Ivan shook his head in exasperation at the sight of the two of them.
The trio waited at the entrance for a while as Harry, Hermione, Bill, Charlie, and Mr and Mrs Weasley came through the wall.
They all said their final good-byes before the train, and Mrs Weasley hugged everyone warmly.
Charlie smiled as he hugged Ginny and said goodbye to her. "I don't think we'll be apart for long… maybe soon I'll see you all again!"
"Why do you say that?" Fred asked curiously.
"You'll find out when you get to school!" Charlie added with a shrug. "By the way, don't tell Percy I mentioned this… it's 'top-secret information, to be released only when deemed appropriate' by the Ministry."
"If I had a choice, I'd love to go back to Hogwarts this year." Bill was also looking wistfully at the Hogwarts special train.
Their secretive manner piqued the crowd's interest, and made George, Harry, and the others curious.
"What is it that you're not telling us?" George demanded, glaring at them angrily.
However, no matter what he asked, Charlie and Bill acted as though it was a confidential matter, which frustrated George and the others.
Ivan was not involved, as he knew that Charlie and Bill were hiding something about this year's Triwizard Tournament!
Although "activities" such as fighting dragons, merpeople, and maze-chasing were considered trivial to Ivan, they were indeed thrilling and worth holding for other wizards!
Whine…
Just as Bill and Charlie were about to be annoyed to death by George and the others, there was a loud honking noise and steam rose up from the chimney of the train.
"Honestly, they must know something and they're keeping it from us," Ron grumbled as he dragged his luggage down the aisle of the train.
"Yeah, that's not fair!" Fred agreed unhappily. Charlie and Bill had piqued his curiosity, and he was itching to talk.
Harry was not overly curious about this, but turned to Ivan and asked, "Ivan, where were you during the summer holidays? Why didn't you come to the Burrow? Sirius bought you tickets for Quidditch, but they were wasted…"
"Yes, you missed this year's Quidditch World Cup! It was amazing! You should have come…"
Ron rushed to Harry's side when he heard him mention the Quidditch match, talking about the wonderful match between Ireland and Bulgaria at the World Cup!
Ron was particularly excited when Krum was mentioned, loudly describing how Krum faked a Wronski and successfully tricked Irish Seeker Aidan Lynch into throwing him to the ground…
"After that, Krum got the Golden Snitch and ended the game!" Ron concluded, as if he had caught the Golden Snitch himself at the World Cup.
"But I heard that Ireland won, didn't I?" Yvonne replied casually, trying to see if her butterfly was affecting the game.
If he recalled correctly, Krum of the Bulgarian team managed to catch the Golden Snitch, but lost the match due to a loss to Ireland.
"Well, you can't blame Krum for that, can you? He's done well enough… all because the other Bulgarian players didn't play well together!"
Ron loudly protested for Krum, saying something about the score being small at the end of the game, that Bulgarian Beaters could turn the tables with two more goals and so on…
Ivan rolled his eyes, not wanting to hear about Krum's glorious record, and looked directly at Harry, explaining, "Professor Dumbledore gave me a special training course this summer, and I didn't have time to go to a Quidditch match."
Ivan could not reveal anything about Nick Flamel, so he blamed Dumbledore.
In any case, even if the old professor knew, he would not explain, so there was no need to worry about being exposed.
"I see. No wonder you didn't reply to us all summer!" Harry nodded.
"Reply?!" Ivan was startled.
"Yes! When we didn't see you at the Quidditch game, we sent you letters, but you never replied!"
Harry explained, and then smiled as he told Yvonne about their visit to the Burrow.
For example, when they finally found an owl, Hermione mistook it for a letter from Ivan and was delighted to retrieve it.
Harry started to talk, but was silenced by Hermione's fierce glare.
Ivan's mind went blank as he realised what he had forgotten. He had forgotten to write to Hermione during the summer holidays!
Not that he was entirely to blame.
Originally, everything was fine. After all, who knew that so many messy things would happen when he returned home?
