Chapter 342: Chapter 341 Asking for Help Late at Night (2 in 1)
Jon's efficiency in obtaining Golden Snitches was indeed very high.
In a single afternoon, he had already got close to seventy golden snitches from around the three dragons, leaving him with five more targets to go.
Based on current estimates, by the time he had visited all the dragons he had now found, he would probably be able to harvest up to two hundred golden snitches.
This was already a considerable number, after all, the total number of golden snitches the judges had placed in the forbidden forest was only five hundred, and even if the three people who are currently competing in the forbidden forest shared them out equally, there would only be a hundred and sixty-six each.
And just as Jon was about to end his task for the day and find a place to rest and cook dinner for the night, he was approached by someone unexpected in the night.
When Jon had eaten and drunk enough, and Hoss had gone out on his own to hunt for food, a sound of unmasked footsteps disturbed him just as Jon was about to burrow into his transfigured tent and begin to rest.
Jon gripped the wand and retracted from his tent, then looked through the moonlight to see the figure emerging from the depths of the forbidden forest.
It was a man dressed entirely in black robes, and he wore a broad hood over his head, making him unrecognisable at first glance.
Jon narrowed his eyes and said in a weary voice.
"So, you're now going to ignore even the most basic rules of the tournament and just let someone come into the Forbidden Forest to deal with me?"
He subconsciously suspected that this was someone sent by Voldemort, and it might even be Voldemort himself.
Even if there was a blood pact as a restraint, this unbreakable pact was not magic without a way to resolve it like the Unforgivable Curses after all, and if Voldemort was really willing to be ruthless and bear part of the cost, the pact was not impossible to be broken.
However, the black-robed figure responded quickly to Jon's question by simply and bluntly removing the hood he wore on his head, revealing a young, handsome and pale face.
It was a boy not more than a few years older than Jon, and Jon could obviously perceive some familiarity when he looked at him.
"I mean no harm."
The nervous Cedric held up his hands that weren't holding his wand, he had risked it all again by running out tonight.
But he had no choice, he needed help and the only person who could help him in this forbidden forest right now is Jon.
Jon was obviously a little taken aback by the face of Cedric, but he could sense no hostility from the boy, and the wand held in his hand slightly lowered its tip a little, but his gaze never strayed.
"Who are you?"
"Cedric, Cedric Diggory, a sixth-year student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry's Half-Blood House."
Cedric breathed a little sharply as he introduced himself.
Jon's original wariness dropped slightly at the name, a name that he certainly remembered from the original books, which left a strong presence even in the original.
But Jon didn't completely let his guard down.
"Mr Diggory, if I remember correctly, according to the rules of the Triwizard Tournament, no uninvolved persons from either side are allowed to interfere privately in the tournament during its time in the session. So what did you come to see me this night for? Trying to avenge the young Malfoy lord from your school?"
Hearing Jon's words, Cedric waved his hands in a rush and said in a sharp voice.
"No, I don't have that in mind, I came to you to ask for your help, you're the only one who can help me help the centaurs in this forbidden forest, they are barely holding on."
Jon's brow furrowed.
"Help the Centaurs?"
"Yes! The Centaurs, they've been suffering persecution from the British Ministry of Magic, and even this one small tribe in the Forbidden Forest is being pushed and driven out by the Aurors. They have been pushed to the brink of extinction, and only some of them are still surviving. I met them three years ago when I got lost in the Forbidden Forest during a Care of Magical Creatures class and was rescued by a Centaur, and I've been trying to help them find a way to survive ever since. They asked me to help contact Dumbledore, but I never had the chance, and even the wagon where Dumbledore is now is under strict surveillance at all times, and there was no way for me to sneak closer without avoiding the others."
"So I had to come to the Forbidden Forest to find you, Mr Green, I've seen the Starlight's article on you and of course there's the Daily Prophet one, but I know that it's just an outright smear by the English papers, you're a man who has accomplished many things, surely there must be a way to save those Centaurs too, right?"
Cedric told of his situation and the reason he had found Jon, then looked at him with a gaze full of pleading.
Jon, however, was unmoved as he asked in a cold voice
"How did you find me?"
"The Forbidden Forest is very familiar to me, I have been here countless nights over the past three years, there are also many magical creatures who are my friends here, and it was them who helped me find you."
"How did you get out of that castle?"
"Secret passage, I discovered a secret passage to Hogsmeade behind the mirror deep in the corridor on the fourth floor, I climbed out of that passage whenever I needed to and then entered the Forbidden Forest from the Hogsmeade side."
"I remember that this whole zone was heavily fortified by those judges to restrict the entry of uninvolved people into the Forbidden Forest, so an ordinary student can't enter this restricted area, no?"
"It was the Centaurs who gave me help, they gave me this."
Faced with Jon's question, Cedric didn't even hesitate for a moment to tell him the whole truth, holding a stone-made arrowhead in his hand.
"With this, I can enter and leave the Forbidden Forest freely without alerting the judges of the tournament."
Jon nudged his wand and the Arrowhead flew from Cedric's hand and then landed in his own, and from this item, Jon did feel a magic that was different from that of a wizard.
Upon hearing the responses and explanations from Cedric, Jon had come to believe him somewhat, not only because his responses all made sense, but also because the name Cedric was worthy of some trust.
Jon lowered his wand in his hand as he looked at the boy who had ventured out of the castle and pondered for a few seconds before saying.
"Tell me all about the Centaurs."
Hearing his words, Cedric's face showed obvious joy, and he couldn't help but move a little closer to Jon, then sat down cross-legged on the opposite side of Jon by the campfire, telling him everything he knew about the Centaurs in a fast but clearly worded manner.
