Chapter 715: It Looks Like Knockturn Alley Needs a Thorough Cleanup!
Chapter 715: It Looks Like Knockturn Alley Needs a Thorough Cleanup!
Perhaps because it was their last meal before leaving school, today's breakfast was especially plentiful. The allure of the food temporarily made them forget their worries, allowing them to enjoy their meal with full concentration.
After they had eaten their fill, an Owl wobbled in from the entrance hall and landed directly on Ivan's shoulder.
Ivan took the Daily Prophet from the Owl's leg, opened it to confirm the contents, and then sighed.
"Sure enough!"
"What's wrong, Ivan?" Hermione, curious, leaned in to take a look and quickly understood why Ivan had sighed.
Today's Daily Prophet only reported on Ivan's successful victory in the Triwizard Tournament, dedicating two full pages to recount the thrilling Triwizard Cup competition. It made no mention of Harry being taken away afterward.
As for the chaos at the school, it was attributed to negligence.
"It seems the Ministry of Magic isn't going to make the Dark Lord's return public..." Ivan casually tossed the newspaper aside, sounding slightly disappointed, though he had expected as much.
"Does Minister Fudge still refuse to believe Voldemort has returned? There are so many witnesses!" Harry found it hard to understand Fudge's stubbornness.
"You've known him long enough. That fool always just causes us trouble!" Ivan said irritably.
Fudge's foolish and stubborn behavior had already worn out Ivan's limited patience. If he had the power, he would kick Fudge out and replace him with a more competent Minister of Magic...
Harry recalled the events of last year involving Sirius Black and his own experiences with Fudge. He no longer expected the Minister of Magic to come to his senses and instead asked curiously:
"By the way, Ivan, you usually call him Voldemort. Why have you started calling him the Dark Lord recently?"
"He has regained his strength, so we need to be more careful", Ivan shrugged and explained.
"You're not afraid of him, are you?" Ron's face was full of shock, as if he had just learned that Merlin had risen from the dead.
Harry and Hermione also looked at Ivan with confusion. They didn't think Ivan would be afraid of Voldemort, considering he had just injured him a few days ago.
"Of course not!" Ivan said, sounding exasperated. "The issue is that Tom has placed a magical ward on his name. Saying it directly could lead to being tracked. I don't want to invite trouble."
The Harry from the original timeline had fallen victim to this, resulting in a near-fatal chase by Death Eaters.
While Ivan wasn't sure if Voldemort had ordered the Death Eaters to use this tracking magic now, it was better to be cautious. After all, he wasn't strong enough to face Voldemort yet...
Harry and Ron exchanged glances. They had never heard of such a thing before. No wonder so few people in the Wizarding World dared to say Voldemort's name; they had thought it was just due to his formidable reputation.
"Ivan is right... It's fine at Hogwarts, as the Dark Lord won't dare come here. But outside, you should be cautious and avoid saying Voldemort's name directly. Many wizards suffered because of this over a decade ago!"
As they were talking, a familiar voice reached their ears.
"Sirius Black?!" Harry turned around in pleasant surprise, only to see Sirius Black walking over from the entrance hall.
"We haven't seen you around these past two days. We thought you had already gone back." Harry said.
"That's because Headmaster Dumbledore had me running some errands for him these past two days..." Sirius Black plopped down casually, grabbed a few pancakes, and stuffed them into his mouth, then took a refreshing gulp of a cold drink.
Harry and the others were very curious about what kind of tasks Dumbledore had assigned to him, but Sirius Black clearly didn't want to elaborate, brushing it off with a casual remark.
"Sirius Black? What about the Ministry of Magic? How did the talks between Professor Dumbledore and Fudge go?" Ivan asked, getting straight to the point. He hadn't been involved in those negotiations and had only been guessing.
"What do you think? They fell apart, of course!" Sirius Black sighed, recalling the argument that evening, which still left him feeling irritated.
Compared to the resurrection of the Dark Lord, Fudge was more concerned that Dumbledore had gathered a large group of wizards without the Ministry's permission, considering this an illegal challenge to the Minister of Magic's authority.
They argued all night, but nothing was resolved...
After hearing Sirius Black's account, Ivan was speechless. He had tried to underestimate Fudge as much as possible, but the man kept pushing the boundaries of his disbelief.
All he could say was... this was so Fudge!
Harry and Hermione were also disgusted, while Ron was muttering curses...
"What about Winky? Did you find her?" Harry suddenly remembered the house-elf he had seen in the graveyard and asked urgently.
"We found her. Just as you suspected, the Death Eaters were too busy fleeing to care about a house-elf's life. Professor Dumbledore saved her, and she should be in the kitchen now."
Sirius Black said with a touch of sentiment. To be honest, Winky was one of the main culprits in the mistreatment of Kreacher and had been following Voldemort's orders to keep an eye on him. However, seeing her nearly driven to the brink of death by Voldemort's Cruciatus Curse, he couldn't bring himself to hold it against her.
"Let's go visit Winky before we leave!" Hermione suggested.
Harry and Ron had no objections; Kreacher's death had made them more sympathetic toward house-elves.
Ivan also nodded in agreement.
After breakfast, the group headed to the kitchen to check on Winky. However, Ivan's motives weren't entirely pure. He found a reason to send Hermione and the others away, then used Legilimency to search Winky's memories, successfully obtaining the faces of most of the remaining Death Eaters.
After all, the Death Eaters who intended to return to Voldemort's service had all been at the graveyard that night, and each of them had appeared before Winky!
Harry had those memories too, but he couldn't use Legilimency on Harry directly, so he had to rely on this house-elf!
Ivan closed his eyes and used Occlumency to organize the memories, focusing on the faces one by one. His expression grew increasingly grim as he muttered to himself.
"Damn, it looks like we'll have to thoroughly clean out Knockturn Alley when we get back!"
(End of Chapter)
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