From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 215: An Evil Visitor
As a creature that can use magic, house elves are very important in wizard society. They are responsible for helping wizards with household chores, including cleaning, washing, cooking, and taking care of family members. Some wizards even have house elves as shop assistants.

It can be said that house-elves are in charge of the food, clothing, housing and transportation of some wizards. However, their status is extremely disproportionate to their important work.

These elves with powerful magical abilities are completely a subordinate race of wizards. They need to work to live a normal life, and they don't care even if they are treated as slaves.

Ivy was not interested in starting a house-elf liberation movement like Hermione, but he wanted to at least make the house-elves who served him more pleasing to the eye, including but not limited to appearance, conversation, habits and thoughts.

After bringing the five house-elves back to the Room of Requirement, Ivy took out five identical contracts. The paper on which the contracts were written was a page from the Grimoire of Destruction, and the terms and conditions were entirely drafted by Ivy himself.

The content is very simple. Ivy provides work and accommodation for the house-elves, and the house-elves are completely loyal to him and serve him.

"What a magical room!" exclaimed the house-elf named Buttercup. "From now on, Buttercup will be the elf of the Doom family!"

"Don't forget your last name, Maomao," Ivy reminded him, and handed him the rolled-up contract. "Take a look at this contract. Only after you sign it will you be officially employed by me."

"Maomao will sign! Master Doom is a generous master! Maomao will sign now!" Maomao picked up the pen and was about to write his name without even looking at it, but before the tip of the pen touched the contract, he was stopped by a magical light.

"As you can see, Maomao. If you don't fully read and understand the contents of the contract, you will not sign your name on it." Ivy said with a smile, "My employment of you is completely fair and voluntary on both sides. Now, take a closer look at the terms above."

"It says that clothes will be provided for us! Master Doom is going to give us freedom? Bubbles wants to work, not freedom!" asked the house-elf named Bubbles.

"Idiot! There's another line behind it!" Doudou stopped him, "It says: Because house-elves still need to entertain guests, they must wear neat and clean clothes, but this does not mean giving house-elves freedom, but it is a job requirement!"

"Great!" Bubble cheered and continued reading with his head down.

"Master Doom, what is 'magic transformation'?" Lulu asked, pointing to a line of words in the contract.

"It means that I will perform permanent transformation on you so that your appearance will be more in line with my aesthetics." Ivy explained, "If my research goes well, I may also give you additional magical abilities."

"Is this what makes the Doom elves so special?" Diandian understood immediately, "Diandian likes a unique master, and also likes being unique!"

"Master is going to offer us rewards?" Mao Mao wailed, as if he had seen something unbelievable. "A house elf accepting rewards? How shameful!"

The oldest, Fluffy, was a house-elf who had been in training for several years, so he had more preconceived notions, but that was exactly what Ivy didn't like.

There is no love or hate without reason, and things that seem to be free of cost are often the most expensive, so Ivy must pay them. Especially in this magical world, even if the reward itself is not equal, Ivy must let these house elves accept it.

These rewards can be money, knowledge, or even certain privileges.

"Doudou has signed!" While Maomao was wailing, Doudou had already completed his signature, and even remembered to write down his surname which he had just obtained not long ago.

Just as he was about to show the contract to Ivy, he discovered that the contract in his hand suddenly caught fire and turned into ashes in the blink of an eye.

"That means the contract has been established." Ivy explained, silently feeling the connection between the two, and then nodded with satisfaction, "Don't blink, I'm going to give you a new form."

The spell Ivy was going to cast was still the Transfiguration of wizards, and it was a very difficult human body transformation. Although it was not cast on himself, Ivy still had to be extremely careful, because these house elves were not experimental subjects, but were almost his property or assistants.

With the power of the Philosopher's Stone, Ivy can make the effects of Transfiguration last forever, which is also the basis of this magical transformation.

He thought carefully about the transformation in his mind to make sure it was perfect, and then he began to cast the spell with a firm belief.

As Ivy chanted the spell, a silvery-white light flew out from the tip of the wand, dancing around the bean.

The first thing to change was his skin. The originally gray skin began to turn pink, and fine hair grew out. With the cover of fur, the originally wrinkled house-elf immediately became handsome; then came the dirty hands and feet and pointed nails. The thick joints gradually shrank, and the pointed nails were hidden in the hair; the skinny ribs were covered with fur, and immediately looked fluffy and round.

However, Ivy's magic seemed to be a bit too much, and even the hair on Doudou's head and face began to grow. His drooping eyebrows soon covered his eyes, and his two curved beards curled up to form a small vortex. Even the top of his head, which was originally barren, turned into a huge and fluffy bush.

"Ouch!" Doudou cried, "Doudou can't see anything!"

"It just needs some trimming..." Ivy instructed Diego to get the scissors that he usually used to trim the hair of magical creatures, and cut off the long eyebrows that blocked his vision, and Doudou immediately saw the light of day again.

"Admire your new look?" Ivy waved and summoned a mirror, which reflected a little guy who was countless times cuter than before.

Doudou stretched out his hairy palm and touched his afro again. When he saw the guy in the mirror making the same movement, he realized that the person in the mirror was himself.

"Doudou likes the new look!" He then tugged at the sack still on his body and made a sound of disgust, "This sack doesn't match the new look given to it by its owner at all!"

"Yes, that's it." Ivy praised, "A new set of clothes is of course indispensable." Ivy snapped his fingers, and the torn sack on Doudou's body immediately turned into a sophisticated butler suit. He now looked more like a furry little gentleman.

With Doudou’s example, the remaining elves also enthusiastically raised the signed contracts in their hands.

