"You're going in too," Cohen said, pulling Arnold toward the tent. "Hurry, hurry."
"Me? I don't think I should… this is a family thing…" Arnold said awkwardly.
"You really don't want to see a basilisk, dragon, nightmare, unicorn, and a chimera?" Cohen tempted him. "Some Aurors go their whole lives without seeing that."
"Pretty sure owning any of those is illegal…" Arnold's mouth twitched. "And so is using an Undetectable Extension Charm on this box… I am an Auror, you know. And don't forget, Amos from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures is right next door…"
"You gonna rat us out?" Cohen didn't think Arnold would. After all, this was the same guy who had helped forge one of Cohen's reports. His loyalty to Edward had clearly reached that classic British level of closeness.
"I'm not worried about me. I just don't want Amos wandering in and finding out you're all hiding inside an illegal box." Arnold sighed. "If Edward ends up in Azkaban, who am I supposed to chat with at work? You lot go in, I'll stand guard."
"You're a good man," Cohen praised. "If I ever build a Dementor Empire, I swear I'll grant you your own territory."
"My friendship with Edward—wait, what did you say about a Dementor Empire?!" Arnold's confident smile froze.
"Just messing with you. Your reaction was too good to resist." Cohen waved it off. "If I ever seriously tried that, Edward and Rose would kill me."
With that, Cohen slipped into the box before Edward and the others could decide to inspect the half-finished castle first.
The undead Cohen had summoned were safely hidden beneath the castle, but if Edward got curious and went straight for it, he might still pick up traces of dark magic.
"So big…"
As soon as Cohen landed inside, he heard Rose's gasp of amazement.
Grasslands, forests, a cave in the distance, a wooden cabin to the left, and a towering half-built castle.
Even behind the cabin stood a massive stone statue head.
The place was big enough to make you lose your sense of scale—especially when you had just jumped down from a tiny box.
"I used seventy-seven Thunderbird feathers," Cohen said as he approached the others. "And Mr. Scamander didn't even charge me for them."
"That the castle you said you were going to build over the summer?" Edward's eyes were locked on the dark, unfinished fortress. "You built all that yourself?"
Herbert said nothing, but his eyes were shining with pride—and maybe tears. Even if Cohen was under Ministry scrutiny, this sanctuary could give him a break from the noisy wizarding world.
"I had the chimera do most of it. The goat part is surprisingly handy," Cohen deflected. Magically building a castle would've taken a ridiculous amount of time for a student who still had classes to attend.
He definitely couldn't mention the undead. Necromancy was too taboo—they'd all try to stop him.
"Where's the chimera?" Rose looked around, but aside from the livestock in the distant pens, there wasn't a single creature in sight.
"It's invisible," Cohen said, his eyes fixed on its soul. He stepped forward and grabbed the lion's mane.
The creature had been circling them, inspecting Rose with great interest.
It already knew Herbert from their time at Bork Manor.
"ROAR!" The lion head growled as Cohen tugged its mane, startling Rose.
Edward, after a brief shiver of his own, burst into laughter at her reaction.
"Hahaha! Scared ya, didn't—didn't—" But Rose's look cut him off. His laughter died in two awkward coughs.
"Apologies," the goat head said to Rose politely. "We remained invisible to avoid unnecessary trouble." Then, turning to Herbert, it added, "Ah, Herbert. It's been a while."
"It has," Herbert replied with a small smile. Seeing the chimera brought back memories of his desperate attempts to bring Cohen back to life.
"This is my mum," Cohen said, gesturing to Rose. "So, I guess my family's all here now… It is a bit much, isn't it?"
[Better than having none,] the Horned Serpent said. [We've never even met our parents.]
"Hello, Cohen's mother," the goat said politely.
"Hello," Rose replied warmly, rather impressed by the well-mannered chimera—though the drooling lion seemed a bit… dim.
Next up, it was time to introduce Sisoko and the little basilisk.
As they entered the wooden cabin, the first thing they saw were two large green mounds in the living room, neatly coiled like piles of snake-shaped dung—one big, one small.
[Food… food…] The little basilisk mumbled in its sleep, head tucked under its coils.
Sisoko, catching a familiar scent, lifted its head from the center of its coils.
[Herbert!]
Sisoko shot toward him.
Rose, unable to understand Parseltongue, immediately stepped in front of Cohen and Herbert, wand drawn. A shimmering shield spell erupted between them and the charging snake.
Sisoko did, admittedly, look like it was about to bite.
"Wait—calm down!" Cohen called, but it was too late. Sisoko crashed into Rose's shield.
[Ow!] it yelped in pain.
[Mum!] the little basilisk woke up in a panic, tongue flicking, looking for Sisoko.
"It's okay, Rose." Herbert gently touched her shoulder, eyes lingering on Sisoko. "It recognized my scent… but the little one—I don't know it. Is it her child?"
"That's close enough," Cohen replied. "Hang on, I need to explain things to them—"
"This is my mum," he told Sisoko. Then he turned to the baby basilisk and warned it sternly in Parseltongue: [No opening your mouth at them, or you're out.]
[O-okay… no biting, no eating…] the little one murmured, shrinking back.
[Your mum?] Sisoko was delighted—until she realized Rose was completely human. Disappointment spread across her snakey features.
"What kind of look was that at my wife?!" Edward snapped, pointing an accusing finger at Sisoko.
That snake looked like it had just been let down!
"She just thinks it's a pity Mum doesn't have scales," Cohen explained.
"You dare lust after my wife?!" Edward fumed.
[I want a wife too!] Sisoko turned to Cohen, demanding, [It's not fair—every one of your dads has a wife!]
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