"Then he doesn't get to join," Wade said with a grin. "If his so-called 'sincere apology' can't even earn forgiveness, then it clearly isn't sincere enough."
"Pfft~!" Tom suddenly laughed. "I think I can already guess how he plans to earn their forgiveness."
"Oh? Let's hear it," Wade said.
"Sincerity has a price. As long as the Galleons on the table are enough, someone will always recognize his 'sincerity,'" Tom said with a smirk.
"It seems you've gotten quite familiar with how these pure-blood family kids operate, Tom… But this is the price he has to pay for his past mistakes, isn't it?"
Tom sighed. "How do you know so much about everything…"
"When you've seen enough, you start to understand…" Wade replied with a trace of melancholy. He was once again reminded of his life before transmigrating.
Though the magical world was dazzling, the thought that he might never return to his old world left even Wade with a sense of loss.
However, in Tom's eyes, Wade's expression meant something else entirely.
This guy must've had a huge falling out with his own family… Tom thought to himself.
…
As the number of members in the S.M.A.S.H club continued to grow,
Wade and the others became increasingly busy.
To cope with this, Wade handpicked a few more members to serve as core staff, finally freeing himself from the daily chores.
Wednesday night marked the club's first official group activity.
Wade planned to use this meeting to formally announce the society's principles and a few ground rules.
As Wednesday evening approached, the number of new members joining the club finally began to dwindle.
However, since the society's membership had nearly reached its capacity, the decrease wasn't much of an issue.
It's worth mentioning that Abraxas had finally managed to earn the forgiveness of all the people he had bullied in the past, successfully "cleansing" his reputation.
Of course, only he knew exactly how steep the price had been.
Soon, Wednesday evening arrived.
Inside the club's activity room—formed by combining two large classrooms—the atmosphere was buzzing with noise and excitement.
Wade had long since set up many long tables along the wall of the activity space.
Those tables were now covered with food brought by Alphard and the others from the kitchens, courtesy of the house-elves.
The cost? Just a few harmless but effusively grateful words of praise, which had left the house-elves practically weeping with gratitude.
As a result, while the members waited, none of them felt bored.
The whole scene looked more like a large party than anything else.
In the very center of the activity room, four long tables had been pushed together to form a raised platform.
Wade, the club president, and Professor Slughorn, the faculty advisor, were already standing on the platform making final preparations.
As the hands of the nearby clock struck eight, a chime rang out.
The noise in the room gradually subsided, and all eyes turned toward the stage.
Professor Slughorn smiled and nodded toward Wade, "Go on, Mr. Reynolds. Time to greet your members."
Wade nodded and stepped confidently to the center of the platform.
The moment he appeared, the audience below erupted into enthusiastic applause.
Just a little over a week into the school year, Wade had already fought a duel praised by Dumbledore himself as the most brilliant student duel in the history of Hogwarts.
In just a few short days, he had thoroughly crushed every arrogant pure-blood student who had dared oppose him.
And it's worth noting—many of those pure-bloods were upper-year students.
Yet Wade had still triumphed, so thoroughly that none of them had even dared complain to a professor. He had beaten them into complete submission.
There wasn't a single person in the room who didn't respect him for it.
Some were already saying that Wade was destined to become a wizard as powerful as Dumbledore himself.
Many had joined the SMASH mutual aid society solely because of Wade.
Faced with the enthusiastic applause, Wade raised his hand and gently pressed it downward.
The clapping gradually quieted. Everyone looked at Wade with eager eyes.
"Classmates… No, I should say—brothers, sisters, friends, welcome… welcome to you all!"
"In my view, the applause tonight shouldn't be for me, but for yourselves."
"You came here tonight because something in your hearts called you…"
"Because you've come to see that outdated thinking no longer serves us!"
"You came because you long for something new… Civilization. Equality. Harmony. Kindness. Integrity. Justice. Freedom. Collective progress. Yes—ideals rarely spoken of until now…"
Wade paused, scanning the room before continuing, "Many say I despise pure-blood wizards… bullies, tyrants, blood supremacists!"
