In the Harry Potter Without Harry Potter

Chapter 492: Sleep for a while

Jon felt his body getting hot.

But not the scalding kind of hot, more like being soaked in an overheated hot spring, which was comfortable at first, but as time went on, the water got hotter and hotter with each passing second.

So high that it seemed to want to scald his skin off.

Then he sat up violently from the floor.

After waking up Jon felt great, originally every part of his body was hurting, but now except for his mind which was still a little groggy from over-exertion, he didn't have a single bad feeling left in his body.

The first thing he did was look at his hands, and after noticing the pale, white fingers, he was sure that he had in fact died once before.

This was a bit of a headache, but it was no big deal.

It was just a younger physical body, and that was a small price to pay compared to actually dying.

And it was then that Jon surveyed his surroundings.

The last Apparition he had used before his death had apparently taken Dumbledore with him on his run from the British Ministry of Magic, and he remembered that the location he had chosen at that time had been in that temporary Hogwarts establishment in Lyon.

And now they did arrive at the place, except that there was no one around and it was empty.

Dumbledore was lying on the floor, his eyes still shut tightly and showing no sign of waking up, and Jon had re-established that he still had weak breathing and a heartbeat one more time before he tried to see if he could find someone from the already empty school.

"It looks like you've arranged ahead of time, Professor, to decide that your suspicions were right and that you'd die there as well, and to let everyone at Witching Horizon leave."

Jon whispered as he crouched down next to Dumbledore after searching all over the school and finding no one.

After figuring out all the causes and consequences, it was easy to guess Dumbledore's arrangement.

Even if he hadn't got the proof yet, he had already suspected that the truth was really as he imagined, and was ready to meet his own death.

So he withdrew all of Witching Horizon's manpower in Britain, and the French side is expected to have made all the arrangements; like at this time, the Hogwarts premises have become empty.

Because, once it is proved that Voldemort really never can be killed, and he dies in this duel, then Voldemort who is completely free from the restrictions will be unbeatable, and everything in Witching Horizon will also become an empty shell.

So Dumbledore, to protect the safety of other people. Definitely prepared for everything.

Jon sat down beside Dumbledore, his spirit was still tired, physically the state could be changed back to the best with the Nirvana rebirth, but there was no way for his already exhausted mentality to recover so quickly.

He grabbed the grassroots on the ground and looked at the formerly cheerful campus which had become a bit depressed at this time, only the two of them were left alone, even Fawkes, who had always been inseparable from Dumbledore in the past, was nowhere to be seen.

"What other place in the world do you feel at ease and still make a stand against Voldemort?"

Jon, whose outward age had changed back to six, cocked his head at Dumbledore, who had no way of answering his question, but he didn't actually need Dumbledore to say anything, he had already given the answer himself.

He took Dumbledore's hand in his, and a golden-red glow wrapped around them once more, and then this temporary Hogwarts compound was completely devoid of human presence.

The students of Hogwarts were enjoying Christmas dinner.

But even if the environment here wasn't actually that unfamiliar to them, and the owner of this castle showed great warmth to them for travelling all the way here, the students were still a bit fidgety.

"Why are we leaving Lyon so suddenly?"

Justin looked at the large roasted turkey on the long table with a distinctly nervous expression.

Ron had two pieces of bacon on the plate in front of him, but it didn't look like he was about to pick up his knife and fork with an appetite for it, instead his brow was furrowed.

"It wasn't just us, although George and Fred and the others did their best to keep it under wraps, I found out that they had all come back from Britain, including Moody and the others. Then they left France with us as well, Professor McGonagall and the others said nothing to us, just told us to do as we were told."

Neville's face was actually much harder than Ron's and theirs, as he could think of much more and dared to make those extremely bold guesses.

Only he still managed to smile reassuringly.

"It's probably just a bonding of the three schools, and isn't it a good thing that the students of Beauxbatons and we have all come to Durmstrang for this Christmas dinner?"

"It would mean that there's no one left in France," Hermione said suddenly and coldly.

Neville turned his head sharply at her at once.

"Hermione!"

Hermione's face didn't show much expression, it was a little frighteningly calm.

She and Neville locked eyes.

"What does it mean that we're gone, that the Beauxbatons students are gone, and that the original members of Witching Horizon who were fighting in Britain have withdrawn?"

Her words caused the atmosphere at this long table to freeze completely.

And by this time Gabrielle was catching and jumping around with Nick, bouncing over from Beauxbatons's side of the long table wearing Christmas hats together, and was just about to open her mouth happily when she was caught off guard by the atmosphere in the place.

