Volume 5: The Burning Golden Flame Chapter 327 Auditorium
Today's lunch is very sumptuous.
Even with a discerning eye like Draco, he had to admit that this standard could be called a banquet.
The students of Beauxbatons were specially arranged to sit at a long table not far from the platform, and Draco and Emil, who were selected as warriors, sat on both sides of Voldemort to show the honor of being selected.
In addition, there are journalists from all over Europe who have arrived at the castle in recent days with the students who have returned to school.
They were also arranged at a long table. Even when they were eating, these people carried cameras and quills, and the flash lights flashed from time to time, as if there was news worth reporting before the Triwizard Tournament even started.
Draco knew what their press release would say tomorrow. It would be about the cold reception Dumbledore and his party had received today.
The eldest son of the Malfoy family is looking forward to this.
After that afternoon's long talk with Emil and his son, his fear of the game had diminished a lot, but the impression Jon left on him that night was too deep.
It almost became a nightmare, and he woke up several times because he dreamed that the sharp fang did not pierce Aunt Bella's throat, but pierced his own throat.
Now, just thinking about watching the boy named Jon make a fool of himself can give Draco great psychological comfort.
If the occasion allowed, he even wanted to sneak out to see the angry and humiliated expressions on the faces of those wanted criminal students when they arrived at Hogwarts Castle and found that there was no one to greet them or entertain them.
In fact, whether it was Draco or anyone else at the long table filled with reporters, looking at the sumptuous lunch in front of them, few people were in the mood to pick up their knives and forks.
All the schools that needed to participate in the competition had not arrived yet, but lunch had already begun. There was not even a single house-elf arranged outside the castle to greet them . Anyone could see that this was a show of force from Voldemort to Dumbledore.
After the blood oath was taken, the Triwizard Tournament could of course no longer be cancelled, but the venue of this tournament was Hogwarts Castle. Regardless of whether Voldemort had the right to occupy the castle or not, he was definitely the one who actually controlled the castle.
It was like this was his real home ground. As long as it didn't involve disrupting the game, he could easily cause trouble for Dumbledore and the others.
No matter what the stance of the journalists here is, the most exciting thing for journalists is to encounter a situation like this one. If both sides were in harmony, who would be willing to subscribe to a newspaper specifically to read this?
This kind of tit-for-tat is the best selling point to attract attention.
Among the students in Hogwarts Castle, whether they were pure-blood or half-blood, they were all talking about it. Most of them had a self-righteous smile on their faces. Voldemort's actions brought them great vanity.
According to the bloodline theory, those wanted criminals were all Mudbloods, and some of them even escaped just a year ago.
The students, who had been educated with this kind of hierarchical concept since the beginning of the school year, had a sense of superiority from the beginning to the end, which was what they should have been. However, Jon's performance that night was like a heavy hammer, causing countless spider-web-like cracks in their sense of superiority.
What Voldemort did just now was like applying a patch to their already cracked sense of superiority, while continuing to maintain the pride of their bloodline.
The atmosphere in the auditorium was very relaxed.
This seemed like an ordinary back-to-school party, a party for wizards who supported the bloodline theory.
However, not long after the people at each long table raised their butterbeer, a huge bang suddenly came from the exquisite door of the auditorium!
The locked wooden door was slammed open from the outside by an irresistible force, and a light breeze that ran through the corridor blew into the auditorium with an atmosphere that could not be integrated into this school at all.
The originally noisy environment gradually disappeared, and finally turned into complete silence.
Jon stood in front of the door, holding the wand in one hand. There was no expression on his face. He just stared calmly straight ahead. That direction was exactly where everyone in the auditorium didn't dare to look directly.
Standing next to him was the smiling Dumbledore. Compared to John, he seemed to be in a very good mood, but this happiness was definitely not for this unique "entertainment".
Behind the two of them stood more than twenty students from the Hogwarts carriage and Durmstrang.
There was no humiliation or anger on their faces as Draco had imagined, not even a hint of frustration.
The breeze that poured into the hall from the corridor blew up the hems of their robes that Lily had carefully selected, their V-neck dark blue sweaters with sealed edges, their white shirt collars, and their red and black ties that Magg had carefully checked for each of them before they set out. These wanted criminals seemed more calm than anyone else sitting here.
Hermione raised her head slightly, revealing her delicate collarbone and white neck. Her long chestnut hair was blown by the breeze. She looked at everything in the hall, looking at the dome reflecting the sky with a posture and gaze she had never had before.
Almost no students in the hall recognized her. It's not that the former Hermione didn't leave much impression on them, but the current Hermione was completely different from the ragged little girl hanging in front of the hall.
George was also looking at the ceiling of the auditorium against the blue sky. Everything here was different from what Arthur and Molly had told him, except for this one that had never changed.
"I once told you, Tom, that you were the best student I ever had, but perhaps I should have taken that back a long time ago."
Dumbledore looked at the man sitting in the middle of the long table on the dais.
"Since you have signed the blood oath, since you want to proceed with this competition smoothly, and since you have chosen Hogwarts Castle as the venue for the competition, then what about the sincerity and courtesy that you should show as the initiator of this competition?"
His calm voice echoed throughout the auditorium.
No one knew what kind of expression Voldemort had at this moment, because no one dared to look him in the eye.
But Jon saw it clearly, because Voldemort had been looking at him since he entered the door.
