Who let this Dementor into Hogwarts!

Chapter 44 Christmas Gift

Cohen stared at the man who seemed to have stepped from middle age into the grave in an instant, and was considering whether to point out the fact that "Cohen was no longer his son" - neither physically nor mentally.

According to alchemical theory, the final product, which transcends the original materials, has nothing to do with the materials put into the alchemical furnace.

Just like the atoms that make up the human body come from the stars in the universe, but the stars are completely different from humans.

But this news must be hard for Herbert to accept now. Perhaps he gave up everything and was willing to stay in this lonely and dangerous place for the rest of his life, just to see Cohen come back one day.

"Damn it," Cohen sighed. "You've gotten so sentimental, I'll just grudgingly grant your wish and spend Christmas with you."

[Ding! Goodwill value +100]

Cohen was waiting for this report from the system. If helping a poor man to have a good thought during his endless prison time was not considered a "good deed", then Cohen could only come to one conclusion - that Herbert was lying.

But it seems that Herbert is sincere at the moment. The system has never been deceived, at least it will not be deceived by an old man who is almost going crazy.

"Great!" Herbert seemed to have suddenly become ten years younger. He rubbed his hands on the rag-like clothes at a loss. Cohen could see that he was trembling with excitement. "I-what should I do-you said you were hungry... Yes, I'll go get you something to eat..."

Herbert rose hastily to light the fire; the fire in the house was already out, and his wand was with Coin.

He didn't ask Cohen for his wand, though.

His mind was surprisingly clear now. It was a blessing that Cohen stayed here. He could see that Cohen was very cautious and he should let Cohen relax - on Christmas Day.

"The flames are blazing." Cohen cast a fire-starting charm at the fire to prevent Herbert from trying to make fire by rubbing two sticks together - he didn't have a lighter. "That rabbit is about to be soaked to death. Count, go catch some rabbits."

"I was going to praise you for regaining some conscience." The count rolled his eyes at Cohen, but still spread his wings and flew away.

"Can the owl talk?" Herbert turned his head to look at the earl, then secretly glanced at Cohen, and then immediately turned his eyes to the iron pot in front of him with worry, fearing that Cohen would change his mind because of something he said.

"Well, my pet, you can buy it for ten Sickles." Cohen answered Herbert's question.

At least I didn’t spend my first Christmas in this world alone.

"I still have some money here..." Herbert fumbled in his pocket, and then found that the pitiful change he had on him was piled on the table - there was a gold galleon in it that shouldn't be among the silver and copper coins.

Those Aurors wouldn't give out charity, because there was no place to spend money here - it could only be Cohen.

This child has not been affected by any evil at all, he is like a little angel——

Herbert felt as if his throat was choked at the thought.

"You're not going to cry, are you? - Warning, I don't know how to comfort adults - No, buddy, you look like you're in your forties or fifties, you wouldn't be like this..."

Cohen saw that Herbert was about to burst into tears and quickly stopped him.

Just a little bit of sensationalism is enough, don’t be too sensational!

Cohen was afraid that he would be really moved - in fact, having a pair of parents is enough.

Perhaps if Herbert had ulterior motives, Cohen would feel better...

"No, no, it's just...sand in my eyes." Herbert wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his torn robe. "Then I'll go find it for you..."

Herbert suddenly found that he seemed to have nothing to give Cohen.

Suddenly, he collapsed like a deflated ball.

"Tell me about what happened before?" Cohen gave him a direction. Herbert's emotions were very mixed.

Joy, distress, anxiety, sadness, like a bag of Bibi Every Flavour Beans crushed up and poured into a cup, then stirred with pumpkin juice.

Is this what human emotion is?

Complex, confusing, and full of pain.

"Tell me everything you know as a Christmas present tomorrow," Cohen continued. "There's almost nothing useful in the basement—I want to know everything about the experiment."

Herbert slowly sat back on the bed, looked at Cohen's face, crossed his hands together and clenched them into a ball, seeming a little hesitant.

"I... I know some - but not all..." Herbert's Adam's apple moved. "I don't want you to think of yourself as a... as a..."

"Actually, I already know part of it." Cohen pursed his lips. "There are people, Dementors, nightmare unicorns and other things mixed in the bloodline - but I don't really care. No one can find out anyway."

Because of the gloomy weather outside, the firelight in the house seemed particularly bright.

