"Hermione!" Ron shouted in alarm.
Cohen didn't do anything—just stayed invisible off to the side, watching (coldly).
Harry, seeing Hermione's stiff body being dragged away, didn't even hesitate. He bolted toward her, as if he could stop the basilisk taking her with his bare hands. He'd completely forgotten how dangerous a basilisk was.
Classic Gryffindor move. But Cohen didn't think Harry was being stupid. On the contrary, Cohen believed people who tried to save others should never be mocked or ridiculed.
The old basilisk slipped into the pipes first. By the time Harry lunged forward, his fingertips only brushed cold stone.
Ron didn't go for a dramatic dive, so he just ended up smacking his head against the solid wall.
*Thud—*
Harry scrambled up from the ground, pulling out his wand to try reopening the hole.
"Incendio!"
"Reducto!"
Harry didn't care if the spells would work—he flung out every one he knew. Sadly, his magic wasn't strong enough to dent Hogwarts' walls.
"Alohomora!"
Ron pointed his smoking, busted wand at the wall too, trying a spell that didn't quite match his current skill level.
"I heard Hermione use it before—was my wand movement off, or does this spell just not work on it?" Ron asked anxiously, waving his malfunctioning wand.
"What are you two doing?"
Cohen reappeared just outside the open classroom door, making it look like he'd just come back from the bathroom.
"Hermione—the basilisk took her!" Harry said, breathing hard. "Cohen, I saw it!"
"Your eyes?" Cohen asked, feigning ignorance. "How are you still alive? All I see is a wall—"
"No—I only saw its tail!" Harry explained. "It wrapped around Hermione, then a hole opened in the wall. After it left, the hole closed up…"
"Harry, step aside."
Cohen knew his spell wouldn't blast the wall open, but he had to put on a little show for Harry—like, "I really want to help, but I can't, so let's go get Dumbledore."
If he'd guessed right, Dumbledore was probably busy dealing with the school board's impeachment notice right now. Voldemort had said he'd get Draco to tell Lucius to push for Dumbledore's removal before the attack.
Not that it'd work—no one could kick out a living Dumbledore. With Fawkes around, he could pop up anywhere.
This "kill Harry Potter" plan, which Voldemort thought made perfect sense, was mostly just for show. It added a few extra steps to make it look fancier.
Cohen didn't interfere because Dumbledore probably wanted to use the monster to toughen Harry up a bit. With the phoenix, Harry might suffer, but he'd be fine.
Otherwise, there's no way Dumbledore wouldn't have figured out the basilisk was slithering through pipes in the walls, even after knowing it was in the Chamber of Secrets…
Even Hermione had worked that out.
Poor Harry—what a tough life…
Cohen thought he shouldn't be called "The Boy Who Lived." "The Boy Who Keeps Getting Hit With Disaster" suited him better.
"Confringo!"
Cohen put some effort into casting a few spells.
"Reducto!"
The wall didn't budge.
"Alohomora."
Avada Kedavra might've blasted it open, but he wasn't about to use that in front of Harry.
"That basilisk's probably long gone by now," Cohen said, giving up the pointless attempts. "We need to find Professor Dumbledore."
"Hurry!" Harry grabbed them both and raced toward the Great Hall.
But Dumbledore wasn't in the Great Hall. Neither was Professor McGonagall.
"Where's Professor Dumbledore?" Harry burst through the doors, not even thinking about sitting down.
"Probably busy in his office," Cohen said.
"Professor McGonagall's not here either," Ron said, pointing at the empty staff table in a panic. "What do we do…? If only Hermione were here—"
"Let's go to the headmaster's office," Harry said urgently.
When they climbed the spiraling staircase and reached the door to the headmaster's office, they heard voices inside.
"Albus can't leave!" Professor McGonagall was sharply scolding someone. "How foolish do you have to be to think kicking Albus out will fix anything?"
"It's not my personal decision," Lucius replied, his voice dripping with smugness. "All twelve members of the board signed this temporary suspension order. Since Dumbledore still hasn't caught the culprit behind these attacks, leaving students living in fear…"
"They're trying to get rid of Professor Dumbledore?" Harry whispered to Cohen and Ron in shock outside the door. "Am I hearing this right?"
"Nope, I heard the same thing," Ron confirmed.
"We'll be joining the conversation soon enough," Cohen said, rubbing his forehead.
