"Who was in charge of the protective circle and sealing the fireplace?" Ivan asked.
'It's the Department of Mysteries and the Department of Magical Transportation…' Umbridge replied without hesitation.
'Very well…' said Ivan, turning over in his mind the intelligence reports on the two departments, before suddenly placing his wand on Umbridge's forehead.
"I forgot everything!"
A blinding white light flashed before Umbridge's eyes.
Umbridge felt dizzy, as if she had forgotten something, and sat in a daze.
About three seconds later, Ivan slowly lowered his wand and slipped it back into Umbridge's belt, then, with a thought, took Umbridge's black quill from her hand and used healing magic on it.
When she was done, Ivan snapped his fingers and Umbridge snapped out of her trance.
[What's wrong with me?]
Umbridge shook her head dizzily as memories came flooding back.
It was only then that she remembered she was trying to punish Ivan Harris by forcing him to testify against Dumbledore.
However, the brat in front of him was very stubborn. Even after more than two hours of needle-like pain, he refused to give in. He forcefully filled the entire parchment and stared blankly at it, almost falling asleep.
Understanding this, Umbridge looked down at the page on her desk, which she thought had just been handed to her by Ivan Hals.
However, why did this handwriting look familiar?
Umbridge frowned, but a voice in her head kept telling her that this was Ivan Hals' handwriting, and that she was imagining things…
Umbridge was dazed for a moment, then she threw the parchment into the fireplace and smiled at Ivan.
"That's enough for today, Harls. Go back and think about my offer, and come to my office once a night for the next week until you have the school rules in your head, understand?"
'Every night? You're probably mistaken, aren't you? Professor Umbridge, I think once a week is enough.' Ivan shook his head, not wanting to waste so much time chatting with Umbridge.
Umbridge's face darkened at Ivan's defiance, but she quickly regained her composure, as she suddenly felt that his words were not unreasonable. She had seen Ivan's stubbornness before, and she was afraid that writing alone would not make him give in.
So she had better spend some time convincing the Ministry of Magic to allow her to use criminal laws that had been abolished in the last century, such as…hanging errant students and whipping them with leather!
Sensing Umbridge's thoughts, Ivan's mouth twitched slightly, but he did not interrupt the middle-aged witch and took his leave.
Leaving the office, Ivan headed back down the corridor to the Gryffindor Lounge, sorting through the information he had received from Umbridge.
It is worth noting that, in case Umbridge was seen through during her return to the Ministry of Magic, Ivan did not use the Imperius Curse to forcibly control Umbridge's speech and actions, but instead gave Umbridge a degree of autonomy, allowing her to retain only minimal control.
As a precaution, he also altered Umbridge's memory, deleting the part about the Ministry of Magic and replacing it with Umbridge's supervision of his writing.
With these two layers, only a thorough examination of Umbridge's memories by Legilimens like Dumbledore and Voldemort would reveal any clues…
'Ivan, are you all right? Did Umbridge punish you?'
As soon as they stepped through the door of the common room, the young Gryffindor wizards surrounded them and bombarded them with questions.
Hermione immediately grabbed Ivan's right hand to examine it, and was relieved to find no scars on the back.
'I told you, Hermione, Umbridge only wanted to have a chat with me, she couldn't do anything to me,' said Ivan, holding the witch's arm and smiling.
"Will the rally continue this week?" a voice asked from the crowd.
The noisy lounge suddenly became very quiet, and everyone looked uneasily at Ivan. According to the latest Ministry of Magic regulations, one would be expelled if caught participating in a large-scale rally…
"Of course it's…go on! But it's going to take a bit of a change of form…" said Ivan, looking around the room.
… .
A few days passed in the blink of an eye and, having dealt with Umbridge, Ivan was able to return to his normal study of the Philosopher's Stone.
As for the operation against the Ministry of Magic, Dobby was instructed to assign tasks to Doggett and the others.
Ivan was only responsible for providing a general idea, and the perfecting and execution of the plan would naturally be left to the imaginative freaks. It would also give them something to do, so that these people would not have nothing to do every day…
Aside from these two important tasks, Ivan spends an hour or two every day teaching young wizards and witches who have joined the Defence Against the Dark Arts Association.
The meeting was held in the training room of the Room of Requirement from the remote Shrieking Shack.
After the Philosopher's Stone was created, there was no longer any need to hide it, so Ivan decided to use it instead. The time was changed from once a week to once a day, although the attendance was reduced to around forty.
By rotating around every few days to cover each other's tracks, the chances of being spotted were greatly reduced.
Although Umbridge's brain automatically blocked out these anomalies no matter how many people disappeared from the castle, she still put on an act.
"Miss Edgecombe, the Shield Charm is a very practical spell, capable of warding off or even repelling enemy charms. You will need to gently wave your wand and do as I say, then recite the incantation Protegos ~ (armour protection)"
In the Room of Requirement on Saturday evening, Ivan slowly waved his wand to demonstrate, and an invisible magical barrier suddenly appeared around him.
"Is it like this? Protegos! (Armor protecting)" Marietta Edgecombe imitated Ivan as she stood next to him, waving her wand and chanting an incantation. A barrier of magic appeared, but it quickly shattered.
Apparently, the spell failed, and Marietta sighed, disappointed that her hour-long practice had not improved her.