"You're not telling me the luggage you're talking about is this giant Slytherin head statue, are you?"
"I kept you here because I wanted to ask about some other things," Dumbledore continued, "about what happened in the Chamber."
"We lied."
Cohen didn't even try to hide it. "Neither of those basilisks are dead."
Anyway, Dumbledore had watched the first half of everything unfold, and now he'd pulled Cohen aside for a private chat to dig into what happened next—
"I thought your little secret would stay hidden a bit longer," Dumbledore said with a playful glint in his eye.
"We just didn't want the parents to know the monster that attacked us is still alive," Cohen explained. "They'd never believe… that the old basilisk was forced into causing those attacks. The real villain's Voldemort, not it."
"That's a smart move. You lot are way more proactive than most kids your age," Dumbledore said with a warm nod and a smile. "Our enemies are always the ones with malice in their hearts—not the poor creatures who've been threatened or controlled. That said, keeping the basilisks at Hogwarts isn't exactly the best idea. I seem to recall we talked last time about how to deal with that deadly stare of theirs…"
"I've already figured it out," Cohen said. "I made something for the little basilisk, and I'm planning to whip up a couple more for the big ones too. That way, I can move them into my suitcase to live. I mean, I've already got a dragon in there—three basilisks don't seem *that* scary by comparison…"
"And one of them's even a blood relative of yours," Dumbledore teased. "I often say I've seen my fair share of sights and people, but what's going on with you? That's something entirely new to me. And they all seem to adore you."
Cohen didn't quite know how to respond. So far, Ari didn't really have any attachment to him—it was mostly the contract holding her there. The little dementor barely had any self-awareness at all. Only Sisko genuinely saw Cohen as family, like a kid of his own.
"But, Cohen, what I actually wanted to ask about isn't just the 'basilisk part,'" Dumbledore said, his bright blue eyes peering over the tops of his half-moon glasses, locking onto Cohen's dark pupils. "Before one of them swallowed you, had you already met them?"
"Ugh, you caught me," Cohen admitted with a casual shrug.
When your secret little schemes get found out, the best move is to come clean—partially, at least. Make them think they've got you figured out on the second layer. Cohen had a few final explanations ready to go.
"The one I'm related to, Sisko, came to me for help the day before yesterday. And you'd just given me some ideas about how to fix the basilisks' deadly stare problem," Cohen said. "Then he dragged me down to meet the old basilisk in the Chamber. No clue why, but Slytherin didn't even bother giving it a name…"
"To a lot of people who don't understand love, a name's just a pointless label, Cohen," Dumbledore said. "But for us, a name means so much more than just a word."
"A name's like a spell—a charm that ties different beings together. Think of a pet's name, a nickname between friends, or what parents call their kids. Once you give someone a name, you're sharing a piece of your magic, your emotions. For some powerful wizards, that's practically self-inflicted torture."
Dumbledore went on, "Salazar Slytherin didn't want any real connection with that basilisk. To him, it was just a tool he'd created, something obedient to use. He put it to sleep with magic, left it for his descendants to control and cause terror with. By not naming it, he didn't have to think about how confused it'd be waking up after a thousand years, how panicked it'd feel when discovered, or how desperate it'd become when it was finally 'dealt with.'"
"That's pretty irresponsible, especially for a creature with something close to human self-awareness," Cohen said.
"Exactly, Cohen," Dumbledore replied, sounding pleased.
"That's where we're different. And it might just be one of the reasons Slytherin ended up splitting from the other Hogwarts founders."
"Wait a sec—" Cohen pretended to realize something was off. "I haven't even told you about Sisko swallowing me yet—"
"Ha!" Dumbledore said, stroking his long beard. "Since we're being so open with each other, I suppose I shouldn't hold back either. Truth is, after Fawkes showed up, I was in the Chamber too."
"So you just stood there watching three second-years take on Voldemort and a basilisk?" Cohen seized the chance to call him out.
"I've always believed teaching should involve some hands-on experience," Dumbledore said with a cheerful grin. "And—if I may toot my own horn a little—with me there protecting you, you were never in any real danger."
"I got *swallowed* by a basilisk!" Cohen shot back. "Though, to be fair, it was mostly trying to keep me in its mouth to shield me from the chaos…"
"Didn't I cast a protection charm on you?" Dumbledore said with a sly wink.
"Doesn't matter. I'm telling my mom," Cohen said, throwing a playful tantrum. "You just watched from the sidelines again—like you do every year—unless you fix my wand, I'm—"
"…"
Dumbledore quickly clapped a hand over Cohen's mouth.
"I'll fix your wand, and we'll keep this as our little secret, alright?"
---
It's not that Cohen couldn't afford a new wand—he just felt the old one, barely two years used, had more value. It was like how you get attached to an old toy. Sure, he could replace it if it stopped working, but he didn't want it broken or lost.
Besides, Cohen could tell Dumbledore enjoyed these moments where they dropped the whole headmaster-student dynamic for a bit of fun. Old Dumbledore could be kind of pitiful sometimes. This was Cohen's way of looking out for a lonely, hundred-plus-year-old guy still plugging away at his job. He figured the system ought to toss him a few thousand goodwill points for that.
[**Goodwill Points +10**]
*[Note: That's all you're getting. You keep raking it in but never spend it. Pfft! Hoarder!]*
What's wrong with being a hoarder?! (Annoyed)
Cohen *did* want to spend some points on useful stuff, but the cool, fun magical creatures in the goodwill shop cost thousands or tens of thousands. And don't even get him started on the stuff you could buy with sin points, which were even harder to come by.
A single soul fragment to boost his soul integrity by 1% cost a thousand points. Cohen kept them stashed as his "breakthrough in a pinch" backup plan. If he ran into an enemy he couldn't handle, he'd cash in his sin points for soul integrity, yell something like, "Don't underestimate the bond between me and the victims of the past!" and charge in for a comeback kill.
Classic hero move. Couldn't go wrong with that.
After Dumbledore nudged him to go deal with the two basilisks, Cohen grabbed his suitcase and headed back to the Chamber.
But before he even stepped inside, he heard a huge racket—like something smashing apart. Maybe one of the stone pillars in the Chamber, or a wall. Either way, it was the sound of stone shattering.
And then there were the whispers of two snakes.
"What else do you have for luggage?" Sisko asked.
"There's this—" the old basilisk replied.
Then came an even louder *boom*. It sounded like the old basilisk had whipped its tail and smashed a pillar to bits—
Wait, what kind of luggage does a basilisk even need when it moves? Hold on, what kind of *snake luggage* could there be in a dump like the Chamber?
(End of Chapter)