Professor Flitwick considered the request for a moment before nodding. In his eyes, Alan was a cautious and determined student, so he tacitly approved of the research direction.
With a plan in place, the next step was to gather information. Upon returning to the Slytherin common room, Alan sought out Rozier and instructed him to inform the pure-blood students of a new arrangement: for every unique book on Bloodline Magic they provided—specifically versions Alan had not yet seen—they could deduct one month's protection fee.
As for the students being blackmailed, they were immensely relieved to find that Alan kept his word. He didn't bring up the previous ambush again, and he even returned the original magic books after copying them, which lifted a massive weight off their minds. Many of them had initially considered fleeing the school just as Yaxley had.
Since Alan did not press his advantage, and the "protection fee" merely involved providing family texts for him to duplicate, the task was incredibly easy for the students. They didn't realize they were essentially undermining their own families' hoarded secrets. Some even secretly mocked Alan for being a fool, thinking he was only interested in extorting "useless" old books.
By squeezing these students, Alan gained a fortune over the following months, including hundreds of Galleons, various rare texts, and high-grade alchemical materials that significantly lined his pockets.
His spell research also saw considerable progress. The Disabling Curse had improved significantly after several rounds of optimization, and the Energy Storage Spell had finally moved into the experimental stage. However, the research on measuring magical reserves remained in the data-accumulation phase. The many scholars he communicated with provided plenty of theories, but no direct solutions. Even Professor Bones had no definitive answer. The biggest hurdle remained the lack of live experimental data; he dared not conduct human trials at Hogwarts, nor could he bring himself to test such volatile magic on himself.
Progress in training was equally gratifying. Since the day of the duel, Alan had put everyone in the group through high-intensity drills. He drained every ounce of their physical and magical energy daily, leaving them exhausted and complaining bitterly.
Vivian was especially vocal about her resentment. As she put it, she suffered through Professor T's mental torment during class and Alan's physical torment afterward, which had made her uncharacteristically quiet lately. Alan and Charles were quite pleased with the change; they finally had a break from her constant babbling.
The effects of the training were undeniable. Data collected by Alan showed that everyone in the program had visible improvements in magical perception, control, and total reserves. Compared to their previous regular training, the special drills made the experimental data far more intuitive. Unfortunately, the precision of this data was still vague, and the quantitative research had to continue.
But one must eat one bite at a time. The lack of materials and refined data prevented the research from moving faster, and Alan was running out of time for the term. The third academic year was drawing to a close.
After being cooped up at Hogwarts for so long, he didn't plan to stay at the school for the summer. He intended to visit friends and try to collect more information on Bloodline Magic and alchemy. Moreover, there was one person Alan had never forgotten: Yaxley. He had gone to great lengths to force the boy to flee specifically for this moment. However, within the British wizarding world, he still had to act cautiously to avoid giving anyone an excuse to intervene.
"So, I have to play the part of the 'lure' again, huh? Britain is a rotten place with too many annoying rules," Alan muttered to himself, pulling out a strangely shaped compass.
Time passed quickly, and final exams arrived. This year was different—though not for Alan, who passed with "Outstanding" marks across the board, as expected. What was surprising was Vivian. After the intense training, she received "Exceeds Expectations" in most subjects and an "Outstanding" in Charms.
The annual finals were usually a painful struggle for Vivian. In the past, if Alan hadn't tutored her, she barely would have passed. But this year, she stood her ground. Her grades even surprised Flitwick and McGonagall, who thought the gossipy girl had finally had an epiphany.
"Haha! You should have seen Flitwick's face when I successfully fixed that clock with a Mending Charm. It was absolutely classic!" Vivian boasted excitedly to Charles and William on the Hogwarts Express.
Alan rolled his eyes; this was the eighth time she had mentioned it. He also hadn't expected Flitwick to use the clock Alan had given him two years ago for the exam—and to break it into pieces for the students to fix. Did the Professor actually dislike receiving clocks?
"That just proves the training program I arranged is effective. Next year, I'll have to increase the intensity to consolidate your gains," Alan said flatly.
"Uh..." Vivian wished she could bite her tongue. She had walked right into that one.
Charles glanced at her speechlessly before changing the subject. "That Professor T this year was truly a nightmare. For the final, he made us face a Boggart. We were almost on holiday, and he made us confront something that terrifying."
Alan nodded. Charles's words reminded him of the large basin of "Starry Night" that the Boggart had turned into during his own exam, and his stomach churned at the thought.
"Exactly! Dealing with a Boggart should be lighthearted, but he managed to make us all depressed," Vivian continued to vent about Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Recalling the relentlessly negative Professor T, Alan wondered if the man had been cursed after only a year of teaching. He'd heard from seniors in the Charms Club that the Professor's current state was actually the result of a lingering hex.
Charles noticed Alan's dazed look and interjected, "Alan, where are you going this summer? Do you want to spend the holidays at my place?"
"No, thank you," Alan said, shaking his head. "I promised Madam Longbottom that I would stay with her this summer to keep her company. It's not easy for her to look after the whole family alone, so I should go and help out."
At the mention of the Longbottoms, the mood in the compartment dipped. Charles said bitterly, "And that murderer from the Travers family escaped justice by relying on his family's connections. It's truly detestable."