"Anyone who didn't know better might think they're competing in the Triwizard Tournament..." Cohen muttered, exasperated, after running into yet another screaming, fleeing merperson.
"At least it saved us a lot of trouble..." Harry said, still visibly shaken. He couldn't help but feel that if Cohen hadn't been with him, he'd be in serious trouble trying to handle a whole swarm of merpeople armed with venom-tipped spears.
Before long, the two found themselves in what looked like the village square of the merpeople's settlement—and there lay the "treasures" that had been taken.
In the center stood a crude stone statue, a hulking figure of a merman carved from solid rock. Tied to its massive tail were five unconscious figures.
Cohen immediately spotted Edward. His head drooped low, golden hair floating around him like strands of seaweed, with a thin stream of bubbles trickling from his lips.
A curious female mermaid was hovering nearby, eyeing Edward with intense interest—maybe even a hint of attraction.
"…This is going to sound weird, but—"
Cohen gave her a strange look and said dryly, "Could you not get handsy with my dad? My mum's still alive, thanks."
The mermaid gave a startled shriek and darted away the moment Cohen swam closer, leaving Edward behind, slightly disheveled.
"Why is no mermaid fawning over Ron, huh? He's clearly the younger one…" Cohen mused aloud to Harry with genuine confusion.
"Pretty sure this isn't the time to be wondering about that," Harry snapped, eyeing the tied-up hostages with growing worry. "If we don't get them out soon, they're going to drown—!"
The hostages were: Ron (Harry's), Hermione (Krum's), Cho Chang (Cedric's), a silver-haired little girl (Fleur's sister), and of course, Edward.
Three out of the four—excluding Edward—were people Harry deeply cared about. For a moment, he couldn't even figure out who he was supposed to save.
"There's still time. Just get them out of here now and we're good," Cohen said, already untying Edward.
The seaweed-made ropes were slick and delicate, and the distorted visibility underwater didn't help. Cohen considered using a Severing Charm but quickly dismissed the idea—it might hurt Edward.
He already doesn't leave the house much. If he gets injured again, he'll probably spend another two weeks whining in bed…
"Pass me that spear," Cohen called to the nearest merman.
The merman, with a mossy green beard, a necklace of shark teeth, and a face full of scars, looked menacing—but Cohen didn't flinch.
"We're not allowed to help," the merman growled in a hoarse voice. "Only the champions may retrieve their own hostages—"
"I am one of the champions," Cohen said flatly, snatching the spear from the merman's hands. "Took it myself. Got a problem with that?"
The merman looked from Edward to Cohen—still in his terrifying Dementor-like form—and seemed to be making mental comparisons between the two species.
Apparently deciding that picking a fight was not worth the risk, the savage-looking merman backed down.
Rules were important, yes—but not more important than staying alive.
Cohen sliced through Edward's bindings with the spear and tossed it to Harry, ready to take his dad and leave.
"What about Hermione and the others?" Harry asked, untying Ron as quickly as he could. "Should we—?"
Before Harry could finish, chaos erupted.
From above the village, a massive dark shape burst into view, dragging a bunch of unconscious merpeople warriors with it.
"&%@#（@!"
Nearby merpeople started chattering rapidly in their own language. The green-bearded merman Cohen had taken the spear from rushed over to Harry, snatched the weapon back, and hurried to join the others in confronting the new threat—a giant squid.
Harry barely had time to react before the creature swam right overhead—its target unmistakably clear.
One of its tentacles shot down, wrapping both Cohen and the barely-conscious Edward in its grasp, completely ignoring the merpeople's attacks—it didn't even flinch, as though they were swatting it with feathers.
"Wha—?" Harry's voice grew distant. Cohen thought he saw a few spells fly his way, but the squid didn't even notice. There was no stopping it.
Wrapped tightly in the squid's grip, Cohen realized it wasn't actually hostile. If anything, it seemed... anxious. It reminded him of the feeling he got from Sissoko back in second year—especially when it came looking for him then.
"…Don't tell me…" Cohen muttered to the squid.
But of course, the squid didn't speak. Instead, it gently patted Cohen with a tentacle, as if to reassure him.
After a long while, the creature broke the surface—and flung them out of the water.
"???"
Upon hitting the air and ground, Cohen immediately reverted to his human form. But he quickly realized they weren't on the lakeshore—they were in a damp, pitch-black cave.
The giant squid extended a single tentacle out of the water, pointing them in a specific direction.
"Cough—cough—"
As soon as Edward hit the air, the spell that had kept him unconscious lifted. He woke with a jolt—and immediately caught sight of his shirtless son and a squid tentacle disappearing with a splash back into the water.
Then he looked down and realized his clothes had clearly been disturbed—and they were in some kind of creepy cave.
"You're awake! Congratulations, you were just—"
"Don't tell your mother," Edward said quickly, face pale with horror.
"Back to sleep with you," Cohen deadpanned.
"Okay, okay, I was just kidding—what happened?" Edward sat up and started stretching out his limbs, taking in his surroundings. "Shouldn't you be in the middle of the tournament? How did we end up here?"
"Right after I rescued you, the giant squid snatched us up and brought us here. Then it pointed me toward that direction." Cohen nodded toward the back of the cave.
There, faintly glowing, was a narrow soul-thread—about strength level forty. But it definitely wasn't Sissoko or the old snake—if they wanted to find him, they wouldn't need the squid to get involved in the middle of a tournament.
"A silver key?" Edward asked warily, already fishing in his pocket for his wand.
"No, just an animal. And probably not a relative either. The Nightmare, the Basilisk, the Chimera, and the Dementor are all in my trunk. Rose and Herbert are in the stands. You're here. So unless I've got some surprise parent floating around, I think I've got everyone accounted for…" Cohen explained.
"I feel like my importance just dropped off a cliff—wait. Wait, did you just say you have a Dementor in your trunk?!" Edward yelped. "I've been in that trunk loads of times and never seen it!"
"It's shy," Cohen replied. "It even calls me 'dad.' Technically, that makes you a grandpa—"
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