75: A Troll In The Dungeons

'But have these two guys developed this kind of prank prop so early?'

Ivan was actually very interested in the Weasley family. The flying car that Mr. Weasley modified in the original book was personally done by him.

And then there was the incredible creative talent of the Weasley twins.

Two little wizards who could start developing various prank props in the second and third years—didn't that prove their talent?

Compared to Bill, who entered Gringotts, Charlie, who raised dragons, and Percy, who joined the Ministry of Magic, Ivan felt that George and Fred were the true inheritors of the Weasley family's magic legacy.

'The Sacred Twenty-Eight families are really something.'

Take the candy in Ivan's hand, for example—the alchemical skills contained in it were no less than those of Snape's exclusive potion formulas.

"Ivan!"

Soon after, the Weasley twins ran over.

Looking at their expressions, they clearly expected Ivan to have a nosebleed after eating the Nosebleed Nougat.

"You two are just in time."

Ivan smiled kindly at the two and snapped his fingers. "Puff!"

The next moment, two streams of blood gushed out of the brothers' noses, scaring the surrounding wizards, who quickly backed away in horror.

"Oh!"

"Why is this happening?"

George and Fred covered their noses and spoke incoherently.

"A little trick," Ivan said with a grin.

Ivan tossed the bloody nougat in his hand and spoke as if he had done something insignificant: "I analyzed the magic you hid in the candy. How do you feel? Is it the same as eating it?"

"We surrender! We surrender!"

The Weasley twins immediately begged Ivan for mercy.

Snap!

With another snap of his fingers, Ivan cast a counter-spell for the Nosebleed Nougat: "Buy one, get one free. This is the counter-spell I designed for you. You're welcome."

"Oh, Ivan, you..."

"Huh?"

"You're a genius!"

Frightened by Ivan's gaze, George quickly changed his words: "You should be with us."

"Yeah."

Fred added, "I really want to trade little Ronny for you and let you be our brother."

"Ronald will be sad if you say that."

"Little Ronny won't be sad!"

"That's right."

The twins, who had a sad face a second ago, were now arm in arm with each other and began to tease their younger brother: "If he had the last name Ambrosius, he would probably wake up laughing in his dreams."

Ivan was speechless—Ronald was still sitting there. Was it really okay to say such things in front of your own brother?

But Ivan looked at Ron and found that he was still eating candy calmly, not caring about the sarcasm of his two brothers.

'You are probably used to it, right?'

Ivan knew that the twins were just joking. He threw the candy back to George and said, "If you develop such props in the future, it is best to prepare the counter-curse in advance, otherwise it may be dangerous."

"Danger?"

"How could it be?!"

The Weasley twins widened their eyes, seemingly unable to understand what Ivan meant by "danger."

Well, this is also the difference in cognition between Ivan and the little wizards who grew up in the magical world.

In the eyes of ordinary people, it is a very scary thing to have brain tumors all over the body, missing arms and legs, and swollen heads and tongues.

But the little wizards had long been accustomed to it.

The twins' prank props were at best mischievous curses, far from the level of dangerous curses.

"And you think too highly of us, Ivan."

"Yeah."

Fred echoed: "We are not as smart as you. It is not easy to create counter-curses."

After that, the two brothers looked at Ivan with sincere eyes.

The passion in their eyes was self-evident.

Ivan shook his head helplessly, and then agreed: "Okay, if you invent something new in the future, you can show it to me first."

"Yes!"

Hearing Ivan say this, the two brothers immediately high-fived each other: "I knew Ivan would agree!"

"Haha, just as we planned, a candy in exchange for a magic consultation!"

Ivan ignored the cheers of the two pranksters, as he had already noticed their intentions.

With the cunning of the Weasley twins, it was impossible for them to use such a simple trick as asking Harry to pass over the candy.

Obviously, they took this opportunity to let Ivan assess the quality of their prank props.

As for Ivan's willingness to help, that was purely accidental.

The Halloween Eve banquet officially began. Dumbledore and the professors took their seats one after another, and under the headmaster's announcement, they began to enjoy more delicious food.

Boom!

Just as Ivan was eating chocolate and sharing ghost stories with other young wizards, there was a loud bang, and the door of the Great Hall was pushed open from the outside.

"Yes, yes..."

Professor Quirrell suddenly rushed into the Great Hall, his large turban askew on his head, his face full of fear.

"There is a troll... in the dungeons... I thought you should know—thud!"

After Quirrell's voice fell, he collapsed to the ground, the entire process smooth and devoid of any real acting.

"Wow!!"

In the next moment, the entire audience was in turmoil.

Especially the young wizards in the first and second years, their faces were pale with fear at the mention of the troll.

Students in the third year and above were slightly better, but they could not hide their fear and uneasiness.

"No way?" Ivan looked at the fallen Quirrell, then calmly threw a candy into his mouth: 'Voldemort's brain must have been eaten by Dementors if he chose someone like Quirrell to possess,' he thought.

Releasing a giant troll in front of a crowd, including Dumbledore?

And expecting this to lure Dumbledore away—it showed that Voldemort hadn't taken Dumbledore seriously at all.

What was even funnier was that the Philosopher's Stone was now sitting safely in Ivan's pocket. Why would Quirrell go to the third floor? Was he just hoping to gawk at Fluffy, the three-headed dog?

"Quiet!!!"

Dumbledore stood up, and his commanding voice resounded throughout the hall, successfully calming the students' commotion.

"Prefects!" the old man said in a low voice, immediately instructing them to lead the students of each house back to their dormitories.

After speaking, Dumbledore glanced at Ivan, who gave a nod to indicate that the Philosopher's Stone was secure.

