Volume 4: The Sea and the Ship Heading North Chapter 162 Set Sail
Jon did not need to control the direction of the ship's sailing. It seemed that the target direction had been set long ago, and the position of the helmsman was obviously just a decoration.
Jon didn't stay on the deck for long. He did not forget that there was a group of students in the restaurant waiting for news. They didn't know what had happened yet.
He fumbled and grabbed the reins of the Thestrals on the deck. After circling the deck three times, Beech jumped back above Jon's head, and then he opened a wooden door in front of him leading to the cabin.
The inside of the cabin was no different from the previous carriage. The door where Jon entered was the same entrance and exit as the driver's seat before, and after entering, there was still a straight corridor.
He brought the Thestrals to the room in the carriage that was originally used to keep them. There was a meadow and a grove here, which was enough for them to get enough rest after work. Now that the carriage had been turned into a wooden boat, they naturally didn't need to work anymore. They could spend a comfortable vacation from now on.
After settling the Thestral down, he returned to the restaurant.
There are still students from grades one to five left here, about fifty or sixty people in total. When Jon came in, most of them were lying by the window. Obviously, the changes outside had already attracted their attention.
Hearing the sound of the door opening, everyone in the restaurant focused their attention on him, and many students couldn't wait to ask him about the current situation.
"Are we out of danger?" The first person to speak was Colin, a student who was rescued from the castle by Jon at the beginning of the year. He had just been promoted to the second grade after school started this year.
His question was also something many people wanted to know, and everyone was looking at him eagerly.
Jon did not answer immediately, but pulled out a chair and sat down. At the same time, he signaled all the students in the restaurant to sit down first.
Next, he had to explain everything clearly, although even for him, he still felt that what happened today was so sudden.
"I will now explain our current situation. Please listen patiently. If you have any questions later, I will answer them one by one."
At this time, the reputation Jon had accumulated from his great deeds at the beginning of the year played a crucial role.
Even though he was a leader among students of the same grade before, there must be some people in the whole school, especially those in the senior grades, who didn't even know his name, let alone have any faith in him.
But now it is completely different. The students who remain on the ship, even the fifth graders, have absolute support for Jon.
"Let me answer Colin's question first."
The students were looking at Jon quietly, and Jon was also looking at the students seriously.
"From the current situation, we are out of danger for the time being, but at the same time we have to face another biggest problem - from today on, there will be no professor to protect us in this carriage, or in other words, on this ship. From now on, we can only rely on ourselves."
His words caused a commotion among the students, and not many people even paid attention to the transition between the carriage and the boat. A first-year girl asked in a crying voice.
"Yes, the professors don't want us anymore?"
Jon did not blame her for interrupting his speech, but spoke in a soothing voice with great seriousness.
"It's not that the professor doesn't want us anymore, it's that the current situation in the UK is very bad. Professor Dumbledore and other professors are about to go to war with the bad guys in the Ministry of Magic. In this war, they are not sure of their own lives, and they don't have the extra energy to protect our safety, so the professor found a way to get us to a safe place."
He turned his gaze back to everyone.
"All we can do now is take good care of ourselves and not hold the professors back."
Finally someone started asking questions about where they were now, and the person who stood up and asked the questions excitedly was George.
"So where are we now? I see it looks like there's an ocean outside?"
Jon nodded.
"Yes, we are on the sea now. There is no change inside the carriage, but in fact the carriage has turned into a big ship. It is because of this that we have escaped the pursuit of the Ministry of Magic."
This news immediately attracted the attention of most people, distracting many people from the overwhelming panic they felt after being separated from their adults.
"Can we go out and take a look?" Fred asked excitedly.
The Weasley twins were usually the most active two in the carriage. They could always create some farce to amuse everyone, but they were also the ones who could not be kept under control, and they often complained about being bored in the lounge.
Jon naturally had no objection.
"Of course you can, but you have to be careful even on the deck. I don't know if there is any protective magic near the railing to prevent people from falling into the sea."
With his consent, George and Fred were the first to lose their patience and rushed out of the restaurant.
After seeing the two of them running out, the other students could no longer stay in the restaurant and started running out together. Even Gabrielle waved and said hello to Jon, then passed by him.
The first-year students were at the end of the group. They had just arrived at the carriage not long ago and were still unfamiliar with the life here. Therefore, they were not as shocked as the senior students about being on a boat and going out to sea.
Jon followed at the end of the students, with Neville and Hermione walking side by side with him, walking along the corridor towards the outside of the carriage.
Neville still feels a sense of unreality.
"So... we are really the only ones left?"
Hermione looked at the professors' offices with their doors closed, and behaved much better than Neville. After all, the current situation was much better than the one she was in before.
"The youngest among us is already 11 years old. It's not like he can't take care of himself, but is there no way we can continue to study magic after this?"
Jon was obviously thinking about this question as well.
"We can only think of a solution later."
They walked out of the carriage. At this time, the students had already come to the deck. The wet and salty sea breeze blew up the hem of each little wizard's robe, but the cold night wind did not diminish their enthusiasm for sailing at all.
Even the first-year students who were not interested at first began to smile, lying on the fence and watching the big fish jumping out of the waves from time to time.
