Who let this Dementor into Hogwarts!

Chapter 605 I Really Can Control You
It was drizzling on the evening of July 15th.

Cohen secretly returned to England, even hiding, just to give Edward and Rose a surprise.

Since it was Tuesday, Cohen chose to come back in the evening so that he could catch Edward getting off work.

The street on Privet Drive was quiet. Cohen, who was hiding, was like a voyeur, peering into the window of the living room at No. 5 Privet Drive.

Only Rose and Dobby were in the living room; Cohen didn't see Edward anywhere.

But Edward's coat was hanging on the coat rack in the hallway, and there were also his shoes next to the shoe cabinet, indicating that he had already gone home from get off work.

Strange, where is he? Why isn't he with Rose...?

Cohen cautiously floated up to the second floor and brushed against the living room window.

Edward was lying on the bed with his back to the window, looking as if he were asleep.

Cohen quietly lifted the window, slipped inside, placed the box in the corner, and planned to give Edward a surprise.

However, the closer Cohen got, the more he felt something was wrong. Edward usually snores when he sleeps, but he hadn't snored once since Cohen opened the window and came in.

And he has remained in that side-lying position without moving—could he be dead?

Cohen felt increasingly uneasy as he thought about it. Suddenly, a red spell shot out from under the blanket covering Edward toward Cohen's location.

"Who?" Edward jumped out of bed with lightning speed, wearing only his underwear.

The wand was pointed at where Cohen was—even though it was just thin air in his eyes.

"It's sad, the first gift I received for my birthday was a coma curse from my dad." Cohen muttered as he deactivated his invisibility. "I was hoping to give you a surprise..."

Edward paused for a moment, then slowly lowered his wand.

Then, without saying a word, he rushed over and hugged Cohen.

"You haven't even asked me any questions yet. What if I'm someone else in disguise?" Cohen mumbled, trapped in Edward's arms. "And if you don't put on some clothes soon, I'm going to spit all over you—"

“No need. Besides you, who else could withstand a Stunning Spell without any problems?” Edward still held Cohen tightly. “You’ve been to Greece these past few months?”

“And Bulgaria and Romania,” Cohen said, “but they were just so-so—the travel wasn’t as fun as I’d imagined.”

“I heard you wiped out half of the black magicians in Bulgaria.” Edward finally released Cohen, looking at his face as if to check if Cohen had been doing well on his own.

“And the black magicians of Romania,” Cohen added, “and then I went to Poland…”

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Edward asked softly.

“We’re getting somewhere, and we know more information than when we first went out,” Cohen said. “How are you all doing at home?”

“It’s alright.” Edward sighed and began to gather the clothes from the foot of the bed and put them on. “It’s a bit worse than before. Nobody’s very confident in dealing with Voldemort anymore—but that’s understandable. Nobody wants to deal with a Dark Lord who was hit by the Death Curse one day and is now alive and kicking in another place the next…”

"Better than a Dementor that's been hit by the Death Curse and is still alive and kicking," Cohen said, spreading his arms wide. "But I'm here to bring you good news—Voldemort won't live past the beginning of next month at the latest."

"I thought you came back for your birthday," Edward chuckled. "What's the plan?"

“Remember Voldemort’s Horcruxes?” Cohen asked. “Yes, Dumbledore said so—” Edward replied.

“Harry has one now,” Cohen said. “The last Horcrux Voldemort made. A whole bunch of the ones before that were destroyed by me and Dumbledore—and because this one hasn’t been destroyed yet, Voldemort feels safe for now.”

“Then why didn’t Harry just hand it over to the rest of the Order of the Phoenix?” Edward said, frowning. “Even if he and the Order of the Phoenix didn’t trust our family—shouldn’t he have asked someone else to destroy it? If he had, the plan to ambush Voldemort would have been a success…”

“It won’t work, because Voldemort has another Horcrux that’s very safe.” Cohen shook his head. “That Horcrux is Harry.”

"?"

Edward's eyes widened immediately.

"what?"

“Otherwise I would have ambushed Voldemort long ago,” Cohen said, shrugging.

“Does this mean…” Edward said uncertainly, “Harry…”

“Logically, that’s how it should be,” Cohen said. “But what can I do? I’m a Dementor, and I’m best at cutting souls… I can devour the piece of Voldemort’s soul in Harry, but only when he comes of age and the Sacrifice Protection Spell on him disappears—of all things to protect against, that spell had to keep me out…”

“I remember you burned your hand the last time you touched Harry.” Edward recalled the night Cohen bombed the Ministry of Magic and when he tried to pull Harry’s soul, he burned his palm, and it took a long time to heal.

“It’ll be fine once he’s an adult,” Cohen said. “The spell will disappear when he comes of age, and then I can eat the Voldemort piece that was on Harry…”

“Then take down Voldemort,” Edward continued.

“That’s right,” Cohen said. “But this isn’t just about my involvement; it also requires yours.”

“Me?” Edward frowned.

“Yes.” Cohen nodded. “You’ll have to lead the Ministry of Magic to defeat Voldemort once—”

"To lower his guard?" Edward asked shrewdly.

“Then I’ll lure him into fighting Harry, and then I’ll ambush him.” Cohen nodded. “So, are you in or not?”

“Let me think of a way to make this seem more believable,” Edward said thoughtfully. “But it shouldn’t be too difficult… Cohen, you’re not leaving again now that you’re back—before August?”

Edward looked at Cohen expectantly.

“I’m not leaving for now.” Cohen shook his head. “You’d better keep me hidden, otherwise the whole wizarding world will be in an uproar over ‘Minister of Magic Publicly Protecting a Wanted Criminal’ story—”

“Don’t worry,” Edward said. “Come on, let’s go downstairs and see your mother—she doesn’t know you’re back yet, and she hasn’t sent you the gift she was planning to give you…”

"Hasn't it been delivered yet?" Cohen asked curiously.

“Because she thought you'd come back for your birthday.” Edward raised an eyebrow. “Looks like she was right—”

"And what about the gift you gave me?" Cohen looked at Edward innocently.

“This…” Edward scratched his head, his eyes darting away.

(End of this chapter)