Chapter 50: I Have a Unicorn at Home That Can Drink Butterbeer—Want to See?

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Seeing Cohen’s confident demeanor, Kiro chose to trust him. Choosing Cohen meant choosing success—there was no doubt about that. So Cohen and Kiro quickly scheduled the plan for tonight—the earlier the dragon egg trade, the better. The Christmas holidays were one of the few times Kiro, as a teacher, could leave the castle; the daily teaching activities were simply too demanding.

All the Defense Against the Dark Arts classes for every grade in the school were taught by Kiro alone. If it weren’t for Dumbledore’s lack of performance evaluations for teachers, Kiro would have broken down long ago.

After finishing the plan discussion, Cohen returned to the Room of Requirement, intending to coordinate with Ally—he needed to rehearse the trap they were going to set for Hagrid. However, as soon as Cohen entered the room, he heard the Count making a ruckus.

But the Count wasn’t speaking to Cohen.

The Count and Ally were in the “fake outdoor” room assigned to Ally, the door half ajar. Cohen could only glimpse a corner of the artificial grass and the fake starry sky inside.

“Coo coo coo—are you trying to communicate with your head? What exactly are you trying to say?”

“Huff!” Ally let out an impatient puff of air.

“What are you gesturing at—a tree? No, a rock?”

The Count seemed to be struggling to communicate with Ally:

“Oh my coo coo... not a rock? Is that a big nag? No, is there such a big nag?!”

“Huff—!!!”

Sounds mixed with hooves scraping the ground and wings flapping.

“What are you two doing?”

Cohen felt it was time to step in.

Pushing the door open, he saw the Count circling in the air while Ally was blowing cold air through her nostrils at the Count. The temperature inside the Room of Requirement was much warmer than the cold outdoors, even in this “fake outdoor grassy area.”

“You silly coo, this mute lady’s gone mad, you better control her!”

The Count swooped down behind Cohen, shouting from the owl perch inside the room.

[ I just wanted to ask it where you went. Your departure made me uneasy, and I feel like I’m trapped in another cage.]

Ally’s voice explained to Cohen.

[ But it didn’t understand my meaning.]

“I went to help a little villain research an evil plan—you know, that’s how Hogwarts students are.”

Cohen replied simply. The unicorn seemed to be in a maternal frenzy—but it didn’t matter much.

“There’s something I need your help with...”

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Then Cohen introduced the plan to Ally.

“So you mean you want to take a black unicorn that looks suspicious to a half-giant’s hut and tell him this unicorn likes to drink butterbeer, especially emphasizing that it must be the butterbeer from the filthiest, worst Hog’s Head pub in Hogsmeade…”

The Count calmly repeated Cohen’s plan.

“Hmm? Is there a problem?” Cohen tilted his head toward the Count.

“Don’t you understand humans very well?” the Count tilted his head at Cohen as well.

“No, you don’t understand Hagrid.”

-----------------

At the edge of the Forbidden Forest, covered in thick snow, inside Hagrid’s hut.

Cohen released Ally from his magical pocket.

“By Merlin’s beard!”

Hagrid looked at the unicorn covered in pitch-black mane and seemed to have a flame of excitement in his eyes.

“Is this… a child of a unicorn and a night mare? Good heavens! I don’t even dare to imagine—where did you get this… how did you do this…”

“I met her on my way home; she’s called Alexia, but I call her Ally,” Cohen made up a story. “She said she likes me and insisted on following me—I just couldn’t shake her off.”

[ Defying the heavens ]

Ally denied Cohen’s words.

“What a beautiful unicorn…”

Hagrid didn’t listen to Cohen’s words at all. His mind was fully occupied with figuring out how to care for this novel magical creature. “Look at that mane, this horn… and those hooves and tail…”

[ You’re the one defying the heavens ]

Ally’s voice was only audible to Cohen but clearly directed at Hagrid.

Unaware that Ally had already labeled him a pervert, Hagrid wiped his tears of excitement and started rummaging through his hut.

“What does she like to eat? I have plenty of food here. Unicorns like fresh grass… no, she’s so special, she might like other foods—ant eggs, frog livers… or Flobberworms?”

“She told me she likes butterbeer from the Hog’s Head pub,” Cohen reminded him.

“?”

Hagrid’s fuzzy head turned to Cohen, then to the unicorn Ally.

“Butterbeer?”

Ally nodded at Hagrid as Cohen had planned, but even she was starting to agree with the Count’s words—no sane person would believe a unicorn liked to drink butterbeer from some shabby pub…

[ That explanation is too dumb. If he doesn’t believe it, that’s not my problem ]

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Ally had given Cohen a heads-up beforehand.

But Cohen just gave her a “just wait” look.

“I knew it!”

Hagrid seemed even happier than Cohen, who had just succeeded with the plan. He shouted excitedly:

“Grallin and Symphomas like drinks too—can she stay here for a while? I’ll take good care of her—I’m going to buy her some butterbeer tonight—did she say she wanted the Hog’s Head’s or the Three Broomsticks’?”

“Which pub’s butterbeer do you like?” Cohen pretended to ask Ally.

[ … ]

“The Hog’s Head, she said,” Cohen answered eagerly to Hagrid.

Ally cooperated by nodding at that answer in front of Hagrid, then looked at Cohen suspiciously:

[ Are you sure you want to leave me beside this giant? You’re not going to sell me, are you? ]

“Don’t worry, Hagrid will take good care of you. Half the creatures in the Forbidden Forest are cared for by him—he’s very experienced.”

What Ally said nearly moved Hagrid to tears—this was the first time he’d met a student who shared his tastes.

“By the way, Hagrid, I checked the library—Ally’s species… keeping one seems to be illegal,” Cohen reminded him.

“It’s fine, as long as no one finds out, it’s not illegal.”

Hagrid patted his chest and assured him.

When it comes to raising animals, he had no sense of law—or rather, in Hagrid’s heart, these “adorable” magical creatures mattered far more than those cold laws.

Plan accomplished!

Cohen left Hagrid’s hut contentedly alone, and on his way back to the eighth floor of the castle, he stopped by Kiro’s office.

After learning that Cohen had dealt with Hagrid in under an hour, Kiro got scolded by Voldemort again—Cohen overheard some soul-piercing words through a soul-passing wall: something about kids being more efficient than him, a typical PUA tactic…

Human joys and sorrows do not resonate with one another; Cohen just found their quarrel annoying.

He still had to go back and keep practicing the Patronus Charm to see where the problem lay—as long as he could produce smoke, it proved he could definitely cast the spell.

It was like if the engine worked, then attaching a few wheels should make it run…