With the aid of answering quills, the efficiency of answering letters was increased several times over, and Ivan only had to open the envelope once, look at it, and put it aside, and the quills on the table would begin to write a reply.
Even so, it took Ivan all morning,
When she opened the last envelope, she found it was from the school, unlike the others.
He was told to catch the train to King's Cross Station on 1 September, along with a list of books for his second year.
Yvonne scanned the pages briefly. Aside from a few professional books for each subject, there were seven copies of Lockhart's book, each more expensive than the last.
Yvonne suddenly understood who would be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts next term.
However, he was also amazed by Lockhart's shamelessness. He actually used his status as a professor to get Hogwarts students to sell more books.
"Mom, you might have to give me more Galleons. This year's books are especially expensive. They might cost dozens of Galleons." Looking at the price tag, Ivan sighed and had to ask for help.
He had attracted a lot of business for his family's wizarding shop, but it was Acacia who had been paid, and he had not been able to get his hands on any of it.
"Dozens of Galleons? That's expensive." Alicia, who was helping to collect the replies, curiously took the list and scanned it.
"Gilderoy Lockhart?" said Alicia in surprise.
"You know him, Mom?" Ivan had a bad feeling about this. If he remembered correctly, Lockhart seemed to be a friend of women and had many fans in the wizarding world.
Fortunately, Ivan soon saw Alicia shake her head.
"No, I don't. I've only heard a little about him. I've heard he's quite a character, and that his books are well-known and well-known."
"Looks like you have a good Defence Against the Dark Arts professor next year," said Alicia with a smile.
Ivan pursed his lips. 'He's a bit of a knock-off, but he's good at the Memory Charm.'
Ivan, however, did not mention that he would be exposed once he became a professor next year, and that he would probably be in trouble, if not for his memory loss from the Basilisk incident.
Alicia helped Ivan with his list, then took a hundred Galleons from the cupboard, put them in a enchanted bag and handed it to Ivan.
"This should be enough. You can use the rest at school," Alicia said generously.
A hundred Galleons was a lot of money, and if it weren't for Ivan's unusual behaviour during the summer holidays, and the fact that he never squandered his money, Alicia would never have trusted a child with it.
As a matter of fact, Isiah wanted to simply close the shop for half a day and take Ivan on a tour of Diagon Alley, but Ivan refused.
Ivan didn't go to Flourish and Blotts just to buy books. More importantly, one of the ways he remembered how to get GPA was to read all of the wizarding books.
As long as one's reading progress reached 100%, one would be able to obtain a student status reward that was equivalent to the difficulty level and could also improve one's magic knowledge. It was killing two birds with one stone.
Thus, Ivan planned to spend the rest of the school year at Flourish and Blotts, reading as much as he could.
Alicia, of course, could not stay out of business for more than a few days, especially now that business was on the upswing, so resignedly dismissed the idea of accompanying her.
"Why don't you let Douget go with you for a few days?" Alicia was more or less worried about Ivan going through Knockturn Alley alone.
"No, I'd rather drink Polyjuice Potion and go alone!" Ivan shook his head firmly.
He'd had enough of that bastard Doggett, and nothing good ever came out of going out with him except that time at the Ministry.
"Very well, then," Isiah agreed with a sigh, unable to resist Ivan's firmness, but then added a cautionary note. "Do not go out in my form."
Ivan nodded. He was not in the habit of turning into the opposite sex.
Back in his room, Ivan took out the Polyjuice Potion that he had brewed earlier and placed in his drawer.
With that in mind, Ivan added a strand of hair he had collected and took a small sip, presumably enough to get him out of Knockturn Alley.
The next moment, Ivan felt as if his entire body was being torn apart, and waves of itchiness spread throughout his body. Then, his bones were dislocated, his skin stretched, and his robes, which had originally fitted him perfectly, burst open.
Ivan felt that he had miscalculated. He had forgotten that his clothes would burst if he transformed. He should have been prepared.
Fortunately, this small matter was not a problem for Ivan, whose Transfiguration was close to Level 5. With a wave of his wand, his torn clothes were quickly restored, and then they became much wider and larger under the effects of the Transfiguration Charm.
After putting her clothes back on, Ivan stood in front of the mirror again, looking at a freckled young man of seventeen or eighteen who looked exactly like Walker.
He chose to become Walker because he could not reach many people each day, and only collected Asia's, Doggett's, and Walker's hair.
He had no intention of morphing into the middle-aged Douggart, so the only option was this.
"I'll see you later, Mom," Ivan said to Alicia, who was still in the mail.
Alicia turned to face the young wizard, who appeared to be seventeen or eighteen years old. She had a strange expression on her face, but she nodded.
This was also the reason why Alicia didn't want Ivan to become her.
…
Alone in the streets of Knockturn Alley, Ivan experienced another experience, one in which there seemed to be a certain malevolence all around him.
Along the way, Ivan was accosted by several strangers, some of whom tried to sell him various goods, and others who invited him to "someplace" for a visit…
However, none of them dared to make a move, and even then Ivan had to act tough to make them back off.
As they approached Knockturn Alley, Ivan saw that the street leading to it was half-blocked, and ahead of them a grinning hag was pulling a young wizard.
The other wizards pretended not to notice, and a few of them were crouched in a corner, presumably watching the commotion.
Ivan raised his eyebrows. As he was trying to decide if he should interfere or take a detour, he found the young wizard familiar.
Was that Harry Potter?
But where was Hagrid? Where had he gone?