After the Potions css, Professor Slughorn, clearly impressed with Alex's wave him several gss bottles to store his finished potion. He even added 10 points to Slytherin, smiling with pride at Alex's aplishment. Slughorn, like many Hogwarts professors, had a tendency to favor students from his own house, so the extra encement wasn't surprising.

  Carrying five bottles of calming draught, Alex hawo to Vivian as they walked out of css.

  "Here, you should take these. We made them together, after all."

  Vivian shook her head, embarrassed. "Oh no, Alex, that was all you. I barely did anything. I just handed you ingredients."

  Alex insisted, pushing one of the bottles into her hand. "At least take one. You were still my partoday, even if I didn’t give you much of a ce to brew."

  Vivian chuckled at his stubbornness. "You really know how to talk, don't you?"

  As they tinued walking, Vivian's tone shifted to something more pyful. "By the way, the weekend's ing up. Could you lend me your poker set? I've got a few friends who want to py with me."

  Alex raised an eyebrow, a bit surprised by how quickly Vivian had taken to the game. He hadn't seen much of her tely due to his focus on spells and studies, but apparently, she had been keeping busy. "You're hooked already?" he said with a mock sigh.

  Ba the Slytherin on room, Alex handed over his poker set to Vivian before retreating to his room to dive into more spellwork.

  Alex reflected on his first week at Hogwarts. The Defense Against the Dark Arts css had been a disappoi. The professor, old and frail, seemed disied in teag anything beyond the textbook. There was no practical application, and Alex had heard rumors that the css was cursed, with no professor able to st more than a year. He feared this one might not even make it that long.

  Transfiguration, however, was a different story. Alex discovered that he had a natural talent for it. In the first lesson, when Professonagall asked the css to turn a matchstito a needle, Alex mao succeed after just half an hour of effort. Magall even rewarded Slytherin with 5 points for his skill. Although he eransfiguration, he k would require stant practice, so he decided to focus on it after he made more progress in other areas.

  Potions, oher hand, felt almost like sed nature to him. The precise nature of potion-making—cutting, grinding, and timing—was something he excelled at, thanks to his steady hands ahodical approach. He quickly realized that potion brewing was simir to cooking. Success depended rgely on the quality of the ingredients and the attention to detail during the process.

  Alex began to think beyond just learning. He po use his potion-making skills to earn some ine. Gringotts only allowed a limited amount of gold to be exged each year, and although Sirius Bck had provided him with some financial help, Alex didn't want to rely on that forever. Selling potions would be a good way to support himself iure.

  As for his other subjects—Herbology, Astronomy, and History of Magic—Alex's goal was simply to keep up with the coursework. His real focus, however, was on spells and Lily's amulet project, which had piqued his i from the moment he found her notes.

  To manage his time, Alex created a detailed pn:

  First, he would start by learning as many spells as possible from the old textbooks he had collected from the Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts s. His goal was to master all mainstream spells from grades 1 to 7. He wasn't aiming to perfect them all right away—some spells, like Apparitiooo advanced and dangerous to attempt without proper training—but he wao have a solid foundation in all the basics.

  Sed, after gaining a broad knowledge of spells, Alex would focus on developing self-defense magic. He o find a few core spells to master and build his own tactical system for prote.

  To measure his progress, Alex categorized spells into four levels:

  1. Entry: At this level, he could cast the spell, but not with much precision. His first goal was to reach this stage with as many spells as possible.2. Profit: Here, he would be able to cast spells quickly and accurately, even in challenging ditions. Proficy meant no mistakes, regardless of the situation.3. Instinct: This was the stage where a spell became sed nature, allowing for silent casting and, in some cases, wandless magic. Right now, he had two spells at this level.4. Extraordinary: This was Alex's personal vision for mastery, where a spell was not only perfected but enhanced or transformed beyond its inal form. Vanessa's extra spell had the potential to reach this level, though for now, it was still just above proficy.

  Alex had already begun to imagine ways to develop his own spells, but he khat reag this level would take time.

  While all this was happening, Alex tio study Lily's amulet notes. He hoped to create practical alchemical items, such as rew the amulet to increase his defensive capabilities. He had a stant fear of not being prepared for dahe idea of having insuffit firepower terrified him. To bat this fear, he studied new spells tirelessly.

  Alex also had his ongoing resear Professor Flitwick's Charms Club. He po dive into the topics of silent casting, wandless spells, and magisitivity once he had mastered more of the basic spells. He uood that mastering silent casting was all about intense practice with specific spells, while improving magisitivity required a deeper uanding of his own magical reserves.

  In his analysis, Alex broke down magito three mais:

  1. Magic reserve: How much magical power a wizard has.2. Magic strength: The raw force behind each spell.3. Magisitivity: A wizard's ability to feel and trol magic.

  By uanding these elements, Alex knew he could refine his abilities.