Stop. I Said Stop.

Lina walked quickly to the corner of the Corridor, stopped, looked back, and waited a while before Samuel caught up from behind.

Lina looked at him, her tone somewhat impolite. "I thought you weren't coming."

Samuel didn't reply. His expression was completely different from when he hesitated in the lounge earlier; he was very calm, as if he were a different person.

He said, "We'd better have a different approach."

Lina raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Samuel said, "You act immediately without hesitation when you hear an order from Black, but I have to think about it and hesitate."

Whether it's useful or not, in his eyes, we might be different. If something else happens in the future, we'll have two choices.

Lina stared at him for a while, and thought there was some truth to what he said.

She and Samuel were the same kind of people.

Half-bloods, Slytherin, are naturally marginalized in this house. The Pureblood families always look at them with a sense of "What are you doing here?"

In second grade, they were the most vulnerable group, and could only huddle together for warmth.

But huddling together for warmth isn't enough; they need to lean on each other more.

Lean towards Alex, towards that small group, towards Black.

They don't yet have the right to directly climb up the social ladder, but they can stay on the periphery, be seen when needed, and do something to prove they are useful.

This is the wisdom of survival.

Lina knew it, and so did Samuel.

Lina snorted irritably, "You did the same thing last time."

Samuel frowned. "I told you, don't bring up what happened last time again, not even if it's just the two of us."

Lina shut her mouth; it really shouldn't be brought up again about what happened last time.

Last semester, I was bullied by those Gryffindor bastards. Three of them cornered them, disarmed them, and locked them in an abandoned Washroom.

Thinking about those things still makes me feel humiliated.

But being bullied can sometimes turn into an opportunity.

They approached Alex, asking for his help.

But their goal wasn't to get Alex to stand up for them; they wanted Alex to know about it so Alex could tell Black.

Let Black know that there are two Half-bloods first-years who are being bullied on the very edge of Slytherin.

They needed a reason to appear in Black's sight.

Being bullied is that reason.

Black eventually found out, and then he put Alex in charge of handling the matter.

For Black, it was probably a trivial matter, something he might have even forgotten.

But for them, it was their first success, the first time they had been seen in this way.

After that, they stood behind Alex, not usually moving closer, but when needed, they would be there, not too close, but not too far either.

Lina took a deep breath and suppressed those thoughts.

"Okay, let's not talk about it," she began to instruct, "You go to the materials processing room, I'll go to my office."

Samuel nodded.

Lina said, "Come back quickly once you find it."

The two exchanged a glance and ran off in different directions.

Lina ran very fast; the Corridor was empty, and only the sound of her footsteps echoed.

As she ran, she thought about what Black had told Alex to do: go find Professor Slughorn and tell him there was something going on in the common room.

Just this one sentence, no explanation, no reason, no way of saying it.

But that's enough. She doesn't need to know the reason; she just needs to get things done.

If it's done well, it will be seen.

If you don't do it well, you're nothing.

Slytherin is such a simple place.

She ran even faster.

The atmosphere in the lounge was lively, with two people standing in the center.

Rosalie Selwyn, Darius Nott.

Regulus sat on the sofa, watching them.

The older students around them were gathered in twos and threes, some holding wine glasses, some leaning back on the sofa, all their eyes fixed on the two people.

Rosalie is a girl from the Selwyn family. Her cousin, Selwyn, is in sixth grade and is sitting in the middle of the upperclassmen's section, twirling a wine glass in his hand and staring at the field.

Darius is from the Nott family, Nott family is considered one of the more prominent Pure-bloods. Two people enrolled in this generation, but the older one has already graduated, leaving only Darius.

His expression was gloomy, Taiyi from the somewhat nervous freshmen around him.

The two faced off for a moment, Darius struck first. "Stupefy!"

A beam of red light shot out from the tip of his staff, quite fast and at a rather tricky angle.

Rosalie dodged to the side with swift movement, simultaneously casting a spell. "Impedimenta!"

The purple spell struck Darius, and his body stiffened.

But he quickly broke free, took a step back, changed his angle, and delivered another strike. "Leglocker Curse!"

Rosalie jumped to dodge, and the moment she landed, she was already chanting a spell. "Rictusempra!"

Darius's facial muscles twitched. He didn't laugh, but his lips were visibly trembling. He gritted his teeth and forced a reply.

"Tarantallegra!"

Rosalie's feet began to jump uncontrollably as she dodged Darius's next spell, hopping around in the center of the arena, her eyes fixed on him.

Darius seized the opportunity and cast another Stunning Spell.

Rosalie jumped and dodged at the same time; her jumping was awkward, but her dodging was quite accurate.

Then she suddenly steadied herself, as if the whole thing had been an act, and pointed her wand at Darius: "Expelliarmus!"

A beam of red light Darius squarely in the chest, causing his wand to fly out of his hand, spin twice in the air, and land on the ground, rolling to the feet of the crowd.

Darius there, stunned.

Looking at his empty hands, he lowered his head and admitted defeat.

A round of applause and whistles rang out, and the older students' side became lively.

"The Selwyn family one is pretty solid!"

