Harry felt his heart stop.
A suffocating pressure spread from his throat through his entire body, freezing him in place. His eyes stared blankly at Quirrell's bald head after the turban had been removed, then shifted toward the horrifying face attached to the back of it.
"I thought... it was Snape..."
Even speaking felt difficult.
That face was familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. Terrifying. Twisted. Something from a nightmare.
But the Count had said Cohen was kidnapped.
Yes.
Cohen had been kidnapped.
Harry clung desperately to that thought.
"Hiss—"
A sharp pain exploded from the lightning scar on his forehead. Harry clutched it tightly as the burning sensation spread through his skull.
Quirrell remained silent. At this point, he instinctively wanted Cohen to do the talking instead. Meanwhile, Cohen himself had entered a completely different mode of performance. The "wind" that had followed Harry into the chamber carried ninety-nine points of soul strength.
Dumbledore had already returned.
And now he was watching the entire scene unfold from the shadows.
"You are..." Harry stared at Voldemort's reflection in the mirror while his scar throbbed violently. "Voldemort."
Cohen stood calmly beside Quirrell and nodded slightly.
"That's right," he said. "He's the one trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone."
"Cohen, come here quickly!" Harry urged anxiously. "We can leave together! They're the bad guys!"
"Harry..." Voldemort's voice sounded almost amused. "Did you truly believe your little friends stood beside Cohen because he was forced to make them?"
A cruel smile twisted across the monster's face.
"Your friend has been on my side for a very long time."
"That's impossible!" Harry shouted with surprising courage. "You're lying! Cohen would never hurt his friends!"
"Cohen..." Voldemort hissed softly. "Go. Catch him. Use him."
Since Dumbledore was still watching, Cohen moved exactly as Voldemort expected him to. Otherwise, there would be no chance of obtaining the Philosopher's Stone.
"Cohen... don't..." Harry looked at the wand now aimed directly at him, pain and disbelief filling his voice.
Harry knew perfectly well that Cohen had mastered far more magic than he had. If Cohen truly attacked him, he would not be able to resist.
"I'm sorry, Harry," Cohen said gently.
"Incarcerous."
Ropes shot from the tip of Cohen's wand like snakes, instantly wrapping around Harry and binding him tightly.
"Cohen! We can't beat him for Voldemort!" Harry struggled desperately. "We should help Professor Dumbledore!"
"And how exactly were you planning to defeat him?" Cohen asked calmly.
To Voldemort, those words sounded like mockery aimed at Harry's foolish confidence. Yet to Harry—and to the hidden Dumbledore listening nearby—it sounded more like a warning.
Two first-year students could never defeat Voldemort through brute force alone.
Cohen dragged Harry toward the Mirror of Erised before finally stopping in front of it.
"Look into the mirror," he ordered. "Can you take the Philosopher's Stone out?"
He untied Harry just before pushing him forward.
"What do you see?" Quirrell demanded anxiously. "Tell me! What do you see?"
Harry's mind raced wildly.
Then he lied.
"I—I saw myself shaking hands with Dumbledore," Harry stammered. "He told me I won the House Cup for Gryffindor..."
Cohen immediately noticed something heavy slide into Harry's trouser pocket.
"Lies!" Voldemort shrieked furiously. "He has the Stone! Take it from him!"
Quirrell lunged at Harry without hesitation.
Harry was slammed violently onto the floor, but Quirrell suffered just as much. The moment his hands touched Harry's skin, they blistered horribly as though burned alive by fire.
"AHHH!"
Quirrell screamed and stumbled backward in agony.
"Master! I can't touch him! My hands!"
Smoke rose from his scorched fingers as he collapsed against the wall, trembling violently.
"Cohen!" Voldemort barked.
But Cohen was already moving.
He grabbed Harry effortlessly and reached into his pocket.
"No—Cohen, you can't—"
Harry struggled fiercely, but Cohen was simply stronger. Ever since childhood, his physical condition had far surpassed Harry's.
