Chapter 34: The Menace of Hogwarts

When a man has a goal, even the greatest difficulties can be smoothed over by the strangest of methods.

As for Cohen’s method for earning Sin Points quickly and safely—over the following two weeks, he carried out a series of highly efficient pranks on his fellow first-years and the second-years.

On Friday morning, after the final Potions class:

"You must explain yourself, Mr. Norton."

Professor McGonagall blocked the doorway to the Potions classroom, her eyes seemingly ready to spit fire. "According to Mr. Macmillan, the only thing he touched before his hair turned green was the candy you gave him."

"Perhaps those candies had gone bad..." Cohen argued sophistically. "Or it was a prank by my father; I heard him say last time that he wanted to dye my hair green—"

"Oh, and was the ‘hair clip that suddenly squeaks and turns into a rat’ that you gave to Miss Abbott also a prank by your father, Mr. Norton?" Professor McGonagall emphasized the "Mr."

"That was my mother—"

"Detention, one week!"

Professor McGonagall delivered the verdict. "I taught your parents, and I certainly know they wouldn't play such meaningless pranks on anyone—you wouldn't want them to be called to the school two weeks before Christmas, would you?"

"Over a hundred students have come to me to report you in the last two weeks—some even screamed that you were the Dark Lord. You should be ashamed! Your classmates are partners to help each other through difficulties, not targets for those stupid pranks!"

These accusations were a bit of an exaggeration. Cohen had merely been siphoning off a little bit of their joyful emotions while telling them horror stories narrated in his own voice. Cohen felt that if it were Voldemort, it would be their souls and lives being drained, not the rainbow unicorns and Babbit the Rabbits in their hearts.

"Grow up a little, and stop learning those childish tricks from the Weasley brothers..." Professor McGonagall said earnestly to Cohen. "You have great talent in Transfiguration and Charms. If you are truly bored, you can come to me or Professor Flitwick to discuss learning knowledge at the next level."

"Charms are not toys to be played with carelessly. You must understand that even a single mistake can lead to some very serious consequences..."

Professor McGonagall spent nearly half an hour educating Cohen on how to treat his classmates with "kindness," and only after Cohen repeatedly nodded and swore he would not let similar situations happen again did she finally let him go.

Yes, yes, yes—Cohen admitted he had indeed gone a bit too far...

But setting aside the fact that Cohen had squandered his Sin Points, leaving him short of the two thousand needed to unlock the side quest, were the students of Hogwarts not also to blame?

"Are you being completely unreasonable?"

***

Back in the Room of Requirement, the Count scoffed at Cohen’s "struggle of conscience."

"I just turned eleven years and four months old; being childish is normal, alright!" Cohen lay on the bed in the corner of the room, stretching comfortably.

After two weeks of unremitting effort, Cohen had finally pushed his Sin Points up.

[Current Sin Points: 1999]

Just a little bit more. Who should be the subject of the final prank? How hard it is to guess—

Cohen’s gaze fell upon the chattering Count.

"AAAAAAAAHHH!!!!"

It once again enjoyed the pleasure of losing its feathers.

[Ding! Sin Points +1]

The wool had been plucked bald. Cohen had originally intended to keep earning Sin Points from the Count, but unfortunately, the bird had developed a "drug resistance." If he kept playing tricks on it, the Sin Points the Count provided would decrease—until a few days ago, when Cohen couldn't gain any more points even by turning it into a cup while it was on a date with Hedwig.

Fortunately, this surprise method had managed to steal a little bit, which made Cohen realize that the conditions for earning Sin Points might have something to do with the target’s receptivity.

[Current Sin Points (2000/2000) reached, Evil Side Quest unlocked]

[Note: You born-evil little Dementor, I am going to download Genshin Impact into your system.]

"..."

Cohen felt he would never have a sunny smile again—no, wait, a Dementor couldn't produce sunshine to begin with; that was a job for sunflowers.

[Evil Side Quest (1/7)]

[1. Prevent Harry Potter from obtaining the Sorcerer's Stone]

[Reward: 1000 Sin Points, Mourning Frost (Weapon)]

[Note: Subsequent Evil Side Quests will change based on your choices. Please mind your stance.]

"Simple. I'll just get the Sorcerer's Stone myself, won't I?"

With that, Cohen stopped masking his aura—

"When the hell are you going to turn my feathers back?!" the Count roared this for the second time in the room. "I must have created mosquitoes in my past life to end up as your pet in this one!"

***

This time, Cohen didn't need to go find Professor Kettleburn to be scolded; he had already learned the counter-curse for the Vanishing Spell.

But perhaps this spell brought back a bit too much, as it not only returned the feathers the Count had just lost, but also the feathers Cohen had vanished last time...

"You **—"

-----------------

After entering November, the climate in the Scottish Highlands began to turn cruel.

What had been the "slightly chilly" autumn weather only a month ago had already been covered in frost. Cohen suspected that Dumbledore’s decision to have Filch work in the castle was pure abuse—Filch had to scrape all the frost crystals off the brick ground in front of the castle by himself, without the use of magic.

This also made Filch a "detention" bomb ready to explode at any moment during this period; any young wizard who dared to get within five meters of him outdoors would be given two days of detention.

Fred and George contributed quite a bit to provoking Filch. Every night, they would sneak out and sprinkle water at the castle entrance to make the ice harder to scrape.

Cohen did it too.

"You must eat some breakfast, Harry."

On a clear Saturday morning, Cohen kindly reminded Harry, who looked like a student about to take a college entrance exam.

"I don't want to eat anything," Harry said, his head aching.

Today was the first Quidditch match of his life, and Snape had previously confiscated the copy of *Quidditch Through the Ages* that Hermione had lent him—and he hadn't been able to get it back from Snape.

Moreover, Harry had witnessed a terrifying scene—Snape’s leg was dripping with blood, and Harry was certain that was the mark left by the three-headed dog in the fourth-floor corridor.

"It’s hard to say, but I think he did it too." Cohen was on Harry's side.

Surely it was Snape trying to steal the Sorcerer's Stone, right?

Voldemort was also a strong possibility...

Quirrell had been hiding it too well—

Wait a minute, who is Cohen Norton?