A week passed in the blink of an eye, and Ivan's search for clues went nowhere.
To this end, he went so far as to maintain Legilimency for extended periods of time, inspecting every minor wizard who entered or left the Entrance Hall.
However, the result was that no one around him bore him any deep ill will.
At least far enough to poison himself.
Even Umbridge, who had the worst attitude towards him, cursed under her breath and made no plans to murder him.
This made Ivan feel very strange. His Legilimency had been upgraded to Level Seven, and no one in the school except Snape, who had mastered Occlumency, should be able to evade his senses.
Could it be that the threat came from outside the school, or that some house-elf was being controlled by the Imperius Curse?
Or was it, as the note suggested, that Snape was the one who really needed to be careful and that he should not believe him?
Having ruled out so many options, Ivan was forced to put the hunt for the killer on hold.
After all, there was no way to investigate.
The person who sent him the package did not do anything during the week, and no young wizard died from the poison while eating in the Great Hall.
This indicated that there was nothing wrong with the food they ate.
Given this, Ivan had to turn most of his attention to the practice of enchantment and the making of alchemical devices.
After an entire week of hard work, Ivan was able to reduce the preparation time for enchantment to less than a second. Although there was no actual combat practice, and it was unknown how much combat power he could display, it was more than enough to operate the Alchemy Array.
Alchemy bracers were much more difficult to make, as they failed twice in a row. However, Ivan did not expect such a difficult alchemy item to be successfully made in one try. He would have to practice a few more times after the next batch of materials arrived.
What really gave Ivan a headache was the fact that Dumbledore was nowhere to be found during the first week of school.
His name is not visible on the Marauder's Map, at least, as if Dumbledore is deliberately avoiding him, but Ivan can think of no reason for Dumbledore to do so.
This led to a stalemate in the search for the Chamber of Magic, and Ivan was forced to abandon his fantasies and make his own living, taking time out every day to visit the Hogwarts Library and search for information on the founding of the school.
It is worth noting that Ivan's secretive manner over the past few days caught Hermione's attention.
Under the witch's relentless questioning, Ivan was left with no choice but to reveal that he was looking for a magical storage room in which to create a magical tool.
Hermione naturally joined in the search for information without further ado.
Given the importance of having an extra pair of hands, the witch dragged Harry and Ron along with her.
The two of them sat in the library, sighing and complaining, but they still obediently flipped through the books, greatly speeding up the selection of information.
Three days later, Hermione's face lit up as she turned to Ivan and exclaimed, "I found a clue, Ivan!"
"What? Do you know where the storage room is?" Ivan asked quickly.
"No, but I think there might be someone who does…" Hermione shook her head and handed over the book. "The Ghost Lady Grey! A History of Hogwarts says she's the daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw, one of the four founders, and must know a lot about the castle."
"Lady Grey—Helena Ravenclaw, yes, why didn't I think of her before," Ivan muttered to himself.
As a ghost that had existed since the founding of the school, the other party probably knew more secrets than the Headmaster, Dumbledore.
If there really was a magical storeroom at Hogwarts, she would know about it!
Irritated at the thought, Ivan threw his arms around her and kissed her on the cheek. "You're amazing, Hermione!"
The witch blushed and was about to say something when a shout reached their ears.
"Silence! This is the library. You are disturbing the others."
Ivan turned to find the librarian, Madam Pince, staring at them with displeasure.
Not only that, but his loud shout attracted the attention of most of the students in the school, who had obviously seen him kissing Hermione.
Realizing this, Ivan looked very embarrassed and did not dare to stay any longer, quickly pulling Hermione away.
As they made their way out of the library, Hermione caught her breath.
"The Grey Lady is usually found wandering around Ravenclaw Tower. How do you plan to get in?"
"A History of Hogwarts states that for nearly a thousand years, no one but Ravenclaw students could answer the questions posed by the bronze knocker…"
Hermione rattled off information she had read in a book.
Ivan's face darkened as Hermione reminded him of the problem the knocker had given him at Ravenclaw Tower.
[What is the nature of magic?]
Was this really an answer from an underage wizard?
Even Dumbledore and Lord Voldemort may not know the answer.
Ivan grumbled about the double-standard bronze eagle. In his second year, he encountered several Ravenclaws while guarding the entrance in his Animagus form.
The only one who was very harsh on himself was probably because he was an outer court student, so the difficulty of the question increased dramatically. No wonder no one could answer it in a thousand years.
However, there was no need for him to answer the questions.
"Don't worry, I can fly in through the window in my Animagus form without having to answer any questions…" Ivan said with a smile.
Hermione nodded hesitantly. She had seen Ivan in his Animagus form after the Goblet of Fire competition in her first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was an eagle, but he was quite large, with a wingspan of over three meters. Hermione wondered if he could fit through a window.
In fact, the easiest way to get into the tower was to have a Ravenclaw student take them, but Ivan had told them repeatedly to keep it a secret, and presumably didn't want anyone else to know…
As Hermione thought, Ivan did not want his search for the Chamber of Magic to become public knowledge.
Therefore, after learning that Helena most likely knew the location of the magical storage room, Ivan did not act immediately and planned to have a private chat with her when everyone was asleep.
Not to mention, there will be two more hated Defence Against the Dark Arts classes,
Ivan only wished Umbridge would behave herself today and leave him alone…