What child cries every day, what gambler loses every day!
But Cohen wasn't a gambler, so he didn't plan to enter the pipe beneath his feet, and therefore wouldn't lose.
For Cohen, the worst outcome of facing the basilisk with his soul was turning to stone, not death. However, turning to stone in an untouched sewer pipe…
Cohen wasn't going to take that risk just to catch a glimpse of what the basilisk looked like, especially after he was certain it was a basilisk and not Voldemort.
It spoke in Parseltongue, "Where?", indicating it was looking for something—perhaps food, or perhaps the heir to Slytherin—but none of that mattered to Cohen now.
Cohen watched the basilisk's soul move rapidly along the pipe beneath the floor, finally disappearing from his sight—there was a limit to the number of layers he could see through; the internal structure of Hogwarts Castle was far too convenient for the basilisk to stealthily move around.
Still no sign of Voldemort, no idea where he was hiding—Harry's painful scar couldn't be unfounded; Voldemort must have a new plan, and Cohen needed to keep an eye out for anything unusual.
Disappointed, Cohen left the weeping Myrtle's washroom. Considering the Herbology class was probably repotting the mandrakes, Cohen couldn't go back to class.
Missing a class was awful…
Cohen forced a smile and decided to kill some time at the Room of Requirement.
When Cohen reached the eighth floor, an uninvited guest appeared in the usually deserted corridor.
Gilderoy Lockhart was there, muttering something gloomy.
"You're following me!" Cohen accused him first.
"Huh?" Lockhart finally turned to look at Cohen. "I'm not—Mr. Norton? What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here?" Cohen asked suspiciously.
Did Lockhart even know about the Room of Requirement?
"I was just wandering around—you know, reminiscing about school days—wait, I'm a professor, what's wrong with a professor wandering around?!"
Lockhart instinctively tried to justify himself, but then realized he was the teacher, and Cohen was the one who should be making excuses for "why he was here."
"Shouldn't you be in class?" Lockhart immediately asked.
"I told you ten minutes ago that I had a stomachache and needed to use the restroom," Cohen said matter-of-factly.
"This isn't a restroom!" Lockhart seized on this, "Ha! You little rascal, you must be trying to skip class!"
"I'm done using the restroom, it's been ten minutes, and I'm not constipated," Cohen said.
"Then why didn't you go to class after you finished using the restroom?" Lockhart asked.
"Why should I go to class after I finished using the restroom?"
Cohen said seriously.
"?" Lockhart felt like his brain couldn't quite grasp Cohen's logic—especially after Cohen said that with such confidence and seriousness.
"Is there a conflict between going to the toilet and going to class?"
"You can't go to class if you're going to the toilet," Cohen said. "You can't be in the toilet and the classroom at the same time. What kind of strange question is that?"
"But you're not in the toilet right now!" Lockhart retorted, utterly bewildered. "You're in the eighth-floor hallway!"
"Yeah, I'm in the eighth-floor hallway. How could I be in the toilet or the classroom...?" Cohen blinked innocently at Lockhart.
His head was throbbing! He felt like he was going to lose his brain!
But Lockhart didn't argue with Cohen about the conflict between going to the toilet, coming to the eighth-floor hallway, and going to class. As if afraid of being discovered, he left without saying much more to Cohen.
Cohen frowned, watching Lockhart's retreating figure as if he were a thief.
What was Lockhart sneaking around doing?
Wasn't he just an extra? Should extras have this much screen time?
After confirming Lockhart was gone, Cohen returned to the Room of Requirement.
The Earl had already moved in—the room reeked of alcohol.
"Just a heads-up, owls have a hard time metabolizing alcohol—don't die in my room if you want to," Cohen said, frowning.
"Ha! Owls have their limits..." the Earl mumbled to Cohen, "So... I'm not an owl anymore! You little Dementor!"
He said this, but after two minutes, Cohen didn't see the Earl transform into a catgirl.
He was sprawled out on his owl bed.
However, the Earl's early arrival served as a warning to Cohen; Lockhart's muttering in the eighth-floor corridor was most likely an attempt to enter the Room of Requirement.
Because the Room of Requirement can only exist in one space at a time, Lockhart was destined to be unable to enter the room he wanted now that the Earl had already entered.
What was Lockhart looking for in the Room of Requirement?
Cohen quickly thought of a possibility.
Like Quirrell last semester, could Voldemort have hooked up with Lockhart? To sneak into the school?
The same old trick, but who knew what Voldemort wanted to steal this time.
It couldn't be a Horcrux, could it…?
Cohen looked at the Ravenclaw tiara that he had just taken out of his suitcase and placed in the room that morning.
It had returned to its original form; after Cohen consumed Voldemort's soul fragment, he had spent a lot of effort repairing its appearance—although its magic was almost completely dissipated.
If Voldemort came for the Horcrux…
then it would be difficult to explain to Voldemort where the soul on it had gone.
But if it was difficult to explain, then so be it. As long as Cohen pretended to know nothing, Voldemort wouldn't suspect the pitiful, young, kind, and adorable little Dementor.
Voldemort, as a "side quest generator" and "sin value production line," is extremely important to Cohen. If Voldemort has a new plan, Cohen would be happy to get involved—of all the current suspects, Lockhart is the most suspicious.
Especially since Lockhart was acting suspiciously today, and after arguing with Cohen for a while, he left in a hurry without even losing points, clearly having ulterior motives.
Cohen naturally has plenty of ways to monitor him.
[Ding! Goodness side quest has progressed]
[Goodness side quest (2/7)]
[2. Stop Tom Riddle's Great Purge Plan]
[Reward: 1000 Goodwill Points, "High-Quality Imitation Spells"]
It's been a long time since I've heard such a long announcement—Cohen frowned as he looked at the quest title on the side quest in front of him.
Did Voldemort have his head caught in a door to plan a Great Purge before he was even resurrected? Did he think Dumbledore was a mascot?
And...
if he wanted to carry out a Great Purge at Hogwarts, why didn't he come directly to Cohen instead of the good-for-nothing star Lockhart?
Is Cohen not trustworthy enough? Or did Cohen's abilities still leave him with a sliver of doubt?
"Could it be because he still thinks I'm too extreme?" Cohen didn't understand Voldemort's intentions. "I'm a sophomore now, I've matured a lot, okay..."
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(End of Chapter)