In the Harry Potter Without Harry Potter

Chapter 400: Looking for Baron (2 in 1)

There are still over four whole months to go before the final task began, so of course Jon didn't have to stay in the wagon every day for that.

Exactly what and how the final task would be competed, even Dumbledore was not sure.

The first two tasks had been devised by both him and Voldemort respectively, while the third had been planned together by Matthew and his associates from the Confederation.

And the content of this task would only be revealed to them on the day of the tournament, and unless there was someone on the judging panel colluding with one side or the other, there was no chance that anyone would have the ability to prepare in advance.

Jon returned to Lyon the day after the second task, along with the rest of the students on the wagon.

Winter was not over at this time, it had just snowed heavily on Christmas Day in Lyon and the snow had not melted at this time of year, so when Jon and the others returned to Hogwarts' temporary compound in Lyon, the place still looked like it was covered in silver.

"I've been keeping an eye on it all autumn, it did thunder a few times in between, but it didn't end up becoming a storm, just a cloudy day, or a day with heavy rain but no thunder to ring out, and now that it's winter the chances of there being any more thunderstorms are pretty low."

Although this had been said in the letter to Jon, Neville still wanted to give him the details of the situation again.

Jon didn't have much regret about this, he just shook his head and said.

"That's normal, I never thought I could run into it in the snow right now by chance, but when the snow melts and spring arrives, there's a good chance for a spring thunderstorm."

Back in Lyon, Jon didn't stay long.

They weren't supposed to make the trip back to France, but since Slytherin had asked Jon to help out on a special errand, Dumbledore had simply returned with all the students from the wagon.

It was also just on the third day back that Jon set off with Nick and the other ghost.

"If you trust me and Hermione enough, please relax, the diadem will be retrieved when this tournament is over, and there is no use in being anxious now, Professor Dumbledore has made it clear to you that the four relics have been mutually integrated with the whole of Hogwarts Castle, there is no way for them to be taken out of the Headmaster's office."

Before setting off Jon was still sober enough to explain the current situation to Lady Grey, in case she still had some uncertain illusions and would try to do bad things privately behind their backs.

In response, the witch, who had been dead for thousands of years, was not as proud as she had been at the beginning when she had met Jon, her temper was as if it had been almost tamed by Hermione, and after hearing Jon's frank statement, she opened her mouth and said.

"You have told me just what Dumbledore has told me, I understand it all and would not be so obsessed with retrieving the diadem, returning from that castle with you is proof enough."

It did prove something in disguise, but Jon still felt it was better to make everything clear in advance, no matter what.

"Well, since you have said so and Professor Dumbledore has chosen to trust you enough to let you help lead the way, then of course I will give you my trust as well." After the frank announcement from both sides, Jon certainly didn't remain as wary of Lady Grey as he had been, on his outside.

"So do you have a clue about where the Bloody Baron is headed, as advised by the Professor?"

"When we parted from Hogwarts, he told me that if I ever wondered where he would be in the future, I could look him up at the Headless Hunt's quarters that have relocated to Norway."

Hearing these words from Lady Grey, Jon inwardly chuckled.

Although very few people knew about the hidden secrets between ghosts, Jon certainly wasn't unaware of them, he knew that Lady Grey was a wizard from the era of the Four Founders, just like the Bloody Baron, one was the real daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw, and the other had a deep relationship with Salazar Slytherin, there was certainly a feud going on between the two, as well as unrequited love-hate entanglement, and now even after becoming a ghost, their true hearts still remain the same.

At this point, Nick couldn't help but interject.

"Why would he ask you to go to the Headless Hunt to look for him? He didn't have his head cut off, would the Order take him in? I didn't even qualify to apply for membership back then! They said my head hadn't been cut off in full."

For her part, Lady Grey was clearly not even half interested in Nick's question.

"How should I know what those crazy sods are thinking, you can ask them yourself when we get to that place."

Nick couldn't help but look at Jon with a shrug at hearing such a nonchalant reply.

"Well, let's talk about it when we get to that place then."

They used the Floo powder and soon arrived at the largest wizard alley in the Norwegian magical community, but it was obviously a much smaller place compared to either the British or French ones, as most of the wizard population of the whole of Europe was actually concentrated in the three main countries of Britain, France and Germany.

In the last year, due to the war in France, there had been an outflow of wizards, but most of the population flowed around France, as most people were still optimistic that Dumbledore would be able to take back France from Voldemort and waiting for it while hiding.

Jon and the others did not linger long in the wizarding streets of Norway, and after enquiring in a tavern where some ghosts of the Headless Hunt were stationed, they left for Birkenes, a small town in the south-east of Norway that was not well known, and in the easternmost part of the town, in an abandoned manor house, lay the headquarters of the Headless Hunt, which had been relocated from Ireland.

Although Voldemort's policies in Britain and Ireland wouldn't affect the Ghosts, and the Ghosts couldn't be persecuted for their bloodlines, there were nevertheless many of them who were not of pureblood.

They couldn't stand it, so they gathered a group of ghosts who were able to leave Ireland and Britain and came together to this small town in Norway.

The Headless Hunt is one of the largest of all ghost organisations.

Their visit was well received by them, and they were led by the head of the Headless Hunt, a ghost called Patrick.

As soon as he saw Nick he burst into a wild laugh.

"Nick!" He yelled, "How are you? Is that head of yours still hanging there?"

