The birthday party was actually a bit quiet.
Dudley didn't come, and the Dursleys could hear an argument next door. Cohen knew the reason all too well.
Dudley and Cohen had no close relationship—especially since Cohen had invited Harry. Dudley saw this as a freak party, and if he attended, he'd definitely be laughed at by his best friends.
Mr. Dursley's outburst must have been because he didn't want to miss the opportunity to impress Cohen's mother, Rose. Public opinion always has a crucial impact on a company's success.
Furthermore, Mr. Dursley believed the only way to stop Harry from blowing up the Nortons' house was to send one of his own family members to keep an eye on Harry—apparently, he didn't realize that almost every time Harry got into trouble, it was Dudley who bullied him first.
For Harry, this "lackluster" party was probably the only truly "happy" moment of July.
But for Cohen, tomorrow was the day to be truly happy.
He could finally collect more samples to confirm the soul strength of a normal adult wizard, and he would also receive his first wand.
The feeling of having a wand is definitely different from not having one. Whenever Cohen tried magic before, he always felt like he wasn't applying his strength in the right place—a wizard casting a spell the right way wouldn't have that awkward feeling.
After sending Harry home, Cohen retired to his bedroom early to get ready for tomorrow's trip to Diagon Alley.
Which wand would take a fancy to him? Wait... wands choose wizards, but wouldn't they contain souls? Could souls be sucked out? Are they the same as human souls? Would they be nourishing? Would Ollivander be angry if he sucked all the wands out of Ollivander's?
The process from waking to falling asleep was always like this.
Cohen began to snore softly, like a normal human child, so much so that even when Rose opened the door and walked into Cohen's room, Cohen didn't seem to be "wakeful."
Rose placed a large, beautifully wrapped birthday present next to Cohen's bed, gave him a gentle kiss, and quietly left.
Outside Cohen's window, a dark shadow darted away from the windowsill with a whoosh. Under the veil of darkness, it only revealed itself as it passed the streetlight.
It was a tabby cat, its facial hair showing the traces of glasses. It approached a white-haired old man.
"Whoosh!"
"Whoosh!"
The light from the previously lit streetlight seemed to be plucked from its original position by an invisible hand, flying into the silver, old-fashioned lighter in the old man's hand.
"Albus, I have to admit that placing Cohen with the Nortons was a good choice."
The tabby cat's silhouette suddenly lengthened against the night, transforming in a second or two into a serious-looking woman.
"Minerva, this is Edward and Rose's choice, not mine," Albus Dumbledore said with a smile. The stars on his robe matched the moon very well with the starry sky above his head on a summer night. "It's great to see a child thrive in the love of his parents."
"If Harry deserves all this," Minerva McGonagall said somewhat dissatisfiedly, "his living environment is a bit too bad compared to Cohen. I don't understand why you ask the Nortons to reduce their contact with Harry - even if it's just to allow the poor child to enjoy afternoon tea at his neighbor's house every weekend."
"Different flowers require different methods of cultivation." Dumbledore winked at Professor McGonagall mischievously, "but there is no doubt that they will all bloom the most beautiful flowers."
"Perhaps there is one more thing you need to know, about Cohen."
Professor McGonagall hesitated for a moment and decided to tell Dumbledore what she saw.
"Oh, Cohen often does good things. I remember the last time I came here, I saw him helping an old man cross the street." Dumbledore was very relieved about Cohen. "Although his birth was not normal, he still grew up to be an active and healthy child."
"He gave another child a lollipop today," said Professor McGonagall.
"That's a good thing. It's very rare for children of this age to be able to share." Dumbledore was obviously not aware of the problem.
"But when he turned his back to the child, he used magic to get the lollipop back. The child cried for nearly a quarter of an hour before he stopped." Professor McGonagall continued.
"..." Dumbledore was silent.
"And the time you saw him helping an old man cross the street, Cohen even pointed the way to the old man." Professor McGonagall paused.
Dumbledore seemed to know what the next sentence would be.
"That route takes an extra mile to reach the destination, and while Cohen's destination was the same as the old man's, he took the shorter route—only passing two shops," Professor McGonagall said with a headache. "It's hard to imagine what he'll be like after meeting the Weasley brothers."
"Young people always have some novel ideas. Pranks don't mean evil..."
Dumbledore comforted McGonagall, not knowing whether to address him or himself.
"Even adult wizards can easily be caught in the vortex of power and lose themselves, but Cohen restrained his evil desires when his will was at its weakest. He is different from Voldemort."
Hearing the name, Professor McGonagall shuddered involuntarily.
"Remember the day we found him?"
"That dark wizard's laboratory?" Professor McGonagall recalled some unpleasant memories. "There were corpses everywhere, over three hundred of them, with blank eyes, as if they'd been cursed. I never imagined that a child under a year old could have done this—I'd rather believe it was You-Know-Who, even if he was already dead."
"Roses have thorns to protect themselves, Minerva... We can't deny ourselves the beauty of their bloom just because they have sharp thorns."
———————
"Cohen!"
"Cohen!"
It was still dawn when Cohen was awakened by a series of rapid shouts outside the door.
"I want to sleep!" Cohen couldn't even open his eyes, let alone get up and open the door. "Children shouldn't get up too early, they'll turn into cattle and horses!"
In his dream, he saw his mother, Rose, secretly place his birthday present by his bed in the middle of the night and gently kiss him on the forehead.
He also dreamed of two people he had never met but had seen in movies in his past life:
Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore.
The two were chatting on the street at night about Cohen and Harry.
The dream was so real that Cohen felt that it might be a real situation that he had secretly witnessed while he was daydreaming.
