Edward did not expect Cohen to agree so quickly.
"When do we leave?" Cohen immediately asked.
"The trip starts at the end of July, so there's no rush yet," Edward replied while turning the steering wheel carefully. "Oh, and remember to bring the Earl. If anything happens, at least it can report back to us."
He sounded oddly proud.
"Honestly, it's impressive. You somehow bought the world's most magical owl for the cheapest possible price. I've never even heard of a talking owl before. Plenty of young wizards at school must be jealous."
"Jealous?"
Cohen felt Edward might possess a deeply inaccurate understanding of the Earl.
"No child wants an owl that spends every waking moment talking nonsense," he said honestly. "I only kept it out of kindness. Otherwise it would've gone outside and traumatised random students."
That was not entirely true, however.
Although the Earl was an unbearable chatterbox, it occasionally proved entertaining.
More importantly, Cohen viewed it as a hidden backup weapon.
Nobody expected an owl to cast spells.
For exactly that reason, Cohen had specially sewn a tiny wand pouch onto the Earl's right claw.
Back home, Cohen immediately decided to give Edward a proper first-year culture shock.
He brought him directly into the trunk.
"What's with all the secrecy?" Edward asked curiously after Cohen mysteriously promised a surprise.
Then Cohen shoved him through the entrance.
The dizziness from spatial transfer vanished quickly.
Edward froze.
"Merlin's bloody trousers..."
The enormous world hidden inside the trunk instantly shattered his understanding of reality.
"This space extension charm—the sky—the scale—where did this come from?!" Edward stared upward in complete disbelief.
"Professor Dumbledore helped build it," Cohen explained calmly while placing all responsibility onto the headmaster. "It makes raising magical creatures with Hagrid much easier."
Then his tone became serious.
"Also, don't tell anyone about this place. It's highly illegal. You don't want Dumbledore suddenly remembering your existence for the wrong reasons."
"That... actually makes sense..."
Surprisingly, Edward accepted the explanation almost immediately.
After all, if Dumbledore created something absurdly impossible, nobody would question it.
Cohen planned to show him the wooden house first.
The two approached the cabin together.
"They must've used advanced stabilisation charms too..." Edward muttered while studying the environment intensely. "There wasn't even turbulence entering the trunk. And the spatial expansion alone shouldn't support something this large..."
After recovering from the initial shock, Edward rapidly became fascinated by the trunk's structure itself.
Then he saw the house properly.
"This is genius."
"It's not even the first one," Cohen reminded him casually. "Professor Dumbledore said Newt Scamander owns something similar for raising magical beasts."
Edward blinked.
"The author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them?"
"Exactly."
Edward immediately looked around excitedly.
"So what are you keeping in here? Or planning to keep?"
Then he laughed slightly.
"I know Hagrid likes oversized animals, but surely you're not actually keeping anything danger—"
He stopped.
Something massive approached silently behind him.
The sunlight shining against the cabin door vanished completely.
Heavy breathing echoed nearby.
Edward slowly froze.
Cohen looked past him casually.
"Norbert, why are you out here?"
Behind Edward, a faint sulphur smell drifted through the air.
"You already have large animals here, don't you?" Edward asked weakly.
Very slowly, he turned around.
And immediately found himself face-to-face with a dragon.
Norbert's enormous head hovered inches from his nose while glowing orange-red eyes stared at him curiously.
"Rrrh?"
"&%#@!"
Edward became so frightened his speech completely collapsed into incomprehensible noises.
Still, despite nearly dying spiritually on the spot, he instinctively shoved Cohen behind himself protectively while fumbling for his wand.
What spell worked against dragons?
What spell even penetrated dragon hide?
"It's okay, Dad," Cohen said while stepping out from behind Edward's elbow. "He's very obedient."
Norbert really was obedient.
After understanding their relationship through Cohen's tone, the dragon happily leaned forward and licked Edward directly across the face.
"Urgh—"
Edward's expression twisted violently.
The sensation was wet, slimy, and smelled strongly of sheep blood mixed with sulphur.
"Go back to sleep," Cohen ordered casually. "I'll bring your dinner later."
Norbert obediently flew back toward the cave happily.
Only after the dragon disappeared did Edward finally react properly.
"That was a DRAGON!"
"You seriously needed that long to process it?" Cohen asked incredulously. "I thought you liked dragons. The sandbox game you gave me literally included a brass dragon girl transformed into a dragonborn."
"That's fantasy," Edward argued immediately. "This is real life! Raising dragons is extremely dangerous and unbelievably illegal!"
"Really?"
Cohen blinked pitifully.
Edward immediately lost.
"...Fine," he sighed heavily. "Just don't tell your mother. If Rose finds out, she'll send Dumbledore a furious letter within ten seconds."
Still, once the terror faded slightly, curiosity rapidly replaced it.
"But... can I actually touch him?" Edward asked carefully. "Normal wizards probably never get this close to a real dragon in their entire lives..."
"You'd better stay beside me," Cohen warned. "He mostly listens to me."
Then he hesitated slightly.
"Honestly, your reaction makes me uncertain whether I should show you my other pet."
Edward immediately regained courage.
"We already saw a dragon. What could possibly be worse?"
Cohen led him toward the study downstairs.
Since Ali could not easily climb stairs, the room temporarily functioned as her recovery area.
The moment Cohen opened the door—
A pitch-black unicorn stared directly at them.
Its body radiated death, curses, and pure malice. The creature's eyes were entirely white, like a corpse dragged back into motion unnaturally.
Edward instantly stopped breathing again.
Still.
Compared to dragons, evil unicorns technically existed commonly in Muggle fantasy stories.
So psychologically, this remained slightly easier to process.
"Thud."
Ali glanced at them once before completely ignoring their existence.
Instead, she returned to her current activity.
A massive enchanted stone sat in the middle of the room. Ali continuously stabbed it with her horn over and over again without rest.
Cracks spread everywhere across the cursed stone.
Each time the rock shattered completely, however, it immediately regenerated.
"What exactly is it doing?" Edward asked weakly.
"Recovering from alcohol addiction," Cohen answered casually. "When she's sober, she claims it feels like ants crawling under her skin. So I gave her something repetitive to focus on."
Edward stared silently at the demonic black unicorn repeatedly drilling a rock in frustration.
Then he slowly covered his face.
For the first time in his life, he began wondering whether Rose had been correct all along.
....
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