"I knew she wasn't cursed at all!"

"The Nott family's are no good; they look so gloomy, they don't even realize the spell hasn't worked."

"Last year's Mulciber was also gloomy, but that was real skill. What is this? All he does is glare?"

Several people exchanged glances; some shook their heads, others shrugged.

Regulus looked at Rosalie.

Darius Nott looks a bit like Hermes from last year; both have that gloomy temperament, don't talk much, and look intimidating.

But if Hermes, who had just enrolled last year, were to fight him, Hermes would win easily.

This person isn't very good.

Rosalie Selwyn, however, is definitely something special.

They don't shout when Spellcasting; they always chant in a low voice.

Their movement is also agile; they know where to hide, when to advance, and when to retreat.

They would also pretend to be under a curse to confuse their opponents and then defeat them in one fell swoop.

He has ideas, even tactical awareness, which is quite rare at his age.

But it's only a rare occurrence.

Regulus looked away.

He finds this level of fighting rather uninteresting now, like watching two toddlers racing each other.

A few weeks ago in Germany, he faced an opponent of the caliber of Abyssal Whisper.

Severing Charm, Fiendfyre, Spatial Warp —that's the real battle. Every spell can be fatal, and every move requires calculation.

These things in front of me...

He leaned back on the sofa, his fingers lightly tapping his knees.

It's boring, but we still have to watch it.

Polius Greengrass walked to the center of the field and raised his hand. "Rosalie Selwyn wins!"

Over from the older students, Selwyn, a sixth-grader, stood up.

He raised his wine glass, gestured to the people around him, and smiled, but the smile was restrained and not too ostentatious.

Several people around him congratulated him.

"This one of yours is nice!"

"Very stable, he'll be successful in the future!"

"The Selwyn family has really made a name for themselves this year. The Nott family's son wasn't good enough, but yours is!"

"Come on, let's have a drink!"

The sixth-grader Selwyn, nodded with a smile, saying that he was still far from good enough, but he couldn't hide the smugness on his face.

He clinked glasses with a few people around him, took a sip, then sat down, his gaze still fixed on Rosalie, and nodded in satisfaction.

Veronica Yaxley, with her signature move, walked to the center of the court.

She stood ramrod straight, her gaze sweeping across the entire room, before announcing, "Next match: Geoffrey Selwyn versus Rosalie Selwyn."

A murmur of discussion arose from the surrounding crowd.

"Selwyn? Who's that?"

"The one who just used the powerful Repelling Charm?"

"Yes, that's him. He's quite powerful."

"This is going to be interesting to face Selwyn."

Someone from the older students whistled.

"Betting open! Bet one Galleon, Selwyn wins!"

"I'll bet two, Selwyn!"

"Come on, Selwyn those moves, Selwyn!"

"That's not necessarily true. That kid's spells are powerful; he might have some skill!"

Some people shook their heads.

A seventh-grade boy leaned back on the sofa and said to the person next to him, "These two are alright, but they're nowhere near as good as last year."

The person next to him nodded. "They're not even in the same league. Mulciber wasn't bad either. Everyone thought he was amazing back then, but..."

"As a result, Black completely dominated him, and a single Shield Charm blocked all of his attacks."

"And then there was that time, Travers, ugh, that was awful."

In the center of the arena, Rosalie and Geoffrey stood face to face.

Rosalie's expression remained calm and unchanged; her wand hung at her side as she looked at Geoffrey opposite her.

Geoffrey kept his head down, his toes circling the ground, looking very nervous. He wasn't tall, and his appearance was average; he didn't stand out much.

"Selwyn, "Regulus thought to himself, "It's probably from some small, unknown family, only one or two generations of Pure-bloods."

Then he saw that the restlessness of the Magic Power within the boy's body was even more pronounced.

Rosalie and Geoffrey were about to begin when they both raised their wands simultaneously.

Just then, Regulus suddenly spoke up. His voice was soft and his tone calm, but clear. "Stop."

The entire lounge fell silent instantly, and everyone turned to look at him.

Rosalie's wand stopped in mid-air, and she turned her head to look this way. Geoffrey was also stunned.

Polius Greengrass frowned and turned around. "Mr. Black, what's wrong?"

His tone was steady, without any sign of dissatisfaction or impatience; he was simply asking a question.

Regulus did not answer directly.

He leaned back on the sofa, his hands still clasped together and resting on his lower abdomen, his gaze meeting that of Polius.

"Mr. Greengrass, are there any other arrangements after they decide the winner?"

Regulus did not answer directly.

He leaned back on the sofa, his hands still clasped together and resting on his lower abdomen, his gaze meeting that of Polius.

"Mr. Greengrass, are there any other arrangements after they decide the winner?"

Polius paused for a moment, then said, "Yes, the winning freshman can choose whether or not to challenge the current Chief."

He added, "It's not mandatory, just an opportunity to receive guidance."

Regulus nodded; he had guessed it.

This part was added this year. Polius and Veronica are the new Prefect, and it's normal that they wanted to add something new to the Welcome Party.

Regulus spread his senses out and gently swept them over.