Ivy's Transfiguration skill was very effective, and it didn't take much effort to completely change the appearance of the five elves. In addition to Doudou, who had a big hair and wore a butler's uniform, the other four elves also had their own unique characteristics.

Dot looks like a white kitten with frizzy fur, and none of its hair is smooth. His ears are much larger than his companions' and look particularly sensitive. Ivy asked him to be responsible for the management of magical animals, so he wears leather jeans.

The oldest one, Maomao, is also a man, with blue hair that is neither too ostentatious nor too luxuriant. Because he has received several years of culinary training, Ivy gave him the job of chef, and of course he wears a white chef's uniform and a white chef's hat.

Lulu and Bubble are both female. They look more delicate than the other three male companions. The hair on their faces looks shorter, which highlights their small and cute facial features.

Bubble's facial hair is light blue, and she has light blonde hair. She has also received several years of culinary training, but her specialty is desserts. So Ivy provided her with a white cook's uniform and an apron with lace embroidery, because she is also responsible for cleaning, although the Room of Requirement has a very strong self-cleaning ability.

The short hair on Lulu's face is lavender. Under the influence of Ivy's magic, she also grew dark purple hair. As the youngest of the five house elves, her main job is to help Diandian deal with magical animals and hatch their eggs. The clothes Ivy provided her were soft white cotton clothes, which looked more like the white coat of an experimental assistant.

After completing the transformation of the five house-elves, Ivy set up a staff dormitory for them in the Room of Requirement, which was fully equipped.

The onboarding of new employees has been completed, and the next step is employee training.

The person in charge of this task was, of course, Diego, who had worked diligently for Ivy for more than two years.

At Ivy's request, he not only had to teach the five new employees how to get along with magical creatures, but also pass on his working experience in Hogwarts Castle.

Including how to maintain armor, how to repair portraits, how to arrange food and accommodation for more than a thousand people, etc.

After all, Ivy really wanted to build a magic castle for fun, and he needed a magic tower.

When it comes to preparations for this kind of thing, there's never any fear in starting early.

After handing over the five house-elves to Diego, Ivy became a hands-off boss.

Before he left the Room of Requirement, he gave a special reminder: "Regarding the cave in the swamp, no one except me can go in. There is a snake monster in it. When you give it food, remember to close your eyes and put it at the entrance of the cave. Although Diego will definitely tell you, I still think I should repeat it."

Only after getting a positive response from the elves, or now should I call them the Poppy elves, did Ivy return to Hogwarts.

Until now, he had time to pay attention to the news in the newspaper. In addition to the cases of Sirius and Peter Pettigrew, he was more concerned about the news about Lucius.

If it is confirmed that he will take over the position of Director of the Department of International Magical Cooperation after old Crouch, there will definitely be reports about it in the newspapers.

As long as he saw that, it meant that Ivy was a little closer to Hufflepuff's golden cup. When I thought of the golden cup, this Horcrux, Ivy remembered that he still had a fragment of Voldemort's soul in his hand.

That was Marvolo's gold ring that he destroyed during the Christmas holidays. The soul fragment inside had nowhere to go, so it still stayed in the cage that Ivy prepared for it. Voldemort was really unlucky. He originally wanted to be immortal, but the price of playing with his soul was that he had no place to go after death, and even had to be squeezed dry of the last bit of value by a true Dark Lord like Ivy.

Because so many things happened in the past month, Ivy has not been able to find a chance to forge this soul until now. But there is no need to rush. As long as the news about Lucius is published, Ivy will soon be able to obtain another fragment of Voldemort, and maybe even a new ancient item. When the time comes, they can deal with two copies of Voldemort together, and they won't be too lonely when they are on the road. Maybe they will even sigh that there are still many good people in the magic world.

Unfortunately, Fudge didn't seem to want to see big news appear one after another, which made people's nerves numb, so there was no report about Crouch and Lucius in Tuesday's newspaper. The only article related to the Department of International Magical Cooperation was about imported crucibles.

According to Ivy's estimation, it might be the weekend before Fudge would allow the news to appear in newspapers, at least official media like the Daily Prophet.

If the Ministry's civil servants drag their feet a little longer, it might take until next week.

Throwing the newspaper aside, Ivy prepared to go to the auditorium. The teaching and examination of Apparition were about to begin. He had even paid the registration fee of twelve gold galleons.

As a means of fast travel for wizards, Apparition is very practical, but it cannot be used inside Hogwarts, supposedly to prevent dangers such as splitting. However, the transmission of the portkey can be unhindered by the spell, and Ivy doesn't understand why.

As soon as he entered the auditorium, Ivy heard a quarrel.

Following the voice, I saw a woman standing opposite Professor McGonagall, wearing a bright pink robe and carrying an exaggerated leather bag. She was slim, with blonde hair and blue eyes, and had red nail polish that matched her fiery red lips. She also had several glittering gold rings on her hands, which echoed the huge pearl necklace on her neck.

But Ivy would never say that she is beautiful. Rather, it is better to say that this person, from her dress to her makeup and behavior, is trying to provoke attacks from others, and at worst, her emotions are out of control.

"I don't remember agreeing to your application, Ms. Skeeter." Professor McGonagall said coldly, hoping that the woman standing opposite her would be tactful enough to leave on her own.

"Of course not," Rita Skeeter shook her head, her blond hair swaying back and forth, "but Mr. Black invited me."

"Sirius?" Professor McGonagall looked at her suspiciously. "Impossible. Even if he really invited you, you can't set foot in Hogwarts. Even he himself is a guest of Hogwarts."

　It sank...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)