Chapter 256: Seeds of distrust

"Yes, the books he reads are really deep and complicated, and it's always been that way." Harry continued, "Ivan and Hermione are the best young wizards I've ever met."

"Harry, this isn't good. don't you get it yet?!" Ron looked around, lowering his voice and saying excitedly, "Ivan and Hermione are different, although I don't understand how Hermione can have so many classes at the same time, at least we know what she's doing, but Ivan reads those magical books..."

"What do you mean?" Harry looked away from the parchment.

"I mean, the magical books Ivan looks at are all in the Restricted Section. He must be studying something behind our backs. I looked at his research notes the other day, and they had some terrible patterns, they didn't look like decent magic." Ron said hesitantly, "Harry, he might be studying..."

Harry looked at Ron in surprise, and finally knew what he meant.

Neither of them spoke, and a terrible silence fell over the place.

From Ron's expression, he obviously suspected that Ivan was studying BLACK MAGIC.

Harry instinctively wanted to refute that possibility, but he didn't know what to say. Ivan had always given an impression of omniscience. He knew a lot about magic. After Ron was controlled by the Imperius Curse, it was also Ivan who had first discovered it. If Ivan hadn't studied it, how could he know about such evil dark magic?

But Ivan studying dark magic was something Harry couldn't believe. In his mind, black magic was extremely evil, and should be absolutely forbidden. Those who studied dark magic were also dark wizards like Voldemort and Peter Pettigrew.

They were ruthless, cold and emotionless, and Ivan could not be such a person.

But Harry couldn't refute Ron's comments. The idea that Ivan was studying the Dark Arts was like a huge rock pressing down on Harry's mind, making him lose his breath. He felt a panic he had never felt before.

"Maybe, he just wants to know...," Harry said quietly.

His voice was very low. He didn't want anyone to know about his conversation with Ron.

"Harry, this isn't a joke. I have been controlled by others, and I know that feeling. The Dark Arts must be absolutely forbidden." Ron also lowered his voice and said, "We must act."

"What do you want to do?" asked Harry.

"I don't know, but at the very least, we need to understand what Ivan is doing." Ron continued, "If he really is studying the Dark Arts, we can tell other people about it and make sure they know what it really is. For example, Dumbledore or Sirius, they would never allow Ivan to do something like that. They will help us."

There was a brief silence. Ron saw that Harry was obviously hesitating. Strange emotions resurfaced in Ron's mind. After guessing that Ivan was studying the Dark Arts, he had a brief feeling of surprise, followed by a strong feeling of injustice.

He remembered the eyes of the others looking at him, and the rumors at school.

It seemed very unfair to Ron. He had only been innocently controlled twice by the Imperius Curse. He was also a victim. But the others looked into his eyes with obvious distrust, as if he had really wanted to do those bad things.

Ivan was studying dark magic, which was more evil than the things he did. But no one said anything about him. On the contrary, many people worshipped him as a hero, and Ivan was becoming even more famous at school than Harry.

In Ron's opinion, they were all being duped by Ivan.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that everyone was blinded by Ivan's appearance. So were Harry, Hermione, his family and others.

They all believed in Ivan, but he betrayed everyone's trust. He was studying dark magic behind their backs. He was doing something very bad on the sly.

A strong sense of responsibility rose deep within Ron, and he felt compelled to reveal Ivan's true colors and stop the ongoing plot. The strange feeling that appeared on the Quidditch pitch a few months ago was also the main reason that drove Ron to do this.

"Harry, we...," Ron said.

"I know what you mean, Ron, but I believe in Ivan. There's no evidence that he's working in the dark arts. He can't borrow those magic books from the Restricted Section without permission from a teacher and the Headmaster." Harry thought for a moment and continued persuasively, "Ivan is not the same as those dark wizards. Even if he's studying dark magic, he just wants knowledge - I believe in him!"

"But..." said Ron.

"If you don't feel comfortable, we can talk to Ivan. Whatever he's doing, he'll no doubt tell us," said Harry.

"Ask him if he's researching dark magic and who he's going to sacrifice. That's an interesting topic" whispered Ron.

The atmosphere was uncomfortable. They both didn't talk about it anymore, but the seeds of distrust became invisible and slowly sprouted.

Harry and Ron didn't go to the library to bother Ivan, nor did they dare to bother Hermione, who seemed a bit irritable, and they both ended up asking Sirius to help them finish their work on Undetectable Poisons.

Although Potions was not Sirius' forte, the third year assignment was too simple for him. He gave Harry and Ron a lot of useful advice.

To be fair, with Sirius' help, Harry's work should at least be good enough, but Snape gave him a bad grade. Harry didn't mind. He had expected such an outcome.

As long as he had a good relationship with Sirius, his extracurricular assignments and the Potions he did would never be appreciated by Snape.

Ivan was probably the only exception, because he had studied all of Snape's designs and the magical potions required for second year wizards, and had devised the best recipes and methods for creating them. Even if Snape looked for flaws, he would not find them.

Snape tried several times and even asked Ivan to complete an ordinary wizard level test before tackling difficult potions.

But Ivan could finish it smoothly every time, and the process was more perfect than textbook.

As he became more grim and frightening to the other students, Snape's attitude toward Ivan returned to its previous state of indifference.

When he had to shout his name, he used "Mr. Know-It-All" instead.

In Potions class, Ivan was the only Gryffindor student who managed to get Snape to refrain from criticizing him or deducting points, which made others envious.