In the blink of an eye, there was only a week left until September. As the weather slowly turned colder, a letter from Hogwarts was accurately delivered to Ivan.
Yvonne opened the envelope and saw a list of books she would need for the next school year.
"School's starting?" Ivan asked, putting the letter aside and sighing.
A few days ago, he and Sirius searched Borgin and Burkes for an entire night, going through the shop without finding much.
This forced Ivan to abandon his plan to find Burke. After all, he did not yet know if Burke was still alive.
Thus, Ivan spent the next few days researching why Polyjuice Potion had suddenly failed.
The hair taken from "Athia's" corpse could be fused into the Polyjuice Potion to change a person's appearance, proving that his previous thoughts and conclusions were correct.
What needs to be considered is how to deal with the extremely unstable effects of Polyjuice Potion on the dead, the main cause of the conflict.
After some research, Ivan found that there was only one way to solve this problem…
It was to improve the potion and make the Polyjuice Potion more stable!
This was undoubtedly going to be very difficult, as Ivan had no relevant experience and did not even know where to begin.
Fortunately, Ivan soon recalled Snape's research notes in Advanced Potion-Making, which not only recorded the creation of charms such as The Obscurus, but also Snape's research and improvement of potions.
"Sir, it's time to eat…" Dobby reminded him cautiously as he placed a few plates on the round table.
"Okay!" Ivan nodded and sat down on a stool at the round table with Snape's notes.
A few moments later, a large black dog came running towards them from the distance. When it reached the table, it transformed into its normal form and sat down opposite Yvonne.
Ivan didn't seem to mind; while he was busy researching ways to improve Polyjuice Potion, Sirius was always on the lookout for information.
Occasionally, Sirius would go outside the Leaky Cauldron to see Harry from a distance, or to check on the location of the Burrow, then return at mealtimes.
"You've been to the Burrow again?" Ivan asked, frowning at Sirius's tired face and his lack of punctuality.
"I should have told you that it's best not to go anywhere near it. If you alert Peter and he escapes, you'll never find him…"
"Don't worry, I'm just checking to see if the family has returned from their trip and if Peter is still in the possession of the young wizard." Sirius grimaced, his expression savage.
Today, he was wandering around the Weasley house when he saw the Weasleys, who had just returned from a trip, and Ron carrying a rat.
Peter had been raised to be dark and fat, with no sense of caution. He seemed to be doing well.
At that time, Sirius almost wanted to rush forward and tear Peter to pieces…
"I'm glad you know what you're doing! If you kill him now, you'll never get away with it, and think more about Harry…" Ivan warned Sirius, glancing at his ferocious expression.
Sirius nodded, quickly composing himself.
More importantly, he would not be able to find a way to kill Peter. The Arthur Weasleys were not to be trifled with. If he slipped into their house and got caught…
After a quick lunch, Sirius noticed Ivan, who had been flipping through a book, and felt somewhat helpless.
Over the course of the last few days, Sirius discovered that Ivan spent almost all of his time reading and experimenting with strange potions, taking little more than two or three hours off a day.
Sirius opened his mouth to speak, but did not know how to comfort Ivan, whom he presumed was trying to forget about Alicia's death through his intense studies… but it would not do to keep doing so!
"Is Hogwarts starting soon? That's right, it's almost September…" Sirius glanced at the letters Ivan had thrown on the table and changed the subject.
"Hales, as I recall, Hogwarts third year classes are starting, right? Do you need some advice?"
"It seems to me that Muggle Studies is of little use, and that Divination requires an excellent gift of prophecy, which is unlikely to be learned by anyone without talent.
The knowledge gained from Muggle Studies is rarely useful, so you don't have to waste your time on it. I do suggest learning Ancient Runes, which should be very helpful to you…" Sirius went on, telling Ivan about his personal experiences.
He felt Ivan would have to shoulder some of the responsibilities of an elder if he could, now that his parents were gone.
Ivan stopped turning the pages of his book and looked at Sirius, who was about to give him a lecture on the merits of each subject.
"No, it's fine. I'm not going to choose. I'm taking every single one of these classes!"
"Are you sure?" Sirius asked, looking at Ivan with an odd expression.
"Hales, your desire to take a few more courses may be encouraging, but many of them are useless and will take a toll on you. Besides, you'll see when you get your class schedule that many of them have conflicting hours!"
"I'm sure the professors will work something out about the course conflict," Ivan said, shaking his head.
He made the decision, naturally, to get his hands on the Time-Turner.
It was a magical device capable of reversing time and space, and was guarded so strictly by the Ministry of Magic that it was virtually impossible for a normal wizard to have access to it.
Ivan was not confident he could sneak into the Ministry and steal one.
The best way to get a Time-Turner is to, like Hermione in her third year, choose all of the classes and have one of the professors guarantee a Time-Turner for the Ministry of Magic.
The Ministry of Magic could not refuse a young wizard who was passionate about learning, law-abiding, and exceptional.
He had just received the Order of Merlin, the highest honour in the wizarding world, in his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.