Early the next morning.
Ivan woke up with a yawn and glanced at the clock on the wall. Seeing that it was past eight o'clock, he quickly put on his shoes and socks and prepared to leave.
When they passed the window, Ivan couldn't help but stop and look out. The view was very different from yesterday.
Instead of a wasteland, there were tall buildings in the distance, and from where he was standing he could see the busy streets and the occasional car.
The strange thing was that it all seemed like a mirage, so silent that you could only see…
"This is… Paris?" Ivan muttered to himself in surprise, having confirmed this from the shop signs.
But this shouldn't be! It was a wasteland yesterday…
Ivan frowned, vaguely guessing that it might be some sort of magical effect, then pulled the curtain back and left.
After washing up downstairs, Yvonne went to the drawing room, where Nick Flamel was already sitting, sipping his morning tea.
"Good morning, sir!" Yvonne greeted him as she took a chair at the table.
"Um… did you sleep well last night?" Nick Flamel gently put down his teacup and asked with a smile.
"Very used to it!" Yvonne nodded. Nick Flamel may have been a wizard centuries ago, but the house was far from out of date. Both the living room and the bed looked very modern, and since he did not recognise beds, he slept soundly.
However, Ivan was very curious about what he had just seen outside the window, so he couldn't help asking.
"You can see the city because it's close to Paris…" Nick Flamel explained to Yvonne.
To avoid unnecessary interruptions, he magically concealed an area, creating a separate space that was generally isolated from the outside world.
Only those who had the coordinates could cause magical fluctuations through their Apparition, affecting the protective barrier and allowing them to see the outside world for a short period of time.
"Did you have a visitor?" Ivan asked.
Nick Flamel shook his head and explained that he had gone out to purchase supplies.
The house was not self-sufficient, and he had to go out every once in a while to see what new tricks the Muggles had up their sleeve.
Yvonne then realised that Nick Flamel seemed to be very interested in Muggle creations, as there was even a television and fridge in the living room.
"This morning, you can read in the library. A few books on the third shelf should help you. If you have any questions, I'll answer them for you in the afternoon…" Nick Flamel was giving Ivan the day's schedule.
He had previously learned from Dumbledore that Ivan was a very disciplined child, so he did not insist on Ivan doing anything, other than giving advice.
Yvonne nodded, then pointed to the fridge, the television, and the microwave in the living room and asked tentatively, "Sir, I see a lot of Muggle stuff in here. Is it working?"
Yvonne had wanted to ask about the strange discovery of a pile of Muggle artefacts in the home of a hundreds-year-old Master Alchemist.
"I've made some modifications to them so that they can work even without electricity. If you get tired of reading, you can watch television, but you have to control the time!" Nick Flamel reminded her with a smile, mistaking Ivan's childishness and his curiosity about Muggle products.
Yvonne pursed her lips. She wasn't particularly interested in shows from the 1990s, but she was surprised at Nick Flamel's ability to enchant such devices.
Yvonne knew that some Muggle technology could be transformed into magical objects by alchemy, such as Hagrid's Flying Motorcycle and the Weasleys' magical car.
The television, however, was different. He was curious as to how Nick Flamel solved the problem of reception.
And if it was possible to make such a magical television, why wasn't it popular in the wizarding world?
Wizards who lack entertainment should not be able to resist such temptation!
"Sir, if there are so many Muggle appliances that make our lives easier, why aren't they popular?" Ivan asked, voicing the question that had been puzzling him.
"It is not easy to modify such an alchemical object! Ordinary wizarding families cannot afford it," Nick Flamel explained, shaking his head.
"In addition, the European wizarding community is generally conservative, somewhat prejudiced against these Muggle creations, believing that large quantities of Muggle-invented equipment would impact normal wizarding order…"
Despite the increasing number of half-bloods and Muggle-borns, the wizarding world has subtly changed, with many witches and wizards moving towards Muggle status through their daily lives and dress habits.
However, there were still some members of the wizarding community who abided by the ancient customs and customs of life, and were extremely hostile towards Muggle objects.
They were mostly pure-blood wizards, and formed a large, conservative force, partly because of discrimination against Muggles by wizards, and partly to prevent new ideas and things from undermining them.
After listening to Nick Flamel's explanation of the current state of the wizarding world, Ivan was able to gain some insight into the current state of affairs, which was, in a nutshell, the collision of old and new ideas, and the potential for this contradiction to grow as time went on…
Yvonne had also heard of the wizarding world's management of Muggle artefacts, as Britain had established a Department for the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts to prevent wizards from illegally altering Muggle technology.
The head of this department was Ron's father, Arthur Weasley.
Arthur, for his own convenience, had left a loophole in his legislation that allowed wizards to magically modify Muggle transport to improve travel.
After breakfast, Nick Flamel took Ivan to the first-floor library.
The library was smaller than the Black family's underground library, but the books were arranged more closely together. When Ivan glanced across the room, he felt dizzy from the stacked shelves…
There was also a high platform placed in front of the library, which was surrounded by a large number of incomprehensible runes.