Volume 7: A World with Bad Consequences Chapter 467 Department of Mysteries
Jon followed Slughorn through the black door he opened.
As soon as you enter, you can find that it is a large and messy office with a dozen wizards sorting out various parchments and files piled everywhere.
The robes they wore were different, but the one thing they had in common was that each of them had a badge embroidered on the chest of the robe.
This means that everyone currently in the Department of Mysteries on this floor is from a pure-blood family.
John also keenly noticed that only a small portion of these people's family crests belonged to the Twenty-Eight Sacred Families, that is, the ranks of the old-school pure-bloods. Almost all of them were new-school pure-bloods promoted by Voldemort No. 2.
Slughorn led Jon through the large office. The two did not exchange a word during the conversation. The fat walrus, who was smiling just greeted the pure-bloods who passed by him as he walked.
Then, they came to a door on the wall of the large office. There was a metal plaque on it: [Deputy Director's Office]
"Before I came here, there had never been a position of Deputy Director in the Department of Mysteries. That gentleman created it just for me."
This statement finally seemed to be addressed to Jon.
Jon shrugged secretly and then spoke seriously.
"That is proof of the master's great love for you, Mr. Slughorn ."
The fat walrus laughed. To outsiders, it seemed that he was flattered by Jon's flattery. Only Jon could see the joy in his laughter.
They pushed open the door and walked into the office. After entering, Slughorn moved aside and motioned Jon to go in first. After Jon went in, he carefully closed the door. Finally, he pressed something and there was a sound of the spring bouncing on the door lock.
After doing all this, he turned around with satisfaction and raised his eyebrows at Jon, then waved his hand, and the cabinet on the wall opened automatically. A box of candied pineapple flew out and finally landed on the desk.
At the same time, the teapot jumped up by itself and poured two cups of black tea into the teacups that had just been lined up like soldiers.
"Relax, Jon. This place is completely mine since my first day here. No one will hear what we say here."
After hearing what he said, Jon lay down on the sofa like Ge You without any sitting posture, and then threw a candied pineapple into his mouth.
He chewed it twice before he had to drink the entire cup of tea, it was so sweet.
Slughorn sat down opposite Jon with a smile on his face. He looked at Jon staring at another person's face with emotion. This was the first time they met since they separated in the carriage that night.
"Your name is now known all over Europe, Jon. You are more famous than my teacher."
"If they knew what you have been doing all these years, they would definitely feel that Jon Green is nothing."
Jon's words were meant seriously, and clearly not as a compliment.
He had experienced many dangers over the years, but Slughorn was always surrounded by wolves, and he kept looking for opportunities to pass important information to Dumbledore, including a lot of information related to the war situation, which was delivered through his hands.
Slughorn's old face almost smiled after hearing what Jon said.
"Let's not say these meaningless words. Did Dumbledore tell you why he asked you to come here?"
Jon nodded.
Slughorn leaned back against the back of his chair.
"In fact, at the beginning, I didn't agree with him letting you sneak into the Ministry of Magic and carry out this secret mission with me. Because I think no matter how much you have done before, after all, you haven't graduated from Hogwarts and are still a student. But after hearing Dumbledore say that you have learned Animagus and transformed into a phoenix, I have no reason to refuse."
He looked at Jon.
"Did you master it with the ring?"
Jon certainly had nothing to hide from Slughorn. He took off the ring pendant that he had always worn around his neck. The four blue diamond-shaped gems on it sparkled in the light.
"That's right, teacher. I have copied the Animagus transformation magic on the third stone. You know the first stone, which has the levitation spell on it. The other two stones..."
Before Jon could finish, Slughorn waved his hand to stop him from continuing.
"Don't tell me such things. Just like when I was teaching you Occlumency, I told you that people should always keep some secrets of their own. I have some, Dumbledore has some, and of course you need some too."
Jon didn't refuse his offer.
"Then teacher, what have you gained during these days here?"
After getting down to business, Slughorn's face calmed down.
"I came to the Department of Mysteries half a month earlier than you, and in fact, Voldemort had already intended to have me stationed here before Dumbledore asked me to find a way to transfer to this department."
"Snape's matter had a great impact in the future. It was related to the current Voldemort. Should he choose to use the Horcrux, a method with great flaws, to maintain his immortality? But just as Dumbledore guessed, even though his mind was not as clear as his other self, he still took a lot into consideration. He did not directly split his soul again, but asked me to try to crack the immortality potion that Snape had made for the other Voldemort before."
"But the inside story of this potion is obviously a closely guarded secret for the other Voldemort. I copied the catalytic potion that Snape made for him, but the potion itself does not have the effect of prolonging life or making people immortal. It can only speed up the reaction of a kind of golden sand."
"That gravel is what you took from Snape and gave to Dumbledore. We don't know where the other Voldemort got it from. Neither the current Voldemort nor Dumbledore can figure out its function. The only clue is that Snape and the other Voldemort himself spent a long time in the Department of Mysteries."
At this point, Slughorn's expression turned serious.
