Christmas

In Diagon Alley or Knockturn Alley, unless the Polyjuice Potion was brewed and his strength improved, he would not go.

Going there alone was too dangerous for a young first-year wizard.

Ivan turned on his heel and left. Before leaving, he bought a bottle of deodorant to remove the smell from his body and threw twelve Sickles at Rick Senior.

He knew of a place where he was certain to find Bone-Attaching Grasses and Hemolytic Grasses.

It was a risky move, but Ivan had no other options.

Heading back the way he came, Ivan was able to pass through the cellar thanks to Honeydukes' boss, who was entertaining guests.

Ivan went to the Room of Requirement at once,

"I want a place to brew," Ivan said.

The next moment, Ivan opened the door to the Room of Requirement and found himself in an unfamiliar space, surrounded by bottles and equipment for brewing potions.

Ivan's only regret was that the cabinets and bottles used for storing potions were empty, without even the most basic herbs.

"The Room of Requirement has its limits," Ivan said, disappointed. He had wanted to see if he could get some potion ingredients for free.

Ivan found a cupboard and stored all the ingredients in it, so that he could use it when brewing potions in the future.

With that done, Ivan turned and left without hesitation. Along the way, Ivan caught sight of Quirrell, who was wandering around the fourth floor.

Ivan pulled out the Marauder's Map to confirm the location of Snape and the other professors and principals.

…

For the next few weeks, Ivan kept an eye on Snape's movements on the Marauder's Map, occasionally glancing at Quirrell's.

As December approached, the weather grew colder, and on the nights before Christmas, it snowed heavily, and by the time Ivan woke up in the morning, there was a thick layer of snow on the ground.

Ivan took the two of them to the fireplace in the lounge to warm them up. He also used a Transfiguration Charm to create transparent windscreens to block the vents so that the entire lounge could be warmed up.

However, the owls that delivered the letter suffered greatly, as several of them crashed into the side windscreen, causing a large number of envelopes to scatter all over the floor.

Outside the window, poor Quirrell was being beaten to a pulp by a pile of bewitched snowballs, and Ivan even saw one of the sturdier-looking snowballs hit Quirrell very accurately in the back of the head, causing Ivan to sweat for the Weasleys.

These two were probably the only ones who dared to play such a prank on Quirrell. He wondered if this was the peak of their lives…

In the afternoon, Ivan attended his final Potions lesson with Harry Potter and the others, and the whole of Hogwarts was in an uproar, as the day ahead was their long-awaited holiday and, more importantly, their return home!

Ivan, however, was not at all happy about it, as he did not want to go back at all, at least not until he had his memory back.

So when Professor McGonagall came to register the students, Ivan signed it without hesitation, as did Harry.

"Ivan, you're not going back, either?" Harry asked curiously.

"Well, we're not as comfortable at home as we are at school," Ivan replied with a smile.

As if he had found a connection, Harry and Ivan went through so much trouble that he wanted to stay at Hogwarts forever rather than return to his so-called uncle's house.

To Harry's delight, Ron and the Weasley brothers were staying as well, as their parents were travelling to Romania to visit Charlie.

Harry's only regret was that Hermione had to go home, otherwise this Christmas would have been perfect…

Ivan, Harry, and Ron were on their way back from signing the detention agreement when Malfoy intercepted them.

"Huh? See what I found? A couple of kids no one's planning to keep in school," Malfoy exclaimed dramatically, turning back to Ron.

"And Weasley, your mother must have thought she'd given birth to too many children and abandoned you…"

"Malfoy!" Ron angrily charged forward and punched him, Malfoy drew his wand to cast a counter-spell, and his two henchmen Crabbe and Goyle surrounded him.

Even faster than them, Ivan disarmed Malfoy's wand with a single Disarming Charm, and the remaining two blockheads, who only knew how to use their fists, were thrown to the ground by Ivan's Leg Lock Spells.

Unable to fight back, Malfoy was forced to take a right hook from Ron.

Ron tried to attack again, but an invisible barrier appeared in front of Malfoy and blocked Ron's fist.

Snape came down the stairs with a scowl on his face, waving his wand casually to undo the effects of the spell on Crabbe and Goyle.

"Ten points were deducted from Gryffindor for beating up fellow students and abusing magic on campus!"

"Professor, it was Malfoy who—" Harry began to argue, but Snape spoke again.

"Fifteen points are now deducted!"

Ivan stopped Harry and Ron, who were about to speak further, as the three of them would not have stood a chance against Snape if he had disarmed him with a wave of his wand.

Since he couldn't win, and Snape was a professor, he would be at a disadvantage…

Snape didn't try to make things difficult for Ivan and the others. He gave Malfoy a disappointed look and left.

Malfoy got up angrily, glared at Crabbe and Goyle, who were easily dealt with by Ivan, and followed Snape, arrogantly walking past the trio, his face slightly swollen…

"Snape's got it in for us, and if you ask me, Harry, the last time you had a problem with your broom, it was Snape!" Ron complained.

"Snape has deducted nearly a hundred points from us Gryffins over the course of the term." Harry nodded, agreeing with Ron that Snape was the more likely suspect than the harmless Professor Quirrell.

Ivan did not try to help Snape this time, as Snape was so good at attracting hatred that even he was annoyed with him.

It was for the best. Ivan had previously resisted the idea of breaking into Snape's potion storeroom and stealing the Bone-Attaching Herb, but now he did not dwell on it…

All that was missing was an opportunity.