"Hydra? You're using the name of my Patronus directly?" Tom frowned at Wade.
He did not quite understand why.
Wasn't this Wade's organisation? Why use the name of his Patronus?
Could it be...
Was Wade planning to put him out in front again?
If that happened, then if Hydra ever got into trouble, he would be the first one thrown into Azkaban...
No!
He absolutely could not sit back and wait for disaster!
"Tom, what do you think of the name?" Wade asked with narrowed eyes.
"It's great! Absolutely perfect!" Tom immediately backed down.
Casual banter with Wade was one thing, but when it came to major decisions, his opposition was completely meaningless...
He could tell from Wade's expression that he was serious this time, which meant the organisation's name had already been decided.
"Excellent! Very enlightened of you!" Wade said, patting Tom on the shoulder approvingly. "Then you're Hydra's first member!"
"First member? Aren't you one?" Tom asked warily.
"Of course I am! I mean you're the first additional member!" Wade replied with a smile.
Tom let out a sigh of relief. If Wade hadn't joined himself and had simply left Tom to handle everything alone, there was a ninety-percent chance he would end up taking the blame for everything.
Now that Wade was involved, there was still hope.
"What about the others? Should we recruit them too?" Tom asked.
"No, not for now." Wade shook his head. "The time isn't right yet. Ideally, even the organisation's name should remain hidden for now. Nobody can be told."
"Then what about her..." Tom said coldly, pointing at Elena.
Elena's face immediately turned pale. She hurriedly covered her mouth.
"I won't tell anyone! I swear! Please don't kill me!"
"I'm a good person. I don't kill innocent people indiscriminately," Wade said.
"I meant him." Elena pointed at Tom.
Because Tom's appearance and demeanour somewhat resembled her father's, Elena's past trauma instinctively made her feel that he was not a good person...
Tom's face darkened.
"Compared to Wade, I look more like the villain?"
"Haha~ I knew you had the best judgement, Elena! I've been saying it all along. If you cut this guy open, his heart would be black inside!" Wade exclaimed happily.
The tension in Elena's heart finally eased. With a good person like Wade here, surely nothing would happen to her...
"Obliviate..."
Elena's eyes rolled back, and she collapsed unconscious onto the floor.
"Heh... I heard you're a good person," Tom said with a sneer.
"What? Did you actually want to kill her?" Wade replied as he put away his wand. "I only erased that small portion of our conversation just now. How does that make me anything other than a good person?"
As he spoke, Wade snapped his fingers in front of Elena.
Elena slowly opened her eyes.
"Huh? Why did I faint?"
"It seems you were a little too overwhelmed emotionally just now, so..." Wade lied as naturally as breathing.
Elena immediately remembered the conversation she had just had with her mother through the Resurrection Stone, and her eyes reddened once more.
"She said she would never forgive me... that she's always hated me..." Elena said through her sobs.
"If she hadn't said that, you would never have been able to climb out of this pit for the rest of your life, Elena," Wade said. "Perhaps she hated you because of your father, but she loved you too. That's the bond of family. Blood is thicker than water."
"You mean... she said those things on purpose?" Elena looked at Wade hopefully.
Wade replied, "In all of this, the greatest victim is actually you, Elena... you essentially lost both your parents and the happy family you once had overnight."
Elena fell into a daze after hearing that.
Was that really why her mother had said those heartbreaking things?
Tom, standing to the side, had already gone numb.
Wade's seamless acting...
Unless someone had seen his true nature, nobody could possibly see through him!
He had literally cast an Obliviate on the poor girl moments ago, and now he was comforting her and helping her work through her emotions...
"What should I do?" the girl asked blankly.
"Do what you want to do, and live your life well, Elena..." Wade said gently.
"What I want to do..." Elena repeated the words softly, her expression gradually becoming more determined. "Right now, there's only one thing I want to do!"
"I understand. I'll help you, because our goals are the same," Wade said.
"I'll listen to you... then where should I go from here?" Elena asked.
Wade replied calmly, "Stay here. Learn everything you can. With our current abilities, we're still unable to accomplish that goal."
"Then... how are you planning to arrange things for me?"
"I originally planned to find a way to get you into Hogwarts, but... with your talent, Hogwarts' pace of instruction wouldn't suit you. And since you entered the country illegally, enrolling normally would be very troublesome," Wade analysed.
"Then I'll stay here and learn from all of you," Elena said.
