After Nicolas Flamel tried several methods to revive Cohen, Cohen felt it was time for his methods to "work."
"His hand moved!" Edward exclaimed, his joy evident. "Look at Cohen's hand!"
Cohen first moved his hand—that's how it's portrayed in TV dramas—then slowly opened his eyes and blinked a few times.
"Hiss—"
Cohen gasped, looking exactly as if his soul had just returned to his body.
Cohen was extremely satisfied with his acting, because he didn't sense a single hint of doubt from those around him.
Suddenly, Cohen felt a wave of "pleasure" rapidly approaching—
"Cohen!" Rose scooped Cohen up from the bed and held him tightly in her arms, afraid that something might happen to him again.
"Mom, you're going to strangle me..." Cohen gasped.
"Oh—" Rose quickly released him and tenderly rubbed Cohen's neck.
Compared to Rose, Edward seemed much calmer; his hands were clenched into fists and trembling violently.
"Thank you, thank you so much…" Edward thanked Nicolas Flamel nervously. "I don't know what would have happened without you…"
"Ah…" Nicolas looked at Cohen, then at Edward. "Actually, I didn't do much—this child mainly came back on his own."
"I'm so glad to see this outcome." Dumbledore breathed a sigh of relief—Cohen was alive, and he no longer had to suffer from a guilty conscience.
Perhaps he should ask Nicolas later what spell had worked, but for now, it was best to let this child who had just faced death reunite with his parents.
"I think we should give Cohen and his family some space," Dumbledore suggested to Nicolas.
"Of course, of course." Nicolas was curious about Cohen, but he was never in a hurry. "Perhaps I can talk to Cohen alone later? I'm curious about some things about him—I've never seen a 'man in a bottle' live this long before…"
Edward and Rose had no objections, and Cohen was happy to talk to this ghostly, withered old man—from any perspective, the Philosopher's Stone he had eaten was far more precious than Nicolas's simple request.
Dumbledore and Nicolas temporarily left the ward. They ran into Harry outside, and when Harry opened the door, he peeked into the room and saw the revived Cohen, which relieved Harry as well.
After enjoying the concern from all sides, Cohen would face some rather depressing things.
For example, the "truth" that the adoptive parents could no longer suppress.
"Cohen, I think we need to be honest with you about some things."
Edward and Rose exchanged glances, and Edward began to explain to Cohen—because Edward and Cohen were usually closer, while Rose was mostly responsible for discipline and care.
"About your background—you should have heard it just now? It's..."
"'I'm a hybrid of many creatures'? I heard it, otherwise I wouldn't have touched your shoulders." Cohen nodded. "Is there anything you don't understand? I can explain it to you."
"Then—wait a minute—" Edward was just about to start from the beginning when he suddenly realized that Cohen meant, "You can ask me if you don't understand anything."
"I've felt different ever since I was little…" Cohen confessed like a child, "So ever since I came to school, I've been searching for something related to myself—especially after Professor Quirrell tried to force me to steal the Philosopher's Stone. He said I was a dark magic experiment subject…"
"Don't believe that bullshit!" Rose sat on the edge of the bed, pulling Cohen close. "You're our child, always will be, not some kind of experiment subject!"
"I'm eleven, not one, Mom," Cohen continued. "And I love you, so I need to figure out what I really am, so I don't hurt you."
"I've pretty much figured out what happened at Burke Manor—and the fact that I have some Dementor-like characteristics."
"Are you scared?" Edward asked worriedly.
"Huh? Asking me?" Cohen pointed to himself. "What should I be afraid of?"
"Being different from others?" Edward asked, clearly worried that Cohen might develop psychological problems because of it.
"I'm not afraid. Just think of it as learning some special magic…" Cohen was telling the truth. Anyway, he had a normal human appearance and could easily blend into human groups. There was no need for him to suffer mentally because of this.
"That's good…" Edward breathed a sigh of relief. "I was worried that you would have some bad thoughts because of this…"
Rose stopped Edward from continuing with a stern look, lest the second half of her sentence make Cohen feel uncomfortable.
"Some not-so-good thoughts," Edward quickly corrected himself.
"Don't worry, I'm perfectly healthy, both physically and mentally. And before Professor Quirrell's attack, I even started a large-scale breeding project with Hagrid, involving several magical creatures," Cohen reassured his adoptive parents. "I've also become quite familiar with a group of unicorns; they often go to Hagrid for food."
Cohen subtly concealed his trespassing into the Forbidden Forest to avoid Rose realizing something was amiss and flying into a rage.
This reassurance was effective; Edward and Rose seemed genuinely happy that Cohen had found a healthy hobby.
Of course, if they knew that this "magical creature breeding hobby" included illegal dragons and the forbidden dark magic creature "Nightmare," their smiles would likely vanish instantly.
The conversation then shifted from Cohen's studies to the Dungeons & Dragons sandbox that Edward had given him ("What? You didn't have a romance in there? I made a bunch of pretty female characters for you!" Edward asked incredulously, "I even made a bunch of romance storylines for you—you weren't just leveling up and fighting monsters the whole time, were you?").
The rest of the conversation was deemed too inappropriate for children, leading to a scolding from Rose for Edward, after which the family returned to normal.
