Travers and Wilkes began whining about their ordeal, describing the pain and humiliation, but Yaxley’s expression only grew more skeptical. “So let me get this right. He threw you around like ragdolls, left you in pain—but didn’t leave a single visible mark on you?” Yaxley said, his tone ced with irritation. “If you go ba looking like this, how are you pnning to prove anything? He’ll just deny it.”

  “Then what are we supposed to do?” Wilkes burst out, his frustration spilling over. “Let him get away with it? He humiliated us!”

  Yaxley sneered, his eyes narrowing. “Of course not. But we ’t act recklessly, especially here at Hogwarts. He clearly knows how to handle himself, and he’s being careful not to leave any evidehat means we o py smarter.”

  Travers gred at Yaxley. “What do you mean by that?”

  “For now, leave him alone,” Yaxley ordered coldly. “Focus on keeping the other students in line—especially the half-bloods. Make sure they know their pce. As for Alex, he won’t be able to hide behind Hogwarts forever. Sooner or ter, he’ll slip up, and when he does, we’ll be ready.”

  Relutly, Travers and Wilkes nodded, f themselves to stay calm despite their lingering anger. Over the few days, Alex noticed a ge. The Purity ittee left him alone, but their harassment of other students ramped up. Uhe guise of “iions,” they raided dormitories and fiscated items they deemed traband—everything from harmless trio treasured possessions.

  Vivian, in particur, was furious. Nearly all her poker cards were seized, bringing her beloved poker club to the brink of colpse. Her club members grumbled and pined, but they didn’t dare openly defy Yaxley and his group. Most Slytherins stayed silent, fog on proteg themselves. Few were willing to stand up to the ittee, and Yaxley skillfully exploited their fear, turning some into allies while crushing others under his trol. The half-bloods bore the brunt of the bullying, forced to endure daily humiliation in silence.

  To Alex, it was both infuriating and pathetic. The behavior reminded him of past tragedies—groups that were clever and capable but cked the unity or ce to fight back. Instead, they accepted their torment in hopes of avoiding worse.

  Meanwhile, Yaxley’s group started watg Alex more closely, their surveilnce being subtler but no less persistent. Most of their activity was trated around weekends, a clear indication of their pns.

  “They’re waiting for me to leave the school,” Alex thought with a smirk. “Do they think I ’t see through something that obvious?”

  For third-year students, weekends brought the perk of visiting Hogsmeade, the only all-wizarding vilge in Britain. However, students needed a guardian’s signature to leave school grounds. Alex, as an orphan, didn’t have one, but Professonagall had arranged frid to act as his tempuardian, granting him permission to visit the vilge.

  Even though Alex had permission to visit Hogsmeade on weekends, he didn’t rush to leave the safety of the school. For now, Hogwarts was his refuge. With the growing hostility from the pure-blood wizards, it was obvious—even to fools—that those people were waiting to strike the momeepped outside the school grounds.

  And when they acted, it wouldn’t be small. “You’re waiting for a ake a move, but so am I,” Alex muttered to himself. “Rozier’s side is nearly ready. No point in wasting time pying with these little fish. If I’m going to act, it’s got to be for the big ones.”

  After some thought, Alex made his way to the small hut he Forbidden Forest and waited quietly. Before long, Higgs, Charles, and Vivian arrived. To Alex’s surprise, Charles brought someone else with him—Bill Weasley.

  “Brother Alex!” Bill hadn’t seen Alex sihe opening ceremony, and his face lit up as he ran toward him.

  Alex had specifically asked Charles t Bill. After some sideration, Alex felt it was only right to include him iraining. The Weasleys had always treated him kindly, so it only felt fair to look after their younger sibling. When Charles learned about Alex’s phusiastically agreed.

  As the self-procimed assistant coach, Charles was thrilled at the idea of training someone new. Now he could boss Vivian and Welen around uhe guise of “guiding them,” ahhly ehe role. Watg Bill greet Alex with excitement, Charles grinned like a mischievous cat.

  After Alex expihe training pn to Bill, the younger wizard eagerly agreed. In his mind, it was like getting special attention from an older brother—a treat he wasn’t about to refuse.

  That enthusiasm didn’t st long. The very same afternoon, Charles gleefully dragged aed Bill to the Forbidden Forest hut. But when they arrived, Bill’s excitement quickly turned into horror. Charles, wearing his most serious expression, made him start with enduraraining: standing upright for extended periods. By the time they were done, Bill was so exhausted he could barely stay on his feet.

  As Bill struggled to recover, he watched the others—Charles, Welen, and Vivian—practig spellcasting, target shooting, and walking exercises. He was stuhis was the training pn? Was this the kind of grueling routine waiting for him iure? And did training like this really stop people from dropping dead?

  But Bill had no time to dwell on his questions. When Alex switched into his “hell instruode, there was no mercy. Every mistake, no matter how small, earned a sharp reprimand—even for someone like Vivian.

  Yet, despite the iy, the results were undeniable. Bill soon realized his magical perception and spellcasting improved signifitly. Even his physical endurand mental state were leaps ahead of where they had been.

  Meanwhile, ba Slytherin, the atmosphere had beore oppressive by the day. After taking Alex’s advice, Welen Higgs avoided directly fronting the pure-blood wizards on the ittee. Alex himself kept a low profile, going out early and ing back te. This retreating behavior only fueled the arrogance of the pure-bloods, who assumed Alex was scared of them. Emboldened by this belief, they became increasingly brazen.

  When poes unchecked, and ambition cks restraint, it iably leads to overreach.The pure-blood ittee was no exception. Having succeeded in banning Muggle-reted items, they began pushing half-blood wizards further into the margins. Wilkes took plete trol of the Slytherin Quidditch team.

  Clubs with even a hint of Muggle influence were dissolved—Vivian’s poker club, a half-blood reading group, and even a Muggle studies club. They went as far as threatening students to ge their elective courses. Alex couldn’t help but wonder why Professor Sheir Head of House, didn’t intervehe Potions Master was a rare sight outside of css, and it seemed he spent much of his time away from the school entirely.