Hagrid, having regained his composure, led them into Cohen's trunk, also bringing in a whole dead sheep for Norbert's lunch.
Two "buildings" appeared in the once empty wilderness.
Hagrid had erected a huge two-story wooden hut near the entrance, looking even more luxurious than his own house.
"Hagrid…how many trees did you cut down?" Harry Potter swallowed hard; this hut must have required at least several hundred tree trunks to build.
"Ah—I asked Professor Sprout to help me get some tree fertilizer, and I was able to gather quite a bit of wood in just a few days." Hagrid scratched his head. "I was wondering if Cohen would think it was too small…"
"It's already bigger than my house." Cohen praised Hagrid's craftsmanship. "Hagrid, you're simply a god of architecture!"
Cohen's praise made Hagrid very happy.
The wicked little Dementor gained some more experience in interacting with humans.jpg
Cohen originally intended this house to be a backup base, just enough to sleep in.
Now it seems to have far exceeded Cohen's expectations, saving him the trouble of rebuilding.
The house's layout perfectly matched Cohen's expectations. Hagrid had prepared several bedrooms upstairs for him, and on the first floor, a tool shed, study, kitchen, toilet, and a spacious living room.
"Since I need to come in and decorate, I made the doorframes a size bigger..." Hagrid said nervously.
"I love it," Cohen replied earnestly.
"Cohen, will you take this trunk home this summer?" Harry Potter asked enviously. "If I could, I'd definitely prefer living in your trunk to the Dursleys."
"That's wonderful..." Ron said enviously. "I want to live here too—my bedroom has nothing, and there's a noisy ghoul upstairs..."
Hagrid had already set up most of the basic facilities, such as wooden tables, chairs, and beds, so Cohen could move in anytime.
The only drawback might be the lack of a water supply and drainage system, but thanks to the Clear Water Charm and the Vanishing Charm, these problems were easily solved.
Cohen was very satisfied with the new house, and Hagrid was also happy to have been able to help Cohen.
A win-win situation!
Harry Potter was hoping to escape the summer holidays here, while Hermione thought Cohen needed to cast some fire-prevention spells outside the cabin in case Norbert accidentally set it on fire.
"Where's Norbert?" Cohen asked. "How big is he now?"
Cohen was somewhat surprised that Norbert hadn't pounced on him the moment he entered,
especially considering Hagrid had brought in a bloodied, dead sheep.
Norbert's lair was built not far away; it was an artificial cave—Cohen had previously helped create a small hill with a cave inside the box using magic, and Hagrid had given it a makeover.
Harry Potter and the others cautiously stayed outside the cave—they weren't too keen on venturing into the cave of a dragon that might already be bigger than Hagrid.
Only Cohen and Hagrid went inside.
"Fluorescent."
Cohen lit the tip of his wand. To add some mystery to the "dragon's cave," Cohen had lengthened the cave and added some twists and turns—to give Norbert an epic feel, like a major boss.
"Puff—"
The closer they got to the depths, the louder the dragon's puff became.
Cohen and Hagrid reached the deepest part—a vast expanse of gold and silver coins lay piled up by Hagrid, with Norbert, about the size of a small car, curled up on top of it.
"Hagrid, where did you get so much money?" Cohen didn't even need to count how much money was there; just being able to cover such a large cave was impressive.
"I got it from the Niffler's nest in the forest. I guess it's all money dropped by former students..." Hagrid said. "I read in a book that dragons like to lie on piles of money, and thinking it was the same habit as the Nifflers, I just..."
The stench of the dead sheep made Norbert sniff.
It opened its eyes, its orange-red gleaming brightly in the dim light.
It spotted Hagrid—the one who brought the food.
It saw the dead sheep in Hagrid's hands—less meat than yesterday's cow, but it tasted quite good.
It saw Cohen—
holy crap, this is its ancestor!
Its pupils constricted, and it immediately jumped up.
Memories from its very birth were flooding back.
Norbert, as if by muscle memory, began wildly wagging its tail, trying to burrow into Cohen's arms as it had before—but now its head was almost as big as Cohen's entire upper body.
"Take it easy!"
After Cohen used "Soul Absorption," Norbert wisely retreated.
"It seems Norbert really likes you…" Hagrid said, touched.
"Good boy—look what I brought you!"
Hagrid tossed the dead sheep to Norbert—who skillfully caught it and began to devour it, blood splattering everywhere.
The scene was somewhat bloody, and Cohen chose to leave—it was enough to see if Norbert was behaving; there was no need to watch a dragon hunt like Hagrid did.
Although Norbert's body grew rapidly, Cohen noticed that its soul grew very slowly, its strength remaining unchanged at around 20 points—this might be related to the overall lifespan of this species; Cohen guessed that a creature's soul only fully develops when its lifespan is nearing its end.
Recalling Nicolas Flamel and Dumbledore's words that "death is but another great adventure," perhaps the soul goes to the next world after death; after all, Cohen did indeed travel to this world after death.
The visit ended successfully, and Cohen was very satisfied with the work done in the box, saving him a lot of effort.
Harry Potter and the others returned to the castle, but Cohen didn't plan to go back yet—he needed to take Ari with him before summer vacation.
Hagrid planned to take Cohen to Unicorn Village to bring Ari back together.
Because of the butter beer, Hagrid felt the magical unicorn wouldn't refuse. ("You can't go into the Forbidden Forest alone, it's too dangerous," Hagrid said seriously.)
But Cohen felt Hagrid would soon regret it—they hadn't even seen a unicorn hair yet, and they could already faintly smell alcohol on the path they were walking.
"Oh, Merlin's beard…"
Following the forest path to the lake where the unicorns often rested, Hagrid was terrified by the "corpse-strewn" unicorn herd.
Ari's fur, which Cohen had dyed white, had returned to its original black, and she was sipping a keg of butter beer—with a bunch of empty kegs scattered around her.
[Ha—not a single one who can fight…]
Ari also looked a little unsteady on her feet.
"Hagrid, how much butter beer did you give Ari?" Cohen examined the unicorn "corpses" on the ground. "But thankfully, they're all still alive."
He could easily guess they were drunk, but the way Ari was spouting nonsense among the collapsed unicorns really made it seem like she had killed them all.
"I thought only it would like butter beer, how come all the unicorns have become drunkards?" Hagrid was stunned, as if struck by lightning.
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(End of Chapter)