Wade looked at Tom.
"How about learning from him?"
Elena glanced at Tom, and her face immediately filled with hesitation.
"What? Is there a problem?"
"I... could I learn from you instead? Him... I'm a little scared of him," Elena said hesitantly.
Tom's face immediately darkened. Even after being hit with an Obliviate, she still instinctively thought he was the villain?
"Tsk... suit yourself." Tom turned and walked away.
"Hmm... I probably won't have enough time to teach you personally. And once we return to Hogwarts, you won't be able to come with us anyway. How about this? I'll have Andrews teach you. He's an outstanding Durmstrang graduate. Durmstrang's teaching methods may suit you better. Besides, considering his relationship with your mother, he'll definitely do his best."
Elena looked disappointed.
She had already been hiding inside the carriage when Wade and Slytherin fought the Auror squad.
She had personally witnessed Wade and Slytherin defeat an entire team of Aurors without suffering a single injury themselves!
Because of her background, Elena had met many Aurors throughout her life, including quite a few powerful ones. But she had never seen anyone defeat an entire Auror squad while outnumbered, emerge completely unharmed, and still leave every opponent alive!
So she genuinely hoped Wade would be the one to teach her.
"I know that Transfiguration is your strongest subject, and I happen to know a thing or two about Transfiguration myself. During the holidays, I can give you some guidance in that area... but remember this: a powerful wizard cannot afford to be overly specialised. The reason I'm having Andrews teach you is because I want you to strengthen your weaknesses and fill in the gaps in your abilities," Wade said.
Only then did Elena smile again.
...
Late that night, inside the stone house.
Tom had just finished another sparring session with Slytherin.
As he watched Wade repairing the Obscurus clothing that Slytherin wore, he asked,
"How are you going to choose people to join... the organisation? Are you looking for people who are absolutely loyal to you?"
"No, that's not it," Wade replied.
"You don't want people loyal to you?" Tom asked in confusion.
"An organisation built on loyalty to a single person can never last," Wade said, shaking his head.
"Then what kind of organisation can last?"
"An organisation where everyone is loyal to the same belief can endure. That way, even if the leader disappears, the organisation won't fall apart. Just like the creature shown by your Patronus. Cut off one head, and two more will grow in its place," Wade explained calmly.
Tom fell silent.
At that moment, he finally understood why Wade had chosen the name Hydra for the organisation he intended to build.
If an organisation was loyal only to a single person, then once its leader was gone, the organisation would collapse...
Take Grindelwald's followers, for example. Once Grindelwald was gone, they would be left leaderless, and all that would await them would be reckoning from every side.
But if everyone shared loyalty to the same belief, then even if the leader disappeared, the organisation would endure!
"Interesting." Slytherin nodded with a smile. "I knew a brat like you would never lack ambition."
"Without ambition, I'd have ended up in Gryffindor, old man..." Wade shrugged.
"No. Even without ambition, you still wouldn't have gone to Gryffindor," Tom said.
"Oh? Then where would I have gone?" Wade asked.
"I think you'd have ended up in Hufflepuff," Tom replied.
"Why Hufflepuff?"
"Because you like pretending to be harmless while hiding your true strength. Hufflepuff suits that perfectly," Tom said with complete certainty.
"From that statement, it sounds like you don't think very highly of Hufflepuff students," Wade remarked.
"Do I?" Tom frowned.
"Otherwise, you wouldn't say that me being in Hufflepuff is the same as pretending to be weak." Wade waved a hand. "That way of thinking is wrong."
"Mm. I suppose you're right." Tom admitted his prejudice.
Slytherin cut in, "I don't see any problem with it. Helga's admission standards were extremely loose. She accepted everyone... which naturally meant that her students were generally rather ordinary... they simply couldn't compare with Slytherins."
"No. The four Houses are fundamentally equal. There's no such thing as one House being superior to another. Slytherin has its own strengths, and the students Hufflepuff accepts have strengths of their own as well. They simply excel in different areas," Wade said.
"And you understand this better than I do, the founder himself?" Slytherin said unhappily.
"I wouldn't dare claim that..."
Wade replied with a smile.
"But the admission standards of the four Houses are inseparable from the educational philosophies of the Four Founders. Hufflepuff's philosophy is somewhat similar to the idea of teaching everyone without discrimination... although the students it accepts are not as distinctly characterised as those of the other three Houses, they represent the common majority..."
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