Chapter 369 The Malfoy Family (2 in 1)

"Another person? Who is it!"

Lady Grey's voice couldn't help but raise in pitch at the news.

Hermione didn't hide it and said calmly.

"Jon Green, the champion who is now representing us in the Triwizard Tournament."

Lady Grey was certainly no stranger to Jon's name, and she said with some discontent in her expression as if recalling something.

"Of course, I remember him, a rude young ma-"

The words hadn't even barely escaped her lips before Lady Grey was acutely aware that something had changed in the way Hermione was looking at her.

It was a bad kind of change, clearly tinged with a distancing that made Lady Grey feel vaguely disturbed.

"Wait! I didn't mean to insult him, it's just that he refused to help me right off the bat, and that's why I said that! It was just my way of expressing some of my unhappiness about the whole thing, you can't hold that against me for that!"

Hermione just looked at her coldly.

"Of course, you have the right to express your unhappiness with him in front of me, but equally, I have the right to express my dislike for such words that you voice out, Lady Grey. If you continue to speak ill of Jon in this way in front of me, then that is the end of our relationship and commitment to each other."

Words like these were clearly threatening, and if Lady Grey had acted in her usual manner, she would have turned away with no qualms.

As a Ravenclaw's daughter, no one had ever spoken to her like that, the worse that could happen was that she would find someone else to work with.

But this time Lady Grey had a strong feeling that Hermione was most likely the only one left who was willing and able to help her, and if she did just break things off between the two of them just like that, there would probably be no more chances in the future regarding the retrieval of the Diadem.

"Well, it was my fault, Miss Granger, I shouldn't have spoken like that, and I apologise for my presumption."

Hearing her put a humble enough tone in her voice eased the expression on Hermione's face.

She had never been an insensitive person, but that was excepted in the matter concerning Jon.

"I accept your apology, Lady Grey, and it's not just for your presumption, but the information about that diadem you speak of was obtained by Jon who had to sneak into Hogwarts Castle by himself at great risk in the first place. To find the Book of Admittance and the Quill of Acceptance, which were hidden in the tower directly above the Headmaster's office, he defeated the basilisk guarding the door and entered the Headmaster's office and saw four items laid out on a table in the middle of that room."

Hermione stared into Lady Grey's eyes and said, word by word.

"A locket, a diadem, a sword and a cup."

Lady Grey exclaimed subconsciously.

"These must all be the relics of the four Founders! Although I don't know exactly what the other three besides my mother left behind, they must all be treasures of equal value, since they can be placed alongside the diadem!"

Then she added with some impatience.

"So what? Did that boy take any of these things out of there? As a student of Hogwarts, it's only right for him to bring the relics of the four Founders out of there, right?"

As rude as it was, Hermione couldn't help but look at Lady Grey as if she was looking at an idiot.

"Please don't get carried away by your desire ma'am, the purpose of Jon's infiltration into the castle had nothing to do with those four relics at all, and he had no way of determining if they were a sort of bait and trap. So of course he wouldn't risk touching those relics just like that."

Lady Grey felt a pang of discomfort at the gaze Hermione was giving her, but she was also aware that Hermione was not wrong.

The students had grown more mature and intelligent now, and in the nearly thousand years she had spent at Hogwarts Castle before, she had never suffered such indignation at the hands of some fourth year, even Riddle had buttered her up like a licking dog (simp) back then, although it was later confirmed that Riddle sucked up to her to get what she had by the end, while she had become a clown.

Let's just say that the Hogwarts students who had gone through the exile era had become nothing like the students who had lived during the peacetime before.

Not only Hermione and Jon, but Lady Grey had also come into contact with a number of students like Neville, Ron and some of the senior students when they were in Lyons, and after they heard her "confession" and "request", they all looked at Lady Grey with strange eyes and then turned away from her, even Hermione was like that at first, and if it wasn't for the fact that Lady Grey was so persistent till the end. Hermione would not have agreed to do her a favour to keep herself safe in the Castle.

"Well maybe you're right, with the situation he was facing it was not something he should have risked." Lady Grey looked at Hermione with eager eyes, "But you promised me, Hermione, now you know where the diadem is, so you'll help me get it back, right?"

Hermione just said faintly.

"I did promise you, but please also remember what I said then, I can try to help you with this if it's not dangerous and doesn't interfere with my own task in the castle."

"I remember that, I will not force you to risk your life, and you must also genuinely try to help me."

Lady Grey pleaded humbly.

***

Jon relayed to Dumbledore in full what he had learned from meeting Dobby and talking to him today.

But Dumbledore didn't look all that surprised as he listened, and he said with a stoic look on his face.

"I don't really find anything unusual about Lucius doing something like that."

Jon settled back in the chair, and nodded in deep understanding, thinking that Dumbledore was saying that it was normal for fence-sitters like Lucius Malfoy, who swayed from side to side, to rush over to Dumbledore and his group after noticing signs of a resurgence.

But Dumbledore's next words let him know that he had guessed wrong.

"Although I don't really know why the Goblet of Fire ended up picking his son, there is really nothing a bit remarkable about that young man named Draco, but his greatest strength is that he has a good family that truly loves him."

A look of surprise crossed Jon's face.

"You mean to tell me that Lucius is actually trying to make contact with us for his son?"

Dumbledore said with a slight nod.