The two of them hadn't exactly been quiet—through a thin wooden door, everyone inside had definitely heard them.
"Who's out there?!"
Lucius snapped.
*Bang!*
The next second, the office door swung open, revealing the three sneaky students eavesdropping outside.
Lucius' pupils shrank when he saw Cohen, but he quickly composed himself.
"Potter, Norton, and Weasley?" Professor McGonagall asked, confused. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be eating in the Great Hall?"
"We've got something urgent to tell Professor Dumbledore—about the attacks—" Harry said, frantic.
"Ha," Lucius snorted through his nose. "I'm sure the board would love to hear this. No wonder Dumbledore hasn't caught the culprit yet—he's so old he's relying on students to investigate for him—"
"Professor Dumbledore didn't ask us to investigate!" Harry snapped at Lucius Malfoy. "Our friend was just taken—right now! A giant snake grabbed her and vanished into the wall!"
"What?" McGonagall's eyes widened. "Is this true? You mean… Miss Granger?"
It took her all of one second to figure out who the victim was.
"A giant snake… in the walls…"
McGonagall connected the dots to something terrifying—Hogwarts was full of walls. As long as students were in the castle, they'd never be safe.
"Looks like it's not just about suspending the headmaster anymore," Lucius said. "Hogwarts needs parents to take their kids home—well, the Muggle-born ones, I mean. We all know the Chamber of Secrets is for purging Mudbloods."
"Minerva, contact the parents and get the students home as soon as possible," Dumbledore said.
"I don't think you have the authority to order the staff around anymore, Dumbledore," Lucius sneered. "Your dismissal takes effect at noon today."
"Then perhaps you should issue a deputy headmistress dismissal today too," McGonagall shot back, fuming. "If you can't, Dumbledore's decisions are mine going forward."
There clearly wasn't time for another dismissal meeting today.
Lucius huffed coldly and stormed out.
"Did I… shouldn't have said anything…?" Harry gulped.
"No, Harry," Dumbledore reassured him. "This has nothing to do with you. When a friend's in danger, seeking help from an adult as fast as possible is the right call."
"Albus, we're running out of time. Even if we contact parents today, the students can't leave right away. I think we'll need to set up tents outside temporarily—so they're not still in the castle with that monster," McGonagall said, quickly coming up with a plan. "Potter, everything you just said was true, right? The giant snake came out of the wall?"
"Yes, Professor," Harry nodded nervously. "How do we save Hermione…?"
"Blast open the walls and find where that monster's hiding," McGonagall said. "Where did this happen? I believe your class this morning was Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"It was in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom—" Harry said. "Professor Dumbledore will save Hermione, right?"
McGonagall glanced at Dumbledore.
"By noon, I'll be forced out of the school," Dumbledore said calmly, as if it were no big deal. "But I'm confident this will be resolved. You'll find that at Hogwarts, those who need help always get it."
Then, Dumbledore suddenly tapped his head.
"Oh, right—before I go, there's one last thing. Cohen left something here last time. Don't forget to take it with you." He picked up a slightly thick book from his desk and handed it to Cohen, even tossing in a little wink, like it was some secret signal.
Huh? A signal?
What signal?
Cohen had no idea what Dumbledore was up to with this weird move—especially since the book was titled *Travels with Ghouls*.
"Alright, you three, come with me to the Great Hall. Stay with the other students while I organize setting up temporary tents on the grounds," McGonagall said briskly. "This is a dangerous situation. I know you want to find your friend, but you can't handle that monster—and you'd only put yourselves in danger."
"Got it, Professor McGonagall," Cohen said.
Harry opened his mouth to protest, but Cohen's "Got it" shut him up.
---
Compared to Dumbledore's "do nothing" approach, McGonagall moved fast and efficiently. By 1 p.m., dozens of colorful tents—complete with house crests—were set up on the grounds outside Hogwarts. They were probably old school stock; the tents smelled musty.
The new caretaker, Mr. Von Braun, led the students in groups to their temporary homes for the night.
Having seen Cohen's suitcase that was bigger on the inside, Harry wasn't blown away by the Gryffindor tent on the grass. If anything, he thought it was a little small.
But that wasn't their main concern right now.
"Good news," Cohen said. "Even without Dumbledore, he's given us some special help."
(End of Chapter)