The next morning, Hogwarts felt off.
Whispers traveled from table to table in the Great Hall.
Whispers about professors were looking for something.
Whispers about someone who had taken something important.
Alexander sat calmly at the Ravenclaw table, eating breakfast as if the castle tension had nothing to do with him.
But he noticed the looks.
Professors at the High Table were watching him.
Alexander simply sipped his morning tea and avoided eye contact.
His posture relaxed, expression neutral, and movements unhurried.
Next to him, Cho leaned in slightly.
"Why do they keep looking at you?"
Alexander blinked innocently.
"I honestly don't know," he said. "And I don't care."
Cho narrowed her eyes.
"Really?"
He nodded, continuing to eat.
She lowered her voice.
"Then where were you last night?"
Alexander paused mid-bite.
Cho continued.
"There are rumors someone was outside yelling 'Die Racist Hat' in the middle of the night."
Alexander slowly looked up, eyes wide with theatrical confusion.
"Who, me?"
He glanced around dramatically.
"There's another racist hat?"
He leaned forward, whispering urgently:
"Where? Let me educate it."
Cho stared at him for three full seconds… then rolled her eyes and went back to eating.
Before they could finish breakfast, a poltergeist dropped from the ceiling upside-down.
A stack of photographs fell onto the table.
Then he vanished instantly.
Alexander reacted quickly, trying to pocket them.
But he was half a second too slow.
Cho had already seen one.
In the photo, Alexander was very clearly smashing something hat-shaped onto the ground near the lakeshore.
She didn't speak.
Didn't even question him.
She only shook her head slowly and returned to her meal.
Alexander pretended not to notice that she noticed.
For the next few weeks.
The Sorting Hat's "reformation program" continued.
Silver and Copper executed their duties flawlessly.
The chickens had improved tremendously.
They could now peck on command, change targets, and swarm designated objects with military precision.
Alexander often stood with arms folded, watching his feathered "army" train.
At first, the Sorting Hat yelled and made many threats, but as time went on.
It became silent and only pleaded for it to stop.
"Please stop. I am a changed hat. I am not racist. You can ask Dumbledore..."
Whenever it became too noisy, Silver would place it in the chicken's water or silence it briefly.
Alexander maintained a strict routine:
Periodic washing charms
Drying via controlled Incendio
Structural restoration spells
"Cleanliness builds character," he would say.
Over time, the hat stopped resisting.
It conserved its energy and protested only when truly overwhelmed.
Progress… in Alexander's eyes.
Then came the night everything aligned.
Mid-May approached.
Alexander had already calculated the timeline.
He had Peeves watching the trio for the past few days.
So when he saw three cloaked figures sneaking toward the Astronomy Tower.
Peeves went to inform Alexander.
Alexander, inside his own cloak, ran off to the Astronomy Tower.
He watched as Harry, Ron, and Hermione completed the dragon handoff.
Charlie's team received the crate containing the young Norwegian Ridgeback, Norbert.
Before departing into the night sky.
Alexander watched from the shadows, satisfied.
Good… safe transfer.
Nothing changed.
But as the trio departed.
He noticed the mistake immediately.
They forgot to put on the invisibility cloak again.
And to make matters worse, they were talking very loudly.
Completely forgetting that they were outside of their dormitories during curfew.
Footsteps echoed from the corridors.
Lantern light approached rapidly.
Alexander sighed and removed his cloak.
Harry and Ron froze instantly.
Hermione gasped.
"Alex! What are you doing here?!" she said in a loud and confused voice.
Alexander shrugged.
"Nothing. I just wanted to see the dragon one last time."
Hermione's eyes narrowed, then widened as realization finally hit her.
Alexander continued calmly.
"If you didn't know, I'm well-versed in magical creatures."
He spoke casually.
"I'm also well acquainted with Mr. Newt Scamander. So I recognize dragon scent… and fresh bite wounds."
He pointed at Ron's bandaged hand.
Still healing from Norbert's earlier attack.
Ron instinctively hid it behind his back.
Alexander sighed softly.
"You're also careless. You forgot the cloak… and you're loud."
Harry hurried to pull the invisibility cloak back out.
But it was too late.
Heavy footsteps rounded the corner.
A lantern swung violently.
Two figures charged toward them at full speed.
Filch — face twisted in triumph.
And beside him, hissing sharply — Mrs. Norris.
They had already seen them.
And they were sprinting straight for the group.