Volume 5: The Burning Golden Flame Chapter 400 Ghost Castle
Nick seemed to be reminded of some memories by the crying. A look of surprise appeared on his face, and then he floated towards the direction where the sound came from without hesitation.
"Aha! It's Myrtle!"
Soon, Nick took Jon and the others to find the ghost girl who was hiding behind a tree and crying secretly.
She was a girl with freckles all over her face, not very pretty, and with a bitter look on her face.
When Myrtle saw Nick, she was stunned for a moment, then she saw Jon, and after realizing that he was a living person, she became extremely panicked.
"It's over! It's over! I'm in trouble with Mr. Barrow again! I've been discovered by the Muggles!"
She floated up in panic and was about to run away when Nick called her.
"Don't be silly, Myrtle. The fact that he came with me proves that he is a wizard. Come on, take us to find that Barrow fellow."
Myrtle, who was already a little nervous, seemed to react only now. She lowered her face, still sobbing, in mid-air, looked at Nick and then at Ms. Grey, who was standing aside with a haughty look on her face and not saying a word.
"Yes, it's Nick?"
"Nonsense! I forgot about me after not seeing you for more than ten years! Come on, Dumbledore asked us to come here. You are following the Barrow, right? Come on, take us to see him."
Myrtle then flew back to Nick's side. She wiped her tears and only then noticed Jon's clothes and the end of the wand in his pocket.
"Oh! Dumbledore sent you here!"
Her mood seemed to change very quickly. She was sad one second and became excited the next.
"I thought he had forgotten about us! We also got news from Dumbledore here and learned that he is now in France. Mr. Barrow is still planning to wait for the next good news to come, then sell the castle back to those vampires, extort money from them, and then take us to find Dumbledore!"
Myrtle led them in the direction of the ghost castle, floating happily in the air.
"Is this a student from Hogwarts? It's been a long time since I last saw a student from the school. I used to be a student like you, but an accident turned me into a ghost."
When she said this, her mood seemed to become sad again, but soon her voice tone rose again!
"We also heard about the Triwizard Tournament recently! The Barrow read us the newspaper and told us that Dumbledore will soon retake Hogwarts Castle! Everyone is so happy!"
Nick finally had a chance to interrupt and ask.
"Besides you, who else is here with Barrow?"
"Professor Binns, who taught me History of Magic, and the fat monk who used to stay in Hufflepuff, as well as more than a dozen ghost gentlemen and ladies are all here at the Barrow."
Myrtle enthusiastically introduced to Nick their life here.
"Barrow screwed those vampires over. He used the connections of Professor Binns' family in Germany to contact the Ministry of Magic. He also found a descendant of the Fat Friar and asked him to help dig out the treasures hidden by one of our ghosts who died in the goblin rebellion. Half of those treasures were taken away by the descendant of the Fat Friar. At the same time, he also helped us complete the negotiations with the German Ministry of Magic and put this previously uninhabited castle under Barrow 's name. After that, we used the money to hire professional wizards, set up Muggle-repelling spells and concealment magic around the castle, and we also transformed the castle into the appearance of Hogwarts Castle, but it is not as big as the real Hogwarts..."
Listening to her endless narration, Jon realized that under Barrow's management, these ghosts who left the castle were living quite well.
Soon, under the guidance of Myrtle, Jon felt that he had passed through a cold barrier like a water curtain, but in fact he did not feel any difference in his vision. As he went deeper, an increasingly chilling breath began to sweep over his whole body. He did not know when, the originally dense woods around him disappeared, replaced by a wasteland full of rubble, and in the middle of this wasteland was a towering gray-black castle!
This castle is indeed not big, and is nowhere near as majestic as Hogwarts Castle and Durmstrang Castle, but being called a castle also means that it cannot be small.
As soon as he arrived in front of the castle, Jon saw an old ghost sitting on the steps at the gate. He supported his chin, staring at a stone tablet next to him, and muttered something that was unclear but subconsciously made people feel drowsy.
"Professor Binns!"
Myrtle's loud cry seemed to wake up the ghost. He looked up and saw Jon walking towards him, as well as Nick and Ms. Grey floating beside him.
"Ah, Sir Nicholas and Lady Grey, are you also here to seek refuge with Barrow? That's good, after all, we have been together for so long..."
His voice was not loud, a bit like an old monk chanting, and he addressed Nick and the others in an old-fashioned respectful manner without sounding distant.
Then he looked back at Jon.
"There is still a living person. Is he the child you rescued on the way? The place where ghosts gather is not suitable for living people. But it doesn't matter. I wonder if he is interested in the first wizard village established by Hangis. It is an unforgettable history..."
Myrtle didn't seem to communicate with him much, which would make people feel very depressed.
"I'm going to take them to Barrow, Professor Binns."
As she spoke, she led Jon and the others, passing the ghost professor who had once been in the castle, and floated into the castle.
Just like Myrtle said, although the whole castle is not big, the ghosts have deliberately decorated it to look like Hogwarts. Even if the ghosts cannot enjoy any material things, it can at least give them some spiritual comfort.
Nick met many acquaintances along the way. He had a good reputation among ghosts and students at Hogwarts. Now he saw many old friends here and was very happy.
Soon, they arrived at where Barrow was, led by Myrtle.
It was in an empty office on the top floor of the castle.
It was called an office, but there was no desk or chair in it, and no bookshelves around. There were only some portraits of Hogwarts Castle and the Big Four without the appearance potion.
