The list of names on Cohen's parchment quickly filled up—at the very top was "Cohen Norton." Originally, Edward had wanted to write his name to show his support, but now it seemed the class was so popular it wasn't necessary.
"Hermione, you say it's no good, but you wrote your name down too, didn't you?" Ron said with a smirk.
"I just want to understand why Professor Norton said, 'Once you've played with it, you'll pretty much have learned it'," Hermione said, chin held high. "I'll still do the homework, of course."
"Cohen, did your dad really say that?" Harry asked Cohen.
"Yeah, he did. He probably made some wizard-style changes to the Dungeons & Dragons sandbox, like adding wands and a spell system," Cohen said. "This is truly training for war at Hogwarts now..."
That sounded a bit dangerous...
But this project had Dumbledore's approval, so Dumbledore was the one in danger, which was fine. When the sky falls, the tallest one holds it up, and Dumbledore was several inches taller than Edward, so it should be his problem.
At noon, in the Gryffindor common room, Cohen saw the Count's wife return, still nuzzling affectionately with the Count. She had delivered the letter to Carlton Grey. According to the Count's relayed account, his wife saw a fair-skinned, grey-haired woman with large breasts.
"Can you say something that's a bit more appropriate for all ages?" Cohen said with a droop of his face.
"Alright, alright. A grey-haired woman received the letter. She is Carlton Grey," the Count said. "Your wish is for nothing, she's not the big, muscular type you like-"
"Just because you have a wife now, you think you can get away with slandering others, even if it means you won't live to see another day because you have descendants to carry on your genes?" Cohen gave him a dangerous look, and the Count shivered.
"I was talking about my wife! My wife!" the Count corrected himself. "You horrible female owl, you're secretly longing for..."
The female owl stared at the Count with a look of incomprehension, then went back to nuzzling him affectionately—it seemed she was used to his nonsense.
The information she brought back was crucial, though.
Carlton Grey was a woman, not the adult wizard Ginny had been led to believe.
This made her letters to Ginny even more suspicious. Why would a woman try to charm a young girl? She couldn't possibly be a lesbian, could she?
And if she was the Silver Key, how could she get information about Cohen by getting close to Ginny? Ginny and Cohen had met less frequently in the past four years than Cohen and Mr. Furondo had.
If Carlton Grey wrote back to his pen-pal letter, Cohen planned to use his wits to extract information.
If Carlton Grey didn't write back, Cohen planned to use the more forceful methods he had cleverly thought up to get the information.
There should be no secrets from the future leader of the Dementor Empire.
The news from Hagrid arrived even sooner than the reply from Carlton Grey. On Wednesday afternoon, a delighted Hermione told them that the door to Hagrid's hut was open.
"Where on earth has he been? He didn't even write us a letter," Harry said as soon as their Herbology class was over. He couldn't wait and dragged them across the grounds towards Hagrid's hut.
"Secret missions are secret for a reason," Cohen said. "He wouldn't write us a letter. I smell blood—the results probably weren't so good."
"What?!" Harry's eyes widened. "Who could have hurt him? I mean, isn't Hagrid half-giant...?"
"You can even smell blood?" Hermione asked Cohen in surprise. "I can't smell a thing-"
"I have a Basilisk for a dad, it's not hard to understand," Cohen said. "Though I don't use my tongue for it. I also smell dragon meat and Dittany juice."
"That sounds like things to clean and numb wounds," Hermione quickly ran through her knowledge of those two things in her head. "Hagrid must be in trouble."
"At least he's back at Hogwarts, isn't he? It's safe here," Ron said comfortingly.
They hurried to Hagrid's door and peeked inside the hut.
Hagrid had his back to the door, and Fang, upon seeing Cohen and the others, began barking happily.
"Who is it—oh—it's you—come on in... How did the door open by itself..." Hagrid quickly ushered them in. The hut was full of blood-stained bandages, and there was a bucket of greasy green meat.
Hagrid's hair was a mess, matted with blood. His left eye was swollen shut, and he had numerous scars on his face and hands, though the rest of him seemed fine. A thick, black travelling cloak was draped over a chair, and a huge backpack was propped against the wall. Hagrid looked like he had just returned.
"What happened to you?" Harry asked worriedly.
"Nothin', nothin' at all..." Hagrid shook his head. "Just fell down..."
"You'd have to jump off a mountain to get hurt like that," Cohen said.
He knew Hagrid had been with the giants. A second later, Hermione figured it out too.
"The giants did this to you, didn't they, Hagrid?" Hermione asked gently.
"Huh? Who told you that—I didn't say anything—no—what giants-" Hagrid said, flustered.
"I just guessed," Hermione apologized.
"You... just guessed?" Hagrid looked at them sternly, but doing so made his eye hurt. With a cry of pain, he took another piece of dragon meat and put it on his face.
"I'll go burn those giants to ashes for you," Cohen said.
"Don't be daft, Cohen, they're ferocious..." Hagrid sighed. "Professor Dumbledore doesn't want you getting involved. You're our secret weapon—er... I probably shouldn't have said that..."
"That's the second time I've heard that," Cohen said flatly. "But I understand."
"Tell me what's been happening at school, and what you did this summer—Cohen, didn't you go to Greece?" Hagrid asked.
"I made a complete mess of the Greek Ministry of Magic, but I did save the dad of that little Hippogriff from last term. Yep, that little thing has been going around telling everyone his dad is dead just to get free food," Cohen explained, to Hagrid's astonishment. "I don't think any of the animals in Greece have a normal personality..."
"Did you see a Hydra?" Hagrid asked. "I've always wanted to see how they live..."
"No, the weather was too sunny during those days, so the Hydras didn't come to the shallow seas," Cohen said. "But I brought back a Manticore, a Catoblepas, a two-headed Mountain Cat, and three golden sheep. If you want to see them, you have to tell us what you ran into in France."
Cohen remembered the books saying that Hagrid was more seriously injured, but he only had some superficial wounds. Fighting giants was more than just a few bruises.
"So, did anything happen to you, Harry?" Hagrid quickly changed the subject.
"I was attacked by a Dementor," Harry said, leaving a cliffhanger. He continued after seeing Hagrid's horrified expression ("Didn't Cohen stop it?"). "You tell us your story, and we'll tell you ours."