Volume 5: The Burning Golden Flame Chapter 365 Vice Principal's Office
All of Cedric's arrows had a crucial effect.
Kingsley first took one of them to conduct an experiment himself, and then passed the warning magic outside the Forbidden Forest without summoning any Aurors. Then all the wizards on the Wizarding World present began to enter the Forbidden Forest through this arrow, including John.
Once we enter the forbidden forest, it will not be a problem to find Firenze and the others.
Jon led Lu and finally arrived at the place he and Firenze had agreed on. It was an open space near the cliff where the centaurs were temporarily stationed and were not disturbed by the Aurors for the time being.
When seeing Jon bringing Kingsley and others to this place as they had agreed at the beginning, even Firenze, who was known among the centaurs for his wisdom and calmness, showed excitement and joy on his face.
After separating from Jon from the Forbidden Forest, this group of centaurs also sensed the dragon disaster, but with only a dozen old, weak and sick people left, they had no way of providing .
There were even a few centaurs who felt that Firenze had chosen the wrong partner and that Jon would definitely not be able to survive the game.
He could indeed deal with a single fire dragon by himself, but once dragons gathered in groups, they were completely two different species.
These centaurs felt that not only was it impossible for Jon to help them, but there was also a great possibility that he would be captured by Voldemort himself, ultimately exposing the information of them, the only remaining centaurs.
So they all tried to persuade Firenze to think of other ways, and even if they had confidence in Jon, they had to move away from their current temporary station.
But just like he did more than ten years ago, Firenze went against the crowd and did not have the slightest doubt about Jon.
The only difference is that more than ten years ago, he was not the horseman with the final say in the horseman tribe, but now in this small tribe with only a dozen people, he has the final say with one vote.
Firenze felt that the more trouble John encountered in such a game, the more it proved that Voldemort valued him very much.
This further proves Jon's ability and importance, and the remaining centaurs must hold on to this only support.
And now the final facts have proved that Firenze's choice was not wrong.
Being in the forbidden forest, the centaurs had no idea what happened in the end that night of the competition, and how the dragons finally calmed down.
It was not until Jon brought Kingsley and the others to find Firenze today that they began to realize that the centaurs had finally made the right decision this time!
Firenze knelt down on his front two hooves and gave Jon a heartfelt hug.
"Thank you for bringing people to us as promised, Jon. Thank you so much. It was you who saved the centaur tribe in the Forbidden Forest. Although we have almost nothing left and cannot offer any valuable gifts as a thank you, all the centaurs today will remember your kindness. If you need us in the future, you can always ask for our help."
Jon was very generous about this.
"It's not a matter of thanks or no thanks. I just know that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. No matter what choices you made in the past, we are friends now, aren't we?"
In response to his words, Firenze did not make any verbal promises, but just looked into Jon's eyes and nodded solemnly.
Hagrid was very happy at first when he met these centaurs again, but soon when he found that more and more names he recognized could not be found, he became silent and sad.
He was extremely sad, especially after learning from these centaurs about the death of his once closest friend, the giant eight-eyed spider named Aragog. He sat alone on a big rock, covering his face with his hands, in a daze.
Jon felt sympathy for Hagrid now, but he didn't bother him.
He knew that Hagrid could adjust himself. After all, he had lost many animal friends during the more than ten years of escape. Aragog was just one of them, not the first, and certainly not the last.
After seeing these centaurs, Kingsley immediately got into work mode.
Just as he had said to John at the beginning, no matter how powerful the anti-Apparition magic of Hogwarts Castle was, it could not be so wide as to cover the entire Forbidden Forest.
What Kingsley and his friends have to face is how to avoid the strict magical inspection of the British Ministry of Magic around Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
But as he himself said, since they had a way to Apparate to Hogsmeade, they naturally had a way to Apparate out of here, and taking a centaur with them on the way out would certainly not be a problem.
The night before John and Kingsley arrived in the Forbidden Forest, they had actually prepared countless contingency plans for emergencies, including what to do if they were discovered by the surveillance of the British Ministry of Magic and surrounded by Aurors, or if they were discovered by the professors in Hogwarts Castle and trapped in the Forbidden Forest.
But none of these may have happened, as they were in the process of leading the centaurs out of the Forbidden Forest very smoothly. Because the number of wizards from the Wizarding World who came to the Forbidden Forest was not as many as the centaurs here, the Apparition was divided into two waves. The first wave took away half of the people, and the second wave would carry out another evacuation after the people returned.
"We will take you to France first, Mr. Firenze. Once you are settled there, Dumbledore will meet with you to discuss the subsequent arrangements for your people. He will also talk to you about astrology."
After watching half of the centaurs being taken away, Kingsley spoke to Firenze with a serious expression.
Firenze also nodded calmly.
Even if Kingsley didn't say it explicitly, he could hear that the matter about the stars should be related to the astrological divination he talked about with Jon when he first met him in the Forbidden Forest that day.
Not long after, after enough wizards from the Wizarding World returned to the Forbidden Forest, Kingsley, John, Hagrid, and Firenze finally disappeared from the quiet Forbidden Forest with a sound like a whip hitting the air.
What neither John, who was always vigilant, nor Kingsley, who had ample experience in counter-reconnaissance, noticed was.
