"Serves him right! He tried to cast a Memory Charm on you!" Hermione exclaimed, glaring at Lockhart angrily.
Dumbledore gave a non-committal nod in acknowledgement of this statement, as he had some knowledge of Lockhart, which was indeed something Lockhart would do.
Ivan briefly recounted his fight with Tom Riddle in the Chamber of Secrets, then took out the damaged diary and placed it on his desk along with Ravenclaw's diadem.
"That's how Tom Riddle got inside the castle, Professor!" Ivan exclaimed.
Dumbledore picked up one of the Horcruxes and examined it closely, his long hooked nose almost touching the charred page.
After a while, Dumbledore slowly put down the diary, looked at Ravenclaw's diadem, and exclaimed, "Remarkable! I must say, he is perhaps the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen."
He understood the secret behind Voldemort's escape from death, and that was to create Horcruxes!
According to Ivan, Tom Riddle completed his first Horcrux in his fifth year, which was why he was surprised.
Dumbledore paused and turned his attention to Ivan.
Ivan, who was able to defeat Tom Riddle in his second year, was clearly superior to the sixteen-year-old Horcrux-maker Tom Riddle.
Not to mention, according to Ivan, he obtained the method to fuse the blood of a magical creature in the Slytherin Study Room, and performed the Hemolytic Ritual according to the steps Slytherin had given him.
If one were to include the power gained from Ivan's blood awakening in his first year, he would be the first person in the wizarding world to possess the blood of two magical creatures.
This achievement was far greater than what Voldemort had achieved as a student…
"No, Professor, I have always felt that you are the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen! Everyone in the wizarding world knows that you are the one Voldemort fears the most…" Yvonne said humbly, catching Dumbledore's eye.
The reason Ivan volunteered to perform the ceremony was to dispel Dumbledore's suspicions.
After all, he would have to stay in school for several years. It was impossible for him to not use blood magic, and it would explain his rapid increase in strength.
In any case, the method of blood fusion was obtained from Slytherin's research lab, and its provenance was reasonable, and Dumbledore could not blame him for the fact that he had only managed to complete the fusion at Tom Riddle's instigation.
Dumbledore laughed at Ivan's flattery.
He was about to say something when a fist-sized, hairless "turkey" burst out of Ivan's wizarding robes and leapt onto the table.
Hermione's eyes widened in curiosity at the sight.
Ivan said apologetically, "Professor, your phoenix ate Voldemort's Killing Curse to protect me, and then it became like this."
A Killing Curse? Hermione was shocked; she had not expected Ivan to have been in such a dangerous battle.
"Don't worry, Hales. Phoenixes are magical creatures. Death is just a cycle for them, and they will soon recover."
This did not surprise Dumbledore, and he reached out to calm Fox, placing him back on his high gilded perch.
"Oh, and your wand. Thanks to it, I was able to finally defeat Tom." Ivan pulled the wand out of his sleeve and returned it.
Ivan was very impressed with the Elder Wand's ability to enhance magic.
Knowing the Deathly Hallows, however, Ivan came to understand that they were owned by the most powerful wizard in the wizarding world, Albus Dumbledore!
Since she couldn't have it, Ivan was very calm and gave it back without hesitation.
Dumbledore reached out and took it, watching Ivan's face as he did so, nodding to himself when he noticed that there was not a trace of reluctance on Ivan's face.
He had Fox give the Elder Wand to Ivan to use, in an attempt to test him.
As a young wizard in his second year, Ivan's strength was out of bounds, and he grew too quickly. This made Dumbledore vaguely uneasy, fearing that he would go astray, and that the wizarding community could not afford another Voldemort…
"If there's nothing else, Professor, I'll be on my way." Yvonne had no idea what Dumbledore was thinking, but she felt insecure in front of a Dementor.
"Hold on, Harls!" Dumbledore called out to Ivan, who was about to leave, and, to his confusion, produced a letter and pushed it towards him.
"The Master of the Order of Merlin sent me a letter the other day telling me to tell you that the award ceremony should be in the next few days!"
Ivan happily put the envelope away, thinking he had another Legendary Point coming, and left with Hermione.
"What about me? What about me?" Lockhart asked, looking around the room. He was the only one left in the Headmaster's office except for Dumbledore.
"Mr Lockhart, the Ministry investigators will be here tomorrow, and until then, I'm sure Madam Pomfrey at the hospital wing will take good care of you," Dumbledore said, glancing at him.
Due to Lockhart, there was a series of attacks on Hogwarts that left four junior witches unconscious.
With so many letters of complaint filling his office these days, Dumbledore had no need to protect Lockhart.
Whether Lockhart ended up in Azkaban or in St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries was up to the Ministry to find out.
After dismissing Lockhart, Dumbledore looked at the holes in the two Horcruxes and tapped his index finger on the table, deep in thought.
His impression was that there were not many things that could destroy a Horcrux…
There was a sudden noise in the empty office.
"What an amazing young wizard. It's hard to believe he's only in his second year, but it seems he's deliberately hiding a lot of things."
"I don't think that Tom Riddle would be so kind as to help him with that dangerous Merge experiment. There must be something going on that we don't know about."
"Hey, that's a bad boy!" an elderly, bearded man in a portrait on the wall of the Headmaster's office exclaimed.