In the Harry Potter Without Harry Potter

Chapter 353: Inside the Castle (2 in 1)

At Hogwarts Castle, there was still an hour before curfew, so at this moment the towers, both large and small, were packed with students.

Those who could occupy the highest and best positions were naturally pureblood students, while the half-blood students were also conscious enough not to compete with the noble ones.

But no matter which position they were in, they could see that the dragons in the Forbidden Forest, who had been scattered, were being gathered together right now!

Yes, it was as if the frenzied dragons were being pulled to the edge of the Forbidden Forest by someone who had attached an invisible leash to them, which caused the students in the castle to let out a gasp.

"I bet it was that terrorist Jon Green who caused the trouble!"

Grandio, a sixth-year student of the Half-Blood House, said with a picture-perfect smile as if he had seen it with his own eyes.

"I heard from the professors that he's brimming with evil, has a rotten apple face like a goblin, and can come up with a wicked scheme to harm the magical community in his mind with the blink of an eyelid. He must have done something to the dragons in the Forbidden Forest, like throwing slugs at their heads or stealing their most valuable organs with some weird dark magic. Now he's in big trouble, these dragons are after him, and we'll get the news when the first tournament task is over and Mr Headmaster would happily announce to us, 'The last hope of the wanted criminals is dead, their ambition to re-pollute this castle has been completely dashed, and boys and girls, we're celebrating by exempting this term's homework!' Oh! Gosh, this is wonderful!"

It was as if he had imagined a bright future, and the half-blood students around him had smiles on their faces as if they had heard something incredibly funny.

"It's going to be bad for that dark lord Dumbledore, he's made a bet with Mr Headmaster, so once Jon Green is dead they won't have any hope of winning at all, what's the name of that Champion from Durmstrang? Diane Rosier? Rosier, well maybe she might be capable of something, but she's certainly no match for the two purebloods, Lestrange and Malfoy together, the victory will definitely be ours, and then in the end France will be ours too, and those Witching Horizons' people will be rolling out of our territory like rats in a gutter!"

There was a roar of laughter among the half-blood students, most of them basking in this arguably fanciful and imminent future that Grandio was talking about, and there was even a sneer of reminder.

"Don't forget what Mr Headmaster said, mudbloods don't count as human beings at all, and it's said that the so-called Witching Horizon is where the mudbloods pile up."

Cedric watched with an expressionless face as all his fellow students around him were voicing unabashed discrimination and insults towards Dumbledore, Jon and everyone they represented.

He didn't laugh along with the laughter as it rang out; it had taken him actually living in this school to feel the horrors of the twisted education.

He could be sure that most of his classmates around him are kind, who would treat their friends with loyalty, their teachers with respect, and their relatives with affection, no different from any child who has received a true, good and beautiful education.

But they were just equally accustomed to seeing themselves as part of the present Hogwarts castle, with that great gentleman as the spiritual leader in their hearts.

The long time spent in school which distinguishes the gap and hierarchy between half-bloods and purebloods have made them all learn the difference between the inferior and the superior now, believing that any wizard with pureblood is bound to be good and that the so-called mudbloods are not even human.

Because they hadn't even had much contact with the oppressed students, all the impressions in their minds came from the twisted perceptions imparted by the muggle studies classes that, in Cedric's eyes, were enough to be described as frightening.

That was horrific.

Even if the truth was revealed before their eyes and all the lies of pureblood were exposed, they would find every reason and excuse to justify the rules and systems they had come to accept.

Many half-blood students have seen Jon and heard the words that he left behind last year.

There are times when words can influence people, but in more cases, they remain ineffective, no matter how transparent and straightforward they are.

Cedric, on the other hand, had never really believed in the truths taught in the castle, his family had taught him what was right and what was wrong, but to live in the wrong society, his father had defied his own beliefs and continued to serve the "higher" purebloods in the Ministry of Magic. Cedric himself was left to live in the castle, bewildered and alone.

Jon's words had never changed Cedric's mind, he had never thought that what he had been taught at Hogwarts was right, it had just torn down his cowardice and shown him that perhaps many people knew what was right and wrong in the beginning, but they had been changed by their submission.

Cedric couldn't accept that kind of change, and that's how he came into contact with the Centaurs after Jon had rescued the Muggle students from the castle.

He knew there was very little he could do, far from being able to make much difference to the bigger picture, but one can't just sit back and wait to be saved by someone more capable just because one's role is small, can they?

One may need the help of others to save their life, but one can only rely on oneself for inner salvation.

Cedric had no intention of rebuking the malicious speculation and ridicule of his fellow students around him, knowing full well that it would be useless and would put him in danger at the same time.

But there were times even if he didn't say anything, that didn't mean no one would go after him.

"Why are you being so glum! Do you disagree with what Grandio said, Diggory?"

The person who asked such a blunt question was a girl with freckles all over her face and a sarcastic expression written on her face.

She glared viciously at Cedric, desperate to find fault with him at every turn.

It is not logical that a character like Cedric, who is always the good guy everywhere, should have a bad relationship with anyone, but this girl is an exception.

She had expressed her admiration and affection for Cedric in private the previous term and had been rejected, even though neither she nor Cedric himself had mentioned it to anyone, the girl still hated her former crush.

At her words, everyone in the tower looked at Cedric, and everyone could see that the girl was right; in such a cheerful atmosphere, Cedric was the only one who did not have any joy on his face as a member of the half-blood group.

Cedric looked over at the girl with his usual gentle face.

