In the Harry Potter Without Harry Potter

After waiting there for about less than an hour or so, Aberforth came back with a grimace on his face.

"I saw him at the Three Broomsticks, but he wasn't alone, Barty Crouch Jr, the two Carrow siblings, the school healer with the last name Lestrange, and other professors from Sacred Twenty-Eight pureblood families were all gathered there, they should be having some kind of gathering."

Jon sat down on an empty barrel, his face clouded with uncertainty, and he finally said.

"Let's wait and see when they are going back, whether they go back together or separately and individually."

Aberforth did not let Jon wait around doing anything, he led him to a guest room on the second floor of the inn and let him rest there first, after all, no matter what the outcome of tonight, he will certainly be running around and tried during the day tomorrow.

After letting Jon settle in, Aberforth closed the bar an hour earlier than usual, kicked the last drunken bum out of the place at 11:00, then closed the door and went to keep an eye on the area around the Three Broomsticks Inn in person.

He chose a spot where he could see the group of Hogwarts faculty who were drinking and playing cards in the saloon of the Inn from the side, while those inside couldn't see him from this angle.

The weather in early February is still very cold, the cold wind blew on his wrinkled face causing numbness, but Aberforth kept a firm guard until about two o'clock in the morning.

When he saw Dolohov finish the last hand of cards and turned up to the first floor of the Three Broomsticks Inn, he could not help but clench his fist in anger and hammered a heavy punch on the wall beside him.

Then he ignored his hand, which had become bruised, and turned around and walked quickly towards his inn.

Arriving at the first floor of the Hog's Head Inn, he woke up Jon, who was sleeping lightly.

"He stayed overnight in that Inn."

"Is everyone else asleep there?"

"No, except him, the rest of those guys are still playing cards in the saloon."

Jon rubbed his face with a cold hand and exhaled lightly.

He knew exactly what it meant if Dolokhov stayed overnight in the Three Broomsticks tonight.

With Barty Jr, the Carrow siblings and the other Hogwarts Castle professors there, even with the cloak of invisibility plus Aberforth, there is no way Jon could guarantee he could deal with Dolohov in such a setting.

There is only one group of them still there, after putting on the cloak, how should they enter the Inn with the door closed?

Even if they find the right opportunity to sneak in, then how to sneak into the first floor while avoiding all Hogwarts professors on the ground floor?

This is not impossible to succeed, but the risk is too great, once they choose to risk it, but tonight's operation failed, the impact will not only affect the rescue of students from Hogwarts Castle tomorrow, but Dumbledore's other plans obviously are also likely to have problems.

Jon bowed his head in silence for a long time, and finally, he did not decide to take the risk.

You can rescue people, but you can't risk sacrificing others to save them.

If they fail tonight, Jon and Aberforth can certainly escape, but the Ministry of Magic will certainly be alerted, and then the ripple effect will be too extensive.

"It's okay." Jon sat up from the bed and put on his robe, his face did not show much frustration and disappointment, he said in a bland voice, "Since we can't pull off a trick, then let's go head-on."

Aberforth sighed.

"You can't keep everyone well-protected."

"As long as you can do your best, then no matter what the outcome, you will not regret it!"

***

Early Thursday morning on the Hogwarts wagon.

The students responsible for making breakfast today had woken up early and were busy in the kitchen.

The second-year students still need to give the upperclassmen a helping hand for another year, and this morning, Neville and the three of them were in the kitchen helping to fry eggs.

They're already able to make food that doesn't require much skill. Four people each have a pan, and the half-cooked eggs are frying inside, while the fourth-graders, who are responsible for the main meal, are preparing sandwiches and grilled sausages for breakfast.

"You fried them too lightly, Ron, I just saw that some of the yolks are still all liquid inside the fried eggs." Lavender stared at Ron's completed product and lectured him.

Ron, however, shrugged his shoulders unconcerned.

"That's how I like them, but Percy doesn't like this type, he prefers more seasoned and firmer omelettes, so hopefully he'll get to try my work when the time comes."

Neville stared at his pan, musing.

"I wonder what Jon's been up to lately?"

Ron tsked.

"Maybe Jon's been assigned to an awesome task where not only he doesn't have to go to class every day, but he gets to eat grilled knuckles all morning!"

"Jon's not going to eat something that greasy early in the morning." Justin muttered in a small voice.

While they were chatting, Neville was keen enough to notice the door to the room behind them being opened, so he turned his head and saw the visitor, and couldn't help but widen his eyes slightly.

"Professor Dumbledore."

Hearing his voice, this time Ron and the three of them reacted, turned around and saw Dumbledore walking into the kitchen with a smile on his face.

"Grilled pork knuckles, of course, not suitable for the morning, but fried eggs with sandwiches is a fantastic choice." He had obviously overheard the conversation between them earlier and smiled, "Give me one of your works first, Ron, I like them a little softer too. Lavender, would you please get me a sandwich and pumpkin juice from Swift and the others, no need for grilled sausage, my appetite is not so good as I get older."

He naturally sat in the kitchen in front of a vacant kitchen table, the red-faced Ron found one of the most decent from his own pieces and put it on an empty plate in front of Dumbledore.

Lavender also ran all the way to the fourth-year students' side to get a thicker sandwich and warm pumpkin juice, and carefully handed it to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore would usually go to the great hall to eat with the students, but occasionally when he was busy, he would come to the kitchen to see if there were any food available, and if he couldn't find it, he would cook it on his own.

This is the first time they saw the Headmaster get up so early and come directly to the kitchen to eat breakfast.

Neville, while controlling the heat for the omelette, curiously looked at Dumbledore, who was seriously eating breakfast and asked.

"Are you going out for something today? Professor."

Dumbledore used a knife and fork to cut open Ron's fried egg, the liquid yolk inside immediately flowed out, and the old man replied softly.

"I'm going to see two old friends today."

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