The birthday party was actually a bit quiet.
Dudley didn't come, and from next door, the Dursleys' arguments could still be heard. Cohen knew exactly why.
Because Dudley and Cohen had no real friendship—especially since Cohen had invited Harry, which Dudley saw as a freak gathering, and he would definitely be ridiculed by his cronies if he attended such a party.
And Mr. Dursley's roar of anger was certainly because he didn't want to miss the chance to make a good impression on Cohen's mother, Rose. Public opinion always has a crucial impact on a company's development.
Furthermore, in Mr. Dursley's view, there was only one way to prevent Harry from blowing up the Nortons' house: send one of their own to keep an eye on Harry—he clearly didn't realize that almost every time Harry got into trouble, it was when Dudley was bullying Harry.
For Harry, this 'quiet' gathering was perhaps the only time in the entire month of July that could be considered 'happy'.
But for Cohen, tomorrow was the truly exciting day.
Because he could finally go find more samples to confirm the soul strength of normal adult Wizards, and get his first wand.
The feeling of having a wand and not having a wand must be different. When Cohen tried magic before, he always felt as if his strength wasn't being used in the right place—Wizards casting spells correctly certainly wouldn't have such an awkward feeling.
After sending Harry home, Cohen also returned to his bedroom early to sleep, preparing for tomorrow's trip to Diagon Alley.
Which wand will choose me? Wait a minute... Wands choose Wizards, there wouldn't be souls inside, would there? Can souls be extracted? Are they the same as human souls? Do they nourish the body if eaten? If I sucked all the wands dry in Ollivander's shop, would Ollivander be angry?
The process from wakefulness to sleep was always like this.
Cohen began to snore softly, like an ordinary human child, so much so that when Rose opened the door and walked into Cohen's room, Cohen was not 'woken up'.
Rose placed a large box of beautifully wrapped birthday presents by Cohen's bed, then gently kissed Cohen, and quietly left.
Outside Cohen's window, a dark shadow shot away from the windowsill with a whoosh. Under the curtain of night, the shadow's form was only revealed as it passed a streetlamp.
It was a tabby cat, its facial fur seemingly still bearing the marks of glasses. It came before an old man with white hair.
“Whoosh—”
“Whoosh—”
The lights of the originally lit streetlamps seemed to be pulled away from their positions by some invisible hand, flying one after another into the old-fashioned silver lighter in the old man's hand.
“Albus, I must admit, fostering Cohen with the Nortons was a very good choice.”
The tabby cat's figure suddenly stretched in the night, transforming into a serious-looking woman in just a second or two.
“Minerva, this was Edward and Rose’s choice, not mine,” Albus Dumbledore said with a cheerful laugh. The stars and moon on his robes perfectly matched the summer night sky above his head. “I’m glad to see a child growing up strong in the love of his parents.”
“If only Harry deserved all of this,” Minerva McGonagall said with some displeasure. “His living environment is far too harsh compared to Cohen’s. I don’t understand why you would ask the Norton couple to reduce their contact with Harry—even if it was just to allow this poor child to peacefully enjoy afternoon tea at his neighbors' house every weekend.”
“Different flowers require different methods of cultivation,” Dumbledore winked playfully at Professor McGonagall. “But without a doubt, they will all bloom into the most beautiful flowers.”
“Perhaps there’s one more thing you need to know, regarding Cohen.”
Professor McGonagall hesitated for a moment, deciding to tell Dumbledore what she had seen.
“Oh, Cohen often does good deeds. I remember the last time I came, I happened to see him helping an old man cross the road,” Dumbledore said, completely at ease about Cohen. “Although his birth was not so normal, he has still grown into a positive and healthy child.”
“He gave another child a lollipop today,” Professor McGonagall said.
“That’s a good thing. Being able to share is quite rare for children of that age,” Dumbledore clearly didn't realize the problem.
“But he used magic to take the lollipop back when his back was turned to the child, and that child cried for almost fifteen minutes before stopping,” Professor McGonagall continued.