"Voldemort had asked Karkaroff to investigate the matter before, but nothing was found. So after I took the initiative to apply for a transfer and expressed my desire to share his worries, he sent me here. He also agreed to a proposal from other people in the department to reorganize the entire Department of Mysteries. He felt that the Unspoken Men in the Department of Mysteries were all old men who had come into contact with another Voldemort and were not worthy of his trust. He wanted to replace all the Unspoken Men here with his own people, which led to the current situation."
"But I believe that when you came here, you should have discovered that all the new employees here have certain problems."
Jon nodded in agreement.
"I felt it when I took the elevator up. It seems like all the people who reported to the Department of Mysteries were premeditated. They all knew each other, and most of them were new-school purebloods, with only a small number of them being old-school purebloods."
Slughorn said in all seriousness.
"Because these people have actually betrayed the current Voldemort and are looking for another Voldemort who has disappeared before!"
His words made Jon slightly stunned, but he didn't feel that shocked.
Because on the way to England with Lily to find Snape, they had already confirmed that some of the Death Eaters had found their other master, otherwise Snape would not have been able to get the bottle of golden sand.
"So they are all gathered together like this, can't Voldemort feel it now? "
"That's one of the problems." Slughorn said solemnly, "From what I've seen with Voldemort, he really doesn't seem to be able to sense the changes in the hearts of the pure-bloods. But this situation can be explained in some ways and in some ways. One explanation is that since he found himself getting old, he has been hiding behind the scenes, and few pure-bloods can see him, which naturally means he lacks the channels to understand what's happening in the outside world."
"But from what I have learned, these people who are planning to abandon their current master are very bold in their actions. They have won over many people within the Death Eaters, especially the new pure-bloods who have received the most favors from the other Voldemort. Logically speaking, with such a big move, even if Voldemort has no intention of dealing with the affairs of the pure-bloods, it is unlikely that he is unaware of everything. But now he acts as if he knows nothing about everything."
John also fell into deep thought about this. He knew less about the things around Voldemort than Slughorn, so of course he had no idea where the problem lay.
Then Slughorn spoke seriously.
"There is no director in the current Department of Mysteries. I am nominally the deputy director, but in reality I exercise the power of the director. Everyone else except me is basically a member of a group. The person you are pretending to be, the pureblood from the Ollivander family, is also someone they are trying to win over. After all, there are big and small purebloods. Old-school purebloods, especially a family like Ollivander that has monopolized the entire wand industry in the UK, are certainly worth winning over."
Jon said in a deep voice.
"Doesn't this mean that our next actions in the Department of Mysteries will be more difficult? Now everyone here is another Voldemort's man. They must have come here at the behest of their master. No matter what their purpose is, they will pay extra attention to the actions of those who have not yet joined them."
Slughorn nodded.
"That's why Dumbledore asked you to come. Next, I will give you the position of Assistant Director. You will be mainly responsible for coordinating the affairs and information of each hall in the Department of Mysteries for me. In this way, you will have the opportunity to enter and exit any room here, and your identity will be less conspicuous than that of my deputy director. At the same time, I will talk to the people who came to contact me. Since I accepted the appointment of the Department of Mysteries, they have been contacting me, wanting me to choose one between the two Voldemorts as the object of loyalty. Your task is to search between the various halls and try to find something like the golden sand."
"During this period, if someone tells you that you must choose between the two Voldemorts, you can delay it if you can. If you can't, you can agree to it first to paralyze their vigilance against you."
Jon had no objection to Slughorn's arrangement, he just frowned and asked.
"What if I find the same thing? Professor Dumbledore told me that he wanted me to figure out what this thing is used for."
Slughorn placed his hands on his belly and tapped them lightly with his index fingers.
"This is not an easy task. If this thing is really important to another Voldemort, then he would have asked these Death Eaters who have completely stood on his side to come here. It would definitely be much easier for him to do things than for us..."
"I have an idea, sir."
Jon blinked, and the corners of his mouth suddenly curved up as he spoke.
"Aren't they eager to win you and me over? Why can't we agree to their request first? Then, as companions, it would be normal for us to know something about their mission in the Department of Mysteries, wouldn't it?"
Slughorn groaned.
"It's not that I haven't thought about it, Jon, but what I'm worried about is, what if joining them requires something? I don't think another Voldemort is the crazy one he is now, and he certainly won't easily trust verbal promises."
Jon waved his hand.
"Leave this to me, teacher. This is only my first day here. Let me get to know the situation first, and then we can decide what to do next."
Afterwards, as Slughorn said, after all the new pure-bloods who reported for the job signed in today, Jon was appointed the job of assistant to the deputy director and stayed in the deputy director's office, while the others were assigned to various halls.
Apparently, many people have different guesses about Jon's good luck.
Because the Department of Mysteries has not yet determined the number of people who will pay their respects, Spike and Slughorn, who are pretended by Jon, are the two most important people.
The reason why Slughorn chose him as the assistant to the Deputy Director's office was seen by others as a signal that he did not want to be involved with another member of Voldemort's faction in the Department of Affairs for the time being.
This kind of imagination also provides a good reason for Jon and Slughorn, two people who are originally unrelated, to come into contact with each other.
