Who let this Dementor into Hogwarts!

Chapter 595 This time the crime is compounded.
Cohen no longer cared about Zenon's expression as he looked at him; the scene was indeed difficult to explain.

After all, he was the one who first ran to this ghostly place that other tourists rarely visited, and then suddenly a long string of snake language came out of his mouth. Then the stone wall opened, and a skull that looked like a servant of Helbo appeared and called him master...

“You, you are…” Zenon swallowed hard, holding his breath as he asked Cohen in a low voice.

“I’ll tell you when we get outside,” Cohen said in a low voice, then took a few steps forward and approached the stone platform with the skull on it.

“Little master, where did the master go?” The skull swayed excitedly in the air as Cohen approached. “You have no idea how miserable I’ve been all these years. Those wizards broke in and cleaned up all the corpses and curses the master left behind—I had no choice but to hide here. But now you’re back! You can definitely help the master complete his great evil plan!”

"So what can you do?" Cohen leaned closer and asked in a rather nonchalant tone.

"Ah—me? Me?" The green flames in the skull's eye sockets flickered, and it said somewhat evasively, "Little master—I'm loyal! I've been loyal to you and you for so many years—I've never left this place—"

“You’re just trapped here. If you try to leave, those respectable wizards will kill you as some kind of dangerous dark magic creature, won’t they?” Cohen said with a smile. “You haven’t protected anything. You’ve disappointed both me and ‘my father’… You know what the punishment is…”

“I’m sorry—Master, I’m so sorry!” the skull cried in terror. “I was wrong—I couldn’t do it, Master, I really couldn’t—those people were too brutal! I watched with my own eyes as those guys smashed Lazarus’s bones with a spell, just because it bit several people to death! I was so scared—Master must have mentioned me to you, my great little master, I am Metis, his most beloved servant, please don’t throw me into the liquid curse…”

Although the skull couldn't cry out loud, its voice already carried a pleading, tearful tone.

It could sense the liquid curse flowing beneath Cohen's skin, the same stuff Herbo used to deal with "disobedient servants."

“I also think it doesn’t deserve to die…” Zenong whispered a reminder from a distance.

“Don’t get involved…” Cohen turned to Zenon and said, then turned back to the skull and asked kindly, “If you are useful, you can of course continue to live. Come on, tell me how you are of use to me.”

“I can—I can tell you jokes?” The skull’s soul fire flickered tremblingly. “I can also…advise you? I’m willing to do anything—I’ve followed my master for a long time, I’ve seen a lot, I’m still of use to you…”

The skull began to recount a long list of misdeeds he had committed with Helbo, from petty crimes like kidnapping Muggles in the city to helping Helbo orchestrate the eruption of Mount Suma near Pompeii—

"You were responsible for that volcanic eruption?" Cohen raised his eyebrows.

“Yes! Yes! My little master, he harvested over two thousand living souls!” the skull exclaimed excitedly. “He even rewarded me—he gave me a wizard’s head—look—”

The skull spun once in the air.

"Alright, alright, I know you weren't human before." Cohen pressed down on the skull that was spinning in the air.

If this skull knows a lot about Helbo, it might also know about Helbo's Horcruxes and where they are hidden...

Although Cohen felt that Helpo was unlikely to tell his servant the information that concerned his life.

“You can live, if you can help me bring my father back,” Cohen lied skillfully. “He was banished from this world by a wizard named Merlin—and I’m going to bring him back… Of course, this also means that you, as a great hero, will receive an unimaginable reward…”

“Of course, my esteemed young master!” the skull immediately agreed upon hearing that its former master needed help. “Rewards are not important at all! What matters is being able to help my esteemed, great, and flawless master—”

"Really?" Cohen said. "Then I won't give him the reward. When he comes back, just tell him that I was the only one helping out..."

"Ha—young master, you really...you really have a sense of humor..." the skull said awkwardly, "You certainly wouldn't...I mean..."

"Alright, I'm kidding you." Cohen opened his box. "Go in, I'll call you when I need you." Then, Cohen threw the skull directly into the box.

Seconds after the skull fell into the box, a cry of surprise came from inside, seemingly marveling at the sight of so many monsters brimming with evil power in Cohen's box.

Take this skull to that room.

Cohen sent a message to the few Dementors left behind in the box. The "room" Cohen referred to was actually the cellar of the old wooden house in the box, which was well soundproofed and suitable for imprisoning prisoners.

Of course, the skull clearly doesn't realize that it is actually a prisoner, and Cohen is not "Helpo's son".

Snapped!
Cohen closed the box.

“You didn’t have to retreat so far all of a sudden—my bird is still in your bag…” Cohen looked helplessly at Zenon, who had retreated to the study doorway and only poked his head in.

Zenong's face was deathly pale, and he looked like he was about to use his illusion to escape at any moment.

The count was hurriedly dragged out by Zenon.

"What are you doing!" the count said impatiently. "I'm sleeping—or I'll let my son out and yell at you..."

With the example of the talking skull, the fact that the count spoke human language only made Zenon pause for a moment, and he dropped the count to the ground with a tremor.

The count flew toward Cohen, cursing and swearing.

“You are—Hai, Helbo’s—you also said you were going to bring him back…and Merlin—you…I’m sorry, I never said anything bad about Helbo—I—” Zenon immediately apologized to Cohen, stammering.

“This is obviously a lie to that skull,” Cohen said, rubbing his forehead. “Helpo left behind a dangerous dark magic artifact. I need to find and destroy it. This skull might know something, so I need to play along with its guesses and act as 'Helpo's child' to get information out of it, understand?”

"What skull?" the count asked, confused.

“But how do you know there’s this skull behind this door—and Parsleyan—Helpo is a Parsleyan…” Zenon looked at Cohen in disbelief.

“It’s not like Helbo is the only one with a Parsley accent. I just happened to hear some voices here and recited a line from the sound—it’s too complicated to explain…” Cohen said, scratching his head. “Why don’t you just bear with it, I can help you—”

"Do not kill me!"

"Are you going to kill someone again?" The count glanced curiously at Cohen, then looked at Zenon, who was huddled behind the stone wall. "You just threw me on the ground, it's not that serious... But if you really did this for me, I can only say I'm truly touched—"

“Shut up, or I’ll pluck all your hairs off again,” Cohen said dryly.

"Again?" Zenong's terrified voice rang out from behind the wall.

"Look what you've done." Cohen crossed his arms and glared at the count, who was standing on the stone table.

(End of this chapter)