Dumbledore paid no attention to Ron's confusion.
Ron only had to admit this to the court because he was Scabbers's master.
"Professor Dumbledore, how are we going to get to the courtroom? By carriage? It seems very late…" Harry said anxiously, noticing the clock on the Great Hall's wall.
"No, you don't have to go to all that trouble… hold hands with each other and I'll show you the way!" Dumbledore held out his left hand to hold Harry's.
Harry nodded and grabbed Ron, then Ivan and Hermione.
The five formed a circle, and Hermione tried to pull Dumbledore's other hand to form a closed loop, but he did not respond.
"Where's Sirius? Isn't he with us?" Harry asked, looking around for Sirius.
"He and Peter have been taken to the Ministry of Magic by Aurors, and will not be joining us…" Dumbledore began to explain, then looked out of the window as a phoenix swooped in and perched on his shoulder.
There was a burst of singing, and golden-red flames erupted from Fox's body, quickly spreading to each of them, turning them into torches.
Hermione was shocked and clutched Ivan's hand tightly, but soon realised that the flames were harmless and warm to the touch.
Fox's voice rose to a crescendo, and the flames surrounding him began to swell.
Hermione felt the world spin, and when she came to, she was in an abandoned street.
"This is London?!" Hermione exclaimed, looking around at the tall buildings.
"Right! Because the Ministry of Magic is based in London! That's why we're here!" Ron said, showing off what little he knew.
His father worked at the Ministry, and although Ron never visited, he knew a thing or two about it.
"Of course I do! The Ministry of Magic is mentioned in many of the books, and the entrance is disguised as a telephone booth, where an outsider would have to apply to enter…"
Hermione went on and on, stating that the location of the Ministry of Magic was common knowledge in the wizarding world.
Harry looked confused. Was this common sense? Why didn't he know?
Ron was left speechless by Hermione's retort, but he was not about to admit defeat.
"Let's stop for a moment, children, as you know we don't have a lot of time, and you'd better walk and talk!" Dumbledore was forced to interrupt them as he considered the court hearing.
Fox, on the other hand, looked tired and was resting with his eyes closed in disgust. It was obviously difficult to carry five people at once.
Hermione stopped arguing with Ron, then noticed that she was still holding Ivan's hand, and pulled back.
Hermione then checked Ivan's expression at random and was relieved when he didn't seem to notice, and then felt angry…
Ivan was watching the changes in the system's mission panel.
[Mission: Become the King of Knockturn Alley
Objective: Unify Knockturn Alley (Second Ring Road)
Task Progress: 32%
Task Reward: Fidelius Charm
Task description: …]
Ivan was baffled by the thirty-two percent progress notice.
Two days ago, he noticed an anomaly in the mission board, and was keenly aware that the King of Knockturn Alley's mission progress seemed to have secretly increased. He remembered that it was not that high before…
Could it be that the loyalty of werewolves like Warren and Walker had soared, or that he had dealt with the chain effects caused by Burke?
Ivan was confused. He had been studying at Hogwarts for nearly a year without causing any trouble. How did he suddenly become the King of Knockturn Alley?
It was for this reason that Ivan agreed to postpone his meeting with Nick Flamel, as he would have to go home during the summer holidays to see what was going on…
With this in mind, Ivan follows Dumbledore into the Ministry through the telephone booth.
Hermione and Ron, who had been arguing about how well they knew the Ministry of Magic, were captivated by the decor.
Enormous and spectacular magical fountains, fireplaces with golden borders, towering magical fires and elaborate magical lamps…
The beauty of this combination of magic and the modern world is a fascination to every wizard who first steps into it…
Harry, too, was pleasantly surprised, his eyes darting around…
"Ivan, have you been here before?" Hermione noticed that Ivan did not look surprised, as if he was familiar with the area.
"A year or so ago, because of something," Yvonne replied shortly.
"It's because of the Wolfsbane Potion, isn't it? You must have come here to register a patent…" Hermione thought for a moment, then guessed why Ivan was there.
Ivan nodded. The young witch's guess was not far off…
Following Dumbledore's lead, Ivan and the others went to the front desk to register, then used the magic lift to descend underground.
There were intermittent cries coming from the waiting room.
"Please, let him go…"
"I'm sure he's innocent. You can't convict him for a mark—"
…
Ivan was very curious and glanced inside as he approached.
The interior of the waiting room was large and full of people, most of whom were Aurors, and a few wizards who were dressed like Dumbledore, presumably members of the Wizengamot Trials.
Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew are also here.
"Sirius!" Harry was so excited that he tried to approach, but was stopped by several Aurors when he was only three metres away.
Sirius seemed to be in good spirits after not seeing him for a few days, compared to Pettigrew, who seemed to be in worse shape.
Peter seemed to have lost weight. His thin hair was tied up messily, his eyes were sunken, and his beady eyes were looking around nervously.
Ivan was not surprised, as he had told the Dementors to leave Sirius alone before leaving the observatory, and he did not care what happened to Peter.
After staring at Peter for a while, Ivan's gaze moved to the side, where the cries had come from.