When they arrived at the Great Gallery for dinner, they were once again welcomed by the young Gryffindor wizards.
Yvonne deliberately spoke angrily about the two attacks on the Bludgers, causing outrage among the crowd as they discussed who the bastard who had disturbed the Quidditch match was!
"If you ask me, it must have been one of the Slytherins! They must have been upset about losing the last match and decided to get back at Harry again," George speculated confidently, to the agreement of many of the lesser wizards.
This was met with a sharp retort from the Slytherin wizards, which caused an uproar in the Great Hall, which only served to heighten the discussion.
By the time Ivan had finished his dinner, the chatter had died down, but he had quietly left the Great Hall and was wandering in as remote a place as possible.
He was well aware that Dobby, who broke the rules, did not want anyone else to see it, and would only come out when Harry was alone.
However, after wandering around the castle for several hours, Dobby did not show up.
Yvonne frowned. Did Dobby not know yet, or was he bewitched by Tom Riddle?
Seeing that it was already late at night, Ivan sighed and prepared to return to the dormitory to wait for the news to spread tomorrow.
Suddenly, a high-pitched voice sounded behind him.
"Are you looking for Dobby, sir?"
Yvonne's head snapped around as a small figure slowly emerged from a dark corner of the corridor.
It had large bat-like ears, a bald, wrinkled head, and only a few dirty rags hanging from its body. Its green, tennis-sized eyes stared straight at him.
"Yes, that's right, I was looking for you!" Ivan's right hand was on his wand, but he did not act rashly. A house-elf could cast Apparition in an instant, much faster than his Stunning Spell!
"Did you hear what happened on the field?" Ivan asked.
"Of course… of course! Dobby watched every game of Mister's!" Dobby nodded enthusiastically, then seemed to think of something, his big green eyes going round.
"You don't think Dobby was behind the Bludgers today, do you, sir?" Dobby asked in alarm.
"Don't you?" Ivan asked, feigning confusion.
"What makes you think that, sir!" Dobby shook his head wildly, his bulging eyes glistening with tears.
"Dobby… Dobby was so worried when he saw you being chased by a Bludger that he dropped a rock on his toes!"
At this point, Dobby stuck out his left foot, all five toes of which were filthy and swollen…
Ivan's mouth twitched. He couldn't understand Dobby's strange brain circuits.
"So I hope you'll understand that Dobby didn't do it!" said Dobby, pulling back his foot and looking miserable with his big, watery eyes.
"What about the people who sneak into the dorm and steal stuff?" Ivan ventured.
"Dobby didn't mean to steal, sir!" Big tears rolled down Dobby's cheeks as he choked on his words.
"Kodoby couldn't keep these dangerous things around him, so he had to find a way to get them out and destroy them!"
Yvonne finally understood why Dobby had attacked her; he was worried about her sharing a room with Harry and wanted to steal her Horcruxes.
"So, did you destroy it?" Yvonne pressed.
"Bad Dobby… bad Dobby!" Dobby was already in a state of self-blame for the theft, banging his head against the wall and muttering to himself.
"Stupefy!" Ivan had no choice but to use the Stunning Spell to prevent Dobby from disappearing again.
Dobby, who was hitting the wall with his head, could not react in time and was struck by the spell.
Dobby only had time to look back with a startled expression before he collapsed in a dead faint.
Ivan shook his head and dragged the unconscious Dobby to the nearest classroom, where he used a Transfiguration Charm to tie Dobby up with a rope.
After confirming that Dobby could not use magic, Ivan lifted the Stunning Spell.
Dobby opened his eyes in a daze and immediately felt himself being tied up.
To Ivan's surprise, Dobby didn't yell or shout. Instead, he just stared at Ivan silently with his bulging eyes. After a while, two streams of hot tears ran down his cheeks and his lips trembled as he spoke.
"Dobby… Dobby knows he's done a lot of bad things. Are you going to punish him, sir? That would be good… if doing so will make you forgive him…" Dobby broke down and began to cry.
"Shut up! I just wanted to ask you something," Ivan said, interrupting Dobby's reverie.
Suddenly, Ivan felt his body begin to change shape, and he knew in an instant that the Polyjuice Potion had worn off.
Ivan, however, did not bother to replenish the potion. Now that Dobby had been caught, there was no point in pretending otherwise.
Right in front of Dobby, Ivan began to grow taller, his hair turning blond, and he took off his glasses.
"You're not Harry Potter!" Dobby immediately stopped whimpering and stared at the young wizard.
"Of course not. My name is Ivan Hals… Can you tell me where you put that diary?" Ivan asked.
"Dobby remembered you! You must have wanted to hurt Mr Potter with what You-Know-Who left behind, didn't you? Dobby would never let you get away with it!" said Dobby with an expression of fierce determination on his face.
Yvonne felt a headache coming on. Could they even talk properly?
Ivan had to patiently explain that his goal was to destroy what Voldemort had left behind, as well as retelling the same line he had used to fool Harry…
However, Dobby refused to believe it. He had seen Ivan open the diary and carry it around with him, so it had to be one of You-Know-Who's minions.
"I worked with Harry to destroy You-Know-Who's resurrection plan, and if you knew anything about Harry at school, you'd know it!" Ivan said, stating that he was a partner of justice and would never be bewitched.
Noticing Dobby's hesitation, Ivan continued.
"I bet you couldn't find a way to destroy that diary, could you? I can help you!"