In the Harry Potter Without Harry Potter

Chapter 308: Mr Jon Green (2 in 1)

"I don't care if he makes it to the tournament alive!"

The cold, tyrannical roar echoed through the dark, enclosed space.

"After being selected, if he dies at the North Pole, it means Dumbledore has one less person to compete in the tournament straight away! Even if he got lucky and escaped, as a contestant, he couldn't escape from my grasp by any means. But why they died; can you explain why?"

Snape and Barty Jr. prostrated themselves on the floor, their bodies trembling, not even daring to look up at their lord, who hadn't been this angry in over a decade.

Right beside them, the already cold bodies of the Lestranges were here as well.

The Basilisk's fang was still lodged in Rodolphus' throat and Bella's chest, but the wounds that sent a chill through one's spine at first glance were no longer bleeding out.

Their unclosed eyes just stared up at the dark ceiling in dead silence, and no one could read a single emotion in them anymore.

"Boom!"

The figure in the darkness lashed his wand so violently that a row of bookshelves was blown to smithereens!

"Why are so many people dead!"

The man snarled at the two corpses that were beginning to grow rigid, venting his anger.

"Rabastan was dead at first! Killed by that boy, and you guys told me he died because he took it lightly! That mudblood has some odd tricks up his sleeve! But as long as you have more men in tow and bring the most dependable Bella along, as long as he bites the bait, then there will be no second end!"

"So that was the end you all expected at the beginning? This is it!"

"Boom!"

A table was also reduced to countless pieces of wood splinters.

Just as Snape and Barty Jr.'s bodies trembled and neither dared to make a sound.

A silence fell over the place, with only the fine splinters of wood still flying, announcing the unrest that had just taken place.

After a long time, the man's voice was suddenly lowered again, and he changed back to his old calm and low tone as if the person who had just snapped was a different one.

"All dead, even Bella who I could trust completely was dead over there, who else could I fully trust now?"

Barty Jr.'s reaction was quick, and he crawled on the cold ground in uncontrollable panic, then hugged the man's calf in an unbelievably humble way.

Sincerely, with words that contained infinite loyalty, he declared.

"My lord! You still have me! You have your most faithful servant, Barty! I will never let you down! Whatever task you give me, Barty will carry it out better than anyone else!"

The man looked at him with condescending cold eyes, at the servant who had even killed his father and mother in order to serve him.

"If you really had that kind of capability, why would you have let something like that happen at Hogwarts Castle in the first place?"

Barty Jr.'s body froze.

What that man said was exactly what he couldn't refute no matter what.

Yes, it was them who had been the first to be fooled by this mudblood before the Lestranges had faced such a failure with consequences of death!

There was no way Snape could just kneel down and remain apathetic any more.

His voice trailed off as he admitted his fault.

"It was my responsibility, my lord, Hogwarts castle is usually in my charge, it was the incompetence on my part, your servant, that made him do what he did."

Barty Jr., who was kneeling in front of Snape, hung his head low and gave Snape a quiet look with a resentful gaze.

It was as if the man hadn't noticed the rivalry between the two subordinates of his, or even if he had, he wouldn't give a damn either.

There was only one thing he really cared about right now.

"The mistakes of the past can be explained as you being careless, as being completely indifferent as to what a little boy like him could do."

His tone became gloomy.

"Now, he's the one who has laid it all out in the open. You two should also understand better than anyone else why I'm holding this downright ridiculous Triwizard Tournament."

It was as if he had deliberately hidden part of what he needed to say, but the two men kneeling on the floor clearly knew it by heart.

They bowed their heads and assured him in fear and trepidation.

"No more, my lord, no more, we will never let you down again, definitely not!"

Hearing their words, the man did not immediately make a sound in response.

He simply gazed at the emblem that hung on the wall in the thick darkness, the one that had become taboo was emblazoned on a worn and dirty tapestry.

The lion, the eagle, the snake and the badger surrounded the "H" as if nothing in the world would ever be bonded together as tightly as they had been.

"It's the only chance we have."

***

Thankfully for Jon, the dagger Bella had used was not quenched with poison.

As a result, although his injuries appeared to be severe from the outside, a simple essence of dittany dosage, along with a few bone-building potions and blood-replenishing potions, was all that was needed to heal his body.

Once all the external physical injuries were healed, Jon was able to walk on the ground, but he still needed some support to do so.

Only after his injuries had been determined to be safe was he allowed by Dumbledore to go to the sick bay, with Fawkes taking him directly back to Witching Horizons' quarters in Lyon, while the rest of the students returned via the fireplace using floo powder as they had come.

It was obvious to everyone, whether it was Dumbledore or McGonagall, that by getting Jon to come forward at this time and give a little interview to the newspapers in other magical regions, it would be possible to use the events of the evening to bring great prestige and influence to the Witching Horizons.

Yet they didn't even mention it at all, just arranged for Iniesta to deal with the questions of the newspaper reporters and then left with the Hogwarts students.

But with or without an interview and personal comment from Jon, what happened tonight at the Triwizard Tournament champions selection would become an explosive news storm that would spread throughout all of Europe in one night's time.

Ignoring any other factors, the sight of Jon killing Bella today in front of Voldemort while carrying Rodolphus' corpse was comparable to a good smack in his face.

Especially on an occasion when Voldemort was supposed to be flaunting his might and authority all by himself.

After Jon had been brought back to Lyons, Dumbledore was not eager to ask him about what he had encountered these days and how he had ended up killing the Lestranges.

Even if the potion had been able to heal all his wounds quickly, he was in a state of constant mental strain for a long while, so what Jon needed most now was rest.

So after arriving in Lyon and being given a separate room, Jon fell straight to sleep as soon as he touched the pillow.

