366 Chapter 365 Office of the Deputy Headmaster (2 in 1)

The arrowheads modelled after Cedric's one, all had a crucial effect.

Kingsley took one of them and experimented personally, and after passing through the warning magic on the outside of the Forbidden Forest without attracting half the attention of the Aurors, all the Witching Horizons' wizards present began to enter the Forbidden Forest using the arrowhead, including Jon.

And once inside the Forbidden Forest, it wasn't that difficult to find Firenze and the others afterwards.

Jon led the way eventually to the spot he and Firenze had agreed upon, a clearing near a cliff where the Centaurs temporarily camped, free from any disturbance from the Aurors for the time being.

Even Firenze, who was known for his wisdom and calmness among the Centaur, had an expression of agitated joy on his face when he saw that Jon had led Kingsley and the others to this place, as they had agreed at the beginning.

After separating from Jon in the Forbidden Forest, the group of Centaurs had likewise sensed the dragon scourge, but with only a dozen old and disabled adults remaining, there was no way they could offer Jon any kind of valuable help.

A few of the Centaurs even felt that Firenze had found the wrong person to work with and that there was certainly no way Jon would be able to hold out in that fight.

It was true that he could deal with a dragon by himself, but once the dragons got together in a swarm, it was simply two different species.

The Centaurs felt that not only was there no chance of Jon helping them anymore, but there was also a great chance that Voldemort himself would capture him and eventually expose the information about them, the only remaining Centaurs.

So they were all persuading Firenze to think of another alternative place to move away from their current temporary base, even if he had more faith in Jon.

But Firenze, just as he had done more than a decade ago, stood his ground and did not have the slightest doubt in Jon.

The only difference was that more than a decade ago, it was not he who had the final say in the Centaur's tribe, whereas now in this small tribe of only a dozen people, he gets to decide by a single vote.

Firenze felt that the more Jon was in big trouble in such a tournament, the more it proved that Voldemort thought very highly of him.

This further proved the ability and importance of Jon as a person, and it became even more important for them, the remaining Centaurs, to cling to this only thigh they could find now.

And now it turned out that Firenze had not made the wrong choice.

Being in the Forbidden Forest, the Centaurs were so closed off that none of them knew what had finally happened on the night of the tournament, and how the dragons had finally returned to peace.

It wasn't until Jon took Kingsley and the others to Firenze today that they began to realise that the Centaurs had finally made the right decision this time!

Firenze knelt down on his first two hooves and gave Jon a heartfelt hug.

"Thank you for bringing people to us as promised Jon, I really appreciate it, you saved our Centaur Tribe in the Forbidden Forest, and although we are almost considered too destitute to come up with anything of value to thank you, this kindness from you will be remembered by all the Centaurs here today, and anything you need from us in the future, you can just ask for it. "

Jon, for his part, showed generosity at this.

"There is no need to offer your thanks, I just know that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, no matter what choices you have made, but now we are friends aren't we?"

At his words, Firenze said nothing more in the way of verbal promises, just looked Jon in the eye and nodded solemnly.

At first, Hagrid acted happy to be reunited with these Centaurs, but soon after he realised that more and more of the names he knew could no longer be found in the group, and then his whole being began to grow silent and sad.

He was so sad, especially after learning from the Centaurs of the death of his once closest friend, the eight-eyed giant spider named Aragog, that he sat alone on a large rock and covered his face in grief.

Jon felt sympathy for Hagrid now but didn't bother him.

He knew Hagrid could adjust on his own; after all, he had lost many of his animal friends in the ten years or so he had been on the run, and Aragog was just one of them, not the first, and certainly not the last.

And Kinsley went to work as soon as he met these Centaurs.

As he had said to Jon at the beginning, even if the Anti-Apparition Charm at Hogwarts Castle could be as powerful as it claimed to be, it could not be so wide-ranging as to cover the entire Forbidden Forest.

The only thing Kingsley and the others had to deal with was evading the strict magical scrutiny of the British Ministry of Magic around the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

But as he himself had said, if they had the means to Apparate into Hogsmeade, they would also have the means to Apparate out of here, and taking Centaurs with them on the way out would certainly not be a problem.

Jon, Kingsley and the group had actually prepared numerous plans to face the unexpected the night before they made their way to the Forbidden Forest, including what to do in between if they were discovered by the British Ministry of Magic's surveillance and surrounded by the Aurors, or what to do if they were discovered by the Professor in Hogwarts Castle and got trapped in the Forbidden Forest.

But none of these possibilities happened, and they had a very smooth process in getting the Centaurs out of the Forbidden Forest, as the number of Witching Horizons' wizards who came to the Forbidden Forest did not outnumber the Centaurs here, so the Apparition was divided into two waves, the first taking half of the men first, and the second waiting for the men to return before making yet another evacuation.

"We will take you to France first, Mr Firenze, and when you are settled there, Dumbledore will meet with you to discuss what arrangements we should make for your people for the future, and also have a chat with you about the astrological signs."

After seeing half of the Centaurs taken away, Kingsley said to Firenze with a serious look on his face.

Firenze nodded back calmly.

Even if Kingsley hadn't said it explicitly, he could tell that the matter of astrological signs had to do with the astrological divination he had talked about that day when he had first met Jon in the Forbidden Forest.

It was not long before there were sufficient wizards from the Witching Horizon to return to the Forbidden Forest, and Kingsley, Jon, Hagrid and Firenze eventually disappeared from the quiet forest with a sound that sounded like a whip striking the air.

