Chapter 396 394 Catch a Draco

Chapter 396 394. Catch a Draco

When formulating the content of the competition, Dumbledore obviously did not spend much time on this competition.

His goal was very clear, as long as the students representing the Triwizard Tournament could enter the Black Lake openly, and whether they could gain an advantage in this competition was not considered.

This lake obviously has a very special meaning for Hogwarts, a thousand-year-old school. Not only did the four creators cross it before building Hogwarts Castle, but there are also some unspeakable secrets in the water.

Dumbledore believed that after Voldemort became the headmaster of Hogwarts, he must have known the importance of this Black Lake. Just like defending Hogwarts Castle, he also strictly guarded Dumbledore and his team against the Black Lake.

But after really coming here, things don’t seem to be the case.

Jon explored the lake for many days, but did not find any signs of tampering with the lake water. It was as if Dumbledore's guess was completely wrong. Voldemort actually didn't care about the lake at all, and didn't mind what they were going to do to the things in the lake.

But it was right that he didn't do anything and didn't interfere with their contact with the Black Lake. The problem was that Jon didn't find what Dumbledore wanted him to find after so many days at the lake.

This made Jon have a not-so-good guess. He told Dumbledore about his guess. Dumbledore was silent for a long time, and finally asked him to go into the water on the day of the game.

And now, he just wanted to go and see if his guess was right.

The land under the Black Lake was uneven, but Jon didn't have to walk along the ground like on land. As long as he could see the bottom of the lake in his field of vision, he could float in the lake all the time.

His time was precious. Apart from the competition, the immersion spell on him could not last too long. In daily practice, Jon could only stay underwater for an hour and a half at most.

Now he could only spend half an hour to look for the mermaids in the Black Lake.

But in fact, he didn't need to look for so long. Soon, he found something in the southwest corner of the Black Lake.

But what he found was not traces of mermaids, but a dilapidated underwater building.

There were many stone buildings, but they were obviously destroyed a long time ago. There were broken walls and ruins everywhere. Green algae covered the surface of the stone pillars and swayed with the cold water.

Jon frowned. It was certain that this was the underwater residence of the mermaids.

After all, Dumbledore had been a professor and principal in Hogwarts Castle for fifty or sixty years. He certainly had exchanges with the mermaid tribe living in the Black Lake and knew roughly where their territory was.

Jon found this place according to his guidance, but now there are only some fish swimming around.

This made his heart sink slowly.

However, he did not stay here, but went deep into the mermaid territory to try to find the remaining creatures like the centaurs in the forbidden forest.

But until he passed through here, he did not find anything, and did not even see a steel fork commonly used by mermaids.

Just when Jon was disappointed and was about to leave here, he suddenly found a huge ditch at the bottom of the lake at the end of the ruins.

The big ditch was obviously not a product of nature. From the neatly broken stones around and the fish bones half buried in the mud, he could see that it must be caused by a magic similar to the God's Edge.

Such a discovery made him feel a chill in his heart. He didn't know if Dumbledore could do such a thing, but he certainly couldn't do it, even if he cast a spell with both hands.

He slowly approached the lake ditch and finally froze at the edge of the ditch.

The deep black ditch that seemed to lead to hell was filled with pale bones!

The upper body of these bones is basically in the shape of a human, but the lower body has no leg bones, but a skeleton like fish bones!

Looking at the dense skeletons, Jon finally understood where these disappeared mermaids went. Just by looking at the number of bones in this lake ditch, he could roughly determine it.

This mermaid tribe in the entire Black Lake has been completely extinct.

If Voldemort really wanted to kill them, the psychological burden would be less than killing all the centaurs. After all, mermaids are creatures that have less contact with wizards and are closer to animals than humans. But it is likely that this demon has no psychological burden, whether it is killing all the centaurs or killing all the mermaids.

Jon's heart is a little heavy.

He is not sad for these mermaids who have never met before, but he is once again stressed for seeing the bloody rule of Voldemort.

The bloodline policy implemented by this man is not just for his own power. He really does not regard any life other than pure-blood wizards as human beings.

Centaurs and mermaids may be defined as beasts rather than humans in the magical world, but even with this definition, these species are all thinking, emotional, and civilized beings. Just like the enduring question, if pigs could speak and think and have emotions like humans, would you still eat pork?

From this perspective, the Muggles have actually become remarkable under his rule, but they have become slaves.

But if we look ahead, if one day Voldemort really fulfills his long-cherished wish and becomes the master of the world, how will he view Muggles?

Jon took a last look at the piles of bones in the lake ditch, which was probably the same as the fate of the mermaid.

In the end, Jon left the mermaid's territory with a heavy heart. Originally, he looked for the mermaid just to confirm his guess and try to find some clues. Now that the mermaids are gone, he will naturally not stay here for long.

But now that the clues are gone, Jon has no clear goal for what he will do next.

The biggest purpose of Dumbledore asking him to enter the Black Lake is to find the giant squid living in the Black Lake. Jon has been by the lake for so many days and has not found any signs of squids. Later, he learned from Cedric that since he entered school, he has never seen the legendary behemoth living in the lake with his own eyes.

