Volume 4: The Sea and the Ship Heading North Chapter 294 Bronze Door
The way Rodolphus and Bella get along with each other is very strange.
Even in the eyes of most other Death Eaters, it can be felt that they are more like a couple in name only, and in reality there is almost no husband and wife relationship between them.
This is indeed the case.
Even in private, Bella never treated her husband kindly, even though this was the first time she met Rodolphus after learning of the death of her brother-in-law Rabastan.
"The Lestrange family cannot let their master down again. You should know this better than anyone else."
Deep in the labyrinth of ice and snow, in front of a huge bronze door, Bella said coldly.
Rodolphus was still as taciturn before. Ever since his brother died, he had obviously become much more depressed than before.
"Why are you so sure, Master, that this place is no longer important?"
He asked in a hoarse voice, looking up at the bronze door beside him, which was so old and dilapidated that it seemed to be completely welded to the entire ice layer and did not move at all.
Bella's face was expressionless.
"It's not that this place is unimportant to the master. It is very important. But he knows that no one in the world can open this door except him, not even Dumbledore himself."
"So, this is actually a bait?" Rodolphus tilted his head and looked at her.
"The owner didn't expect this bait to work at first, because those people are not stupid. It's impossible that they can't find such an obvious bait and send people to die."
Bella looked into Rodolphus' eyes with cold eyes.
"So I've always said that this is your chance, a chance to make up for your previous failure. We can't infer why they are willing to let that evil student in when they know it's a bait, but once he enters this maze, his only goal is the thing behind this door. Otherwise, there is no point for him to come here."
"Stay here and kill him. This is the only chance you and the Lestrange family have to regain the master's trust and favor."
Bella paused here for a moment before continuing.
"You don't want Rabastan to die like this and be meaningless and worthless."
There was no change in Rodolphus' expression, but the hand holding the wand had clenched tightly without him noticing.
He certainly didn't want all this to be in vain.
It's not just the death of Rabastan, but also the achievements they made when they infiltrated the French Ministry of Magic before.
Only by redeeming their mistakes here can they enjoy the rewards and value brought by their achievements again. Otherwise, without Voldemort's trust, everything the Lestrange family has will become a complete joke.
A joke created by a teenager.
"Have you asked the owner about the gem?"
After a moment's silence, Rodolphus raised his head again and looked at the inconspicuous blue diamond-shaped gem embedded in the ice not far from the bronze door.
Since they discovered the stone, they have tried many ways to get it out, but all ended in failure.
Unless they can destroy the entire layer of ice connected to the bronze door, there is no way to take this strange gem out from inside, but the ice layer itself is as indestructible as the door.
"I am the only one who knows about this. Let me remind you again that the master is in no position to take care of these things in his current situation." Bella said with a cold face.
"Why don't you come here in person if he cares so much about the boy? His condition is not as good as others can see, and he has no energy to take care of other things. He is preparing for another more important matter, so he gave you and me all the power! If he needs to do everything himself, then what are we doing here? Become termites to suck his blood?"
As she spoke, she stared closely into Rodolphus' eyes.
"Remember to keep all the words I said to you in your heart. We have been in France for so long, you should know what words you can say and what words you can never say in your life!"
Rodolphus did not make any promises, he just nodded silently.
He shouldn't have any complaints. Bella rarely spoke in the tone of a family member, saying things that should only be known to her alone. He really shouldn't have any complaints.
But inexplicably, he felt a sense of sarcasm, and that sarcasm was without any reason, just as it was normal and without any reason for her to say those words to him.
…
Jon did not proceed any further.
When they were less than a mile away from their target, it became apparent that there were significantly more Death Eaters patrolling nearby.
He was wearing an invisibility cloak and stopped in a corner. He grabbed Gabrielle's arm and stared at a group of Death Eaters walking past not far in front of them. His breath, which had been held, slowly relaxed.
Inside the invisibility cloak, Jon reopened the map. He looked at the last straight road from the marked point and spoke softly.
"Obviously, this location is not only where the gem is, but also an area that the Death Eaters focus on guarding. It is very likely that this is the final destination that the Dark Lord visited when he came to this maze."
Gabrielle looked up at Jon.
"So what should we do now?"
This question also made Jon think.
The passages in the maze are too narrow. It is not impossible to continue moving forward while wearing an invisibility cloak, but the probability of something going wrong will be higher.
In just a few hundred meters, John had seen no less than three waves of Death Eaters passing by him, which meant that if he was discovered, these people could gather and surround him as quickly as possible.
In this situation, Jon couldn't go any further. He could only use Fox's feathers to summon it over and take him away from here.
But he couldn't think of any other safer way. The current situation could not be resolved by any strategy. There was no better way except to rely on pure strength to break through.
Jon thought about it and finally decided to give it a try.
He wrapped his invisibility cloak tightly around himself and asked Gabrielle to follow him, holding his arm, in which was the Fawkes feather.
Wearing an invisibility cloak, he can sneak as deep as he can. If anything unexpected happens, he will simply crush the feather in his hand without stopping at all.
John knew very well that if he took the risk, he would not only be risking his own life, but also the life of Gabrielle who was with him!