He, a young wizard in his fourth year, had somehow become the King of Knockturn Alley. He was forced to scheme against his restless subordinates every day, and his head was about to explode.
"I'm sorry, Hermione, but Professor Dumbledore took me to a very special place, so I couldn't receive any of your letters, and my owl couldn't fly…" Ivan said, feeling very guilty.
"Then you should have let me know before you went…I mean, let us know!" Hermione retorted, looking upset, her brown eyes fixed on Ivan.
Ivan was left speechless. He had forgotten all about it, and of course he could not have informed Hermione.
Without getting a response from Ivan, Hermione was able to work out what was going on.
"So it's just that you've forgotten again, right? You always do this…" The little witch huffed angrily and looked away, hugging her luggage to her chest as she walked toward the empty compartment in front of her. She bumped Ivan hard on the shoulder as she passed.
"Jesus, Hales, you forgot all about us!" George stormed over to Ivan, feigning outrage.
Fred did the same, and the two of them scolded Ivan, speaking loudly so that Hermione could hear.
However, Hermione did not even look at them as she entered the room and slammed the door behind her.
The Weasleys then stopped and gave him a helpless, self-help look.
They had not only scolded Ivan to calm Hermione down, but also wanted her to know that Ivan was not trying to get at her, that he had not waited for a reply, even from his friends, and that he had probably been held up by something.
It seems, however, that it didn't work…
"Well… that's all we can do. Try to talk some sense into him!" Fred said, patting Ivan on the shoulder as if he had been there before.
Ivan, of course, understood George and Fred's good intentions, and his head hurt as he looked at the closed door of Hermione's compartment. How could he have forgotten to write?
Harry and Ron were equally hesitant, having seen Hermione's expression and not wanting to get into trouble.
"Ivan, are we going in or not?" Harry asked when he noticed that the train was whistling again.
"Why don't we find another empty compartment?" Ron suggested.
Ivan shook his head and pushed the door open. He looked around and saw Hermione sitting in the right corner, quietly flipping through a thick book.
Hermione made no move to look up when she heard the door open.
Ivan hesitated, then sat down next to the witch.
Behind them, Harry and Ron entered the carriage and sat down opposite Ivan and Hermione, trembling with fear.
There was an eerie silence for a long time as the slightly overcrowded compartment echoed with the clacking of the train running, punctuated by Hermione turning pages.
However, Ivan, Harry, and Ron failed to notice that Hermione was turning the pages faster than normal, sometimes so fast that they slipped past unnoticed.
"I'm sorry, Hermione, I promised I'd write to you this summer, but I forgot about it!" Yvonne said, breaking the silence.
Since this incident was caused by his mistake, Ivan did not care about his pride and apologized sincerely.
"So… then what?" Hermione stopped turning the pages and looked annoyed.
'Apologize? Is that all?'
During the summer holidays, she thought Ivan would come to watch the Quidditch World Cup, so she waited happily, but he did not show up.
Hermione was disappointed, and wanted to know why Ivan hadn't come, and was expecting him to keep his promise and send her a letter telling her everything.
In the end, she waited two months for nothing!
Yvonne opened her mouth to explain, but the words stuck in her throat.
Normally, he would find countless reasons to fool the other party, but today, for some reason, it did not work.
"Yes, you always do. The year before, last year, this year… you always forget!" Hermione said sarcastically.
'Well, it was my fault the year before last… but didn't we spend all last summer together? Besides, you know I wasn't in the mood to write under those circumstances,' Yvonne replied resignedly.
"What?! You spent the whole summer last year together?" Ron looked at them in utter shock.
Harry was also looking back and forth between Ivan and Hermione with a strange expression.
"Can't I?" Blushing furiously, she flung the book at them, glaring at them with her fierce brown eyes.
"Yes…yes!" Harry and Ron nodded like chickens pecking at rice, swallowing their questions as they grumbled to themselves.
Why would she be mad at them when she was the one who had upset Ivan?