Chapter 222: Sudden grief

In the dark alley, Hermione was running without a trace, and didn't know where to go.

Ivan and the strange girl across the street were at a standstill. Two people stood under the Christmas tree. Their shadows were reflected in the dark candles hanging from the trees. They stretched far and wide and extended into the depths of the dark alley without any light.

Ivan looked at the girl in front of him with a headache. She was wearing a large tattered black robe, her cute white nose, sniffing the air. Like a kitten, she approached him. Closer and closer...

Her movements were charming, they didn't look dangerous at all, but Ivan was under great pressure. He also sniffed hard as she did, and there was no other special scent in the air, except for the cold night air and the faint smell of wine coming from the distant revelers.

At the very least, Ivan smelled nothing.

Looking at the girl's appearance, she seemed to want to cling to him, relying on her nose to find the food she should eat.

Ivan took half a step back, although he felt no danger, it was extremely inappropriate for a girl he had just seen to get so close to him.

Under the Christmas tree, the girl walked to the position where Hermione had just stood. Through the dim candlelight around her, Ivan clearly saw her appearance.

In the dark corner a moment ago, he instinctively felt that she was very beautiful, small, fine-featured, fair-skinned, like a porcelain doll.

Looking closely at the girl in the candlelight, Ivan found that her appearance could only be described in one word: "IMPRESSIVE."

It was a kind of beauty that could directly touch the depths of the soul.

Especially her burgundy eyes, which flashed like two rubies.

In contrast, her skin remained half-bleeded out, as if all the blood in her body was concentrated in her eyes.

"Food..." The girl said vaguely and looked a little weak.

"Stop, if you come any closer, I'll attack you!" shouted Ivan.

He raised his wand in his hand, and as the magic gathered, the light at the end of the wand grew stronger.

Hearing Ivan's words, the girl paused and seemed to hesitate.

"Very well, we need to talk. As you can see, I am not malicious. I accidentally heard your song. I was curious to see you in the corner." Ivan said patiently, "My name is Ivan Mason. What is your name?"

"Ivan Mason?!" The girl repeated it. She didn't say his name. She continued sniffing and said slowly, "The smell of food..."

Her condition was very strange. She looked very weak, and it seemed as if she had been hungry for a long time.

Besides the food, there seemed to be nothing else that could attract her.

"I don't have anything to eat. If you don't mind, I can take you to the Leaky Cauldron, where they have a Christmas party, with lots of delicious food," Ivan said.

"I can't go, I have to stay here There are important things!" The girl shook her head stubbornly. "I smell the smell of food, it's on you..."

She finished her sentence and approached Ivan.

She had no reason to say this sentence, which puzzled Ivan.

He was sure that he had nothing to eat except a pile of black magic books that had been reduced by the reducio incantation.

Looking at the approaching girl, Ivan did not hesitate; he clenched his wand and shouted, "Petrificus Totalus!".

White light flew out of his wand and hit her with precision.

Although he didn't know what the girl wanted to do, Ivan decided he'd better be careful. The girl's behavior was too abnormal.

He planned to use the Curse pretrificus totalus to freeze her, and then, have a good talk.

If there really was no way out, he could take her back to the Leaky Cauldron and ask the bartender, Lupin, Sirius or anyone else to go find the girl's family or find out things about her.

Ivan's petrifying spell was directed at her, and just when he thought it was successful, the white light suddenly turned to the right, changed its course, grazed the girl's body and landed on the opposite wall.

Ivan was stunned. He saw the girl's small hand hidden in her large sleeve, holding a black wand.

The wand was very short, about seven inches long.

It was amazing that she had a wand.

Besides this wand, what mattered most to Ivan was that this girl was very strong.

He had just cast a protection spell almost at the same time that the petrificus totalus curse was about to hit her, and he used a silent spell, a spell that was recited silently in his mind.

Casting a silent spell at this speed, Ivan thought it would be very difficult even for him to do that.

Thinking about his strange bloodstains, and the weak and powerful magic, made Ivan concentrate so hard. He couldn't afford to be careless.

He waved his wand and cast several successive spells.

The girl did not fight back, but Ivan's Spells, which were about to hit her, were deflected at the last second, and grazed her body to the side.

There was a magical Shield around her body that protected her from harm.

Ivan was sure she wasn't using the protego spell.

It should be a protection spell he didn't know. Whenever his spell was about to hit her, there was always a flash of red light around her body.

She could not go on like this. Ivan could confirm that she was stronger than him.

He was about to use a more powerful, or perhaps more spectacular, magic to create a huge sound, drawing crowds from the streets.

But before he could do anything, a red chain suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It was like a snake, and it bound Ivan from the bottom up.

"Damn, another silent spell!", Ivan fell heavily to the ground. It was then that he realized what was happening.

He found himself far too inexperienced in battle. In fact, he had faced this problem since his last battles with the werewolf Greyback and Snape.

They were two different fighting styles, but there was one thing in common. That was, Ivan had made too many mistakes he shouldn't have made, and there were too many opportunities for him that he didn't take advantage of. Just like this time, his true strength had not been fully exerted.

In the exchange with Sirius, he also pointed out that Ivan had this problem.

Like Hermione, they both read many books on magic and mastered many spells, but in actual combat, due to lack of experience, they were unable to fully demonstrate their strength.

And this gap had become increasingly evident in their successive battles.

Before that, Ivan had never fought an enemy using a silent spell. He had not mastered this spellcasting technique nor did he know how to deal with it.

His opponent used silent spells to take the upper hand, and used two magic spells Ivan did not know, leaving him unable to defend himself at all and only being subdued.