Chapter 45 Settlement

Cohen successfully flew back to the Forbidden Forest. Although he got lost once on the way—it was rather difficult to discern directions amid the thick, churning storm clouds.

As the winter dawn began to break, Cohen made a brief detour to check on the Acromantulas.

Regrettably, there was almost no trace of them left above ground. Due to Cohen's oppressive wickedness and merciless slaughter, Aragog had retreated with his surviving offspring deep into subterranean caverns. Cohen was not particularly keen on squeezing into spider tunnels; his previous actions might have been a bit overly enthusiastic.

Still, it was no great issue. The younger spiders were no longer sufficient to satisfy Cohen, whose soul integrity stood at 27.2%. Their meager soul fragments, maxing out at a mere dozen points or so, could not even nudge Cohen's progress up by 0.1%.

By now, the only entities of any use to him would likely be middle-aged or older spiders with a soul strength exceeding 15 points, alongside Aragog himself, whose soul strength reached 20.

He would let them breed for a while longer and check in again by the end of the term. Cohen knew that spider eggs took about nine weeks to hatch, but how long it took for the spiderlings to reach maturity remained a question.

The Forbidden Forest was as harmonious as ever. The centaurs watched him from afar after he landed; clearly, they had learned what forces in the forest were best left unprovoked. The expansion of the spider colonies—which the centaurs had nearly had to risk their lives to halt—had been entirely resolved by Cohen in the span of just three months. They practically owed him a debt of gratitude.

Leaving the Forbidden Forest and passing Hagrid's hut, Cohen caught the lingering scent of Christmas; Hagrid must have brought some food back out from the castle.

Damn it, Cohen had only eaten a single rabbit for Christmas!

Cohen skillfully slipped back into the castle. Because soul-strength tags were visible even through solid walls, bypassing Filch proved to be effortless. Cohen would not repeat the mistake of getting caught by Filch the first time; now, whenever he needed to evade detection, he proactively activated his soul vision to steer clear of anyone who might spot him.

The Hogwarts castle during Christmas was adorned everywhere with cozy garlands woven from holly and mistletoe.

For some reason, while passing through the corridor outside the Great Hall, Cohen noticed numerous intangible, ghost-like souls lingering near the garlands...

"Nifflers?" Cohen recalled a creature unrecognized by mainstream wizards.

Pity that these tiny things possessed souls far too weak to bother consuming.

Much like ordinary small critters, they were marked with a soul strength of 1 simply because the system's minimum indicated value was 1.

Cohen climbed the stairs up to the eighth floor, though he did not return to the tower immediately. Instead, as was his habit, he headed first into the Room of Requirement.

He needed to settle Aaliyah, who was tucked away in his leather pouch. The Room of Requirement should be able to conjure an independent, outdoor-imitating zone where Cohen could raise animals.

Upon returning to the Room of Requirement, Cohen found the Earl exhausted and slumped across a cushioned owl-perch bed.

"Your entire family owes me the shipping fee for this trip! I swear your old man was trying to murder me—the stuff he made me carry weighed at least fifty pounds!"

The moment the Earl laid eyes on Cohen, he began to complain:

"He even mailed you a bomb—"

"Don't talk nonsense. If a bomb could kill me, I would have died when I was one year old. Edward is an idiot, but he shouldn't be that foolish."

Cohen looked at the massive pile of gifts heaped inside the Room of Requirement. Aside from a box of candies from Rose and Edward's mysteriously large, square gift box, there was another pile of bulging, oversized paper parcels.

Among them were rock cakes sent by Hagrid—had he known, Cohen wouldn't have feigned such fondness for those biscuits in front of Hagrid.

There was also a hand-knitted sweater from Mrs. Weasley, alongside a full tin of homemade fudge.

It seemed Ron had written to his parents about Cohen. Of course, it was also possible that the Weasley and Norton families enjoyed a fairly decent relationship; after all, they belonged to the same generation and had both stood by Dumbledore's side during those turbulent years.

The sweater Cohen received was white, knitted with deep blue yarn to form the initial C of his name.

Receiving a mountain of Christmas presents truly induced a delightful sensation; no wonder children adored Christmas.

"Let's see what kind of trick Edward has pulled for me..." Cohen unwrapped the parcel sent by Edward.

This rectangular, mysterious gift measuring 1×1×2 cubic meters turned out to be... a transparent display case enclosed on all sides.

"Is Edward buying me real estate?"

Cohen gazed at the castle and village within the transparent showcase, quickly realizing that the miniatures inside bore no resemblance to the architectural sand tables found in real estate sales offices.

At the back of the mountains within the model lay a deep mine shaft, guarded by a fire-breathing dragon clutching glittering treasures.

A squad of living clay figurines was marching out from the castle, traversing forests, marshes, and mountains, stepping forward toward the mountain cavern.

This was a living, breathing board game of Dungeons & Dragons.

"Unsurprisingly..."

Cohen twitched the corner of his mouth. Although this gadget was of no practical use to him, it would at least serve as a decent decoration.

The wizarding world did not play such games, so Edward had most likely crafted every single piece in here himself—it must have taken a tremendous amount of thought. Cohen intended to praise him in his next letter to keep him in high spirits.

With emotional needs thoroughly fulfilled, domestic harmony would naturally follow.

The plan to raise Aaliyah proceeded smoothly as well. At Cohen's behest, a new door materialized within the room.

Behind the door lay a "fake outdoor" space featuring a nocturnal sky, complete with a meadow, a trickling stream, trees, and even a suspended crescent moon alongside a sky full of stars—a detail that betrayed the falseness of the sky, for if the moon shone so brightly, the stars would remain invisible in a real night sky.

Cohen released Aaliyah, who wearily curled up on the ground. Cohen initially assumed she had run out of power because he had previously cast curses using those two Aurors—

"A friendly reminder: magical creatures are not blow-up dolls; they can move on their own without being plugged in." The Earl sharply pointed out the flaw in Cohen's reasoning.

[You were shaking too much while flying; I'm terribly dizzy right now.]

Aaliyah's voice echoed in Cohen's mind in explanation.

Shortly after, she drifted off to sleep within the secure environment.

"Fine then."

Cohen had originally intended to research what special traits he might have inherited from this creature's lineage, but that would clearly have to wait.

After organizing the scavenged books and stacking them neatly onto the bookshelves in this room, Cohen stepped back outside.

He decided to return to the common room to see if Harry and the others had gotten up to any shenanigans, or if they had stumbled upon the Mirror of Erised just like in the original plot.

However, Cohen suspected the latter was far more likely, as Dumbledore would undoubtedly orchestrate ways for Harry to catch sight of that mirror—first, to teach Harry to look ahead rather than dwell on fond memories, and second, to lay the groundwork for the forthcoming "protecting the Sorcerer's Stone" scheme.

Cohen slipped through the circular hole behind the Fat Lady's portrait and, the moment he poked his head out, spotted a dark-circled Harry.

Harry sat by the hearth, deep in thought—and looking as though he hadn't slept a wink all night.

Even so, Harry still appeared rather thrilled.

"Cohen?! Why are you back so soon? It's only the second day of the holiday—though I've got to take you to see something. You'll never believe..."