In the Harry Potter Without Harry Potter
Chapter 287: The Labyrinth Under the Ice (2 in 1)

At this point in time, it was already the end of March, and where Jon and co. were located was only about four or five miles away from the pole.

The polar daylight had expanded here, so there was no point in having to wait until it got dark any longer, nor would it likely get dark.

Gabrielle shrouded in a cloak of invisibility took Nick with her and flew in the direction where the dementors are guarding up.

After they left, Jon did not move lightly, he used the cloak of invisibility made from the disillusionment charm that Eric had given him, draping it over his own body.

Because of the lack of means of long-distance contact, plus the North Pole is a place where it is extremely easy to lose direction, he did not have any idea to go somewhere or intention to do anything at this time, and simply waited in place for Gabrielle and Nick to return.

Gabrielle and Nick, cloaked in the invisibility cloak, easily crossed the dementors' defensive circle, then they continued to fly forward and soon saw that not far away, there were a dozen tents stationed in an area.

That is exactly their destination for this trip.

"Why won't these people just go home during the break?"

Under the cloak of invisibility, Gabrielle asked in a small voice.

"Don't they know that 'pop' appear and 'pop' disappear magic?"

Nick lowered his voice and explained to her.

"The Apparition's instantaneous range is limited, the farther the distance the higher the possibility of splinching, the distance between the Arctic and Britain has far exceeded this safe range. So for the sake of insurance during this period, it is considered the most prudent decision to stay here even if it is still a break time."

Gabrielle let alone attending classes, she hadn't even opened a single spell book during her time at Hogwarts, so she didn't seem to be able to understand some of the terms that came out of Nick's mouth.

"What's a splinch?"

"It's when your head has teleported to a designated place, but your body didn't follow along."

Gabrielle looked surprised.

"Won't that just kill you?"

"The magic power will maintain the connection between different parts of the wizard when splinching, but this connection can't last long, if the split parts can't be recovered in a short time, then the wizard will truly have to die."

Looking at the cluster of tents that had been getting closer and closer, Nick cautioned in a soft voice.

"Well, we are not out for a school trip, so if I don't speak first, you have to keep quiet and watch my gestures to communicate."

Gabrielle who made a promise behaved obediently, her two small hands held on to the cloak of invisibility to prevent the cold wind from blowing this cloak directly away, even if she is still a child, she also knows the importance of this matter.

Soon, they drifted into the cluster of tents, only after they had entered, they found that the tents there were not as many as they had seen from a distance, only a dozen in number, and most of them stood up in a circle in one area, and two big tents remained separately on one end of the circle each.

The cluster of tents gathered in a circle were obviously ordinary tents, and their entrances were not closed, so Gabrielle and Nick could clearly see a wizard holding a wand sitting in each tent, and their attention was basically focused on the area enclosed by them in the middle, and from the outside, what could be seen is a snow-covered ice patch.

As for the two separate tents on either side, every once in a while, there would be people coming in and out, and those who came out would directly use the Apparition to leave, and Nick could clearly hear the voices of many people talking from inside.

It is obviously a resting place for those Death Eaters scattered outside on patrol. Both tents must have been enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm to allow quite a number of Death Eaters to rest inside.

Judging from the situation, those Death Eaters behaving unusually in the ordinary tents holding their wands and constantly on the alert for something can give them some clues.

Nick instructed Gabrielle with a gesture, the two ghosts wandered around the camp of the Death Eaters, and after making sure there were no other discoveries, they set their sight on the snow area which was encircled by tents.

"Could they have also used the cloak to hide something there?"

After moving slightly away from the camp, Nick signalled that it was okay to talk, and Gabrielle speculated wildly.

Nick did not respond to her words at first, he was looking down in deep thought as if hesitating about something.

The Death Eaters' actions were so obvious that he could certainly see that the area enclosed by the tent is bound to have a problem, but there is no way to guarantee whether it is a real problem or a decoy.

If they move any closer, will they risk triggering some kind of alarm?

But after thinking again and again, Nick still decided to go and investigate exactly what is going on, so they could give useful information to Jon when they go back.

But he still has to make the necessary protective measures, he let Gabrielle support the cloak in the back, and he hid under the cloak in front, then cautiously approached the area towards the middle of the tents.

They spent close to half an hour before making their way to the open space, in the middle of which the Death Eaters were staring at them, but nobody saw through the cloak of invisibility.

Gabrielle also behaved very nervously, after all, they are being stared at by so many enemies, and she is still just a small child, at least in the ghost state her palms cannot sweat, or perhaps the wind will blow off the cloak of invisibility when her hands slip.

After searching all over the place without finding anything at all, Nick turned his attention to the patch of ice beneath them.

He frowned and pondered, then gestured toward the ground to Gabrielle, who quickly understood what he meant.

If there is no problem above the ice, then the problem is most likely below the ice!

After determining the next scouting goal, it was still Nick who took the initiative to go below while Gabrielle held up the cloak and rode on his neck, and the two ghosts cautiously dived into the surface of the ice.

After they went down, they can only see solid ice everywhere in the surrounding area, this ice field located in the Arctic pole has a large amount of permafrost, from ancient times to the present day tens of thousands or even millions of years without melting, so some of the ice is likely to be frozen with some strange and bizarre things.

But the ice where Nick and Gabrielle are now is relatively shallow, surrounded by some very clean ice, where they didn't see anything unique and strange.

After submerging under the ice, Nick did not stay still, he was extremely cautious and still did not let Gabrielle take off the cloak of invisibility, the two still remained hidden in the cloak of invisibility, and began to scout this area of the ice.

