In the Harry Potter Without Harry Potter

Chapter 536: Gift

After the green fire was extinguished from the fireplace, Jon and Grindelwald's originally impassive faces simultaneously revealed a smile.

"What do you think the probability of his success is?" Grindelwald asked playfully.

Jon, on the other hand, refocused his attention on his hand, he snapped his fingers, and then a flash of blue fire appeared at his fingertips!

There was no incantation, no spell-casting action, just a snap of the fingers!

The blue flame reflected on Jon's boyish face as he whispered.

"If he's willing to go for it, then there's a good chance of success. If this matter had been personally handled by Voldemort, then, of course, it would be impenetrable, but in this situation, and the kind of state he was in before, surely the dark lord who has died twice in a row wouldn't have the heart to carry it out on his own yet, and who amongst the Death Eaters would he be able to trust?"

"Without Bella, without the Lestrange family, without Wormtail, there's only one other person he can trust around him to accomplish his goal, and after we inform Malfoy of the man's goal, he will succeed."

It was clear that Grindelwald's attention was no longer on Jon's answer at this point.

His eyes were also fixed on the glowing blue flame at Jon's fingertips!

"An amazing feat." He said in a rare, emotional tone.

Jon, however, shook his head.

"I'm just standing on the shoulders of those who have moved forward before me, I don't think I could have accomplished this result in my lifetime without that Mr Adrian Fawkes, without my teachers, without Professor Dumbledore, and without you, Mr Headmaster."

"Don't jump to conclusions, everyone's progress stands on the shoulders of those who have lived before them, and perhaps we have all helped you in notable degrees, but you are the only one who has been able to achieve this feat."

Grindelwald tapped the tabletop and paused for a moment before speaking again.

"How sure are you now?"

With a flick of his hand, Jon extinguished the flame that had been claimed to be strong enough to incinerate the very being who had unleashed it.

"He's not like he was before now, he must be fully prepared for me. In this case, there's about a 20% chance if I put my life on the line to fight."

Grindelwald already had a relieved expression on his face.

"Twenty percent is enough, if Malfoy fulfils his promise to us, then he'll only have one chance, whereas we have an infinite number of twenties percents."

"But we can't just bet on him." Jon remained calm, not half overwhelmed by his newfound power, "One must be equally prepared for the worst."

He looked over to Grindelwald.

"Mr Headmaster, this job is yours, and you will be needed to continue to preside over the transformation plans you have envisioned for this world."

Grindelwald heard the hidden meaning in Jon's words.

"What do you want to do?"

Jon stood up from his chair as he smiled.

"Improve, my chances of winning a bit more, I just don't know how much more time Voldemort has left for us, I'm going to go out for a walk after today."

After leaving Grindelwald's Headmaster's office, Jon didn't go back to the accommodation that Durmstrangene had arranged for him but went straight to the Witching Horizon's reserve quarters.

Those students who had just graduated from Hogwarts this year were stationed here along with the other members of the Order of the Phoenix, who would be performing some simple tasks, but would also be heading to the battlefield when necessary.

And just as Jon arrived, Neville, Ron and Justin, who had just finished their work for the day, were chatting side by side together, preparing to head back to their quarters to rest.

Upon seeing Jon, who was standing on the side of the path with a German-style roasted pork knuckle he had brought from the Durmstrang cafeteria and was waving at them, the three of them all shared a look of excitement.

"Jon!"

"Hi! Have you brought something good! I can smell it from far away!"

Jon was flanked by them, and together they returned to the place where they lived.

It didn't look shabby here, each of them had a separate room, at least in terms of material conditions, Witching Horizon isn't struggling.

"How are you all doing these days?"

"Much more relaxed than before, the time you had left was the hardest time for Witching Horizon, we've all been on the battlefield, Neville even killed a Death Eater with his own hands, Ron chopped off a man's arm with his magic, and I fared poorly, if not for Professor Lupin coming to support just in time, I would've had my head almost blown off by a blasting curse."

"The moment you walk onto the battlefield, you're the brightest star."

Listening to Jon use the words that Dumbledore had once said to Justin, as an analogy for the man he had become now, it couldn't help but make the scene sombre.

Ron looked up at Jon.

"Professor Dumbledore, will he ever wake up?"

In response, Jon nodded affirmatively and said.

"He's not dead, it's just that he was invited to visit another world, which isn't a bad thing, and he'll definitely be back, and maybe when he does, it'll be in Hogwarts Castle, holding a sorting ceremony for the new students."

Finally, he made a point of saying it in a joking tone, making the atmosphere a little lighter again.

Neville looked decisively at Jon.

"There's nothing we can do about defeating Voldemort, but you don't have to worry about anything else, Professor Lupin and the others will lead us through everything."

"Don't say that Neville, I'm counting on all of you to defeat Voldemort."

Neville and the rest just thought that Jon was making some joke, but once they saw the serious expression on Jon's face, they all went wide-eyed.

"You're not joking?"

"Can each of you give me a gift?"

Jon said seriously.

"Something that possesses the characteristics of your magic and can be given to me as a gift."

Neville, Ron, and Justin looked at each other, and they could tell that Jon wasn't saying this as a joke.

So, after hesitating for just a moment, they each went back to their rooms, and then each of them walked out with an item.

The three items were laid out in front of Jon, a glass orb, a broken wand, and a book that was blinking.

Neville handed over the glass orb.

"This is a Remembrall that my grandmother once gave me, I've been using it to store some memories that are very much worth remembering in the future... I don't think it would help you much, but you would like it."

Ron handed over the broken wand.

"It was handed to me by Professor Dumbledore himself when I first entered the wagon. I've never forgotten that its previous owner was Mundungus Fletcher, a hero I once despised but who later committed suicide with this wand after being caught. It was damaged in the war a month ago to this state, and Mr Gregorovitch told me there is no point in it being repaired, but I kept it anyway, and I hope you don't dislike its current state."

Justin pushed over the blinking book.

"A gift from the professors on the first Christmas at the wagon. The Book of Eyes with Eyes. When I was in the library and had always wanted to try and open this strange book, but never had the courage to do so. It was Professor McGonagall who hand-delivered the book to me on Christmas Day and encouraged me to open it. It is not much different, it just records the image that the eye on the cover sees, but for me, it was actually the first thing that officially made me embrace magic."

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