บท 386: Chapter 385 Snape: The Effect of the Potion Has Begun (2 in 1)

If Jon had heard what Snape was saying right now, he would have greeted him with a big fat slap on the mouth.

Even if they were enemies, they couldn't think of someone as being so lecherous, could they?

It was also while Jon and Lee were hurling insults at each other that Hermione quietly arrived inside the Headmaster's office.

Instead of bothering to avoid Auror from the ground floor again and then climbing up to the seventh floor, she simply asked Fawkes to use Apparition and take her straight into the interior of the office.

Fawkes had been inside once before when looking for the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets alone, plus this had been Dumbledore's office which makes it his former lair, so he was kind of at ease with it.

Fawkes deliberately picked a corner near the tower and landed with Hermione, but the golden-red glow still caught the attention of the cold-blooded creature in the office.

This particular snake was not as exaggerated in size as the basilisk, but nonetheless still massive in form, with bright green scales on its surface.

Nagini.

Voldemort's pet, a fully bestialized Maledictus.

But Hermione obviously had no idea of the snake's background or identity; as it stood, she was kind of clueless about the snake's condition, but there was no need for her to worry about dealing with it.

The moment Nagini and Fawkes locked eyes, the snake and the bird dashed off at each other!

They had crossed paths once before, not that much time had passed since that day, so it wasn't an unfamiliar meeting.

And Hermione didn't hesitate after landing, the evening gown she was wearing had been replaced with the loose robe she wore usually, and from the pocket of her robe she pulled out a silver instrument with the appearance of a lighter.

The next moment Fawkes rushed towards Nagini, she flicked the switch on that silver lighter!

"Boom!"

At the same time, the magical portraits that had not been on the walls when Jon entered the headmaster's office, but were now hung all over, burst into countless sparks, and then the frames shattered, accompanied by a faint howling sound, and all the portraits went up in flames.

The only problem was that the lighter was too loud to be used under normal circumstances, which was why Jon and Lee were needed in the great hall to attract Crouch and Snape's attention and hold them on the ground floor.

At the same time, Hermione also had to keep an eye on the movements of those patrolling Aurors in the castle, making sure that none of them came near the seventh floor before choosing to make a move.

Such opportunities were not easy to find, but fortunately, all the actions so far had gone smoothly; Fawkes was not even afraid of a Basilisk, so he had no problem dealing with Nagini, a venomous snake.

Putting away the silver lighter, Hermione's attention was finally available to focus on the four relics that lay in the middle of the desk, in the middle of the office.

***

"Well, it's about time, we need to leave now for a trip to the little garden outside the castle."

Lee glanced at the wall clock directly in front of the great hall and whispered to Jon.

Jon nodded back.

"Hurry up and get out first and find a place where no one is looking at you to drink the voice-changing potion."

"Hey, how can you do that, with Hermione's appearance, doesn't my voice sound more stimulating?"

"If you keep throwing such disgusting crap at me in here, I'll blow your mouth off along with George's tomorrow!"

"I was wrong! You might as well just blow up George's, he's more abominable compared to me!"

The two kept their mouths shut while they stood up from their positions together, Lee naturally took Jon's arm, Jon controlled himself not to expose anything, but he couldn't help the goosebumps that ran up his arms.

"Why do I feel like you're shaking?" Lee whispered.

"Is it possible for you to let a man hold you and not shiver?"

"Relax, why can't you just imagine me as Hermione herself."

"If you can just make sure you keep your mouth shut, then maybe I can do that."

The movement of them getting up was actually noticed by quite a few people, Jon's every move was watched, even the Aurors around him who were on guard had most of their attention on him.

Because Jon was so good at making trouble happen, and it's easier to let your guard down at a time like this when there's so much buzz, the more Lucius told his men to keep an eye on Jon.

If Jon had said yes to his request for cooperation, Lucius would have turned a blind eye and let Jon do whatever he wanted.

But after being turned down like that, it was like a bit of a love-hate situation, and Lucius felt he had to be loyal to Voldemort to deserve the high position and status he had been given.

So he had actually been watching Jon and Hermione tonight, and knowing what he knew about Dumbledore all these years, Dumbledore wouldn't be Dumbledore if he didn't let his students pull something off on Yule night.

However, just as Lee took Jon's arm and the two of them headed out together, a pair of male and female students suddenly stopped in front of them.

This made all those staring at Jon go silent, and because of this, the entire great hall went quiet for a moment, with only the Weird Sisters band in the centre of the stage still playing dance music.

Jon narrowed his eyes at Emil and his dance partner who were in front of him, mentally wondering if this was some kind of plan on the part of Crouch and Snape.

But what he didn't see was that Crouch was now showing more aggravation now on his part rather than what he had expected.

"What's going on here? What was that Lestrange fool trying to do over there?"

Snape spoke as coldly as ever.

"You've called him a fool, do you think I would understand what a fool thinks?"

Everyone else in the great hall didn't know what Emil was trying to do either, but everyone was looking forward to the show.

The vast majority of the people here were students from Hogwarts Castle, and Jon is their current enemy now, and although Emil was also representing their Mr Headmaster in the tournament, he wasn't a student of Hogwarts after all.

So whatever conflict occurred between them, these people only had the mindset of watching the show.

Emil's face was flushed, and he looked like he had been drunk.

It was normal, he was a seventh-year student and now an adult, a few drinks were nothing, but he was clearly in the wrong state.

"Jon Green!"

Emil called out Jon's name.

Jon looked at him with disinterest, not intending to respond, just waiting to see what this young lord of the Lestrange family would pull off now.

