Ivan: I Know More About Muggles than Muggles

Is this… a gold fireplace?

Will Granger couldn't believe his eyes, as did Mrs Granger and Hermione.

Ivan frowned at the large golden stove in front of him. He remembered that it was not in the living room yesterday. Who moved it out of the warehouse?

"Dobby Winky?!" Ivan shouted, looking around.

A few moments later, a wrinkled house-elf appeared in front of them.

"What can I do for you, sir?" asked Dobby, who was standing at attention, clad in a gaudy dress and clutching a dirty rag.

Winky, who was standing next to it, looked weak and frightened as she looked at Ivan and said, "Winky is at your service, sir!"

Ivan nodded at Winky, then turned to Dobby and asked, "Dobby, why is this fireplace here? Didn't I tell you to get it to the warehouse?"

"Sir moved to a new home, and Dobby… Dobby thought he should decorate it, so he and Winky put Sir's Golden fireplace in the living room!" Dobby blinked and looked at Ivan eagerly, as if he were a child who had done something extraordinary and was awaiting praise.

Winky, the house-elf, was not so calm. She was holding the golden fireplace and banging her head against it. "Winky… Winky shouldn't have kept it from you, sir. Winky is a bad elf… a bad elf! A bad Dobby, who bewitched Winky to do this…"

For a moment, Ivan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He quickly stopped Winky's self-torture and said, "I don't mean to blame you, Winky, but if you replace the fireplace with a gold one, what happens when it melts?"

Dobby immediately patted his chest to show that he and Winky had set up a constant-temperature spell in the fireplace so that nothing would go wrong.

Ivan looked at Dobby, wanting to say something, but stopped himself. Warmth magic was a small matter, the main thing was that such a large golden fireplace facing the door was a little too arrogant, and did not fit his usual low-key style…

After a short period of surprise, Hermione recovered and was surprised to find that the pure gold fireplace in front of her was very old and vaguely familiar.

"This fireplace couldn't be the one that was lost at Hogwarts Castle, could it?" Hermione suddenly remembered that a fireplace had mysteriously disappeared in the castle a few months ago, alarming Professor McGonagall, who had been unable to find it.

"Ahem…" Under Hermione's strange gaze, Ivan cleared his throat awkwardly and explained, "I accidentally turned this into gold the other day, so I had to get rid of it."

Will Granger couldn't help himself. He walked up to the fireplace and ran his hand over it. When he was sure he wasn't hallucinating, he said, "It's amazing what magic can do."

"Hermione, can you turn a fireplace into gold?" Will Granger asked his daughter curiously.

Yvonne did not wait for the witch's reply. "It usually takes a lot of skill to turn a stone into gold, but I'm sure Hermione would have learned sooner or later."

Hermione was glad that Ivan had spoken up for her, but she shook her head. She had read enough books on alchemy to know what a Philosopher's Stone represented. Of all the alchemists in the wizarding world before Ivan, only Nicolas Flamel was capable of creating something so amazing.

After Hermione's explanation, Will Granger began to understand what it meant to make a Philosopher's Stone, which was much more difficult than winning a Nobel Prize, especially at Ivan's age.

Understanding this, Will Granger began to worry for Hermione, who, despite her brilliance and intelligence, was far inferior to Ivan.

Not to mention the other party's talent, just the pure gold fireplace in front of them and this unimaginably huge mansion were enough to deter ordinary people like them.

Ivan was, of course, aware of the couple's reservations and felt rather frustrated. He had set the meeting place to be in order to bring out the best in them, but it seemed to have backfired.

"It's getting late. Why don't we go to dinner?" Ivan suggested.

Will Granger nodded in agreement.

With Ivan's guidance, they were soon seated at the long table in the dining room, where two house-elves eagerly served the food they had prepared.

Hermione's heart went out to Winky and Dobby as they busied themselves, but she didn't comment. She knew that the cause of liberating house-elves could never be achieved overnight. Ivan was kind enough to the house-elves, not only for their wages but also for their holidays.

When faced with a table full of food, Will Granger found it difficult to relax at first, but after drinking some wine, his talkative nature returned.

Ivan, as the host, naturally did not neglect his guests. From time to time, he told them interesting stories about the wizarding world, and even talked to Will Granger about the effects of the collapse of the Soviet Union on Muggle politics.

"If I hadn't known better, I would have thought you were a…well, that's what you call it…oh, Muggle royalty! Not a wizard of magic…" said Will Granger, looking at Ivan in surprise.

Over the years, when he accompanied his daughter to Diagon Alley, Will Granger came into contact with many wizards, many of whom were ancient, old-fashioned, and secretive.

Ivan, however, was quite different, and Will Granger could not believe that a wizard knew more about the world of Muggles than he did.

"The truth is, I've always thought that wizards just have one more rare magical talent than the average person. They're not all that different," Ivan replied with a shrug.

In his previous life, he was an ordinary person who did not know magic. He had a deep understanding of the power and convenience of technology. Some magic could indeed do many incredible things, but the power of technology was also terrifying… The two were complementary.