Chapter 560: What Are You Hiding From Us?
Chapter 560: What Are You Hiding From Us?
Looking at the two of them, who seemed like a pair of living treasures, Ivan helplessly shook his head.
The three of them waited at the entrance for a while, and soon Harry, Hermione, and the others came through the wall, followed by Bill, Charlie, and the Weasley couple.
Everyone gathered in front of the train to say their final goodbyes. Mrs. Weasley warmly hugged each of them.
Charlie, while hugging Ginny and saying goodbye, chuckled and said, "I don't think we'll be apart for long. Maybe I'll see you all again soon!"
"Why do you say that?" Fred asked curiously.
"You'll find out when you get to school!" Charlie shrugged and added, "By the way, don't tell Percy I mentioned this. You know, it's ‘top-secret information that the Ministry of Magic will release when they see fit.’”
"If I had a choice, I’d really like to go back to Hogwarts this year," Bill sighed wistfully, looking at the Hogwarts Express with a touch of melancholy.
Their mysterious behavior piqued everyone's interest, making George, Harry, and the others very curious.
"What are you hiding from us?" George glared at them angrily, refusing to let up.
No matter how much he asked, Charlie and Bill maintained a secretive air, refusing to reveal their secret, which left George and the others quite frustrated.
Ivan didn’t join in because he knew what Charlie and Bill were hiding: the Triwizard Tournament that was to be held this year!
While activities like fighting fire dragons, battling merpeople, and navigating the maze seemed like small fry to Ivan, they were indeed thrilling and significant events for other wizards!
The Train Whistle Blows
Just as Bill and Charlie were about to be driven mad by George and the others, a high-pitched whistle sounded, and steam billowed from the train’s chimney into the sky. Mrs. Weasley quickly interrupted their conversation and hurried them onto the train.
"They must know something and are keeping it from us," Ron grumbled as he dragged his luggage down the train corridor.
"Yeah, that’s not fair!" Fred chimed in, equally dissatisfied. Charlie and Bill had piqued his curiosity and left him with an itch to know more.
Harry, however, wasn’t too curious about this. Instead, he turned to Ivan and asked, "Ivan, where did you go during the summer? Why didn’t you come to The Burrow? Sirius Black even bought you a Quidditch ticket, but it went to waste."
"Yeah, you missed this year’s Quidditch World Cup! The match was incredible! You should have been there," Ron chimed in, eagerly recounting the thrilling match between Ireland and the Bulgarian Team.
Especially when it came to Krum, Ron became particularly excited. He loudly described how Krum used the Wronski Feint to fool Ireland’s Seeker, Aidan Lynch, causing him to fall heavily to the ground.
"After that, Krum successfully caught the Golden Snitch and ended the match!" Ron concluded, as if he himself had caught the Golden Snitch at the Quidditch World Cup.
"But I heard the Irish Team won, didn’t they?" Ivan asked casually, trying to gauge if his actions had affected the outcome of the match.
If he remembered correctly, Krum, despite successfully catching the Golden Snitch, still lost the match because the Bulgarian Team's score was lower than the Irish Team.
"That’s not Krum's fault, is it? He did his best, and it was the other players on the Bulgarian Team who failed to coordinate properly!"
Ron loudly defended Krum, pointing out that the score difference at the end of the match was minimal, and if the Bulgarian Team's Chasers had scored two more goals, Krum could have turned the tide.
Ivan rolled his eyes, not interested in hearing about Krum's glorious achievements. He turned to Harry and explained, "This summer, Professor Dumbledore arranged a Special Training for me, so I didn’t have time to watch the Quidditch match."
Ivan couldn't disclose anything related to Nicolas Flamel, so he blamed it on Dumbledore. After all, the old professor wouldn’t bother explaining if he found out, so there was no risk of being caught in a lie.
"That makes sense. No wonder you didn’t write to us all summer!" Harry nodded.
"Write to us?!" Ivan was taken aback.
"Yeah! We didn’t see you at the Quidditch match, so we sent you a few letters, but we never got a response!"
Harry explained, and then he started recounting the amusing incidents that happened during their stay at The Burrow, such as the time they finally received an owl, and Hermione, thinking it was a letter from Ivan, eagerly opened it only to find it was from Sirius Black.
Harry was in the middle of his story when Hermione's fierce glare made him stop talking abruptly.
Ivan's mind went blank as he finally remembered what he had forgotten: he hadn’t written to Hermione all summer!
