Who let this Dementor into Hogwarts!

Chapter 9 Dinner is ready—wait, what kind of meal are you preparing?

"Pfft-"

A strange sound came out of the Sorting Hat's mouth, like the sound of a balloon leaking air after being punctured.

"Ha, kid, I see you're kind--well..."

The Sorting Hat's low voice sounded like it was coaxing a cat that was about to give the wobbly glass of water on the corner of the table a push.

"Hmm... very shrewd and ambitious, perhaps Slytherin -"

"Gurgle, gurgle." Cohen made a hungry sound with his mouth.

"Oh - I suddenly feel that as a... uh - 'special' child, being able to bravely enter school is also a... brave thing -" The Sorting Hat twisted a few times on Cohen's head and whispered in an extremely awkward voice.

Cohen was pleased with the Sorting Hat's decision number two.

I don't have to be hunted by Rose anymore——

"Gryffindor!"

The Sorting Hat shouted in a trembling voice.

On the way to Gryffindor, Cohen made an encouraging gesture to Harry, who was still in the team with only a few people left.

Cohen also specially adjusted his position so that his action, which was full of friendship and kindness of a young wizard, could be seen by Dumbledore in the teacher's seat.

Perfect combo.

Cohen felt that he was becoming more and more proficient in being a healthy, sunny and positive half-Dementor.

After sitting down, Cohen began to observe Harry's sorting.

But because the Sorting Hat spoke to the young wizard in a very low voice, Cohen could not hear the tug-of-war between the Sorting Hat and Harry at all.

Watching a pantomime where the actors barely move is not very interesting.

"It's so hard to guess, which Gryffindor will Harry be sorted into?"

"Gryffindor!"

After the Sorting Hat's announcement, the hall fell silent for a second.

The next second, Gryffindor erupted in deafening cheers that seemed to blow the roof off Hogwarts.

Harry walked to the Gryffindor table on slightly shaky legs.

The Weasley twins were shouting "We've got Potter! We've got Potter!" and Percy stood up as Harry passed and gave him a firm handshake, as if he were meeting some important international figure.

The other Gryffindor students were also expressing their joy in various ways. The scene was so chaotic that the Sorting Hat had to shout out the next person's sorting result before the entire hall could quiet down again.

Ron was sorted into Gryffindor, but only his brothers congratulated him.

"I was so scared..." Harry sat next to Cohen, still feeling a lingering fear.

"I almost got sorted into Slytherin. Stay calm." Cohen rubbed his hands, picked up the knife and fork in front of him, and waited for the food to appear.

"You are like this too?!" Harry came closer and asked in a low voice that only Cohen could hear, with a surprised expression on his face.

"Hmm? The first thing it said was to put me in Slytherin, but I refused because Rose would hunt me down." Cohen certainly knew that Harry still cared about the Sorting Hat's first decision.

Children always feel uneasy about being "alone", but if they find someone walking with them, this uneasiness will be replaced by the sense of security that comes from their companions.

This was clearly the case with Harry now.

"call……"

Harry seemed relieved.

The Sorting Hat's first decision wasn't entirely correct—in Harry's eyes, Cohen had nothing in common with the evil houses of Slytherin. "Welcome!" Dumbledore smiled broadly at the students, opening his arms. It seemed that nothing could make him happier than seeing students gathered together.

"Welcome everyone to Hogwarts to start the new school year! Before the banquet begins, I want to say a few words, which are: Idiot! Crybaby! Scum! Twist!"

This phrase symbolizes the prejudices of each house towards the others - it may be Dumbledore's useless reminder to the children, or it may be a joke.

As soon as Dumbledore finished speaking, a sumptuous meal appeared on the table in front of them.

Putting aside some of the dark cuisine in the UK, most of the food at Hogwarts is delicious.

After all, it is not easy to make pork chops or beef taste bad, not to mention that the cooks at Hogwarts are a group of house-elves with rich and high-quality cooking experience.

But Cohen always felt that something was missing along the way.

Is there something at Hogwarts that shouldn't have appeared long ago?

"Never mind, let's eat first."

Just as Cohen was about to turn his attention back to the food and was about to take a bite of the lamb leg on the plate in front of him -

"Ouch!!!!"

A pained male voice emerged from the table in front of Cohen.

And Cohen tasted something wrong with the leg of lamb.

Why does the lamb shanks in spicy sauce taste sweet...?!!!
Cohen instantly understood what had gone into his stomach along with the mutton.

A pearly, unreal apparition in a ruff emerged from the table.

[Soul Strength: 10]

The same thing happened next to other colleges. Many ghosts crawled out from under the tables and walls, scaring the freshmen into screaming.

All ghosts have a consistent soul strength of 10 points, which makes Cohen suspect that this is the minimum threshold of the soul of a normal adult wizard - Cohen has indeed never seen an adult wizard with a soul strength lower than 10.

The ghost that Cohen had bitten held its head and floated in the air above the table, muttering something like "I should have listened to the principal and stayed away...", and glanced at Cohen cautiously.

Cohen recognized the guy—"Nearly Headless Nick"—because his head looked wobbly.

I guess Dumbledore specifically reminded the ghosts not to put themselves near Cohen's mouth.

No wonder the ghosts who were supposed to meet the freshmen a long time ago were delayed until now - but Cohen felt that it was a worse idea for the ghosts to show up at dinner, such as "Nearly Headless Nick" who was almost bitten off by Cohen who was chewing on the leg of lamb.

But Nick said nothing - Cohen had already eaten it, so how could he be asked to spit it out?
Due to Dumbledore's request, Nick could not reveal that Cohen was a Dementor, so as not to cause panic among the students. Therefore, he chose to introduce himself to the freshmen as far away from Cohen as possible.

"I know who you are! Nearly Headless Nick!"

When Nick introduced himself, Ron slapped his head and remembered the ghost of Gryffindor House that his two brothers had mentioned.

"I think I'd prefer you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington—"

"But why did you 'almost lose your head'?"

Under the repeated questioning of the light brown-haired Seamus Finnigan, Nick impatiently pulled down his head with a fresh nick on the top - it was gnawed by Cohen.

Cohen was so absorbed in eating that he didn't even look up at the sliced ​​portion of the broken neck that went well with his meal.

"like this."

Nick said dryly.

Obviously, Nick didn't really want to talk about this topic. After all, in the boring world of ghosts, Nick's indecisive head was a rare source of ridicule for the ghosts - and Nick couldn't refute it. After all, he really couldn't play ghost bowling with his head.

However, he was still very satisfied with the reactions of the little wizards. Ghosts like to scare people so that they can pretend that they are still alive.

(End of this chapter)