"Don't think that just because you won the first tournament task you've proved to be better than I! Next, I will show everyone who really deserves to be called a champion!"

Jon brought himself into Emil's point of view, and he was getting embarrassed for the young lord who wasn't even sure if he was sober or not at the moment.

He could also see that Emil stopping himself was certainly not some sort of plan by Crouch, it was just the typical case of the boy having a couple of drinks, plus having his dance partner around to chat about the first tournament task, and getting some stimulation to come and prove he wasn't some loser in front of Jon and put up another flag for the rest of the tournament in the process.

After seeing what kind of state Emil was in, Jon genuinely said.

"For you to say something like that to me on this occasion is proof enough that you're a true champion."

Emil didn't hear the true meaning of Jon's words and thought he was really complimenting himself, his frustrated heart floating a little under the influence of alcohol.

"Hmph, you have a bit of self-awareness, but don't think I'm going to hold back on you in the next tournament task because of this."

And while Emil was talking, the female companion beside him kept her gaze focused on Lee.

Lee didn't flinch from her gaze but held his chest high, but beyond that, there was no more provocation.

He knew that he could not speak without a voice-changing potion and that if he did, he would be exposed, so he had to try to keep a low profile.

But the girl from the Selwyn family clearly had no intention of letting him off the hook, and she opened her mouth with an impish smile on her face.

"Hello, Miss Granger, I've heard a lot about you for a long time now."

Lee, too, put on a show, nodding slightly as if giving a response but not making a sound.

Such a gesture seemed a little arrogant, but it was reasonable.

Jon, however, didn't want to be here any longer, as soon as the subject came up with Hermione, the chances of Lee exposing himself were high, and they had to get out of this place.

But sometimes things just don't work out the way they're supposed to.

Just as everyone's attention had drifted away from them, and they began to follow the music back onto the dance floor, Selwyn looked as if she was irritated by this arrogant stance of Lee's, and she lowered her voice but raised her pitch and tone of voice.

"I've heard of Miss Granger's most famous debut, being hung like a stinky fish over the entrance hall behind here, but unfortunately I was in France at the time and couldn't see it for myself!"

These words instantly silenced the scene, even to the extent that Emil sobered up a little from the shock.

He stared wide-eyed at his partner, who had just kissed him passionately in the middle of the dance floor nearby, and subconsciously pulled away the arm that she was holding.

Selwyn, however, looked at Lee as if she hadn't noticed Emil's reaction, her eyes burning with jealous rage.

As soon as they entered the great hall, all the attention was on Jon and Hermione, which angered Selwyn, who had thought that being Emile's date would make her the centre of attention.

This anger was especially fierce after she realised that she couldn't pick a single thing wrong with Hermione's appearance and dress.

Emil had also come to block Jon at her instigation, such was the case with men who had just got in the mood for sex, it was hard to refuse a girl's request, and with the alcohol on top of it, he had said what he had said earlier.

Now Emil had obviously been startled awake, but Selwyn hadn't sensed her male companion's reaction.

Lee knew he couldn't speak up at this time no matter what, and although he felt the anger in his heart over the insult to Hermione, he couldn't let it out, so he was still looking at her with a kind of scornful gaze.

Jon's eyes, on the other hand, narrowed at some point, and it was the realization of this that caused Emil to take two more steps backwards.

"If you really know something about that matter, then you should also know what I did back then, right? This Miss Selwyn."

Hearing Jon's words, it was at this time that Selwyn turned her head to look at him, yet the very moment she turned her face away, all her view was covered by a slap!

"Slap!"

The current Jon was certainly not the same as he was two years ago, whether it was in terms of magical attainment, or even more so in terms of physical strength, he had reached the standard of a young adult.

So this slap, which he didn't hold back, slapped Selwyn to the ground on the spot, and the loud sound made a lot of students around to hear it all.

"Ah!!! Don't you dare hit me!"

Selwyn's screams even overshadowed the dance music, and the weird sister's band who were playing stopped what they were doing and looked in that direction.

The whole great hall went silent as all eyes gathered towards their position, and the Aurors who were on guard around them began to move, Lucius even frowned and whispered something into the ear of one of his men.

On the high platform, Barty Jr's face was hard to read.

"What the hell are these two stupid pigs doing!"

The target of his insults was not Jon and Hermione, but Selwyn and Emil, who had got in the way of his plans at the moment.

Snape didn't make a sound, he was quietly watching Jon's next move.

Jon was certainly quick, and he knew what he should most certainly do now.

After slapping Selwyn to the ground, he instantly grabbed Lee's arm, then with another kick, he kicked Selwyn, who was still screaming in front of him, out of the way, and walked briskly towards the outside of the great hall, skipping past Emil, who had just a moment ago been talking grandly, but now had shut up and become mute.

The surrounding Aurors picked up their pace and were about to catch up with him, beating up a pureblood at will in such an event, even if Jon is one of the champions in the tournament, he can't just leave without a proper explanation.

Snape on the platform, however, looked like he had an insight into everything.

"He can't wait, under the influence of the potion he's starting to get all frisky, even going so far as to attack directly in public regardless of the cost."

Barty Jr.'s face also showed joy at the sight of Jon's attempt to leave the great hall immediately, and he instantly left his seat and went to Lucius, who was directing his men and told him to stop all of Auror's actions, then without any explanation, rejoined Snape's side under Lucius' confused look.

"Ah yes, of course, it's not proper to do it in front of so many people in the great hall, they need a quiet place, don't they? We'll just have to help them out and give them such a place."

----

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