Volume 4: The Sea and the Ship Heading North Chapter 178 Arrival at Azkaban
Nick's arrival provided a lot of fun for Hogwarts.
For a ghost who died in the Middle Ages and has lived in Hogwarts Castle ever since, he is undoubtedly quite knowledgeable.
He is also Gryffindor's resident ghost. Nick has a very open-minded personality and quickly became friends with the students.
Gabrielle was the most excited about this. Finally, there was a "kind of her" on the boat. Now she would hang around Nick all day, listening to him tell all kinds of ghost stories.
"You definitely don't have the qualifications to join the Headless Knights." Nick said decisively, "Not to mention that you didn't lose your head at all, your current ghost identity is very problematic. A ghost that drinks the Dead Soul Water is not recognized by most ghost groups."
There was obvious disappointment on Gabrielle's face. After listening to Nick's talk about the fun of the Headless Knight, she expressed her longing for this organization.
"Then how can I separate my head from my body when I become a ghost?"
"This is actually very simple!" Nick snapped his fingers. "As long as you die by decapitation, it will be fine. But be careful. When decapitating, make sure the executioner has high enough skills to chop off your head with one axe. Otherwise, you will be like me with a little skin still attached. The Headless Knight doesn't want you at all."
Gabrielle listened with a serious look on her face and nodded repeatedly, as if she was really thinking about looking for a highly skilled executioner to help her join the Headless Knights in the future after she turns back into a living person.
Jon, who was looking at the nautical chart, raised his head and looked at the two of them helplessly.
"Don't teach the child bad things, Nick. She still has a long life ahead of her. How could she die so early, let alone be beheaded?"
Nick shrugged and he floated over to Jon's side.
"I have officially started teaching the fourth and fifth grade students. But as I told you before, I know all the wand-waving gestures and spell pronunciations for these spells, but I am only a ghost after all. I can't provide them with more help when they make mistakes in practice."
"This is enough." Jon said softly, "Now is a special period. We are not wasting time and are still enriching our knowledge. This is considered a good situation. As for how much we can learn in the end, it all depends on ourselves."
Nick praised this very much.
"The students are all very serious. You know, I used to be the ghost of Gryffindor House. At that time, although the Dark Lord had already gained power in the wizarding world, he had not yet occupied Hogwarts Castle like he does now. At that time, not many of the mischievous monkeys focused on studying. They wanted to live on the Quidditch field every day. Entering the classroom seemed like torture to them."
"Times have changed. In this situation, if they are still so lazy, they are just enjoying the time that professors have risked their lives to buy."
Jon didn't say much on this issue, he pointed to a specific point on the nautical chart.
"Is this the destination of our voyage?"
That point is located within the North Sea, but it is quite far away from Great Britain and there doesn't seem to be any island marked.
“This is just the first sailing goal.”
When it comes to business, Nick becomes noticeably more serious.
"This piece of land is not recorded in the Muggle nautical charts, so you can't see it. An extremely powerful protective spell was cast on the island hundreds of years ago. Basically, no Muggle except wizards can get close to it. And you must have heard of the name of this island."
Jon was stunned for a moment, then he looked back at the point on the nautical chart and went over in his mind all the information he had learned about the island in the magical world.
"The North Sea... This is, Azkaban!"
"Yes, our first target point is Azkaban Island. This was also the first place the Dark Lord arrived during the month he disappeared there. As far as I know, he stayed on this prison island for three days."
Jon frowned. Obviously, Azkaban was not a very good place for most people.
"When he landed on the island, had all the Dementors on the island already joined him?"
Nick shook his head.
"I don't know about that. Part of the route of Drake's ship passed by this prison island, so after , I also secretly went to the island several times."
"There were many wizards of the Order of the Phoenix imprisoned on this island at the time. I deliberately avoided the Dementors. Although their ability to absorb positive emotions has no effect on ghosts, if they were to discover my presence, they might communicate this matter to the other Aurors stationed on the island."
"But after arriving on the island, I didn't make any more discoveries, because there are many hidden places there that require magic to enter, and I obviously don't have this ability."
Jon noticed the key to Nick's words.
"There are still Aurors stationed in Azkaban?"
Nick explained to Jon.
"Of course. There is no hierarchy between the Ministry of Magic and the Dementors. They are just partners. Cooperation requires communication. And not all prisoners sentenced to Azkaban will be sentenced to life imprisonment. They will not be sucked crazy or commit suicide by the Dementors. Some prisoners have a limited sentence. The handover of these people in and out of the prison requires the cooperation of wizards and Dementors."
When he said this, he paused, as if he thought of something, and continued.
"However, after the mass escape of the Order of the Phoenix, many Dementors were allowed to land on the British Isles. There should not be many monsters left in Azkaban now, not to mention the Aurors. Few wizards would be willing to stay in such a place."
Jon looked at the chart thoughtfully.
"In other words, now is the best time for us to go to the island? Then what is our goal in coming to Azkaban?"
Nick said in a deep voice.
"Of course we need to find out what the Dark Lord did during the three days he stayed on this island that year. According to the situation at the time, it was after he was sent to Azkaban that these Dementors completely submitted to him and became his lackeys."
Jon took a deep breath and nodded silently.
"At our current speed, how long will it take to reach Azkaban?"
"Two days at the latest."
