"Voldemort's method for resurrection isn't difficult to achieve."
Cohen looked directly into Dumbledore's eyes and said,
"Nicolas told me that this magic for reshaping a body actually only requires the bones of a relative, the flesh of a follower, and the blood of an enemy. The graveyard Voldemort pointed out to me was full of his relative's bones, his followers are dime a dozen in Azkaban, and his enemies... if the wizarding world doesn't have Stockholm Syndrome, most wizards in Britain now could be counted as his enemies."
"I anticipated he would return; it is inevitable," Dumbledore nodded. "We need to be prepared, and ascertain the true reason he is able to be resurrected."
"Horcruxes," Cohen stated plainly.
"..." Dumbledore frowned.
"Voldemort made a bunch of Horcruxes," Cohen said. "That's why he can return – I found Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem in the Room of Requirement, and it had a malicious soul fragment attached to it."
"Horcruxes..." Dumbledore murmured. "That certainly fits his style... Did you destroy it?"
"I needed the diadem, of course I destroyed it," Cohen said matter-of-factly.
"So what is your perspective on Horcruxes, Cohen?" Dumbledore asked softly.
"Nicolas explained it to me," Cohen said. "The essence of a Horcrux is reverse alchemy; it achieves immortality by degrading the soul. A very foolish method – if you remove the emotions from the soul, what's the point of living? Just a walking corpse that's either hungry or... lewd, like a dog in heat..."
Something happened, anyway; the sound of back teeth being ground together suddenly echoed in the room.
A certain dog person felt Cohen was subtly, and personally, insulting him.
"I have some bad news and some good news," Cohen said. "The bad news is he has more than one Horcrux. His soul is now broken into very, very small pieces, meaning he's made at least four or five, maybe more."
"And the good news?" Dumbledore didn't show excessive worry or surprise about Voldemort making a multitude of Horcruxes.
"The good news is I have a fun plan."
Cohen gave a lopsided smile,
"Although I mess up his plans every single time, he's the one who runs away first, so he and I still have a solid 'cooperative partner' relationship – this time, in fact, his backup plan was for me to hurry up and learn how to make him a new body."
Dumbledore understood Cohen's meaning and suddenly started laughing too.
"What are you two laughing at?" Sirius looked at Cohen, then at Dumbledore.
"Did Nicolas teach you?" Dumbledore said cheerfully. "If you have any issues with materials, I can sponsor you some – personally."
"You didn't sponsor me last time when I was making my trunk!" Cohen said, annoyed. "See? You only care about him in your heart –"
"You didn't actually spend any Galleons last time, did you?" Dumbledore said with a sly wink.
"Am I invisible now?" Sirius said, puzzled. "Why –"
"Once your situation is resolved, I will reconvene the Order of the Phoenix," Dumbledore said to Sirius. "At that time, I will explain matters concerning Voldemort to you and the other members as much as possible. No need to rush – now then... I believe it is time to contact Fudge."
Saying this, Dumbledore looked at Cohen:
"I'll trouble you with the follow-up matters, Cohen."
"What about my absences from classes because of this..." Cohen asked pointedly.
"I will request leave from your professors for you," Dumbledore sighed.
"You're helping me, not because of..." Sirius looked at Cohen in disbelief.
Cohen made a insincere attempt to put his arm around Sirius's shoulder, but due to the height difference, he could only reach the spine, making the gesture incredibly awkward as he said:
"Harry and I are good brothers, his godfather is my godfather. Of course, it's not just so I can legitimately skip classes and annoy the Ministry that I'm helping you."
"Oh, I just remembered," Dumbledore said suddenly. "I recall instructing Severus to ensure your safety... but it seems Severus didn't return to school with you."
"Ah..." Cohen immediately decided to be a truthful good boy. "It was Ha –"
"It was me, I stunned him," Sirius took the blame for Harry. "He was still dwelling on the past, too eager for revenge on me – this was self-defense. But we left some protective spells, he's quite safe for now..."
"It seems I must go and fetch him back first," Dumbledore said.
Sirius was left in the Headmaster's office, while Dumbledore took Cohen to the edge of the forest outside the school –
"If my deduction is not incorrect, Fudge should be entering the school with some Dementor 'bodyguards'," Dumbledore said.
"I'll wait here to swap out his bodyguards, then take over Sirius and fake a scene when Fudge plans to kill him, right?" Cohen nodded. "Don't worry, if I'm here, they'll be very obedient."