"Starting from the beginning?" Herbert's eyes reflected the firelight behind Cohen, and the corners of his mouth trembled slightly.

"Can we start from the middle?" Cohen complained.

"Then... let's start from the beginning..." Herbert recalled the past, "from when you were five years old - I mean, before the experiment..."

"At that time you... I couldn't... At that time there was..."

Herbert stammered tremblingly, and could not utter the word "dead".

"How about I just use Legilimency, that would be faster?" Cohen asked.

Herbert nodded silently.

It was as if he would die if he said those words - or rather, he actually knew in his heart that his original child "Cohen" had died a long time ago, and saying the words again meant that he needed to accept this fact.

"Legilimens."

Cohen pointed his wand at Herbert's brow, and a silver, flocculent spell connected the tip of the wand to Herbert.

Herbert was completely defenseless, even though Cohen could do whatever he wanted to his brain at any time.

A wonderful feeling flowed from the wand along his hand into Cohen's mind, as if a very long movie was playing, and Cohen could speed up, reverse, and skip scenes at will.

Herbert's life memories are recorded here.

But Cohen mainly looks at the ones about himself.

In 1976, -year-old Herbert and his wife Belvina Black, who already had a son and a daughter, gave birth to their youngest son, Cohen Bock.

In 1978, Herbert's eldest son died. At that time, dark wizards were rampant, and no one knew whether he died in some crazy dark wizard activity or something else. The Burke family was at its peak at that time, and naturally they would not admit that their descendants would be bullied by their peers.

Especially the brother and sister Herbert and Rose are very close - they are both notorious "family black sheep". Not only do they have an abnormal attitude towards Muggles, but they also show their closeness to dirty Muggles from time to time.

So the Bock family never revealed the incident, and Herbert couldn't find a way to avenge the child - he didn't even know where the child's body was.

In 1979, Herbert's daughter's magical power went out of control, and the Obscurus in her body killed several of her brothers who bullied her. As a result, she was sentenced to death by the then-ruler of the Burke family - two Avada Kedavra curses, one was used on Herbert's wife Belvina (who stood in front of her daughter), and the other was used on Herbert's daughter.

From that moment on, Herbert was left with only his young son "Cohen".

Instead of seeking revenge, he took Cohen away from the family - a terrible, powerful family that terrified him.

Herbert moved to Godric's Hollow with "Cohen". In the same year, his sister Rose also chose to completely cut off ties with the family because of this incident and married Edward Norton, who was of impure blood.

In 1980, Cohen died. The cause of death was an inexplicable curse. Herbert did not understand why someone would curse Cohen. Cohen's death almost broke Herbert. He had nothing left. His family was all dead.

In 1981, Voldemort fell. Just as the surrounding wizards were cheering, a younger generation of the Burke family approached Herbert.

He told Herbert that there was a way to bring the dead back to life, and that his family was secretly creating a life form - the "Man in the Bottle" - that could replace Voldemort and control the wizarding world.

A dead body of a young wizard is needed - a dead body with the blood of the Burke family.

The sudden hope made Herbert go to his head. He dug out Cohen's body and returned to Bock Manor, helping to collect countless alchemical materials and rare creatures. Many of these were cruel and prohibited by law - but Herbert's mind was full of resurrecting Cohen, and he did whatever work he could, just like a slave.

The research succeeded, but it also failed.

The "man in the bottle" survived stably, but also killed almost everyone in the manor the moment it succeeded - it was like a soul black hole, swallowing up the soul of almost every living thing.

Except for the unicorn underground, and Herbert.

Then Herbert was arrested and sentenced by the Ministry of Magic. Since Cohen could not be killed, he was adopted by Rose according to Dumbledore's suggestion.

What followed was a ten-year wait that was so boring that it was almost torturous, and finally Cohen arrived - although their first meeting was not friendly.

Just as Herbert was being tied up, two Aurors who were passing by noticed something was wrong with the ruins of the manor. They untied Herbert and rushed into the basement in the ruins of the manor that had been blown open by Cohen.

And then this is what Cohen saw...

……

After reading Herbert's memory, Cohen now has almost figured out the specific events that happened in the past. Unfortunately, Herbert has been delivering materials to the research and is not participating in the experiment (because he doesn't know how).

Therefore, Cohen had no way of determining through Herbert's memory what kind of dark magic creatures Cohen's remaining two bloodlines belonged to. He could only say that this trip had some gains, but they were not the kind of gains Cohen wanted at the beginning.