George and Fred were extremely happy. They found a hook glove and an eye patch from somewhere and were dressing up as pirates. They put one foot on a chair, looked up at the wooden ship ahead, and muttered to each other that they still lacked a parrot that could speak human language.
Jon didn't have much of such mood at the moment. It wasn't that he lacked enthusiasm for the ocean, but he was very clear that there were still many problems he needed to solve in the next voyage.
For example, they still haven't figured out which sea they are in and the direction of their sailing route.
For example, even though the students are very enthusiastic about sailing at this time, no one knows how many of them will get seasick later. There is no Lily on the ship to prepare potions for them, so they need to find a solution themselves.
The fresh water and food in the storage room also need to be counted to find out how long the reserves can allow the more than 50 people to survive on the sea.
The magical plants in the greenhouse also need someone to take care of them, and some magical animals kept in specific rooms cannot be left unattended. We also have to find a way to get in touch with Dumbledore and the others as soon as possible, but this requires waiting for news from Fox.
In general, although they are not in any danger for the time being, there are still many things to be resolved later, and before that, Jon must do one thing first.
He gathered all the students on the deck together. There was a kerosene lamp on the mast, swaying gently in the sea breeze, illuminating the space on the deck.
"Everyone, none of us know the destination of this voyage yet, nor do we know how long it will take. But no matter what the future holds, we must now determine who will be the leader among us."
Jon's voice was not drowned out by the waves, and all the students present heard his words.
"Before Professor Dumbledore left this carriage, he entrusted me with the task of leading you. However, at the beginning of the voyage, I still want to confirm with you whether anyone has any doubts or questions about my leading this voyage."
There would definitely be no problem with the younger children , but the students in the fourth and fifth grades who were older than Jon had been living in the carriage for so long. These children, who were more sensible than their peers, knew very well that taking over the leadership of Hogwarts under such circumstances was not an easy task.
And what Jon did in his second year was enough to prove that he had the ability to lead them, not to mention that he was recognized by Dumbledore.
No one pointed out what it meant, and George and Fred smiled and put a pirate captain's hat on Jon's head.
"We will absolutely obey your leadership! Great Captain Green!"
With the Weasley twins around, you never have to worry about the atmosphere being depressing.
The students below also had smiles on their faces and shouted together.
"That's right, Captain Green!"
A smile also appeared on Jon's face. He did not refuse the hat and eye mask that George and Fred put on his head and face. He spoke loudly.
"Does anyone have a better suggestion for the name of our ship?"
"Our name has never changed, Captain!" a student responded loudly.
Their eyes turned to the old and yellowed school emblem on the long sail.
Yes, whether it was in the castle, the carriage, or now on the ship, their names have never changed.
Hogwarts
This is something that no one can tamper with or cover up.
The wind filled the long sails. Under the brilliant starry sky, Jon looked at the endless sea and spoke softly.
"Then let us set sail!"
…
"We have searched Wormtail's entire memory," said Lupin.
On the cliff full of tombstones, the wizards of the Order of the Phoenix were resting here, and during this time, Lupin, Lily and Sirius were reporting to Dumbledore the clues they got from Wormtail.
"After the Dark Lord took control of the entire British wizarding world, seven years ago, he sent his most trusted men to France. They used various methods to imprison people like Adele Roland and Eric Amalric, who did not have such great fame and status at the time, and then used their identities to operate in the French Ministry of Magic. Wormtail was among them."
"Through the various kinds of help the Dark Lord provided them in the dark in Britain, coupled with sufficient financial support and their own personal brains, they quickly reached the position they had originally planned in the past seven years. At this time, they had already gained enough power. After Rodolphus Lestrange pretended to be Amalric and became the French Minister of Magic more than a year ago, they began to coerce and bribe the pure-blood wizards in France."
"During this period, the Dark Lord showed up several times in person. Before, his attention was never on us. It is very likely that he wanted to win over these people in France."
"Among these pure-blood wizards, there were some who would rather die than surrender, but we let them deal with it privately, and then arranged for the Death Eaters to replace their identities . As for the others who chose to surrender, Wormtail and others were very cautious and temporarily used the Oblivion Charm to seal this memory, and then lifted the spell when needed to prevent someone from pretending to obey but actually disobeying."
Dumbledore listened to Lupin's story with a calm expression on his face, and then he asked.
"Those key positions in the French Ministry of Magic are held by the Dark Lord's own men?"
Lupin nodded.
"Bellatrix Lestrange posing as Adele Rowland, her husband Rodolphus Lestrange being her avowed political rival Eric Amalric, and his brother Rabastan Lestrange becoming the Head of the Auror Office, and Igor Karkaroff, who assumed the alias Ivan Galas, becoming the Headmaster of Beauxbatons earlier this year."
Voldemort's erosion of the French wizarding world was almost comprehensive, including the Chief Justice, Minister of Magic, Director of the Auror Office, and Headmaster of the Magic School, and he had almost all-round control over the law, politics, military, and education.
The fact that he has only begun to close the net now means that the current situation is completely irreversible and the whole of France will fall into his hands.
