"This makes things easier..."
Voldemort said with satisfaction.
"Next up is the plan to take Harry... Can't be at Hogwarts... Too close to Dumbledore... He might notice..."
"Hogsmeade?" Cohen asked. "Dumbledore doesn't go there much because his brother Aberforth chases him away and yells at him every time they meet—but I can't be the one to lure him there, Dumbledore would suspect me."
"Once I'm resurrected..."
"Once you're back, can you just casually off Dumbledore?" Cohen asked pointedly.
"Then I still have to keep playing the 'good guy' for Dumbledore, because I really need that diploma," Cohen said, shaking his head. "I can only help you in secret... After all, I'm just a kid, not as powerful as you..."
Voldemort looked at Cohen, unsure what to say to him—a thirteen-year-old who could casually throw around all sorts of advanced curses with power that didn't seem human, saying he "wasn't that powerful."
If Cohen's personality was even slightly more normal, Voldemort might feel a bit safer. Otherwise, he wouldn't hesitate to put his hopes in Cohen whenever there was an emergency...
"But I have another idea," Cohen said. "I ran into Sirius Black when I went to Hogsmeade today."
"Oh?" Voldemort's impression of Black was limited to "one of Dumbledore's people."
"He's a fugitive, imprisoned for 'killing Peter Pettigrew'," Cohen said. "Rumor has it he's still a Death Eater."
"Heh..." Voldemort gave a sinister chuckle. "I don't recall having such a servant."
"I figured that out after talking to him for a few sentences. I was almost thinking I'd found a teammate," Cohen said. "But the fact that I'm a Hogwarts student made him lower his guard. He escaped because he found out Peter Pettigrew is still alive, and he's hunting him down."
"So I tricked him into giving up on killing Peter," Cohen explained. "I told him to first explain things to Harry, then catch Peter and hand him over to the Dementors, and that way he'd be free."
"And then?" Voldemort narrowed his eyes.
"Punchline incoming: hand him over to the Dementors."
Cohen chuckled softly.
"The Dementors listen to me, so of course he won't get his wish."
Somehow, Voldemort felt he saw a purer form of "evil" in Cohen's face than in his own—even if he hadn't brought up this resurrection plan, even if Cohen and Sirius Black had no personal grudges, this kid was still manipulating everyone indiscriminately.
But all the more useful for him, Voldemort...
Thinking this, Voldemort's spirit quivered with satisfaction.
"The opportunity will be when 'Sirius meets Harry'," Cohen said. "And I'll control that timing, because Sirius can only wait for me to bring Harry and Peter Pettigrew over. Then, with two witnesses, we'll stage a scene where Peter Pettigrew uses a Portkey to take Harry away, and I'll look innocent to the bystanders."
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"You're clever..." Voldemort praised. "Much cleverer and more powerful than the other little wizards..."
Cohen could always come up with high-quality plans for Voldemort—even though it was always Voldemort's side that messed things up.
"Want me to say a few more compliments?"
"..." Voldemort wanted to take back his previous thought.
"One more thing to note, you're sure Peter Pettigrew is your man, right?" Cohen asked.
"Of course..." Voldemort sneered. "He's a cowardly rat. Without me, he can only hide in the gutters and wait to die... He wouldn't dare refuse..."
"That's good then," Cohen nodded. "You can watch from the sidelines then. I think my plan is going to be pretty entertaining—"
"Indeed..." Voldemort said with satisfaction.
Voldemort looked so pleased he was practically rubbing his hands together and going "Heh heh heh heh."
The plan was scheduled for after Christmas, because Cohen wasn't free on weekdays to go to the Crouches' distant home ("I can't Apparate," Cohen said. "Is it too late to learn?"), and Voldemort wasn't in a rush for these two months—as long as it ultimately succeeded.
Cohen pretended to want Voldemort to stay by his side, but Voldemort left on the grounds that he would easily be discovered by Dumbledore—he had come to the vicinity of Hogwarts with a giant snake named Nagini. After the plan was discussed, he needed to return because Nagini's venom could help him regain some of his strength.
After seeing Voldemort off, Cohen returned to his room. The Count uneasily flew back to the desk.
"You look like you're really going to work with him—are you really going to resurrect him?" the Count asked seriously. "You said this was just acting... Don't get so into the role that you actually believe it..."
"That just shows how superb my acting is," Cohen said nonchalantly. "The whole point is to make you think I'm about to become best buds with Voldemort—"
"Don't be an idiot," the Count said. "His return wouldn't be good for anyone, especially now..."
"But he begged me for help," Cohen said, opening a trunk.
"He begged you, so you're going to help?!" the Count exclaimed angrily.
"Well, if I refused, wouldn't that make our brotherly bond seem a little shaky..." Cohen controlled a flesh puppet in the trunk, letting it crawl out.
"You don't have any—wait, what are you doing..." The Count was about to lecture Cohen, but then he noticed Cohen was transforming the flesh puppet in front of him into something else—a short, fat middle-aged man.
Immediately after, the short, fat middle-aged man turned into a rat—the Count connected this with the plan Cohen had just discussed with Voldemort.
The Count opened his eyes wide and let out a long "Ooooooh," as if he understood everything.
"Once I graduate, I still want to go make a movie," Cohen said, looking at the adjusted flesh puppet with satisfaction. "It'll definitely have more atmosphere than acting in the Shrieking Shack."
Now there was only one problem.
Cohen hadn't seen Peter Pettigrew's true form, so the "short, fat man" the flesh puppet had become didn't look real enough—
Now all he needed was to find an opportunity to meet Peter Pettigrew.
Conveniently—they were now "teammates" in the "Voldemort squad," making it extremely easy to meet.
"Count, do you think it would be better if I went up to that rat and said 'Heil Voldemort,' or 'Don't play dumb, Sirius Black is coming to get you'?"
Cohen asked the Count for his opinion.