Ivan was somewhat speechless at the thought of the Fear Charm. Normally, a normal mother would have taught such a dangerous dark spell before going to school.
The teaching process could never have been a happy or peaceful one, or he would not have felt fear in his memories. It was clear that the mother wanted to give her child a taste of fear herself, in order to speed things up.
These unknowns gave Ivan a pang of anxiety, which made him desperately want to be strong enough to protect himself before he left for home.
The fastest way to increase one's strength was to create this newly-acquired bloodline fusion reagent. Therefore, even though Ivan felt that the three Galleons in the letter were a little troublesome, he still kept them.
He had no choice. He was so short of money…
Gura, the black owl that delivered the letter, had been waiting for Ivan for a long time, and had to tap his beak on Ivan's head as a warning.
Ivan realised that the most important thing to do right now was to reply to Gura's letter. He handed Gura one of his family's food-boxes so that Gura could be patient, but he ignored Gura's protests and picked up his quill in frustration.
After a long silence, Ivan wrote down on a blank piece of paper some interesting things that had happened at school recently.
Ivan was going to mention the troll, but he deleted the letter before sending it.
Having defeated the troll in a one-on-one duel shortly after entering school, Ivan reckoned his mother's first reaction would be to come to the school in terror and question Dumbledore, rather than being proud of him.
Better to keep a low profile and avoid trouble…
It took a while of editing and deleting before Ivan was able to close the envelope and seal it so that Gura the owl could return the way he came.
Dawn was breaking by the time they were done, and Ivan pulled the blanket over himself and lay down on the bed.
In a daze, a thought occurred to Ivan. Did Dumbledore mean the Welcoming Party or this letter?
…
Early the next morning, Ivan, who had slept less than two hours, reluctantly got up to attend classes, along with Harry and Ron.
However, when the three of them woke up and saw the dark circles under each other's eyes, they couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Over the course of the night, Ivan's slaying of the troll seemed to have spread throughout the school, causing whispers to fill the air wherever he went.
Yvonne picked up her pace, and it was only when she reached Transfiguration that she felt better.
Hermione arrived a little earlier than the trio, and was now sitting quietly on the right side of the table, turning the pages of a book.
Several of the young Gryffindor witches were engaged in a heated discussion, with many of them bombarding Hermione with questions. The latter looked annoyed, but when she caught sight of Ivan, her face lit up and she put down her book, ready to go to him.
Professor McGonagall happened to walk into the room at that moment and said with a frown, "All right, children, class starts now. Get back to your seats!"
Ivan, Harry, and Ron quickly found three empty seats, and Hermione had no choice but to sit back down.
Professor McGonagall consciously glanced at Ivan, then cleared her throat and addressed the assembled wizards.
"I believe I said at the start of the school year that Transfiguration would be one of the most complicated and dangerous magic you will ever learn at Hogwarts, and that it will be enough to solve most of the problems you will face."
"As you may have heard, only yesterday, Mr. Hales managed to kill a troll in the corridors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with the help of a superb Transfiguration Charm and a brilliant brain!"
"For this, Professor Dumbledore gave Gryffindor House twenty points!" Professor McGonagall concluded.
When Professor McGonagall finished speaking, there was a great deal of discussion, and Ivan became the centre of attention.
Despite the fact that many lesser wizards had heard the news before, it was, after all, coming from Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, and it might not be true.
Ivan was not at all pleased with the sudden compliment, as he knew from experience that it was usually followed by a "but", which was typical for a teacher.
As expected, Ivan heard Professor McGonagall continue.
"But…I must warn you that a troll is a very powerful and dangerous creature, and not something that a young wizard who has not yet graduated can hope to defeat! Halles was the only exception. Even Professor Quirrell, who taught your Defence Against the Dark Arts class, was so frightened that he fainted at the Hallowe'en Feast!"
Professor McGonagall's gaze sharpened as she continued.
"If I were to learn of another such danger, I would certainly advise Professor Dumbledore to have him expelled."
"And even for Hales, defeating a troll isn't as easy as you might think." Professor McGonagall glanced around at the assembled wizards, noting that they had all fallen silent. She then turned to Ivan and gave him a look, indicating that he should perform.
Ivan immediately understood and stood up. His expression was grave and his tone was deep.
"Yes, Professor, I swear that a troll is the most difficult opponent I've had in eleven years… ever!"
As soon as Ivan finished speaking, there was a great deal of laughter, as many clever young wizards could hear the hidden meaning in his words.
As a first-year, eleven-year-old young wizard, they considered the troll to be Ivan's first and, of course, most difficult opponent.
Professor McGonagall was unhappy with Ivan's patronizing attitude, and she was more inclined to let him talk about his fear of trolls, and the hair-raising process that would give these restless children a heads-up.
Ivan gave a non-committal shrug, inwardly praising Professor McGonagall's subtlety.
First, he used his defeat of the troll to stir up the young wizards' enthusiasm for learning Transfiguration, and then gave an official speech to set the tone for the event and put an end to the increasingly exaggerated rumours.
After all, it was better to let the cat out of the bag than to hide it and let everyone guess. It was better to use it as a model to promote a positive effect. Using expulsion as a warning to prevent some young wizards from having the idea that "he can do it, I can do it", one would be courting death.
Finally, there was the matter of suppressing his popularity, so that he would not grow complacent after defeating the troll.
The only pitiful one was Quirrell, who McGonagall considered to be the background to the troll's prowess, and who would most likely become a laughing stock at Hogwarts after today.
Ivan, who was far older than eleven, was able to guess Professor McGonagall's thoughts in such a short time.
Ivan wouldn't mind playing along with Professor McGonagall if he could. After all, keeping a low profile was the way to go. Unfortunately, there were some questionable points about how he killed the troll, and the more he said, the more mistakes he made.
Otherwise, Professor McGonagall would have to ask him what he was up to by transforming into a bunch of sharp iron thorns.
Professor McGonagall carefully prepared her opening statement, which, with Ivan's lack of cooperation, was only half-expected.
This led to Professor McGonagall reminding Ivan that if he answered any more questions in class without her permission, she might consider using the Forbidden Spell to silence him for a while and give the other young wizards a chance to shine.
Yvonne looked at her double-digit GPA and Potions, which required 799 Proficiency Points to level up. She had no choice but to say that she might consider the professor's valuable advice and try to play fair.