The room trembled under his gaze. A chorus of weak voices answered, “In favor… in favor…”

  “Good.” Alex’s tone remained pleasant, though his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Now, as for Yaxley… his earlier attitude was dht awful. Naturally, he o be punished. Here’s what I’ve decided: starting this month, everyone here will pay 20 Galleons per month as a prote fee. Equivalent trades are acceptable. Got it?”

  The wizards groaned inwardly but dared not pin. They had no choice but to grit their teeth and agree. “Perfect! Thank you for your cooperation.” Alex’s smile widened as his gaze nded on Rozier. “Rozier will handle colles. And don’t worry, everyoer you pay the first month’s fee, I’ll return your wands. I’m not a monster, after all.”

  “Yes, yes,” the umbled, nodding weakly.

  “But,” Alex tinued, his tone darkening, “if aries to get their family involved, or skips payment…” He raised his knuckle duster and tapped it ominously. “Well, my friend here is excellent at ‘colleg debts.’ He’s very effective at ‘healing’ too. I guaraisfa.”

  The wizards flihe memory of the beating still fresh in their minds. They nodded fervently, their faces pale. “O thing,” Alex added. “I’m open to trades. I prefer rare books or alchemy materials. Impress me, and I might even pay a premium.”

  With that, Alex walked to the door, leaving the trembling wizards behind. Outside the building, Alex paused, his expression cool as his eyes flicked toward a shadowy er. During the earlier frontation, he’d felt a faint magical presence the se. When Yaxley cast the Killing Curse, the sensation had grown strohe magical rea being unmistakable. Someone had been watg.

  “I see,” Alex murmured to himself, a faint smirk tugging at his lips. “So, some people have their eyes on these fools already. Yaxley, you’re a puppet dang on a stage you don’t even see. I’ve put so much effort into setting you up. Don’t let me down now.” With that, Alex turned on his heel, leaving the se without looking back.

  In the abandoned hut, a group of young wizards finally breathed a sigh of relief as Alex walked away. Some even colpsed onto the ground, their nerves giving out after the inteension. Refleg on the day's events, they felt a heavy sadness. Their eyes turo Yaxley, who was still sprawled on the floor, his preseirriment in everyone.

  “Yaxley, this is all your fault!” a senior wizard snapped, his voice heavy with frustration. “Didn’t you cim you joihe ittee to restore the glory of pure-bloods? Well, where’s the glory now? All we’ve earned is shame!”

  “Hmph, easy for you to talk about shame,” a fourth-year sneered, his toing. “You seniors are graduating soon, including Yaxley. What about us? We’re the ouck here, enduring Alex’s endless exploitation.”

  “That’s not the end of it,” Travers growled, wing from his injuries. His voice was ced with anger as he said, “That bastard humiliating us is the same as humiliating all pure-blood wizards. He has to pay for this!”

  “Pay for it? With what, another beating? Don’t drag us down!” the fourth-year shot back. “None of us take him on, so quit dreaming.”

  The hut desded into chaos as the young wizards argued, their voices overpping in a mess of bme and frustration. In Alex’s words, this was the perfeent for people to start throwing bme around. Humans had a tendency to shift responsibility for their failures onto others.

  Standing quietly in the er, Rozier watched the se unfold. He remained unnoticed, his expression unreadable as he mentally took note of every name and stan the room. This was the task Alex had given him—figure out which of the pure-blood wizards were still ging to their pride and which had given up oance. Rozier carefully logged each detail, knowing his survival now depended on fulfilling Alex’s orders.

  Today had been a turning point for Rozier. After everything he had witnessed, defying Alex was no longer an option. But Alex had rewarded his cooperation, promising him immunity from prote fees and even a share of future profits. For Rozier, this was a deal he couldn’t afford to refuse. He was now firmly on Alex’s side.

  Eventually, the group’s arguments fizzled out, and the young wizards dispersed. Yaxley, still lying on the ground, slowly regained his senses. He had heard every word of their quarrel, eae a nail in the coffin of his ambitions. His dream of rest pure-blood dominance had crumbled in mere hours.

  Bruised, humiliated, ahing with rese, Yaxley dragged himself to his feet, leaning against the wall for support. As he watched the others leave, his bloodshot eyes burned with hatred. The physical pain was bad enough, but the emotional toll was far worse. The lingering effects of the humiliation weighed heavily on his soul, amplifying his despair. He cast o, venomous goward Hogwarts before staggering into the snowy night, disappearing without a word.

  Back at Hogwarts, Alex returo the in the Forbidden Forest, where Higgs and Vivian were anxiously waiting. Seeing him walk in unharmed, their tense expressions softened with relief. “You’re back! Are you okay? Did Yaxley actually attack you?” Higgs asked hurriedly. “If he did, you should report it to the headmaster. Attag a student outside school grounds isn’t a small offense.”

  Alex smiled faintly at their . He hadn’t shared the full details of his pn with them, wanting to spare them unnecessary worry. They didn’t know he had faced a coordinated ambush, nor did they realize how many wizards had been involved. Judging by his appearahey assumed he had escaped unscathed without much effort.

  Not wanting to keep them in the dark, Alex briefly reted the events, though he left out Rozier’s role. “What? That many people went after you? And Yaxley used the Killing Curse?!” Higgs’s voice rose in shock. “Does he not realize what kind of sequehat could have?”

  Alex shrugged, feigning ignorance. “Who knows what was going through his head. Anyway, it’s all over now, isn’t it?”

  Vivian frowned, her worry irely eased. “But is it really okay for you to be colleg prote fees from those students? Isn’t that against school rules? What if they report you to the headmaster or their heads of house? You could’ve just scared them off. Why go so far?”

  Alex raised an eyebrow at her, his expression amused. “Vivian, you really don’t uand how things work in the wizarding world, do you?” He turo Higgs. “Care to expin?”

  Higgs nodded and turo Vivian. “In the wizarding world, it’s notoriously hard to vieone doing. Say I hexed you. If no one caught me i, I could cim someone used Polyjuice Potion to impersonate me. Or that I was uhe Imperius Curse. Even if I admitted it, I could say I was under Veritaserum. There’s always an excuse.”Vivian’s eyes widened in realization, and she looked back at Alex, who gave her a knowing smile.

  “That’s right,” Alex said, leaning back slightly. “Most of those captured Death Eaters are either the kind who’d rather die than submit, those caught red-handed, or those with someone credible enough to testify against them.”