"Go ahead and hide. Who could ever out-hide you?"
"Which kid cries every day? And which gambling addict loses every day?"
But Cohen wasn't a gambler, so he had no intention of crawling into the pipe under his feet—and therefore, no chance of losing. Facing the basilisk's soul head-on might, at worst, turn Cohen to stone rather than kill him. Still, turning into a statue in some forgotten sewer pipe no one ever sets foot in?
Cohen wasn't about to take that risk just to get a peek at what the basilisk looked like—especially now that he was sure it *was* a basilisk and not Voldemort.
It hissed *["Where?"]* in Parseltongue, meaning it was looking for something. Maybe food. Maybe Slytherin's heir. Either way, that had nothing to do with Cohen right now.
He watched the basilisk's soul zip through the pipes beneath the floor, moving fast until it vanished from sight. His ability to see through things had its limits, and Hogwarts' layout was just too perfect for a basilisk to slither around undetected.
Still no sign of Voldemort, though. No clue where he was hiding. Harry's scar hurting wasn't just a random fluke—Voldemort had to be up to something new. Cohen figured he'd better keep an eye out for anything weird.
Disappointed, Cohen left Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Herbology class was probably repotting Mandrakes right now, so there was no going back to that.
Missing a whole class? Man, that stung…
Stifling a laugh, Cohen decided to kill some time in the Room of Requirement.
When he got to the eighth floor, though, that usually empty corridor had an unexpected visitor.
Gilderoy Lockhart was there, muttering to himself with a grumpy look on his face.
"You're following me!" Cohen accused, striking first.
"Huh?" Lockhart spun around to face him. "I'm not—Mr. Norton? What are *you* doing here?"
"What are *you* doing here?" Cohen shot back, narrowing his eyes.
Did Lockhart know about the Room of Requirement?
"I'm just wandering around—you know, reliving the school days. Wait a second, I'm a professor! What's wrong with a professor wandering around?!"
Lockhart started making excuses, but then it hit him—he was the teacher here. Cohen was the one who should be explaining why *he* was up here.
"Shouldn't you be in class?" Lockhart asked, pouncing on the chance.
"Didn't I tell you ten minutes ago? My stomach hurt, and I had to use the bathroom," Cohen said, totally unfazed.
"This isn't a bathroom!" Lockhart said, thinking he'd caught him. "Ha! You little sneak, you're trying to skip class!"
"I already finished in the bathroom. It's been ten minutes—I'm not constipated or anything," Cohen replied.
"Then why aren't you back in class after using the bathroom?" Lockhart pressed.
"I'm done with the bathroom, so why would I go back to class?"
Cohen said it with a straight face, completely serious.
"?" Lockhart's brain short-circuited, struggling to follow Cohen's logic—especially with how confidently and earnestly he'd said it.
"What's the conflict between going to the bathroom and going to class?"
"You can't be in class while you're in the bathroom," Cohen explained. "No one can be in the bathroom *and* the classroom at the same time. What kind of weird question is that?"
"But you're not in the bathroom now!" Lockhart countered, baffled. "You're in the eighth-floor corridor!"
"Yeah, exactly. I'm in the eighth-floor corridor. How could I be in the bathroom or the classroom…?" Cohen blinked innocently at Lockhart.
*My head hurts! I think I'm losing my mind!*
But Lockhart didn't stick around to argue about the bathroom, the corridor, or class. Looking like he was scared of being caught, he bolted after barely saying another word to Cohen.
Cohen frowned, watching Lockhart slink away like a thief.
What was Lockhart up to, sneaking around like that?
Wasn't he just a side character? Since when did side characters get this much screen time?
Once he was sure Lockhart was gone, Cohen slipped into the Room of Requirement.
Earl was already inside—the place reeked of booze.
"Just a heads-up, owls don't handle alcohol well," Cohen said, wrinkling his nose. "If you're gonna die, don't do it in my room."
"Ha! An owl's abilities have their limits…" Earl slurred, turning toward Cohen. "So… I'm done being an owl! Little Dementor!"
He said that, but Cohen waited two minutes and Earl still hadn't turned into some cat-girl form. Instead, he just flopped into a heap on his owl bed.
Earl showing up early did tip Cohen off, though. Lockhart muttering to himself in the eighth-floor corridor probably meant he was trying to get into the Room of Requirement.
Since the room could only be one space at a time, with Earl already inside, Lockhart wouldn't have been able to get into whatever version of the room *he* wanted.
What was Lockhart looking for in there?
Cohen quickly landed on a theory.
Just like Quirrell last year, had Voldemort roped Lockhart into something? A way to sneak into the school?
Same old trick, different pawn. But what was Voldemort after this time?
It couldn't be a Horcrux… could it?
Cohen glanced at Ravenclaw's diadem, which he'd pulled out of his suitcase that morning and set up in the room.
It looked like its old self again. After Cohen devoured Voldemort's soul fragment from it, he'd gone to a lot of trouble to fix its appearance—though its magic was pretty much drained by now.
If Voldemort was coming for his Horcrux…
It'd be tough to explain where that soul fragment went.
Oh well—if it came to that, Cohen could just play dumb. Voldemort wouldn't suspect a poor, innocent, tiny, adorable little Dementor, right?
Voldemort was a walking "side-quest generator" and "evil points factory," and Cohen wasn't about to let that slip away. If he had a new plan brewing, Cohen was more than happy to stick his nose in it. Out of all the suspicious characters right now, Lockhart was topping the list.
Especially since he'd been acting shady today—arguing with Cohen and then rushing off without even docking points. That screamed guilty conscience.
Cohen had plenty of ways to keep tabs on him.
[*Ding! Kindness Side Quest Progress Updated*]
[*Kindness Side Quest (2/7)*]
[*2. Stop Tom Riddle's Grand Purge Plan*]
[*Rewards: 1000 Kindness Points, 'Advanced Counterfeit Spellcraft'*]
It'd been a while since he'd heard a notification that long. Cohen frowned at the quest title on his task list.
Voldemort would have to be brain-dead to plan a grand purge before he'd even come back to life. Did he think Dumbledore was just decorations?
And…
If he was planning a purge at Hogwarts, why go through a clown like Lockhart instead of coming straight to Cohen?
Was Cohen not trustworthy enough? Or did Voldemort still have the tiniest doubt about his strength?
"Maybe he still thinks I'm too extreme?" Cohen muttered, baffled by Voldemort's motives. "Come on, I'm in second year now. I've matured a lot…"
(*End of Chapter*)