Chapter 66: Examinations Are an Arms Race of Anxiety

Dumbledore’s warning did not have a massive effect on Cohen, but it was still useful.

After all, Cohen had already known about it; otherwise, he would never have formed a plan to become the Minister for Magic—which was the best way to peacefully clean up the legacy of historical problems.

The greatest significance of Dumbledore’s gesture was that it showed goodwill toward Cohen.

What Dumbledore meant was that if the Ministry of Magic and Cohen were to come to blows because "Cohen is an evil dark magical creature," he would stand on Cohen's side.

Congratulations, Dumbledore’s favorability rating with Cohen has increased by 10.

After being escorted back to his dormitory by Fawkes the phoenix, Cohen shoved the trunk under his bed and slipped under the covers amid a chorus of overlapping snores.

Tomorrow, he could finally toss Norbert inside.

Perhaps he could carve out a few different zones inside, patch together a piece of land to grow some real grass, raise some sheep as a self-sustaining food chain for Norbert, and keep a few other interesting and valuable animals as well.

If the herd of unicorns in the forest were willing, Cohen actually intended to smuggle them in as well—they were all made of gold, spoke so politely, and tasted just like ice cream; Cohen loved them so much.

The next day, after the final Potions class, Cohen headed over to Hagrid’s cabin carrying the trunk. He was followed by Harry and Ron, both full of curiosity about what was inside the trunk, and Hermione, who was deeply interested in the magic cast upon it and eager to study it.

"Didn't we already see a similar scene in the room on the eighth floor?" Cohen said, feeling somewhat helpless about Harry and Ron's pestering. "There's really no need to be in such a rush to look..."

"A house inside a trunk..." Harry said with longing. "If I had one of these, I'd stay inside it every single day once I go back to the Dursleys."

"What a grand ambition," Cohen remarked dryly.

"Ever since you mentioned that Undetectable Extension Charm, I've looked up some information," Hermione said, keeping pace by Cohen's side as a reminder. "The Ministry of Magic has strict regulations regarding that charm, Cohen. Using it on personal items is illegal—"

"Raising a dragon isn't exactly legal either, Hermione..."

Cohen replied in a lowered voice:

"As long as nobody finds out, it isn't illegal—and if all else fails, we still have Dumbledore. We'll just say Dumbledore did it. After all, we're still just kids; who would ever suspect a little wizard could pull off something like this?"

"..."

Hermione opened her mouth, hesitated, and seemed to feel that Cohen's logic made a lot of sense.

"Isn't that a bit unfair to Professor Dumbledore..." Harry's last remaining shred of conscience was trying to assert itself.

"But it's the truth," Cohen said, whose conscience had no known whereabouts and perhaps had never existed in the first place. "Besides, he's Dumbledore. The Ministry of Magic isn't going to arrest him just for casting an Undetectable Extension Charm on a trunk; that would turn the Ministry into a complete joke."

"Don't worry, Hermione, we can also just claim it's a Muggle artifact. That way, the one who comes after us will just be my dad," Ron comforted her from the side. "You know, my dad is the head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office—he'll at most let my mum give me a sound thrashing and then bring the trunk home."

They arrived outside Hagrid's hut. This time, Norbert was even able to recognize the sound of Cohen's footsteps—the moment Cohen reached the doorway, the previously noisy interior instantly fell silent.

The second Cohen pushed the door open, Norbert darted straight into his arms—only to be kicked away by Cohen.

"I almost thought you were trying to assassinate me," Cohen explained to Norbert, who was tucking his wings in with an aggrieved expression. "Next time you see me, don't get so excited—I'm afraid I might instinctively do something much more dangerous to you."

Lacking any sense of proportion—what if it had damaged this mortal body?

Once inside, Cohen opened the trunk in front of them, revealing a flight of stairs bathed in soft light.

"This doesn't look like it has enough room for a person to walk down..." Harry said uncertainly.

"Just take the first step, and leave the rest to magic," Cohen said, giving Harry a gentle nudge as the latter peered inside the trunk.

The narrow stairway instantly enveloped Harry, drawing gasps of astonishment from Hermione.

Next was Hagrid—he at least didn't get stuck, because Cohen and Dumbledore had made some user-friendly modifications to the entrance.

Once everyone had climbed down, Cohen finally squeezed into the trunk himself, carrying Norbert along with him.

After walking down the stairs, they were greeted by the vast, magic-crafted wilderness.

Green fields, flowing streams, a sky just like the real world, and even a breeze accompanied by distant storm clouds rolling in.

"Is this a Weather-Modification Charm?" Hermione remembered seeing such a spell in *A Compendium of Charms Prone to Causing Natural Disasters*. "A Weather-Modification Charm covering an area this large must be immensely profound..."

"Dumbledore did it." In reality, Cohen had done it himself, but explaining that would be far too troublesome—and Cohen wasn't particularly fond of teaching classes.

"Merlin's beard! Look, Norbert, now you can fly around as much as you want!" Hagrid said happily to Norbert. "I can help you build a nest right here—no one will ever come here to hurt you—"

Cohen had originally intended to leave the house-building task entirely to Hagrid first, and make some adjustments of his own later on.

When Cohen mentioned that he would be leaving the trunk with Hagrid for the first half of the semester, Hagrid looked utterly moved and grateful.

"Will I still be able to come here often to see Norbert?"

Hagrid wiped away a tear and patted his chest reassuringly:

"That's wonderful, Cohen, you can rest easy—I'll definitely build you a huge house—and Norbert will have a nice, cozy nest, too..."

Cohen planned to wait until the end-of-term exams were over and they were about to leave school before taking the trunk back.

"Looks like Hagrid's got a massive five-month engineering project on his hands."

On the way back from Hagrid's hut to the castle, Harry calculated the timeline and said:

"And with a mischievous baby dragon thrown into the mix—if nobody keeps an eye on him, won't Norbert end up burning down Hagrid's newly built house?"

Cohen wasn't particularly worried about that; Norbert was growing smarter by the day and knew very well what the consequences would be if he caused trouble over such major matters.

"Five months!" Hermione suddenly thought of something terrifying.

"What is it, Hermione? Is something going to happen in five months?" Harry asked, looking slightly perplexed.

"The final exams! We only have five months left until the final exams!"

"To correct you, it's not 'only five months left,' it's 'as many as five months left,'" Cohen said, fiercely resisting any attempts to spread anxiety. "Just cram a bit right before the test, and it'll be fine..."

"What happens if we fail the exams?" Ron asked Hermione, equally baffled.

"Did you forget what Professor McGonagall said? If anyone fails the final exams, there will be extremely severe punishments!" Hermione said anxiously. "I bet students who fail get expelled—oh, heavens, I should have started reviewing the moment I came back from the Christmas holidays. First the Philosopher's Stone, then a dragon... This is madness—I just hope it's not too late..."

After rattling off that enormous speech, Hermione hurried off toward the library at a run.

"I don't think the Philosopher's Stone or the dragon are anywhere near as crazy as she is," Ron remarked. "Do you think she takes exams a bit too seriously?"

"Just be careful saying things like that in front of Hermione," Cohen reminded him sensibly. "If we still want to copy her homework later on."