From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 143 Nicolas Flamel's Invitation

As the sky was getting dark, Ivy pointed his wand at his throat and shouted to the entire construction site: "It's time for dinner!"

Many wizards came out of the completed buildings one after another. Most of them were employees of the Ministry of Magic, and a few were contractors hired by the school board. There might be one or two temporary workers among them. Ivy had seen some guys with very shabby clothes among them.

It is a consensus among these construction workers that the best thing about working for Hogwarts is the food.

The dining place was still the auditorium, but the original long table belonging to the four major colleges had been removed and replaced by a wider table.

There are also dusting facilities at the entrance to the Great Hall, including a mirror that can point out where there is dust, many feather dusters that can wave automatically, and even a purple spray perfume bottle that will serve people. No one knows where Dumbledore got these things from.

Not only that, Dumbledore even found a way to temporarily change the structure of the castle, replacing the waiting room next to the hall with a bathroom, and as for the construction site, there was a separate tent toilet.

Normally, only breakfast and dinner were held in the castle's hall, and lunch was delivered to the construction site by the house elves. Although it was midsummer, the temperature in the Scottish Highlands was still stable, especially since Hogwarts was a castle built on a mountain, not to mention that Dumbledore and Ivy took turns casting weather spells to bring in dark clouds to block the sun for everyone.

Dinner was always sumptuous, and Dumbledore also contacted the Three Broomsticks to send a lot of butterbeer from Hogsmeade. There was no strong liquor such as Cannon Whiskey. Hogwarts was a school after all, even though it was summer vacation and there were no students.

Therefore, after a tiring day, wizards can enjoy delicious food and chat at the dining table.

Ivy and the other professors still sat at the faculty dean's table. After all, professors all have their own social circles.

There was a burst of laughter.

Ivy turned her head and saw Professor Sprout. She was in a good mood recently because she had obtained permission from Professor McGonagall to build two more greenhouses, taking advantage of the construction of the "base". For this purpose, she ordered a lot of new seeds from the herbalist in Diagon Alley, and also ordered a lot of magical animal feces from Professor Keltburn in advance as fertilizer.

After eating a few lamb chops, Ivy felt a little satisfied. Dumbledore didn't show up at the construction site today, and he wasn't even seen at the dining table. He wondered what the old man was doing.

Perhaps it was because Ivy had confirmed his conjecture about Voldemort's Horcrux, so he tried to verify it through other channels?

This is a complicated and lengthy task. The easiest part is undoubtedly to start with Voldemort's former classmates and teachers, but apart from Dumbledore himself, it is hard to say how many of them are still alive.

At least Ivy only knew of one Horace Sgraughhorn, the Potions professor and Slytherin Headmaster when Voldemort was studying at Hogwarts.

Sgraughorn could be considered the leader of an academic clique. Using his connections while teaching at Hogwarts, he won over many influential figures in the wizarding world.

But now the British wizarding world should be considered to be prosperous and thriving. Everyone is immersed in the peaceful scene after Voldemort's disappearance and has become accustomed to it. Sgraughhorn will not hand over his memory so easily.

In the original book, even under the pressure of Voldemort's resurrection, Harry was able to obtain Sgraughhorn's memory with the help of the Felicis Felix.

"Oh——" There was a sudden cry from the construction workers at the long table. Ivy followed the crowd's line of sight and saw a silver shadow flying into the auditorium.

"It's the patronus!" A sharp-eyed wizard recognized the true nature of the spell.

"And it's a Phoenix Patronus! It belongs to Professor Dumbledore!" An employee of the Ministry of Magic took a sip of butterbeer and sighed contentedly, "It's great to come to Hogwarts on business. I never thought I would get to see the only magical animal Patronus in the entire wizarding world!"

The silver phoenix flew across the hall and landed on the head teacher's desk, uttering a familiar voice: "Come to the principal's office after dinner, Professor Victor. By the way, bring me a serving of ice cream."

