A few days later, Wade had Tom gather several of their companions in the Room of Requirement.
Tom knew perfectly well that Wade intended to use that purified magic to help strengthen them, and he had already guessed as much before they even arrived.
But he was not worried in the slightest that any of them would become stronger than him after receiving it.
That came from Tom's innate pride. In truth, aside from Wade, he had never believed himself inferior to anyone, and he saw no reason to start now.
These were the people Wade had currently determined he could trust, and who also knew what he intended to do in the future.
They were André Shafiq, Anne Rosier, and Elena Yurievna from Slytherin; Filius Flitwick from Ravenclaw; Grace McLaggen and Rubeus Hagrid from Gryffindor.
There were still no Hufflepuff students among them.
Over the past two years, Wade had been constantly busy. Aside from the friends he had made through chance encounters early on, he had barely interacted with most of his classmates.
He had even less contact with Hufflepuff students, let alone enough time or reason to identify several trustworthy companions from that house.
Among them, Wade gave André the largest portion without hesitation.
André was close to graduation, which meant his magical strength was gradually stabilising and would no longer increase as dramatically as before.
More importantly, once he graduated, he would be the first to charge into danger on Wade's behalf, and there would be no one else standing in front of him.
So improving his strength could not be delayed.
After giving a brief explanation of what the capsules were for, Wade distributed them among them one by one.
Almost everyone was excited. After all, this was something that could directly make them stronger, and none of them had ever been offered anything like it.
Only Hagrid hesitated, looking as though he wanted to say something and could not quite get the words out.
"Hagrid, what is it? If there's something you want to say, just say it," Wade said.
"I just think... something that can make people stronger must be really valuable. Giving it to me would... kind of be a waste. You know I'm not very good at magic..." Hagrid said quietly.
"No, Hagrid. I think you have more than enough potential. My judgement has never been wrong." Wade rose onto his toes and patted Hagrid on the shoulder. "Just use it."
Wade was not flattering him simply to make him feel better.
He genuinely believed Hagrid had enormous potential, far more than Hagrid himself seemed willing to admit.
As a half-giant, his magical power could not possibly be ordinary.
Even in the original history, after Hagrid had been expelled from Hogwarts and forbidden from using magic, leaving him with very little practical experience, he still demonstrated considerable magical ability many years later when he was sent to retrieve Harry.
That came almost entirely from his natural magical talent.
And when Ministry officials later came to arrest him, Hagrid had endured several Stunning Spells from trained Aurors before finally being knocked unconscious.
The magical resistance granted by his giant bloodline could not be underestimated either.
If Hagrid trained properly in the future and combined that strength with the equipment Wade could provide him, then in battle, he would practically become a human tank capable of smashing straight through anything in his path.
Hagrid, of course, knew none of that.
When he heard Wade's words, it was the first time he had ever felt truly recognised by someone, not pitied and not laughed at.
His bright, beetle-like eyes immediately reddened.
He lowered his head solemnly and said, "I won't let you down, Wade!"
Then everyone began placing the capsules into their mouths.
Tom watched from the side and noticed at once that the capsules they had been given were only about the size of a little finger.
More importantly, none of them looked as though they were suffering at all, not even for a second.
He finally could not help asking, "Why are their capsules so small, and why do none of them seem to feel anything? Mine was almost impossible to swallow."
"Because theirs are the improved version, Tom," Wade replied.
Tom's face immediately darkened as the realisation settled in.
So after everything Wade had said that night in the Chamber, he really had used him as a test subject.
Otherwise, where would the improved version have come from?
Before Tom could open his mouth to complain, Wade had already spoken again.
"You should all thank Tom. The reason you can absorb this magic painlessly now is because Tom personally participated in the experiment and provided the valuable data needed to create these improved capsules. Otherwise, very few people would be able to directly absorb such powerful magic."
Everyone immediately turned toward Tom with grateful expressions, as if he had done them a genuine favour.
Faced with all those thankful looks, Tom found himself completely unable to voice the accusation that had been sitting on the tip of his tongue.
"All right. Everyone, take some time to feel the changes in your strength," Wade said, clapping his hands.
By now, everyone could clearly sense the changes taking place in their bodies, and they began practising spells against one another without waiting to be told twice.
Unsurprisingly, every one of them received a tremendous boost.
"I've never felt casting magic was this easy before..." Hagrid said excitedly as he stared at the Disarming Charm he had just cast.
If even Hagrid, whose understanding of magic was comparatively poor, could improve this much, the others naturally benefited even more than he had.
Seeing the grateful looks directed at him from every side, Wade merely nodded calmly.
Everyone else assumed that this purified magic had to be incredibly difficult to obtain, and that Wade must have paid a heavy price for it.
Only Wade and Miravia knew just how easily he could acquire it if he wanted to.
Giving up a portion of something in exchange for far more useful assistance was, in his view, an extremely worthwhile trade.
There were many ways to make use of valuable resources, and hoarding them was only one of them.
Keeping everything to himself could certainly make Wade stronger, but he had long understood that being powerful alone was not enough to get anything done.
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Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69
