Volume 4: The Sea and the Ship Heading North Chapter 285 Help
Jon used a crushing spell to destroy the sled they were riding in.
This thing cannot be taken away, and there is no point in taking it away. Leaving it behind will easily expose your whereabouts, so destroying it is the best option.
After this, he did not plan to find a place to continue his interrupted sleep, but planned to stay away from this place that was supposed to be safe overnight.
Without any hesitation, John directly used the magic power stored in the second gem of the ring, cast a levitation spell to fly in the air, and then put on the invisibility cloak on himself and Nick Gabriel.
Although he took some measures to keep warm and avoid the wind, the cold temperature could not be completely blocked. Jon could only slow down his flying speed, while maintaining a low altitude of only about five meters from the ground, and continued to move towards his destination.
Just six or seven hours after he left the area, Norm and Hanks, who had failed to capture the suspect, walked back in the snow and wind, looking haggard.
"I felt like my spell was about to hit the bear, but it managed to dodge it!"
Hanks' face was full of resentment. He just wanted to have a midnight snack, but he didn't expect that not only did he not get to eat it, but he also worked hard all night.
Although there was disappointment on Gnom's face, there were not many negative emotions. Even if no Death Eaters noticed it before, this foodie was not a brainless person. The behavior of the two bears today was not like that of ordinary animals at all. It was impossible for any ordinary animal to escape from the pursuit of two Death Eaters.
He said with a thoughtful look on his face.
"This is not our problem. Is it possible that these two bears themselves have problems?"
His words visibly stunned Hanks, and he didn't come around for a moment.
"You mean, what special breed are these two bears?"
Norm shook his head and looked through the wind and snow at the camp where Jon had been stationed before. The incessant snowfall had completely covered up all the traces left here. From the outside, there was nothing wrong with it.
"When we were chasing the two bears, I vaguely felt that there seemed to be something hidden here... but I didn't pay much attention to it at the time."
Hearing that Norm's tone didn't sound like a joke, Hanks' expression became serious.
He knew clearly that although his partner seemed particularly keen on eating, he was actually quite smart.
"Are you saying that these two bears are controlled by someone?"
"Maybe they are controlled, or maybe they are actually people." Nom said in a speculative tone, while drawing out his wand to search the nearby snow.
The sky was already completely bright, and Hanks was not idle either. He and Norm used spells to disperse the new snow covering the surrounding ice, but they still found nothing.
Jon handled the situation very cleanly, leaving almost no evidence to provide any clues.
However, just as Hanks frowned and pushed away a piece of snow, Norm suddenly reached out and stopped his subsequent actions.
The Greengrass wizard who was forced to join the Death Eaters squatted on the ground, reached out and grabbed the pile of snowflakes that Hanks had swept away, and gently rubbed them in his hands.
But strangely, these "snowflakes" were not grasped into a ball by his hands, but instead floated back onto the snow like powder of some hard object.
This scene made Norm narrow his eyes and Hanks hold his breath.
"It looks like we've found something big, Hanks," Norm said softly.
Hanks looked at him, and they both saw the thoughts in each other's eyes.
Together, they pointed their wands at the white powder on the ground and cast spells in perfect unison with their voices and wand-waving gestures.
"Back to normal!"
The powders that were cast with the repair spell flew up from the snow. They were obviously just parts of a destroyed object, and many of them had been blown to other places by the wind and snow.
But just these are enough to build its original wheel frame.
"This is..." Hanks said hesitantly with his eyes wide open.
Norm finished his unfinished sentence.
"A sleigh!"
After confirming what this thing was, Nom's expression became serious.
"This matter must be reported!"
…
Jon didn't know yet that his whereabouts had been exposed.
He had indeed cleaned up the place thoroughly, even the sled dust that had been crushed away by the Crushing Charm was scattered into the snow.
But even after doing this, Nom and his team still discovered problems with the two polar bears and found these clues.
There is no shortage of elites among the Death Eaters, just as there are many elites like Scabior among the Aurors .
Being able to control the whole of Britain plus Hogwarts Castle means that Voldemort has control over the most basic source of talent, and almost all of these people have joined the Ministry of Magic.
But whether he knew his whereabouts had been discovered or not, Jon couldn't do anything to change it now.
Unless he gave up the mission assigned to him by Grindelwald and turned back to Durmstrang, he would have to find a way to reach his destination near the pole.
Moreover, it is not easy to find a person in the Arctic, especially someone wearing an invisibility cloak.
At least since John started traveling using the levitation spell that night, he hasn't encountered any trace of humans for three consecutive days, let alone the Death Eaters.
On the morning of the third day, when Jon came out of the tent rubbing his face, he saw Nick and Gabriel sitting side by side in front of his tent, looking at the sky in amazement.
Jon also looked up following their gaze. Half of the sky was colorful. The brilliant colors were enough to make everyone who saw this scene stop and look.
The beauty of nature is fully displayed at this moment.
“It’s the Aurora.”
Jon rubbed Gabrielle's head.
Gabrielle rested her chin on her hand, her big eyes reflecting the magnificent sky.
"It would be nice if mom, dad and sister could see it too."
"Yes, there will definitely be such a day."
Jon said softly.
This gorgeous sky did not hinder Jon and his team from moving forward. After three days of journey, they were more than 80 miles closer to the finish line. Now there were only 20 to 30 miles left.
If they speed up, they can basically reach their target destination tonight.
And from this day on, Death Eaters began to appear around more and more frequently.
In just one morning, John encountered four teams of Death Eaters, more people than he had encountered before.