The spell of sending messages with the Patronus is very interesting, and it is a unique modification of Dumbledore.

Ivy said goodbye to the professors sitting at the same table, stood up and left the table, not intending to wait for dessert, because he had already used the summons to notify a house elf to go to the principal's office.

Hogwarts Castle was good in every way except that there were too many stairs, and spells like Apparition couldn't be used, so Ivy had to use the third-ring flying spell to avoid the process of climbing the stairs.

Seeing the gargoyle that had been squatting in front of the principal's office, Ivy uttered the command that the Phoenix Guardian just brought: "Butter Ice Cream."

Then the gargoyle jumped aside, and the wall behind it split in two, and a spiral staircase slowly moving upwards appeared in front of Ivy.

He had been here many times, and the furnishings in the principal's office had not changed much, but today was different.

Dumbledore was wearing a white napkin, holding a golden knife and fork in his hand, staring at the feast in front of him. It seems that the house-elves of Hogwarts are always particularly willing to serve the headmaster.

"I just asked you to bring a butter ice cream, not a house-elf!" Dumbledore said without complaint. Even though he was the headmaster of Hogwarts, he couldn't resist the enthusiasm of the house-elves. Perhaps this was the reason why he tried to appear in the hall every day.

"I'll take that as your thanks, Dumbledore." Ivy didn't sit opposite Dumbledore because it would be impolite to disturb someone else's meal.

"Dumbledore! Get that boy's hands off me!" the Sorting Hat yelled at the current Headmaster.

Ivy took his hand out of the Sorting Hat's belly. He had originally wanted to try to see if he could pull the sword of Gryffindor out of it.

"Don't be so formal, hat." Ivy put it back in its place. "Don't you remember me? It was you who sorted me, a transfer student, into Slytherin more than a hundred years ago."

"Don't try to get close to me, kid! I don't know you!" the Sorting Hat shouted, "I treat every little wizard equally, especially those from Slytherin!" Ivy shook his head: "When the Big Four made the Sorting Hat, did Gryffindor put too much of their own ideas into it?"

"Forgive it, Ivy." Dumbledore swallowed a piece of sausage. "The old hat only has one chance to appear every year, so it takes a whole year to polish the lyrics. And before the start of the school year, that is, during the summer vacation, the Sorting Hat will become particularly irritable."

"Tsk tsk." Ivy sighed softly, "How can a guy who only works one day a year have so many problems?"

Ivy looked around the headmaster's office and regretfully found that he didn't see anything that could be linked to the Sword of Gryffindor. Ever since he got the profession of the Ancient Fighter, Ivy had been trying to find some other ancient magic props.

The Sorting Hat and the Sword of Gryffindor, also relics of the Big Four, should both have the qualities to become ancient magic items. However, Ivy already had the Ravenclaw Diadem on his head, and he couldn't equip himself with a thinking Sorting Hat, so he set his sights on the Sword of Gryffindor, which is a one-handed sword.

According to the information in the original book, the sword of Gryffindor can absorb substances that can strengthen it. It is precisely because it absorbs the venom of the basilisk that it becomes a weapon that can destroy Horcruxes. Isn't this property of growth perfectly in line with the professional characteristics of the ancient fighter?
But the only problem is that, as a die-hard Slytherin, Ivy has never seen the true face of the sword.

"So, what do you want me for?" Ivy sat back in his chair and watched Dumbledore eat.

"Oh, nothing serious. Nico wanted to see you," Dumbledore replied, wiping the sauce off his beard with a napkin.

"Nico?" There are not many people named "Nico" in the magic world, and the only well-known one is "Nico Flamel", not to mention that Ivy swallowed his Philosopher's Stone not long ago.

"Has he decided what kind of compensation he wants?" Ivy asked.

"The letter didn't mention that." Dumbledore poured himself a glass of butter beer and chilled it with magic. "Anyway, I think that as a sinner who destroyed the greatest creation in the history of alchemy, you need to personally apologize to its owner."

