Azalea watched him warily. His arrogance was suffocating, but what unsettled her most was that he genuinely believed what he was saying. And what if he was right? Her gut told her Alex wasn't someone to be taken lightly. But standing before Thunderbird now, she wasn't sure if her warnings had any weight at all. She exhaled slowly, forcing herself to stay composed. "What exactly are you planning?" she asked, her voice quieter, but still sharp. "Alex is cooperating with the Ministry of Magic, and he's still a student at Hogwarts. If you go after him, neither the Ministry nor Hogwarts will let it slide."
Thunderbird let out a dismissive snort. "You worry too much," he said indifferently. "No one goes out of their way for a dead man." Azalea stiffened. Thunderbird straightened, his tall frame casting a shadow over her. "As for what I plan to do…" He paused, then chuckled. "Have you forgotten what I specialize in? You don't need to trouble yourself with this. And to be honest? I wouldn't trust you with it anyway." His words sent an icy chill through her chest.
Azalea was no stranger to the club's ruthlessness, but this was different. This wasn't just about taking down an enemy. This was something far more sinister. A part of her wanted to argue, to do something, but she knew the futility of it. Still, she tried to grasp onto any sliver of reasoning she could. "But what if this jeopardizes the club's future plans?" she asked, struggling to keep her voice steady. "If you do this, and it backfires, what happens then?"
Thunderbird waved a hand dismissively. "Always hesitating over nothing," he muttered. "It's a simple problem with a simple solution. It won't take much effort to get rid of him." His tone darkened. "Besides, the boy is still at Hogwarts. If we want to handle him properly, we'll have to wait until Christmas at the earliest. That gives us nearly a month. It won't interfere with our Box operation in the slightest."
Azalea's stomach twisted. Thunderbird turned, striding toward the exit, but paused at the doorway. "Oh, and one more thing," he added. "I'll be returning to headquarters soon. The Box operation will be handled by the infiltration squad under Sphinx. If anything unusual happens, send him a message."
Azalea barely had time to process his words before something else occurred to her. "What about the jammers? Shouldn't you take them for the next mission?" Thunderbird let out a short laugh. "Someone else will come pick them up. You don't need to concern yourself with that."
Azalea's jaw tightened. 'So he's really treating my house like a bloody storage facility now?' She watched as Thunderbird disappeared with a sharp crack, leaving nothing but silence in his wake. Her grip tightened around the glass in her hand. Then, with a burst of frustration, she threw it to the ground. The sharp shatter of glass echoed through the room, the only thing breaking the suffocating quiet.
Meanwhile, back at Hogwarts, Alex silently turned off the monitor displaying the footage of Azalea's infiltration. He leaned back in his chair, deep in thought. "Her technique wasn't bad," he murmured to himself. "Especially that spell she used to break into the safe. I've never seen that one before… Some kind of obscure dark magic, maybe?" His fingers tapped idly against the desk. "But her approach…" He shook his head. "She acts more like an amateur than a professional. She got way too distracted in my shop. Like she forgot she was in the middle of a job."
His eyes flickered back to the now-dark screen. "And she clearly doesn't know much about alchemy or spell construction. If she did, she could've broken in through the magic patterns instead of brute-forcing it. The magic on that safe wasn't that complex." He smirked slightly. "In the end, she relied more on brute force than actual skill. Is that her own personal style, or does it reflect the way Silver Wand operates as a whole?"
Alex lowered his head in thought, piecing everything together. It was now almost certain that Azalea had been involved in last night's smuggling operation. But judging from the nature of the stolen goods, there had to be more people involved. Azalea wasn't working alone, she had accomplices. But one thing still puzzled him. She had known about the Ministry's new jammers. So why wait until after the smugglers were caught to steal them?
'Was it overconfidence? A lack of awareness? Or was there something else going on?' Alex frowned. He had been baiting them for a while now, but this part of the equation didn't quite add up. "Still," he murmured, his lips curling into a smirk. "You stole 1,000 Galleons' worth of my equipment. As your creditor, I can't just let that slide, can I?" He chuckled coldly, shaking his head. "Let's see what kind of game you're playing, Azalea." With that thought, he climbed into bed, ready to deal with her soon enough.
The next morning, Alex wasted no time. He sought out Wimzy, who had already rested after her night shift, and filled her in on what had happened. Handing her a set of trackers, he instructed her to monitor the stolen jammers discreetly. Once Wimzy left, Alex considered his next move. Then, with a decisive nod, he decided to leave Hogwarts for a while. The school was running smoothly, and there was no point in staying there when he could be more useful at his shop. Besides, if Wimzy was going to be tracking the stolen goods, it made sense for him to be nearby.
So, with Fang in tow, Alex returned to his home in Diagon Alley. It didn't take long for him to notice the sloppy job Azalea had done cleaning up after herself. She had tried to erase any signs of her break-in, but Alex could still spot the traces she left behind. Her skills in covering her tracks were... amateur at best. Not that he cared. Exposing her wasn't his priority, not yet.
Azalea wasn't the mastermind here. That much was obvious. What interested Alex more was the organization behind her, the Silver Wand. His equipment had already been pulled into this smuggling war, but where did they stand? What did they think of him, the alchemist supplying these tools? Because after last night, there was no question about it. 'They knew who he was now.' Azalea's infiltration confirmed it. He had been noticed. His eyes flickered to the safe Azalea had broken into. It was still transfigured, still carrying the illusion of being intact.
Should he deal with it? …No. Better to leave it as is. 'Who knew? Maybe one day, Azalea would return to check on it.' Smirking at the thought, Alex shrugged off the concern and proceeded to open the shop as if nothing had happened. Fang, ever the restless creature, scurried up to his usual spot at the cashier's counter, eager to help with transactions. Alex settled comfortably behind the counter, leaning back in his chair.