It had been a long time since he had been in a room with a fireplace due to being in the Arctic, and a long time since he had been able to sleep as soundly as he had today.

He slept all day and night before finally waking up in the afternoon of the next day.

When Jon stretched himself out of bed, it was already dusk outside.

The head of his bed was laden with fruit and chocolates. On his return to Lyon, Lily, who had been still doubling up on duties in the wagon, had forbidden anyone to stay here with him, and had only allowed them to leave their gifts behind before they were all herded out of the room.

This also allowed Jon to get a good night's sleep.

First, he sat on the edge of the bed, watching the sunset and eating an apple while his thoughts drifted off, sorting out what he had gained on his trip to the Arctic.

The killing of Rodolphus and Bella aside, it had been completely forced upon him.

In fact, if they hadn't caught up with him after he escaped from that Slytherin chamber, then Jon would have come straight back with Fawkes and those two wouldn't have died at all.

Of course, Jon certainly didn't regret killing either of them at all.

Both Rodolphus and Bella had the blood of Order of the Phoenix members, innocent muggles, and muggle wizards on their hands, and it was said that Neville's mother had died under Bella's curse.

Maybe he could consider it as revenge for Neville.

Then there was the favour owed to the Arctic researcher named Eric, if he hadn't helped in the end by letting those polar bears rush into the labyrinth and hold back the vast majority of the other Death Eaters, then Jon probably wouldn't have escaped so easily with all those men chasing him.

Although this was certainly a favour he was doing for Grindelwald's sake, Jon couldn't just brush this help off.

Then after that, the biggest reward was getting the third gem for the ring.

The two candelabras had been placed next to his bed, where Gabrielle, who had been keeping them safe, had put them before she left last night.

Jon picked up the one with the blue gem on the end and tried to use his wand to take it out casually, but he couldn't separate the gem from the end of the candelabra that easily.

But he wasn't worried about the gem not coming off, after all, the real owner of the candelabra was by his side.

After taking his robes, which had been hung on a hanger in the ward by Lily without anyone messing with them, Jon fumbled through the inner pocket of his robes and pulled the Slytherin portrait out of it.

The Hogwarts founder still remained in the portrait and hadn't moved anywhere else, or most likely he is the only Slytherin portrait left in the world and there was no way for him to go anywhere else.

As Jon unfolded the portrait and looked at the old man on it, Slytherin was also looking at him with an odd expression on his face.

Even though he had been in Jon's pocket since he had been taken off the wall, it didn't stop the Slytherin from being able to hear the outside world.

Even if the information he could receive from his hearing was very limited, he could tell exactly what Jon had been going through after leaving through that bronze door.

He could hear Dumbledore's speech and Voldemort's voice clearly when they arrived at the French Ministry of Magic's ballroom later.

Even though all of this information was very fragmented, it was enough for Slytherin to already have an initial judgement in his mind.

That Jon hadn't lied about what he had said to him earlier in the Labyrinth.

"Are all young people like you nowadays?"

Slytherin asked in his raspy voice, in a strange tone of voice.

Jon thought for a few seconds, he wasn't presumptuous or trying to pretend to be anything in front of the Slytherin.

"So far no, I'm kind of a special case."

The old man in the portrait didn't reply at first, he just looked at Jon deeply for a moment.

"I'm guessing this special case of yours doesn't just fall under the present era category, does it?"

Jon shrugged.

"I wouldn't dare to say that, there's never been a shortage of gifted people throughout the ages."

"You're not just gifted."

That was as far as the Slytherin's words went on that topic before he continued, and for the first time, he opened his mouth to make a request to Jon.

"Take me to that Headmaster of yours."

Jon instantly understood what he meant by that statement, and a look of surprise appeared on his face at once.

"You believed what I said? Sir."

"I only gained some initial judgement of my own for the time being, rather than believing all of what you said; I'll have to decide exactly what decision I should make after I meet the Headmaster who lost Hogwarts Castle and whose family name is Dumbledore."

Jon blinked at his words, even though he was slightly suspicious of his true intentions, but he naturally didn't reject his request.

It's just that before taking him to Dumbledore, Jon took the candelabra with a bit of thick skin.

"Well then. Sir, do you know how to get this gem off the candelabra?"

Slytherin glanced at him, already knowing from the time in the labyrinth that he was drooling over this candelabra.

Though Slytherin didn't have much of a problem with it, he was just a portrait now, the living things meant nothing to him and giving it directly to Jon was nothing at all.

"That gem was the reason the Candelabra burned, when it was first made out, it was locked in place by me with a kind of locking spell, and it is easy to remove just by using a simple unlocking charm, but with the original unlocking charm of my era, the incantation is 'Open Sesame' (the first version of unlocking charm, and only further back did Alohomora version invented)"

This ancient unlocking charm had certainly not been learned by Jon, but apparently, it was not very difficult to learn, and it would not take him all that long to master proficiently.

While sighing in admiration at Slytherin's generosity, Jon changed out of the hospital gown he was wearing and walked out of the sick bay in his normal clothes.

There was no one guarding the outside of his sick bay, and it wasn't as if Jon was in dire danger of dying, nor did he need such careful attention.

As soon as he stepped out, he stepped out onto a long corridor with people of all shapes and sizes constantly walking past.

The French wizards, who were either clutching documents in their hands or hurrying as if they had something important to do, all stopped in their tracks when they saw Jon coming out of the ward.

They all stood straight and saluted him.

Just when an awkward smile appeared on Jon's face, not knowing how to react to such a situation, every single wizard present bent deeply with their hand in their chest and bowed to him with immense seriousness.

The words that came from the heart echoed through the spacious corridor, each voice as sincere as the next.

"Thank you, Mr Jon Green."

----

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