In the Harry Potter Without Harry Potter
Chapter 83: Conspiracy

"Phoenix tear? That is a rare item, not something that would be available in a normal store."

The old man's gaze became deep as he looked at the air in front of him and spoke the set code words.

Jon then took the invisibility cloak off his own body, and the old man with the same blue pupils as Dumbledore looked at him.

After he unveiled his body, Aberforth pulled him into the bar, and then he poked his head out and looked around to make sure no one saw Jon, before re-entering the bar and shutting the door from inside.

"Are there any guests in your bar today?"

Jon looked around the dirty environment, and couldn't help but wrinkle his nose and ask.

"It is rare for someone to stay in my place, after all, I want a high price, yet conditions are not as good as the three broomstick bar at the other end, and tonight is the same, no one turned up."

Aberforth said while staring at Jon closely, with an expression as if he had seen a ghost resurrecting. sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ NʘvᴇlFirᴇ.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

"Did Albus tell you I live here before you came to Hogwarts Castle?"

Jon pulled out the note with the hog's head drawn on it from his pocket.

"Wasn't this note something that you left for me?"

"Yes, I saw the note about you wanting to contact me, but Albus told me you are only a kid who just started your second grade. Even if the fact that he had chosen you to infiltrate that castle was proof enough to prove that you were different from the norm, I thought you would be looking for a possible way to contact me. Still, I didn't expect a twelve-year-old to find my store so quickly with just a crest before even a day had passed."

Aberforth stared into Jon's eyes as if asking him to give him a reasonable answer.

"Before entering Hogwarts Castle, I had already learned about all the stores in Hogsmeade Village through the newspaper." Jon shrugged and said, "The only store that has anything to do with Hogshead is yours in the entire British wizarding community."

"So how did you make it out?"

"I found a magical map of Hogwarts castle somewhere inside, and the map was marked with secret passages to the outside, one of which leads to an exit right under the cellar of the Honeydukes' sweet shop."

Hearing Jon's explanation, Aberforth was relieved and at the same time could not help but frown.

"It's still too dangerous, the folks in that castle have been clearing the secret passageways to the outside world, a secret passage underneath the whomping willow leading to the shrieking shack was sealed off by them, the one you're using now is not necessarily without risk of being caught."

"I have no choice, I need to contact you directly for a few things, or I can't carry out what Professor Dumbledore asked me to do to help." Jon looked at Aberforth, although he knew his name and the fact that he is Dumbledore's blood brother, he still blinked and asked, "May I ask what I should call you?"

"Percival." He gave out his unknown middle name, which is also his current last name to the public.

"Mr Percival."

Aberforth interrupted him, "Don't call me Mr., just Percival will do. If you need any help you can mention it to me now, I will do my best to help you regardless of whether or not Albus has entrusted me with it before."

Jon did not dwell too much on the name and said with all seriousness.

"Well, Percival, I need a rooster."

"What?" Aberforth froze, thinking he had misheard, "You need what?"

Jon simply repeated it again.

"A chicken, a rooster, preferably a more energetic one that likes to crow a lot."

This time Aberforth listened carefully and looked at Jon in confusion.

"What do you need a rooster for?"

"There is a Basilisk guarding the Headmaster's office entrance, without tackling this, there is no way for me to get in, and the odds of what Professor Dumbledore asked me to get being inside the Headmaster's office is quite high."

After hearing the name Basilisk, Aberforth's face became incomparably grave.

"You've seen the Basilisk?"

Jon nodded.

"I saw its body without looking at its eyes head-on."

"Nonsense! If you had seen its eyes, then you wouldn't have met with me now."

Aberforth got up from his chair with some agitation, and he paced back and forth as he stepped on the grimy floor.

"If you want to use the rooster to deal with the Basilisk, this is indeed a most convenient and simple solution, but things are not that simple."

Jon although read the original book, understand a lot of unknown things, but he never thought he is better compared to other people due to the information he knew from the original book, no matter how much he knows, he does not have the experience of older wizards on handling wizard related matters.

"Isn't the rooster's crowing lethal to Basilisk?"

"Indeed, it is lethal, but the Basilisk is not so vulnerable that it would immediately die as soon as it hears the crowing of a rooster." Aberforth explained to Jon, "The longer the Basilisk lives the more resistant it is to the crowing of the rooster, although hearing it for a long time will still make them die in pain, but in between they will also have time to escape or try hard to kill the rooster."

"Your ultimate goal is not to kill the Basilisk, but to tackle it and then steal what is stored in the Headmaster's office. If the basilisk escapes, or violently resists or even if the rooster's crowing attracts the attention of the others, then your mission will still fail."

Jon has long thought of countermeasures for this.

"Therefore I have no intention of dealing with that Basilisk at the usual time. On Christmas Day, most of the students will go home, and those who are left behind as well as all the staff will be on the ground floor that night for Christmas dinner."

His words made Aberforth pause, and he looked at Jon, with his gaze brightening.

"No wonder Albus chose to let you carry out this matter, when I found out that he actually let a twelve-year-old kid become a spy, I even wanted to poke my wand into his brain to check if it has become a mush, and now it seems that his brain works well as usual."

Jon didn't care about Aberforth's praise and went on to say.

"The Headmaster's office is on the seventh floor, and the Christmas dinner is going to be held in the great hall on the ground floor, so everyone who stays in the castle will be there then, the only chance I might have to deal with the basilisk would be before the end of that dinner."

"I can help you find a rooster that will basically crow all the time as long as it can open its beak." Aberforth promised, "But you can't just rely on the help of the rooster, you have to find a way to keep that snake from escaping or killing the rooster head-on before the crow of the rooster could possibly kill it completely."

Jon looked up at him as if listening to what he was saying.

"Is there anything you can possibly teach me? Percival."

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