Chapter 172: Ivan and Snape's Duel

"Out of the way, Mason!" Snape said coolly, quickly waving his wand, not seeming to slow down at all just because Ivan was his student.

"Be reasonable, Professor, you know very well that Black is innocent!" Ivan dodged Snape's curse and shouted, "That's all Peter Pettigrew is doing. He used the Imperius Curse to control Ron. It was all part of his plan."

Snape turned a deaf ear to Ivan's shouts.

His eyes, filled with vengeance and anger, were fixed on Black.

Black turned into a huge black dog, leapt at Ivan, and bounded out of the portrait entrance.

Snape rushed to catch up, but immediately stopped to evade Ivan's stun spell.

"Ivan Mason!" Seeing Black's figure fade, Snape's face distorted, and he said through gritted teeth, "I'll say it again for the last time: out of my way! Otherwise, I'll make you regret stopping me..."

Ivan gasped and stopped in front of the entrance to the common room. He held his wand and didn't move out of the way, answering Snape with his actions.

"Very well!" Snape said madly, his face showing a defiant expression.

His mouth quickly recited a spell. His wand was buzzing in the air, and several spells were cast. Like daggers, with a cold light, they flew towards Ivan.

Ivan ran to the right, falling to the ground, dodging Snape's magic. He cast a Protego to shield himself as fast as he could.

Under the Shield's protection, a red spell rubbed his body and he flew to the side.

The powerful force of impact knocked him off balance and he fell heavily to the ground.

Ivan got up hastily, ignoring the pain in his back.

He saw a blue beam of a curse coming towards him, and quickly waved his wand at the round wooden table in front of him.

The wooden table drifted, spun quickly, and stood up to block Snape's attack.

With a bang, the previously sturdy and solid desk was hit hard by the blue light that punched a large hole in it.

It flew swiftly backwards and then crashed. Under the influence of Ivan's spell, the weathered wooden desk flew back to Snape.

In midair, it began to deform and fell heavily to the ground, turning into a large black snake, revealing its sharp fangs and slithering toward Ivan.

Ivan took a deep breath, held the tip of his wand as it emitted a silvery white light, which turned into a sword that cut the black snake in front of him in two. The silver-white sword was relentless, and passed ferociously close to Snape's face.

Snape's face was somewhat surprised. He didn't seem to have imagined that Ivan could use such powerful magic.

He waved his wand in his hand and his mouth whispered a Spell.

The next second, a semi-circular white magical barrier suddenly appeared in front of Snape, and Ivan's curse slammed into it, leaving a ripple.

Ivan looked at the barrier in front of Snape in amazement. The doubts that had troubled him all night were cleared away.

It was him; it was Snape who had done it all: in the hall, he had stopped Peter Pettigrew from leaving the castle, protecting him, Harry and Hermione from being hurt by Peter's ability to explode with his dark magic. When Ivan finally passed out, it was Snape who sent him to the school hospital.

At first, Ivan was unsure. But now, there was no more doubt that it was Snape's white barrier magic.

This defensive barrier magic, like Sectumsempra, should have been created by Snape himself, as Ivan had never seen such a spell before.

Unlike the protego enchantment, which forms an invisible wall that blocks attack, Snape's protective barrier magic was visible. This barrier had a strong defense. It does not bounce the attack by hitting him, it absorbs it completely. As long as the magic trying to pass does not exceed the caster's own magic, the barrier cannot be broken.

In addition, the barrier can also prevent people from passing through.

In the corridor, Ivan saw Peter Pettigrew bounce as he hit the barrier hard.

Snape must have been there, and Ivan was sure that his earlier judgment was completely correct. He was convinced that he saw Snape behind the curtain.

Ivan breathed a sigh of relief, and his struggles at that moment no longer seemed to be in vain.

He risked giving Pettigrew a chance to escape, and did not directly use Desmaius to stun him, but deliberately led him and Sirius Black, who was in a frenzy of rage, and made them both fully expose the truth about that year.

He intentionally gave Peter Pettigrew the opportunity to defend himself. Ivan's purpose in doing so, in addition to his promise to Dumbledore to do all he could to save Ron, was primarily to let Snape know the truth about that year.

Snape should have been hiding behind the curtain, he should have heard everything clearly, and he should have known who sold Harry's parents to Voldemort... Who killed Lily, the only woman he ever loved in his life.

However, Ivan still had difficulty understanding Snape's thoughts.

Since he already knew the truth about the incident, why didn't he come out at that time? Why didn't he stop Peter Pettigrew and give him a chance to escape to the Forbidden Forest?

Looking at Professor Snape, whose face was grim, Ivan sighed heavily. He didn't know what he was thinking about at the moment, but he suddenly had an unusual feeling of sadness.

Unable to explain why, he suddenly felt that Professor Snape was very pitiful. Although he didn't spend twelve years in Azkaban like Sirius Black, his heart had been suffering as much as Black had for the past twelve years.

Ivan didn't want to fight anymore. He was going to tell Snape everything. Besides Harry, he had the most right to know the truth about Lily's death.

But Snape didn't give him a chance to explain. He took a step forward, still waving his wand, completely absorbed by the duel.

The large snake, which Ivan had cut into two halves, suddenly turned to black smoke.

In a few seconds, the black smoke deformed and solidified, turning into dense little cobras. They hissed and surrounded Ivan from all directions.

Ivan's face was full of sweat, he made a sweep with his wand, and a circular blue flame appeared in the shape of a ring, which spread rapidly from the center of his sole as a starting point, burning silently on the ground. Touched by the blue flame, all the cobras in front of him turned back into black smoke and disappeared.

This is a magic he learned in the library, and it was very strong, but it consumes a lot of mana.

The cobras in front of Ivan disappeared completely, but the number of newborn cobras around him increased. He fell back and fell on the couch behind him.

About two seconds later, the couch under Ivan suddenly came to life, and then turned into a giant black python, which unexpectedly entangled Ivan's body. It roared and opened a mouth bigger than Ivan's head, and was about to swallow him whole.