Inside Mr. Raven's room, there was now a very obvious path—
What should've been a wardrobe was now an open door, revealing a staircase that led downwards.
"As expected. Every adventure has to co with a secret basent," Cohen said flatly. "It's always like this. And sohow, Hogwarts manages to discover a new one every year."
"Cheer up. At least this ti there's no unicorn mom or basilisk dad waiting for you," added the Count. "Your parental quota is full."
"What the heck did you guys do at Hogwarts?!" Edward muttered, ruffling his own hair in disbelief.
Clearly, Edward had just been too well-behaved during his school years—any student who followed every rule at Hogwarts would end up having a pretty dull and uneventful experience.
Hufflepuffs were often like that.
Well, except Cedric in the original story—he was Voldemort's accidental tragedy.
But now that Cohen was here, this world was saved, baby!
The group followed the staircase into a dimly lit basent.
It reeked of chaotic magic—Cohen's attempt to investigate Mr. Frondo earlier had been blocked by this very interference.
The basent walls were lined with wooden tables stacked with jars and vials, while a few makeshift experint tables in the center held Mr. Raven's "corpse" and a motionless snake.
Cohen imdiately recognized it—a young basilisk, smaller than little Sofia. Its soul was already gone, and nurous thin tubes were plunged into its scales, pumping murky fluid into its body.
There were more people in the room besides Miss Beatrice and [Cohen].
One of them was von Braun—who looked perfectly fine and was apparently helping the lab's master with research.
And the other...
Was a short, hunched old man with white hair. He was filthy, his wrinkled face like Whomping Willow bark. His hair was so sparse you could see liver spots on his scalp—clearly the product of a lifeti buried in arcane research.
[Soul Strength: 42]
He was feeding [Cohen] so kind of concoction from a test tube.
Because the real Cohen had previously cracked the scales of [Cohen], the clone's human form looked severely damaged, curled up in a corner and whimpering.
"You promised!" Miss Beatrice shrieked at the old man. "I brought you my sister's tongue! You said you'd give immortality!"
"Patience… patience…" the old man said calmly, not even sparing her a glance.
As [Cohen] seed to stabilize slightly under the potion's effect, he finally looked a bit relieved.
"Child… once I uncover the secret of eternal life from that cat's body… you won't have to rely on potions anymore… If you can devour that cat's soul… you won't fall apart…"
"You're still obsessed with that bloody immortality…" von Braun growled under his breath, glancing sideways at Beatrice. "You're gonna die soon anyway—if you want to live, run."
"Von Braun, restrain the girl," the old man said, apparently a bit hard of hearing and missing von Braun's comnt entirely. "My child is dying. The Master has discovered it…"
"Yes, yes—right away," von Braun said quickly, bowing low.
"What are you doing?!" Beatrice demanded, drawing a still-bloody dagger. "Don't co any closer—did you lie to ?!"
"Idiot, RUN!" von Braun barked. "Do Muggles not understand plain language?!"
"Huh?"
"No need to run." Cohen stepped out from behind a half-open door with Edward and the Count. "You're not killing anyone—whatever-your-na-is, old man."
"Ahh…" The old man turned shakily, spotting Cohen. But unlike the usual fanatical Silver Key cultists, he didn't kneel. "My revered Master… I knew you would co…"
"What the hell are you all talking about?!" Beatrice was thoroughly confused.
"Stupefy," von Braun muttered, sneaking a Stunning Spell her way.
Well, if she wouldn't run, then lying down would work just fine. Just don't cause trouble.
With Cohen's arrival, von Braun finally relaxed—he'd had enough of this old lunatic bossing him around for days.
"Speak English," Cohen snapped at the old man, totally fed up—especially since the clone with his face was still hissing at him.
Honestly, the fact Cohen hadn't crushed him already was a rcy.
At least the guy was getting a chance to explain.
"I ant no betrayal, my Lord…" the old man said worshipfully. "Your arrival brought hope… I succeeded…"
He lovingly stroked [Cohen]'s hair as he spoke.
"You didn't succeed. That thing's dying," Cohen said coldly. "You completely misunderstood why 'the homunculus in the bottle' could even survive in the first place."
"Hisssss…" [Cohen] hissed threateningly, but didn't pounce—still too scared after Cohen's recent beatdown.
"No, not yet…" the old man chuckled. "Nor ever… He's missing the most important thing… But from your ocean of knowledge, he found one truth… 'One must die for another to awaken…'"
"So you wanted him to devour ?" Cohen raised an eyebrow. "Are you senile? He can't beat . If the real deal could be replaced by a cheap knockoff, then what's the point of having the real deal?"
"No, it is you who must devour him, my Lord…"
The old man's voice trembled with worship.
"You will devour him… because he'll chase after the ones who tempt you with dreams of greatness… I wanted to make him more complete—but you arrived too soon…"
"Hissssss—" [Cohen] slithered nervously.
"For this, I gave up everything… my child, my lover, my soul…" the old man glanced at Mr. Raven's corpse—clearly once his child.
"You're insane," Edward said, gripping his wand, face filled with disgust. "You killed your wife and son for a damn cult?!"