Barrow was just as Jon had described him in the original book, with hollow eyes, a thin face, and silver bloodstains on his robe. Even if he just stood there motionless, he would be able to scare away many timid people.
After seeing Nick brought in by Myrtle, Barrow's thin face showed a relatively friendly smile, but the smile froze after he saw Ms. Grey.
However, this does not mean the disappearance of the smile, but it is replaced by a bigger surprise.
"ocean……"
He opened his mouth as if he wanted to call out Ms. Grey's name, but in the end he swallowed the rest of the words back into his stomach with shame.
"You're here at the right time. We have been discussing going to find Dumbledore recently. The students he leads have stabilized. I have almost finished my preparations here. It's time to go find him."
Ms. Grey acted as if she hadn't seen him and didn't even glance in Barrow's direction.
Nick was very enthusiastic, but Jon could feel that even Nick himself was a little scared when facing Barrow.
"That's why we're here, Barrow. Let me introduce you to this warrior who will represent us in the Triwizard Tournament this year—Jon Green."
Barrow's gaze was now on Jon, his eyes scrutinizing, but Jon did not avoid it.
"I have heard of your name. Your deeds have spread throughout Europe in the past few months. Did Dumbledore send you to find me?"
As the chief envoy of this "mission", of course only Jon is qualified to convey the real purpose of their visit.
"To be exact, it was not Professor Dumbledore, Mr. Barrow, who asked me to find you, but one of the founders of Hogwarts, Salazar Slytherin."
After hearing the name, Jon could see that Barrow's transparent and empty eyes suddenly tightened.
"Salazar Slytherin...your Lord..."
"Yes, it was this gentleman, but the portrait that conveyed his instructions was left behind a thousand years ago. He asked me to find you to ask if you had kept the things he asked you to keep when you left Hogwarts."
Barrow seemed to be crying. He covered his face, making it impossible to tell what expression he had at the moment, but his hoarse and low voice still rang out.
"Of course...I dare not forget that thing all the time..."
…
Malfoy Manor, England.
After the second project was completed and Hogwarts Castle learned that Dumbledore had temporarily returned to France, Lucius also had a rare vacation.
Draco still had to go to school, so now it was just him and his wife Narcissa at home.
Oh, yes, and Dobby the house-elf too.
"I told you to let the tea cool before bringing it over! What are you doing!?"
Lucius was still restless even after returning home, as if he was holding a belly full of anger. He held the boiling hot tea and wanted to find an outlet to vent his anger.
Dobby is unfortunate because he is obviously the one who is always the scapegoat.
"But, but Master, I wanted to let it cool here as you requested, but you couldn't wait and came here..."
"So I am the one who is wrong!" Lucius said with a stern face, "Punish yourself!"
The next moment, Dobby rushed to the wall and kept banging his big head against the wall while screaming.
"Bad elf! Dobby is a bad elf!"
Lucius didn't let it roll out of the living room until his forehead was bleeding.
Narcissa heard the noise and came down from the upstairs bedroom.
She was pale and thin, and looked like she had been having a hard time since Draco was chosen as a champion.
"Why don't you continue to watch your son at school?"
The first time she saw her husband, she couldn't help but question him.
Lucius paced around the living room anxiously.
"There are still three or four months before the next project begins. Dumbledore and his students have temporarily left the school. There is no danger around Draco."
"Whether there is danger or not is not for us to decide..."
"Okay, I know! But you have to believe me, I won't harm my son."
Finally, Lucius sat down on the sofa.
"The point is, I always feel like something is wrong, Narcissa. Especially in the castle, something is very wrong."
Whenever Narcissa talked about Draco's current situation, she couldn't help but have red eyes. She sat next to Lucius and held his hand.
"Is it because of Dumbledore and the others?"
"They must have some tricks up their sleeves, everyone knows that, but that's not what's wrong." Lucius pointed out the source of his irritation, "It's Crouch and Snape. They seem to be hiding something from others. I can feel that they think they can disguise it, but after working under the master for so long, who is a fool?"
"What do you think it is? Is it related to this game?"
"I feel like this is going to be more troublesome than the game itself." Lucius said solemnly, "I've already contacted Jon Green, and he promised to guarantee our son's safety during the game."
After hearing what he said, Narcissa breathed a sigh of relief and her expression looked much better.
She was not interested in the intrigues among the Death Eaters; the only thing she cared about was her son's safety.
In the Triwizard Tournament, the most dangerous person is John. Even her own sister and brother-in-law's family died at the hands of that boy. How could her poor son survive?
"But they rejected my private offer of help, saying they didn't trust my character."
When saying this, Lucius's face was obviously a little dark, and he was obviously still brooding over John's blunt remarks at that time.
Narcissa consoled her husband.
"Don't worry. The situation is still unclear right now, right? Even if they really win the Triwizard Tournament, they will only have France and Hogwarts Castle. The master still controls the whole of Britain. We will have plenty of opportunities ."
Lucius said nothing more.
Narcissa stayed at home all day, or had afternoon tea with the pure-blood ladies, and she had no idea what was happening at the forefront of the conflict between Voldemort and Dumbledore.
After the second game, especially after Draco survived the underwater accident and hugged him tremblingly, Lucius had an uneasy premonition in his heart.
He could only hope now that this premonition would not affect his family, especially Draco who was in the center of the vortex.