Hearing Dumbledore's words, this man who had become almost the nightmare of all the puffed wizards in Europe did not show any anger or disgust. Instead, a smile appeared on that angular, young and handsome face.
A smile that seemed sarcastic, but was actually very subtle.
"Dumbledore, perhaps it is too early for you to take back what you said. Why don't we wait and see."
His voice was very soft, but everyone in the hall heard it. And while he was speaking, his eyes did not shift to Dumbledore, but remained fixed on Jon.
When he finished speaking, he clapped his hands lightly.
The next moment, a long table appeared horizontally in front of Jon and the others.
The table was less than five meters away from the door of the auditorium, and it formed a right angle with the long table where the students of Hogwarts Castle, Beauxbatons, and the reporters were sitting, but it was directly opposite the long table where Voldemort and the professors of Hogwarts Castle were sitting.
The words he just said sounded like he was giving in for not welcoming Dumbledore and his party, but in fact, most people heard some special meaning in them.
But no matter what he was expressing, it did not prevent Jon and the others from sitting at the long table.
When everyone sat down in their chairs, a sumptuous lunch appeared on the table, just like the ones on other tables. Obviously, Voldemort would not deliberately show differences in dining standards at this point.
The atmosphere in the auditorium obviously changed after Jon and the others came in.
The cheerful conversations had disappeared. Even if there were still students talking, they were only chatting in low voices, making the entire auditorium seem a little dull and depressing.
All their previous fantasies were shattered, and the appearance of Jon and his men was like piercing their fantasies with cold reality. There was no embarrassment, and they would not feel embarrassed at all, because these people had never regarded them as the real masters of the castle.
While the half-blood students who occasionally glanced at the Hogwarts carriage and the Durmstrang students were whispering to each other, a sixth-grade half-blood student was looking in the direction of the hall door in a daze.
"What's wrong? Cedric."
Beside him, a girl asked in a low voice with concern.
The boy named Cedric came to his senses at this time and shook his head as if nothing had happened .
"Nothing, I just thought about some things at home."
This little episode was not noticed by many other people, and even if they had, no one would care about a student who could only be considered a second-class citizen in Hogwarts Castle.
The dull lunch ended quickly. This was not the time to officially announce the start of the competition. Although representatives from the four magic schools were already present, the other three wizards appointed by the International Confederation of Wizards would not arrive until the afternoon.
So after lunch, Voldemort had no more long speeches or deliberate sarcasm to vent, but just left the hall directly.
John and the others did not stay here for long, or rather, Voldemort did not leave them here this time, but sent someone to receive them.
"Ah, Severus, it's been a long time since we last met."
Dumbledore spoke words of remembrance, but neither his tone nor his eyes showed any trace of nostalgia. Instead, they were as dull as stagnant water in a well.
Snape seemed not to care about his attitude. His empty eyes seemed always so cold except in front of his master.
"It seems that there is no need for us to meet, Dumbledore. There are no rooms reserved for you in the castle, and you probably won't live here. Now I will take you to where your carriage should be parked."
After he finished speaking, he took the initiative to walk in front and lead the way.
It seemed that the deputy headmaster of Hogwarts Castle and Voldemort's most trusted subordinate did not have much in the mood to chat with Dumbledore. He did not utter a word and walked on the road in silence.
In fact, Jon has always been somewhat curious about Snape's position in this world.
In the normal world line, he should be a pathetic double agent, lurking among the Death Eaters under the orders of Dumbledore, and even paying with his own life for it in the end.
But that was when Lily was killed by Voldemort in order to protect Harry Potter.
Now it seems that Lily failed to protect Harry, and therefore did not die at the hands of the dark devil, which also left Snape with no reason to betray the Death Eaters.
After all, he had been attracted to Voldemort's ideas since his student days. Not only did he have affairs with the pure-bloods in his own college, he also had correspondence with Lucius, who was several years older than him and had graduated from Hogwarts to become a Death Eater.
However, according to the specific process that John knew, Snape should have had a premonition that his master might not fulfill his promise and let Lily go when Voldemort went to find the Potters.
So that night he humbly went to Dumbledore and begged him to save Lily's life. For this, he was despised by Dumbledore because he didn't care about the life and death of James and Harry.
If the point at which history changed was the night when Voldemort went to find Harry Potter, then Snape should have also found Dumbledore that night.
So, did he make a deal with Dumbledore?
If a deal was struck, why did Dumbledore later send Slughorn undercover to Voldemort?
If the deal had not been reached, how could Voldemort not know about this, and not only forgave Snape but also valued him so much?
Jon felt that there was something fishy going on, but from the current situation, he couldn't see any problem.
Asking Dumbledore directly was even more impossible. John would have no way to explain how he knew that Snape had come to see him that night. The best he could do was to ask indirectly what kind of person Severus Snape was.
But even if I want to ask indirectly, it's not the time.
Snape led them out of the castle and walked along the Black Lake towards the Forbidden Forest. Finally, they stopped in a secluded area that was considered to be on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest.
The Hogwarts carriage was right here, and Hagrid was sitting in the driver's seat, staring at the dense woods in a daze.
"Your activity area is limited to here. You cannot enter the castle or the forbidden forest without permission. In preparation for the next game, the entire forbidden forest has been blocked. You can't go in even if you want to. But I still want to remind you that if you break the rules, we have the right to enforce our rules on those who break the rules."
Snape uttered these last words in a cold voice.
