Harry and Ron noticed that something was off about Tris.
It wasn't just that he had roped two Slytherins into working out with him. That actually seemed normal.
Although Draco had already started acting up and picking on Harry, he hadn't yet made Harry and Ron hate all of Slytherin-after all, there was still Tris.
So to the two of them, Tris bringing his roommates along to exercise was perfectly normal.
What puzzled them was how much of a hurry Tris seemed to be in lately.
Before, Tris would occasionally joke around and play with them, but lately, all that had stopped. Whenever they saw him, he was either studying, practicing magic, or exercising.
He acted as though he couldn't afford to waste a second.
"Has Tris ever been like this before?" Harry whispered to Ron after training with Tris for a few days and nearly exhausting himself into an early grave.
The answer was no.
"No, absolutely not. Tris used to like reading, but he was never this crazy." Ron was just as baffled.
Tris knew they were puzzled, but he couldn't exactly tell them Voldemort had invaded his soul.
He shouldn't even have known it was Voldemort, since the man hadn't introduced himself. And the Thought Maze would be hard to explain, too.
With all that pressure weighing on him, Tris could only use training to soothe his frayed nerves. Harry and Ron weren't particularly affected by this-the two slackers weren't going to work themselves harder just because Tris was pushing himself.
But Blaise and Theodore, who had only just joined the group, began to feel that something was wrong.
What was going on? Tris was already so strong, yet he was still working this hard? Did this method really work? Shouldn't we be trying harder, too?
What finally settled their decision was another Transfiguration lesson a week later. Their results had visibly improved.
Blaise and Theodore were stunned.
It actually worked?
After training for a while, Tris had also uncovered some of the subtleties involved. The system hadn't told him to exercise in the wizarding world for no reason.
Although magic was primarily a power of the mind and soul, a powerful mind still needed a body to support it. A strong body benefited both the mind and the soul.
But the most obvious improvement lay elsewhere.
Willpower!
Magic was a deeply subjective discipline. This wasn't obvious with basic spells, but at more advanced levels, such as Dark Magic and protective magic, emotion and willpower could greatly affect a spell's potency.
Conversely, a strong will had a less obvious effect on basic magic than on advanced magic, but that didn't mean it had no effect at all.
After gritting their teeth and sticking with the training for over a week, Blaise and Theodore had both grown a little stronger in body and mind. Combined with the natural growth of their magical power, this naturally showed itself in better control of their magic.
In fact, Tris had overlooked another factor.
He had Blaise and Theodore doing push-ups. At first, their arms shook like electric fans after just ten, and their form wasn't particularly good. But after a week, their arms had genuinely grown stronger.
Naturally, this made their wand grips steadier, and the greater stability of their arms also made their wand movements more precise.
It was much like practicing handwriting.
Many people knew exactly how a character should look in their heads, yet couldn't reproduce it on paper. At the root of it, they couldn't properly control the movement of their pens.
The simplest solution was to practice more, making their wrists and fingers steadier.
Becoming a calligrapher required talent. But writing something that looked decent at first glance really only required effort.
The same principle applied to magic!
Tris's daily wand drills and physical training followed precisely that logic.
As someone reborn with an unfair advantage, Tris could think through problems like an adult. Blaise and Theodore couldn't. They were only children, and all they knew was that training with Tris really worked!
Seeing Tris increase his training lately, they gritted their teeth and followed suit.
This sort of thing really could spread from person to person.
If Tris had exercised alone, people might have considered him an oddball. Bringing Harry and Ron along made things much better and sparked some discussion. Now that Blaise and Theodore were joining them, a lot more people were paying attention.
Once people learned that the group also ranked near the top of their year in both Charms and Transfiguration, even more took notice.
The turning point came in the fourth week, when Hermione joined them. After sticking with it for a few days, she told the girls in her dormitory that exercising with them seemed to clear her head.
Dizzy and frazzled from essays and homework, the girls tried joining them for a couple of days.
Moderate exercise really did clear the mind and sharpen one's thinking. Exercising in a group also effectively reduced the sense of fatigue that came with doing it alone.
So by the first week of October, the number of people joining Tris for morning runs had risen to eight, with several more eager to try.
Meanwhile, after a week without Quirrell showing any particular reaction toward him, Tris felt a little more at ease.
He began reviewing what had happened.
