Chapter 373: The Ministry of Magic

Ivan woke up at half past five the next morning abruptly and completely, as if someone had shouted in his ear.

He lay still, slowly, remembering what he was going to do.

He was going to the Ministry of Magic with Dumbledore and Sirius to see the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, and get permission to enter Azkaban, the Wizarding Prison.

Ivan got out of bed, the sun had not yet risen, and the room was dark.

Besides him, the others were still asleep.

Harry was curled up tightly in his bed, while Ron was lying on his back with his mouth wide open and sleeping soundly.

Ivan turned and looked at Hermione, but now the girl had already woken up.

She was there looking at him in dismay, and there were tears in her eyes that she was hardly trying to hide.

"Have a good trip, Ivan!" whispered Hermione, leaning over and hugging Ivan tightly.

She stopped crying, showing strength, so that Ivan would rest safely.

"I know!" Ivan replied softly. "You too, take care of yourself during the vacations."

Hermione nodded slowly, her beautiful brown eyes sparkled.

With Hermione's warmth and sweet scent, Ivan crossed the room and waved to her before leaving.

He reached the outer room and closed the door gently with the back of his hand.

Ivan then breathed heavily, trying not to think that he wouldn't be able to break the curse, and never see Hermione again.

He left the school hospital and was ready to go to Dumbledore's office as previously decided.

The narrow, dark hallway was also quiet. The portraits on the walls were all asleep, snoring loudly. There was a red dragon lying on the floor with a seemingly disproportionate body, with a few sparks flying out of its mouth from time to time.

Ivan thought that not long ago he had killed a fire dragon in the centaur colony. But after all, that was in the illusion.

It sounded a bit unreal, not to mention that it was eight hundred years ago.

Passing by a revolving staircase, he saw Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris, staring at him in the corner with bulging, yellow, lamp-like eyes.

Ivan waved his hand, and Mrs. Norris scurried away, with a low meow.

He suddenly remembered that he didn't know the password to the gargoyle on the door to Dumbledore's office, and he wasn't sure what candy name to use to get him to step aside.

As he headed down the hallway, he heard a voice near the gargoyle.

Dumbledore and Sirius had already been there waiting for him. They were dusty, as if they had just returned from outside the castle.

Seeing him coming, they both smiled at him.

"Good morning, Ivan!" said Dumbledore with a smile. "We have just returned from the centaur colony. Like us, you didn't eat breakfast. I told the house elves to prepare something. There's still time. I think we can finish eating before we go."

They entered Dumbledore's office, which was as wonderful as Ivan had seen it before. There were many strange things on the table, and Fawkes, the phoenix, stood there motionless, his eyes shut tightly.

The portraits of the successive directors on the walls were all really asleep, but this old phoenix was only pretending.

Every now and then, he would open his eyes and secretly glance at Ivan and Sirius.

Dumbledore lit the fireplace with his wand, and the warm flame rose to dispel the chill in the room. He called the round table by the fire and food such as sandwiches, eggs, desserts, milk and coffee appeared in turn.

"I wrote a letter to your parents explaining the matter and asking them to allow me to look after you temporarily over the coming summer vacations." Dumbledore pulled a lavender envelope from his arm, handed it to Ivan and calmly said, "You can send it to them with your own letter."

Ivan took the letter, which had the Hogwarts school emblem printed in the upper left corner.

In the middle were his parents' names and address with Dumbledore's single round font.

"Well, you can think about what you want to tell them. Even if everything goes well, we'll probably be back in no less than a month. But now, you should have breakfast first and try this sandwich. Do you need more honey?" Dumbledore pointed to the plate in front of Ivan. "I like the sweet taste."

"Thank you!" Ivan had just picked up the sandwich and a new one appeared inside the plate.

The House Elves' culinary skills were very good, and Ivan felt that the sandwich was very delicious.

"Did you sleep well last night?" asked Sirius, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Very well!" Ivan answered, but he was a little embarrassed.

He tried not to think about the curse on his arm, but as soon as his head was empty, the terrible evil spirit and Voldemort always appeared.

He shook his head and forced himself to think of other things. Hermione, for example, had a lovely look on her face when she laughed, but in the end, the face he saw always returned to its appearance when she said goodbye to him, holding back her tears.

Dumbledore and Sirius were still there talking about the centaur colony, and Ivan listened absently.

He was glad he wasn't asked to join the conversation. He struggled to eat the delicious sandwiches in his hands, but he was completely distracted.

"Almost time, I think we should head out!" About half an hour later, Dumbledore stood up and said, "I probably need to talk about this matter for a long time with Fudge. You can finish your letter to your parents there."

His voice had just fallen, and no action had been seen. The red flame in the fireplace in front of Ivan suddenly turned green, and burned vigorously.

"Normally, Hogwarts fireplaces are not connected on the Flu Grid, but you can request a temporary link if necessary." Dumbledore winked at Ivan. "You should have used the Red Flu, right? Just go in and talk about the Ministry of Magic where we're going."

Ivan nodded his head, and under the watchful eyes of Dumbledore and Sirius, walked towards the fireplace burning green flames and shouted, "Ministry of Magic!"

His body was quickly sucked into the flames, everything whirling before him; and after a whirl, he emerged from the other end of the fireplace.

At that moment, he was at one end of a very long and splendid room with a highly polished, dark wooden floor. The peacock blue ceiling was inlaid with gleaming golden symbols that moved and changed continuously like a huge celestial bulletin board.

The walls on each side were made of dark, shiny wood and had many golden fireplaces lined up in a neat row.

"Go ahead, don't stop at the door!" A man's voice sounded behind Ivan, and he hurried forward.

Behind him, every few seconds, with a soft hiss, a witch or wizard emerged from one of the chimneys on the left.

On the right side, small queues of wizards formed before each chimney, waiting to depart.