However, it was too late to leave, as George and Fred had already rushed to Ivan's aid the moment they saw him.
To Ivan's surprise, the Weasleys didn't try to fight him, and George just stuck his tongue out at him excitedly.
"Woo woo… woo woo woo woo…"
"I'm sorry, but I was only joking about giving you these toffees. Do you want me to undo the curse?" Ivan asked, shrugging to show that he didn't understand a word George was saying, but he pulled out his wand.
"No, it's fine, it's a great gift!" Fred shook his head quickly. He was in better shape than George, and his words were slurred, but Ivan could still understand him.
[We knew how to use it when we received it.]
Unable to speak, George waved his wand in the air to sort out the words.
"Then why are you eating?" Yvonne asked curiously.
"It's so interesting, of course we'll try it and get away with a History of Magic lesson," Fred said with a grin.
The enlarged tongue did not seem to impede the Weasley brothers, who seemed to enjoy it and find it amusing.
[It's called Fat-Tongued Toffee? That's a nice name. We're going to use it as one of our top products at Joke Toys. Having you as our special consultant was the best decision we ever made!]
George was very good at writing in the air with his magic, and it did not take much effort for him to continue.
"By the way, Ivan, did you receive our gift?" Fred asked.
"Is this it?" Ivan asked, pulling two round objects out of his robes, which he had shrunk to the size of a thumb for ease of carrying.
"I haven't figured out how to use it yet," Ivan said. "What did you put in it?"
"It's a Dungbelly, a new invention of ours. It's very simple to use. Just throw it at someone you hate, and it'll explode and hit them. The smell will last for at least an entire day," Fred said with a wicked grin, although his loud slurping made him sound strange.
"It can't be the real… thing in here, can it?" Yvonne suddenly found the dung-egg burning in her hand, and nearly threw it away.
Yvonne even imagined the Weasleys stirring up trouble in the toilets to get their hands on the ingredients…
"How can that be! It's disgusting!" Fred exclaimed before Ivan could finish his thought.
"It's a mixture of several kinds of smelly grass that we use to make up the smell, only it smells like it."
Ivan was relieved to learn how the Dungbombs were made, but then he saw George waving his wand and explaining.
[And it's too much trouble to use the real thing. Fred and I were going to find some animal droppings and stuff it in, but we've been guarding it for days and we haven't been able to collect enough. There won't be enough for mass production in the future, so we've had to switch to Stinky Grass. After all, we can't spend every day in captivity collecting that stuff.]
Fred was speechless and glared at George. Could he not reveal the dark history they were researching?
"Anyway, you're our first client, and we're waiting for you to try it out and come back and tell us what we need to improve on," Fred said, patting Ivan on the shoulder.
Yvonne gave a non-committal nod, but tried to think of a way in which she could use a Dungbomb.
He could only leave it there and see who was unlucky enough to provoke him the next time before throwing it over…
…
Over the next few days, Ivan went to Hagrid's hut almost every day to check on the dragon eggs, and spent the rest of the time in the library, occasionally going to the Room of Requirement to check on the progress of brewing potions, or being pulled out by the Weasleys to develop new joke toys.
With Hermione as a learning accelerator, Ivan's normal learning efficiency was greatly improved, which was why he was able to afford to exchange for an Experiencing Card model the moment he saw Dumbledore.
Over the course of the day, Ivan was able to make general sense of the hierarchy based on his own comparisons and estimates.
A first-year was a beginner who was able to cast spells, and most first-year and first-year students at Hogwarts were able to do so.
As for the younger wizards, Ivan had seen George and Fred perform spells, most of which were at least Level 2.
Although the Weasleys spent most of their time entertaining and making headlines for their classmates, their ability to cast spells was among the best among their peers.
After all, they had both sneaked into the Restricted Section to read, and they were the ones who had learned the last spell.
Ivan's only Level 3 Transfiguration Spell was once used in the development of a magical prop, and George and Fred were shocked when they heard that Ivan could take the N.E.W.T.'s Transfiguration exam.
Ivan understood roughly that a Grade 3 spell was a graduate's standard.
The fourth-grade charm, however, was left out because there were no samples to compare.
The only disappointment to Ivan over the next few days was that his nightly trips to the Restricted Section were forced to end, as Harry often sneaked out in his Invisibility Cloak late at night.
It only took Ivan a moment to guess that Harry was looking for the Mirror of Eris.
Dumbledore once told them in the Headmaster's office that he would leave the Mirror somewhere else, and Harry, desperate to see his parents again, would not give up his search for it.
This resulted in Ivan being confined to his bed at night, unable to go anywhere but to look forward to Dumbledore's counselling sessions.
This went on for three days until a letter arrived from Hagrid informing him that the dragon was about to hatch.
As such, Ivan was eager to get out of the way of the crowd, along with Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
After all, who wouldn't be interested in seeing a dragon hatch up close?
However, around the corner of a deserted corridor, Ivan was surprised to see a poor, trembling Quirrell cornered by Snape,
"You'd better be honest with me. Why did you sneak into my potion storage room? Who ordered you to do this? White fresh… aconite… are you injured? Or is he injured?! Or do you want to brew the Polyjuice Potion and find out from the other professors how to pass the test…"
"I didn't… I didn't… I didn't do it…" Quirrell's eyes widened and he shook his head like a rattle-drum. He had also heard about the theft of Snape's potion store!
But what does it have to do with me, Quirrell, that your potion was stolen?