"{Metus Infesto}!" Ivan waved his wand and tapped it on Scabbers's head.
"Squeak! Squeak... Squeeeeak..."
As soon as the spell took effect, the greyish-black rat immediately went berserk. Its tightly shut eyes flew wide open, and it let out a piercing shriek.
Then, with a powerful kick of its hind legs, the entire rat flew off the table, knocking over several cups and decorations on its way down and scurrying frantically around the dormitory.
Seeing the spell was so effective, Ivan was finally relieved.
He hadn't expected the Fear Spell's principle to be the exact opposite of the Patronus Charm. The latter required the caster to recall a happy memory, while the former required the caster to implant a terrifying image or experience into the target's mind.
It was like a reverse Legilimency, a horror-enhanced version...
When casting the spell on Scabbers, Ivan had constructed a scene of Scabbers being chased by a large black dog.
Perhaps because Scabbers had been sleeping before the spell was cast, the power of the Fear Spell combined with its dream, making the effect of the dark magic much stronger than Ivan had imagined.
While Ivan was still pleased with his successful casting of the Fear Spell, Ron and Harry, having heard the commotion from the common room, burst in.
Looking at the wrecked dormitory, Harry almost thought he had walked into the wrong room. Just as he was about to ask what happened, Ron spotted the greyish-black rat darting around the room...
"Oh, no! Scabbers... Scabbers! What's wrong with you? Scabbers..." Ron cried out in a panicked voice. He rushed into the dormitory in a few quick strides and threw himself onto Neville's bed, trying to catch the rat that had just run past.
But at this moment, Scabbers was terrified by Ivan's spell and mistook Ron for the black dog from its dream. With a swoosh, it squeezed through a gap in the bed frame and disappeared underneath, leaving Ron to search for it frantically...
"Ivan, what happened here?" Harry asked, looking at Ivan who was standing by the desk.
"I was just practicing some spells," Ivan shrugged, then said with a hint of guilt. "Just as you can see, there might have been a little... accident."
Harry glanced at Ron, who was now under the table, covered in dust and still empty-handed. He felt this "accident" was anything but little. He could only sigh helplessly.
"Well, it looks like we'll be chasing a rat all night."
Fortunately, the final situation wasn't as bad as Harry had imagined.
After the three of them had been at it for a while, Ivan remembered he was a wizard. Seizing an opportunity, he used the Levitation Charm on a book that Scabbers was about to hide under, lifting both the book and the rat into the air. The farce was finally over.
For the next few days, Ron sulked. Ivan, feeling guilty, naturally had to apologize and even bought some Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans for Scabbers as a backup food supply. With Harry's persuasion on the side, Ron finally let the matter go.
It was worth noting that when Hermione heard about the incident, she bluntly mocked Ron for caring more about a rat than his friends. The two had an argument, and Ron was nearly driven mad with anger...
As for Scabbers, Ron became even more protective of him, even carrying him to class. He was constantly paranoid that someone was trying to harm his rat.
Ivan, meanwhile, continued his three-point routine of classroom-library-dormitory. He read through several basic books and managed to scrape together enough points for another Scholar's Experience Card. Combined with his accumulation over the past few days, the proficiency of all the spells he knew had increased considerably.
This led to the professors giving him a higher grade of evaluation in class than before!
Except for Professor Binns, who always gave him an "Acceptable" in History of Magic, Ivan had received an "Outstanding" in all his other classes.
This was especially true in Charms and Transfiguration, as his Transfiguration and Levitation Charms had successfully broken through to Level 2.
Once, when transfiguring a wooden plank, he was even a fraction of a second faster than Hermione. Harry and Ron were both stunned.
However, leveling up again wouldn't be so easy. Every time a spell's level increased, the proficiency needed for the next level would double.
Besides studying, Ivan was also looking for the Room of Requirement to use as a place to test the power of his spells in the future.
It was always a bit inconvenient in the Gryffindor common room.
Unfortunately, after so many years since reading the original book, Ivan had long forgotten its exact location, only remembering that it was opposite a tapestry. As a result, he hadn't found it after several days of searching.
Ivan's routine was finally broken on the Friday of the second week, when Harry received an invitation from Hagrid.
Of course, with good news came bad news.
The bad news was that this Friday, they had to attend a double Potions class with the Slytherins.
"I wish we could just skip this morning. The Potions master, Snape, is the Head of Slytherin. George told me we have to be careful..."
In the corridor, Ron was sharing the gossip he had heard from his two brothers with Ivan and the others, while also not forgetting to feed Scabbers, who was perched on his right hand.
"That can't be right, can it? Professor McGonagall is a Head of House too, and I've never seen her show any favoritism," Hermione couldn't help but rebut.
"It's not just me... a lot of the older Gryffindors say so!" Ron was dismissive of Hermione's argument and turned to Harry and Ivan.
"You guys think so too, right? Professor Snape is always so gloomy. There's even a rumor at school that he used to be a dark wizard..."
When he mentioned the rumor, Ron obviously lowered his voice to avoid being overheard.
"Impossible. Professor Dumbledore would never let a dark wizard into the school," Harry shook his head.
Although Harry had felt during the start-of-term feast that the Potions master, Professor Snape, seemed to dislike him, in his few days at the school, all the professors had been quite good.
Snape couldn't be that bad...
Hermione nodded in agreement. Ron helplessly turned to look at Ivan.
Ivan was currently teasing Scabbers with a Bertie Bott's bean. Hearing their conversation, he glanced at Harry.
"I don't know if Professor Snape targets Gryffindor, but I'm sure he'll be targeting us."
Speaking of which, Ivan also felt a bit frustrated. His chances of getting an "Outstanding" in Snape's class were probably nonexistent.
After all, love me, love my dog; hate me, hate my dog. Ivan wouldn't even be surprised if Snape gave him a "Poor" after class.
Harry was bewildered by Ivan's look, not understanding what he meant at all.
"Are you saying Professor Snape hates Harry?" Hermione frowned, guessing Ivan's thoughts from the way he had looked at Harry.
Ivan mentally applauded Hermione's quick wit, but he certainly couldn't tell the whole truth. He shook his head. "I'm just speculating. Don't you think the way Professor Snape looks at Harry is always a bit... off?"