As Conal thought this, a sudden feeling of dread came over him.
"Have you ever really seen a genius? Director Connor… don't judge our strength by your shallow knowledge…" Ivan said casually, his eyes turning orange and vertical. A terrifying dragon might gradually filled the relatively spacious classroom.
Connor stared into those eyes and felt as if Death had him by the throat, and his breath was being sucked out of him.
In a trance, Ivan Hals seemed to grow larger and larger, until he was as small as an ant in the ground…
"If the Director-General has any doubts about what I'm telling you, you can come and try it for yourself…" Ivan stepped forward, and the faint sound of his shoes on the floor was like the sound of a war drum.
Conal swallowed hard, shuddering, his hand shaking as he held the wand.
Before today, he would never have believed that he would one day be suppressed by a young wizard to the point of being unable to move.
The young wizard in front of him even reminded him of Grindelwald, who had attacked the North American Magical Congress Building a few days ago. That incomparably terrifying man had forcibly taken the Vice President of the Congress away in front of all of them. The sixty or so guards responsible for guarding the Aurors had been easily defeated by him.
Connor would never forget the way Grindelwald looked at him before he left, the way Grindelwald looked at a stray dog…
In addition to Connor, the three Aurors who came in with him were also on their guard. However, they were not deliberately targeted by Ivan, so they retained some ability to move under the pressure of the aura.
This did not go down well, however, as Ivan took another step forward, and one of the Aurors, unable to stand it any longer, pulled his wand out of Ivan's pocket.
Don't do it… Connor's first instinct was to shout, but he was too late. When the pressure reached its limit, the string called sanity snapped almost instantly.
"Expellarmus ~ (Expelliarmus)" The Aurors in the front row attacked first, roaring as if they were venting their anger.
Almost at the same time, the two colleagues behind him attacked in unison. Two more beams of light of various colors flew towards Ivan.
It's over… the thought flashed through Connor's mind, and then a bright light filled his vision, and a violent explosion sounded in his ears.
The classroom shook violently, and the tables and chairs around them exploded. Conal was thrown to the ground by the shockwave.
The only good thing was that the oppressive aura that had been locking him in place vanished at that moment. Connor crawled stiffly to his feet and quickly looked around.
Ivan Hals was still standing not far from him, looking calm and composed. The three Law Enforcement Aurors of the International Confederation of Wizards were lying on the ground, looking miserable.
The wand of the wizard who cast the Disarming Charm was broken in half, the other two Aurors were petrified, and the last one was knocked out cold and covered in blood.
"How dare you… how dare you openly attack an Auror!" Conal hissed through gritted teeth, his anger reaching its peak, but under Ivan's cold gaze, the noise that had been so loud at first grew weaker and weaker until it was barely audible.
"Don't you slander me, Director Connor. It's these Aurors who are openly attacking an innocent student at Hogwarts!" Ivan corrected him with a raised eyebrow, then waved his wand and continued.
"Also, my wand is here. If the International Confederation of Wizards has any doubts, you can test it. I only cast a few defensive charms at best. The Exploding Spells, Petrification Spells, and Disarming Spells were the work of these Aurors…"
All he did was reflect their charms back at them.
Connor nearly fainted from anger at Ivan's shamelessness, but he was wary of Ivan's ability to defeat three Aurors so easily, so he turned to Pierce, whom he had forgotten, hoping that the Minister for Magic would help him put pressure on him.
Pierce, however, seemed to have gone blind, as he remained silent during the confrontation, not even glancing in his direction.
Seeing that Connor was not going to give up, Ivan sneered and said to Pierce, "Minister Pierce, does the International Confederation of Wizards have the right to attack people indiscriminately in Britain?"
"Of course not!" said the statue-like Pierce, coming to life with a sense of justice. "I would never allow anyone to do as they please in the British and British Magical community! Not even the Chief Executive of the North American Magical Congress!"
"Director Connor, I would like to invite you and several of your subordinates to the Ministry of Magic for a review… for attacking an underage wizard and using a death-inducing Blasting Charm in battle… this is a serious crime!" Pierce said sternly.
He clapped his hands, and a few seconds later, Dawlish and a dozen Hitters burst through the door and surrounded the wizards.
'Aren't we supposed to be on the same team? That's not what you said before…' Conal was stunned, and before he knew what was happening, he was knocked to the ground by the attacker.
Connor almost wondered if the young wizard in front of him was Pierce's illegitimate son… well, no, the other way around.
This is the only explanation as to why the Minister for Magic would go to such lengths to distort the truth despite the pressure from North America and the Confederation of Wizards…
He tried his best to resist, but he could not escape the clutches of Dawlish and the others. Conal's heart sank at the thought of Pierce's callousness. He would not end well if he were captured…
Even if North America managed to fish him out, the few days of delay would be enough to make him suffer.
Conal quickly interjected, "Wait, Mr. Harls, I'm afraid this is a… misunderstanding!"
"Misunderstanding?" Ivan asked curiously, gesturing for Dawlish to wait.
"You said before that if they had any doubts about your words, they could test them out themselves… That's why my subordinates attacked you so suddenly. They wanted to personally test your strength…" Connor explained, feeling very aggrieved.
"I see…" Ivan said, suddenly remembering that he had said this before. He looked at Connor and said, "But remember, next time, you have to show duelling etiquette before a friendly exchange… not everyone is as reasonable as I am!"