Burke was momentarily at a loss for words. He had never imagined that his status as a Master Alchemist would one day be an obstacle!
Burke smiled sadly when he saw Alicia lift her wand.
It occurred to him that he probably shouldn't have tried to be clever. If he hadn't known Ivan's plans for the Ministry, he might have survived.
However, after a moment's hesitation, Alicia put down her wand and forced Burke to drink the truth serum.
Before killing Burke, Alicia wanted to know if Burke had been hiding anything from her…
She was also prepared to have Burke divulge all of his core knowledge of alchemy if she could.
…
At the same time, in the empty ruins on the side of Knockturn Alley
Ivan, who was teaching Hermione and Walker, was unaware of the inhumane treatment Burke was being subjected to, and was very intent on teaching the two of them about the things they had missed in their practice.
"Walker, stop looking around and focus!"
"And Hermione! You're not emotional enough to know that the spell's effect is to explode! Try to imagine what it would be like to destroy everything! … Slowly shake the wand down, lift it up again, and say the incantation now!"
"Thunderbolt!" Hermione read aloud, and a tiny flame rose from the tip of the wand, slowly expanding into a fist-sized orange fireball that crashed into the ruins ahead.
Boom!
There was a loud explosion, followed by a cloud of dust, and a head-sized crater was blasted out of a boulder in the ruins.
"Good! You seem to have mastered it!" Ivan said, turning to Hermione with a smile.
Hermione was so happy that she couldn't stop smiling, but she still reservedly expressed the fact that she was still very far behind and needed more practice.
She clearly remembered that Ivan's thunderbolt explosion could easily destroy a wall… In comparison, her own magic was too weak.
Yvonne shook her head in amusement; Hermione was asking for trouble by comparing him.
Ivan, however, had no intention of trying to comfort Hermione, as it was always good to aim high, at least when the witch was so much better than she had been in the past.
Hermione could protect herself if the wizarding world went into chaos.
"How did you learn it so fast, Miss Granger?" Walker asked. He had been attracted by the noise of the explosion.
He had only just begun to get a feel for it, and he did not know how long it would take him to master the Thunderbolt Explosion.
"Well, you're the one who's missing now!" Yvonne said, trying to provoke him.
"We'll see. I'm almost there, too. Twenty minutes at the most!" Walker gritted his teeth, trying even harder as he envied Hermione.
Ivan stood to one side correcting Walker's mistake in casting the spell, while Hermione went back to her studies.
With Walker's best efforts, they managed to master the difficult spell before the sky darkened completely, and the pile of rubble was destroyed once again.
Due to Walker being five or six years older than Hermione and having more magic than her, the power of the thunderbolt was so great that it instantly blew a large rock to pieces!
Seeing the destruction he had wrought, Walker's shattered confidence was restored, and he let loose, unleashing one thunderous explosion after another upon the ruins, sending debris flying in all directions.
"Alright, stop fooling around! It's almost time, let's go back!" Ivan interrupted, glancing at the darkening sky.
Walker reluctantly stopped, and Ivan called Hermione, and the three of them walked down the path to the temporary mansion.
Halfway through the meal, Ivan remembered that he saw that Fran's expression seemed a little gloomy, so he asked.
"Have you been having trouble, Walker? Fran doesn't seem to be in a good mood these days."
The happy expression on Walker's face fell and he poured out his grievances to Ivan.
Their lives in Knockturn Alley were made more difficult by the Ministry of Magic's discovery of several werewolf corpses in Borgin and Burkes.
Many shopkeepers were reluctant to offer them jobs, believing that werewolves were thugs, and even suspecting that they were involved in the attack on the wizarding shop.
If they had not been able to scrounge food from the temporary residence, they might have gone hungry.
"Why didn't you tell me this before?" Yvonne asked, surprised that her raid on Borgin and Burkes had caused so much trouble.
"Fran said he was going to try again for a day or two. If he can't convince the shopkeepers, he'll trouble you again…" Walker scratched his head, embarrassed.
"What's the trouble? You guys risked your lives to help me catch Burke. Speaking of which, I didn't get a chance to thank you." Ivan smiled, then continued.
"When you go back, you can talk to Fran and ask him if he'd like to work for me… As for the treatment, just pay him what the average employee in Diagon Alley is paid!"
"Really? That's great!" Walker exclaimed. He had been worried about Fran working for them for days.
Not to mention that sometimes, even if they found a suitable job, they would be paid extremely cheaply, not even enough for their daily expenses…
In contrast, Ivan was so generous! He was prepared to pay them the same salary as normal wizards, by Diagon Alley standards, which made Walker feel like he was dreaming!
However, despite his excitement, Walker was also worried, as Ivan did not seem to have much use for so many people.
However, Walker found it awkward to receive such a high salary without doing anything, so he tried to probe further.
"Hales, I wonder what you have in mind for us?"
Ivan was silent for a moment, thinking about the interesting alchemical knowledge he had learned from Burke.
"I'm opening a branch in Diagon Alley next year or so. It's bound to need looking after, and you'll have to do the extra security!"
"Before that, I want you to do one more thing for me. I heard from Burke that he had sent some spies to get information. Your job is to find them!"