The Philosopher's Stone slid into Cohen's palm.
[Ding! Harry Potter has been prevented from obtaining the Philosopher's Stone. Evil side quest (1/7) completed. Sin Value +1000.]
[Reward obtained: Mourning Frost.]
The moment Cohen touched the Stone, an indescribably strange sensation spread through his body.
The Philosopher's Stone seemed connected to him somehow.
It felt almost identical to devouring souls.
As though, if he wished it, the Stone could gradually merge into his body completely. The crimson gem rested against his palm while faint warmth spread through his skin.
The plan had changed.
And now Cohen had developed an entirely new strategy.
A Philosopher's Stone theft plan with vastly superior moral justification.
"Run."
While pinning Harry down, Cohen whispered the word quietly into his ear.
Harry froze.
"But—"
Before he could say anything else, Cohen had already stood back up.
"Hurry..." Voldemort urged greedily. "Give me the Philosopher's Stone..."
Cohen didn't move.
Harry inhaled sharply.
At that moment, he understood.
He and Cohen needed to escape together with the Stone.
The entire room seemed to relax all at once.
Harry felt relieved that his friend had not betrayed him. Dumbledore felt relieved that Cohen had not truly sided with Voldemort. Even Voldemort felt relieved because Cohen had helped retrieve the Stone from Harry.
Everyone believed they had won.
Cohen almost felt the system should reward him with ten thousand goodwill points for this performance.
"Give it to you?" Cohen finally asked.
He looked toward Voldemort with a mocking smile.
"In your dreams."
"Cohen, run!" Harry shouted from the doorway.
At some point, the flames sealing the exit had disappeared.
Voldemort showed no surprise whatsoever. Earlier, Cohen had already told him he intended to use the Killing Curse to remove suspicion from himself entirely.
"Kill him!" Voldemort roared at Quirrell.
Cohen sprinted toward the exit instantly. If Quirrell possessed even half a brain, the Killing Curse would absolutely target him.
"Avada Kedavra!"
A flash of green light exploded through the chamber.
"No!"
Harry watched helplessly as the curse struck Cohen directly in the back.
The sight instantly overlapped with his nightmares—his parents collapsing beneath green light.
From the shadows, Dumbledore remained calm. He had personally witnessed a one-year-old Cohen survive hundreds of Killing Curses without dying. This spell should not have harmed him at all.
As Quirrell turned toward Harry standing beside Cohen's fallen body, Dumbledore finally stepped into the room.
He materialised silently near the entrance.
Voldemort's triumphant expression froze instantly.
In less than half a second, he abandoned Quirrell's body without hesitation. The Philosopher's Stone no longer mattered. Escaping Dumbledore mattered far more.
A black shadow tore itself free from Quirrell before vanishing through the chamber.
The abandoned professor collapsed immediately.
Years of possession had ravaged both his body and soul. Without Voldemort sustaining him, Quirrell was already dying.
"Professor Dumbledore!"
Harry had burst completely into tears by now.
"Please save Cohen!" he begged desperately. "Quirrell used a spell on him and—and he won't move anymore!"
Harry still didn't fully understand what the Killing Curse truly meant.
He only knew that Cohen's body had gone cold frighteningly fast.
Dumbledore quietly cast a Sleeping Charm on Harry to spare him further distress. The boy collapsed gently onto the floor.
Then Dumbledore walked toward Cohen.
"Cohen," he said quietly. "Get up. Voldemort is gone now. Nothing can hurt you."
No response came.
Dumbledore's expression changed immediately.
The moment he realised Cohen truly appeared dead, something inside him turned cold. This was no act. No disguise. No magical concealment.
Cohen's body was empty.
A dead shell without a soul.
And for the first time in many years, genuine fear appeared on Albus Dumbledore's face.
Nearby, hidden in the form of an invisible spirit, Cohen silently observed him.
This was the first time he had ever seen Dumbledore look frightened.
....
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