Hermione was left speechless by Ivan's words, but was unable to refute them. Professor McGonagall had once said that with Ivan's magical abilities, he could have graduated from Hogwarts a long time ago, and the O.W.L. exam might not have been too difficult for him.
However, this also meant that Yvonne would have to leave Hogwarts the following year, and Hermione was frustrated by this, as she was not confident that she would be able to pass the N.E.W.T. exam with flying colours.
Ivan saw this and tried to comfort her. "Just because I'm not a student doesn't mean I won't be at Hogwarts…"
"Are you going to come back and teach after you graduate?" Hermione asked, immediately guessing Ivan's thoughts, and then thinking of the vacancy she was in. "Defence Against the Dark Arts?!"
"No, no, no! I can't possibly teach this class!" Ivan interrupted, startled.
He had not lived long enough!
Ivan had witnessed the horrors of the Lord Voldemort's Curse over the past five years, and the only person who had ever been a Defence Against the Dark Arts professor was Lupin.
However, even Lupin was unable to attend a year's worth of classes, and left his job for some reason at the end of the year.
Although Ivan was very strong, he would not joke about his personal safety!
Hermione stuck her tongue out, apparently thinking of the Dark Arts Defence Against the Dark Arts curse from Ivan's shocked reaction.
However, it seemed that there were no other courses to choose from other than this one, as there was still a vacancy for a professor.
"I've heard that the Ministry of Magic is planning to increase your ability to take risks at this particular time next year, so a new course will be added to train you in combat skills," Ivan said, half-joking.
"Train us like duelling lessons?" Harry and Ron asked enthusiastically.
Normally, they would sigh and complain when they heard that the Ministry would be adding a new class to the curriculum for the coming year, but it would be a lot more fun if they were taught to pick up their wands and fight.
"Something like that…" Ivan smacked his lips. The truth was, he hadn't figured out how he was going to teach the class.
"But will the Ministry agree to have you as a professor?" Hermione asked hesitantly. Ivan would only be sixteen next year, not even an adult, and it was unlikely that the Ministry would accept an underage wizard as a professor.
"Don't be so pedantic with the Ministry, believe me, the new Acting Minister, Piers, is a very open-minded man!" Yvonne promised.
Although he had not had a chance to discuss the matter with Pierce, he was confident that the Ministry would not refuse.
Hogwarts, on the other hand, did not require much consideration, as the position of Headmaster was still vacant, and the twelve school governors who could influence decisions were all on their own.
The only thing to consider is the opinions of the parents.
Ivan, however, had a plan to deal with this, which was to have the Daily Prophet spread the word about his genius. It would be best if everyone knew that he had graduated above his rank, and he could show off his previous achievements.
With this talent, there was less opposition when he was specially hired by the Ministry to teach a new subject that was not yet an exam.
In fact, Ivan even considered becoming the new Headmaster of Hogwarts if he could, as there were some system tasks that could be easily accomplished with the help of the Headmaster's position.
However, after careful consideration, Ivan decided against it.
At the age of sixteen, Headmasters of Hogwarts were considered too much, and Ivan had no experience in running a school, so he had to start as a professor and work his way up through the ranks.
One had to take things one step at a time in order to change the educational landscape at Hogwarts.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were dubious, believing that the Ministry would most likely not approve of Ivan as a professor.
Ivan shrugged, then turned to Harry and asked, "Have you decided if you want to learn Occlumency from Professor Snape? Harry?"
"We'll talk about it later," Harry replied, his head aching; he had been too busy revising every day lately, and he didn't want to have to deal with Snape's big face while he was studying, which would drive him insane.
"You should be more careful about this, Harry! Don't you remember? You-Know-Who used to send lots of false information to Professor Dumbledore through your dreams in the first year of school. Maybe You-Know-Who is going through your memories right now…" Hermione solemnly told Harry about the need to learn Occlumency from Snape.
Unable to bear Hermione's constant chatter, she eventually agreed to ask Snape if he would like to teach her on Friday.
Harry was optimistic that Snape would not hesitate to refuse his offer…
While Harry was having a headache over this, Ron approached Ivan and asked curiously, "What's this? A crown?"
"It's Ravenclaw's diadem, which You-Know-Who made into a powerful dark magical object. It's what caused Lockhart's attack on the students three years ago…" Ivan explained briefly how he had acquired the diadem.
Ron's skin crawled at the mention of the You-Know-Who, but when he learned that Ivan had repaired the damaged diadem, his interest was piqued. He had heard rumours about the Ravenclaw Corona, which was said to give wisdom.
"Can I try it on?" Ron asked.
"Of course." Ivan nonchalantly handed over the diadem.
Ron eagerly took the diadem and placed it on his head, then opened the book to try it out.
After a few minutes of serious reading, Ron was disappointed to find that the diadem did not improve his memory, nor did it make him incredibly intelligent…
Ivan took the diadem back with a shake of his head, unsurprised by Ron's reaction, as he had experimented with it before, but no matter what he did, it seemed to be just a fancy decoration.
However, the system's comments made it clear that Ravenclaw's diadem was a powerful magical object, capable of increasing one's intelligence…