Ivan's words left Hermione completely stunned,
At the age of thirteen, she had never been exposed to the term "killing", and could never have imagined what it would be like to cut an enemy's head off…
Hermione bit her lower lip, wanting to say that she could do it, but the words stuck in her throat, and her eyes filled with tears…
"You're scared, aren't you?" Ivan said, somewhat cruelly undermining Hermione's self-confidence. "But those Dark Wizards are only worse than I let on!"
He knew that if he made it clear now, he would only be undermining Hermione's confidence, but if he allowed her to get involved in the fight, he would be pushing her over the edge!
Ivan knew that he would have a hard time facing the Dark Wizards at the same time, and would have to rely on the proper venue and the Cloak of Invisibility, not to mention Hermione, who had little combat experience.
She would most likely have died if she had been involved.
Ivan doesn't have the attention span to protect Hermione…
"So you understand? I'll take care of the black-robed wizards later," Ivan said.
"But there are so many of them!" Hermione suggested, worried. "Why don't we take your mother with us? We can go to Hogwarts, where the Dark Wizards won't dare go!"
"And we could ask Professor Dumbledore for help…" Hermione racked her brains for an idea.
"You don't know my mother. She's not going to Hogwarts." Ivan shook his head, dismissing Hermione's suggestion.
Alicia and Dumbledore were at odds, and she was furious at the mere mention of them, and would rather die in battle than seek Dumbledore's help.
"Anyway, don't worry too much…" Yvonne said, turning to Hermione, who was looking worried. "You said there was never anything I couldn't do…didn't you? And this time!"
'I didn't mean that!'
Hermione gave Ivan a dirty look, but said nothing more about dealing with the Dark Wizards.
Ivan's words just now made her realise how weak she was. If she forced herself to fight, she might not only be of no help, but also drag Ivan down…
"Then…I'll be here to watch over you," Hermione finally said after a long hesitation.
Ivan nodded, relieved. He didn't want Hermione to get hurt because of him.
Ivan then turned his attention to the Dark Arts shop in the distance.
Following the course of history… Ivan attempts to parse the messages left by his future self,
Could it mean not changing of your own accord and simply waiting for them to come? Going with the flow, covering the truth with falsehoods only at crucial points?
Ivan frowned, disliking the passive wait. He preferred to be proactive.
At the same time, Ivan noticed that Alicia was staring at the clock on the wall with her right hand on her cheek.
It seemed that there were no customers at the shop during this period.
But why keep looking at the clock? What's the point?
Even as Ivan thought this, a soft chime sounded, presumably from the clock on the wall.
To Ivan's further surprise, Alicia, who had been lost in thought, moved.
In the Wizarding Shop, Alicia looked at the clock and saw that it was four o'clock. She muttered to herself with anticipation.
"It's about time, isn't it? Isn't it a bit early to go?"
A little earlier would have been better …
Alicia stood up and left the shop. She grabbed her purple cloak and put it on, then pointed her wand behind her.
The door to the Wizarding Shop slammed shut…
"Disillusionment!" Alicia did not linger at the door. She waved her wand again and disappeared.
In the distance, on the high ground, Ivan was stunned. The person he needed to protect had disappeared in front of him?
"Where did she go? Why did she leave?" Ivan muttered to himself in confusion.
With just over an hour remaining until the attack on the Dark Arts shop, and Alicia gone, who could the black-robed wizards attack?
Ivan was eager. He could turn the Wizarding Shop into a trap to lure the black-robed wizards out of hiding, but what if she returned later?
"Four o'clock… where can she go at this hour?" Ivan asked, remembering that Alicia had been checking the time, and glancing through the window at the clock on the wall.
"She must have gone to King's Cross!" Hermione exclaimed.
King's Cross Station? Yvonne turned to look at Hermione and realised that it was the day off for Hogwarts students, and that the train would arrive at King's Cross Station in London in the evening!
It was highly likely that Alicia had gone to fetch him!
"But that shouldn't be the case. I didn't even see her at the station!" Ivan frowned, remembering how long he had waited at King's Cross Station after leaving the train.
It was for this reason that he had not thought of it before…
Unless, of course, the past had been changed!
Or, rather, Alicia never went to King's Cross Station…
Yvonne decided to check it out herself, so she told Hermione.
"Hold on to me, we're going to King's Cross!"
Knockturn Alley was too dangerous for Ivan to leave Hermione alone, even with the Cloak of Invisibility.
"Yes!" Hermione nodded and grasped Ivan's left hand tightly.
Ivan asked Hermione to hold on to the edge of the cloak so that she would not leave it behind when she teleported and waved her wand with her right hand.
"Disillusionment!"
With a spatial shift, the two figures disappeared into Knockturn Alley.
…
At the same time, Ivan and Hermione appeared in the corner of Kingdom Cross Station, even in the thick of the crowd, because of their Invisibility Cloak.
After standing firm, Ivan looked around and saw many familiar faces, including Hermione's father, Mr Granger, and Ron's parents, Arthur and Molly, waiting at the Nine and Three-quarters Station.
'What about Alicia? Isn't she here?'
Ivan glanced around and was puzzled when he saw a purple-cloaked Alicia coming through the station door…
Ivan then remembered that Alicia could not teleport to the interior of the station without the Cloak of Invisibility, as they could, so she was naturally slower.
"What the hell was that all about?" Ivan was completely lost when he saw that Alicia was really at the station. Why hadn't he met her in the first place?