Nick didn't look too happy about such a warm greeting from him and muttered.

"Well, well, don't mention it, it's certainly still hanging nicely around my neck."

"Hey! I've told you before, you can't get it off like that."

Patrick gripped his thick moustache in one hand and then yanked the whole head right off his neck with such a fluid gesture that Jon couldn't help but take a step backwards.

He tossed his head around as if he were tossing a cabbage sack around.

"See! This is the kind of poise only a real man could display! I advised you a long time ago that if you wanted to join us you would have to find a way to find someone to chop up that bit of skin you had attached to your head with another axe!"

Nick outwardly acted in what appeared to be feigned indifference, but in fact, the envious glances he stole now and then towards Patrick betrayed him.

Jon was rather speechless at this show-off among the ghosts, and if Gabrielle had seen this scene, she would probably have started thinking again about how to find a skilled executioner to chop off her head intact and join in when she turned back to live.

Luckily this trip was kept hidden from Gabrielle.

In comparison, Lady Grey just seemed much more normal.

Her face was full of impatience as she said.

"I'm not interested in watching your boring show, we're here to find Baron."

You could tell that Patrick's main object of bragging, apart from Nick, was to get a compliment from Lady Grey, who was, after all, a beautiful and pretty female ghost no matter what.

As a result, her words hurt Patrick.

"Baron? That Baron?"

He asked, looking as if he had lost his interest, repositioning the head, which was volleying casually like a cabbage, back around his neck, muttering under his breath, distractedly.

For the first time, Jon interjected into the dysfunctional exchange between the three ghosts.

"The former resident ghost of Slytherin House at Hogwarts, Bloody Baron."

"-Well, Baron, Bloody Baron. Wait! You've come to see Bloody Baron?"

Patrick looked like he had just reacted, his eyes widening and his head tilting back a little from the force of his actions.

But it was clear that he was not concerned with such "form and appearance", and he said with a mixture of shock and emotion.

"Baron was with me for a while, and he wanted to take us under his wing, to bring us back to Britain and make the Dark Lord, who had turned his back on Slytherin's glory, taste regret. We just thought he had gone mad at the time and no one paid any attention to him at all, then after realising there was no way to persuade us, he left and now seems to have made a big name for himself over in Germany, becoming the head of that region of ghosts."

Jon's expression looked a little strange, he had heard something from Nick about the once few Hogwarts resident ghosts that had dispersed, and Baron had once expressed a desire to rely on his own power to take the castle back from Voldemort again, he hadn't given it much thought at the time, and now it was confirmed that he actually had such a plan!

At this, however, Lady Grey merely sneered.

"He's always like that, trying to be the leader of everyone wherever he is and swaying everyone's opinion, but when has he ever got things right?"

Jon, of course, had the good sense not to interject, something that Lady Grey was certainly entitled to say.

Nick also showed considerable surprise as he asked.

"And do you know where he is in Germany?"

"That's for sure!" Speaking of which Patrick had obviously become immensely proud again, "We're the best ghost group in the whole of Europe Nick, after being the head of the whole of German Ghosts, Mr. Baron has invited us several times to play warm-up shows at parties he throws, where we have a lot of fans and everyone fights tooth and nail to join us, but it's not likely to happen."

He started to get vocal when talking about the glorious past of the Headless Hunt, but it was good that Jon managed to interrupt him in time.

"We want to know where Baron is now, can you tell us, Mr Patrick."

"Oh well, he's in a castle just outside Hamburg, Germany, it used to be the residence of a group of vampires, it seems that Baron arranged for the ghosts to expose them, and then the German Ministry of Magic did some cleaning up on the vampires, later on, they took over the property, and used their contacts to make a registration in the Ministries' office to make it a place that legally belonged to them in our side."

Jon and Nick looked at each other, clearly stunned by Baron's manipulation.

Other than that, he was a real "kingpin" when you looked at it in this light.

After learning Baron's exact location from the Headless Hunt, Jon and the others didn't stay there any longer.

Patrick had kindly invited them to join the Headless Hunt's internal party tonight, but it was clear that he was still not convinced by Lady Grey and wanted to show off his charms as a headless ghost.

Naturally, Jon and the others declined his kind offer and soon departed Norway and went on to Hamburg, Germany, through Grindelwald's channels in Northern Europe.

Hamburg, the second-largest city in Germany, had a number of wizards settled here, and with the recent influx of wizards from Britain and France, which had not been peaceful in the last two years, there was a local wizarding market in Hamburg that rivalled that of Diagon Alley in Britain.

And after arriving here, it was easy for them to enquire about Baron.

"You mean the nutty ghosts? They're in a castle in a deep forest on the outskirts in that direction, it's a hard place to find, they've paid a team of professional wizards to conceal the castle and the Ministry of Magic has approved that as land belonging to them, so if you want to pay a visit maybe these two ghosts would be more qualified to find that place."

After getting the information from one of the tavern owners, Jon went on his way with Nick and Lady Grey.

They soon found the woods on the east side of Hamburg but were troubled as to how to find the castle.

It seemed that Baron had indeed protected this part of his residence extremely well, and without an invitation, even ordinary wizards, let alone ordinary people, could find it.

And just as Jon and the others were at a loss, a whining voice with a sobbing tone vaguely caught their attention.

"They just dislike me for being useless but what can I do, it's not like I had a distinguished reputation like they did when I was alive, I was just an innocent student who was killed"

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