"Okay." Ivy sighed. He originally just wanted to do some research, but who would have thought that he would actually eat the Philosopher's Stone.

As a wizard and alchemist who lived for more than 600 years, Nicolas Flamel must have collected a large number of precious magic books. Maybe Ivy could get one or two when he met Nicolas Flamel this time.

"How do we get there? Floo powder?" Ivy asked. "I remember that you need to apply in advance to use Floo powder for international travel."

"I'm sorry, Ivy, we can't use Floo powder." Dumbledore's blue eyes flashed with a smile. "If you are familiar with geography, you should know that there is a sea between France and Britain! The Floo powder network cannot be laid on the seabed."

"Why not? Muggles even lay cables and tunnels on the seabed." Except in Diagon Alley, Ivy had hardly ever used this method of travel that was so familiar to wizards. He had always felt that the Floo powder network was similar to the teleportation array in DND, except that the exit was changed from a magic array flashing with magical fluorescence to a fireplace full of coal ash.

"What is a 'cable'?" Dumbledore stopped eating and asked.

"Uh... a line that Muggles use to transmit energy. You can think of it as a water pipe, but what flows inside is electricity. Muggles use it as energy to light lights and all electrical appliances." Ivy explained.

Dumbledore's eyes widened with interest. He smiled and said, "You know what? Ivy? As a wizard from more than a hundred years ago, you know more about this world than I do, especially about the Muggle half. How do you know all this?"

"The Encyclopedia Britannica," Ivy replied. "Hermione gave it to me for Christmas. She seemed to think that after sleeping for over a hundred years, I should try to learn as much as possible about this new world. I have to say, it's been much more useful than I thought."

"There's nothing wrong with reading, even Muggle books." Dumbledore was completely unable to eat, but there was still more than half of the feast prepared for him by the house-elf.

"Nico always has plenty of time." Dumbledore stood up from his desk and walked to Fawkes' golden perch, fiddling with the beautiful bird. "So we are free to choose our means of travel, broomstick, portkey, Apparition, or this magnificent bird?"

Fox turned his head towards Ivy, looked him over with his head tilted, let out a cry, and then a tail feather fell from his body.

"Oh, is that for me?" Ivy raised his eyebrows. This reminded him of when he raised a phoenix at Hogwarts more than a hundred years ago. The phoenix he rescued from the dark wizard often expressed its love for him in this way.

But Dumbledore shook his head, turned around and said, "I don't think so. The natural loss of tail feathers proves that Fawkes is about to begin his nirvana. In the next few months, the feathers on his body will become fewer and fewer until it turns into a ball of fire, and then reborn from the ashes. It seems that we can't let it take us to France."

Dumbledore still handed Ivy the tail feather that Fawkes had just dropped. It was a particularly long and very beautiful one.

"Since Nicolas Flamel always has plenty of time, why don't we adopt the Muggle way of traveling?" Ivy took the feather and quickly changed the subject. He was a little embarrassed by his self-conceit just now.

"Apparition is not suitable for international travel, and portkeys and broomsticks are not very comfortable. Besides, I am old." Dumbledore found an excuse for himself. "Besides, I am really impatient to deal with the paperwork of the Ministry of Magic in this room. A short trip may make me rejuvenated."

"Since you know the Muggle world better than I do, the task of arranging the journey will be left to you, Ivy." Dumbledore winked at him and returned to the desk. The half-eaten food on it had been cleared away at some point.

Dumbledore pulled over a hardcover book, found the page with the bookmark and opened it. From the spine of the cover he could see the title, Wandering with Werewolves.

"You really don't consider teaching for another year?" Dumbledore asked suddenly.

But Ivy’s answer was firm: “No.”

"Alas - it has become a difficult task for Hogwarts and me to find a suitable Defense Against the Dark Arts professor before the start of each school year." Dumbledore turned his attention back to the book, "Please close the door when you go out. If you have a suitable travel plan, you can inform me at any time. You know the password."

(End of this chapter)