Cohen stared at the "little Dementor" in front of him, somewhat puzzled.
Theoretically, Dementors don't reproduce in the same way as normal organisms—their numbers increase in a way similar to fungi, thriving in dark, decaying, and desperate places.
But the author of that book, The Origin of Evil Life, certainly couldn't have studied Dementor populations in depth, so there might be some inaccuracies—but for a little Dementor to call Cohen "Dad" seemed too bizarre no matter how you looked at it…
"Huh?"
Cohen conveyed his confusion to it.
[Dad!]
Cohen's consciousness link seemed to confirm its identity to it, and it immediately tried to move towards Cohen—Cohen saw "happiness" in it—but Dementors shouldn't have emotions.
Did it also escape from that laboratory?
It seemed that only this possibility remained.
Cohen didn't stop it from rubbing against him.
"Let's see your memories?"
Cohen probed into the little black-cloaked creature's memories through a mental link—it offered no resistance, or rather, the Dementors were all completely unguarded against Cohen; this race was extremely united and friendly.
This was probably what Eden was like...
A significant part of the little Dementor's memories was about Burke Manor.
Cohen saw its growth process, as well as fragments of the "man in a bottle" experiment at Burke Manor.
The researchers had captured a Dementor and tried many things with it, such as using a Patronus Charm to smash it apart and then stuffing it into a liquid curse—primitive methods (Cohen was very curious about who the wizard who released the Patronus Charm was; the Patronus looked like a bird, did the Burke family really have a wizard capable of releasing a powerful Patronus?).
Alchemy is often so simple and brutal; following the logic of trying again if one attempt fails, perhaps God got tired of stopping them, because in the end, these researchers actually succeeded.
The original experimental subject had broken into several pieces, most of which were stuffed into bottles to become the base for the "bottle man," but one piece remained outside—and a new Dementor sprouted from a corpse in the lab.
So…
it was actually quite right for this little Dementor to call Cohen "Dad," that's how Dementors reproduce.
The corpse was also strange—it was the corpse of "Cohen Burke," and the little Dementor's emotions likely stemmed from something it took from that corpse.
The little Dementor, as a product outside the experiment, was expelled by the researchers, while Cohen's corpse continued to be used as experimental material.
But if the little Dementor's "happy" emotions originated from "Cohen Burke," it meant that Cohen's original soul had once resided in the body.
After the little Dementor merged with the human soul and left, "Cohen Burke's" corpse should have been just an ordinary corpse, so why did it later show humanity by sparing its blood relative?
Was it purely out of "instinct"? If that's the case, then the crucial factor Nicolas Flamel mentioned influencing the success or failure of this experiment wouldn't be "love."
Cohen prefers to guess that the original "Cohen's" soul had long been shattered by some kind of curse, and it makes sense that the soul was trapped in the body, given that the Burke family had long planned to use him as an experimental subject and orchestrated his death.
The little Dementor might have only taken a part of him, the rest forming the previous "Cohen," until Cohen's arrival a year ago.
In any case, this little Dementor is indeed related to him.
[Don't... separate...]
The little Dementor clung to Cohen, rubbing against him happily.
Cohen could feel its sensations—a spiritual pleasure, familiarity, and closeness.
But its constant clinging wasn't sustainable...
After letting it rub against him unrestrainedly for half an hour, Cohen finally couldn't take it anymore.
"Alright, alright, have you rubbed enough? I have to go."
Cohen tried leaving it there first—but it clearly didn't want to.
Whichever direction Cohen drifted in, it would drift in the same direction.
"Following you,"
the little Dementor responded clingily.
"I won't eat your food,"
it added after a moment's thought.
Was it afraid of stealing food...?
Cohen felt a little embarrassed.
Taking it along wasn't impossible, but it couldn't be kept in the box. Even if the Dementor wouldn't attack animals, the Earl and Norbert might be startled and stressed.
Besides, Dementors didn't like bright light, but the box was mostly sunny, and even if the time was set to night, there was still bright moonlight.
"Then you'll crawl in here?"
Cohen asked, opening the horned camel skin bag in front of it.
Cohen had already moved everything inside into the box, including the books he'd brought from the underground laboratory and the rune cage that had once held Ari.
Cohen had originally planned to put the box in this pocket for easy carrying, but a problem quickly arose. The pocket could hold the box for a long time without any issues, but once the box was placed inside, the Unseen Stretching Charm inside the pocket would rapidly disappear—Cohen suspected this was because his horned camel skin pocket wasn't shaped with harpy feathers.
However, this was no longer a concern.
The little Dementor readily scurried inside; this was now its home.
Since the pocket was so close to Cohen, it could enjoy rubbing against him inside.
He'd unexpectedly acquired a little one; this trip to Azkaban had yielded an unexpected bonus.
Although this little one might be mostly useless, since Cohen himself was a Dementor, perhaps it could only be used to launch a surprise attack against opponents with exceptionally high soul strength.
While waiting for nightfall, Cohen wandered around Azkaban, becoming quite familiar with the Dementors. The Dementors here were kind and spoke sweetly; Cohen loved them.
But he also saw another side of them.
As evening fell, a wizard from the Ministry of Magic arrived at the entrance to Azkaban using a Portkey—to deliver food to the prisoners.
Upon his arrival, he was immediately surrounded by a swarm of Dementors shouting "Delicious! Delicious!"—until he summoned a leopard-shaped Patronus, preventing him from being devoured immediately.
"This is food for the prisoners," the wizard said disgustedly to the Dementors, placing a large box on the ground.
"Not food! "
the Dementors said disappointedly, scattering.
They didn't greet humans like they would with Cohen; they simply pounced—unless you first intimidated them with your Patronus and tried to reason with them.
Dementors could understand human language, but most of the time they wouldn't listen, preferring to devour their prey—who would listen to a chicken begging for mercy before slaughter?
Their kindness and compassion were only shown to their own kind.
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(End of this chapter)