Once they started talking about Cohen, the choice of a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher became obvious. After all, Cohen's family only had one person who was out of a job.
"Edward... I remember him. He used to take walks with Rose here," Hagrid recalled, speaking to Cohen. "I remember a little unicorn running out of the forest, and your mum really loved that little creature." He sighed sadly. "But it was a shame. There was some Dark wizard activity around that time, and that little unicorn..."
"Did only one little unicorn go missing?" Cohen suddenly asked.
"As far as I remember, yes. The centaurs were furious. That Dark wizard stole a unicorn foal right under their noses," Hagrid said regretfully. "My relationship with the centaurs was a bit tense back then... you know, because of Aragog..."
"It's a miracle they didn't bar you from the forest entirely," Ron said, shivering. "If someone was raising a giant spider in my backyard, I'd do everything I could to get them and the spider out of there."
"Actually, that little guy might have been found..." Cohen's mouth twitched.
The timeline seemed to fit. Rose and Edward had a baby just a couple of years after they graduated, and Herbert's youngest son was also born shortly after Edward and his friends were in their fifth or sixth year.
The birth of a "Nightmare" requires the fresh corpse of a unicorn foal. It was very likely that the missing little unicorn from the Forbidden Forest was the source of Alice.
So, in a way, the little creature Rose loved the most ended up coming to her home after all.
After chatting with Hagrid for a bit about school life, they decided not to bother him anymore and left for the Great Hall for dinner.
Hagrid said he needed to get some sleep since he was exhausted.
To Harry's delight, Hagrid was back at his post on Wednesday. Professor Grubbly-Plank, the substitute, had returned the Care of Magical Creatures class to him.
Cohen was also happy because Hagrid had traded him some magical creature furs for the "use" of a two-headed mountain cat for class. These furs were materials Cohen often used for alchemy or potion-making.
Most of the students were surprised by Hagrid's first class of the term. The two-headed mountain cat was one of the few not-so-terrifying creatures he'd brought in. It looked like a grey, two-headed cat and loved to meow and be cute.
Ron, on the other hand, was not pleased. The two-headed cat loved to eat spiders, so they had to feed it spiders during class.
"You can pet it, but don't touch its claws," Hagrid explained during class. "See? There's a shiny, black thing on them that can get hot enough to dissolve rock—they eat rocks. Of course, they also eat fish and spiders and stuff. The rocks are more like snacks..."
"I don't see any similarity between spiders and rocks," Ron said, refusing to go near the bucket of writhing spiders. They had to put on gloves and grab a handful for the two-headed cat to lick clean. They had to work in pairs, or the cat's two heads would fight over the food.
"Luckily it's one I raised, or our group wouldn't be able to do anything," Cohen said, grabbing a handful of spiders and holding them out to the cat's left head. "Eat half, and give the rest to your brother. No fighting, or I'll have the old Water Snake crawl into your burrow tonight..."
With Cohen there, the two heads of the cat became like loving brothers, humbly giving more of the spiders to their "good sibling."
They could only use one hand to feed them. Cohen held his wand in the other, just in case a spider decided to crawl somewhere other than his glove.
That seemed pretty unnecessary, though, because the spiders were completely still as soon as Cohen picked them up.
The class went smoothly. Even when a few reckless Slytherin students took off their gloves and deliberately pinched the cat's claws, it didn't scratch them back.
That was probably because Cohen had threatened them with the old Water Snake—the creature that bullies them—so they were too scared to move.
Cohen didn't let those kids get away with messing with his cat, though. At least those two Slytherin students, whom Cohen didn't really know, wouldn't be feeling any joy for the rest of the day.
While Care of Magical Creatures was a pretty relaxed class with little extra homework, Transfiguration, Charms, and Potions were the opposite. The difficulty and workload for those three were far greater than for any other class. This made many students look forward to the first meeting of the Dungeons and Dragons Club that Edward had mentioned. They were desperate for a new game to help them relax.
Just when Cohen thought Edward had completely won the students over, a Ravenclaw student raised a very serious and suspicious question during Thursday's Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
"Professor, I saw a spell called the Patronus Charm on the O.W.L. exam syllabus that Professor Flitwick gave us. Since we have our exams next term, shouldn't we learn it?" Michael Corner asked.
Are you really going to ask to learn the Patronus Charm right in front of a Dementor's dad?
Cohen looked at this brave student in utter shock.
"What's a Patronus?"
"I've never heard of that charm..."
"Did we ever learn it before?"
"Definitely not. We never really learned any spells in Defense Against the Dark Arts..."
"Oh, you haven't learned this?" Edward said, trying to change the subject. "I thought the other professors would have taught it..."
"It's the most effective spell against Dementors, isn't it?" Michael said. "The paper said the Dementors have escaped from Azkaban. You said you would teach us how to protect ourselves as much as possible..."
"That's true," Edward said.
But he really didn't want to teach them the Patronus Charm with Cohen right there. He was afraid Cohen would think his dad was giving out a free weapon to kill him.
Edward's reluctant expression made everyone in the classroom think of the rumors they'd heard.
Could Cohen really be a Dementor? Is that why his dad doesn't want to teach them the Patronus Charm?
Cohen sighed. He could feel Edward's inner turmoil. A Patronus Charm was useless against a Dementor that could consume souls, and a Dementor that couldn't consume souls like Cohen was hard to deal with, even without the charm.
So, when everyone started clamoring to learn the Patronus Charm, Cohen joined in and started shouting for it too.
"Are you insane?" Harry whispered to Cohen.
"The Dementors are a real danger to you lot right now," Cohen whispered back. "Besides, I'm not really that afraid of a Patronus."
The Dementor empire needed new wizards, and Cohen needed new wizards. Providing a little protection in the beginning was a necessary step.
Of course, he also just wanted to make things a bit easier for Edward.