Who let this Dementor into Hogwarts!

Chapter 521 The world is in ruins, the little Dementor mends it up.

“I saw you and your parents when I went to St. Mungo,” Cohen said, choosing a way that Neville would find more acceptable, even though he had never actually been to St. Mungo.

Neville's face immediately turned pale.

"But don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

Upon hearing Cohen's words, Neville was immediately filled with gratitude—

"And did you hear what Hagrid said about the uses of Hydra venom?" Cohen continued.

"Drive people crazy?" Neville said.

“No, it’s the use of the diluted form,” Cohen said. “It calms the mind and can treat some irreversible brain damage.”

“But my grandma said she tried everything she could…” Neville said somewhat pessimistically, “Uncle Algi has been everywhere, he must have been to Greece too…”

“But there are some materials they definitely haven’t tried before. I’d like to try them. Do you want to?” Cohen said.

“Use my parents?” Neville shook his head; he didn’t want to risk his parents.

“Of course not,” Cohen said. “The subject I intend to use is Rodolphus Lestrange, who was just captured by the Ministry of Magic and is now in Azkaban.”

Neville remained silent, not uttering a single word.

“The Death Eaters will get what they deserve from the Dementors,” Cohen said. “You don’t need to think about the morals. I’m only asking one thing: if the potion is made, will you accept it?”

“Of course I accept—” Neville said quickly, “but…”

“That’s good.” Cohen raised his eyebrows.

"But why are you helping me? I can't be like Hermione, and I can't be like Harry..."

"Because I'm very positive, optimistic, healthy, and upbeat?" Cohen said.

Neville smiled.

"Thank you--"

“Don’t thank me too soon. I’ve only just come up with an idea and haven’t even started doing anything yet,” Cohen said. “However, doing something is always better than having nothing at all.”

“It’s better to do something than to have nothing…” Neville said. “That sounds like something Professor Dumbledore would say.”

“He doesn’t dare say that,” Cohen said. “He hasn’t even started doing it yet.”
-
The world is in ruins, and the little Dementor is patching it up.

Cohen felt that the world should reward him with a perfect little home where he could lie down and play games all day, instead of a cold string of numbers.

[Goodwill +1000]

[Note: This isn't the Dementor I like, so I'm deducting its salary.]
After their conversation in the foyer ended, Neville went upstairs, while Cohen went to his final Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

On the way, Cohen first ran into Hermione, and then Harry and Ron, who looked sleepy as if they had just woken up from a nap in the common room.

"Runewin's homework is overwhelming!" Hermione exclaimed, clutching a heavy stack of books, looking like she'd been tortured. "A fifteen-inch-long paper, two translations, and all this reading by Wednesday!"

"What bad luck." Ron yawned, but couldn't hide his schadenfreude.

“Just wait, Snape will definitely assign a ton of homework too,” Hermione said irritably, then turned to Cohen and asked, “Cohen, how was Hagrid’s class today?”

“That’s great, no homework, and I even got to touch some new magical creatures,” Cohen said. “I touched Neville too.”

"Neville touched it too?!" Harry's interest was immediately piqued, because anything Neville dared to touch must be safe, like the Niffler or unicorns—though they were only allowed to touch unicorns when they were carrying drinks. "What animal?" "You guys were so curious, yet you didn't even bother to choose one," Cohen said. "Hagrid almost became depressed—"

“We were just—” Harry tried to explain.

“Too busy,” Ron added.

Hermione let out a cold snort.

“Even my dad wouldn’t believe that,” Cohen said. “Hagrid brought back a Hydra from Greece—”

"Hydra?" Harry's interest was visibly waning. "I don't believe Neville would dare touch such a creature."

“Harry! You’ve never dared to touch a chimera before,” Hermione said sharply. “You can’t define their danger by rumors—what if the hydra is actually a docile animal? I read in ‘Fantastic Beasts and Their Homes’ that the Greeks actually listed the hydra as a ‘protected creature for ornamental purposes’ back in the fifteenth century. If they were dangerous, they wouldn’t be displayed to visiting wizards…”

Ron snorted, mimicking Hermione's earlier gesture, which infuriated Hermione.

However, the two had to stop arguing after only a few words—because the door to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom opened.

Snape came out of the door and walked into the hallway.

He coldly looked at the two groups of students who had gathered at the door, his greasy black hair framing his sallow face, and his gaze swept over the students.

"Come in."

The students followed him into the classroom.

It has to be said that whichever classroom Snape used, that classroom would turn into an underground classroom.

The curtains were drawn tightly, with only the dim light from the candles. The walls were covered with pictures that looked like they were from a horror movie, mostly depicting distorted figures with gruesome wounds and curses.

The four of them sat in a row—Harry leaned closer to Cohen, thinking that having Cohen around would reduce the points he lost.

“It’s no use, the points will still be deducted,” Cohen whispered to Harry, reminding him, “When someone wants to blame you, even your breathing rate is wrong…”

“Talking in class is not allowed. Ten points will be deducted from Gryffindor’s honor,” Snape followed up.

Harry gave Cohen a helpless look.

"And whispering is not allowed either, deduct another ten points," Snape said.

Cohen had expected Harry to stand up and say something in response, but he unusually did not—as if he knew that doing so would only give Snape more and more leverage.

"By now, you've probably had five different teachers for this course."

Snape said,

"Needless to say, these teachers all have their own teaching methods and focuses. In this chaotic situation, I am surprised that so many of you have managed to barely pass the OWL exam for this course... But I would be even more surprised if you could all keep up with the advanced course, because its content is much more advanced."

He stepped down from the podium and walked around the classroom, making sure the students' heads were constantly scanning him like radar.

Cohen felt this might also be a kind of perverse sense of humor.

“Dark magic is diverse, varied, and ever-changing, and it never ends,” Snape said. “To fight it is like fighting a multi-headed monster. As soon as you cut off one head, a new one grows up, more ferocious and cunning than the first. You are facing something unpredictable and indestructible.”

“It sounds like the Hydra you mentioned,” Harry couldn’t help but whisper to Cohen.

“Don’t talk nonsense, that hydra isn’t cunning at all,” Cohen said. “I doubt it has ever actually fought any creature.”

(End of this chapter)