This made Jon feel something was wrong.
Even if the Death Eaters would deploy the most stringent defenses in the most core locations, according to the information Eric provided him, there were less than a hundred Death Eaters left in the Arctic.
If they had deployed reconnaissance hundreds of miles away, it would have been impossible for them to defend the core area so tightly.
Unless they sensed some disturbance and arranged people to the most important locations in advance!
Jon became alert, but he did not stop moving forward, and even deliberately sped up his pace.
So half an afternoon earlier than planned, Jon and his team arrived at their destination a mile away.
It's not that he didn't want to get closer, but a new group of guards had been replaced in this area. The ones responsible for defending this place were no longer Death Eaters, but dozens of Dementors!
They can ignore the existence of invisibility cloaks and determine people's location simply by relying on their sense of smell, which inevitably hinders Jon's progress.
However, it was precisely because of the sight of these Dementors that John's guess was confirmed in disguise.
These Death Eaters must have discovered something!
Otherwise, Dementors would never appear here. These creatures are born to feed on people's positive emotions. In Azkaban, their food is the prisoners. In Britain, they can privately find any suitable subjects to feed on.
But this was the Arctic now, and who else could these Dementors come into contact with besides the Death Eaters?
Of course, there are also scientific research stations established by Muggles in the Arctic, but not to mention whether these places are located where Dementors can find them, the number of people alone is definitely not enough to support long-term survival of so many Dementors.
They must have been temporarily recruited in the last few days. Why would the Death Eaters recruit these disgusting things for no reason?
It could be that they discovered something unusual in the Arctic and wanted to rely on these Dementors to help find John.
Jon didn't think that after his identity was exposed on the sea that day, the information about him would not be investigated clearly. The fact that he summoned two patronuses in Azkaban was seen by so many Dementors present, and they certainly had no possibility of hiding anything.
For wizards who have learned to summon a patronus, especially two patronuses, Dementors will no longer be a threat.
These Death Eaters must know this, so the arrival of these Dementors is not to provide them with any combat assistance, but only to help with reconnaissance.
Looking at these Dementors, Jon fell into thought.
Of course, it would not be difficult for him to deal with these things now, but once the Patronus is summoned, it will definitely attract the attention of all Death Eaters.
Jon didn't even know what was at the end point, so he didn't plan to expose his whereabouts rashly.
But if we don't expose ourselves, this defensive circle formed by Dementors is not so easy to get past...
As Jon was thinking, his eyes suddenly turned to Nick.
"Ghosts can't be affected by Dementors, right?"
Nick didn't hear the meaning of Jon's words at first.
"Of course. Didn't you see it in Azkaban? Those Dementors couldn't do anything to me. I was already dead. How could a dead person let them absorb what they wanted?"
"And as a ghost, you definitely don't have any smell that they can smell?" Jon asked seriously.
Nick then realized what he wanted to do.
"You want me to help scout ahead?" He quickly shook his head. "These Dementors can't do anything to me, nor can they smell me, but they are not blind and can definitely see where I am, unless I put on an invisibility cloak. But as a ghost, I have no way of picking up the physical invisibility cloak..."
As he spoke, his eyes suddenly turned to Gabrielle, and at the same time, Jon's eyes also turned to Gabrielle.
Gabrielle hadn't reacted yet. She was looking at them with her big confused eyes, blinking.
"But Gabrielle can. She's not a real ghost and can selectively touch real objects!"
Nick said excitedly.
"Moreover, she perfectly possesses all the characteristics of a ghost. She won't be affected or discovered by Dementors, so she can go with me!"
But at this moment, Jon hesitated and looked at Gabrielle.
"But as you said, Gabrielle isn't a real ghost. If you go with her and get discovered, will she be in danger?"
"No!" This time it was Gabrielle's own answer. She could hear Nick and John discussing whether she could help. "At school, Ginny and Luna tested it together, and Gabrielle would not be hit by the spell! So it must be safe and can help!"
Jon frowned and shook his head.
"They must have used minor tricks like the Petrifying Curse and the Stunning Curse on you. If the Death Eaters found out, they would definitely kill you. No one is sure whether you are immune to the Killing Curse."
"Yes." Nick shrugged. "I can confirm this. Gabrielle can withstand the killing curse, but the price is that her soul will undergo a fundamental change. She will never be able to return to her body and become a human again in this lifetime."
Nick's words made John no longer think about Gabrielle and working with Nick to avoid these Dementors.
But it was obvious that even if he didn't want to, Gabrielle wouldn't just let it go.
"Gabrielle promise!"
"Gabrielle's promise is invalid!"
Jon patted her raised hand and began to think of other better options.
Gabrielle's face suddenly puffed up like a steamed bun.
At this time, Nick organized his words and tried to persuade Jon.
"You don't have to think of this matter as so dangerous, Jon. I'm here with you. As long as Gabrielle holds up the invisibility cloak, there will be basically no problem. After all, Gabrielle definitely didn't come out here just to hold you back. You have to give her a chance to contribute to the best of her ability. Protection is necessary, but protection can't be excessive, right?"
Hearing Nick speaking for her, Gabrielle nodded repeatedly like a chick pecking at rice, then turned to look at John with eager eyes.
Jon was silent and thought for a moment, then he met Gabrielle's eyes.
"You really want to help?"
"This means that Gabrielle is useful to everyone, right?"
The little girl said in an almost pleading voice.
Jon finally gave in and nodded helplessly.
"Okay, but you have to promise to listen to Nick!"