In an inconspicuous shadow, a figure in a black robe watched the whole process of rescuing the horseman.
But from beginning to end he just stood there quietly, watching what Jon and the others did.
…
The Deputy Headmaster's office at Hogwarts.
Since Voldemort is not in the castle most of the time, it can be said that this is the center of power of the castle.
But Severus Snape, the wizard who was given this power, did not have a position of equal power in the castle.
In the students' minds, his presence is not weak. As the vice-president, he is also the professor of Potions at the Pure-Blood College and the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts at the Half-Blood College.
Whether in class or in private with students, he always behaved very coldly, with a frozen face, and this did not change even when facing Voldemort.
However, among the mixed-race students, there has always been a rumor that this vice-principal is actually a person who is cold on the outside but warm on the inside. If you dare to reach out to him on Halloween, he will generously grab a handful of candy from his bag full of candy and put it in your hand.
Of course, this was just a rumor. Even if the students heard these words, no one would dare to make such an attempt on Halloween. Even if some brave ones had already stood in front of Snape, when they saw those empty and cold eyes, they would apologize in fear and run away in a hurry.
It can be said that Snape's reputation in the castle is not low, and he does not lack respect from students.
But for some reason, when he is mentioned together with Professor Crouch, who only has the title of Charms professor, students will subconsciously think that no matter how powerful Headmaster Snape is, he should only be on the same level as Professor Crouch.
Even though the students had no idea what kind of outstanding achievements this professor, who had once been awarded the First Class Medal of the Order of Merlin, had.
They only knew that Professor Crouch was always smiling and kind to everyone, but he was also in charge of the admissions work for the Mudbloods, which few professors were willing to do .
But I inexplicably felt that this professor was very powerful, as powerful as Vice Principal Snape.
If one day, when Voldemort was not around, the orders Snape gave to students conflicted with those given by Crouch, the students would probably split into two factions, half choosing to obey Snape and the other half choosing to obey Crouch.
It is also because of this that half of Snape's power, whether among adult professors or underage students, was divided away by Barty Crouch Jr.
But Snape didn't seem to care much about it from beginning to end.
Even though he sometimes argued with Batty in public, the sarcasm in his tone sounded only directed at Batty personally, and he did not have much complaint about Batty taking away something that should have belonged to him.
In the political system established by Voldemort where bloodline is the driving force, Snape showed not only that pure-bloods occupied high positions, but also that he, a half-blood, could be so out of place.
Compared with others, his personality that seems more like a place of non-confrontation seems even more weird.
It is precisely because of the dual combination of his bloodline and character that he is now isolated under Voldemort. Even though he is deeply trusted by Voldemort himself, few of the Death Eaters truly listen to him.
Voldemort never expressed any opinion on this situation, or perhaps he was actually happy to see it.
Snape's office was ordinary.
Located on the sixth floor of the castle, in a windowless room.
Because of this, candles have to be lit even during the day so that normal work can be done.
The furnishings in the office were simple. On the old wooden bookshelf, besides some simple books, there were only a few glass bottles filled with clear unknown liquids.
Snape was reading a book when little Barty walked in from the door.
It was a copy of "Powerful Potions" that looked to have been read to pieces. It was one of the very few banned books left in the library. This book was not taken to the Ministry of Magic by Voldemort, but was left with Snape.
"You are so talented in potions, why were you so obsessed with the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?"
Snape looked up and glanced at Little Barty, with no intention of answering his question.
“When will you have the courtesy to knock when entering someone’s office?”
"We are all colleagues. Sometimes there is no need to make the relationship so awkward, right?"
Little Batty's expression was still so kind, with a smile on his face, just like a middle-aged man who really wanted to have a good relationship with his colleagues.
"I don't want to waste my time with you. If you have something to say, it's best to just say it."
Snape was cold and didn't put down the book in his hand.
Little Barty didn't seem to care about his estrangement. He sat directly opposite Snape and stared at Snape's eyes with those seemingly calm but actually sinister and vicious eyes.
"Things are a little beyond our expectations, right? According to the original plan of the master and us, the little mudblood should have died in the forbidden forest."
Snape remained unmoved, his eyes still on the page.
"So the master doesn't pin all his love on those dragons. He has made full preparations. When can the dragon blood I need be delivered? Pay attention to how your men handle it."
Little Barty finally put away the disguise on his face, annoyed by Snape's carelessness.
"Don't worry about those damn dragons! You know, we all thought that the plan in the Forbidden Forest should be foolproof at the beginning! The master's backup plan was only a last resort. What he wanted most was to kill the mudblood! Kill him!"
At this time, Snape finally raised his head from the book. He looked at little Barty, his voice still cold.
"So you can kill him by yelling at me?"
Little Barty suddenly changed his tone and spoke calmly.
"We certainly can't do that here, but we can share the master's worries in other ways."
"Those fire dragons have failed, what else are you going to do?"
Little Batty narrowed his eyes and answered the question irrelevantly.
"What do you think a 15-year-old boy would think about all day? For example, you, Severus, what were you doing when you were 15?"
As he spoke, he inadvertently glanced at a photo frame on Snape's desk.
It was a photo that had not been magically revealed. In the black and white photo, there was only a beautiful, quiet girl with a smile on her face.
"With the Mudblood who later married Potter?"
