"Cohen, why aren't you smiling? You're with your family!"
"Don't you like them?"
"It's almost Christmas..."
"I'll bite you all to death, AHHH!"
Cohen lunged at Dean and the others who were egging him on.
But with Professor McGonagall watching over them, they couldn't get away with too much.
"Just you wait. One of these days, I'm going to take all your Gryffindor points," Cohen growled after dinner.
Dean and the others immediately quieted down.
The arrival of the new professor didn't have much of an impact, as they were all heading home for the holidays the next day.
Harry and Ron were going home—which was now Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, since Mrs. Weasley was staying there to cook for the Order of the Phoenix.
Hermione was also going home to see her parents and remind them not to go near any place with obvious magical activity.
"So that means I'm the only one left in Gryffindor this Christmas..." Cohen mused.
"Cohen, we'll be back after the holidays—" Harry started to say, trying to comfort him.
"This is amazing!" Cohen said happily. "Now I can let the things in those boxes out. They've been cooped up for too long!"
"I knew it..." Harry said, burying his face in his hands. "Well, Merry Christmas in advance."
"Merry Christmas, Hallelujah, now get going!" Cohen urged.
As he watched Harry and the others leave with the rest of the students, someone walked up behind Cohen and patted him on the shoulder.
"Will you be lonely?" Herbert asked, concerned. "Edward said you might be a bit unhappy that he couldn't spend Christmas with you this year."
"I could never be lonely," Cohen said. "I have a whole family in those boxes, and you're here, too."
"That's good. Do you want to eat Christmas dinner in the Great Hall or in my office?" Herbert asked, a bit hesitantly. "I decorated my office a bit to make it feel more... like home. You know, last time we spent Christmas together..."
"We ate two rabbits," Cohen said, the memory still fresh. "I have to say, the rabbits from the Burke Manor were a bit too skinny."
"Perhaps they were affected by some of the residual magic there," Herbert said with a smile. "It won't be like that at Hogwarts."
"Let's eat in the office, then. I get a bit uncomfortable eating with the professors," Cohen said. "Especially Dumbledore. He always tries to push sweets on me before the meal. Oh, by the way, have you found a new place to live? Where is it?"
"Sirius recommended Number Thirteen, Grimmauld Place. The Muggle family there just sold the house," Herbert said. "The area is quite nice, too."
"I thought you'd want to live on Privet Drive," Cohen said.
Wouldn't Herbert want to be able to see Cohen often?
"I thought... the distance would be just right," Herbert said. "It wouldn't interfere with your life, and if you happened to be visiting friends..."
"Is your son's name Cohen?" Cohen asked.
"?" Herbert was taken aback for a moment, then answered instinctively, "Yes..."
"Is this your son's arm?" Cohen asked, holding out his arm.
"Yes..." Herbert said, his eyes a bit nervous.
"Do I remember everything Cohen should remember?" Cohen asked.
"Yes..."
"Then why would you think your presence would interfere with our lives?" Cohen asked.
"Well... because of... Edward and Rose..."
"They don't care about that anymore," Cohen said. "Why do you have to make things so difficult for yourself? I'm not blaming you, I'm just stating a fact. Four years ago, you were worried that Edward and Rose wouldn't forgive you, and they did. Now you're worried that living next to us will interfere with our lives, but plenty of normal families live very close to each other. Some of the pureblood families even all live in the same manor."
"There's no need to be so careful. I'm not going to abandon you," Cohen said. "You have a large inheritance, after all. I'll get it when you die, though that's a tough condition to meet, since I'd have to die before you to inherit, and then you wouldn't die..."
"Ha ha..." Herbert was amused by Cohen's joke about the inheritance.
"Promise you won't get hung up on this anymore," Cohen demanded. "Otherwise, I'll try to asexually reproduce a Cohen II to give you to raise."
"Alright, alright, I won't get hung up on it again!" Herbert said quickly.
He couldn't even imagine what an asexually reproduced Cohen would be like... It was too bizarre to contemplate.
Herbert went back to polishing his office and preparing for his classes, while Cohen returned to the Gryffindor Tower, ready to let out the old and young creatures who wanted to stretch their legs.
Only a few wanted to come out, however. The old Basilisk wanted to go back to the Chamber of Secrets for a visit, and the Lion wanted to lick Cohen's fur all day.
"I am not going to turn into a Chimera for you to lick," Cohen refused. "I don't want to take a bath today."
No wonder the Sphinx never got together with the goat; no one would want to smell like sulfur all the time.
"Roar..." The Lion let out a mournful sound.
The little Basilisk didn't want to come out either after casually asking if Harry was gone.
Ariel, however, wanted to come out and spend some time with Cohen.
"Is this not about the firewhiskey?" Cohen asked suspiciously.
"No," Ariel retorted. "Do you think all I have in my mind is firewhiskey?"
"Yes," Cohen nodded.
"I saw that Fiodor is spending Christmas with his kids..." Ariel said.
"That unicorn chieftain? Oh—so you're feeling pressured," Cohen said, realizing. "Is it because all the other unicorns have families, and you don't? Are you feeling insecure?"
"You've clearly been corrupted by that rascal of an owl," Ariel sighed. "You're no longer a pure unicorn..."
"As if you were ever a pure unicorn yourself..." Cohen muttered.
"So, do you have any vodka in your common room?" Ariel asked, getting straight to the point.
"I knew this was about firewhiskey!" Cohen said, massaging his forehead.
After mollifying the ever-nagging Ariel—who was chanting "firewhiskey, firewhiskey, I want lots and lots of firewhiskey" in his head—with a bottle he "procured" from Dumbledore, Cohen still had to deal with the few young Greek creatures who were curious about Hogwarts.
The Manticore curled up by the fireplace, using its venomous tail to poke at the logs. Cohen just had to make sure it didn't set the armchairs on fire.
The two-headed Lynx was more of a danger, as it seemed to have developed an intense fascination with the stone walls of Hogwarts.
The Leopard-cat was like a shadow, following the Chimera around, while the Lion was teaching it how to play with a ball of yarn.