This backup plan won everyone's approval. ("In a suitcase? Can someone my size even fit in there?" Hagrid asked, visibly worried despite agreeing.)
On the day Norbert was about to learn to fly, Earl finally returned to the Room of Requirement with the seventy-seven Occamy feathers—oddly, Newt hadn't taken Cohen's money.
"After reading your letter, he thought you two were kindred spirits," Earl said, tossing the bulging sack onto the table. The Galleons inside clinked crisply.
"He said if it weren't for the magical creatures' sake, he'd have given you his own suitcase."
"But I didn't see a reply from him in there," Cohen said, digging out a bag full of blue Occamy feathers and the untouched sack of Galleons. No letter from Newt.
That meant Newt had figured out Earl could talk—a chatty owl actually made it back from Newt's place?
"Yeah, yeah…" Earl grumbled awkwardly.
"After I spoke human words, he was about to buy me off you…"
"Traitor," Cohen said bluntly.
"But when I asked if he could undo the *Owl Purchase Contract*, he suddenly backed off!" Earl huffed, plopping down on its owl bed—right over its egg. "You furless types are all rotten, I swear…"
Once Cohen climbed into the new suitcase he'd bought for this and finished expanding it with the Occamy feathers, the space inside was mind-bogglingly huge. He'd assumed the book's "seven for 100" meant volume or something, so he'd padded the budget…
"Wait, 'seven for a hundred' meant *side length*?" Cohen muttered, smacking his lips.
With just seven feathers, the suitcase's interior could already fit a dragon. But in the spirit of not wasting anything, Cohen used all seventy-seven. Now, the boundaries were so vast he couldn't even see the end when he fired off a spell.
*Is this the wizard's "I reckon" power?*
Feels like buying a house isn't even necessary anymore.
Newt must've raised a ton of endangered creatures—normal merchants couldn't cough up seventy-plus feathers at once. That'd strip a whole Occamy family bare. Plus, regular sellers usually just scavenged feathers from forests on luck.
With the space stabilized, Cohen started shaping the interior—sky, grass, a sun—but hit a major snag.
The transfigurations for those weren't in *Standard Spells*, *A Guide to Transfiguration*, or *The Complete Positive Spellbook*.
When in doubt, ask the headmaster. So Cohen climbed out of the suitcase and bolted for the Headmaster's office—curfew be damned.
"Cockroach Clusters."
Cohen gave the password to the stone gargoyle at the stairs.
Dumbledore hadn't changed it in a week. Guess Cockroach Clusters really were that tasty.
*Knock, knock, knock—*
Cohen climbed the stairs and rapped on the office door.
"Come in," Dumbledore yawned from inside.
Cohen dragged his suitcase in and saw Dumbledore in a deep blue bathrobe, his long white beard trailing down to his waist. He looked…
"When you sleep, do you keep the beard outside the covers or tuck it in?" Cohen couldn't help asking.
Dumbledore gave Cohen a deep look.
Surely this kid didn't come here in the middle of the night just to ask *that*.
But spotting the suitcase behind Cohen, Dumbledore pieced it together—the dragon-housing suitcase was finished.
"I can roll it up like a towel, but I still prefer my beardless days," Dumbledore chuckled.
"I see your suitcase is complete. I get the joy of finishing a project, but forgive me—adequate sleep is essential for old men and children alike…"
*[If you weren't the creepy old guy tailing an eleven-year-old wizard at night, that might've sounded convincing…]* Cohen thought dryly.
But to Dumbledore, he widened his eyes and put on a pitiful pout.
Dumbledore had imagined many ways of dealing with Cohen, but a baby dementor pulling a cutesy act in front of him was just too bizarre—
Dumbledore realized he couldn't resist a student's reasonable request. That's why he'd set a password outside his office in the first place.
But instead of directly shaping the suitcase's interior to Cohen's specs, Dumbledore walked him through the relevant spells and transfiguration theory, handing over a decades-old notebook too.
Cohen's terrifying learning speed floored Dumbledore. He'd meant for Cohen to take this home, study it, and try it later—success by the next day would've been reasonable. But Cohen mastered it on the spot.
"Cohen, I think I need to give you a heads-up," Dumbledore said after helping him craft the sky, sun, and grass inside the suitcase. His tone shifted from its usual laid-back warmth.
With a note of concern, he continued:
"Sometimes, we can't show our full potential too early. Maybe we're not afraid of the harm certain people or things could cause *us*, but our lives aren't just about ourselves. There's family, friends, peace, and quiet—thingsmagic and knowledge can't buy back."
"When you stand out too much in the outside world, trouble and surprises tend to crash in uninvited. Before that happens, you need to grow—grow into someone who can handle them."
Cohen knew exactly what Dumbledore meant.
If the Ministry caught wind that Cohen was rapidly becoming something they couldn't control, who knew what chaos his life would turn into?
Dumbledore worried the Ministry would notice Cohen's anomalies and react like startled birds, enforcing drastic measures—despite having no effective way to deal with him in the past.
That would only push Cohen into outright opposition, and Dumbledore knew it. He was trying to head that off as best he could.
"At Hogwarts, everything about you is safe. But outside, please don't do anything too shocking on your own—it'll save you from unnecessary trouble," Dumbledore said as Cohen finished sealing the suitcase's exterior. It was his final warning.
"Now that this little project's wrapped up, I think we should both get to bed. I'll have Fawkes take you back to your dorm—that way, you'll skip a detention and have more time to prep for this year's finals."
"Oh, and don't let this suitcase slip to the outside world. Its existence—and personally raising a fire dragon—are, well… not exactly encouraged."
With that, Dumbledore gave Cohen a playful wink, looking every bit the mischievous old man.