What neither Jon, who was always on the alert nor Kingsley, who had plenty of experience in anti-surveillance, noticed was that.

In an unobtrusive shadow, a figure in black robes watched the rescue of the Centaurs.

But from start to finish he had simply stood there, quietly watching what Jon and the others were doing.

***

The Deputy Headmaster's Office at Hogwarts.

It was supposed to be the centre of power in this castle when Voldemort was away for the vast majority of the year.

But the male wizard who had been given this authority, Severus Snape, hadn't exactly been able to hold a position in this castle equal to that of that authority.

His presence is not weak in the minds of the students, being Deputy Headmaster while also being Professor of Potions at the Pureblood House and Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts at the Half-Blood House respectively.

He was always very cold, both in class and in private with his students, always with a cold face that looked like it was frozen in time, something that did not change even when he faced Voldemort.

However, there is a rumour among the half-blood students that the Deputy Headmaster is actually a cold man on the outside and a hot man on the inside and that if you dare to hold out your hand to him at Halloween time, he will grab a handful of candy from his pocket and put it in your hand.

Of course, this was only a rumour, and even those who heard it did not dare to try it on Halloween, and even those who were brave enough to approach Snape would apologise and run away in fear when they met his hollow, cold gaze.

It was fair to say that Snape's reputation in the castle was not low, nor was there any lack of respect from the students.

But for some reason, when he was mentioned alongside Professor Crouch, who only holds the position of Professor of Charms, the students subconsciously felt that even if Deputy Headmaster Snape might be more powerful than Professor Crouch, he should only be considered on a par with him.

Even if the students had no idea of the achievements of the Professor, who had been awarded the First Class Order of Merlin.

They all knew that Professor Crouch was always smiling and kind to everyone and that he was in charge of admissions for the mudbloods, which few professors were willing to do.

Yet it just somehow made the Professor feel awesome, on par with Deputy Headmaster Snape in terms of awesomeness.

If one day, in Voldemort's absence, Snape issues orders to his students to conflict with Crouch, then presumably the students will be split into two factions, with half choosing to listen to Snape and the other half choosing to listen to Crouch.

And because of this, whether it be among the adult Professors or the underage students, Snape's power was split in half by Barty Crouch Jr.

But Snape has never been very concerned about this.

Even when he did fight with Barty in public, the sarcasm in his tone sounded personal, but there was a little complaint that he was taking over what he was supposed to have.

In the political system that Voldemort had established, where bloodlines held power, despite being Half-blood Snape had held higher positions than most of the purebloods in Britain, being an anomaly.

And his personality which seems to be more out of touch with the world is even more bizarre to others.

It was the combination of his blood and personality that led to his current state of isolation under Voldemort's command, and even though he was trusted by Voldemort himself, not many of the Death Eaters sincerely accepted him.

Voldemort had never shown any interest in this situation, or perhaps he was actually happy to see it.

Snape's office was quite ordinary.

It was located on the sixth floor of the castle, a windowless room.

Because of this, it had to be lit with candles even during the day to carry out normal work.

The office was simply furnished, the old wooden bookshelves held nothing but a few simple books and a few glass vials containing an unknown transparent liquid.

Snape was reading a book when Barty Jr. walked in through the door.

It was a copy of what appeared to be a tattered "Moste Potente Potions" book, one of the few forbidden books still in the library, a book that had not been taken to the Ministry by Voldemort and had been left here with Snape.

"You're obviously incredibly talented in Potions, so why are you so fixated on this position as Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts in the first place?"

Snape glanced up at Barty Jr. and had no intention of answering his question.

"When are you going to have the decency to knock on someone's door when entering their office?"

"We're all colleagues, there are times when relations don't need to be so strained, right?"

Barty Jr.'s expression was still as kind as ever, his face beaming like a middle-aged man who really wanted to get along with his colleagues.

"I don't want to waste my time with you, if you have something to say, then you should better say it straight."

Snape was cold and didn't put down the book he was holding.

Barty Jr. however, didn't seem to care about his distancing and sat down directly across from Snape, staring into Snape's eyes with those seemingly calm but actually sinister and poisonous gaze.

"Things are a little out of our league, aren't they? According to what our lord and we had planned initially, that little mudblood was supposed to die right there in the Forbidden Forest."

Snape remained unmoved, his eyes still on the page of the book.

"That is why our lord did not pin all his cards on those dragons, he still has other preparations. When will those dragons' blood I need will be delivered, plus pay attention to the way your men handle it."

Barty Jr. finally reined the pretence from his face, irritated by Snape's rambling like this.

"Never mind those bloody dragons! You know that we all actually believed that this plan in the Forbidden Forest would be foolproof at first! Our lord's backup plan was just a last resort option, what he wanted to do first and foremost was to kill that mudblood! To kill him!"

This time, Snape finally looked up from his book, his voice still cold as he gazed at Barty Jr.

"So you can kill him by shouting at me?"

Barty Jr. suddenly switched back to his usual calmness.

"We can't of course do anything from here, but we can share our lord's worries in other ways."

"Those dragons have failed, what else are you going to do?"

Barty Jr. narrowed his eyes as he said in response.

"What do you think a boy of about fifteen ought to be thinking all day? For example, what did you, Severus, think when you were fifteen?"

As he spoke, he absently glanced over to a picture frame that had been placed on Snape's desk.

It was a picture that hadn't been imbued with developing solutions, a black-and-white picture of a beautiful, quiet, smiling girl.

"A love interest to that mudblood who later married Potter?"

----

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