The next morning, after breakfast, Ivan took Hermione out to return to Hogwarts.
Before leaving, Ivan turned to Alicia and the others who had come to see him off.
"Mother…Headmaster Dougett, I'm going back to school now! And Fran, Walker…Write to me if anything happens!"
The werewolf wizards all patted their chests and promised Ivan that with them around, he could be at ease!
Ivan nodded. A group of self-transfiguring werewolf wizards was a formidable force in Knockturn Alley, capable of handling the vast majority of trouble.
Moreover, Burke was dead, the Dark Wizards who had slipped through the net had been killed, and no one in Knockturn Alley would deliberately target Alicia.
With this in mind, Ivan had no more worries and spoke to Hermione.
"Let's go, Hermione!"
"Mmphm!" Hermione replied, clasping Ivan's wrist tightly.
"Disillusionment!"
Ivan chanted the incantation and waved his wand. With a flash of light and shadow, the two figures seemed to be sucked into a vortex and disappeared in an instant.
Hermione felt the world spin around her, and when she opened her eyes again, she found herself in an unfamiliar part of the woods. In the distance, she could see a vintage station that looked vaguely familiar, as if it were the Wizarding Station they used to take to Hogwarts every year.
"Where are we? Aren't we going to Hogwarts?" the young witch asked in confusion.
"We can't go straight to Hogwarts because of the anti-Apparition spell…and we'll have to take a big one with us, if it's still here," Ivan explained, looking around to sense the tracking spell.
As two months had passed, Ivan found that the spell he had set up had become very vague and he could only sense the general direction of the other party. In a day or two, the spell would probably completely fail.
Hermione was confused and didn't understand Ivan's meaning, but when she was about to ask more, Ivan suddenly looked up at the sky and spoke.
"It's coming!"
Who? Who's here? Hermione followed Ivan's gaze and her eyes widened.
A giant reddish-brown beast was swooping down on them from the sky, its wide wings outstretched. Its beautiful feathers glistened in the sunlight, making it look extremely dazzling.
"That's the Hippogriff? But what's it doing here?" Hermione's brown eyes were full of surprise, and she quickly identified the creature as possibly the one she had seen in Hagrid's class.
"I brought it with me from the Forbidden Forest, of course, so we'll have to take it back with us!" Ivan said with a smile.
While they were chatting, the red-brown Hippogriff flapped its wings and landed in front of Ivan. It leaned its huge head over and rubbed it against Ivan's cheek, then sniffed something in the pocket of Ivan's wizard robe.
Ivan reached out to stroke the hippogriff's large head, but then noticed the other's movement and continued helplessly, "Good man, you seem to have a good memory!"
"Don't bother looking for it. I didn't bring any Elixir this time."
As if it understood Ivan's words, the reddish-brown beast looked up with disappointment in its eyes, but its attention was soon drawn back to Hermione and it regarded her warily.
Noticing the hippogriff's closeness to Ivan, the wise young witch soon realised that Ivan had previously tamed the beast.
No wonder he'd approached her during her Care of Magical Creatures class.
"Are we going back to Hogwarts on this one?" Hermione was worried; she had never tried riding a hippogriff to Hogwarts.
"Right! But before you do that, you've got to earn its approval…" Ivan laughed. "You haven't forgotten what Hagrid taught in class, have you?"
"Of course! Bowing to it and waiting for it to respond, while always looking into the hippogriff's eyes, will help gain its trust…"
Hermione went on and on about Hagrid's lessons, although she was still nervous about facing the beast.
She suddenly remembered that in Hagrid's class, he didn't seem to like her very much, and was worried that she would be approved of by Hippogriffs.
However, under Ivan's encouraging gaze, Hermione kept her composure and stared into the red-brown beast's eyes.
The hippogriff snorted, and from time to time it let out a sharp cry as it examined the puny witch before it, unwilling to lower its proud head.
Hermione did not give up, looking at him with wide, sour eyes before bowing again.
Perhaps sensing Hermione's sincerity, the hippogriff's attitude softened, and with Ivan placating it, it did not take long for it to bend its scaly forelegs and bow to her.
The little witch was so happy that she took a few cautious steps closer. Seeing that the hippogriff did not react too strongly, she reached out and stroked its reddish-brown feathers.
The Hippogriff responded positively, enjoying Hermione's touch and licking Hermione's palm.
Ivan was surprised at how close Hippogriffs were to Hermione.
He also remembered that the red-brown beast was not friendly with Hermione during her Care of Magical Creatures class, so Ivan went as far as to reassure the hippogriff that he would allow Hermione to ride with him.
Just as the original Harry was able to fly with Hermione and Sirius as a rider.
However, things went a little smoother than he had expected, or perhaps he had not expected…
"Hop on!" Yvonne didn't think twice about it. She leapt onto the hippogriff's back and pulled Hermione up to sit in front of her.
After the little witch sat down, the Hippogriff flapped its wings with intelligence and flew straight into the sky!
Hermione was so shocked that she grabbed the Hippogriff's feathers with both hands, as this was the first time she had ever ridden one of these beasts, as Malfoy's near-attack had prevented her from riding the Hippogriff in mid-air.