Does He Know?

"Thank you, Professor McGonagall!" Ivan said, bowing.

Professor McGonagall reservedly stated that she was only doing what a Transfiguration professor should do.

"Anyway, you can do some preparation work this term and wait for the right time. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me," Professor McGonagall said.

Ivan left the Transfiguration classroom with a Mandrake leaf and a notebook for his Animagus practice. He did not return to his room, but headed for the Room of Requirement.

I need a suitable place to practise my Animagus…

Yvonne thought to herself that this time, the door to their destination did not open immediately, but waited for a while before it slowly opened.

Ivan pushed the door open and entered, only to find an empty area. It was pitch black, and he could just make out a forest.

As she stepped on the soft soil, Ivan wondered if he was somewhere in the Forbidden Forest, but it was so quiet that he couldn't even hear the insects.

"It's actually real soil…" Ivan squatted on the ground and picked up a pile of soil. It felt no different from the soil outside.

It was quiet enough, though, and undisturbed, but what about the storm?

Yvonne was deep in thought when a sudden clap of thunder split the sky. It was deafening, and when she looked up, all she could see were thick, dark clouds.

In an instant, heavy rain began to fall, and the howling wind caused the trees to sway.

Ivan was amazed at the power of the Room of Requirement, which was able to create such a large space out of thin air and restore the special astronomical phenomena of the outside world.

Swish ~

Ivan fired a magical beam of light into the sky, and for a long moment, it hit a firework that exploded into red smoke.

However, he did not know how the weather of the storm formed… It seemed that this place was more mysterious than he had imagined.

Ignoring the fact that she was drenched in the pouring rain, Ivan experimented in this vast space. After confirming that it was large enough to satisfy his needs, he left the Room of Requirement in satisfaction.

All that was left was to wait for the other preparations to be complete, and then the Animagus transformation would be complete.

…

Three nights later, Ivan was able to slip a Mandrake leaf into his mouth, stick it to his tongue, and begin practicing.

Ivan thought it would be a simple task, but he soon realised the difficulty of the task, and on his first night he nearly swallowed a Mandrake leaf.

When eating, one had to hide the Mandrake leaves under their tongue and chew carefully, afraid that they would accidentally swallow the leaves.

"Ivan, what's wrong? Are you not feeling well?" Harry asked curiously at Ivan's strange behaviour.

"Well, it's nothing. I feel fine," Ivan said vaguely, slurring a leaf in his mouth.

"Are you sure you don't want to go to Madam Pomfrey's?" Ron asked worriedly.

"No," Ivan said, shaking his head and refusing their offer. He then sliced off a piece of steak and chewed it slowly.

He felt that after a month, the Mandrake in his mouth would probably taste good. Could this thing really be used to make special potions?

Ivan grumbled to himself as he stopped half of his previous exploratory missions.

His previous experience with Polyjuice Potion had taught him that it was not an all-purpose potion, and he would not be able to undo it if he were to experience it again.

It was better to wait until the Animagus transformation had been completed, and then explore, as Peter Pettigrew did, in his mouse form, coming and going as he pleased within Hogwarts.

However, this was on the premise that he was a small animal in his Animagus form. If he were to take the form of a stag, everyone at Hogwarts would know that something was amiss.

With that in mind, Ivan turned to look at Hermione, wondering if she knew what he was doing in the dormitory.

However, he was vaguely aware that Hermione seemed to have grown distant from him… and had not spoken to him for several days.

Whatever, who cares? Practicing magic is more important…

Ivan decided not to think about it any further. Recently, he had been having enough trouble studying the Animagus' practice notes, as he had to spend GPA on many of the more difficult tasks.

After Ivan had finished eating and left the Great Hall, Hermione came out of the girls' room and sat down next to Harry and Ron.

"Hermione, why are you avoiding Ivan so much lately? Did you have a fight?" Harry couldn't help asking, feeling that something was wrong with his two best friends.

'Did they have a falling out?'

"No." Hermione shook her head, dismissing Harry's statement, then hesitated before turning to Ron and asking, "Was Ivan playing Wizard's Chess with you Saturday morning?"

"Yes, we've been playing Wizard's Chess all morning. Why?" Ron gave her a quizzical look, wondering why she was asking, but nodded.

Hermione looked more and more confused as to who had disguised herself to sneak into the girls' dormitory.

On her return from the library on Saturday, Hermione found out that Lavender and Parati were afraid of her.

Hermione knew at once that someone had used Polyjuice Potion to disguise themselves, but she kept this information to herself and did not reveal it to Professor McGonagall.

After all, it was rare for a young wizard at Hogwarts to be able to transfigure into a marmot.

Ivan was the only one who had come into contact with her hair these days.

Although she had no idea what Ivan was doing in her room, remembering the newspaper articles she had cut and collected, and the possibility of Ivan seeing them, Hermione was flustered and her face burned…

When she heard Ron mention that Ivan had played Wizard's Chess with him all morning on Saturday morning, the little witch became uncertain again and used her fork to stab her plate full of steak.

Did he know or not know?