"I am not lost, madame. The place I wish to go is over there…"
Flustered at the junction of Knockturn Alley and the Crossroads, Harry grabbed his captured right hand and tried to deny it.
"It doesn't matter, my dear. I can take you. Are you going home? Then come with me…" The old witch grinned, revealing her mossy teeth. She spoke gently, as kind as a grandmother next door.
Harry, however, felt a chill run down his spine. The man's skinny arms were surprisingly strong as they grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him towards the inside of Knockturn Alley.
Harry had no idea what would happen to him if he was taken away, but he knew that nothing good would come of it, so he looked around at the wizards for help.
However, to Harry's surprise, none of the wizards around him paid him any attention, and he even caught sight of a couple of wizards in ragged robes, squatting in a corner and smiling at him, though with more than a hint of special meaning.
"Ma'am, I don't even know you!" Harry tried to convince the old witch to let him go, regretting his choice of words when using Floo powder, or the fact that he should never have used the fireplace.
"Soon we will know each other…" the elderly witch said with a strange smile as she gently patted Harry's cheek with her wand-wielding right hand.
"Harry, what are you doing here?"
Just as Harry was beginning to despair, there was a noise behind him and the two of them turned to see who it was.
While he was hesitating, the young wizard walked up to him and placed his hand on Harry's other shoulder. Harry felt as if his body was about to be torn apart by the two of them.
"Madam, my friend is here to fetch me. Will you release me now?"
Harry did not know who the young wizard in front of him was, but he could tell that he was here to save him, so he decided to side with him.
"Rascal, don't…" The old witch frowned at the young man and was about to curse him when Ivan suddenly attacked.
"Expelliarmus!"
The red magical light hit the old witch and she was thrown back against the wall behind her. A strange-looking wand flew out of her hand and landed in Ivan's hand.
The fall was so hard that the old witch felt as if her bones were about to fall apart. It took her a while to recover, and she was furious.
She did not expect an eighteen-year-old brat to attack her, so she was caught off guard.
The elderly witch immediately reached into her robes for something, but not before Ivan's wand was pointed at her nose. Black magic gathered at the tip of the wand, ready to burst forth at any moment.
"If you move, I'll cut your hand off!" Ivan warned, his eyes fixed on the old witch's hand.
Ivan knew very well that he was not as intimidating as Hagrid, and that he had to use more direct and forceful means to force the other party to accept the truth!
The elderly witch glared angrily at Ivan, but didn't dare to do anything rash. She would have bet against a lesser wizard of average age.
However, Ivan's performance just now showed her that he was really going to be ruthless!
Ivan threw the wand he had just captured into a distant alley, where it landed at the feet of a broken wizard lying on the ground.
"Go away! You'd better not let me see you again!"
Losing her wand and being pointed at by the other party's wand, the old witch had no choice but to get up from the ground and leave. When she saw that the wand that had been thrown into another alley had been picked up by someone, her expression changed and she hurriedly chased after them.
Harry was relieved to see this, but did not forget to thank the helpful young wizard.
"Thank you, sir!"
Seeing the change in Harry's expression, Yvonne wanted to show him the cruelties of the wizarding world.
"Don't thank me so quickly, brat!"
"S-Sir…" Harry stammered as he watched the young wizard's expression change.
Ivan was amused by Harry's fear and tried his best not to laugh, but in the end, he couldn't help but laugh.
"Come on, I'll show you somewhere nice… you'll love it!"
With that, Ivan began to push Harry forward, causing him to panic even more, fearing that he would die today, and praying that someone would come to his rescue.
However, it was clear that fate did not favor one person twice in a row, and Harry went all the way without a second savior.
Harry's only relief was that they were at least heading in the direction of Diagon Alley.
Harry's nerves relaxed a little when he stepped out of the dark Knockturn Alley into the busy Diagon Alley, but not for long, as he soon found out that the strange young wizard was pulling him into the middle of nowhere.
As Harry braced himself to shout, the young wizard tapped his wand on his shirt.
Harry was still wondering when his eyes widened.
This was because he could clearly see that the young wizard in front of him was shrinking, becoming shorter and shorter, and his freckled face had changed into another appearance that he was very familiar with. His clothes shrank in tandem with his body, and it did not take long for him to become a young wizard of his own size.
"Ivan?!" Harry stared at her in shock.
"Hi, Harry, it's been a while!" Ivan said, turning around to greet Harry after he removed the Transfiguration Charm.
"What's going on? How did you … how did you become that person? No, it's that person who became you?" Harry's brain was failing him, and his words were coming out in a jumble.
"It's the effect of Polyjuice Potion, um…it's a potion that takes the form of someone else," Ivan explained.
Harry nodded, then remembered how frightened he had been to walk with Ivan, and puffed out his cheeks in anger.
"Then why didn't you tell me? I thought I was going to be kidnapped!"