Volume 5: The Burning Golden Flame Chapter 394: Catching a Draco
When formulating the content of the competition, Dumbledore obviously did not spend much time thinking about it.
His goal was clear, as long as he could allow the students representing the Three Greatest Chariot Championships to enter the Black Lake openly, it would be enough. Whether they could gain an advantage in this competition was not within his consideration.
This lake obviously has a very special meaning for Hogwarts, a thousand-year-old school. Not only did the four creators cross it before building Hogwarts Castle, but there are also some unspeakable secrets in the water.
Dumbledore believed that after Voldemort became the headmaster of Hogwarts, he must have realized the importance of the Black Lake. Just like defending Hogwarts Castle, he must have been guarding the Black Lake closely against Dumbledore and his men.
But after actually coming here, things don't seem to be the case.
Jon explored the lake for many days, but found no signs that the water had been tampered with. It was as if Dumbledore's guess was completely wrong and Voldemort didn't care about the lake at all, and didn't mind what they were going to do to the things in the lake.
But it was true that he didn't do anything or interfere with their contact with the Black Lake. The problem was that after so many days by the lake, Jon didn't find what Dumbledore wanted him to find.
This gave Jon a not-so-good guess, and he told his guess to Dumbledore. Dumbledore was silent for a long time, and finally asked him to go into the water on the day of the competition and see what happens.
And now, he just wants to go and see if his guess is correct.
The land under the Black Lake is uneven, but Jon doesn't have to walk along the ground like he does on land. As long as he can see the bottom of the lake in his field of vision, he can keep floating in the water.
His time was precious. Not to mention the competition, the soaking spell on him could not last for too long. During daily practice, Jon could only stay underwater for an hour and a half at most.
Now he could only spare no more than half an hour to search for the mermaids in the Black Lake.
But in fact, he didn't have to search for so long. Soon, he found it in the southwest corner of the Black Lake.
However, what he found was not traces of mermaids, but a dilapidated underwater building.
There were many stone buildings, but they had obviously been destroyed long ago. There were broken walls and ruins everywhere. Green algae covered the surface of the stone pillars, swaying with the cold water.
Jon frowned, it was certain that this was the underwater base of the mermaids.
After all, Dumbledore had been a professor and headmaster at Hogwarts Castle for fifty or sixty years. He had certainly communicated with the mermaid tribe living in the Black Lake and knew roughly where their territory was.
Jon found this place according to his guidance, but now there are only some fish swimming around.
This couldn't help but make his heart sink slowly.
However, he did not stay here, but went deep into the mermaid territory to try to see if there was a chance to find any remaining creatures like the centaurs in the forbidden forest.
But until he passed through here, he didn't find anything, not even a steel fork commonly used by mermaids.
Just when Jon was about to leave here in disappointment, he suddenly found a huge ditch at the bottom of the lake at the end of the ruins.
The big ditch was obviously not a product of nature. He could tell from the neatly broken stones around it and the fish bones half-buried in the mud that it must have been caused by some kind of magic similar to the Shadowless Divine Sharpness.
This discovery made him feel a chill in his heart. He didn't know if Dumbledore could do such a thing, but he definitely had no way of completing it, not even if he used both hands to cast the spell.
He slowly approached the ditch and finally stopped at the edge of it.
The deep, dark trench that seemed to lead to hell was filled with pale bones!
The upper body of these bones is basically in the shape of a human, but the lower body does not have leg bones, but a skeleton like fish bones!
Looking at those densely packed skeletons, Jon now finally understood where all these disappeared mermaids had gone. Just by looking at the number of bones in this lake ditch, he could roughly determine it.
This mermaid tribe in the entire Black Lake has been completely wiped out.
If Voldemort really wanted to kill them, he would have less psychological burden than killing all the centaurs. After all, mermen are creatures that wizards have less contact with on a daily basis, and are closer to animals than humans. But it is likely that this demon would have no psychological burden whether he killed all the centaurs or all the mermen.
Jon felt a little heavy in his heart.
He was not feeling sad for these mermen whom he had never met before, but he once again felt pressured by witnessing the bloodiness of Voldemort's rule.
The bloodline policy implemented by this man was not just for the sake of gaining power for himself. He truly did not regard any life other than pure-blood wizards as human beings.
Centaurs and mermaids may be defined as a kind of beast in the magical world, not humans. But even if defined this way, these species are all thinking, emotional, and civilized beings. Just like the enduring question, if pigs could speak and think and have emotions like humans, would you still eat pork?
From this perspective, the situation of the Muggles under his rule actually became remarkable, except that they became slaves.
But if we look into the future, if one day Voldemort really fulfills his long-cherished wish and becomes the master of the world, how will he view Muggles?
Jon took a last look at the piles of bones in the ditch, probably thinking that this was the same fate as the mermaid.
In the end, Jon left the mermaid's territory with a heavy heart. Originally, he looked for the mermaids just to confirm his guess and try to see if he could find some clues. Now that the mermaids are gone, he naturally would not stay here for long.
But now that the clues are gone, Jon no longer has a clear goal for what to do next.
The main purpose of Dumbledore letting him enter the Black Lake was to find the giant squid living in the Black Lake. However, Jon had stayed by the lake for so many days but did not find any signs of the squid. Later, he learned from Cedric that since he entered school, he had never seen the legendary behemoth living in the lake with his own eyes.
