Everything Will Be Fine, Right?
As they chatted, they soon returned to Knockturn Alley. Alicia tapped her wand on the closed door and it swung open.
"Well, why don't you go upstairs and sit while I cook?"
Alicia took off her purple cloak and hung it on the door, then turned to look at Ivan and couldn't help but say again, "It's only been a while since we last met. Why have you lost so much weight? Didn't you eat well at school?"
"It's all right…" Ivan said, shaking his head. "Missed you, mostly!"
"I've never seen you send a letter home of your own accord! Is that what you think of me?" Alicia scolded Ivan jokingly as she lightly tapped him on the forehead.
Ivan, however, took the opportunity to throw his arms around her and hug her.
"What is it?" Alicia asked, surprised. She ran her right hand through Ivan's hair, wondering if he had suffered at Hogwarts.
Alicia was about to ask a question when she felt a wave of dizziness wash over her. She heard a faint noise, then lost consciousness and collapsed into Ivan's arms.
"Stupefy!" Ivan said, putting away his wand and looking at her. "Get some sleep…"
Ivan's face was full of regret. He did not want to involve Alicia in the battle that would follow, as she could die if she did…
And he didn't want to take any chances!
As such, Ivan had no choice but to knock Isiah out, as Isiah was unlikely to hide and fight alone.
Fortunately, the vast majority of magical objects could not be defended against without the active activation of the user, which was why he was able to subdue Alicia so easily.
"Hermione!" Ivan called out to the empty clearing, unable to see through the Cloak of Invisibility's disguise, but understanding that Hermione would be right behind him.
Sure enough, a short distance away from him, the brown-haired witch removed her Invisibility Cloak and appeared in front of him.
"Ivan, what should we do now?" Hermione asked, glancing at the unconscious Alicia in Ivan's arms.
"Take Alicia and hide in the basement," Ivan said. "Keep the Cloak on you and don't come out no matter what happens or what you hear. Understand?"
Hermione hesitated with pursed lips,
"Remember? You just promised me!" Ivan said sternly.
"Yes…" Hermione nodded through gritted teeth.
Ivan let out a sigh of relief and opened the trapdoor to the basement with Alicia in his arms, while Hermione followed him in silence.
Ivan didn't stop until they were in the practice room, where he placed Alicia in a corner. The Cloak of Invisibility was large enough to cover both of them, so even if the black-robed wizards found their way to the basement, they wouldn't be able to spot them.
Ivan then walked out of the basement and looked at the various magical items on the shelves. Thinking about the battle that would be fought later, he gathered up most of the useless items and placed them in the basement.
This was to prevent them from getting injured in battle… all of this was money!
When she was done, Ivan turned to find Hermione standing in front of the studio door.
"What are you doing out here?" Ivan asked, frowning.
Hermione took a few silent steps forward and rushed to him, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tightly for a few moments. The witch looked up at Ivan with her brown eyes and shivered.
'Ivan, you're going to be OK, right?'
"Don't worry!" Ivan said in an unusually relaxed tone. "Do you know what I saw the other day when I came in? The ground was covered with the bodies of those black-robed wizards, so it couldn't have been me who died!"
"Is that so? Well, that's wonderful!" Hermione said softly, not letting go.
"All right, I'll have to go up and set things up. They'll be here any minute," Ivan said, trying to calm Hermione down.
When Hermione left the room, Ivan's relaxed expression turned into a grim one.
A head-on battle with little chance of winning!
However, he was not without advantages. This was his family's Dark Arts shop, and he was familiar with the area.
Additionally, the shop contained many trigger-type Dark Magic items, which he could temporarily activate and set up as traps by infusing some of his magic into them.
It might help him get rid of some of his enemies…
With this in mind, Ivan put on the Invisibility Cloak and began to set up the shop. He then used Transfiguration to fill up the empty spaces on the shelves and looked at the clock. It should be very close to the time he heard the first explosion in Knockturn Alley…
"Expecto Patronus!" Ivan waved his wand, and for a moment, wisps of white mist poured out from the tip of the wand and filled the air, transforming into the illusory shadow of a unicorn.
Ivan willed the illusory form of the Unicorn's Shadow to pass through the ceiling and stop on the second floor.
There was a knock at the door, and Yvonne quickly retreated to a corner of the first floor, watching silently.
Knock knock knock …
It was quiet in the slightly dark wizarding shop except for the heavy knocking on the door,
Perhaps it was because it was getting impatient, but soon, the closed door was forced open!
A group of wizards in black robes filed through the door. The leader of the group was a slightly plump wizard in his forties who was holding a wand in his hand.
There were many wooden shelves in the shop, and many magical objects were neatly placed on them. However, it seemed that there was no one there. Otherwise, the commotion they had caused would have attracted the attention of the other party.
The middle-aged wizard in the lead frowned. "Ralph, are you sure? She's not back yet?"
The Dark Wizard named Ralph shook his head and said solemnly, "No, I saw her walk in with the child! So she must still be here! Maybe she saw us and hid…"
Alicia, the mistress of the shop, had previously placed an anti-Disillusionment charm on the shop to prevent them from teleporting inside.
There was no such thing as friend or foe, and it would take some time to remove it…
(PS: If you're observant, you'll notice that in the previous chapters, Alicia used Apparition when she went out, and in Chapter 269, Ivan found a lot of magical props in the studio. I hope you haven't forgotten…)