457 Chapter 456 Denmark (2 in 1)

Draco's already pale face visibly went a few shades whiter when he heard Jon's words.

"My father is…, he doesn't know it yet, and if he understands that you guys are definitely going to win, then he would absolutely..."

"If everyone knew we are bound to win, then everyone would be able to make the right choice, Mr Malfoy."

Jon said as he gazed into his eyes.

"No one could have possibly predicted this in the very beginning, but there is a scale in some people's minds, and in your father's mind, he's still wobbling from side to side on that scale, and he feels that there's still plenty of time and opportunity, and he wants to weigh the situation thoroughly before he makes his choices."

Draco pursed his lips as he fell silent.

Jon was telling the truth, and it was precisely because he was telling the truth, that it frightened Draco.

No one knew his father's temperament better than he did, and Lucius would never put down what he had already grasped in his hands without seeing the benefits that would surely be available to him, especially since leaning on Dumbledore's side wouldn't get him any benefits at all.

If this goes on, Lucius will only be left with a dead end.

The time he spent at Hogwarts wasn't long, but Draco had clearly seen the gap between the two sides, excluding Dumbledore and Voldemort at the top of the hierarchy, among the rest of the wizards, a person from the Order of the Phoenix could at least fight three Death Eaters!

It is by no means that from the beginning the Death Eaters are this unfit, but the long life of being drunk with gold and wine has worn down their fighting spirit, these people have long since lost the stage of being able to fight to the death to get tangible benefits like in the beginning.

Now they are all defenders of interests, and staying alive is the biggest prerequisite for continuing to enjoy what they have.

The people of the Order of the Phoenix, however, had all been left with nothing for a long time, and many of them had friends and family members who had died under the bloodline policy, so they would have no choice but to go and take their own lives to fight for a future no matter what the circumstances might be.

With one cherishing his life and the other fighting for his life, it was certainly clear in which direction the scales of victory would tip.

Even at the highest level of battle, it is now clear that there is no longer a situation between Voldemort and Dumbledore where one can stably overwhelm the other.

The compromises after the Triwizard Tournament were enough to show that Voldemort was very unsure about being able to defeat Dumbledore.

Draco couldn't remember what had happened at the castle, but he could vaguely sense that Jon had done something extraordinary that day in the castle.

On the Witching Horizon side, Dumbledore clearly had a successor, while Voldemort's men hadn't yet produced a character who could match Jon.

The Death Eaters who had died under Jon's hand alone could not be counted on the fingers of one hand, let alone those of his own age.

So reason and reality told Draco that Voldemort's chances of winning were really slim, given the current circumstances.

Taking a step back, if somehow Voldemort and Dumbledore were to end up in a lose-lose situation in the duel and died together, it would mean that the Witching Horizon side had won the battle, as the British Ministry of Magic had no chance whatsoever.

It was precisely because he had figured this out that Draco was feeling so anxious about his parents' situation.

He was now being taken to France, and after being screened for a public trial, there certainly wouldn't be any more security concerns further down the line.

But both Lucius and Narcissa were still serving Voldemort in Britain, and in the future, if the public trial came up in Britain as well, Narcissa, who was basically just being a housewife, would be fine, but Lucius would definitely have to be hanged three times for the crimes he had committed, even if someone took the blame and split his crimes into three parts!

Draco loved his family, and he might have realised by now that his father was rotten to the core, but he didn't want Lucius to be hanged at all.

After a long silence, Draco raised his head back up, and he said in a completely pleading tone.

"Can you give me a chance to communicate with my father? I'll help you guys, he'll listen to me, and if he's really willing to do you guys a favour, surely he can make amends for his crimes, right?"

Jon didn't immediately shoot down this idea of Draco's.

Draco, regardless of his behaviour in the original story or his previous behaviour in Hogwarts Castle, could be called a bad kid, but it wasn't a heinous crime, with a spoilt personality and a lack of certain education, he still had some conscience in his nature.