"Firenze, who is the current chief of the surviving Centaur tribe in the Forbidden Forest; they originally consisted of a small tribe of a few dozen people, but now they have been killed by the Aurors and there are less than twenty left, more than half of whom are still children and women."
"None of them tried to escape from the Forbidden Forest and has spent all these years in the depths of the Forbidden Forest fighting the Aurors who came in and tried to wipe them out completely, and Firenze was right to do so, even though the Forbidden Forest is right next to Hogwarts Castle, it is the place they know best from their long years of survival as well. On the contrary, some of the Centaur who escaped from the Forbidden Forest were besieged by the Aurors and all were eventually captured or killed."
"At the end of last term, I learned about the Triwizard Tournament being held at Hogwarts Castle and that Dumbledore and you guys would be coming over, so I told Firenze and the others about it, and we planned to wait until the time Dumbledore came to Hogwarts Castle to find an opportunity to make contact with him and ask him to help get the Centaurs out of the Forbidden Forest. But before we could even begin to plan, the arrival of this group of dragons in the Forbidden Forest last week completely blocked Firenze and the others inside their camp."
Jon frowned and interrupted Cedric's words before he spoke up at this point.
"You are claiming that those dragons blocked them inside their camp?"
Cedric said with a nod.
"When those dragons were sent to the Forbidden Forest, one Norwegian Ridgeback and two Ukrainian Ironbelly were placed just a short distance away from them to claim their territory, and those three dragons blocked all the entrances and exits to the camp where Firenze and the others had managed to flee, and with those three dragons, there was no way for them to communicate with the outside world and get supplies. "
Jon pulled out the rudimentary map of the forbidden forest that he had drawn up with Hoss this morning while searching for these dragons that had been released into the forbidden forest.
"Ukrainian Ironbelly and Norwegian Ridgeback Dragons."
As he searched the map according to Cedric's description of those three dragon species, he brought it over to Cedric's attention as well.
"Is the Centaur camp you mentioned within this area?"
After Jon had shown him the map to identify the area, Cedric shook his head.
"It's not on this map, Firenze and the others have placed their camp on the far outer edge of the area opposite Hogwarts Castle for safety, it's pretty much in the middle of nowhere."
After listening to him, Jon put the map away again.
He stared at the campfire in front of him for a moment before finally returning his gaze to Cedric's.
"Mr Diggory."
"You can just call me Cedric."
"Well Cedric, I'd love to believe your word, but you know that this tournament I'm currently participating in is going to represent not only myself but a whole group of people who are being oppressed."
Jon and Cedric looked at each other.
"So to be on the safe side during this you will have to prove yourself to me in one way or another."
Cedric replied without hesitation.
"I'll gladly accept any method to prove myself!"
Jon held his gaze, a hidden magic force bridging the gap between their eyes like a bridge.
"Then please relax and ease your mind for a moment."
Cedric sensed what Jon was planning to do to him, but without any semblance of resistance, he just went along with Jon's words and completely withdrew all his mental guard.
"Are you really Cedric Diggory?" Jon asked softly.
"Yes."
"And all those statements you just made about the Centaurs are all complete truth too, without any half-truths?"
"I promise!"
Jon's mastery of the Legilimency Spell was not proficient, and he could only see what the other man was thinking at the moment when their guard was down.
But even if that was all, it was enough if Cedric was willing to cooperate; unless this decent, good-hearted boy in the normal world line had now completely defected to Voldemort and had learned Occlumency deeply enough to falsify his thoughts and memories when thinking about what he had just said, there could be no falsity in what he had just said.
Having ascertained Cedric's truthfulness, Jon did not hesitate as he instantly blew a whistle.
Soon a gust of wind swept in from the distance and Hoss, who was holding blades of grass in his mouth, appeared in front of Jon and Cedric in the blink of an eye.
Jon directed Cedric to climb onto Hoss.
"You sit up in front and show him the way, we'll go find those Centaurs now."
Cedric straddled Hoss's back, then Jon sat behind him, and finally, Jon patted Hoss's belly.
"Run faster, Hoss, follow his lead, we're going to the rescue!"
Hoss snorted and then disappeared into the night like the wind.
"Was it you who was spying on me in the bushes last night?"
Cedric guided the way for Hoss while answering Jon's question.
"It was me, I wasn't ready to find you yesterday and tried to see if I could lure those dragons away by myself, but I failed and almost got caught by the school professors during the day today for sneaking out at night."
Just as they were talking, Hoss suddenly stopped his advance and halted at the bottom of a small hill.
Looking up from their position, they could just make out the behemoth that was sleeping on the other side of the hill - the Ukrainian Ironbelly!
This is the largest known dragon in the world, and Jon had never thought that the Judges would choose such a species to be released into the Forbidden Forest, as their sheer size would have too much of an impact on the ecology of the forest.
The terrain will be altered where the Ukrainian Ironbelly lives, and this type of dragon can leave a basin-like crater in the ground just by lying down a little, and after the game is over, even if they are transported elsewhere, the altered ecology will not be restored.
But it is hard to judge how difficult they are to deal with, because of their weighty and big figure, the Ukrainian Ironbellys are not agile, and it would be quite a bit easier to catch golden snitches around them than other dragon species.
But Jon and Cedric hadn't come on this trip just to catch the golden snitches, but to cross the area where this dragon is and make their way to the Centaur's camp.
Getting off Hoss, Jon didn't bother to look at the Ukrainian Ironbelly to see how to deal with it but first started to look at the surrounding terrain.
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