"I know you don't have a good impression of the Malfoys, it's not just you, Minerva, Remus, Kingsley, Sirius and the rest of them all dislike the Malfoys very much. But even if they are enemies we can't deny the good in them because of their position, one of the things Malfoys are most known for is that they hold their loved ones in high regard well enough."

His tone became serious.

"I do not doubt one thing, Jon. If Lucius was faced with a situation where he and his own wife and son had to die, then he would, without a doubt, choose to die himself."

Jon mulled over Dumbledore's words and then recalled some of the Malfoy family's actions in the original story and realised that this was indeed the case.

It was just that his memory of the last three parts of the original story had become rather vague, and he could only roughly remember what kind of major events had happened in each one, and not much about what the Malfoys had actually done.

"The Malfoys are now one of the most prestigious families in the entire British wizarding world, and Lucius himself has reached the position of Head of Auror Office, a position that is even more important than the power of some of the Heads of Department. So having or not having this title of Triwizard Tournament Champion doesn't matter to them at all, especially when it has been confirmed that this tournament will be exceptionally dangerous."

Hearing this analysis from Dumbledore, Jon could understand that the matter of becoming a champion actually had a completely different meaning for different people.

Like the Hogwarts wagon, this tournament would represent whether they could really pull off a complete turnaround, they had already lost everything and were not afraid of wearing shoes when they were barefoot, so no matter who the student who became a champion was, even if it wasn't Jon, replaced by Neville or Ron they would have equally fought hard to get the first place.

As for Emil, his father had just taken over the power from Bella and Rodolphus who had just died and intended to inherit the Lestrange family's previous status on Voldemort's side, so it was important for Emil to make his own contribution, which was why Emil's participation in the tournament was an opportunity, and he also made sure to show his prominence in this tournament for a while, to get a victory for Voldemort was all that mattered to them.

But Draco didn't need any of that at all.

There would be no change of ownership in the Malfoy family, nothing more than a single line of Lucius and Draco remained in the Malfoy family, so everything that belonged to Malfoy was destined to be theirs and theirs alone.

And as Dumbledore said, under Voldemort's rule, their family was already at the top of the hierarchy of power, with no possibility of going any further, and no matter how much merit they might make, there would be a little reward, let alone the risk of doing such a big thing.

So, of the four champions in question, Draco should have been the most negative in terms of motivation to participate, and with Jon kicking him out in the opening round of the first tournament task, maybe Lucius would not only not hate Jon in his heart, but thank him.

And now he's using Dobby as a middleman to try and find a way to communicate with Jon privately to pass on some information, whether he has any intention of falling back on them or not is still a different story, but the odds are that he might want to give something, banking on Jon being able to keep Draco safe in the later stages of the tournament, or at least not go out of his way to actively make things difficult for him.

"So if Lucius makes private contact with me by sending Dobby afterwards, what are we going to do?" Jon asked.

Dumbledore lifted the crescent-shaped glasses on his face and said with a deep gaze.

"I can understand his desire to protect his family, but people who have done wrong cannot be exempted from punishment simply because they love their family. If he's just requested for you to look after Draco, don't say yes just yet, find out what he's willing to pay, and if he wants to help us with something, then stall him for now and wait until the Triwizard Tournament is over, he'll be more eager to make contact with us than we are."

***

The time had gradually started to get colder as the month of October moved closer.

Almost a month had passed since the end of the first task, but the buzz about the tournament in the magical community was still hot.

But at the centre of it all, at Hogwarts Castle, the atmosphere has instead become calm.

After the dragon attack, the students in the Castle rarely talked about the tournament, because no one wanted to ruin the atmosphere, and they were the outright losers in the first tournament task.

At the edge of the Forbidden Forest, the wagon had remained in place, with Dumbledore staying on board except for a couple of trips back to Lyons to deal with matters that had to be attended by him personally.

Jon's life hadn't changed much either, he was either looking into the underwater creatures in the Black Lake or soaking in the library in the wagon and delving into the forbidden books in the gem.

Dobby, on the other hand, had met with Jon twice more after that time, but there had been no update on Lucius' side like he was still waiting for the right time to come along and was in no hurry to find Jon in a showdown right now.

Just when it looked like this period of no tournament vacancy was going to go on as normal, Hermione made a new friend near the Black Lake in early October.

A student from Hogwarts Castle.

A girl from Half-Blood House, sixth year, named Assia Konrad.

Late in the evening of that day, when dinner had been served in the wagon, but Jon was still fishing at the Black Lake and hadn't returned, Hermione came out to call him back for dinner and then saw Assia, who was being abused and bullied by three girls from the Pureblood House, on the lawn near this side of the Castle.

Hermione, of course, had a sense of justice, and if this had happened in normal times she would have rushed to help without hesitation, but she just stood by and watched from the sidelines as this happened in Hogwarts Castle.

As a former Mudblood at the bottom of the castle, she knew better than anyone else that the students in the Castle who enjoyed the benefits of the bloodline had no sympathy.

As the half-bloods were blind to the fact that the muggle-born were enslaved, they had to be prepared to be treated just as badly by the purebloods.

So Hermione just looked at them from a distance then, and then on her way back to the wagon after calling Jon back to dinner, she saw that all three of the pureblood students had left, leaving Assia alone by the lake, whimpering and cleaning her trampled shoes with magic.

But perhaps because she was not in a stable mood, she mispronounced the cleaning spell and the black leather shoe flew like a blasted cannonball across a small part of the lake, eventually falling into the water beside Hermione.

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