Volume 4: The Sea and the Ship Heading North Chapter 295 He Will Definitely Come Today
A bronze door is of course very conspicuous in such a maze covered with ice everywhere.
Only at this distance could Jon see clearly that there was a tiny gap in the middle of the iron gate that seemed to have merged into one whole.
This proved that this was a door that could be opened, rather than a whole piece of copper plate embedded in the ice.
But even if it was a door, he found no sign of a handle or a keyhole.
When Voldemort came to this place, he must have done something or taken something behind the door. If John wanted to discover something, he had to enter this door.
But just how to open and enter the door is a problem.
Jon leaned against the ice, crouched in a corner, and observed the situation around the bronze door, trying to find an opportunity to sneak up under an invisibility cloak.
But soon, he saw an eye hanging in an inconspicuous angle just above the door!
To be more precise, it was an eyeball.
John had seen such a magical prosthetic eye. One of the blind eyes of Alastor Moody, who was once an elite Auror of the British Ministry of Magic and is now a mainstay of the Order of the Phoenix under Dumbledore, was replaced with a prosthetic eye.
Moody's fake eye has a very powerful ability, it can see through the Disillusionment Spell and the Invisibility Cloak!
The eye now hanging on the bronze door is likely to have the same ability.
These Death Eaters were prepared for the possibility that John would sneak in using his invisibility cloak, and they had made full preparations for the areas that needed protection the most.
Jon's current location is just outside the observation range of the eye, so he has not been discovered. But as long as he gets about three meters closer to the bronze door, the eye will definitely be able to discover him.
This made Jon's heart sink to the bottom. He frowned and looked at the magic fake eye. In a short period of time, he had thought of many solutions in his mind.
The second gem has the ability to absorb the magic power of magic items, but the prerequisite for this ability to work is that the gem itself cannot be too far away from the object to be absorbed.
And he had no way of getting close to that eye again, and he didn't know how the Death Eaters controlled the eye. If he absorbed the magic power and turned the fake eye into a useless eye, it was uncertain how long it would take the Death Eaters to react.
So John could only reject the option of directly destroying the artificial eye itself.
Since he couldn't destroy the eye, he could only start with himself.
But this is even more of a fantasy. The invisibility cloak he was wearing could be said to be the most advanced magical item in the entire magic world, one of the Three Deathly Hallows. There was nothing more powerful than it.
But even so, the fake eye can still see through the disguise of the invisibility cloak, and John can't be stronger than the god of death who gave him the three holy artifacts.
There was no way to solve the problem with the fake eye, and he couldn't strengthen himself, so the only thing left for him was the simplest and most direct method.
Jon stared at the bronze door without blinking.
Break in by force!
Even if it means getting discovered, try to open the door!
No matter what the result is, he must summon Fox later and let it take Nick and Gabriel away.
Putting aside the question of whether he could open the door or not, even if he succeeded in opening it, it would be impossible for him to break in and deal with them in such a narrow place with so many Death Eaters blocking his way.
Unless the area behind the door should be a huge space that is like a maze like the one they are in now.
Jon didn't dare to have such an illusion. Grindelwald had asked him to come to the Arctic without telling him what he was going to do, and he also gave him the power to choose.
Now that he has come to this place, he has already used all his skills. He has discovered the location of a gem and found a book from Adrian's map, which is a great harvest.
As for the rest, if he can bring back even a little useful information, it will be a profit.
After thinking this through, Jon clenched the wand in his hand, and at the same time, he grasped the fiery red feather belonging to Fox with his other hand!
…
Just before John entered the open space where the Death Eaters were stationed in the maze.
The French Ministry of Magic, in a banquet hall that is usually only used on extremely important occasions, is now filled with wizards from all over Europe.
The blood oath bet between Voldemort and Dumbledore spread throughout the world within just a week.
Not only because the stakes are so high, even the future of the entire French wizarding world is at stake, but also because the Triwizard Tournament has not been held for hundreds of years.
This competition, which was jointly organized by three European magic schools, was suspended because its content was too dangerous and almost always resulted in the death of students. Now it has been restarted to decide the outcome of a war. This alternative and unique topic has become the focus of discussion among wizards all over Europe.
In peacetime, the bloody Triwizard Tournament should be stopped, but in such turbulent times as today, ending a war with a duel between small wizards is undoubtedly the best way to reduce casualties and promote peace.
When most wizards learned that this idea was first proposed by Voldemort, they even found it hard to believe.
If this was the solution Dumbledore had first proposed, most people would have thought it was reasonable because it was very much the way Dumbledore would do things.
He always likes to use some childish means to solve things with huge impact. Because of this, not everyone likes him in peacetime. Many rigid and rigorous people privately call him "crazy old man."
Voldemort is the complete opposite of Dumbledore. Even though he is no longer as moody as he was ten years ago, he would not let the outcome of his hard work be decided by a bunch of kids who haven't even graduated yet.
But the fact was that he was the one who proposed it, and Dumbledore readily agreed.
Although the truth is unknown, this does not stop the wizards who support Voldemort from praising his merits.
The purebloods said that the "Great Sir" was a kind gentleman who couldn't bear to see any more bloodshed and wanted to have a fair match to give Dumbledore a chance.