[Race: Dementor/Human/"Nightmare"/? /? ]

"Do I look like a fool?" Herbert said to himself.

Because of the influence of Legilimency, Herbert was actually watching Cohen's long memory again.

Once some memories are strung together, those things that were once unexpected become clearly revealed.

It was the Burkes who had cursed Herbert's son - they had already included him in their plan.

And Herbert is the kind of person who was sold out by the Burke family and still counts money for them...

"People get scammed because the scammers are bad, not because they're stupid." Cohen raised his eyebrows. "You call that victim blaming, but it's all over... I ate all those Bocks."

"You're right..." Herbert said weakly.

Not long after, the Count flew back with two rabbits floating beside him - because his claws were holding the wand, he had no time to catch the rabbits.

Those two Aurors were not on regular patrol. They were simply passing by. If they suddenly disappeared, they would not be able to find this place.

Cohen was kind enough to spend the night with poor Herbert, and the Earl went out in the middle of the night - because he was going to Rose and Edward to bring a gift for Cohen. He should have gone last night, but the Earl was so excited after getting the wand that he forgot about it.

This Christmas was probably the happiest Christmas Herbert had ever had in the rest of his life. The whole room was filled with joyful emotions - Cohen had to be very restrained not to eat them.

The bed was left to Cohen, and Herbert slept on the floor with a blanket in his arms.

[Ding! Goodwill value +300]

[Note: Congratulations on learning compassion. I will reward you with 300 stones.]
"..."

Cohen was awakened by the system's broadcast early in the morning.

The sky outside was still gloomy, almost the same as at night.

Fortunately, Cohen has a mechanical watch, so he doesn't lose track of time.

7:35
It's time to moisten it——

By now the Earl should have delivered the gift to the Gryffindor common room, and there was no point in Cohen staying outside any longer.

This bed was not very comfortable to sleep on, and Cohen missed the Hogwarts dormitory a little bit - at least in terms of living environment, Hogwarts was better than 99.9% of schools.

Herbert was still asleep. Cohen heard him tossing and turning last night. He must have been so excited that he couldn't sleep all night.

Cohen didn't plan to wake him up. If he woke up and saw that Cohen was leaving, this guy might even want to die.

After using a levitation spell to lift Herbert from the ground to the bed, Cohen wrote a short letter on a piece of parchment left over from his homework and placed it on Herbert's desk, then pressed Herbert's wand on it.

[I'm going back, don't commit suicide - I'll come back to see you later]

"Why does it feel like, 'You were very nice last night. I left the money on the table, and I'm leaving now.'"

Cohen muttered to himself with a frown on his face.

But it's good to leave Herbert with some hope - when Cohen becomes the head of the Ministry of Magic, his crime will be cancelled.

At that time, we can use public opinion to promote something like "fatherly love spanning more than ten years", which will surely make those housewives cry, and also discredit Fudge by the way.

Then Cohen pointed his wand at the snoring Herbert.

"Everything is forgotten."

Cohen did not delete too many of Herbert's memories. He only deleted Cohen's face and the memory of the two Aurors coming here. He then modified Herbert's memory about Cohen's purpose and behavior in coming here - so that the people from the Ministry of Magic would not find out.

Now Cohen's stated purpose of this trip is simply to see his "biological father", perfect.

And Herbert should only remember that his beloved son has returned and will come again in the future.

[Ding! Goodwill value +50]

The system's announcement reappeared—doing good things really does add up to a lot...

Unfortunately, the goodwill value provided by Herbert has begun to decline, which means that even if Cohen continues to help him in this way, he will not give him much more - Cohen previously called this situation "resistance" to system rewards.

It was as if the sin value for bullying the Count had been reduced to just one point each time, or even to nothing.

He needed to expand his methods of earning the two store currencies.

After leaving the cabin and making sure to hide all traces of his presence, Cohen took advantage of the night to fly back above the thick clouds.

Back to Hogwarts, it seems that even without looking for information about Nicolas Flamel, Harry would have started to ignore school rules and wander around at night after getting the Invisibility Cloak.

Bad genes that are born evil are inherited.

　This chapter mainly introduces Cohen's past - there's nothing you can do if you don't like it, just go back to school in the next chapter (Amen) (4000 words long chapter)

　　
　
(End of this chapter)