Looking at Quirrell on the ground again, even Dumbledore couldn't help but twitch his mouth slightly.

What kind of stupid plan is this? Do you really think I'm a fool?

"Follow me! Don't get separated, first-year students! As long as you listen to my instructions, you don't have to be afraid of any giant monsters!"

"Okay, follow me closely."

Unfortunately, before Ivan could make any move, Percy had already started to arrange for the students to evacuate: "Make way, the first-year students have to go! Excuse me, I'm the prefect!"

Ivan looked around and saw that Harry, Hermione, and the others were all there, so he stopped worrying.

The plot had changed, and Ivan wasn't going to end up crying in the girls' bathroom.

If there were no challenges at the end of the semester, Ivan might have actually taken his friends to find the troll to test their progress during this period.

But now, there was no need for this.

With Dumbledore here, wouldn't the troll be taken down in one move?

"Ahem!"

Just as Ivan was thinking this, an indescribable stench suddenly entered his nose.

"What's this smell?"

"Why is it so smelly?"

At this time, the wizards from the four houses, led by their respective prefects, were heading back to their dormitories in two orderly groups.

Among them, the common rooms for Slytherin and Hufflepuff were located underground, on the left side of the Great Hall.

Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had to go through the entrance hall to reach their respective towers.

"Thud, thud, thud~~"

Just as everyone walked into the courtyard, a sound like thunderous war drums echoed from far away, rushing towards them.

The troll was incredibly tall, over four meters in height.

Its skin was a dull gray-black, resembling granite. Its massive, clumsy body looked like a heap of giant rocks, topped by a small head resembling a cocoa bean.

The troll had short legs as thick as tree trunks, and flat, rough, calloused feet connected below.

At this moment, it was still some distance away from the group.

But the foul stench still reached everyone, making their eyes sting.

"T-Troll!!"

"It's a troll!"

Percy was extremely nervous. He drew his wand and stood in front of the younger students.

There were nearly 150 students from the two houses, including many fifth- and sixth-year students, but only a few reacted to the sudden situation.

"Draw your wands!"

"The professors will be here soon!"

The head girl of Ravenclaw was a beautiful girl with long brown hair. Her name was Penelope Clearwater, a fifth-year student at Hogwarts.

"Don't be afraid, it's just a troll!"

The senior students were not weak, and they had mastered enough offensive spells.

It might be difficult to defeat a troll one-on-one, but there were so many people here, and a mere troll could not withstand a barrage of spells anyway.

"Incendio!!"

Penelope reacted quickly, and almost at the moment the troll appeared, she fired a flame spell at the creature.

She didn't even get a good look at the troll, but her wand had already cast the spell.

However!

When the flame collided with the troll's body, there was a "puff" sound, and the flame created by the spell was instantly extinguished.

"?!"

Penelope clearly hadn't expected that outcome.

"Quickly stop it!"

"Immobulus!"

"Diffindo!"

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Freezing spells, severing charms, and stunning spells—one after another, offensive spells were released by the senior students, aimed at the charging troll.

However, the troll's skin had extremely strong magic resistance.

This caused the spells cast by the seniors to have minimal effect; apart from hindering the troll's steps, they hardly caused any damage.

"Damn it!!"

Seeing this, Percy didn't hesitate and immediately fired a "Blasting Curse" at the troll's chest.

The huge explosion was accompanied by billowing smoke, and it managed to tear open the troll's chest muscles.

For a moment, blood flowed, and bits of flesh splattered.

"Roar!!!"

Unfortunately, before Percy could celebrate, the enraged troll, now even more violent from the pain, hurled its massive wooden club.

In front of it were Percy and the groups of junior students behind him.

"Tsk."

Seeing the danger approaching, Ivan frowned in dissatisfaction. "What are the professors doing?"

Bang!

A transparent magical barrier blocked the wooden club thrown by the troll.

Ivan waved his hand, and all the students in front of him, including Percy and Penelope, the prefects, were moved to either side uncontrollably.

"Ivan?"

Percy saw Ivan and was about to say something, but after seeing Ivan's serious expression, he immediately remained silent.

"Be careful, its magic resistance is very high."

Penelope was also stunned by Ivan's actions. The barrier that blocked the wooden club just now was a high-level version of the Shield Charm, which protected everything.

"Don't worry, it's just a troll, right?"

Ivan stepped forward quickly, and without waiting for the troll to continue roaring and attacking, he raised his wand and cast a Banishing Charm.

Instantly, a powerful airwave spread forward like an invisible force.

Bang!

With just one move, the troll that had been so menacing before was knocked onto its back.

Clatter~~

The troll tried to get up, but dozens of vine-like tree roots had already emerged from the ground, binding it tightly.

"Be quiet."

Ivan raised his wand, and the vines and tree roots immediately changed from their original brown to a shiny silver-gray.

This was a combination of spells.

First, he used the Herbivicus Charm to turn the grass in the yard into roots, and then he used a Transfiguration spell to turn those roots into steel.

A two-pronged approach...

"Roar~~"

"You're so noisy!"

Ivan shouted, and the steel-like chains tightened suddenly, causing the troll to let out a pained wail.

"Transfiguration is about using the opponent's force against them. Even if the opponent has high magic resistance, it is still powerless against physical attacks."

Ivan pointed out the shortcomings of the senior students, including Percy and Penelope: "However, if you have strong enough magic power..."

"Stupefy!"

It was the same Stunning Spell, but unlike the weaker spells from the other students.

When Ivan's spell hit, everyone felt as if a giant hammer had struck the troll's head.

Everyone watched as the troll's face, which was turned upwards, seemed to flatten like a squashed persimmon, and even the ground beneath its head caved in.

__________

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