At breakfast the next day, Harry and Ron openly discussed what might be hidden under the trapdoor.
"It's either incredibly valuable or incredibly dangerous," Ron said.
"Or both," Harry deduced like a detective.
Hermione, who had escaped the clutches of the three-headed giant dog with them the previous night, had long since distanced herself from them, even sitting a world apart at breakfast.
Cohen wasn't interested in fooling around with Harry and Ron; after his Transfiguration class that morning, he was going to the Room of Requirement to try out some magic. He
had tried a few more advanced spells that morning that he hadn't been able to cast before—at least he successfully cast the Bubble Head Charm.
It seemed that the increase in his soul strength should also improve his magical abilities—he wouldn't have to wait until he was older to master those difficult spells like other young wizards.
With a mountain of homework assigned by Professor McGonagall, Cohen returned to the Room of Requirement.
Opening his book, *The Complete Book of Positive Spells*, Cohen began trying out the spells he had previously failed to cast.
"Paranormal Activity!"
"**!" The count, dozing by the fireplace, suddenly lost control of his body and let out an owl's swear word.
"Silence!"
The count's swear word was reduced to just his mouth.
...
After Cohen's attempts, most of the spells in the book seemed to pose no difficulty for him—perhaps only the power of the spells dissatisfied Cohen; his maximum magical input remained fixed, no matter how much he tried to manipulate his emotions, he couldn't increase it.
There were still some more difficult and complex spells, such as the Ancient Flame and the Reversal of Time Spell, that Cohen still couldn't cast.
After the testing, Cohen roughly understood the additional significance of soul strength for him—unlocking more powerful spells and increasing his magical power.
Cohen was increasingly curious about what he actually was. After all, he was a "weapon" created by those dark wizards with their lives and blood; he couldn't simply be a Dementor with a human body who could cast spells and spout trash talk, could he?
It sounded like something from alchemy—unless the magical world had a field like hybridization.
"You have to use me as your fucking target every time, don't you?"
Cohen only remembered to remove the spell from the Earl when he was about to leave.
"Bloody hell..."
The Earl's words were always filled with "mother f**k," but Cohen didn't find it too bad.
As long as he realized that his biological mother might be some Dementor, a dark wizard, or some unknown species, even if the Earl was the most skilled mother hunter in the world, it wouldn't break Cohen's spirits.
In a sense, Cohen was actually the most suitable little wizard to raise the Earl, since the other little wizards actually had biological mothers.
Cohen's school life had almost become a series of fixed locations.
During class time, Cohen would spawn in the classroom, while outside of class, he would randomly spawn in the Great Hall, the Room of Requirement, the Library, Quirrell's office, the Forbidden Forest, and the dormitory.
Hermione, who often spent time in the library, developed a new attitude towards Cohen, a classmate who refused to associate with Harry and Ron and chose to be decadent. Unfortunately, Cohen only appeared in front of Hermione on weekends when he was doing his homework and copied it.
"What on earth are you studying?!"
Hermione asked Cohen, utterly bewildered, on the last weekend before Halloween.
"Homework is the biggest waste of time in the world, and I never like wasting time," Cohen replied, slurping a cream stick while copying his assignments with one hand.
Weeks of school had given Cohen a precise grasp of each professor's minimum requirements for assignments—so he'd just go for the bare minimum:
at least there was writing and it didn't look like AI writing… "Wait, there doesn't seem to be any AI these days…" Cohen suddenly remembered it was 1991.
"You—sigh…"
Hermione wanted to lecture Cohen, but couldn't think of a way.
Cohen was indeed quite talented in spells, and Hermione often got inspiration from him—unfortunately, Cohen always disappeared after copying the assignments.
This time was no exception; after leaving Hermione a pile of Honeydukes candies, Cohen ran off again, completely oblivious to the fact that Hermione was the daughter of a dentist and didn't eat much of that sweet stuff that even brushing her teeth several times would give her cavities.
Cohen hurriedly headed straight for the library. He'd been waiting for weeks, but books like *The Alchemy Explained* and *The Soul in the Urn* were always "checked out."
If he couldn't borrow these books, Cohen felt he'd lose something precious: his patience, his kindness, and his love for the school.
"Perfect timing, Mr. Norton. These books were just returned,"
Mrs. Pince said, carrying several thick volumes back to the checkout counter.
After checking the books out, Cohen stole a glance at the person who had borrowed the book—library rules stipulated that one person couldn't borrow the same book for several weeks in a row, but there was one exception—
Dumbledore.
Wait, Dumbledore, you're an alchemist now, do you really need *The Alchemy Explained*?!
Or is she just stalling him for books about his origins?
Furthermore, if Dumbledore truly didn't want Cohen to see them, he could have simply removed the books from the library—the headmaster could do whatever he wanted at school.
But Dumbledore still returned the books. Cohen didn't understand, but it didn't matter; he could read them now.
Cohen eagerly took the books back to the Room of Requirement, which he had been hogging.
Because of the Earl's presence, the room was often occupied by Cohen and the Earl taking turns guarding it, turning it into "Cohen's secret base"—having a talking bird was undeniably cool.
And since the Earl's presence here is somewhat voluntary, things like owl perches and owl beds will appear according to his needs…
"I've never seen an owl bed," Cohen said with a dark face as he returned to the Room of Requirement. "You're not going to suddenly turn into a human one day, are you?"
"Hmm?" The Earl lay lazily in his nest by the fireplace in an odd posture, opening one eye halfway. "Don't you like animals turning into humans? – I heard you telling a stray cow cat to 'quickly turn into a catgirl' last time –"
"There's a big difference between a cute catgirl and a lewd, shirtless owl uncle," Cohen replied stiffly. "If the latter appeared in front of me…"
"Don't worry," the Earl yawned. "Even if I were to become another species, I wouldn't choose to become one of you upright apes."
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(End of Chapter)