It was also because of this that he was not found guilty of any felony in that public trial.

So Jon wasn't too much interested in making him feel the despair of being hopeless and refrained from saying the words out loud.

"I can't give you any guarantees for now, but who can say what will happen in the future, all I can say is that if there is such an opportunity in the future, I will try my best to help you."

Draco would have to be content with such a promise.

He had already been tantamount to a captive, and Jon had no obligation to do anything for him at all.

After that, Draco didn't continue to take up much of Jon's time and left after a heartfelt outpouring of gratitude.

He had only had fear in his heart when he had seen Jon before, but now there was a real sense of gratitude.

Maybe he didn't remember much of the exact scene, but the fact that Jon had actually saved his life was something that Draco still remembered all too well.

What happened to Draco was nothing more than a small incident for Jon.

Time was still passing little by little, and a month after returning from Britain, his appearance had finally grown to be more or less the same as it was when he participated in the Triwizard Tournament.

Jon, of course, was pleased with this, and all his friends around him said that he finally looked better now, and Hermione's gaze towards him no longer became twisted and odd.

The only person who expressed dissatisfaction with this was Gabrielle.

Her situation was different from Jon's, in fact, with her real age now she should have been ten years old, and next year she would have reached the age to attend the wizarding school.

But because of the Draught of Living Ghost, her body did not show any sign of growth during the two years she turned into a ghost, and she still had the appearance of a seven or eight-year-old girl, looking very young.

If a normal girl encountered such a thing, she would probably wish to be a few years more younger, but Gabrielle was clearly not happy at all.

This made the age gap between her and Jon look wider and wider. While it was fine before when Jon's appearance had also become younger, now after two months he had changed back to his normal age, making Gabrielle more and more sullen.

Luckily, after the month of August, a piece of news that was enough to cheer her up was brought back.

A clue had finally surfaced about her parents and sister, who had been separated from her for over two years.

Mr and Mrs Delacour had fled overnight as soon as France had begun to show signs of introducing the theory of bloodline, and the time had been so short that they had not even been able to pick up their youngest daughter, who had been placed in the care of Madame Maxime's house.

Because Mrs Delacour had half the blood of a Veela in her, under the theory that even the half-blood wizards could not be tolerated, the fact that witches had the blood of such magical creatures mixed in with their blood was even more unacceptable to the wizards who believed in the theory of bloodline supremacy.

Knowing that if they stayed in France, their family would meet with a terrible end, it was a wise decision to flee immediately.

As for where they fled to after that, there had been very little information, when Jon first followed Dumbledore to France for the first time, he had only heard from Madame Maxime, who was also preparing to leave France because of her giant origin, that she was planning to look for the Delacour family's whereabouts.

And now, someone from Witching Horizon in Northern Europe had discovered Madame Maxime's whereabouts in Denmark, and it was from her that they learned of the Delacour family's traces.

As to why they had not come to France of their own accord for so long, that was easy to guess.

The Witching Horizon hadn't been established before, and during the period when Voldemort had ruled the two magical governments of Britain and France by himself, the attitude of the entire European magical community had been ambiguous and unclear towards him.

If one didn't want to escape to another continent, then the best way to avoid persecution from the wizarding world was to completely cut off any dealings with wizards and try to integrate into Muggle society.

This way they were of course guaranteed to be safe, and there was no way for anyone to find them, but equally, there was no way for them to find out what was going on in the wizarding world anymore.

Madame Maxime, who had been found, for example, had been hiding in a valley far from human habitation in Denmark.

It wasn't that she didn't want to integrate into Muggle society, but her size was simply too remarkable to attract the most attention wherever she went, and she couldn't live her life drinking polyjuice potion every day.

From her, the Witching Horizon had also learnt something about the Delacour family, as she had followed the couple's trail to Denmark originally.

After the news was brought back to France, Gabrielle, who was otherwise idle at school, of course, couldn't sit still.

