After bidding Pierce farewell, Ivan had no intention of delaying. The next day, he set up the Fidelius Charm in the mansion and instructed the Granger family to stay at the manor and not go out.
"Are you leaving tomorrow, Yvonne? So soon?" Hermione asked reluctantly.
"Well, it's urgent. It'll take a week or two. I should be back before school starts…" Yvonne said hesitantly. It would take at least ten days or half a month to find the Thunderbird and find Grindelwald.
"Well…" Hermione's lips curved as she dragged out the word, even though they had agreed to visit London together yesterday.
However, the little witch understood that it must be something very important or extremely dangerous for Ivan to be so eager to do it, so she did not object. Instead, she stepped forward and gave Ivan a hug.
"Ha, it's nothing dangerous…" Ivan tried to explain, but Hermione didn't seem to believe him, staring at him as if trying to read his mind.
Ivan scratched his head and quickly changed the subject. "Oh, and I kept Ravenclaw's Diadem in the bookcase in the Alchemy Room. You can wear it whenever you want."
"But remember… no staying up late reading!" Ivan warned as he tapped the witch on the forehead.
Hermione pursed her lips and looked at Ivan unhappily. She did not stay up all night, she just occasionally fell asleep late reading.
"Can I contact you through the Seal if I come across something I don't understand while reading?" Hermione asked, suddenly realising that although she and Ivan would have to be separated for a long time, they could still communicate.
"Of course, as long as there's nothing else, we can talk all day," Ivan replied with a smile.
The little witch's face turned red and she made a noise as she tried to punch Ivan on the shoulder.
Yvonne deftly evaded his touch, but the smile on her face faded, and she continued cautiously, "But if I happen to have something urgent to attend to, I might temporarily cut off the communication function."
The magical seal was useful, but it could also cause unnecessary trouble, so he would usually temporarily cut off communication in battle to avoid distraction.
"As for your alchemical lessons… use this!" Ivan placed his wand on his temple, and a moment later, a white mist was drawn into the glass bottles.
"These are…memory threads?" Hermione guessed, looking at the mist in the bottle in amazement.
Ivan nodded. "Yes, it's a memory of my time studying alchemy and creating alchemical objects. You can browse it in the Pensieve." He dipped one of the memory threads into the Pensieve, indicating that the witch should try it.
Hermione eagerly immersed her face in the Pensieve as instructed by Ivan, and after three minutes or so, she looked up at him again and said excitedly, "My God, how did you come up with this? To learn by passing memories?"
"Did it work?" Yvonne asked curiously.
"It's wonderful!" Hermione said, smiling. In the world of memory, she could clearly see every step of Ivan's magical creation, which was far better than simply reading the alchemy books.
The most important thing was that memories could be accessed repeatedly, as if an tireless teacher were rehearsing them in front of her.
"Hogwarts should have included that in their regular classes," Hermione vowed, so that she would not have to worry about missing out on important lessons.
"It's not as simple as you think… only a skilled Legilimator can extract their memories, and it's very private. Not many wizards want to share it with others," Ivan said, amused.
It was only because of his close relationship with Hermione that he dared to do so, and even so, Ivan had a strange feeling when Hermione looked at his memories.
After coming up with a study plan, Ivan took advantage of the last half of the day to show Hermione around London, relax, and then, early the next morning, travel alone to the Muggle airport to fly to France.
Although he had used Apparition to go to France several times when he was learning alchemy from Nicolas Flamel, they were all based on specific coordinates, which had now been erased.
Fortunately, after all these years of development, Muggle transportation was very convenient, and the journey from England to its destination took little more than an hour.
After obtaining a forged identity card through the Ministry of Magic, Ivan passed the verification process without incident and got on a plane to enjoy his Muggle experience.
Leaving the airport, Ivan hailed a taxi to the mysterious seaside town.
The driver, a bald man in his forties, appeared to be quite wealthy, if a bit of a chatterbox, sharing his life experiences with Ivan the "college boy on a trip" and complaining about the terrible weather.
"It's been two weeks, and there hasn't even been a day of sun. It's been raining every day, and this damned weather!" said the bald man angrily. His home was in this town, and if it rained for a few more days, he thought his furniture would rot.
Ivan turned to look at the window. It was drizzling outside, and dark clouds hung low in the sky. The whole town was shrouded in silence and gloom.
If this went on for half a month, it would be problematic. No wonder the Ministry's spies thought they would find traces of the Thunderbird.
As Ivan pondered this, the taxi slowed to a halt in front of an out-of-the-way hotel. The place seemed to have seen better days. The signage was old, and the advertising stickers on the outside walls had fallen off.
"If conditions permit, it would be best if you moved somewhere else. Security in this area has never been very good," the balding driver cautioned hesitantly.
"Thank you for your advice. I'll be careful!" Ivan said easily as he paid the driver and got out of the car. He thought this place was perfect for wizards, secluded and secluded.
"Disobedient brat…" the middle-aged driver muttered as he stepped on the accelerator and disappeared down the street.
(PS: Congratulations to fellow reader 20210121193712899 for becoming the fifth League Master of this book! Thank you so much, and try to keep a copy of the manuscript for later.)