"Then you'll have to work hard, Emma, Len, and try to surpass your father as soon as possible," Alicia teased her grandchildren.
Emma, who was hiding in Ivan's arms, nodded, and Len tapped the bowl with his knife and fork and said confidently, "Just you wait. It won't be long before the title of strongest wizard is mine!"
Ivan glanced at young Ryan and shook his head in amusement. It was far too early to think of surpassing him. He would have to practise for another few hundred years.
As Ivan was about to tease her, a loud noise came from behind.
Ivan turned to see Hermione haranguing a thirteen-year-old witch, their oldest daughter, Leilani.
Due to her phoenix blood, the little girl's eyes were a brilliant golden-red, and her appearance was similar to her mother's. Her hair was exactly the same shade of brown, and on her head was a baby phoenix, summoned by Leilani when she was eleven.
"Mom, can you not be so long-winded? All I did was blow up a practice room, and no one was hurt. Anyway, Dad can just wave his wand and cast a Restoring Charm, right?" Lilani covered her ears awkwardly, looking like she was saying, "I won't listen, I won't listen."
Nothing Hermione said worked, except to look at Ivan and tell him to get his daughter in order!
Ivan cleared his throat, pulled a face, and said earnestly, "You can't say that, Leilani. Nothing happened this time, but what about the next time? Can you guarantee that you'll be lucky every time?"
"I remember when you were practising magic in the Forbidden Forest in your first year of school and nearly burned a centaur settlement. If I hadn't arrived in time, you would have been captured by them…"
"As if. Those centaurs combined can't beat me!" Leilani said indignantly. She had mastered fire avatar a year ago, and no matter how many centaurs there were, they couldn't do anything to her.
"Horsemen are intelligent creatures, so it's best if you leave them alone if you don't have to. Also, your mother is considering adding them to her list of protected creatures this month, so you'd better not give her any trouble at work, or you'll get a beating…" Ivan warned as he rubbed Lilani's head.
Leilani slapped Ivan's hand away, puffed out her chest, and said proudly, "Don't touch my head, I'm old enough to be in my third year, Dad!"
"Nonsense, the wizarding world doesn't come of age until you're seventeen, and you're only thirteen. You're nowhere near that age!" Ivan warned her sternly, glaring at the witch and forcing her down onto the seat next to him. "And make sure you don't fall in love at school, understand?"
"If I find out, that man is finished!" Ivan threatened, squeezing Leilani's cheek.
"Tch…" Leilani pursed her lips. A certain headmaster's father was monitoring her every move, and every boy who tried to impress her was invited to the headmaster's office for a private conversation.
Besides, being in love isn't as much fun as studying magic…
Ivan was relieved to sense his daughter's thoughts, but also had a headache.
His eldest daughter, Leilani, inherited his fanatical attitude towards magic, which often caused Ivan to worry about her safety.
Fortunately, Leilani inherited the blood of the phoenix and mastered the ability to turn into flames, which allowed her to ignore most dangers, or Ivan would have tried to stop her from causing trouble.
With that in mind, Yvonne glanced at Len again. He was old enough to start school in the second half of the year. She wondered what trouble he would stir up once he started at Hogwarts…
Sigh, I should just retire… Ivan sighed to himself, filled with the sadness of being an old father.
Back then, he had risked his life to fuse with each and every one of them, but now, all of them had been taken advantage of by these little brats… and none of them had spared him!
'Oh, no, not exactly. At least she was nice to him…'
"You're the most obedient, little Emma!" Yvonne hugged her cuddly jacket around her and kissed her on the forehead.
Seeing this, Len and Leilani pursed their lips in indignation. Emma was supposed to be the most mischievous of them all. She was just pretending to be nice.
"All right, all right, whatever it is, let's wait until after dinner," Alicia tried to smooth things over, attracting everyone's attention.
Ivan and Hermione left Leilani alone for a while, and the family enjoyed breakfast.
When it was finished, a guilty-looking Leilani ran upstairs without giving Hermione a chance to reprimand her.
Young Emma and Len were also sent to school by Ivan. Although they had not officially started at Hogwarts, they had to go to primary school like all the other Muggle children. If they did not do well, he would not hold back.
Ivan was the one in charge of cleaning the dishes. With a gentle wave of his wand, the pots and pans on the table floated up and became shiny and clean under the influence of magic.
It had been nearly nineteen years since Ivan last had a decent match, and his wand of the highest quality had been reduced to a mere tool for handling everyday objects.
Gulp… Gulp ~
Ivan had just finished his chores when an owl flew through the open window and landed in front of him with a white envelope.
Yvonne took it from her, but before she could open it, Hermione leaned forward and deftly removed the envelope from Yvonne's hand, asking suspiciously, "Who's this from? Luna?"
"I think so," Ivan replied. Since his invention of the Weave seven years ago, few people used such outdated communication, and Luna still sent him letters from time to time out of habit.
"Let me see it first!" Hermione exclaimed, opening the letter to check its contents.
Yvonne didn't mind sitting on the sofa with Hermione as she examined the contents of the envelope, which was brief and filled with Luna's interesting experiences in the Brazilian rainforest looking for magical creatures…
(PS: I wanted to end it officially today, but I didn't expect that I wouldn't be able to finish it. I still have to briefly explain the development of the system and the wizarding world. I promise that the next chapter will be finished!!!)