covering his nose. “This is Harry Potter! And then Hermione—your name is too hard to pronounce, he might not be able to learn it…”

“Can I call out half of it too? Like Hermione?” Cohen asked expectantly, “or Hermione.”

“Cohen!” Hermione said curtly, “You don’t have to do this…”

It's unclear whether Grop is still listening to Hagrid, because he's gone back to playing the tree-root-pulling game.

“And then there’s Ron, Ron Weasley!” Hagrid shouted. “And this is Cohen, Cohen Norton! You’ll love him—”

“He probably isn’t even listening to you, Hagrid,” Cohen said. “How old is he?”

"Oh, maybe he's just developing a bit slower..." Hagrid said, seemingly rambling, after noticing Gropp had gone off to play by himself again. "At least you've met now, so you'll recognize each other next time you bump into each other."

“I don’t think he knows us, and I have no trust in his cognitive abilities whatsoever.”

After leaving Hagrid's cabin, Ron said,

Why would Hagrid think it would be a good idea to bring him away from the giants?

“Hagrid lacks empathy,” Cohen said. “It’s like I’m keeping Dementors and Basilisks in my dorm room.”

“But at least your basilisk and dementors won’t be so…” Harry sighed. “Well, cheer up, we definitely won’t see his brother again—after Cohen finishes that basement.”

“I’ll be happy when I get back to the dorm. Anyone want to play a game of solitaire?” Ron suggested.

Ron's suggestion worked, and they were all fairly happy before returning to their dorm.

However, after they returned to their dormitory—

"Exam dates?!" Hermione screamed, seeing the newly posted OWL exam dates and post-Easter career guidance notice on the bulletin board. "Damn it, how could I forget this—"

“That’s normal, because we just encountered Voldemort two days ago,” Cohen said casually. “Doesn’t it feel a bit absurd, like ‘the world is ending tomorrow, but we have an exam the day after?’”

“Hermione, you don’t need to worry at all. You can get all O’s even without studying,” Ron said sadly. “I feel like I haven’t learned anything in the past five years.”

Hermione hurriedly left the common room for the library, while Harry and Ron played a game of solitaire in anxiety and unease.

“If you really want to study, just go ahead and do it. I won’t make fun of you.” Cohen looked at the two of them holding up cards with bitter expressions and said helplessly, “After all, the OWL exam is quite important.”

“Let’s start next month, then it’ll be a full four months,” Ron said sadly.

“Four months,” Cohen comforted her. “Even a snake would have learned to speak by now.”

“Four months to learn five years’ worth of material,” Harry said with a worried look. “Cohen, do you know any way to cram knowledge into your brain?”

“That won’t do,” Cohen said seriously. “I know you want to be Aurors—I can’t let people who aren’t good enough into my Ministry of Magic, so you need to develop a strong will to study hard.”

Many students were reminded of the important exams this semester by this announcement; at least the fifth-year students in Gryffindor immediately let out a wail upon seeing it.

They were so busy dealing with the endless courses that they forgot they would eventually need to take a real exam.

Fred and George's Buffet Brain Booster is selling like hotcakes again.

“Eddie Cammitchell’s idea.”

During the first weekend after the exam announcement was released, Fred said this to Cohen in the lounge:

“We’ll split the profits 70/30 with you because we have a good reputation – Cohen, do you have any more exciting product upgrade proposals? I think we need to capitalize on this trend.”

(End of this chapter)