Chapter 92 91. Christmas
"There is one more thing I must emphasize to you." Aberforth said seriously, "Even if we are so fully prepared now, you still have to pay attention to the eyes of the basilisk, and you must not have any direct contact with the eyes." Look at each other, otherwise all your efforts will be in vain, and you will definitely die there."
What Aberforth said, of course, Jon himself is very clear that the most dangerous thing about the basilisk is his eyes that can directly kill people, and if he wants to kill it and cast a spell on it, in the process There is always an unavoidable probability of making eye contact with it.
This is the most dangerous hidden danger to Jon, but if he keeps his eyes closed all the time to ensure that he and the basilisk will not have direct eye contact, how can he ensure that every spell can hit the basilisk? Woolen cloth?
This seems to be an unsolvable problem. Jon doesn't know if there is any magic in the wizarding world that allows people to "see" around without eyes, but neither Aberforth nor he knows this kind of magic.
Jon drank the hot cocoa in his cup, looked out of the window and frowned in thought. He really wanted to solve every possible danger, but the problem he was facing now seemed unsolvable. He wanted to kill Basilisk, he must take this risk.
Just when he was lost in thought, outside the window under the dim street lamps, there were dots of snowflakes slowly falling from the sky.
Snow fell in Hogsmeade.
Aberforth also saw the snowflakes outside the window, and couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
"This year's snow fell really early, and the Muggle students in the castle will be frozen."
Jon didn't respond to what he said. At the moment when the snowflakes fell from the sky, he looked at the snow in a daze as if he had thought of something.
It took a while for Aberforth to realize that something was wrong with him, and he couldn't help asking in confusion.
"What's wrong?"
Jon's eyes lit up, and he suddenly laughed.
"Percival! I seem to have found a way!"
Christmas holiday arrived on the fifth day after the heavy snow.
Most of the mixed-blood and pure-blood students in the castle have already left Hogwarts Castle and boarded the train to return to their parents. Some professors with families have also temporarily left the school after the holiday started.
The originally bustling castle has now become empty, and the castle has returned to its supposed coolness, which also makes the usual work of the Mudblood students a lot easier.
For these children whose existence has been forgotten by their biological parents, of course there is no holiday for Christmas, and even if the classes are stopped, they have to continue to work during the day.
"Hi, did you see the Christmas tree that was just moved in? It is said that tomorrow's Christmas dinner auditorium will be filled with Christmas trees, and everyone in the castle will receive a Christmas gift."
While cleaning the lobby on the first floor, Hanton secretly looked towards the direction of the auditorium enviously, and then continued in a low voice, "But we are not considered human beings in their eyes."
Jon said with relief.
"As long as we can still see ourselves as human beings, then these are nothing."
“I remember before I was brought here, every Christmas, my mother would knit me a cashmere hat in different colors.”
The conversation between Jon and Hanton brought back memories of a girl named Ariel. Perhaps she had been sad enough before. When she thought of the good things in the past, she didn't show sadness, but her tone was very light.
"It's just that I didn't like the hat she knitted at the time. It felt old-fashioned and the color was not good-looking. Except for Christmas, I would wear it on my head to make her happy. I hid it all in the drawer of the wardrobe at other times. Maybe one day they’re tidying up and digging through these hats and wondering why there’s so much kid stuff in the house and then throwing it all away.”
Her words evoked the memories of many mudblood students around. When the first graders heard this, they would still show sad expressions on their faces. At this moment, Dolohov appeared in the hallway. At the corner, everyone consciously stopped talking, shut up and continued to clean the castle quietly.
It was the day before Christmas, and tomorrow's festive decorations were being arranged in the auditorium, but these had nothing to do with them.
After a day's work and a simple dinner, Jon returned to the dormitory. He lay quietly on the bed and waited for the zero o'clock to arrive.
Then in the early morning of Christmas Day, he sneaked out of the castle through the secret passage for the last time and came to the Pig's Head Bar.
Aberforth had already prepared everything for him, and handed him two buttons.
