Drunk unicorns are dangerous in the forest, and Hagrid needs to hurry and prepare hangover medicine for them—he's never encountered drunk unicorns before, and it's uncertain whether human hangover medicine will work on them…
Hagrid, overwhelmed with work, doesn't even object to Cohen putting Ari in a suitcase and taking her away.
After receiving a large box of raw meat and several boxes of butterbeer that Hagrid prepared for Norbert, Cohen carried the suitcase back to the eighth floor of the castle, intending to pack his belongings in the Room of Requirement.
It seems the unicorns in the Forbidden Forest will be going through a long period of abstinence—Cohen is considering whether to wean Ari off alcohol as well.
[Don't even think about it!]
Ari, left to sober up in the corner of the room, answered groggily.
[I only have this one hobby… can't I just… enjoy it properly…?]
"Snoring…"
Ari fell asleep.
"Has she turned all the unicorns in the Forbidden Forest into drunkards?" the Earl asked, tilting his head. "What kind of wine is so good?"
"Stop having such dangerous thoughts," Cohen stopped him. "I don't even want to think about what outrageous things you might say or do after you've had a few drinks."
But judging from the Earl's expression, he seemed even more eager to try.
Cohen didn't have much luggage. Besides some bottles and jars he'd stolen from the small animals in the Forbidden Forest that he could sell, he only had Edward's large chessboard and books.
"What's this again?" Cohen pulled a blue gem from the cupboard—
"An apology gift from the Malfoys," the Earl reminded him. "It looks like an amulet—but do you really need any amulets?"
"I remember now." Cohen vaguely recalled that the Malfoys had even returned to school early for Christmas because of this.
The Malfoys wanted to invite Cohen to Malfoy Manor—Cohen had agreed to the invitation because he planned to use the opportunity to go to Azkaban.
"Take it and play with it." Cohen tossed the stone to the Earl. The runes on it, once activated by magic, did indeed have an effect similar to the Ironclad Spell.
Firstly, Cohen already knew how to cast the Armor Charm after increasing his soul strength. Secondly, Cohen didn't really need these things, and the Armor Charm couldn't defend against the Patronus Charm.
The person who researched the Armor Charm certainly never imagined someone would want to use it to defend against the Patronus…
The candy in the cupboard was almost gone, so Cohen moved everything into his house in his chest.
He even took several blankets from the Room of Requirement and spread them in the bedrooms of his chest house.
Next, he just had to wait for the end-of-term banquet and then take the carriage home.
This semester's House Cup unsurprisingly went to Gryffindor. Without Harry and his friends' massive deductions for their nighttime outings, and with the points Cohen asked Quirrell to add from time to time, Gryffindor held a solid first place with 510 points. As a result, the 150 points Cohen received for his "Special Contribution to the School Award" didn't feel like a dramatic comeback.
"Look at Malfoy's expression," Ron said gleefully. "I heard Slytherin won the championship for six consecutive years—and that ended as soon as he arrived."
"The school's Special Contribution Award doesn't even give a prize?"
Cohen said, somewhat disappointed.
He wasn't particularly interested in the House Cup—it wasn't like they were actually giving everyone a solid gold trophy—but the School Special Contribution Award being just a trophy displayed in the school seemed rather cheap.
Cohen didn't think anyone would go to the trophy room to look at the list of past winners, especially since there wasn't any contact information for the winners.
The final exam results were released the following day, and Harry and Ron had managed to pass, so much so that they were extremely grateful for the tips Cohen had shared on answering History of Magic questions.
"Seventy-two! Fantastic!" Harry exclaimed excitedly upon receiving his report card.
Cohen consistently scored around 90 in each subject, while Hermione achieved a perfect 120 in every subject. Cohen's flawless percentage-based cheating plan was impeccable. They
were just coasting through, and avoiding detection by the professors was considered a success.
Besides the report cards, there was also a notice warning them against using magic during the holidays.
But this was actually a ruse; the Ministry of Magic couldn't pinpoint exactly who had cast spells in a specific area, only a very broad range—and since Cohen's parents were wizards, he could use magic freely without much trouble.
Wizarding families wouldn't tell their children this, because if a young wizard in the family loosened the restrictions on spellcasting outside of school, it would be difficult to manage.
This also benefited Harry—if the Nortons hadn't moved to Privet Drive, Harry truly wouldn't have been allowed to touch any magic.
But Cohen didn't intend to tell Harry; who knew what the hot-blooded young Harry might do to the Dursleys if he could use magic freely—their relationship would become that of a prison boss and a prisoner.
So Cohen could enjoy this privilege alone.
They boarded the Hogwarts Express early in the morning and arrived back at King's Cross Station in London in the late afternoon.
"Are you coming to my house this summer?" Ron asked the other three as they were about to exit the station. "You can both come—I'll write to invite you."
"Of course," Harry said hopefully, "if the Dursleys will let me out—what about you, Cohen?"
"I might be busy," Cohen frowned, "but not for long—we'll see."
Hermione, who was planning a trip to France with her parents, declined the invitation somewhat regretfully, promising to come next time.
They passed through the sturdy wall one by one, where their families were waiting.
Rose was discussing the Times' pages with the Grangers, while Vernon Dursley cautiously kept his distance—in the past, he would have certainly gone in to chat, but ever since he learned that these two families had wizarding children, he had begun to distance himself from them.
Even though the Dursleys looked reluctant, they still came to the station to pick Harry up.
In contrast, Edward and Rose seemed more like parents picking up their child from school. Edward busied himself helping Cohen with his luggage, while Rose knelt down and hugged him tightly, giving him a quick kiss.
"In public!" Cohen protested.
"That's nice. Your mother never treats me like this when she comes home," Edward said jealously.
"You're thirty-two," Rose bluntly stated, "Don't act like a five-year-old."
After putting the luggage in the car, Cohen sat in the back seat.
Edward said he had prepared an extremely lavish dinner for Cohen, along with enough snacks for Cohen to squander half his vacation, and planned to show Cohen his new sandbox research in the afternoon, while Rose needed to go to work. ("Otherwise, you two will be starving," Rose retorted when Edward suggested she take a day off.)
"By the way, Cohen, are you interested in going on a trip?"
After dropping Rose off at the Murdoch News Corporation building, Edward suddenly remembered the arrangements he had mentioned to Rose earlier.
"You mean the kind of trip where you waste your vacation being dragged around to all sorts of tourist attractions by a bunch of adults, then take tired photos and have to say 'this trip was really great' in the end?" Cohen asked.
"Don't worry, an old classmate of mine is planning a tourism project in the wizarding world. This time it's all young wizards, and there should be quite a few of your classmates there. Parents aren't going, so no adults will get involved. We just wanted to ask if you'd like to join," Edward explained. "Your mother and I think you might need to relax a bit—of course, if you prefer staying home, we can just decline the invitation..."
Wait a minute.
A sudden trip abroad, no adult wizards allowed to come along, and the source of the information is an old classmate...
it's kidnapping!
"Great, great!"
Cohen readily agreed.
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(End of Chapter)