"Of course!" Hermione nodded without hesitation, remembering Ivan's promise to take her with him every time he used the Time-Turner.
And when Professor Dumbledore gave them the Time-Turner, he told them to keep an eye on each other!
Hermione's cheeks turned pink at the thought, as she realised that she was not acting as a supervisor…
After Hermione agreed, Ivan tried to think of a way to get her back to Knockturn Alley, where she had been three months earlier.
I can't go over in a hippogriff like I did, can I? That would be too much!
Yvonne thought for a moment, then had an idea and snapped her fingers.
"Dobby!"
The next moment, an ugly, beady-eyed house-elf appeared in front of them.
"What can I do for you, sir?" Dobby squeaked.
"Take us to Knockturn Alley!" Ivan said to Dobby, taking Hermione's hand.
Hogwarts may have anti-Shifting magic, but house-elves do not.
Dobby's magic was enough to transport the two of them from here to Knockturn Alley!
"Yes, sir!" Dobby sprang into action upon receiving the order, grabbing Ivan's wrist with his left hand and snapping his fingers with his right.
There was a spatial shift, and when Ivan came to, he found himself in an alley that was both strange and familiar.
If he remembered correctly, this seemed to be the place where he had tried to stop the two black-robed wizards but was stopped by Hermione.
What a coincidence! Ivan was surprised, but he didn't think too much of it, as it would save him the trouble of travelling further.
Ivan explained as he handed Hermione the Invisibility Cloak.
"If you want to help me, you'll have to go back more than three months, or twenty-four hundred revolutions! Of course, it took me a while to get from Hogwarts to London on a Hippogriff, so you'll be lucky if you don't go five times."
Hermione was speechless. There were over two thousand laps, and she was worried she might be mistaken.
"If everything goes according to plan, you'll see two wizards in black robes passing by. I'm going to try to kill them, so you just have to stop me… and remember to keep the Cloak on!" Ivan added.
Trying to commit Ivan's words to memory, Hermione asked suspiciously, "Were you wearing the Cloak of Invisibility? How would I have found you?"
"Just keep an eye out for wands that pop up. I don't think that's going to be a problem for you, do you?" Ivan said with a smile.
Hermione nodded, then resumed her questioning. "What else? What do I do after that? Is there anything I should pay special attention to?"
As she spoke, the little witch took out a magical quill from the pocket of her wizarding robe, then opened the crumpled note and looked at Ivan earnestly, as if she wanted to write down everything Ivan said next.
"No! Hermione… there's nothing I'd like to hint to you, nothing I should be particularly concerned about." Yvonne shook her head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
He recalled how he had fantasised about getting his hands on a guide to the game and following its instructions, but Hermione had the same idea.
"But I don't know what you're trying to do yet," Hermione said, flustered.
Ivan had been working day and night on his potion, and she knew that he had something important to accomplish. She did not want anything to go wrong because of her carelessness.
"That's for you to find out!" Yvonne said casually, reassuring her not to worry, then handing Hermione the Polyjuice Potion she had made earlier.
Since Ivan said so, it meant that the trip should go well, and Hermione relaxed a little when she realised that.
Hermione then took the bottle containing the Polyjuice Potion, put it away, put on the Invisibility Cloak, and prepared to use the Time-Turner.
Ivan suddenly remembered something and spoke up.
"By the way, when you go over, I should be able to ask you some questions. Just tell him not to try to change the past, but to learn to follow the flow of history, like thinking about what you've seen…"
"So that's it?" Hermione was confused, not quite sure what Yvonne was getting at. Wasn't that a bit too general?
"Well, that's good enough for me! But I'm sure he won't understand now, so it's fine if he doesn't think about anything…" Ivan trailed off with a sigh.
He finally understood why he had not been able to obtain the so-called guide to clear the level back then. It was because fate would guide everything to its rightful outcome without interference.
Just go with the flow!
Hermione looked at Ivan with an odd expression, silently committing these words to memory, then collected herself and began to turn the Time-Turner.
Ivan could not see Hermione in her Invisibility Cloak, but when she did not reply for a long time, he knew that she had left.
"Come on, Dobby, let's go back!" Ivan said to the house-elf.
"Yes, sir!" Dobby replied, and took Ivan back to Hogwarts.
Dobby was exhausted after two long teleportations, his pointy ears drooping and his wrinkled face haggard.
Ivan saw this and said, "It's been hard on you these past few days, Dobby! I don't think I have anything important to do for the next two days. You can take a good rest and consider it your holiday!"
"Rest?!" Dobby's exhaustion vanished and he looked up in surprise, blinking his bulb-sized eyes. He hesitated for a moment, then screamed.
"You mean… Oh my God! Dobby has a holiday!"
The high, squeaky voice nearly burst Ivan's eardrums.
Ivan rubbed his ears. He didn't think Dobby would react so strongly to a holiday, and before he could say anything, Dobby began to sob.
"How kind of you, sir, not only to pay Dobby's salary, but also to give him time off … You are simply the greatest man in the wizarding world … greater than Harry Potter!"
Dobby's eyes welled up with tears, and he looked as if he wanted to cry into his lap.
Ivan was speechless. It seemed that Harry's title of Savior was only worth his salary once a week and two days off.
[Ding, a new legend has been born!]
Ivan was about to console Dobby when the system's prompt sounded in his head.