Chapter 259: Ivan and the Dark Arts

Compared to the end of Ivan's duel, the other groups were in a much worse situation.

The young wizards of Gryffindor and Slytherin were inextricably involved. They seemed to see this paired spell practice as the long-awaited war of the Houses, and that this was the battleground to determine the victors of that war.

In addition to the incantations and defensive spell Sirius taught them, the students used various types of curses. Crabbe and Goyle even resorted to using their fists against Ron and Neville.

Like Lockhart's dueling club last year, the scene was a mess.

But Snape wasn't there this time, and Sirius was staunchly biased towards Gryffindor. With his help, Harry and his friends quickly won the game, defeating the Slytherin students and completely suppressing them.

The first meeting of the dueling club ended under the applause of Gryffindor.

No wonder Malfoy and the other Slytherin students were all mad. That was the biggest misfortune for the proud Slytherins.

Because of this, the fragile balance of the two Houses had finally been broken.

The Slytherins were ready to take revenge and make the Gryffindors feel their wrath.

After a long discussion, they decided to take a more direct approach, ambushing a Gryffindor student and provoking a war between the two Houses.

No one knew who it was that suggested it, but Ivan was the one who had become their target.

First of all, Ivan was quite famous.

He was the icon of Gryffindor House. If they could teach Ivan a good lesson, that would be enough to make them feel relieved and achieve the desired effect of revenge.

Secondly, Ivan's schedule was very regular.

Almost all of the young wizards knew that Ivan was the last one to leave the library each night, and that he would be alone without help.

They just had to lie in the dark, so they could ambush him.

No matter how strong he was, he could be no match for such a large number of people united against him at the same time.

Teaching Ivan a lesson was simply a good move.

Ever since the incident with Buckbeak, and then with Lupin, Malfoy hated Ivan, and in some ways, had more contempt for him than for Harry. He despised the very idea of being restrained by a dirty-blood.

He didn't care which way; he was ready to attack Ivan himself. Malfoy figured that if he acted fast enough, Ivan wouldn't see it coming and no one would be able to accuse him. He just had to take him by surprise and use the Stun Spell.

Even if Ivan guessed that it was a Slytherin who did it, even if he speculated that it was Malfoy, he would have no proof.

In fact, Ivan was oblivious to Malfoy's conspiracy.

After the dueling club was over, he returned to his rigorous daily routine. His study of Horcruxes with the 'Secrets of the Darkest Art' records had entered a critical stage.

He had read a great deal on this subject, and it was all that was on his mind that night.

That night, as he left the library, crossed the dark corridor and climbed the steep spiral staircase leading up to Gryffindor Tower, Malfoy and several other Slytherin students who had been waiting for him for a long time came running out of the corner.

They glared at Ivan in a frightening manner, preparing to attack him with several powerful spells.

"Go to hell, you despicable dirty blood! DESMAIUS!" Malfoy screamed in disgust, and a red light flashed towards Ivan.

In the darkness, Ivan did not recognize who had suddenly appeared in front of him. Instinctively he sensed the threat, stepped back dodging his enemy's curse, pulled out his own wand and cast the spell that first appeared in his mind.

The next second, a terrible green light emerged from the tip of Ivan's wand and flew towards Malfoy.

As Ivan cast this spell, the temperature in the place dropped rapidly, and the air was filled with unease, as if Dementors were approaching.

Malfoy's face turned pale. He forgot all the spells he knew and did not continue attacking Ivan.

He took a breath and stared at the approaching curse.

In the oozing green glow, he saw a skeleton-like face approaching him, and the fear that rose from the depths of his soul left Malfoy gasping.

All his happy memories disappeared, and only the despair and coldness brought on by the darkness remained. The feeling was overwhelming, as if hundreds of Dementors had attacked at the same time.

The green light of the curse was getting closer to Malfoy, and the owner of that sinister skull-shaped face was getting clearer.

Malfoy saw a monster in a ripped black cloak approaching him, sweeping like a god of death coming from the depths of hell.

He felt the threat of death, gasped, and then screamed with everything he had before collapsing to the ground.

Beside him, Crabbe, Goyle, and several other Slytherin students stood there watching Malfoy uneasily, not understanding what was happening. They only saw Malfoy sneak attack Ivan, the latter dodging Malfoy's attack and responding with a green light coming from his wand. The spell didn't seem to hit Malfoy, but it looked like he had seen a ghost.

He was on the ground, staring at Ivan in panic.

From his eyes, tears flowed out of control. He breathed hard and looked at Ivan as if he was scared to death of him.

This was simply ridiculous and unbelievable, and his companions did not know what to do, nor did they know what Ivan had done to him.

This black magic that Ivan cast came directly from the 'Secrets of the Darkest Art'. It was mentioned after the Horcruxes, and had a similar effect to the Dementor's kiss, which directly affected the soul causing it irreparable damage.

The terrifying pattern Ron saw earlier in Ivan's notebook was related to this curse.

This was a very advanced curse that went beyond what people normally perceived as evil.

Ivan had been studying it for a long time, making substantial progress, but he was never able to do it smoothly. So he thought his own magical power was not enough.

Now threatened by Malfoy, he used it unwittingly.

After doing this magic, Ivan realized what he had done.

In the blink of an eye, he broke out in a cold sweat. He couldn't even imagine how serious the consequences would be if Malfoy was hit by that magic.

At the last second, he quickly lifted his spell.

On the other hand, Malfoy was sitting on the ground, and not a drop of blood was visible on his pale face. Seeing his appearance, several other Slytherin students did not dare to act rashly. They approached and watched Ivan leave without daring to take another action.

In the dark corridor, only Malfoy could not stop sobbing.

The ambush against Ivan had failed, and no one but Ivan and Malfoy knew what had just happened.