"Look at the color, the black one is a rooster that hardly stops crowing, and the brown one is something you asked me to prepare for you. I hope you can use it by then."
While talking, Aberforth used loose thread to help sew the button to the cuff of Jon's robe, and at the same time exhorted solemnly.
Jon nodded, took a deep breath and said.
"Don't worry, I'm very afraid of death. At that time, I will definitely focus on saving my own life."
After arranging everything, Aberforth showed him a relieved smile, and patted him on the shoulder encouragingly.
"No matter what the final result is, you are willing to agree to come to this castle and take the risk to do such a thing, which is enough to prove yourself, Jon."
Jon looked into Aberforth's eyes. He seemed to be thinking about something. After a moment of silence, he suddenly asked his own question.
"If, if this operation goes well, I get those two things, shall we leave like this?"
"if not?"
Aberforth seemed to feel something, he and Jon looked at each other, and Jon continued to ask.
"The things are lost, and I'm missing too. The Dark Lord will definitely know that someone pretending to be a Mudblood student did such a thing. After I leave, he won't anger my classmates in the castle?"
"He won't kill them, even a Mudblood's life is very valuable to him, he just wants to enslave these people, not kill them all, and it's impossible to kill them all, so you in the castle Those students will not be in danger."
"But they will still be punished because of me, and then they will still stay in this castle, being the slaves of other people, receiving that kind of deformed education?"
Jon's words were a bit sharp, more like a question.
Aberforth was silent, he sat down on the chair with an embarrassing face, did not speak, and passed like this for a long time.
"But what can we do?"
It was a long time before he spoke hoarsely.
"Even if you discover a secret passage in the castle, you still have an invisibility cloak to bring them all out, but as long as you leave the scope of that school, the wizards in the whole castle and the Ministry of Magic will know about it." , even the Dark Lord himself will come over in person. Even if we call Albus and the others to help, there is no way to break the contracts on these children before they rush over. If we really do this, we will only harm them , forcing those children to die!"
Jon turned his head to look at the dark night outside the window, and was also silent.
He knew that what Aberforth said was right, they couldn't do anything now, even if they forcibly brought those children out, there was no way to guarantee their safety.
The dark castle in the dark night is like a huge prison. Once a contract is signed and locked inside, it is equivalent to signing a confession of life imprisonment.
Christmas Day.
Even though there were no more students in the castle, there were still occasional laughter and laughter from the corridor.
At noon, these students who stayed in the castle had a rich lunch, and then the professors who were going to attend the Christmas dinner hosted by Voldemort tonight, including Snape and Barty Jr. left the castle.
Dolokhov also summoned all the Mudblood students to the basement where the students gather at the beginning of the school day around four o'clock in the afternoon.
After all, it's Christmas, and on this day even Mudblood students can have some "big" dinners - each of them can get a sandwich that only students who perform well in the summer vacation at the beginning of school can get, and a glass of hot milk.
After preparing the Mudblood's "Christmas dinner", he delegated the management to the two prefects, and then left the castle for another truly grand dinner.
On this night, the Mudbloods are indeed much freer than before. At least they will not be forced to return to the dormitory before seven o'clock and are not allowed to go out. They can stay in this basement until Go back after the dinner in the auditorium above.
But Jon obviously won't spend so long here, he has to finish everything before the professor who went to Voldemort's Christmas dinner returns to the castle.
So, not long after Dolokhov left, he pretended to be unwell and walked to the two prefects.
"Senior Bit, I'm a little dizzy, can I go back to the dormitory to rest first?"
It’s a rare period of time when Dolokhov is not around. These senior students who have been successfully brainwashed are enjoying the relaxation now. Looking at Jon, the male prefect named Bit seems to have become one of those "" Pure-blood master", waved his hand impatiently.
"If you want to get out, get out! Don't get in the way here!"
Afterwards, Jon quickly left the basement and walked towards the bedroom. Almost no one in the room noticed his departure, only a girl glanced at his gradually receding back intentionally or unintentionally.
(end of this chapter)