(*^＠^*)o Huge thanks to Saw You moo for becoming a new member!♥♥
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"You're all so late tonight." Mr. Ogg was clearly displeased at how long the three had taken to return, his tone even carrying a hint of anxiety.
In fact, shortly after allowing the three kids into the Forbidden Forest, he had started to regret it. He wasn't even sure what had come over him—just a few words of flattery, and he'd actually let three little students enter the forest alone.
Previously, he hadn't accompanied them because there had been older students leading the group. The forest's outer edge was something senior students could handle.
But three first-years… let's just say it was sheer luck nothing had happened!
If something really had gone wrong… losing his job would be the least of his worries—he might have ended up in Azkaban!
"Sorry, we saw a group of Mooncalves dancing along the way. We didn't realize how long we'd been watching."
Lying came naturally to Wade.
"Oh, Mooncalves, was it… well, that explains it. Hahaha~ Those little creatures do love to dance in the moonlight." Mr. Ogg didn't suspect anything.
Mooncalves were adorable magical creatures, and for students their age, it was easy to be captivated by them.
"Next time, I'll escort you into the forest myself! Ehm, it's too dangerous to let you go in alone!" said Mr. Ogg as he walked the three of them back to the castle.
Walking through the empty corridors of the castle late at night, Wade spoke with a troubled tone, "This is a problem… If Mr. Ogg insists on going with us next time, it's going to be hard to operate. It looks like our search for the magical power will have to pause for now. I need to find a secret passage that leads outside the castle…"
Tom couldn't help but glance at Wade again. Wasn't handling Ogg something this guy could do with ease? And the secret passage—wasn't there already…
Then Tom noticed the direction of Wade's gaze—it was aimed at Anne.
In other words, that statement was deliberately meant for Anne to hear.
Tom immediately caught on and shut his mouth, swallowing the words he had nearly said aloud.
Anne hesitated after hearing Wade's words, but ultimately didn't say anything.
She had actually been about to mention a passage she knew that led directly from the castle into the Forbidden Forest.
It was a secret path her aunt had told her about.
It was the same route she had always used to sneak into the forest.
But after thinking it through, Anne ultimately decided not to tell Wade and Tom.
In fact, it would be best if Wade and Tom couldn't go with her at all!
That way, she could have all the "magical power" to herself!
At night, there were actually always Alliance members patrolling the Forbidden Forest, searching.
The only reason they hadn't encountered any member tonight was because she had reported the planned outing to Nurmengard.
Grindelwald, not wanting Wade and the others to discover his search efforts, had suspended the operation for the night.
Which meant, as long as she continued reporting when Wade and Tom planned to enter the forest, Grindelwald would halt the patrols on those nights.
This way... her own nightly trips to collect magical power would truly go unnoticed! (☆▽☆)
Just thinking about it made Anne both excited and nervous.
Suddenly, Wade asked, "Anne, you look a bit excited. Do you happen to know a secret passage out of the castle?"
"Ah—" Anne quickly snapped out of it and shook her head. "No, I don't. Tonight was my first time going into the Forbidden Forest—how could I possibly know?"
"Oh… I see. That's a real shame…" Wade replied with a look of regret.
Tom glanced at Anne with a look of pity.
He knew Wade very well, so he understood that the moment Anne claimed she didn't know, her name had already gone into Wade's little notebook.
Wade was the type to hold grudges.
And on that point, Tom spoke from personal experience…
Soon, the three of them, each with their own hidden thoughts, fell into silence. Before long, they arrived at the entrance to the common room.
"Harmony."
Anne spoke the new password, and the door to the Slytherin common room opened.
With the growing influence of the Mutual Aid Society, the Slytherin password had been changed from "pureblood" to "harmony."
This, it had to be said, was a great victory for the society.
"…Don't worry, we'll find a way to sneak out again. Mm… good night…"
Anne finished speaking and walked off toward the girls' dormitory.
Wade and Tom, watching her figure disappear around the corner of the staircase on the second floor, didn't return to their dorms immediately.
Instead, they found a secluded spot by the window and sat down.
Outside the windows of the Slytherin common room was the black lake, its surface shimmering with a deep green hue.
Sitting by the window, they could clearly see the fish swimming through the depths of the lake—and occasionally, the massive tentacle of some creature sweeping by in the darkness…
Wade raised his wand and drew a graceful arc through the air.
And then Tom noticed: the faint crackling of the fireplace, audible just moments ago, had gone completely silent.
Clearly, Wade had used some unfamiliar magic to isolate all sound from this space.
"Looks like Anne wasn't being honest," Tom finally said, now confident they couldn't be overheard.
Wade smiled and asked, "That's normal, Tom… Think about it—if you were in her shoes, would you tell us about the secret passage?"
Tom fell silent. Truthfully, if he were Anne, he wouldn't want to share the secret passage either. That way, he could monopolize that mysterious magical power and quickly become stronger.
"Even so… without your help locating the spots, how would she find the other locations?" Tom asked after a moment of reflection.
"Have you forgotten how familiar she was tonight? Don't tell me you actually think they couldn't find those places. They just didn't know how to extract the power hidden in them. Now that I've shown her the method, she can easily bypass us… maybe even bypass the people behind her and go solo."
Tom couldn't help but feel a sense of relief—relief that all the so-called magical power was fake and that this had all been orchestrated by Wade.
Otherwise, Anne might have actually managed to hoard that power for herself.
Tom now thought again of the "counterfeit" magical substance Wade had created.
"Those fakes… they really seem to work?"
"Of course. Do you know how many rare potion ingredients I used? It may be fake in origin, but it really can enhance one's strength."
"What?!" Tom's eyes widened. "You mean that stuff actually—"
"Don't get so worked up, Tommy boy! Do you really think there's no price to pay for a sudden boost in strength? There are side effects," Wade said calmly and without the slightest change in expression.
In any case, the Residue did have side effects to begin with, so this wasn't exactly a lie.
"So it has side effects…" Tom immediately felt more at ease after hearing that, and at the same time, he even felt a bit sorry for Anne.
Not only had she been manipulated, but she'd also absorbed fake stuff with side effects!
Of course… if Tom ever found out he was the one who'd been played the hardest, he would absolutely go after Wade with everything he had.
"Anyway, let's just sit back and watch. Let her absorb peacefully. Once she finds her power growing too rapidly to conceal, she'll naturally pass the message on to Grindelwald…"
Tom nodded. "That sounds reasonable. But… what if Grindelwald really shows up? Are you planning to inform Dumbledore? And what reason will you give to explain how you knew all this?"
"Tom, if Grindelwald comes, we definitely can't count on Professor Dumbledore," Wade said calmly.
"Why not?" Tom asked in confusion.
"Grindelwald knows better than anyone just how powerful Dumbledore is. So if he wants to stir up trouble at Hogwarts, the first thing he'll do is find a way to get Dumbledore out of the picture."
"That's true… Dumbledore doesn't know anything about what's happening here, so as long as he's drawn away, the only one left at Hogwarts who might pose a threat is Headmaster Dippet. But Dippet's already quite old… he might not be a match for Grindelwald," Tom said worriedly. "If that happens, how do you plan to deal with Grindelwald?"
Just luring him here… if we can't beat him, then we can't beat him—what else can we do?
"If we can't, then we can't. My goal was never to defeat Grindelwald. Even Dumbledore couldn't do that. So what's so strange if we can't either?" Wade said lightly.
"Then what is your goal?"