She asked Professor McGonagall to let her go and meet up with Madame Maxime, who was still in Denmark, to search for her family together.

At first, McGonagall didn't really want to agree, after all, Gabrielle is a little girl who doesn't even have a wand, even if the situation in Northern Europe isn't as turbulent as the situation in France and Britain, it's still not guaranteed to be absolutely safe.

It was only after Jon took the initiative to say that he could go with Gabrielle that McGonagall agreed.

Originally, when she heard that Jon was willing to help her and go with her to Denmark to find her parents and sister, Gabrielle was almost moved to tears.

But when it really came to the day of departure, Gabrielle's delicate and lovely face, which was still excited, slumped on the spot.

"Why are you still here?"

She questioned as she looked at Hermione, who was wearing white short sleeves on top and a pleated skirt underneath, her long curly chestnut-coloured hair was neatly combed into a single ponytail, and she had a duck tongue hat on her head as if she was using it for shade.

Hermione, looking like she hadn't dressed like this in a long time, straightened her duck tongue hat.

"What, am I not welcome? Gabrielle."

Their private relationship is actually quite good, it's just that originally, according to Gabrielle's imagination, this trip should have been just her and Jon, and now that an unexpected person has appeared, she of course becomes sulky.

Especially, Jon also did not wear robes like before, it was just a T-shirt and jeans dress. It looked like he and Hermione discussed it in advance.

This made Gabrielle look even more out of place as if this was supposed to be a trip that Jon and Hermione had both agreed on together, and she was the one who was tagging along for the ride.

"Of course, you are welcome~"

She drew up a long trail, the reluctance in her voice was obvious to anyone who could hear it.

Jon pulled her to him instead, then spun her around in a place like a gyroscope, teasing her.

"We're basically moving around Muggle society on this trip, and with you dressed like this, everyone's just going to think it's some little girl who misremembered the day of Halloween and picked the wrong time to run out and ask for candy."

"I'm not little!"

Gabrielle emphasised the matter with unmistakable deliberation.

"I'll be in school next year! I've asked Professor Dumbledore about this, and he assured me!"

Jon shrugged and rubbed Gabrielle's silver-white hair like it was a dog's head.

"Well, well, Gabrielle isn't a child anymore."

Gabrielle was obviously very unhappy with this kind of words from Jon without any semblance of sincerity, and she wrenched her head away from Jon's grasp, puffing out her breath.

"Then what am I going to wear now?"

Jon spread his hands helplessly, he certainly hadn't prepared any more than he had, but it was Hermione who handed over to Gabrielle one of the kraft bags she had been carrying in her hand.

"I prepared it for you, go change into it."

Now Gabrielle was finally too embarrassed to show any more dissatisfaction towards Hermione, she squirmed and took the bag from Hermione's hands, thanked her politely and seriously, then glared at Jon and turned around to go to the girls' washroom next by to change her clothes.

What Hermione had prepared for her was very thoughtful indeed, a white one-piece dress that fitted her perfectly.

After coming to Lyon and having a stable teaching environment, Hogwarts certainly did not restrict the students from going out during the holidays, and would also give them an allowance so that they could occasionally buy something for themselves.

This dress was obviously what Hermione had bought with the money she had saved.

Because of this, Gabrielle had sort of grudgingly accepted the fact that a third person was travelling to Denmark with her on this trip.

She did not really think much, the little girl in the end has never been separated from her parents and family for so long, misses her loved ones eagerly, and has been eager to go and embark on the trip.

So just like this, Jon, Hermione, and Gabrielle, a group of three arrived in Denmark through the Hogwarts school's Floo Network.

Their landing point was the Witching Horizon's station in Northern Europe, usually mainly responsible for receiving material assistance from the Northern European Witching Horizon group, and it was here that they met up with the former Headmistress of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, Madame Maxime.

Compared to when Jon had met her earlier, the current Madame Maxime had obviously lost a lot of weight, but her broad-boned frame still made her stand out from the crowd

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