"Cohen, I must say, I have always disliked and detested the Dementor species – but you have changed my perspective somewhat. If one day, Dementors could stop attacking humans aimlessly..."
"They probably will," Cohen said. "I wouldn't want Rose or Edward to be eaten as food by a passing Dementor when they're at work or going to club activities."
Cohen's meaning was clear – he only cared about his family.
Dumbledore received Cohen's direct answer and seemed somewhat reassured.
The next second, Dumbledore Disapparated.
He was likely going to bring Snape back from the Shrieking Shack first, and then find Fudge to discuss Sirius's case.
At Dumbledore's speed, Fudge would arrive at the school soon, so Cohen quickly transformed into a Dementor and blended into the crowd of Dementors outside the school.
[Not hungry, no need to throw these people at me...] Cohen repeatedly refused the good intentions of several Dementors – when they discovered Cohen had arrived, they all pulled out... several Death Eater "emergency food supplies" from under their robes.
Besides those, there were also people wearing Muggle prison uniforms – Cohen guessed they were "rescued" from Muggle prisons. It seemed the Department of Magical Law Enforcement had made quite an effort to appease them and keep them from attacking everywhere while they were tracking Sirius Black.
After all, Dementors wouldn't specifically pick on Muggle prisoners when they were out and about.
Not long after, Cohen saw a portly figure at the school entrance, with two Dementors following closely behind him – as if using the Dementors as bodyguards.
A toad-sized Patronus was perched on Fudge's shoulder, to ward off the Dementors' negative influence on him.
[Let's switch places –] Cohen secretly drifted next to one of them and said to it, [I'm hungry.]
Hearing that Cohen was hungry, the Dementor gladly gave Cohen its spot – because Fudge had mentioned there was food for them at the school earlier.
Cohen successfully followed behind Fudge – since there were large numbers of Dementors floating outside, Fudge couldn't tell that the Dementor behind him had been swapped.
Just as Fudge reached the main entrance of the school, he ran into Professor McGonagall hurrying out of the castle.
It seemed Dumbledore had notified her in time, to act as a "potential eyewitness" following behind Fudge.
"Professor Dumbledore forbade these Dementors from entering the school!" Professor McGonagall said sharply. "There are still students in the castle, Minister!"
"It's a special situation," Fudge wiped the sweat from his forehead, saying anxiously. "I have to take some necessary protective measures, you know, Sirius Black is very dangerous – just these two. The Patronus will try its best to prevent them from affecting the students – take me to the Headmaster's office. A fugitive in the school is far more dangerous than Dementors..."
"I disagree, Minister," Professor McGonagall snorted.
But she still led Fudge up the stairs along the side of the Entrance Hall, choosing a path where students didn't usually walk, to avoid the Dementors entering the castle from frightening them.
"Miss Greengrass, the Ministry is conducting official business. Please do not approach the Dementors out of curiosity –" Professor McGonagall sternly chased away a curious Slytherin girl they encountered on the way. "For your safety –"
The Slytherin student fled in fear, because the Dementor seemed to be leaning towards her, as if she had become the next meal in its eyes.
Arriving at the Headmaster's office door, Professor McGonagall said "Sherbet Lemon," and the stone gargoyle grumbled and hopped aside, making an effort to move farther away from the Dementors.
As they entered, Sirius inside immediately jumped up from the chair at the sound of the door opening.
Before Sirius could say a word, Fudge anxiously waved to the Dementor Cohen next to him, signaling him to quickly "kill" the man.
"No!" Professor McGonagall gasped, raising her wand to summon a Patronus to stop the Dementor from sucking out Sirius's soul, but was blocked by Fudge.
Cohen moved quickly, pressing Sirius into the chair, taking off his hood, and pressing the Dementor's "mouth" to Sirius's forehead – exactly like the scene in the prophecy.
Normally, it should be mouth-to-mouth, but Cohen couldn't bring himself to do it – if not for the acting, Cohen wouldn't even need direct contact to absorb souls.
"Fake it, hurry up!" Cohen forcefully poured his thoughts into Sirius's mind. "You're being soul-kissed by a Dementor!"
Realizing what was happening, Sirius immediately made a painful expression of his soul being drawn out, then slumped weakly in the chair as if his whole being had been emptied.
"Truly regrettable, but there's nothing for it, Minerva –" Fudge breathed a sigh of relief, but still spoke with a hypocritical tone.