Chapter 502: The Dreadful Shadows of the Vampires

As for the disappearance of Bertha Jorkins, it was really horrible. It was no accident, people might never find her.

After Sirius joined the Ministry of Magic, he was responsible for the remains of the fallen centaurs.

However, it happened in Albania and beyond the reach of the British Ministry of Magic.

The special investigation team of the International Confederation of Wizards had been working on the matter for over a week, but little substantial progress had been made.

The specific list of dead wizards and witches had not been determined, and the purpose of the vampires' action was still unclear.

All was a mystery, and vampiric terror was spreading throughout the wizarding world.

Caresius and his people had become wanted all over the world, but they simply did not care. On the contrary, it was the ordinary people who panicked, fearing another vampire attack.

They didn't even dare to go to crowded places, and the things that were supposed to restrain vampires quickly ran out.

Even the toy crosses made by Fred and George were in short supply. God knew what use they had besides changing color.

Besides, vampires weren't afraid of crosses. They were just muggle myths.

"'Send someone to fetch Bertha Jorkins.' Mr. Crouch has been saying that for weeks and weeks," said Percy quickly.

"Crouch is very lucky that Rita hasn't found out about Winky." Mr. Weasley said irritably, "There will be a week's worth of headlines at his house, if he gets caught with the wand evoking the Dark Mark."

"I thought we all agreed that that elf, however irresponsible, did not conjure the Mark?" said Percy hotly.

"If you ask me, Mr. Crouch is very lucky that no one at the Daily Prophet knows how mean he is to elves," said Hermione angrily. "I really want to put this in the Hogwarts Magic.... "

"Look, Hermione!" Percy immediately turned around and argued. "A high-ranking Ministry official like Mr. Crouch deserves unwavering obedience from his servants?"

"His slave, you mean!" said Hermione, her voice rising passionately, "because he didn't pay Winky, did he..."

"All right, Hermione!" Ivan said quickly, "You know Percy didn't mean it.... "

The subject of Winky had recently become a hot point for Hermione.

During this time, she kept persuading people to be nice to house elves, and accused Crouch of being cruel.

This led to her falling out with Percy, who strongly supported Crouch, and the two refused to budge whenever they met.

The relationship between the two had fallen from best friend to the point of freezing.

If Ivan's relationship turned that sour with anyone, he wouldn't talk to them anymore. But Hermione and Percy weren't like that. They argued every time they saw each other, trying to convince each other.

They never got tired of it, but the people around them did.

"I think you'd better go upstairs and check that you've packed properly," Mrs. Weasley said, breaking up the argument. "Come on, all of you..."

Ivan tucked the parchment full of ancient writing into his arm, and pulled Hermione, who was still looking at Percy, upstairs.

Harry also repacked his broomstick maintenance kit, slung his fire arrow over his shoulder, and followed Ron and Ginny.

Hermione and Ginny went back to their room, and Ivan and the others continued upstairs.

The rain sounded even louder at the top of the house, accompanied by the loud whistling and moaning of the wind, not to mention the sporadic howling of the Ghoul that lived in the attic.

In the room, Pigwidgeon began screaming and whirring around his cage as they entered. The sight of the half-filled trunks seemed to have sent him into a frenzy of excitement.

Hedwig glared at him angrily, her big amber eyes full of reproach.

"Give her some owl treats," Ron said, tossing a packet to Ivan, "It might shut her up."

"I wish Hermione and Percy would stop fighting and I wish Hermione would give up the idea of defending house elves!" Harry sighed and said, putting his Fire Saeta on his cot, "What are these things?"

"It's the stuff Mum bought us in Diagon Alley, and it'll be used in the new year," Ron replied.

He put a pile of packages on the bed and dropped the bag of money and a bunch of socks next to it.

After giving Pig and Hedwig some more of Owl's goodies, Ivan began to unwrap what Mrs. Weasley had bought him.

In addition to a handful of new quills, he had a dozen rolls of parchment.... The rest were books Ivan planned to read. They were more than Harry and Ron's books combined.

He used his wand to make his books shrink to the size of a palm. Then he stuffed them into the cloth bag he carried with him. He didn't need a trunk.

"How convenient it is!" Harry stared at Ivan's cloth bag and said, "How much could that hold?"

"Undetectable extension cords!" Ivan explained, "Depending on the power used to cast it, the range of the extended space also changes. This is very deep magic, and very problematic, it takes a long time to complete."

"I saw it in Diagon Alley last time, I needed too many gold Galleons to buy one!" Ron said, as he shoved his books into the trunk, "It's very convenient, isn't it? I wish I could be stronger and learn this charm as soon as possible. "

"You'll learn this magic in seventh year, but you can try to study it before then." Ivan untied the cloth bag and handed it to Harry, who was curious. "It involves a lot of advanced curse theories. There's a lot you have to learn."

"I guess it's hopeless!" Ron wrinkled his nose and said, "Can you do this magic now with the help of the Philosopher's Stone?"

"There shouldn't be any problem!" Ivan replied.

In fact, he didn't need to use the Philosopher's Stone to do it, but this magic was too much trouble. Ivan had no time to waste, not to mention that the bag Flamel gave him was better than any other. Many of the alchemy techniques mentioned were beyond Ivan's imagination at the time.

"That's really cool. The Philosopher's Stone is really amazing. I wish I had one too, so I could be strong. " Ron sighed, looking at the Slytherin locket hanging from Ivan's chest. Then, as if having an epiphany, he added, "Oh! You said the four founders have left the keys to the treasure, so the other three haven't..."

In fact, Ivan had always thought about it, and he had to find the Philosopher's Stones left by the other three Founders as soon as possible.

As for their specific whereabouts, he already had ideas, and when he returned to Hogwarts, he could continue his search.