At the same time, he put the still hard Nick in front of him again. The petrified Nick was an excellent shield. He could block the Killing Curse without being destroyed by the curse itself, which could provide great protection for John's safety.
After making all these preparations, Jon and Gabriel continued to move forward with great caution.
Whenever they encountered Death Eaters again, they would stop and wait until the group of Death Eaters passed by before continuing their actions.
After moving slowly forward for about two hours, they finally saw an area that was relatively open compared to other places in the maze.
There were about a dozen Death Eaters stationed here, and there were tents set up on the open ground. It seemed as if they knew in advance that John would come to such a place, and they were ready to wait for him early in the morning.
Jon did not rashly enter the open space, but hid at the edge of the maze entrance, observing the people guarding here.
The first thing that caught his attention was undoubtedly the "old acquaintance".
Rodolphus was sitting by a fire, warming his hands. Compared to when Jon saw him on the sea, his beard was now untidy and his face was ugly and pale and haggard. It was obvious that he had not been having a good time during this period.
The second person who attracted Jon's attention was a woman with wavy black hair, black nail polish, a gloomy face and sharp eyes.
This was the first time Jon had met this woman, but her temperament, coupled with her identity as a female Death Eater, made Jon think of someone, a woman who was very famous in the original book.
Bellatrix Lestrange!
One of Voldemort's most loyal followers, but also a cruel and despicable fanatic.
She was also related to Sirius, but she was the one who killed the big black dog herself.
Jon didn't expect that she would come here, but when he thought about it carefully, it was not surprising. Rodolphus was already a loser who had failed once. Even if Voldemort was willing to give him another chance, he would not let him be responsible for this matter alone.
Although Bella is Rodolphus' wife, compared with the master-servant relationship between her and Voldemort, the so-called husband-wife relationship is nothing.
After seeing Bella, Jon became alert again.
He knew very well that even though this woman was known for her madness, she was arguably the most shrewd and capable subordinate of Voldemort.
After the fall of France, Dumbledore had always suspected that the person who pretended to be Chief Justice "Roland" was Bella. She was the biggest contributor to the entire France falling into Voldemort's hands. Even Dumbledore himself was deceived by her at the beginning.
Apart from Rodolphus and Bella, what attracted Jon's attention most was the door facing him, which seemed to be made entirely of bronze.
The door looked extremely old, and one could only vaguely see some long strips of patterns carved on the surface, but it was impossible to tell what these reliefs were.
Jon frowned and looked at the door. His intuition told him that this was where the Death Eaters were truly guarding. This was also where Voldemort had stayed when he came to this maze.
But that door always gave Jon a very unusual feeling. There was no visible crack in the entire door, as if it was a huge bronze plate embedded directly in the ice.
Then his gaze drifted, and when he saw the ice wall to the left of the bronze door, Jon's pupils shrank slightly!
It was a blue diamond-shaped stone, very small, so small that even if it was embedded in a ring, it would be large enough to hold five of them.
The gems seemed to be completely integrated into the ice, and there was no discernible difference between them.
Jon suppressed his inner excitement, turned around and winked at Gabrielle.
Gabrielle nodded like a chicken pecking at rice. In this situation, she didn't even dare to breathe and just followed Jon's instructions.
Wearing an invisibility cloak, John took Gabriel and began to leave the maze passage very carefully. He had already put a layer of thick cotton cloth on the soles of his shoes so that there would not be any sound when he stepped on the ice.
He held his breath, and walked close to the corner of the wall, almost face to face with a Death Eater who was delivering a teapot to Rodolphus. He then barely passed through two tents that were close to each other, and finally approached the ice surface inlaid with gems.
Jon did not immediately try to take the gem off, he knew that things would not be that simple.
If he could take the stone away so easily, Adrian would not have left it here. He came to the Arctic specifically for this thing. Even if he couldn't use it, there was no reason for him not to try his best to take it away.
And these Death Eaters are not blind. This gem is inconspicuous, but it can be discovered by people here.
Jon didn't believe that the Death Eaters hadn't tried to take such a strange stone out of the ice, but now it was still there, proving that neither Adrian nor the Death Eaters succeeded.
Paying attention to the belongings of other people around him, and after making sure that no one was paying attention to him, Jon took the ring off his finger very carefully, and then used the missing groove on it to slowly approach the gem on the ice.
But even though he had put the ring completely close to the blue gem, the stone did not show any sign of being embedded in the ring.
This disappointed Jon a little, but it was also expected.
He stared at the gem for a long time. The more he looked, the more he felt that the stone was completely integrated with the surrounding ice. Unless it was possible to shatter the ice, it would be impossible to take it out.
This discovery made Jon even more confused. How did Adrian make such a dense stone here ?
The doubt did not stay in his mind for long, and soon Jon temporarily gave up the idea of taking the gem away by force.
Since he can't get it now, it doesn't mean he can't get it in the future. Anyway, he already knows this place, and the Death Eaters can't always send people to guard here. There will be plenty of time for him to come back and try again in the future.
And now his main target should be the guarded door!
Jon stared at the bronze door and narrowed his eyes.
