Malfoy's pale cheeks turned red and he spoke through gritted teeth.
"Don't you forget Harls! That big stupid bird almost killed me!
If my dad had known about this, he would have told the Ministry to put that stupid giant in Azkaban with his stupid bird! So we're even!"
Malfoy spoke loudly so that everyone could see that he had returned the favour.
He had been brooding over the fact that Ivan had saved his life these past few days, but he could never thank Ivan, not in this lifetime!
Fortunately, he was able to come up with a solution. 'Wasn't that big, stupid Hagrid a friend of Ivan's? I let him off the hook just in time to repay Ivan's kindness.'
That was why he came to Ivan today!
"Never mind, then! Let's call it even, if you say so!" Ivan waved his hand without much interest; he had hoped to tease Malfoy a bit with the help of this, and it would be fun…
However, it seemed impossible now. As long as the other party was thick-skinned and did not care about saving their lives, there was nothing they could do, right?
Ivan's casual attitude made Malfoy uncomfortable.
He had imagined Ivan's various reactions, and had even thought of a follow-up speech, but Ivan's attitude hit him like a punch to the face. All his previous preparations had come to nothing, and he felt very aggrieved.
"Malfoy, even if you told your father about it, Hagrid wouldn't be in Azkaban!" Harry tried to correct Malfoy.
He blamed Buckbeak's near-injury on Malfoy's reckless disregard for Hagrid's orders.
And there's no way Professor Dumbledore would let Hagrid go to jail!
"Shut up, Potter, you've got no business here!" Malfoy said at the top of his voice, giving Harry a nasty look that made him jump.
"Now that you think we're even, I won't hold back for the rest of the Quidditch game. I'll beat you myself!"
Malfoy glanced at the empty Gryffindor scoring pool and grinned. "And the House Cup this year, of course! Looks like it'll be Slytherin's, too!"
"I'm sorry, didn't you hear? I stopped playing a long time ago!" Ivan shook his head, then sighed and continued. "School Quidditch is so boring! Not even a decent opponent…"
Even though Ivan was too busy with his studies and worrying about Alicia's safety to be in the mood for Quidditch, that didn't stop him from sighing, did it?
Several House Quidditch players turned to glare at Ivan, but no one objected.
Ivan's performance at last year's Quidditch match was so impressive that it left such an indelible impression on them that their first reaction was to be relieved that he was not taking part in the Quidditch World Cup this year.
Malfoy looked surprised, as he had been avoiding Ivan and did not know that Ivan had quit Quidditch.
"Malfoy, as for this year's House Cup, you can forget about it. Hals promised us that we'd get those points back sooner or later!" George and Fred sneered, trying to discourage Malfoy from his unrealistic ideas.
"Is that so?" Malfoy's eyes narrowed slightly, and he soon realised that Ivan's lack of reaction suggested that he had discovered a great secret that would allow Dumbledore to give them extra points.
However, it is possible that no conclusive evidence has been found, hence the delay in action.
Ivan won the House Cup for Gryffindor during the first two years of the school year because he noticed the unusual behaviour of two previous Defence Against the Dark Arts professors.
Malfoy had an idea, and he suspected that the new professor might have a problem as well, so he spoke to Ivan enthusiastically.
"You'll see! I'll expose him before you do!"
Malfoy left with Goyle and Clark after some provocation…
Ivan, on the other hand, was at a loss as to why Malfoy had been picking on him so much lately.
Do you feel sorry for Harry?!
Yvonne turned to look at Harry, and sure enough, he was looking furious as well, joining Ron in berating Malfoy…
Ivan, however, did not get involved, as he was not bothered by these minor disagreements with Malfoy, as he had more important things to attend to.
For example, find out where Sirius is, or fuse the blood of a third magical creature!
By the end of the school year, he had accumulated four points, and with this incident, he had enough points for the exchange and protection mode.
Ivan had not yet decided which magical creature to fuse this term.
There are many magical creatures at Hogwarts,
Centaurs, Pixies, Merpeople, Hippogriffs, Phoenixes, Thestrals, and other magical creatures hidden in the Forbidden Forest that Ivan did not yet know existed were, arguably, diverse.
However, there was not much that could interest Ivan!
First of all, the centaur and the merman Ivan did not intend to fuse together. Apart from being agile and intelligent, the centaur did not have any other special traits. There was a high chance that the merman could enhance his underwater combat ability, but its effects were limited.
Pixies were a good choice. The fact that some spells could be cast without a wand was very tempting to Ivan, and he could always ask Dobby to draw some blood. It was very convenient!
It was a pity that the elves' magical affinity with wizards was too strong, and that their blood was fused with a more important trait.
Hippogriffs could also be ruled out, as they had no special traits, and fusing with them would be worse than merging with the blood of thestrals.
This death-related trait could perhaps be combined with magic to create a decent ability.
The best match for Ivan was naturally the phoenix!
From what he had learned, the phoenix had at least three powerful traits: fire control, teleportation, and rebirth from the ashes!
However, the fact that Fox stayed in the Headmaster's office all day kept Ivan at bay…
Other than that, he had no contact with any of his favourite magical creatures, such as the Thunderbird, Minwu, or Basilisk…
Yvonne ate her dinner distractedly, trying to think of any magical creature she could come into contact with that would improve her.