Some people also say that he is giving a chance to the next generation of young wizards. No matter which warrior wins the Triwizard Tournament, they will eventually become famous!
If Voldemort wins, then according to Voldemort's attitude, the winning student will definitely be nominated as a rising star in the British wizarding world or the future European wizarding world.
As for Dumbledore, it goes without saying that if he could regain France's lost territory and liberate France, not to mention Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix, all the muggled wizards in France would treat him as a hero, and it is not impossible that they would even ignore his age and directly nominate him as the new French Minister of Magic.
There are many different opinions, but what is certain is that since Voldemort and Dumbledore have sworn a blood oath, the game that will determine the final outcome of the French War is bound to begin.
While the specific reasons for the competition, referees and events have not yet been determined, the selection of warriors will begin a week after the blood oath is taken.
On this day, all the Ministries of Magic in Europe were invited, because this competition was not just a simple competition between a few magic schools like hundreds of years ago, but it almost determined the future of the entire European continent.
A whole group of reporters from the British Daily Prophet came, and almost all the staff of the Starlight newspaper under the control of the Wuping Line Liberated Zone were also dispatched.
Other countries like Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Bulgaria, Poland, Norway, Finland, etc., as long as the wizarding population is large enough to establish a Ministry of Magic, almost all send officials from the Department of International Magical Cooperation and official media.
Not only in Europe, but even the International Magic Confederation, which had not had a president for ten years, sent people to participate in the election ceremony.
Even many American wizards from across the Atlantic Ocean came. The disputes in Europe did not affect them for the time being, but the pure-blood theory promoted by Voldemort had attracted considerable attention around the world.
Wizards from all over the world were looking forward to the outcome of the war in France, because only after this battle could they truly see whether the wizarding world led by Dumbledore had the ability to compete with Voldemort in the future.
Early in the morning of the day when Voldemort and Dumbledore had agreed to select the champion, students from the two Hogwarts schools, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang were brought by their professors to the magnificent hall of the French Ministry of Magic.
As the leaders of this game, Voldemort and Dumbledore of course came here in person. McGonagall went to Durmstrang in the Hogwarts carriage and picked up all the students boarding there. Durmstrang's own students were not led here by Grindelwald, but by Vice-Principal Vida Rosier.
The same was true for Beauxbatons. Their little-known principal did not come either, but a female professor led a group of students here.
The students to Hogwarts Castle were brought by Vice-Principal Snape himself.
The wizard, whose face remained pale and whose eyes were empty, brought the pure-blood students from grades one to seven to Voldemort, then bowed respectfully and stepped back.
As Hogwarts Castle uses the theory of pure-blood superiority as the basis of its teaching, of course it will only bring students with pure blood to participate in this selection. The same is true for Beauxbatons. This French magic school just completed the distinction between blood-based schools a year ago.
In fact, in addition to the Hogwarts carriage, the students of Durmstrang only brought those who were in the third grade and above and volunteered to participate in this event.
Even though there was no age restriction in the selection of warriors for the Triwizard Tournament, Grindelwald, for the sake of the safety of his students, directly cut off the possibility of students below the third grade to participate, and only selected students who met the requirements and were willing to come.
Compared with Voldemort, who actually ruled two magic schools, Grindelwald was willing to provide help to Dumbledore, but this help was certainly not unreserved.
Dumbledore knew this, and so did John, who had stayed in Durmstrang for some time and saw some things with Grindelwald.
The man who had turned the world upside down for his ideals and the future of the wizarding world would never come out of that tower again, just to help Dumbledore.
Grindelwald never puts personal feelings first. Helping Dumbledore is just a matter of course. He must have other ambitions.
An ambition completely different from that of Voldemort, Dumbledore, and himself fifty years ago.
Only the students in the Hogwarts carriages were brought here. Their number was so small that even compared with other screened schools, their number was basically the same.
All the wizards who came to the banquet hall could see that the oldest of the students led by Dumbledore looked only sixteen or seventeen years old, which means they were just in the fifth grade.
For young wizards, the difference between senior and junior grades is huge.
After all, there are some things that one is only allowed to learn after reaching a certain age, the first of which is magic such as Apparition.
Judging from his age, Dumbledore was already at a huge disadvantage before the start.
This made some wizards who supported the Wizarding Line frown.
However, Dumbledore did not care about those looks. He just looked at the students brought by McGonagall with a gentle smile on his face and patiently asked them about their life in Durmstrang.
The students excitedly told him about their life in Durmstrang, and some younger students asked Dumbledore enviously when they could have their own castle.
Dumbledore still had a smile on his face, but his eyes became extremely serious.
"We will definitely be able to retake our castle."
His promise made the little wizards around him nod firmly.
At this time Hermione looked at Neville, Neville looked at Ron, Ron looked at Hermione, and finally Hermione asked with a worried look on her face.
"Professor, where is Jon?"
They had been taken away from Durmstrang three days ago, and at that time McGonagall had explained to all of them what the Triwizard Tournament was and what it meant.
But not only had Jon never been seen in Durmstrang, but even here he never showed up, which had to attract the attention of Hermione and the others.
Hearing Hermione's question, Dumbledore blinked and spoke softly.
"Don't worry, he will definitely come today."