Combined with the experiences of these mermaids, Jon already had a bad feeling in his heart, but in the end he still had to go and check it out himself.
Originally he wanted to get some information about squids from the mermaid, but now it is obviously not feasible.
Just as he was circling the Black Lake to try his luck nearby, a timid figure hiding in a pile of water plants suddenly caught Jon's attention.
He looked with interest at Draco, who was surrounded by water plants and did not dare to look in his direction.
"What are you doing here? Taking a shit?"
Draco's face turned red immediately. Logically speaking, after he and Lucius witnessed his father and John making the deal, he wouldn't be afraid of seeing John. But that night in the banquet hall of the French Ministry of Magic always lingered in Draco's mind.
However, although the gill grass allowed him to move freely underwater, he could not speak like Jon. As long as he opened his mouth, he could only drink the water in the Black Lake.
Fortunately, John was considerate enough to help him cast a Bubble Head Curse. When Draco saw John casting the spell, a look of despair appeared on his face. Then he realized that he had not been knocked out, knocked down or killed, but could speak instead.
"No, it isn't."
"Then what are you doing? Planning to ambush me here and give me a surprise? Eliminate me to prove yourself in the first round?"
In response to what he said, Draco just gritted his teeth and finally took out two pearls from his pocket.
"Here you are! All for you! Please let me go, and don't let me walk out like this in disgrace! They have already talked a lot about me behind my back! They said I was a loser among purebloods!"
Seeing his actions and words, Jon couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
He walked over to Draco with his wand in hand with great interest and glanced at the two pearls in his hand.
"You've got quite a lot. It's been such a short time and you've only found two of the ten. If you find one more, you'll be no longer the last. You didn't hide another one, did you?"
"That's just these two!"
Draco seemed a little frustrated, angry at his own cowardice and John's excessive demands.
Jon reached out and took the two pearls from Draco's hand. The eldest son of the Malfoy family was obviously very painful.
He could only say that he was lucky to find two pearls so quickly. When he just entered the Black Lake, he found a fish with a pearl in its mouth. He was smart enough not to attack the fish immediately, but to follow the fish from a distance. In the end, he found another pearl where the fish passed by.
Then Draco didn't wait any longer, but just killed the donkey after it had served its purpose, knocked the fish unconscious, and took the one in its mouth.
As a result, before he could start to imagine excitedly that if he won the game, he could wash away the stigma of his previous failure and become famous among the purebloods again, he saw Jon floating over.
In a panic, Draco could only choose a nearby patch of water grass. He didn't have time to think about whether he would get entangled, so he hid in it immediately.
However, even so, he still couldn't escape Jon's clutches.
Not only was Jon not angry at his sudden temper, he even looked at him with a smile.
"How about we make a deal, Master Malfoy?"
Draco suddenly became alert, and his body, which had already come out of the water plants, shrank back again, as if this would give him some sense of security.
"What do you want to do?"
Jon shrugged.
"Don't be so wary of me. After all, your father and I can barely be called business partners, right? I have a very good proposal. I will give you a pearl, how about you tell me the location of Emile Lestrange?"
Draco's eyes widened at Jon's suggestion.
"This pearl was originally mine!"
"But you just gave them to me, so of course they're mine now."
"I couldn't possibly say that!"
"You're quite loyal?"
"Emile was asked by the headmaster to win the first place in the Triwizard Tournament. If I help you deal with him, I will be going against the headmaster. If you expose this matter later, my whole family will be in danger!"
Jon looked at Draco and tutted his tongue.
"You're not stupid."
John's praise not only did not make Draco feel the slightest bit of pride, but instead filled him with humiliation.
"Okay, but we can also discuss another deal." Jon looked at him calmly, "The same pearl as reward, as long as you can tell me something valuable to me. How about the rumor you heard about this lake in school?"
Draco seemed a little hesitant at this time.
Of course he wanted to earn the pearl back from Jon, but he knew very well that he could not beat Jon at all. Even his father was extremely cautious when facing him, let alone him.
"Why do you want to know this?" Draco asked cautiously.
"Don't worry, I'm definitely not trying to trick you. If I really wanted to do something to you, wouldn't it be better to just use the Imperius Curse on you right now instead of wasting time here with you?"
Draco believed this, and even firmly believed that John knew the Imperius Curse.
Should this be questioned? For other fourth graders, perhaps, but Jon Green is certainly an exception.
If you say that he doesn't know the Imperius Curse, then this matter needs to be questioned.
These words made Draco let down his guard a little, and he began to think carefully and seriously.
"I heard from the seventh graders that there used to be a giant squid living in the Black Lake, but now it's gone."
"Then do you know when was the last time anyone saw this giant squid?"
"have no idea."
Jon immediately shook his head in disappointment.
"If this one doesn't count, are there any others?"
"That's not fair! No matter what I say, you don't count. You're playing me for a fool!"
"Do you have the power to choose? If you try, you might be able to earn a pearl from me. If you don't try, you will get nothing."
Draco gritted his teeth and continued to think for a long time before hesitantly speaking again.
"There is another one that I don't know if it can be considered a rumor. I heard from my father that when Hogwarts was still sorted, the Slytherin College common room was underground and deep in the Black Lake."
