"Woohoo!"
Cohen cheered.
"You little—coo-coo-coo-coo-coo—"
The Earl was so flustered it couldn't even form human words, its big eyes practically bulging out of their sockets.
A Dentor-shaped creature, woven from the happy emotions Cohen had swiped from the Earl, floated near the ceiling of the Room of Requirent. Aside from its silvery hue, it looked almost identical to a regular Dentor.
"I must've passed out from the shock and still be dreaming," the Earl declared. "You evil Dentor spawn aren't hijacking my springti fantasies—any minute now, a flock of owls is gonna…"
The Earl turned away, muttering about its dream—sothing involving a brown, fuzzy ball—and refused to look at Cohen or the silvery Dentor hovering above.
This was too freaky. Way too freaky.
It was like Satan ripping off his devil skin and Jesus popping out from inside.
But Cohen didn't care about the Earl's ltdown. If an Animagus's Patronus matched their animal form, it made total sense that his, as a half-Dentor, would be a Dentor, right?
He didn't have anything scared of Patronuses on hand to test it with, so he couldn't tell if this one could fend off real Dentors or Lethifolds…
Maybe he could snag a few Dentors from Azkaban?
But that ca with issues. Cohen wasn't a pure Dentor—would they shun him? See him as one of their own, a human, or maybe a "Mudblood" among Dentors?
And a big question: could he even eat them? Did Dentors have souls? No one had really studied them enough to say.
Too many unknowns. He'd have to add "sneak into Azkaban" to this year's to-do list.
"Do you know where Azkaban is?" Cohen asked the Earl.
"Are you talking to your Dentor Patronus?" The Earl, curled up in its nest, didn't turn around.
"I'm talking to you," Cohen corrected. "I'm not nuts enough to chat with a puppet I made yet."
With that, he waved off the spell.
This Patronus success proved Cohen could bypass his soul's Dentor instinct to dodge Patronuses by using sneaky tricks—like gobbling up soone else's emotions.
But the shape? Yeah, not exactly people-friendly.
Most folks' Patronuses took the form of "the animal they're most attuned to," and Dentors didn't exactly scream "warm and fuzzy."
So, for now, this wasn't gonna convince anyone of his inner goodness or justice.
There had to be a fix, though—Patronus shapes could change… right?
"What crazy idea's brewing in your head now?" The Earl slowly turned back, visibly relieved to see the Dentor Patronus gone.
"That thing almost sucked away the best mory of my life. From now on, I'm absolutely—"
"Patronuses don't suck happiness," Cohen cut in. "That was —but that's not the point. I've got a big new plan. Do you know where Azkaban is?"
"You planning a rebellion and coup already?" the Earl asked suspiciously. "You've only been here half a year…"
"The 'Minister Norton' plan kicks off after graduation," Cohen said seriously. "This Azkaban trip is to grab so Dentors."
"What do you want Dentors for?!" The Earl perked up, alard, connecting the dots to Cohen keeping that black unicorn in the Room of Requirent… "You're not gonna…"
"I wanna keep a few."
("You're looking for Dentor girlfriends?")
They blurted it out at the sa ti.
"Is your brain just hunger and horniness?" Cohen asked calmly.
"If not for a mate, why else would you raise Dentors?!" the Earl shot back. "Can my bird-sized happiness feed you *and* them? Don't make bolt right now—once I join the Owl Moon Landing Project, you'll never catch !"
"Not just a couple—I'm thinking a few more," Cohen said, wagging a finger. "If they'll chat with nicely."
"Ha, real friendly, I bet. Since you're a Dentor runt, they'll probably toss you the happiest scrap left in Azkaban so you don't starve. Every species looks after its young," the Earl said in a flat, dry tone.
"That'd make things easier," Cohen nodded, agreeing with the prediction.
"Hold up—I'm not endorsing your Dentor pet project. They'll murder , and you'll lose so pretty key stuff—like my loyalty, friendship, and whatever other bond crap," the Earl warned.
"I wasn't asking for your approval," Cohen said bluntly. "You can't stop anyway—so where's Azkaban?"
"If Dumbledore catches you raising Dentors in school, you're screwed," the Earl tried again.
"I don't have to keep them—but I've gotta check out Azkaban. So where is it?"
"I'm not flying to that hellhole—"
"So where's Azkaban?"
Cohen pressed, then added after a beat, "Just tell the location. I'll go myself."
"Guess you really wanna go ho," the Earl sighed, giving in to Cohen's stubbornness. "Fine… Azkaban's off northwest Britain, on a little island in the North Sea. But I can't pinpoint it—it's an unplottable magical zone."
"No exact address?" Cohen frowned.
"They use Portkeys to ship prisoners there. I've seen it from a distance," the Earl said. "If you're hunting it down, you'll be drifting at sea for ages. My advice—"
"Just drift a bit longer, and I'll find it," Cohen shrugged. As long as he knew the general waters, he wasn't too fussed.
But that ant vanishing from ho or school for days. No chance this term—maybe sumr, with so excuse to convince Rose and Edward to let him loose.
And to avoid getting stuck out there, he'd need to learn Apparition—otherwise, the round trip would eat up even more ti.
Lots to tackle slowly: raising Dentors, the long-term Ministry takeover, fixing his shattered soul, and the short-term goal of snagging the Philosopher's Stone.
Quirrell would get the intel tonight, and Cohen could check out Hagrid's hatched dragon later—wonder how strong a fire dragon's soul was?
(End of Chapter)
Reviews
All reviews (0)