"You can't expect everyone to agree with each other, can you? I just think it's demeaning to use our fantasy about our enemies as a pastime and relaxation like that, no matter who it is."

Although his words made the surrounding students uncomfortable to hear, they couldn't find anything wrong with him, because he didn't say that demeaning Jon was wrong either, he just thought that their way of relaxing was very demeaning.

However, the girl still said sourly.

"I think you're actually harbouring sympathy for those mudbloods, right? No need to pretend, Diggory, I've seen you once secretly give bread to the mudbloods who clean the lavatory!"

"But they refused your kindness, didn't they! They themselves knew that with their lowliness they are not worthy of such things! And you, a proper citizen of the British magical community! A student of Hogwarts Half-Blood House! How dare you harbour sympathy for them, are you in collusion with those wanted criminals!"

A hat had been thrown at Cedric's head, although it hadn't been wrong after he had already met with Jon.

But a definitive conclusion without any reasonable evidence was in fact a kind of holding a hatchet on his head.

Perhaps she didn't know what she was doing and the words that were coming out of her mouth now were just instinctive hatred, but she was acting in such a way that she was trying to get Cedric killed!

The scene fell silent for an instant, all the students looking at you and me before finally redirecting their attention to Cedric.

If at first when this was just an unwarranted accusation against Cedric, a few random people would step forward and say a few words on the spot to divert the matter, but now no one dared to speak up any longer; it would have to be explained by Cedric himself, or someone would surely report the matter to the professor later.

They surrounded Cedric, encircling him in the middle of the crowd, like a misfit alien.

Cedric's face was calm as he looked at his classmates, categorised by bloodline and grouped into the same class as him.

They were all waiting for him to explain, but for some reason, Cedric suddenly didn't want to speak now.

He looked up into the starry sky, a world at night both beautiful and full of mystery, except that beneath this dreamy canvas a great shadow had somehow covered half of the sky.

The Astronomy Tower, where Dumbledore and Voldemort had once duelled and the current Headmaster of the castle had been crowned as king.

As the tallest tower in the entire Hogwarts castle, it was now naturally filled with the Professors of the castle.

Aside from Snape, who had gone to stand in for Voldemort on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest, all other professors were here, including Barty Jr, the Carrow siblings, Greengrass, and a selection of the Pureblood House Professors.

The noise of the commotion in the Forbidden Forest was so loud and the cloud that had appeared in the sky at the start made out of dragon's breath was so dazzling that not only the whole school students were alerted, but the professors were also naturally no exception.

"If you had been surrounded by ten dragons, how long could you have held out?"

The night breeze blew the pale yellow hair on Barty Jr.'s forehead as he looked at the swarm of dragons that had obviously gathered and were chasing something, as he asked Amycus Carrow at his side in a casual voice.

Amycus looked into the distant sky and narrowed his eyes.

"If I could use an Apparition I could try to drag them around and finish them off one by one, as powerful as the dragons are, they have no sense of race and have always been solitary, much less able to work together, so splitting them up would not be too difficult of a solution."

As he said this, a grim smile appeared on his lips.

"But you can't use Apparition magic within Hogwarts, including the Forbidden Forest, and being surrounded by so many dragons can only lead to death."

A cruel and feral grin also appeared on the face of his sister, the chubby, pig-like Alecto.

"Who came up with this idea for our lord! It's brilliant, I just don't know if that little mudblood will leave behind some part of his corpse to let me store and preserve it, I still want to show my students a unique example like that in my classroom!"

Greengrass frowned as she glanced at Alecto as if displeased with her brutality and vulgarity that she looked like she was born with, without any semblance of pureblood family upbringing.

Barty Jr. did not respond to Alecto's question, he simply propped his hands on the edge of the tower and looked over to the area surrounded by dragons, with a casual smile on his face.

If there was anyone in the world who possessed absolute loyalty to Voldemort, then Barty Jr. dared to call himself number one, and Bella would probably only be number two.

He didn't get along with Snape, not only because Snape had a higher status than the vast majority of purebloods despite being a half-blood, but a bigger part was because he always felt that Snape's loyalty to his lord wasn't pure.

Yes, Barty never denied Snape's talents, he just felt that this man was an unstable time bomb, useful but also dangerous, so he always tried to convince his lord that he could let Snape do his duty, but he must not give him absolute authority.

Barty didn't know if his lord had taken his suggestion to heart, but he was well aware that the focus of their entire organisation these days should not be on the inside.

Dumbledore's group, who had previously been out of his lord's mind and had been left dangling like tormented old men, were now actually beginning to show signs of rising to the surface.

And it was surprising that the one who had the most impact on Voldemort himself was a student who had only just been moved up to the fourth year.

This was very unusual and disturbing, at least to a group of loyal servants like Barty Jr. and the others who were really working for this British magical government that Voldemort had created.

Of course, they firmly believed in the greatness and invincibility of their Lord, but there would always be ants who wanted to tear a bite out of the giant, and because of their smallness, it was often easy to succeed.

But when the giant really started to pay attention to the ant, then it would no longer be a problem for the giant.

Barty Jr. narrowed his eyes, and the golden-red flames that lit up from time to time under the starry sky could not have been a more beautiful picture to his eyes.

Behold, the insolent Ant is about to die, and he has not reached the highest expectations his lord had for him at the beginning.

As the wizard, who had killed his own father and mother, thought this, his brow suddenly furrowed.

The landscape that had been so beautiful to his eyes was suddenly growing so large that it had gradually taken over his pupils!

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