"I need the exact location of Azkaban,"
Cohen stated his request.
Cohen had originally intended to squeeze some money out of him, but he didn't seem to be so short of pocket money now—and Quirrell was practically penniless because of that dragon egg.
Cohen wanted to ask Quirrell why, now that he'd become a dark wizard, he wasn't trying to do something like robbery, theft, murder, or something similar…
"Azkaban?" Quirrell didn't understand why Cohen wanted to go there—did he have someone important imprisoned there? "What are you going there for?"
"To visit family," Cohen replied briefly.
Actually, he wasn't wrong; Cohen was indeed going to test the "family relationship" between himself and the Dementors. Of course, that was only one reason.
There was another, more important reason:
one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, Helga Hufflepuff's Cup.
It was in Gringotts' Lestrange Vault.
If Cohen wasn't planning on risking a theft from the vault, his only option was to find the madwoman Bellatrix Lestrange to get some evidence, and then openly take the cup out.
Cohen also had a condition Bellatrix couldn't refuse:
"Heil Hydra"
—no, it was "The Dark Lord isn't dead. Prove your loyalty; his plan requires your sacrifice."
It was hard to imagine what reason that extremely obsessed Voldemort-obsessed woman would have to refuse after such a long wait.
"Visit... visit relatives?" Quirrell was even more confused. "I thought..."
"Experimental subjects also have experimental materials." Cohen was slightly surprised by Quirrell's understanding. Wasn't he a fairly outstanding Ravenclaw graduate? Had Voldemort made him lose his mind?
"I went back to Burke Manor a few days ago and found some things there." Cohen didn't intend to reveal too much about himself to Quirrell and Voldemort. "Go to Azkaban to confirm the situation."
"I know the location of Azkaban…" Voldemort hissed, his voice broken, probably because the effects of the unicorn blood were almost worn off. "I put the memories into Quirrell's head… and used Legilimency…"
Cohen watched Quirrell's expression contort for a moment, then used Legilimency on him after Quirrell regained his composure.
Voldemort had been to Azkaban many times—not to be imprisoned, of course, but to recruit the Dementors.
Although the location couldn't be marked, if its location existed in his memory, the spell to prevent marking was useless.
After figuring out Azkaban's location at sea, Cohen stopped Legilimency.
Quirrell had suffered two mental intrusions in succession and now seemed a bit senile—Cohen suddenly understood why Quirrell had become stupid after following Voldemort.
"Alright, deal done."
Cohen finished with satisfaction.
Now he wouldn't have to waste time drifting at sea searching for Azkaban.
After leaving Quirrell's office, Cohen didn't rush to find Hagrid to get Ari back.
Cohen didn't return to Hagrid's hut until after the afternoon herbalism class.
Ari, who had been roaming freely behind the hut, was brought back inside by Hagrid and placed under the same care as the dragon eggs.
However, the environment inside wasn't much better than outside.
"Hagrid, Ari looks very hot," Cohen reminded her.
Finding an excuse to take Ari away was incredibly easy.
"I'll take her back to the Room of Requirement—you know, there's a magical house in the school. I've been keeping Ari there; it's big and safe."
The Room of Requirement was currently occupied by Cohen and the Earl, and it wouldn't open the door or change its contents if someone was inside.
"Oh—Merlin's beard, I forgot about that—" Hagrid slapped his forehead in annoyance, "I was too busy looking at the dragon eggs..."
[Pah! Scumbag!]
Ari retorted angrily.
[My Butterbeer has been out for three days.]
"You're not allowed to become a drunkard!"
Cohen demanded sternly of Ari.
What happened? I should have chosen something else...
Cohen had never heard of butterbeer being addictive to unicorns.
After successfully leaving Hagrid's cabin with Ari, Cohen plunged into the Forbidden Forest.
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Hagrid was busy maintaining the temperature of the dragon eggs and didn't have time to check on the students' entry into the Forbidden Forest—he was a bit too enthusiastic about the eggs; there was no need to maintain the standard requirement of seven pieces of firewood in the stove, since the temperature was roughly the same everywhere.
"Can you find a unicorn herd?" Cohen asked. "Wait, I need to figure out how to dye your fur..."
After Cohen cast several coloring charms, Ari was now basically a "white" unicorn.
While unicorns couldn't distinguish Ari from them, centaurs could.
So, some disguise was necessary.
[She could smell it]
Ari searched the air for a sense of kinship—besides Cohen, the air was filled with the scents of many unicorns.
Cohen and Ari walked a long way into the Forbidden Forest and finally found a unicorn herd by a frozen lake.
They were resting around the lake, a hole drilled into the edge by a unicorn's horn so they could drink.
The surrounding snow blended almost seamlessly with their white manes, and a warm, ethereal mist filled the air—unicorns were indeed a species that looked sacred.
The lead male unicorn spotted Cohen and Ari and galloped towards them.
"You... from outside the forest?"
The male unicorn's voice was deep and resonant, sounding like the leader of the pack, and Cohen found he could hear it too—even though it was speaking to Ari.
"Yes," Ari replied.
"You have children..."
The unicorn leader sniffed Cohen, seemingly confirming he was one of them.
"Come on, you must be exhausted. We have food and water here, and it's safe."
Safe my foot.
Cohen didn't believe a word the unicorn leader said.
If Cohen hadn't taken on this mission, Voldemort would have come back to kill another unicorn.
However, it was indeed a bit absurd that he had infiltrated the unicorn clan so easily. Although unicorns had eyes, they seemed practically blind.
Cohen didn't look like a "unicorn cub" at all.
Wasn't it a bit too risky to rely solely on scent and kinship to identify their kind?
Or rather, they wouldn't even consider the possibility of a hybrid creature like Cohen... because under normal circumstances, kinship, this advanced method of identification, was sufficient.
[A new member of the clan has arrived!]
The unicorn chieftain announced to the unicorns resting by the lake.
[A new member of the clan has come to the forest?]
[Where? Where?]
[Let me smell them]
...
Upon hearing this, the unicorns that had been resting or playing immediately surged towards Cohen.
A bunch of horse heads sniffed around Cohen and Ari, and every now and then a few would rub against Cohen's face—
"Phew..."
After dodging the eighth unicorn horn that almost poked his eyeball, Cohen was finally able to rest for a bit.
He'd been rubbed against by every single unicorn in the pack—and felt a little dirty…
The unicorns smelled quite nice, though; to Cohen, it smelled like vanilla ice cream—no wonder aphrodisiacs used unicorn fur.
"You can live here; those wizards outside can't harm you,"
the unicorn chieftain reassured Cohen and Ari.
"A monster harmed one of our lost brethren before; we must work together and not separate again."
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(End of Chapter)