“…” Dumbledore fell silent.
“And that time you saw him helping an old man cross the road, Cohen even specifically pointed out a path for the old man,” Professor McGonagall paused.
Dumbledore seemed to know what the next sentence would be.
“That path required an extra mile to reach the destination, and Cohen's destination at the time was the same as the old man's, yet he himself took the shorter path—which only required crossing two shops,” Professor McGonagall said, rubbing her temples. “It’s hard to imagine what he’ll be like after meeting the Weasley Brothers.”
“Young people always have some novel ideas; mischief does not equate to malice…”
Dumbledore consoled, unsure if it was for McGonagall or for himself.
“Even adult Wizards can easily become deeply entangled in the vortex of power and lose themselves, but Cohen, during his most vulnerable period of will, restrained evil desires. He is not like Lord Voldemort.”
Upon hearing that name, Professor McGonagall involuntarily shivered.
“Do you remember the day we found him?”
“That Dark Wizard’s laboratory?” Professor McGonagall recalled some unpleasant memories. “It was full of corpses, over three hundred of them, with empty eyes, as if they had been hit by the Killing Curse. I couldn’t imagine that this was something a child less than a year old had done—I’d rather believe You-Know-Who did it, even if he was already dead at the time.”
“Roses grow thorns to protect themselves, Minerva… We cannot refuse to appreciate their enchanting bloom just because they have sharp thorns.”
— — — — — — — —
“Cohen!”
“Cohen!”
It was still dimly lit when Cohen was woken up by urgent shouts from outside the door.
“I want to sleep!” Cohen couldn’t even open his eyes, let alone get up and open the door. “Children shouldn’t get up too early, or they’ll turn into workhorses!”
In his dream, he saw his mother, Rose, secretly placing his birthday present by his bedside in the middle of the night, and gently kissing his forehead.
He also dreamed of two people he hadn't met but had seen in movies in his previous life.
Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore.
These two were conversing about Cohen and Harry on the street under the cover of night.
The dream was so real that Cohen felt it was very likely a true situation he had secretly witnessed while astral projecting.
“Cohen! Dad’s taking you to Diagon Alley today, hurry up and get ready, or you’ll delay my third adventure at the Dragon and Dungeon Club this afternoon!”
Good heavens, why would a middle-aged Wizard be so keen on playing 'swords and magic' role-playing games with a bunch of Muggle teenagers!
If he really liked Dragons and Dungeons, he should go to those Dragon farms and challenge a Dragon one-on-one. Those Wizards who extract Dragon blood would surely be eager for someone to help them tame unruly Dragons.
“Alright, alright, there’s no helping you…” Cohen, still half-asleep, changed out of his pajamas and quickly noticed something seemed to have appeared by his bed. “Wait for me to get dressed…”
A birthday present?
Cohen's mind instantly cleared.
The packaging of this gift was exactly the same as in his dream.
If what he saw of Rose in the dream was real…
Cohen quickly scurried to the mirror.
There was still a fading lipstick mark on his forehead.
Could it be that old Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall really visited his house last night?
Is it really okay to have no privacy like this? They even saw him taking candy from a child!
No, it seems more important were those last few paragraphs Dumbledore said, about Cohen's origins…
A Dark Wizard's laboratory, over three hundred corpses with empty eyes… it sounded like a young Cohen had eaten all the souls of those Dark Wizards.
Was his predecessor that fierce? He thought he was Xiao Yan before he started developing, but was he actually Shi Hao with his supreme bone dug out?
However, for now, old Dumbledore seemed quite at ease with him. Although it sounded like he still checked in frequently, Cohen's performance clearly met his goals.
At least he didn't have to worry about being eliminated by the good guys before school started; Dementors weren't exactly 'pleasant' creatures.
And Edward and Rose adopting him… it was strange. Yesterday, Edward had just said he almost thought Cohen was a Muggle child, not like someone who knew Cohen's identity as a Dark Arts experiment subject.
