161 Can We Go to Knockturn Alley?

Ivan calmly explained the situation to an angry Harry.

"Harry! Knockturn Alley is a dangerous place, as you've just seen.

The person I transform into is young and not very intimidating. If I bring you along, I'll be easily targeted, so I might as well act fierce and bad."

"Like this?" Harry asked dubiously.

"Of course…" Yvonne said with conviction.

Harry had a vague feeling that Ivan was bluffing, but could find no evidence of it.

"By the way, Harry, how did you end up in Knockturn Alley?" Yvonne asked, quickly changing the subject.

Harry had no intention of hiding the truth from her and told her about his accidental use of Floo Powder and how he choked on the soot and mispronounced the words.

Ivan nodded. He did not seem to have changed much from the book, except for the fact that he did not encounter Hagrid.

After thinking about it for a while, Ivan realised that Hagrid had met Harry because he happened to be shopping in Knockturn Alley, and the two parties' routes of action diverged at the slightest mistake, presumably due to some sort of butterfly effect caused by him sending letters to George and Fred.

It was a good thing that Harry had been lucky enough to bump into him, or the saviour of the wizarding world would have died.

Harry's mind was full of questions, such as what Ivan was doing in Knockturn Alley and why he looked like that.

As they walked, Harry voiced the questions that had been bothering him.

"Why?" Yvonne said to Harry, stopping in her tracks.

"Because my house is in Knockturn Alley! It's not safe for me to go out and buy books for next year because I'm too young, so I'm using Polyjuice Potion to make myself look intimidating."

"You live in such a dangerous place? Why don't you move somewhere else?" Harry looked at Yvonne in astonishment, unable to understand why she lived in such a place.

He had only been inside for a short while, but even so, he had already experienced the indifference and danger of Knockturn Alley. He had almost been dragged away in the street, so he was a little traumatized by Knockturn Alley.

"Of course it's because he's poor!" Ivan said, rolling his eyes. Who the hell would want to be there if he made enough Galleons?

Harry fell silent and looked at Ivan with pity in his eyes.

Until then, Harry had considered living in his uncle's house the worst thing in the world.

However, after seeing these people in Knockturn Alley, Harry suddenly felt that his living conditions might not be too bad. At least there would be no one there to attempt to kidnap him, let alone have to travel in someone else's appearance.

Remembering that he still had a large inheritance from his parents, Harry wondered if he should use it to help his best friends, perhaps by lending it to them.

When Harry decided to ask, Ivan shook his head in amusement, then turned to Harry.

"Haven't you read the Daily Prophet? I've made a new potion that's selling very well. The orders I received today are going to flood my house. It won't be long before I can move out."

Harry nodded, remembering how Mr Weasley had been stunned to read the Daily Prophet in the morning and had even held it out for everyone to see.

Harry also saw the newspaper article, which featured a photo of Ivan with the Minister for Magic on the front page, stating that Ivan had made a great contribution to the wizarding community by inventing a potion that cured werewolves.

Unfortunately, she did not know much about the wizarding world or the value of the potion.

However, he was told by George and Fred that Ivan would surely receive something called the Order of Merlin, which Mrs Weasley found highly unlikely, as Ivan was too young to have ever been awarded in his year.

The three of them argued about this for several hours and almost lost their way to Diagon Alley!

On the way to Flourish and Blotts, Harry told Yvonne about his adventures at the Burrow and asked her about them out of curiosity.

"What's the Order of Merlin? Everyone seems to care about it."

"It's just a token thing, it's not very useful!" Yvonne said dismissively.

Harry was not convinced, as Mr Weasley was very envious of the Order of Merlin, and Percy was even more jealous, declaring that he would get it in a few years.

"Ivan… Harry!"

When they arrived at Gringotts, they were surprised to see a young witch with fluffy hair greeting them.

"Hermione!" Yvonne changed course, and the little witch hurried down the steps and gave him a hug before breaking away and chattering away.

"I wrote so many letters to you over the summer, but I didn't know where you lived, and I wrote to Harry, meaning to ask him, but he never replied."

At this, Hermione became angry, as Ivan had not sent her a single letter all summer, not even to Harry, whom she claimed lived somewhere.

Harry hurried to explain, revealing Dobby's attempt to intercept the envelope.

Ivan, on the other hand, was at a loss for words. Too much had happened to him during the summer holidays, and he had been so busy all day that he had completely forgotten about it.

However, seeing Hermione's anger, Ivan had to use his brain to think of a reason, and the Weasleys, who were looking for Harry, came to distract her.

"Harry, where were you?" Mr Weasley gasped. "We couldn't find you for ages and Molly was frantic!"

George, Ron, Fred, and the others noticed Ivan and greeted him happily.

Harry also used this time to get himself into Knockturn Alley, where he was nearly dragged away and rescued by Ivan.

The main point was that Ivan knocked out the wicked old witch, who fled in terror.

"Cool! That's you!" George exclaimed at the sight of Ivan, thinking it must have been a fantastic adventure.

Fred, eager to experience the thrill of it, spoke to Ivan.

"We've been meaning to visit Knockturn Alley for a while. It's just a shame that Mummy never lets us near it. Can we go to your house then?"