Who let this Dementor into Hogwarts!

Chapter 569 Call him father-in-law, quick!

During the second day of Herbology class, Hermione and Ron, eager for some gossip, received from Harry everything they had seen in Dumbledore's Pensieve the night before.

However, they were now more curious about the topics that Cohen's great-grandfather and Dumbledore had discussed privately when they left Cohen behind.

“I’ve never even seen him,” Cohen said. “Maybe I have? But if I had, I would have already eaten him.”

“But he certainly doesn’t seem like a good person,” Harry said. “Cohen, you did the right thing, just like the Dementors sucking the souls of the Death Eaters…”

“Harry, I’m sure there are better ones…” Hermione said, somewhat uncertainly.

"Shouldn't the Death Eaters be executed?" Harry said vehemently. "So many people have died because of their evil deeds—and then Dumbledore wants to..."

"Shh, shh, shh," Cohen said. "Do you want everyone else to hear?"

“I think Harry is right,” Ron nodded. “But Cohen, what did Dumbledore say to you?”

"You recommended some candy to me, but I certainly wouldn't eat from a pile of cockroaches." Cohen lied; the plan would be pointless if Harry found out—because Harry still hadn't mastered Occlumency.

Perhaps because Sirius Black is still alive, Harry's situation this year is not much better than last year; he still frequently has nightmares about Voldemort.

Sometimes it is indeed only the departure of a loved one that allows a person to move to the next stage, but people don't necessarily have to grow in this way—just like Cohen no longer intends to grow.

Dementors don't need to grow; they just need to float around and eat.

Today's herbal medicine class required them to scoop out the pods of the gnaphalium from the remaining roots of the gnaphalium.

At first, many students only dared to pretend to work hard around the tree, but did not dare to actually put their hands into the hollow of the gnarled vine.

This is because this tree, covered in knots, will fiercely lash out with its vines at any creature that tries to steal its fruit.

This atmosphere, where they pretended to work hard but were actually just chatting amongst themselves, was perfect for them to slack off.

“What use is knowing the mysterious man’s past?” Ron asked. “I mean, it’s certainly interesting—but you still don’t know that kind of very advanced magic…”

“I think Professor Dumbledore has a point,” Hermione said. “You can’t find out a man’s weaknesses without understanding him.”

“That’s what Dumbledore said,” Harry said.

“That’s what I said too.” Cohen put on his protective mask. “Let’s get started, Professor Sprout is coming.”

Normally, if you peel back the knots of the knotted vine and put your hand inside, the vine will immediately start lashing out and whipping you wildly.

But Cohen's next move went almost too smoothly. Even after he reached in and pulled out a pod that was pounding like a heart, the knotty vines on their side remained completely still.

"Is it dead?" Harry asked.

“I don’t know, but I’ll give it a try too,” Ron said, stepping forward without hesitation.

Immediately afterwards——

"Ouch!"

Ron was whipped several times by the vines that suddenly started moving like an electric fan, and cried out in pain.

Cohen and Harry struggled to pull Ron's hand out of the tree hole, as it suddenly contracted and got stuck on Ron's elbow. "If I had my own house, I would never plant this thing in my garden," Ron said disdainfully, tossing the pod in his hand into the bowl next to him. He then awkwardly rubbed his back, which had just been whipped by the vine, and hissed incessantly.

"Squeeze the juice out while it's fresh! That's when the quality is best!" Professor Sprout shouted. "Don't be shy, these pods just twitch, they don't bite—"

“But the tree will,” Ron muttered. “Cohen, why don’t you take the pods? It doesn’t seem like it’s going to touch you.”

“Maybe it knows it’s afraid of death.” Cohen reached in and pulled out another pod. “If you rupture the skin, it’ll die.”

This tree looks like a withered trunk when facing Cohen.

“Also, Slughorn called me last night,” Hermione suddenly said to Cohen. “He still wants to take you and Harry to his club, and he kept emphasizing that he has taken all the precautions, and now not even a mosquito with a listening charm can get in.”

“There are no mosquitoes in winter, and I’m already a member, aren’t I?” Cohen protested. “If a club isn’t a place you can just go to or not go to whenever you want, then it’s like going to work.”

“Actually, it can be quite fun there sometimes,” Hermione said. “For example, there’s lots of good food, and he’ll bring in celebrities from time to time.”

"For example?" Harry asked, somewhat curious.

“For example, Gwenog Jones and Amelia Burns—Cohen, Ms. Burns especially wanted to see you, and she was clearly a little disappointed when she heard you weren’t coming,” Hermione said.

“Because the Department of Executions is on the second floor, and I only ever browse the first floor when I go to the Ministry of Magic,” Cohen said. “Maybe I missed it—Ms. Burns is indeed a very nice and upright woman.”

“Wait a minute, Gwenorg Jones?” Ron suddenly became interested. “That Gwenorg Jones from the Holyhead Harpy?!”

“That’s right,” Hermione said. “Slughorn brought her here to help the Slug Club attract more valuable students so he can expand his network—”

"Ha, connections." Ron, the only one in the group who hadn't received an invitation, said sourly, "The Slug Club..."

“Actually, yesterday he said we could bring guests, like our good friends, or…” Hermione said, her face slightly flushed, “He also said he should have implemented this rule a long time ago, because…”

“I guess he learned his lesson from Edward. If he had had this rule back then, Rose would have invited Edward to come along, and then he could have included Edward in his ‘list of outstanding students’ now,” Cohen said, stroking his chin.

"So who are you planning to invite?" Ron asked casually. "Who wants to go to this boring club?"

But in reality, this pretense was too easily seen through, and his ears were now red.

"Boring?" Hermione asked, her face flushed. "I was going to invite you, if you're bored—"

“Hey—wait a minute, you were going to invite me?” Ron said.

"If you'd rather I go with someone else."

“No, I don’t want to,” Ron said immediately.

"Shouldn't we do something like this at a time like this?" Harry whispered to Cohen.

“Call him father-in-law,” Cohen said.

Unfortunately, Ron and Hermione overheard Harry and Cohen's conversation, and the two hurriedly turned their heads away, as if avoiding Cohen and Harry's gaze.

(End of this chapter)