"Cohen! Daddy's taking you to Diagon Alley today. Hurry up and get up, or you'll miss my third adventure at the Dungeons & Dragons Club this afternoon!"
Oh my God, how could a middle-aged wizard be so keen on playing a "Sword and Magic" role-playing game with a group of Muggle teenagers!
If you really like Dungeons & Dragons, go to one of those dragon farms and find a dragon to fight alone. Those dragon-blood-draining wizards would surely be eager for someone to help them tame their unruly fire dragons.
"Alright, alright, there's nothing I can do about you..." Cohen slept as he changed out of his pajamas. He soon noticed something beside his bed. "Wait until I'm done..."
A birthday present?
Cohen's consciousness instantly cleared.
The gift wrapping was exactly the same as the one in his dream.
If the Rose he saw in his dream was real...
Cohen hurried to the mirror.
There was a fading lipstick mark on his forehead.
Could Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall have really visited his home at night?
Is it really okay to have no privacy like this? They even saw him stealing candy from a child!
No, it seemed more important to consider Dumbledore's final words, about Cohen's origins...the Dark wizard's laboratory, over three hundred corpses with empty eyes... It sounded like the juvenile Cohen had devoured the souls of all those Dark wizards.
Was his previous incarnation this powerful? What I thought was Xiao Yan, who hadn't even begun to develop, was actually Shi Hao, whose Supreme Bone had been dug out?
But for now, it seemed Old Dumbledore was quite confident in him. While it sounded like he still checked in frequently, Cohen's performance clearly met his goals.
At least he didn't have to worry about being eliminated by the righteous forces before he even started school. Dementors weren't exactly "beautiful" creatures.
And the fact that Edward and Rose had adopted him... was odd. Yesterday, Edward had said he almost thought Cohen was a Muggle child, not as if they knew Cohen was a Dark Arts experiment.
But Dumbledore had also said, "This was Edward and Rose's choice," meaning they must have known most of the circumstances and the risks of adoption, yet they went ahead with it anyway.
Cohen felt a small touch of emotion. His adoptive parents' love for him was genuine, no matter how many lies they told him.
Setting aside these minor matters, Cohen only wanted to understand one thing: how he had managed to eavesdrop on the streets outside, as if his spirit had left his body.
And Dumbledore seemed completely unaware!
There were many magical ways to simply spy, but doing so without being detected by the greatest wizard of the century was a tricky matter.
Of course, Cohen wasn't planning on discovering whether Dumbledore might have hidden a cache of Grindelwald photos, but this method offered incredibly secure information gathering—just imagine, a single cheat for a top-down perspective could swing the outcome of a game, let alone a real-world top-down perspective! And without getting caught or banned!
But how could he trigger that state again?
Sleep? Wasn't that a bit of a gimmick?
Cohen sat back on the bed and sank back onto the pillow.
But his consciousness was now incredibly alert and agitated, and returning to sleep would likely require physical hypnosis.
However, upon closing his eyes, Cohen felt a distinctly unusual sensation.
It was as if he were... splintered?
That's the way to put it, his soul splitting apart, with only one spot remaining tightly connected.
Furthermore, Cohen could actively control the shape of these two halves of his soul, observing everything around him from his soul's perspective—including his own body, now lying in bed.
However, once all of Cohen's souls had left his body, the body would enter a state of suspended animation, devoid of any vital activity, until Cohen's soul returned.
The soul could be stretched, flattened, or shaped like a dough into a cape wait a minute...
"Isn't this a Dementor?"
After shaping himself into a cape, Cohen examined the shape of his soul.
Wow, black, rag-like, with two rotting hands—it could probably land him in Azkaban for a civil service interview.
After further study, Cohen discovered a new trick.
He could place half his soul inside his body and the other outside. This way, he could control his body and see more through his soul—but because the two halves were tightly connected at a point, there was a limit to how far they could move.
While this connection could be manipulated, there was still a limit to how far the souls could be stretched: approximately fifteen meters, the distance from Cohen's room to the other end of Privet Drive.
No wonder I'd been able to unknowingly overhear Dumbledore and McGonagall's conversation on Privet Drive last night.
[Ding! Special Ability Unlocked: Spectral Shaping (1/10)]
So that's how you unlock special abilities?!
Cohen had thought the system wasn't offering a newbie gift pack, but he had to discover this special ability himself before unlocking it.
"This is so frustrating! I feel like I'm losing at the starting line compared to those time travelers in online novels..."
Now that he'd figured out his new trick, all he had to do was wash up, eat, and then follow Edward to Diagon Alley to buy school supplies.
Before going downstairs, Cohen opened Rose's gift.
It was a snow globe that required two hands to hold. Inside, three animated clay figures lived happily together in a snowy village—"happy" because Cohen could even hear the cheerful laughter of the family they'd just entered.
This thing sleeps at night, right? Otherwise, having a ball like this that makes giggling noises in the dorm would be a bit too creepy.
Overall, though, Rose's gift was great. Cohen always liked such heartwarming gifts. After all, he rarely received such straightforward "love" on Earth in his previous life—Cohen really didn't want to admit that he was indeed an orphan in his previous life.
However, the clay figurine powered by the solidification spell had no soul, so Cohen couldn't keep this snow globe as an emergency dessert.
"How are we going to get to Diagon Alley later?"
Cohen successfully swallowed the last piece of buttered bread with milk at the dinner table and asked Edward, who had already started counting his gold Galleons and silver Sickles.
Floo powder? Apparition with a Palico?
"Driving? How else can we go? Magic carpet?" Edward rubbed his hands, estimating the remaining money. He might have enough to buy Cohen a pet to take to school.
i really need your support for my semester fee...
[email protected]/Horizons685
(End of this chapter)