Ivan sighed. Just in case, he would have to move Tom somewhere else.
Although he once created the cover of a diary to limit Tom Riddle's powers from spilling over, it was apparently not time to use it yet.
Tom Riddle was very clever indeed.
Ivan was certain that if he dared to do so, Tom would definitely sense that something was wrong and their relationship would worsen.
He still had many questions that needed to be answered, so now was not the time to fall out completely…
"Odd, when did Tom become so forward?" Yvonne rubbed her chin. Tom had revealed a lot during this exchange. He had even revealed a portion of his childhood memories, which was unlike him.
Ivan didn't know it, but after two months of being locked up, Tom Riddle was desperate to show his worth, for fear of being forgotten somewhere again…
Unable to figure it out, Ivan put it out of his mind and checked the mission updates.
[Mission: Blood Mystery
Objective: Find a way to fuse multiple bloodlines
Current Task Progress: 25%
Task Reward: Legendary Points*1
…
"Or did it only increase by ten percent?" Yvonne was surprised to see that the mission was only a quarter of the way through.
Tom Riddle seemed to be talking a lot, but there wasn't a lot about the mission, and it was hard to tell if he was telling the truth or not… it was good to have those enhancements.
Ivan had no choice but to hesitate.
He considered looking for a spider, cockroach, or something that would allow Tom to regain a little of his strength, so that he could learn the language of snakes and extract more information.
Otherwise, Ivan reckoned Tom wouldn't give him any more useful information…
…
Early the next morning, Ivan was having breakfast in the Great Hall, yawning uncontrollably.
Late last night, he believed Tom's nonsense and transformed into his Animagus form, wandering around the Slytherin Lounge in search of the legendary clue left behind by Salazar Slytherin.
It seemed to Ivan that Salazar Slytherin's most likely location was there.
Unfortunately, the night was wasted and nothing was found…
He wondered if Tom had managed to erase the clues…
Ivan sighed. He had one less option.
Ivan had been hoping to find some other way to break through, but it seemed unlikely.
While Ivan was deep in thought, Harry and Ron, who had been discussing something, suddenly turned to him and asked him a question.
"Ivan, are you still going to the duelling club next Friday night?"
Yvonne was taken aback, but quickly realised what they were talking about, and became suspicious. "A duelling club? Is Professor Lockhart planning on having a second term?"
Ivan couldn't help but find this strange. If he remembered correctly, Lockhart's Duelling Club had only been held once in the original timeline before it was pulled out.
Could it be that Lockhart's decision to hold the Duelling Club was due to him not only not making a fool of himself yesterday, but also being in the limelight?
"I think the Duelling Club is pretty good. It's a lot more fun than lessons," Ron said casually.
Ivan smiled but said nothing. He was not surprised that the duelling club was so popular.
After all, Hogwarts wizards and witches went to great lengths to learn all kinds of jinxes and defensive magic at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Lockhart's duelling club solved the problem perfectly, so how could it not be popular?
Hermione then added enthusiastically.
"I heard that Professor Lockhart invited Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout to attend the lesson, and of course… Professor Snape!"
"What about Professor McGonagall?" Yvonne asked curiously, wondering why Lockhart hadn't invited Professor McGonagall when he had invited all three Heads of House.
"Lorhart was going to teach Gryffindor himself… so Professor McGonagall wasn't invited." Harry sighed helplessly.
Ivan did not expect Lockhart to make such a big scene, and he was not afraid of being exposed…
Snape and the other professors were not as gullible as the average young wizard, and it was easy to see that Lockhart was an empty shell.
In fact, Lockhart was already regretting it.
Therefore, when the last class of the morning ended, Lockhart immediately went to find Ivan, who had not yet returned to his room, and brought him to his office.
Crack~
Lockhart locked the door behind him and took a large bag of Galleons from the cupboard in his office.
"It's what you want!"
Ivan did not take it at once, but looked around. Lockhart's office was very different from the last time he was there.
The full-length mirror in the corner had been replaced with a different style, and all the pictures had been removed. On the slightly cluttered table were letters from fans and a large number of autobiographical books, as well as several textbooks such as Standard Book of Spells and Magical Theory.
"I thought you were either too busy writing back to your fans or trying to make a name for yourself. I didn't expect you to read some books," Ivan said, surprised.
"I can't help it. A true Master of Magic can't do nothing…" Lockhart shrugged.
Ivan didn't reply. He opened the bag of Galleons on the table, waved his wand, and counted them.
Ivan immediately turned to Lockhart.
"There's five thousand Galleons in there, and an extra one that I hope you'll do me a favour!" Lockhart said earnestly, moving the bag of Galleons towards Ivan.
"On the evening of next Friday, I will hold the Second Duelling Club! The Heads of the other three houses will be there! And I, a true Master of Magic, cannot and should not only know three kinds of magic!"
"But you're not a Master of Magic, you're just a glorified liar… and I advise you to stop before you go too far." Ivan mercilessly exposes Lockhart for what he really is.
"Yes, I know… of course I know! But the thing is, so many people witnessed my easy spell-free performance on the Duelling Ground last night… and managed to stop the chaos."
Lockhart paced back and forth at his desk, excitement on his face as he muttered to himself, "Everyone's talking about it now. They think I'm the Master of Magic!"
You may be mistaken, but no one but your fans would think so!
Ivan grumbled to himself.
(PS: Add it to tomorrow or the day after, the latest chapters are really hard to write and there are so many things to think about, please understand.)