Early in the m, Draalfoy bolted upright from a nightmare, his face pale and his limbs filing as he screamed in terror.

  “Ahhh! Get away from me! Do me! Go eat Longbottom instead!!!”

  He gasped for breath, his chest heaving, still trapped in the lingering fear of his dream.

  As his eyes adjusted to the familiar, cozy surroundings of the Slytherin dormitory, his panic gradually subsided. His tense body rexed, and he slumped bato his bed, letting out a bitter ugh—a ugh so pitiful it could break anyone’s heart.

  Only he knew how much he had been through these past few days.

  Sihe day he and Neville had teamed up to defeat that Aantu, Glenn had officially taken them under his wing for training. He had crafted an intense aiculous schedule tailored to their individual needs.

  First on the agenda was their knowledge base. Glenn didn’t demand much—just that they master every spell in *The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 1* and be able to cast them instantly in real-life situations. On top of that, they were required to learwenty simple yet practical spells that Glenn had personally selected.

  “Just kill me already! Are you even human? Fine, you win! I’ll call you my big brother if it helps!”

  Draco usually needed several days to practid master a single spell, let alone use it profitly. Now he was expected to learn all these spells within his first year? It was absurd.

  Neville felt the same way. His talent for spellwork was even worse than Draco’s. He was so afraid of failing that, more often than not, his fear became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

  Glenn, however, was unmoved. “Aside from Sundays, you’ll both apao the Forbidden Forest every ht. Each time, the target I assign you will be tougher tha. Learning these spells is what will keep you alive during these training sessions. It’s up to you.” With that, he igheir pints.

  Fine. We’ll learn. We’ll learn, okay?

  The two of them forced smiles that were more pitiful than tears.

  This rigorous trainihem with little time for anything else. Their daily workload became so overwhelming that they were often at their wits’ end.

  Fortunately, when it came to homewlenn had asked Hermioo tutor them.

  Every day, Hermione would spare half an hour to expin the day’s assigs to Neville and Draco. She always finished her own homework early and had an exceptional grasp of the material. However, her tut sessions were limited to thirty minutes, as she still ime to read, practice spells, and spend time with Glenn. If Neville and Draco couldn’t finish the rest of their homework, they were left to their own devices.

  When it came to spellwork, the twling students began frequently seeking help from their professors. Fortunately, the professors at Hogwarts were kind and generous, patiently answering their questions iail.

  “Oh, that’s an iing spell. I’ve never heard of such a simple trol spell before. Is this a secret passed down in your family, Mr. Longbottom? If so, I’d advise you to keep it fidential and not share it with others,” Professor Flitwick said, adjusting his gsses as he marveled at a simple trol spell Glenn had ied. He also took the opportunity to warn Neville, who had e to sult him.

  Retly, Neville had brought quite a few spells to Professor Flitwick fuidance. Among them were one or two that the professor had never entered before. After testing them, he was astoo find that these spells were not only highly effective but also ed less magical energy and were easier to cast pared to simir spells.

  “If I’d known these spells when I was younger, I might’ve won a few more dueling championships,” Flitwick thought regretfully. He enthusiastically expihe nuances of casting the spell, including the precise angle of wand movements and the details of pronunciation.

  “Draco, learn as many of Glenn’s self-created spells as you . They’ll be you immensely,” Snape advised his godson seriously when Drae to seek his guidance.

  Of course, Snape himself had been eyeing Glenn’s self-created spells for a while. These were spells Glenn had developed by studying the magical circuits of existing spells, making adjustments, and ultimately creating new ones.

  Now that Draco was required to learn these spells and had e to Snape for help, it was the perfect opportunity for So learn them himself.

  Although Snape knew Glenn wouldn’t refuse if he directly asked for lessons, his pride wouldn’t allow it.

  Ah, what luck! This was the perfect ce. Snape decided to ensure Draco learned as much as he could from Glenn, allowing him to be ily.

  Brilliant. Simply brilliant.

  Of course, Draco would gaiy from this arra as well. With a hidden dueling master like Snape guiding him, how could Draco fail to master these small spells?

  Standing behind Draco, who was seated and practig the spell’s intricacies, Snape suddenly grinned sinisterly. His cold gaze sent a chill down Draco’s spine.

  Draco shivered, feeling a strange ess creeping up his back. He tightened his robe.