"Because this world took them from first!" the old man suddenly shouted at Edward, his voice cracked with grief. "You don't understand—I lost everything! And the one who murdered them still lives—still lives—still lives…"
"Who killed them?" Cohen asked.
"Attack them, von Braun," the old man ordered instead, ignoring the question.
"Uh? ?" von Braun backed away innocently.
"Are you deaf?!" the old man shouted. "I said attack!"
"Look, this is gonna be awkward…" von Braun said slowly.
"Didn't you say you were willing to die for our grand vision of destroying this world?!"
"Do I have to spell it out?" von Braun sighed. "I'm the mole—I didn't volunteer for this, you dragged into this ss."
"Fine. I'll do it myself."
The old man lunged, but von Braun was faster—flinging a red spell at him. The old man dodged it with impossible speed.
Edward joined in, silently casting several spells—but the old man deflected them all.
"*Avada Kedavra!*" the old man finally got a shot off at von Braun.
But just before the green light hit him, Cohen transford into a Dentor and intercepted it.
"Avada Kedavra—Grandma's ghost, I've always wanted to try this!" the Count yelled, hurling a Killing Curse too.
Sadly, it barely gave the old man a nosebleed.
"Killing Curses are hard for birds…" the Count mumbled awkwardly, avoiding Edward's judging stare.
But the old man wasn't walking away from this—Cohen was right next to him now.
He didn't need tricks, didn't need to sar blood on the old man's face or cast forbidden curses. Just pulled the soul straight out.
42.8 vs. 42. Cohen wins.
After absorbing the soul, Cohen's Soul Strength rose to a solid 45.
Though even soul-sucking was getting less effective these days—Cohen figured he now needed pure soul fragnts to patch the holes in his own soul, not just more food.
But the old man's death wasn't the end.
[Cohen] was gone from his corner.
It lunged at Edward. The Count fired off multiple spells—even a Patronus Charm—but nothing could stop it.
The silver owl tried to claw it off, but [Cohen] still managed to tackle Edward, bleeding from every inch.
Cohen rushed over, but Edward stopped him.
They stood still, watching [Cohen]—this familiar yet alien "child"—cling tightly to Edward. Black blood soaked his robes.
Thankfully, the old man hadn't added nightmare blood to the mix, so it wasn't dangerous.
"…"
"I kinda feel guilty now," the Count said, smacking his beak. "Like we beat up an innocent kid…"
"That old man would be so disappointed…"
Cohen stared at the clone, a weird emotion stirring inside him.
Why was this imitation so attached to Edward?
It felt like… the Cohen who once existed in this world, before he arrived—the one who truly loved his parents to the very end.
"You've been here this whole ti?" Cohen asked von Braun.
"Yeah." von Braun rubbed his lower back—he'd nearly flipped a table dodging that Killing Curse, and smashed his kidney on a corner.
"That old man said he pulled the phrase 'one must die for another to awaken' from my mind," Cohen said. "How'd he do that? I've never shared that mory with anyone."
"Wizards leave echoes wherever they go," von Braun replied, squinting at the now limp [Cohen] in Edward's arms. "That lunatic pieced together fragnts from those echoes to build the core of that thing."
"So… technically, it is a little fragnt of Cohen?" Edward asked. The way it clung to his belly reminded him of how Cohen used to be—he hadn't hugged Edward like that in ages, now he just slapped him all the ti.
Ah, children really are cutest when they're little. Back then, Cohen was always clinging to him…
And even this tiny fragnt of Cohen loved him this much… Edward chuckled softly.
"You're so greasy," Cohen accused. "You've beco a tragic middle-aged man controlled by children!"
"Now I don't feel touched anymore…" Edward sighed, his smile dropping.
[Cohen]'s life cycle had ended. Without the potions to stabilize its body, the patchwork creation didn't last long.
Even knowing it was fake, watching it die and fade into black mist still broke Edward a little inside.
"Don't look at —I don't like eating sadness," said Cohen. "Too sour."
"Promise this," Edward said with a seriousness Cohen had never heard before. "If you ever get into sothing dangerous again, you're not allowed to go it alone."
"This wasn't dangerous," Cohen muttered, turning his head. "Didn't you see totally crush them...?"
"And what if there's a next ti?" Edward pressed. "What if next ti they make sothing you can't handle on your own?"
"If I can't handle it, you won't be much help either," Cohen shot back, still not agreeing to the promise.
"I'm saying this—"
Edward turned Cohen's head to face him directly. His brown eyes locked with Cohen's, brimming with a kind of emotion that felt almost magical.
"You don't have to carry everything by yourself. No matter how different you are or how terrifying the things you face may be... your mom and I will always be right there with you. Even if the whole world turns against you, we'll stand by your side."
"Cool," Cohen said, cracking his knuckles. "Then I'm gonna go take down the Minister of Magic right now. Since you're all in on backing up, let's go toast the whole Ministry! I've had it with Fudge—guy's a walking corn puff in a bowler hat."
"School-skipping ti is officially over," Edward replied flatly. "I'm sending you back right after this."
"I got permission from Dumbledore!" Cohen protested. "I still have five days off! Going back now is such a waste—"
"School is for studying," Edward lectured. "Stop dreaming up nonsense. Or I'll tell your mother you ditched school and dragged your classmates along."
Reviews
All reviews (0)