"Cohen?"
Edward suddenly asked the air around him.
"?" Rose looked at Edward with some confusion.
"Have you forgotten what Cohen is?" Edward thought about it and it made more and more sense—"Cohen is a Dementor!"
Seeing that Rose still didn't understand, Edward quickly continued to explain.
"Think about it—Cohen's soul ate the Philosopher's Stone, which means he must still be here—he might still be able to hear us—wait—I'll let him try to suck up my happiness—"
Edward looked quite excited.
"Cohen, I know this might be hard for you to accept—but I really need to explain it to you properly..." Edward leaned close to Cohen's corpse and said, "Professor Dumbledore was right—you are indeed a... well, a hybrid of many kinds of creatures—but don't worry, Mom and Dad have always loved you, no matter what you've become."
He was extremely careful with his words, afraid of upsetting Cohen.
"It just so happens that one of your 'hybrids' is a creature called a Dementor—you should be able to see the 'happiness' on us, right? Why don't you try sucking some in? So Mom and Dad know you're still alive?"
Edward wasn't sure what a "human" looked like from a Dementor's perspective.
The good news was that Cohen was extremely skilled at absorbing souls and happiness, so Edward's less-than-perfect teaching didn't have much of an impact.
"…"
Edward waited anxiously for something to appear—or to feel that chilling aura emanating from the Dementor.
Rose also felt a renewed hope because of Edward's conjecture.
One second, two seconds…
nothing happened.
The expectation on their faces gradually faded.
"Hiss—" Edward suddenly shuddered—it felt like his shoulder had been touched by an icy hand.
Then Rose felt the chill on her shoulder as well.
Cohen didn't intend to steal his parents' happiness or soul; he just wanted to prove he was alive, and there was no need to actually cause any harm.
This action undoubtedly rekindled Edward and Rose's previously sorrowful mood—what good news could be better than "Cohen is alive"?
[Ding! Goodwill Value +10]
[Note: Bushgomen, you really have a conscience?]
Even in the afternoon, when the withered, ghost-like Nicolas Flamel arrived at the ward accompanied by Dumbledore, Edward and Rose's high spirits hadn't dissipated.
"Professor Dumbledore, Cohen is alive!"
Edward immediately exclaimed excitedly to Dumbledore as soon as he entered, his voice rising uncontrollably.
"Ouch—"
Nicolas Flamel rubbed his ear in pain; the sound had made his fragile eardrums ache.
"Ah—excuse me—you are…Mr. Flamel?" Edward quickly lowered his voice and apologized.
The withered, white-haired old man seemed to embody only "old" and "fragile," making it impossible to reconcile him with the great alchemist who had lived for over six hundred years—he looked as if he could die at any moment.
"Ah, it's alright, it's alright… I'm Nicolas Flamel." Nicolas quickly recovered from the tinnitus. "I should wear a hearing aid—but I thought it best not to come to Albus's school fully equipped… it would seem offensive."
"Actually, I don't find it offensive at all, Nicolas." Dumbledore greeted his old friend and introduced him to the couple: "These are Cohen's parents, Edward and Rose." "Hello, hello." Nicolas extended his hand to them—but this habitual greeting always resulted in him crushing some bones.
Edward was horrified to find that he had used too much force—or rather, it was difficult to control the amount of force when shaking hands with Nicolas Flamel; his hand felt like a piece of paper that had been wet and then dried.
"Ouch—it's alright—it usually happens like this…"
In just a second, the magic remaining in Nicolas's body from the Philosopher's Stone repaired his bones.
"Let's skip the formalities." Dumbledore knew that both sides were anxious, "Cohen's situation is more urgent."
[Soul Strength: 99]
If it were a six-hundred-year-old alchemist, this value would seem quite reasonable…
Cohen suspected that the soul strength was marked as 99 not because Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel's soul strengths were only that high, but because the system could only mark it up to this much at the moment.
"Indeed, where is that child—oh, here…"
Nicolas found Cohen's figure in the ward—he wasn't looking for Cohen's body, but Cohen's soul.
"You can see me?!"
Cohen, sitting on another bed, asked Nicolas Flamel.
He had assumed the alchemist would need some kind of object to see a soul—
but Nicolas didn't answer.
It seemed he couldn't hear the soul's voice; perhaps the traces of the Philosopher's Stone within Cohen allowed him to locate it—after all, Nicolas Flamel was the creator of the stone, so he should have some way of finding it.
So, it seemed Cohen hadn't fully absorbed the stone yet?
"Ah, he is indeed still here." Nicolas ran with great effort to Cohen's soul, almost jogging but actually pacing.
"Is Cohen there?" Rose and Edward couldn't see Cohen's soul, only Nicolas staring into thin air.
"You just said… Cohen is still alive, why?" Dumbledore asked Edward.
"Let's have Cohen try interacting with us—" Edward explained in a low voice, so as not to hurt Nicolas Flamel's eardrums again, "He touched my and Rose's shoulders—the cold feeling must be Cohen."
"Oh…" Dumbledore's eyes lit up as well, "It seems promising—as long as we can find a way to get Cohen back into his body properly…"
Nicolas beckoned to Cohen's soul, seemingly wanting Cohen to try to float back into his body.
Cohen floated back—but only overlapped with his body, not truly returning to it.
He couldn't be resurrected so easily—that would make it seem like Nicolas Flamel hadn't done anything.
Cohen painstakingly devised a proper method of resurrection.
At least he had to use some method, whether it would work or not, just have a reason.
"A perfect creation… these conflicting biological elements have been cleverly integrated… without any rejection…" Nicolas admired Cohen, this "man in a bottle," as if he were appreciating a work of art.
"Albus, you should have told me this sooner—I couldn't believe I didn't hear anything about it."
"We all want to give this child a normal childhood. Besides, the Ministry of Magic is extremely strict about his identity and doesn't allow any news about him to leak out," Dumbledore explained. "Most people believe he's a product of chance—the Burke family's experiment was just a lucky roll."
"Chance and miracles always go hand in hand," Nicolas said, increasingly delighted with Cohen. "He's too perfect—it must be fate that allowed me to meet him before I leave."
What fate? It was all something I meticulously planned and painstakingly forced!
Seeing Nicolas's expression—as if he wanted to live a few more decades to study Cohen properly—Cohen knew his plan had succeeded.
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(End of Chapter)