"I've seen it," Cohen said. "And I can take you to it—but you'll have to wait an hour. I'm still in the middle of a competition."
"Ohhh!" The old water serpent brightened up in surprise. "Splendid! I'll come with you then. This 'competition' you mentioned… is it a wizard's hunt? I may be old, but I can still help catch a few lake creatures—"
"That won't be necessary…" Cohen politely declined its offer. "You just stay here and wait. I'll come back for you once I'm done."
"Alright, alright." The old serpent nodded eagerly, but then seemed to remember something and made a small request. "Oh—and could you not tell her I came looking for her?"
"What do you mean?" Cohen asked, puzzled. "Why not?"
"Well… um…" The serpent turned its head away, a bit embarrassed. "I'm just worried that if she finds out I came all this way to see her, she might get angry and refuse to meet me…"
"That doesn't make any sense…" Cohen easily saw through the serpent's fib.
Still, after some pleading, Cohen agreed—on the condition that he wouldn't ask about what happened between the water serpent and the chimera—and promised to take it to see her.
"I'll just wait here then!" The old serpent swished its tail, mimicking the way Cohen had waved at it earlier. "Do you like merfolk? I could catch you one—"
"No thanks. Just stay put and don't move." Cohen left the serpent with that, then dove into the lake with Edward.
Since Edward wasn't a strong swimmer, he simply cast a Full-Body Bubble-Head Charm on himself, leaving the task of swimming entirely to Cohen.
In his Dementor form, Cohen dragged Edward at high speed through the depths of the Black Lake. Eventually, they reached a spot close to the shore. Cohen turned back into a human, and Edward dispelled the bubble charm.
"Pfft—" Edward was yanked above water just in time, choking and sputtering as he gasped for air, his face flushed red.
The moment the two of them surfaced, cheers erupted across the lake.
"I wasn't expecting you to still have the bubble charm on when we came up…" Cohen said, dragging Edward toward the shore, glancing at his red face with thinly veiled amusement.
"I was just—cough—trying to make it look more real…" Edward muttered. "A kidnapped hostage wouldn't have a bubble charm, would he…"
Once they reached the shore, several hands helped haul them out of the water.
"You're first place!" Rose wrapped Cohen in a thick, long towel, her expression full of pride. "We really should've got you a thermal wetsuit—your dad insisted it might count as cheating…"
"Even if you didn't agree… you could've at least kissed me for comfort. I just came out of that freezing lake too…" Edward muttered as he began peeling off his soaking-wet suit and shoes, drying them all at once with a spell.
"You're a grown man, and still jealous of your own son?" Herbert laughed, draping another towel over Edward's shoulders. "Cohen did brilliantly—really brilliant. No one else has even come back yet, and the hour's almost up."
Now forgiven by both Edward and Rose—and after hearing Cohen promise to take him away from the Burke estate—Herbert looked years younger. Even the gray at his temples seemed to fade.
"You're impossible…" Rose said, half-exasperated. With Herbert blocking the view from the crowd, she leaned in and gave Edward a quick kiss.
And then the two were practically glued together.
"No matter how much PDA you two throw at me, I still won't get a girlfriend at Hogwarts," Cohen said firmly, clearly unamused.
——
After drying off and changing into fresh clothes, Cohen and the others took seats near the judges' table, waiting for the rest of the champions to surface.
Cohen was the only one to return within the allotted hour.
Just as the time limit expired, Fleur finally emerged—but without her hostage. She had to be brought up by a group of merpeople.
"Gabrielle!" she sobbed into her parents' arms. "I got caught by Grindylows—they hooked me, and my spell didn't work—what's going to happen to Gabrielle…"
Her parents comforted her, assuring her that no real harm would come to anyone during the task and that Gabrielle would be brought back safely when it ended.
Cedric was the third to return. He successfully retrieved Cho Chang, but he arrived just over a minute past the time limit.
Then came Krum, with Hermione.
And finally, Harry—last of all—returned with Ron and Gabrielle.
Sirius, overjoyed, jumped into the lake to help Harry bring the hostages to shore.
Cohen saw Dumbledore make his way to the water's edge, crouch down, and exchange sharp, screechy words with a fierce-looking mermaid who had just swum up.
She pointed at Cohen. Then at Harry.
Dumbledore looked between the two, nodded, and turned to the other judges. "We'll convene for a quick meeting before scoring."
"Thank you so much!" Fleur hurried over to Harry as he sat down with the champions and their families. "You saved Gabrielle… even though she wasn't your hostage…"
"Uh, yeah…" Harry scratched the back of his head, a bit awkward.
Fleur kissed both his cheeks, leaving Harry blushing furiously.
"You both did amazingly!" Hermione beamed at Harry and Cohen. "And Cohen—Harry just said you were dragged off by the giant squid—I nearly panicked! But then I turned and saw you'd already come back…"
"The squid's basically our school mascot at this point," Cohen said. "Honestly, I'm more likely to be murdered by Dumbledore than by it."
"Hermione—there's seaweed in your hair…" Krum, trying to reclaim her attention, pointed out helpfully, like he wanted to remind her he was the one who saved her.
Hermione just yanked the weed off with an annoyed flick.
"You could've come in first place with Cohen…" Ron said to Harry, a bit regretfully. "Dumbledore would never have let anyone drown…"
"Well, I didn't know that at the time," Harry muttered.
"Your dad would've done the same," Sirius said softly, giving Harry's shoulder a proud pat.
"Do you think I made it look too easy?" Cohen asked Herbert, glancing from Sirius and Harry to Edward and Rose, still entangled in the corner. "I'll admit… a bit of drama does go a long way. At least it adds some emotional value."