But it wasn’t entirely his fault.
Everything had been fine until he returned home and got caught up in a series of unexpected events. He, a fourth-year wizard, had somehow become the King of Diagon Alley and had to deal with unruly subordinates every day. His head was spinning, and writing letters was the last thing on his mind.
"I’m really sorry, Hermione. Professor Dumbledore took me to a very special place, so I couldn’t receive your letters, and my owl couldn’t fly out," Ivan said, feeling quite guilty.
"You should have told me—or us—before you left!" Hermione replied, her brown eyes fixed on Ivan, clearly upset.
Ivan was speechless. He had completely forgotten about it, so he couldn’t have notified Hermione.
Hermione, seeing no response from Ivan, understood what had happened.
"So you just forgot, didn’t you? You always do this," the young witch huffed, turning her face away and hugging her luggage as she walked toward an empty compartment, deliberately bumping into Ivan’s shoulder as she passed.
"Wow, Hals, you actually forgot all about us!" George pretended to be angry, coming up to Ivan and loudly scolding him.
Fred joined in, and the two of them took turns berating Ivan, making sure Hermione could hear them.
But Hermione didn’t even look at them, walking straight into the compartment and slamming the door shut.
The Weasley Twins finally calmed down, giving Ivan a look that said, "You’re on your own."
Their outburst was meant to both vent Hermione’s anger and show her that Ivan hadn’t intentionally ignored her. Even they, his friends, hadn’t received a response, so it was likely something had gotten in the way.
However, it seemed that their efforts had little effect.
"Well, we've done all we can. Try to talk some sense into her!" Fred, acting like a seasoned veteran, patted Ivan on the shoulder and then dragged George off to find a seat.
Ivan understood the good intentions of George and Fred. He looked at the closed compartment door where Hermione was and felt a headache coming on. How could he have forgotten to write the letter?
Harry and Ron also hesitated, reluctant to approach. They had seen Hermione's face earlier, and no one wanted to be the one to face her wrath.
"Ivan, should we go in?" Noticing that the train was about to depart, Harry asked.
"Or maybe we should find an empty compartment instead?" Ron suggested.
Ivan shook his head, pushed open the compartment door, and looked around. Hermione was sitting in the corner on the right side, quietly flipping through a thick book.
Although she heard the door open, Hermione didn't lift her head.
Ivan hesitated for a moment, then sat down next to the young witch.
Harry and Ron followed, sitting nervously across from Ivan and Hermione. They felt a palpable tension in the air, though they weren't sure if it was just their imagination.
An awkward silence stretched on for a long time. The compartment, slightly crowded, was filled with the rhythmic clacking of the train, occasionally interrupted by the sound of Hermione turning the pages of her book.
Ivan, Harry, and Ron didn't notice that Hermione was flipping through the pages much faster than usual, sometimes even missing a few pages at a time.
"Sorry, Hermione. I promised to write to you this summer, but I completely forgot!" Ivan hesitated, breaking the silence and speaking up again.
Since the situation was his fault, Ivan wasn't concerned about saving face and apologized sincerely.
"So what now?" Hermione stopped turning the pages, a look of annoyance on her face.
Just an apology? Is that it?
This summer, she had been looking forward to Ivan coming to the Quidditch World Cup and had been eagerly waiting. But on the day of departure, Ivan never showed up.
Hermione was disappointed and wanted to know why Ivan didn't come. She had been eagerly waiting for him to keep his promise and write to her, telling her everything.
But she waited for two months and received nothing!
Ivan opened his mouth to explain but found himself at a loss for words. Usually, he could come up with countless excuses to confuse people, but today, for some reason, they didn't work.
"Yes, you always do this. Last year, the year before, and now this year, you forget every single time!" Hermione said sarcastically.
"Okay, it was my fault last year, but last summer we were together the whole time, remember? Besides, you know I wasn't in the mood to write letters then," Ivan replied, feeling helpless.
"What?! You were together the whole summer last year?" Ron looked at them in shock.
Harry also shot curious glances back and forth between Ivan and Hermione.
"Is that a problem?" Hermione's cheeks flushed red with anger as she threw the book at them, her brown eyes glaring fiercely.
"Of course not!" Harry and Ron nodded rapidly, swallowing their questions and muttering to themselves in frustration.
It was Ivan who made her angry, so why was she taking it out on them?
(End of Chapter)
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