Combined with the experience of these mermaids, Jon already had a bad premonition in his heart, but in the end he still had to check it out himself.

Originally, he wanted to get some information about the squid from the mermaids, but now it was obviously not feasible.

Just as he was circling the Black Lake and trying his luck around, a figure hiding timidly in a pile of water plants suddenly caught Jon's attention.

He looked at Draco, who was surrounded by water plants and dared not look in his direction, with interest.

"What are you doing here? Are you taking a shit?"

Draco's face flushed immediately. Logically, after he and Lucius witnessed his father and Jon make that deal, he didn't have to be afraid of seeing Jon, but that night in the banquet hall of the French Ministry of Magic was always lingering in Draco's mind.

But although the gill grass allowed him to move freely underwater, he couldn't speak like Jon. As long as he opened his mouth, he could only drink the water in the Black Lake.

Fortunately, Jon kindly helped him release a bubble head spell. When Draco saw Jon casting the spell, a look of despair appeared on his face. Then he realized that he had not been knocked out, knocked down or killed, but could speak.

"No, it's not."

"Then what are you doing? Are you planning to ambush me here to give me a surprise? Eliminate me to prove yourself in the first round?"

In the face of what he said, Draco just gritted his teeth and finally took out two pearls from his pocket.

"Give it to you! All for you! Let me go, don't let me go out in such a shame! They have talked about me a lot behind my back! They say I am a waste among pure bloods!"

Seeing his actions and words, Jon couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

He came to Draco with his wand in his hand with great interest and glanced at the two pearls in his hand.

"You've got quite a lot. It's only been a short time and you've only found two of the ten. If you find one more, you'll be stable and not last. You didn't actually hide another one, did you?"

"These two are all!"

Draco was a little furious, angry at his own cowardice and Jon's aggressiveness.

Jon reached out and took the two pearls from Draco's hand. The young master of the Malfoy family was obviously very distressed.

He was lucky to find two pearls so quickly. When he first went down to the Black Lake, he found a fish with a pearl in its mouth. He was smart not to attack the fish immediately, but to follow the fish from a distance. In the end, he found another pearl where it passed.

Then Draco didn't wait any longer. He just killed the donkey and knocked the fish unconscious. He took the pearl in its mouth.

As a result, before he could get excited and imagine that if he won the first place in this game, he could wash away the stigma of failure and become powerful among pure bloods again, he saw Jon floating over.

In a panic, Draco could only choose a piece of water grass nearby. He didn't have time to think about whether he would be entangled, and hid in it immediately.

However, even so, he still couldn't escape Jon's clutches.

Jon was not angry at his sudden temper, but looked at him with a smile.

"How about we make a deal, Master Malfoy?"

Draco immediately became alert, and his body, which had already come out of the water grass, shrank back again, as if this would give him some sense of security.

"What do you want to do?"

Jon shrugged.

"Don't be so alert to me. Anyway, your father and I can barely be called business partners, right? I have a very good suggestion. I will give you a pearl, and you tell me the location of Emil Lestrange, how about it?"

Hearing Jon's suggestion, Draco widened his eyes.

"These pearls were originally mine!"

"But you just gave them to me, so of course they are mine now."

"I can't say that!"

"You are quite loyal?"

"Emile was asked by the headmaster to win the first place in the Triwizard Tournament. If I help you deal with him, I will be against the headmaster. If you expose this matter later, my whole family will be in danger!"

Jon looked at Draco in amazement.

"You're not stupid."

Jon's praise not only did not make Draco feel proud, but full of humiliation.

"Well, but we can also talk about another deal." Jon looked at him calmly, "The same pearl as a reward, as long as you can tell me something valuable to me, what about the rumors you heard about this lake in school?"

Draco was a little hesitant at this time.

Of course, he wanted to earn the pearl back from Jon, but he knew that he couldn't beat Jon at all. Even his father was extremely cautious when facing him, not to mention him.

"Why do you want to know this?" Draco asked cautiously.

"Don't worry, it's definitely not to trick you. If I really want to do something to you, wouldn't it be better to use the Imperius Curse on you now than to waste time with you here?"

Draco believed this, and even believed that Jon knew the Imperius Curse.

Does this need to be questioned? For other fourth-year students, it may be necessary, but Jon Green is certainly an exception.

If he said he didn't know the Imperius Curse, this matter would need to be questioned.

Such words made Draco let down his guard a little, and he thought about it carefully.

"I heard from the seventh grade students that there used to be a giant squid living in the Black Lake, but now it's gone."

"Then do you know when the last time someone saw this giant squid was?"

"I don't know."

Jon shook his head in disappointment.

"Then this one doesn't count, are there any others?"

"This is unfair! No matter what I say, you don't count. You're not treating me like a fool!"

"Do you have the right to choose? Try it and maybe you can earn a pearl from me. If you don't try, you will get nothing."

Draco gritted his teeth and continued to think for a long time before hesitating again.

"There is another one that I don't know if it counts as a rumor. I heard from my father that when Hogwarts was still sorted, the Slytherin College lounge was underground and deep in the Black Lake."