  Weird. Snape’s office wasn’t usually this cold.

  Shaking his head, Draco dismissed the irrelevant thoughts. He didn’t have the luxury to think about such things now—he had arip to the Forbidden Forest tonight.

  At this thought, his eyes welled up with uears, his heart heavy with grievance.

  “This is just a step toward being stronger. I do this. Wheime es, Potter will be at my mercy.”

  Draco steeled himself, finding motivation ihought of tormenting Scarhead Potter and that Weasley pauper. This was his only so the grueling training under Glenn.

  The ges in Drad Neville were signifit, but the transformation of Slytherin as a whole was even more striking.

  The once arrogant snakes had noticeably toned down their behavior. Discrimination against Muggle-born wizards had signifitly decreased, and they no longer used the derogatory term “Mudblood.”

  The lions, badgers, and eagles were baffled but deeply impressed.

  “Did a troll hit them on the head? They’re not causing trouble anymore!”

  This sudden ge was uling, leaving others unsure how to react.

  Some Hufflepuffs and Ravencws with Slytherin friends tried to pry for answers but learned nothing.

  “What’s gotten into them?” Harry wondered aloud. Retly, Malfoy had been b them far less, always rushing off after css. Harry found it uling.

  “Just saying, I don’t have any weird preferences, and I definitely don’t like boys. Thank you very much.”

  “Haha, maybe someone finally taught them a lesson. They’ve always been sant; it’s about time someone khem doeg,” Ron said, his mouth full of chi leg.

  Neville, dev his food silently nearby, gave Ron a peculiar look. Could this bushy-browed boy be a detective?

  Sihe older Slytherins’ plete defeat in their duel with Glenn, a new ideology had begun to take root in the house that once revered pure-blood lineage.

  “Strength above all.”

  Having lost to Glenn in both physical bat and magic, the pure-blood Slytherins were reevaluating their priorities. The cept of “strength” was quickly rising to prominence.

  What Glenn hadn’t expected was that instead of wallowing iment after their defeat, the Slytherins had turheir frustration into motivation, diving headfirst into a frenzy of learning and dueling.

  The entire house was caught up in a whirlwind of self-improvement.

  At the insistence of Slytheri Marcus, Snape’s offiow hosted a dueling ptform every Saturday night at 8 PM, exclusively for Slytherins to practice their bat skills. Rankings were established based on dueling prowess, determining one’s status within the house.

  The top spot remained vat, reserved flenn. His overwhelming victory that day had earheir unwavering respect.

  Though they repeatedly invited Glenn to join their internal duels, he deed, much to their disappoi.

  Still, this didn’t stop them from seeking Glenn’s advi spells whehey could. If they mao catch him, he would relutly uidance.

  That was the key—if they mao catch him.

  Glenn was exasperated. While he didn’t mind helping the enthusiastic Slytherins, it signifitly cut into his own time for researg spells, practig alchemy, and spending time with Hermione. As a result, he had taken to casting Disillusio Charms on himself and Hermione immediately after css to avoid being swarmed.

  Invisible beside him, Hermione gleefully patted Glenn, stifling her ughter. She had never seen him so flustered and was thhly enjoying his predit.

  Glenn, watg Hermione ugh without a care, pinched her cheek.

  “Are you mad?” Hermioeased, trying to pry his hand away.

  But she couldn’t.

  After a while, Gle go.

  “No,” he replied, his expression calm.

  “Yeah, sure, not mad at all. But seriously, they’ve ged so much. At least they’re not as insufferable as before. Still, if they keep this up, it’s going to be even harder for us to win the House Cup.” Hermione rubbed her cheek, pouting. Slytherin’s newfound dedication to learning and dueling had made them strohan ever, further diminishing Gryffindor’s ces of victory.

  Most of Gryffindor’s points came from uppercssmen like Percy or from Hermione herself. The rest of the liooo busy causing trouble, stantly losing points for the house!

  We’re doomed!

  Hermione cast a resentful g Glenn. It was all his fault! If only he were in Gryffindor, none of this would’ve happened!

  “What’s wrong?” Glenn asked, puzzled.

  The girl rolled her eyes.

  “Nothing. I was just thinking—Christmas is ing soon. With just the two of us staying behind, how should we spend this special holiday?”