Who let this Dementor into Hogwarts!

Chapter 538 Arrogance Never Fades
It's Monday of the new week, after breakfast.

Cohen experienced once again the terrifying life of being chased by half the school asking what exactly happened last night.

Cohen felt that this was exactly what the killer wanted—to drive himself crazy with these people.

"Do I need to poke the back of my head every time I get to a floor to scare them away?" Cohen said. "They were calling me an evil Dementor less than six months ago..."

“They only have a few minutes of enthusiasm. Once the first Quidditch match starts, their conversation will shift from ‘How did Cohen survive?’ to ‘What will the Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw match be?’” Ron reassured him. “But… can I see that dagger in the back of the head one more time?”

“Ron!” Hermione said to Ron with utter disgust.

"Okay." Cohen demonstrated again, and the somewhat disturbing scene successfully scared away several people who were secretly following behind Cohen, hoping to find an opportunity to harass him.

"Wait a minute—Quidditch!" Harry exclaimed suddenly. "I forgot to tell Professor McGonagall the Quidditch match time—I'm captain now, I need to arrange the team selections!"

Harry immediately turned back and ran towards Professor McGonagall's office.

“Professor McGonagall was referring to the first and second weeks of school, right?” Ron recalled. “At least I didn’t miss too many things…”

“I don’t have classes this morning, I think I should go to the library,” Hermione said. “Would you like to come with me?”

"No, I won't go to a place filled with the smell of parchment and ink after staying up all night to finish my homework," Ron said firmly. "Cohen, how about we go play chess? Or just catch up on some sleep..."

“I think I need to do some research,” Cohen thought, remembering what he had to do. “I haven’t even looked back at the box since I borrowed Hagrid’s Hydra…”

"What's wrong with you all?!" Ron exclaimed in disbelief. "It's still a holiday!"
-
As soon as Cohen returned to the box, he saw the little basilisk, the old water serpent, and the hydra writhing together by the lake next to the castle.

"You can't eat anymore!" the little snake monster said angrily. "You've already eaten half the fish. If you eat any more, Grandpa Water Snake will be angry with you—"

The little snake monster's statement, "Grandpa Water Snake will be angry with you," was actually somewhat restrained, because the old water snake had already begun biting their tails.

"You little brats, you're not allowed to eat my fish! This is for my precious grandson!" The old water snake hissed in a deep voice, biting the hydra's tail.

A snake that truly wants to eat fish doesn't waste words—the hydra is struggling desperately to burrow into the lake at the speed of a starving ghost.

[Why are they fighting?] Cohen stood between them and the lake, and now none of them are biting each other.

"They ate so many fish!" the little snake monster reported. "And this nine-headed unicorn—"

They aren't unicorns; they're snakes too.

The old water snake took Sissoko's place, educating the little snake monster, then turned to Cohen and complained.

【But what those nine little rascals did was absolutely awful! My dear grandson—I already gave them half of the fish, more than twenty of them, and they still wanted to eat the portion I saved for you!】

"Eating this much is indeed excessive. You guys usually only eat seven or eight a day at Hagrid's place," Cohen commented fairly.

"But I'm still very hungry..." said one of the Hydra's heads.

"It's incredibly physically demanding! I have to fight eight snakes every day!" said the ferocious snake head.

"Me too," said the calm snakehead.

"We're going to fight eight snakes for it!" said the jealous snake head.

"Yes, yes, you all have to fight seventy-two snakes a day together, right?" Cohen said, arms crossed. "There are rules here—either stay here temporarily, eating twenty-seven fish a day, three for each head, until I finish my research; or go back to the giant by the lake, where you can steal a few fish each day until he sends you back to Greece."

"We have to go back?!" one of the smugglers asked in surprise. "I thought that giant was going to support us for life!" "The choice is yours," Cohen said, raising an eyebrow.

Tempted by the first three fish, and knowing that even taking some blood and venom wouldn't be a big deal, all nine heads of the hydra immediately agreed.

Simple animals are the easiest to fool.

[Where's Sissoko? Where did it go?] Cohen suddenly realized that Sissoko, who had always been following the little snake monster, seemed to have disappeared.

"Daddy's looking for a wife!" the little snake monster exclaimed happily.

"He's dating my daughter," the old water snake said contentedly. "I said he's a good snake, but my daughter doesn't seem to like him very much..."

"It's a bit strange... but it also seems quite reasonable..." Cohen said, frowning.

If you just randomly give Sissoko a female snake, Cohen will definitely be unhappy.

But if it's Chimeramon's tail...

Cohen found them in the old cabin: Sissoko was flirting with the tail of a chimera, the lion was idly playing with a ball of yarn, and the goat was reading a book called "How to Handle Family Relationships".

【Beautiful lady, I'd like to invite you...】

[Sissoko, we've known each other for so many years, no need to pretend it's love at first sight. The way you talk is really weird, and...] the serpentine tail said lazily, [Cohen is here—]

[Huh? My darling!] Sissoko immediately crawled over after turning his head and seeing Cohen. [I'm busy developing my romantic career, and I must say, one of your mothers' patterns is still quite alluring—why didn't you tell me to 'get lost'?]

Sissoko suddenly realized that when he called Cohen "baby," Cohen surprisingly didn't say "get lost."

"Aren't you used to it yet?" Cohen raised an eyebrow. "I just feel like you can call me whatever you want now..."

Seeing Cohen suddenly become so generous in his address, Sissoko was surprised and moved closer to Cohen, sniffing him a few times with his tongue.

"So you're willing to call me Dad now?" Sissoko asked with great joy.

"You're pushing your luck." Cohen gripped his jaw. "You didn't tell me those people at Burke Manor gouged out your eyes—"

"Did you gouge out your eyes?!" the water snake's tail suddenly asked.

"Roar!" the lion roared in frustration.

The lion said it regretted falling asleep back then. The goat apologized to Sissoko on the lion's behalf, saying, "If we had been awake, we definitely could have saved you."

"I didn't want to leave at all..." Sissoko said sullenly, "All I could think about was killing those bastards..."

"And then you lied to me," Cohen said. "You told me those people gave you a cow to eat every three days."

"You were so young back then," Sissoko said, fidgeting and avoiding me. "I was afraid of scaring you, or making you think I was useless, because you didn't seem very willing to accept me back then..."

I've always accepted you.

Sissoko stared blankly at Cohen, raising his gaze to be level with Cohen's.

Cohen hugged Sissoko's upright front head and then patted the back of its head.

(End of this chapter)