The forced smile on Nick's face was even less able to continue when he heard Hermione's words, he was still trying to be funny, but there was no way to hide the sadness that was showing in his eyes.

The entire long table of Hogwarts was infected, even the freshmen who had just enrolled this year and those who hadn't really understood the situation yet also fell silent.

"Today Professor Dumbledore is going to have the final life-and-death duel with Voldemort, but at this time we have moved to Durmstrang ahead of time, if it were just us it wouldn't be a problem, even the frontline combatants of the Witching Horizon have been withdrawn, isn't it obvious that the situation is like this?"

Hermione's voice was like a hand ripping away the veil that hid the truth from the surface, completely bringing that possibility to everyone else's mind.

"Professor Dumbledore." Lavender's voice had taken on a sobbing tone, "Does he know he can't beat the Dark Lord?"

There was silence at the long table, no one could answer that question of hers, it was as if no one had even dared to voice that possibility as Hermione had before.

And the subdued atmosphere in the area where Hogwarts was seated made the other Durmstrang as well as the Beauxbatons students, who were celebrating the dinner, notice something strange.

Not to mention the high dais, where the professors sat overlooking all the student seats.

Grindelwald, who was sitting in the middle of the platform, of course, saw this scene, only he didn't show anything, while at his side, McGonagall, who hadn't said a word since she sat down, suddenly left the table and came to the long table of Hogwarts.

The only other person who had led these students to Durmstrang this night, besides her, was a French professor from Beauxbatons.

And everyone else was waiting for the final word.

But before Dumbledore had left France, McGonagall had finally learnt something about the inner workings of the situation, and although she didn't yet know exactly what the arrangements were, Dumbledore had already informed her of the worst possible consequences.

When she arrived at the long table of Hogwarts, all the students looked up at her, some nervously, others expectantly, as if hoping that she would refute what Hermione had said and give some other explanation.

But after she opened her mouth, she just whispered.

"Eat well and get through tonight, anything else will wait until tomorrow."

The low mood spread across the long table, and instead of explaining, McGonagall just seemed to adopt a stance.

Hermione's words weren't denied, Lavender's question was avoided even more, and only some things were actually answered.

While the others didn't bother to question McGonagall's words, Neville looked at McGonagall dumbfounded at this time as he asked his question.

"What about Jon?"

Upon hearing this question from him, everyone at the long table looked up at McGonagall once again, except Hermione who lowered her head and clenched her hands.

McGonagall took a deep breath, her eyes reddening a little, just as she was about to say that she didn't know where Jon was or what he was doing either.

A brilliant golden-red light suddenly lit up in the middle of the great hall!

The light drew everyone's attention, even the students at the long table of Hogwarts couldn't help but turn their heads to look.

And after the light flickered and then faded, the younger Jon appeared in the middle of the great hall, clutching Dumbledore's hand!

Grindelwald had risen from his position at the first sign of the light, and Jon had gasped and locked eyes with him after his appearance.

"Quickly, look at the Professor."

Grindelwald didn't linger, he walked quickly to Dumbledore's side before anyone else could react, took hold of Dumbledore's arm, and in the next second, the two of them simply disappeared from the middle of the great hall.

It was only at this time that the entire Hogwarts long table completely reacted!

Some of them shouted excitedly, while others screamed out, all of them jumped up from both sides of the long table, swarming towards Jon's position, surrounding him in the middle, even McGonagall couldn't calm down any more, she cried out in joy and didn't follow the students and rushed over together, but just stayed in place and covered her face.

Jon just sat paralysed on the ground, a smile appeared on his face as he looked at the familiar faces, all looking at him excitedly.

But the smile could not hide the mental exhaustion he felt at the moment.

"Merry Christmas guys, well I know you must have a lot of questions, but before you come venting your thirst for information can you let me sleep for a while? Just a little while. Just a little while."

He said as he closed his eyes and curled up next to Hermione's leg.

Everyone in the surrounding area fell silent, not only the Hogwarts students, but even the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students did their best to hold their breath for fear of disturbing the sleeping boy.

Hermione wiped her own eyes as she knelt down and carefully cradled Jon's young body in her arms so that he could be in a better position to rest.

At the moment this great hall, where ribbons were flying, and the festivities were supposed to be celebrated, was as quiet as if it were empty.

Everyone here didn't know what was happening, but what they knew for sure was that after tonight, the entire landscape of the magical world would once again undergo an earth-shattering change!

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