And this time, they soon made a discovery!

Under the ice surface in the middle area encircled by Death Eaters, they found a secret passage in the solid ice!

It was obviously carved out artificially, and according to Nick's judgment, it was also reinforced by special magic to prevent the tunnel from collapsing or being frozen again.

Such a discovery cheered them both up.

Without leaving immediately, Nick and Gabrielle together continued deeper down the secret passage.

They had agreed with Jon before they left that they would be sure to return within five hours, regardless of what happened, and there was still plenty of time left, which means they could explore even deeper.

Along that winding secret passage, they had been floating for about ten or twenty minutes when they came across a fork in the path.

The authority to choose the way forward was given to Gabrielle by Nick, and the little girl used her fingertip to point out the way, and then finally chose the path on the left.

After deciding on the way forward, they moved on, but without proceeding even for a few minutes, they once again encountered another fork in the path, which led to three different directions.

This made Nick frown deeper, he now finally felt that this is not a secret passage under the ice, but a labyrinth!

No signposts, nor any information, if not them being ghosts, any person who comes here will not be able to avoid the situation of getting lost.

Without choosing to stop here, this time they picked the middle of the path to go down, and soon there was a constant fork in the path to confirm the suspicions of Nick's heart.

This is indeed an underground labyrinth, if there is no map, trying to find a correct path from such a complex landscape will be extremely difficult.

Even if Nick used the advantage of being a ghost, after floating for more than an hour there was no end in sight, and he began to take Gabrielle through the ice to wander around, but there was no additional valuable discovery.

They can only tell that this labyrinth is really vast, according to their speed, at least they would have been able to cross a muggle city downtown, but they still did not find the path that is completely sealed.

After determining this, Nick no longer intended to take Gabrielle to continue to float around.

They have to bring this information back to Jon so that he can decide how to make the next choice.

After deciding to return, they went straight up, trying to float out of the ice. Still, after flying for half an hour, just when Nick almost thought that there was a problem somewhere and that they had actually been teleported to somewhere else, they finally returned to the ground.

Only at that moment, he realized that he and Gabrielle had actually gone so far under the ice!

After getting back on the surface of the Arctic ice, they drifted around for quite a while longer before finally navigating back in the right direction by relying on those dementors and subsequently made their way back to the starting point where they had separated from Jon.

"They were guarding a huge labyrinth that is under the surface of the ice, and the two of us, Gabrielle and I, floated together for a long time without being able to tell how big this labyrinth really is."

Nick gave Jon an account of what they found.

Jon listened to him while taking out the map that Grindelwald had given to him at the beginning.

It clearly marked the end of their trip, and the final end point is exactly in the spot where Nick had described the labyrinth located.

After recounting the findings, Nick also gave his judgment.

"According to the details on the map, there is indeed a high probability that is our destination for this trip, but we can't rule out that this is actually an illusion created by the Death Eaters."

"The target of their defence is a little too clear, under such a defence, as long as people have eyes they can see what they are actually protecting, and where is the target of this protection, so I decided that it is also possible that this so-called labyrinth is actually a trap."

After hearing his words, Jon refolded the map and put it away in his coat pocket.

"Actually, these two guesses of yours can be equally combined. That labyrinth is our destination, and the purpose of these Death Eaters is likewise not to protect that labyrinth, but to capture or kill us."

Nick was a little confused by Jon's words, but that was normal because neither the students on the ship nor the ghosts knew yet exactly what effect the pact that Jon had torn up after getting it from the high tower had managed to achieve.

Nor do they know who he actually killed that day on the sea.

"Isn't what's here very important to the Dark Lord?"

Jon shook his head and explained what Grindelwald had told him privately before.

"When that time the one who showed up at the sea to look for us was Death Eaters, not the Dark Lord himself, it means that this location in the North Pole is not that important to him now, or it is also possible that he has already taken the important things in advance."

Nick pondered on Jon's words, and after a few moments, he continued to ask.

"So what are you going to do?"

Jon patted the falling snowflakes on himself.

"What else can we do? Did we come here to simply look at the scenery and go back? Didn't you already make sure there wasn't a single person in that labyrinth? This proves that these Death Eaters themselves didn't dare to go deeper into it, if they went down they would also be lost inside, so there is nothing to be afraid of."

After saying that, he patted the hidden pocket sewn on his robe at his chest, which had a feather radiating warmth.

"And we still have a guaranteed means to escape, so it's perfectly fine to break in."

Jon is certainly the ultimate leader in this one-man, two-ghost crew as this is the trip he decided, since he has made the decision, Nick did not question any more but began to shift his thoughts to think about how they can enter that labyrinth under the ice safely and securely.

"The entrance to the labyrinth is sealed off on the surface of the ice, and Gabrielle and I still remember where it is, but the Death Eaters guarding it are very vigilant, and there is their main base camp in the Arctic right next to it, so their support will come quickly once a situation arises."

"These Dementors are easy to deal with." Jon looked up at the tall black shadows wandering in the distance, "Patronus can expel them all, but after that, our movements will have to be fast, we can't give the Death Eaters too much time to react."

Jon said with some regret.

"Unfortunately we didn't bring that Firebolt with us, otherwise it would simply be too late for them to prepare if we directly accelerate at full speed and try to rush through there."

As long as they wish to cross these dementors, they cannot remain hidden, the Patronus Charm will cause too much commotion, so Jon can only think of a speed approach.

"About how thick is the ice at the entrance location of the labyrinth?" He then asked.

Nick pondered and made a measurement using the blasting curse Jon usually used.

"Two blasting curses, or three smashing spells, would be enough to break through that ice."

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