Quirrell and Voldemort had used some unknown method to invade his mind. They believed he didn't know who had done it. Never mind an eleven-year-old kid who had never seen Voldemort's face-plenty of adult wizards had never seen it either.
After that encounter, Voldemort must have suffered severe damage and wouldn't dare make another move. That also meant Quirrell wouldn't dare do anything drastic. If anything, Tris was safe.
Having worked that out, Tris relaxed a little.
But as he watched the number of young wizards working hard alongside him rise from the original five to eight, another devious idea began to take shape.
This still wasn't enough.
More people needed to start pushing themselves, and they needed to push harder.
Tris began considering whether it would be feasible to teach Harry and Ron Astral Meditation.
On Thursday afternoon, after returning to the common room with Blaise and Theodore from practicing wand movements outside, Tris noticed a new notice on the board.
He walked over and saw that it announced their first flying class of the school year for the following afternoon.
Madam Hooch had returned from refereeing matches.
So, was Harry about to show off his talent for flying?
Before he knew it, Friday afternoon's flying class had arrived.
Tris headed to the edge of the grounds outside the castle with Blaise and Theodore, who had also started taking afternoon naps-they now copied whatever he did.
The other Gryffindor and Slytherin students had already arrived.
Blaise and Theodore hadn't noticed that they had gradually become Tris's followers. At the start of term, both of them had wanted to be the "leader."
"Tris, you're here." Harry waved as soon as he saw him, greeting Blaise and Theodore as well.
Theodore greeted Ron and Harry in return. Blaise merely nodded.
Of the two, Blaise was still more arrogant. Although he had begun to grudgingly respect Tris, he refused to admit it aloud. Harry and Ron were another matter entirely.
"Heh, Tris." Ron gave him a wicked grin. "I can't beat you in the other subjects, but surely I'll finally outdo you in this class."
Tris shrugged, showing that he didn't mind.
"Is Tris not good at this?" Harry asked curiously.
Although they had known each other for over two months and had even spent a month "living together" at the Burrow, Harry couldn't know everything about him. He didn't know how Tris felt about Quidditch, or that he disliked broomsticks as well.
"Tris doesn't like Quidditch," Ron said with a shrug.
"What?" Harry looked incredulous. He hadn't even watched a proper match yet, but just learning a little about it had left him longing to play. Yet Tris actually disliked it. "Why?"
Before Ron could explain, Madam Hooch came striding toward them.
The students from both houses hurriedly fell silent.
Madam Hooch was a woman with short gray hair. She wasn't particularly beautiful, but she had a brisk, commanding air. She was clearly getting on in years, yet still seemed full of energy.
"What are you waiting for, boys and girls? Stand beside your broomsticks!"
Twenty-one broomsticks had already been laid out on the ground.
The young wizards immediately formed two rows.
Everyone except Tris seemed extremely eager.
Tris ambled over to a broomstick. When he looked up, he was surprised to find that the people beside him weren't Blaise and Theodore, who had been following him everywhere lately. The two had immediately claimed spots beside newer-looking brooms, leaving their leader behind.
Well, Tris was still only a leader in the making...
The person beside him now was Daphne.
Of all the Slytherin girls, Daphne was the one who spoke to Tris the most. Several times, she had taken the initiative to sit beside him.
Tris could sense that Daphne was curious about him.
And when a young girl was curious about a boy, it was usually only a matter of time before that curiosity turned into affection, and then a crush.
Tris felt nothing about it. He couldn't help it-he really couldn't bring himself to kiss her.
She was eleven!
Just thinking about it made him feel he deserved to be shot!
"You don't seem very enthusiastic about flying class," Daphne whispered, looking curious.
"Don't I? I don't think so." Tris shrugged, offering no real answer.
Daphne wanted to say more, but Madam Hooch spoke again. "Is everyone in position? Good. Now follow my instructions and hold your hand above your broom."
The young wizards did as they were told, and Daphne fell silent and followed the instructions too.
"Say, 'Up!' to your broom," Madam Hooch said.
"Up!" came a chorus of voices.
Tris glanced at the motionless broom in front of him, then at Daphne, who had already caught hers as it sprang up and was now giving him a puzzled look. He offered her an awkward but polite smile.
Sure, I don't like Quidditch, and I don't like flying on a broom, but you're really going to embarrass me like this? Aren't you afraid I'll chop you up for firewood?