Understanding this, Ivan sighed, but spoke forcefully.
"It's true that Kreacher has disrespected us, so you'll have to order him to apologise to us later, but you'll also have to apologise to him!"
Harry looked at Sirius with equal seriousness, and after a moment's hesitation, Lupin offered his own advice.
"Fine, fine, I apologize!" Sirius could not argue with them, so he turned to Kreacher.
The house-elf heard Ivan and the others talking, and his face filled with fear, shock, and disbelief…
"No, the Master should not have apologized to Kreacher! It was Kreacher's fault for not protecting Master Regulus. He must be punished!" Kreacher let out a high-pitched shriek.
It frantically searched for something to punish itself with, and finally grabbed a broken chair leg and hit it hard on the head.
"Bad Kreacher… bad slave… bad Kreacher!" Kreacher screamed, mutilating himself.
"Come on… Kreacher! You didn't do anything wrong. Sirius almost killed you. He should apologize!" Harry shouted as he grabbed Kreacher by the wrist.
However, the house-elf ignored Harry and almost scratched him, muttering "bad Kreacher" and "bad slave".
'You see! I wanted to apologise…' Sirius shrugged, as he had been expecting this, and quickly explained.
"If I had apologized, it would have killed itself!"
Harry opened his mouth to retort, but when he saw Kreacher's fear and trepidation, he shut it, feeling both sorry for and offended…
Yvonne was watching, shaking her head to herself.
The centuries of enslavement and oppression of house-elves by wizards and witches had become a habit, and had been domesticated as a concept, ingrained in their minds.
Who could help them when they had given up the idea of resisting?
Soon, however, Ivan decided that he was taking things for granted.
Wizards were the absolute rulers of the wizarding world!
The house-elves, now scattered and enslaved, would not be able to resist, would pose no threat to the wizarding rule, and would be slaughtered in retaliation…
Unless all the magical creatures, such as goblins, centaurs, and merpeople, banded together in rebellion, the wizarding authority would not be shaken.
"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore! Ivan, didn't you say you could destroy this locket?" Lupin took the initiative to lighten the mood, shifting the conversation to the Horcrux.
Ivan nodded and, with everyone watching, pointed his wand towards the staircase.
"The suitcase is flying!"
A loud noise came from upstairs, and a moment later, a small suitcase flew over and landed in front of them.
Ivan solemnly opened the suitcase and took out a small box. He then opened the box and revealed the five bottles of reagent inside. The dark liquid gave off a dangerous aura…
'What is it that needs to be hidden so well?' Sirius asked, astonished.
"Poison! To be precise, it's a powerful snake venom! It's dangerous and precious. I got it by accident…" Ivan explained casually.
The vial contained basilisk venom, which he extracted from the basilisk's fangs and used to corrode souls and damage Voldemort's Horcruxes.
This layer of protection was to prevent the bottle from shattering and the snake venom from seeping out and injuring him. He did not want his skin to come into contact with such a thing.
Ivan felt helpless at the thought. The Ring of Fire that Alicia had given him had been used, or he would not have had to carry such a dangerous object.
As for repairing the ring? It wasn't impossible. He just needed to learn the Fire-Sharing Spell. However, if he knew the Fire-Sharing Spell, why would he need the ring?
Ivan placed the Slytherin locket on the table, unscrewed the lid of the potion, and spoke in Serpentine.
"Hiss ~ (Open)"
Containing a magical voice that vibrated with a strange frequency, the sealed locket slowly opened.
The interior was engraved with a large number of fine lines, and a living eye blinked in each of the two grooves above the lid. It was dark and lively, and exactly like the eyes of Tom Riddle that Ivan had seen!
Buzz…
The Horcrux placed on the table by Ivan gave a final struggle, and a large amount of black mist poured out of the locket and filled the living room.
Ivan once again felt his brain being invaded. The feeling was intense, as if someone had hit his head with an awl, trying to break it open!
Ivan resisted by running Occlumency.
Perhaps sensing its uselessness, a voice hissed from the Horcrux.
[I know you, Ivan-Hals! I see your ambition, and only I can bring you strength. We are on the same side…]
As soon as the voice fell, the black fog surged.
Alicia, Hermione, Luna, Hagrid, and many other familiar figures appeared in the black fog and blocked Ivan's path.
[You have to trust him, he can help you!] said Hermione in her dark voice.
"Yes, come to us, they are the enemy!" said Alicia gently.
[It's not too late to turn back…] Luna's smile was strange.
…
Everyone in the black mist was talking, but their voices were hoarse rather than pleasant.
Then another figure emerged from the black fog. It was Dumbledore, his face ferocious as he shot beams of light from his wand, slaughtering Alicia and the others.
The latter fell to the ground in despair, until another version of Ivan the Dark appeared behind Dumbledore and killed him with an extremely powerful spell, the Slytherin locket dangling from his chest.
Black flowers began to fall slowly from the sky, and figures began to appear all around him. Even Minister for Magic Fudge prostrated himself before him, singing the praises of the new master of magic in a hoarse voice…
"That's a bit of a cliché, isn't it? Is that all you've got? Well, that's a disappointment!" Ivan scoffed.
He knew that the Horcrux must have read the memories of Harry and the others, and then conjured up this scenario to try and shake his faith.
The evidence is that they were unable to materialise Firenze, Walker, and the other werewolves, as Harry, Sirius, and the others never saw them.
So the Horcrux does not know that there is no point in threatening him with Dumbledore, because the old Professor will not live long after being plotted against by another Horcrux…
Ivan stepped into the black mist without batting an eyelid, sprinkling the snake venom into the empty ground as he remembered…