Chapter 306 The Best Captain

The smell of blood filled the air, overpowering the sweet smell of cream and fruit wine from the feast earlier.

Although the fire in the fireplace was blazing hot, a chill ran through the hearts of the wizards as they looked at the corpse of Rodolphus and Bella, the dead Death Eaters in the centre of the blood pool.

After ordering all the Death Eaters to put back their wands, Voldemort returned to his seat at the centre of the hall.

His face was expressionless, his gaze cold beyond the permafrost on the Arctic ice fields, and he stared at Jon with a piercing gaze.

After Rabastan's death all the information about this boy had been brought back to him, letting him know exactly who it was that had made a scene in Hogwarts castle, ended up saving many of the Mudbloods, and then later destroyed his setup over a decade ago on the sea, directly causing him himself to be badly injured.

And now, this was the first time Voldemort had seen Jon in person.

Jon noticed the look in his eyes too.

Although he hadn't been able to figure out what the situation was until now, it didn't stop him from recognising Voldemort's young, handsome face with a nose.

While this was the first time Voldemort had seen Jon, it was not the first time Jon had seen him in person.

On the opening night at Hogwarts Castle during his infiltration in his second year, Jon had seen Voldemort for the first time as he exited the great hall when Jon had walked out of the underground floor.

And at this moment, meeting Voldemort's cold and grim gaze, as if he could use his eyes to cast the killing curse to take his life, Jon did not avert his eyes in fear, nor did he make any provocation.

He simply locked eyes with him calmly, with silent musings in his mind.

With nothing more than pain, doubts, and curiosity in his brain.

"Very good."

Voldemort's cold compliment echoed through the ballroom.

"That was great, a magnificent entrance, a bloody good show, a fearless champion."

It sounded like he was giving a compliment, but no one could hear even a half-hearted tone of praise in it.

The coldness and resentment in those words, though well concealed, could be picked up by anyone with an eye for detail.

The man who had lived as emperor of Britain for ten years, for the first time in his life, even though he could not suppress his anger, still tried to restrain it!

Throughout the ballroom, most of the wizards were silent, except for the members of the Witching Horizons led by Dumbledore.

They were all afraid that Voldemort might not be able to control his anger and just go on a killing spree here.

But there were a few sober wizards who knew that no matter what, Voldemort won't make a move tonight.

It wasn't because he was afraid of Dumbledore, or that he was afraid of anything.

Rather, he had made a blood pact with Dumbledore before the selection process for this Triwizard Tournament had officially begun.

There was no way a magic pact of this level could be torn up so easily.

The killing curse he had just used as soon as Jon had appeared, the one that Dumbledore had responded to, had been a tentative shot at the very edge of the pact, but going on a killing spree here would have been tantamount to breaking the pact altogether.

That was why when Dumbledore said, "If you no longer feel that there is no point in holding this Triwizard Tournament after this, then you can simply strike now, Voldemort." these words he suppressed his anger.

Voldemort looked at Jon and Dumbledore one last time and said in an almost gritted tone.

"I hope to see you shine this brilliantly at a subsequent event as well!"

After the last syllable had fallen, his entire body disappeared from the spot.

Along with him, the bodies of Rodolphus and Bella in the middle of the blood also disappeared, leaving only a large, blindingly bright red puddle on the scene.

After he left, a brief moment of silence fell over the ballroom, then an even louder clamour erupted than when Jon had first appeared!

With the victims' "families" present, most of them were afraid to show their emotions too much, but now that Voldemort was gone, they could finally let out the emotions they had been suppressing.

The Death Eaters, each with a cold face, followed their lord's lead and looked at Jon as if they had marked his face in their hearts, then left the scene with the Apparition, leaving only the French Ministry of Magic's native officials to clean up the mess.

Once the Death Eaters were also gone, the first to respond were the wizards who were already inclined to Dumbledore's side.

The reporter from the Witching Horizon's own magical daily, the Starlight, rushed towards Jon as if she had a Firebolt broom under her heels, dragging her cameraman with her.

They were followed by the diplomats of the Northern European Ministry of Magic, who were also on the side of the Witching Horizons, along with their newspaper, who were friendly to the Witching Horizons due to their loyalty to Grindelwald.

Then there was the group of people who had never taken a particular stance and were part of the eating crowd, most of them also began to surround the area where Dumbledore and the Hogwarts students stood.

The rest of the wizards, who preferred Voldemort's camp, had gathered in small groups, still digesting the shocking spectacle that had taken place tonight, knowing full well that because of this incident, the Triwizard Tournament, which was not due to start for another four months, had generated more heat than previously expected.

It wasn't just because two of Voldemort's most important men had been killed in public on such an occasion.

The point is that the "murderer" was too young and still one of the champions competing!

But regardless of who it was, they didn't really have a chance to approach Jon.

Even Witching Horizons' own newspaper reporter was prevented from getting close to Jon by George, Fred, Neville and the students, and no matter how many flashes they had turned on, they couldn't get any pictures of what was going on inside.

McGonagall wiped her tears quietly as she carefully cleaned the blood and wounds on Jon's body.

Jon was badly injured by Bella's dagger, which had poked two holes deep into the bones in his leg and hand, and there was no telling if the dagger had been poisoned or not.

Instead of taking him out directly via Apparition, in fear of causing further tears to his wounds while doing so, McGonagall very expertly directed the few other girls who had gathered to show them how to sprinkle potions on Jon's wounds and then wrap bandages around them.

Hermione's eyes were red, and her hands were trembling as she sprinkled the powder on the wound in Jon's hand.

Gabrielle, who was still holding the candelabra that Jon had asked her to look after, with the only remaining strap of her school bag dangling over her arm, looked at Jon lying in Professor McGonagall's arms, pursing her lips and wiping away the tears that she had just held back when facing Bella.

Ron was feeding the Blood-Replenishing Potion into Jon's mouth by himself, and he had never been so careful, as if he was afraid that if he moved a little too much, the vial would cause Jon harm as well.

No matter how impatient the outside world was to find out who this boy who had killed two of Voldemort's trusted men was, and how he had managed to pull off such a feat, they were not able to approach him.

The students and professors at Hogwarts, on the other hand, had no questions or excitement.

Or rather they were the only ones present who felt bad for Jon's injuries at the moment.

Jon looked over the blood-replenishing potion that he estimated Ron wouldn't be able to finish feeding him in eight lifetimes and just tilted his head and drank it all in one go, then quipped at Ron.

"I'm not so fragile that I need to be fed even this potion bit by bit."

Ron huffed and tried to hammer a fist into his shoulder, but retracted it halfway up.

Jon then reached out with his intact one hand and tousled Gabrielle's hair with a gentle smile.

"Gabrielle was very awesome, if it wasn't for Gabrielle I might be dead by now, I'll buy you another new school bag and a new story book!"

Gabrielle broke into a smile as tears fell and rubbed her head against Jon's hand.

"Jon's the best."

Jon turned his attention to Hermione and winked at the red-eyed, sad-looking girl.

"Look, you're doing it again. Don't beat yourselves up, you're not holding me back, on the contrary, you're the ones who have helped me the most."

Hermione didn't make a sound, she nodded silently, it was unknown what she had in her mind right now.

Finally, Jon and Dumbledore's eyes met.

Jon didn't say anything, he just smiled.

"I haven't ruined Hogwarts' reputation with all these people around, have I, Professor?"

Dumbledore took off his own glasses, his expression as gentle and soft as it could be.

"No matter when or where, Hogwarts would be proud of you, Jon. Even on land, you're the best captain this school has ever had!"

[End of this volume]

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