"No… In truth, I do not hate them—not at all…"
"Because our society was not founded on hatred… and we are not fighting because of hate!"
"I don't actually believe that those pure-blood supremacists are irredeemably evil. I think it's merely a matter of different values… They're not beyond saving—they're pitiable people desperately in need of our help!"
"And on that note, I must mention a comrade who has seen the light. He was once my enemy… and now, a friend!" Wade's gaze landed on Abraxas in the crowd. "Abraxas Malfoy!"
All eyes immediately turned to Abraxas, and his body stiffened slightly.
"His change of heart is the perfect proof of what I just said."
"And oftentimes, realizing one's mistakes takes great courage! It takes bravery to sever ties completely with your past. That alone is worthy of everyone's applause!"
Thunderous applause broke out, and some students even began cheering loudly for Abraxas.
Though a little uncomfortable, Abraxas—truthfully—had never been applauded and praised by so many people at once.
For a moment, he felt drunk on it, as if tipsy on fine wine…
A reserved smile formed on his face as he bowed repeatedly to the students around him…
Betraying his old group had come at a steep price, but now it seemed… maybe it wasn't so bad after all?
It was a while before the applause finally faded.
"Magical talent only blossoms in a rare few… and every one of us standing here today is part of that extraordinary 'few'!"
"We are all wizards! We are all miracles of life!"
"So why, then, should we crudely divide ourselves by blood, assigning worth and status based on something so shallow? Why should we continue to fight and tear each other down over such meaningless things?"
"We are still young! We are the rising sun! The future of the wizarding world belongs to us!"
"So our mission here at school was never meant to be about bloodline prejudice, nor the petty squabbles between Houses!"
"Hogwarts was never meant to be like this! We were always meant to aspire to something greater!"
"Our true purpose is to cherish this precious opportunity to learn, to support one another, to grow together! To fight for the future development and prosperity of the wizarding world!"
"That is the true meaning of Hogwarts! That is the reason our mutual aid society was founded! That is the goal we strive for!"
"My friends—let's work hard together! To make a better world where everyone would sing our achievements for generations!"
Though Wade didn't speak for long, his words were filled with everything that stirred the hearts of young people.
And so, even after Wade had stepped down from the platform, the applause from the crowd remained enthusiastic and unending!
Tom, Alphard, Charlie, and Anne watched Wade's back with a heart full of emotion and envy.
To sum it up in one phrase… A true man should be like this!
Professor Slughorn applauded enthusiastically as he stepped forward to greet Wade as he came down from the platform.
"Wade, your speech makes me feel ashamed! Hogwarts really shouldn't be like this… Merlin… Slytherin House has deteriorated like this under my watch…"
"Professor, everything will change! Isn't the change already starting now?"
…
Nurmengard.
Grindelwald sat with his eyes closed, rubbing his temples repeatedly.
"…A team we sent to investigate the Forbidden Forest has gone completely missing," Vinda was still reporting. "The goblins claim they know nothing, because one of their own scouting parties also disappeared without a trace! The only thing left at their former campsite were scorch marks from some kind of flame…"
"Not a single bit of good news… Vinda," Grindelwald released his hand from his brow, looking visibly exhausted. "Any news from Anne?"
"None…" Vinda took out a notebook, the one they used to contact Anne. "It seems she's currently helping Wade set up a student mutual aid society, so she doesn't have much time to investigate the locations marked in the notebook for now…"
"A society? What kind of society?" Grindelwald's attention was immediately caught by the word.
"A Student Mutual Aid and Support Hub… mm, that's how Anne described it. And… this is what she wrote down from the scene of their first gathering," Vinda said as she handed over the notebook.
Grindelwald took it and quickly skimmed through the pages.
"Ah… so that's what it is, A Student Mutual Aid and Support Hub, huh? Quite the idea… I just didn't expect that fellow Dumbledore to actually approve it. He really isn't worried at all, is he."
"A speech… Eh..? Why does this speech sound a bit familiar to me?"
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