But Dumbledore had also said, “This was Edward and Rose’s own choice,” which meant that these two must have known most of the situation and the dangers of adoption, yet they still did it.
Cohen felt a slight stirring in his heart. The love of these adoptive parents for him was real; even with more lies, it wouldn't make a difference.
Putting aside these trivial matters, Cohen now only wanted to figure out one thing: how he had managed to secretly see and hear what was happening on the street outside, as if his soul had left his body.
And Dumbledore seemed completely unaware!
Simple peeping can be achieved by many spells, but being able to peep without being discovered by the most powerful Wizard of the century, that's very subtle.
Of course, Cohen wasn't planning to spy on whether Dumbledore secretly hid a stack of Grindelwald's photos, but rather, he could use this method for incredibly safe information gathering—just think, a single God's Eye perspective cheat can make the tide of a game turn completely, let alone a God's Eye perspective in reality!
And the kind that won't get you caught and banned!
But how could he trigger that state again?
Sleeping? Is this trigger method a bit too useless?
Cohen sat back down on the edge of the bed, leaning back onto his pillow.
But his consciousness was now incredibly clear and excited; to fall asleep again would most likely only be possible through physical hypnosis.
However, after closing his eyes, Cohen distinctly felt something unusual.
It was as if he… had split?
That's roughly the description; his soul had split, with only one place still tightly connected.
And Cohen could actively control the shape of these two halves of his soul, as well as observe everything around him from the soul's perspective—including Cohen's body currently lying on the bed.
However, when all of Cohen's soul left his body, the body would enter a state of 'no vital activity,' a kind of suspended animation, until Cohen's soul returned.
The soul could be stretched, flattened, or rolled out like dough into something resembling a cloak—
Wait a minute…
“Isn’t this a Dementor?!”
Cohen shaped himself into something like a cloak and examined the appearance of his soul.
Good heavens, black and rag-like, add two rotting hands and he could probably go interview for a civil servant position at Azkaban.
After studying for a while longer, Cohen also discovered another trick.
He could put half of his soul in his body and the other half outside, allowing him to control his body while also seeing more through his soul—however, because the two halves of the soul had a tightly connected point, there was a limit to how far apart they could move.
Although this connection point could also be manipulated at will, its stretched length still had a limit, only about fifteen meters, which was precisely the distance from Cohen's room to the other end of Privet Drive.
No wonder he had unconsciously overheard Dumbledore and McGonagall's conversation on Privet Drive last night.
【Ding! Special Ability Unlocked: Spirit Form Shaping (1/10)】
Is that how the special ability section unlocks?!
Cohen originally thought the system was rudimentary enough for not providing a beginner's gift package, but it turned out that special abilities had to be explored and discovered by himself to unlock.
“This is tough; I feel like compared to transmigrators in web novels, I’m directly losing at the starting line…”
Now that the new trick was figured out, the next step was to wash up, eat, and then follow Edward to Diagon Alley to buy school supplies.
Before going downstairs, Cohen unwrapped the gift from Rose.
It was a snow globe that required two hands to hold, containing three living clay figures happily living together in a snowy village—'happy' because Cohen could even hear joyful laughter coming from the house the family of three had just entered.
This thing sleeps at night, right? Otherwise, having a sphere that giggles in the dorm would be a bit too creepy.
But overall, Rose's gift was great. Cohen had always loved such heartwarming gifts, as he rarely received such direct 'love' in his previous life on Earth—Cohen really didn't want to admit that he was indeed an orphan in his previous life.
However, the clay figures, driven by solidified spells, had no souls, so Cohen couldn't keep this snow globe as an emergency sweet treat.
“How are we going to Diagon Alley later?”
At the dining table, Cohen successfully swallowed the last buttered piece of bread with the help of milk, and asked Edward, who had already begun counting Galleons and Sickles.
Floo powder? Apparition with Side-Along Apparition?
“By car, how else? A magic carpet?” Edward rubbed his hands, estimating the remaining amount. Maybe there would be a good amount left, enough to pick out a pet for Cohen to take to school.