Cohen's "death" turned out to be a false alarm, and Edward and Rose didn't linger at school—Dumbledore reassured them again that Cohen would be "absolutely safe" at school, and Rose apologized for some inappropriate things she had said to Dumbledore that morning.
However, Dumbledore did not accept the apology. Instead, he repeatedly emphasized that Rose's actions were justified and that he was indeed in the wrong. He argued that it was he who needed to apologize to Rose. Everything seemed to have returned to normal. Only two things had changed at school: Quirrell was dead, and the Philosopher's Stone had been eaten by Cohen.
After dinner, Nicolas Flamel came to Cohen's hospital room alone.
"Mr. Flamel—" Cohen sat up and greeted him, "Thank you for saving me."
It was the proper etiquette.
"Ha, actually, I don't quite understand which spell worked either."
Nicolas Flamel showed no airs of seniority. He ran quickly to Cohen's bedside and sat down so he could have a heart-to-heart talk with Cohen.
"I guess you could have gone back into your body, but because of people's general view of 'death,' you haven't tried… But that doesn't matter, at least the result is good…"
"I just asked your parents, and Albus—you should know a little about your origins by now?" Nicolas asked gently.
"Yes, I've read a few books on alchemy—they mention 'Homunculus,'" Cohen replied.
"You're special, Cohen," Nicolas said. "This isn't a joke. I've seen many similar alchemical studies—of course, I myself wouldn't want to do these kinds of somewhat unethical experiments—but without exception, those 'bodies in bottles' all died within three years."
"The experimental materials and types in this study are almost the same, the only difference being the selection of biomass, but the material has always been the least important part of this study." Nicolas asked, "Child, do you know what that means?"
"It means the Burkes have made a 'great success'?" (referring to rolling a 20 on a 20-sided die)
Cohen didn't immediately understand Nicolas's words.
"Mixing substances that don't belong to the same species will repel each other; only extremely strong magic can bind them together—but it's only binding; what was originally broken will always easily break again."
"You have one major difference from those 'bottle people' who couldn't survive," Nicolas continued. "You have something else, something that other 'experiments' don't have, and can't have."
"The magical power that Albus firmly believed in—'love'."
Nicolas smiled.
"Isn't that a bit far-fetched—I was adopted by Edward and Rose after I was born…" Cohen felt this wasn't quite right, "It can't be…"
Suddenly, Cohen realized the reason.
"Cohen" wasn't "loved" only after being adopted.
One person had long ago placed their hopes, love, and sorrow on "Cohen"—Herbert Burke, still "imprisoned" near the ruins of Burke Manor.
Does "love" truly possess magic?
Cohen had always had some doubts—and still did.
"Of course, this is just speculation," Nicolas shook his head. "If it were three hundred years ago, I might have wanted to study you more closely—back then I was young, with a boundless thirst for knowledge..."
Three hundred years ago, Nicolas Flamel was over three hundred years old; he certainly couldn't be considered "young"...
Cohen felt Nicolas's sense of time had become blurred.
"But now... I'd much rather see children like you growing up carefree and healthy," Nicolas smiled.
"I thought you wanted to study me…" Cohen was puzzled that Nicolas Flamel wanted to speak privately but actually just wanted a heart-to-heart talk. "Like starting with those strange abilities, or asking about the Philosopher's Stone…"
"The Philosopher's Stone isn't that important to me anymore," Nicolas replied relaxedly. "The fact that it can merge with you means that the 'Magnum Opus' in the Emerald Book doesn't simply refer to the Philosopher's Stone, and the end of alchemy is still unseen—but these things aren't important to me anymore either. I plan to take some time with my wife to prepare for the next journey. This task will be left to the next generation."
"…" Cohen knew what Nicolas Flamel was talking about.
"The next journey is death, Cohen," Nicolas said without hesitation. "For a sane person, death is just another great adventure—my wife and I have lived too long; it's time to go and see new sights."
"But you are different. You've only just come into this world. There are so many sights you haven't seen, so many emotions you haven't experienced. An adventure shouldn't end before it even begins—that's why Dumbledore tried so hard to save you."
Nicolas reached out a withered, slender hand and stroked Cohen's hair.
"Cherish the people you love, while there's still time."
Before leaving, he left a letter on Cohen's bedside table. When Cohen picked up the letter, intending to look up and ask something, he found that Nicolas Flamel had disappeared.
"Does it have to be this fairytale-like…" Cohen clicked his tongue.
He could teleport, yet he was struggling so much with his aged body.
He opened the letter; inside was a sheet of paper with a few lines of writing and an antique brass key.
The key was covered in intricate engravings; Nicolas Flamel's creations were anything but ordinary.
The letter was brief, but important.
[Cohen, are you interested in alchemy? If so, you can come to my workshop in two years—there will be some things there to help you learn alchemy.]
[Enclosed is a key to the workshop; simply insert it into a certain door, and that door will lead to my workshop.] But please use it two years from now. In the meantime, it will just be an abandoned junkyard. I'll take care of things before I leave.
The last sentence is in more recent handwriting, as if Nicolas Flamel added it after some deliberation.
[I suspect you'll really need help with the source of alchemy, because I've noticed your soul isn't complete. So whether you're interested or not, please come back in two years.]
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(End of Chapter)