Cough, cough.
With a puff of smoke, Allen and the others arrived in a filthy, cluttered room.
Now they could finally confirm it was absolutely safe, this place was so grimy and covered in dust that even a troll wouldn't bother hiding here!
"Hey, Ivan, this is your secret base? Aren't you afraid you'll get buried under the dust every time you come here?" Allen lit up his wand and looked around, clearly unimpressed.
It seemed to be a basement. Dust coated everything so evenly that you could practically write on the surfaces. The faint glow from Allen's wand revealed that while everything was covered in grime, the furniture was arranged neatly, clearly, no one had been here without the owner's permission.
Cough, cough. "Beats me," Ivan replied, lighting his own wand and holding a hand over his nose. "It was perfectly fine last time I came, just a month ago. Otherwise, how else would I have eaten the food stored here?"
"Hold on, I remember the light switch is over here. This place has Muggle electricity, wait, what's going on?" Ivan cautiously approached the switch, flicking it repeatedly. Nothing happened. The lights refused to come on.
The solution ended up being a few of Annie's ice-flames. She placed them into containers and fashioned makeshift torches from them.
While the place was absolutely filthy, that wasn't a big deal for wizards. With a few cleaning spells, the basement was quickly restored to a more livable state, well, if you ignored the few bits of furniture that got damaged in the process. Can't expect miracles when rushing, after all.
After a brief inspection, the trio discovered one good news and one bad.
The good news: the supply stockpile in the basement was still intact. Though it lacked magical preservation, the long-lasting ingredients were still edible.
The bad news: they were trapped.
Yes, locked in. And not the kind of lock that a simple Alohomora could fix, the entire house above the basement had been destroyed.
There was a charred smell drifting down from the ruins above, and the trapdoor had been crushed shut, like a dozen burly men were standing on it.
Chances were, the house had been burned down, though whether it was collateral damage from a wizarding battle or caused by some riot was anyone's guess.
"Those damn vampires! Look what they've done!!!" Ivan slammed his hand down on a table, HP -1, and immediately winced in pain from hitting it too hard.
"Alright, so the top's ruined. Is there any other way out?" Allen asked, ignoring Ivan's dramatics. After all, what kind of wizard slams tables?
"You're not even mad, sir?" Ivan asked, clearly surprised, glancing at Allen with a mix of confusion and disappointment.
"Why would I be? It's not my house," Allen replied casually, tossing a Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean into his mouth. Pineapple. Nice.
"But, sir, you, " Ivan started to say something, only to catch Allen's teasing look and immediately shut up.
He swore, even when his previous superiors glared at him in a rage, their eyes were never this terrifying. Whatever little schemes he had brewing vanished instantly.
Only now did he truly understand, this vampire lord in front of him wasn't some naive idiot. He was a cunning old fox.
Under Allen's meaningful gaze, Ivan gave an awkward smile and began gathering the food supplies.
Any contract has loopholes, if you're willing to look.
Even an Unbreakable Vow couldn't stop people from twisting the rules when they needed to, just ask a certain Tom who got himself killed by playing too many tricks.
When Allen used Ivan's help to return to the country, Ivan had his own selfish reasons, if he could get someone this powerful to do him just a tiny favor, his career would be set, right?
Too bad for him, smart people are a dime a dozen, but fools are in short supply. Ivan's petty schemes ran headfirst into Allen, who was even better at scheming.
Not that Allen felt bad about it. He had every right to be calculating, if the system wasn't so awful, a young man with ideals like him wouldn't have to stoop so low.
In any case, the supplies were packed up quickly. After all, no matter how good Liu Bei was at crying, he'd still be helpless facing a cold-blooded Sima Yi. When it comes to who has it worse, Allen wasn't going to lose.
After that small failed test, Ivan quickly pointed them toward another location, by now, he realized that Allen wasn't a stingy iron rooster, but a sugar-coated one. Not only would he not give you a single feather, but if you tried to pull a fast one, he might even rob you instead.
So now, all Ivan could think of was getting rid of this plague god as fast as possible.
Who has time to keep calling someone "my lord" when it gets you nothing in return? Everyone's busy these days!
Allen, of course, saw right through Ivan's little thoughts. But he didn't mind. In fact, if someone immediately bowed after signing a contract, calling him "boss" and swearing eternal loyalty, Allen would probably kill them on the spot.
Come on, his name was Allen, not "Invincible." If he really had that kind of power, he'd just round up a crew and go stomp Voldemort already. Everyone would listen to him without question, Dumbledore on the left, Grindelwald on the right, surrounded by Sirius, Moody, and the rest, all shouting in unison. Voldemort? Please. He'd be wearing a dress if Allen told him to and wouldn't dare say no.
But that's not reality.
No one's that gullible. Even if Allen gave an inspiring speech, people might not believe him, and even if they did, whether they'd actually do anything was another matter. You can't expect Professor Snape to suddenly start hugging Sirius and Lupin like they're old friends.
So for guys like Ivan, an Unbreakable Vow was enough. Everything else was just noise.
After a bit of restocking, Allen and his group set off on their journey once more.
Unfortunately, this time things didn't go quite as smoothly, though not because Ivan was holding anything back.
War has a way of showing up unannounced. Just like how that earlier fight broke out over a single piece of intel.
Likewise, Allen didn't expect that their teleportation destination, originally a completely ordinary wizarding shopping district, had now turned into the front lines of a full-scale battle between two sides.••┈┈┈┈┈༓┈┈┈┈┈•••
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