Amid the curious anticipation of the students, a familiar figure entered the room—it was Albert Blackwood.
Dumbledore had, indeed, arranged a web of surveillance around Harry Potter during his years in the Muggle world. For example, Arabella Figg, a Squib who lived near the Dursleys, had earned Aunt Petunia's grudging trust by supplying her with seemingly endless tales of her cats and stale biscuits. Although Mrs. Figg couldn't perform magic, her connection to the wizarding world served its purpose. When the Dursleys occasionally went away on holiday and needed someone—anyone—to mind Harry, Mrs. Figg was their reluctant solution.
It now appeared that Albert, Adrian's older brother, had also been deployed as part of this silent protective circle—this time under the guise of a Muggle science teacher. A pure-blood wizard teaching elementary-level Muggle science? The idea seemed… ambitious, at best.
"Hello, class. I'm your new science teacher—Albert Blackwood." Albert announced with confident ease as he turned to the blackboard and wrote his name in bold, lively strokes.
"Now, perhaps you think science is something abstract, something dull, something you'll never use in real life. But I'm here to tell you: that's wrong!" he declared, brandishing what appeared to be a pointer in his left hand. In his right, an empty glass materialized from thin air, eliciting gasps across the classroom.
With a quick motion, another identical glass appeared, seemingly copied from the first.
"Okay, we now have two glasses of pure water. Are you all following?" The students, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, nodded in stunned silence.
"Now I want to change one of them. Which one should it be?"
Albert's tone was playful as he wiggled his eyebrows. The class erupted into excited shouts and pointing fingers. He made a gesture over the right-hand glass, and the clear liquid inside began to shift color, slowly turning a rich amber hue.
"Whoa! What is that?"
"Is it juice?"
"No way—it's probably oil!"
"Maybe it's—ew—is that pee? I drank some once at the pool 'cause I thought it was too yellow—"
The classroom buzzed with laughter and disgusted guesses.
"Hush, hush… that was just the warm-up," Albert said with a grin. With a flick of his wrist, a standard Muggle credit card appeared in his hand. The students craned their necks, eager to catch every movement.
He placed the card over the cup with oil, then stacked the water-filled glass upside down on top of it. Holding the pointer with theatrical flair, he tapped the card gently and began to slide it out.
A ripple of awe swept through the classroom. The denser water began to rise slowly, while the oil, less dense, slipped downward. Bit by bit, the two swapped places until the oil sat in the lower cup and the water had somehow floated above it.
"That's impossible!"
"It's not even scientific!"
"I wanna learn that!"
Cheers erupted, and a few curious students from the next classroom poked their heads in to get a glimpse of the magical demonstration.
"Alright, alright, settle down," Albert said, raising his hands. "Can anyone tell me—not about the trick—but what scientific principles might explain this result?"
The room fell into absolute silence. Seconds earlier, they had been bubbling with enthusiasm; now, every student avoided eye contact, suddenly unsure of everything they knew about science.
"No one?" Albert asked, a twinge of mock disappointment on his face. He clapped twice to re-engage the room. "That's fine. That's what I'm here for. By the time I leave this school, every one of you will understand exactly how that worked."
Adrian folded his arms in his seat, muttering to himself: "You fraud. That's just a transfiguration spell using a disguised wand and nonverbal incantations. So what if you're with the Ministry? Just because you're on assignment doesn't mean you can bend the Statute of Secrecy this much. And besides, by the time Harry actually gets to Hogwarts, you'll be long gone. What could any of these Muggle kids realistically retain from this 'science class' anyway?"
As class ended, a group of giggling girls clustered around Albert, peppering him with questions. Nearby, a boy bragged to his tablemate, "Did you see what our teacher did? I bet your class didn't get anything that cool!"
His neighbor rolled his eyes. "I was in that class, genius."
After the bell rang, Harry turned to Adrian with a puzzled expression. "Blackwood… That new teacher's got the same last name as you."
Adrian nodded, already anticipating the follow-up question. "Yeah, he's actually my brother. Funny thing—our dad had a weird habit of picking names from the first few pages of baby name books. My mum named my sister and second brother, but both Albert and I got 'A' names because Dad never bothered to flip the page. I shudder to think—if he'd turned another page, I might've ended up as 'Alice'."
Harry grinned, visibly relaxing for the first time that day.
"Don't sit down—let's go play outside!" Frog shouted, bounding out of his seat. Clearly, he had been holding that invitation back since the middle of class.
On the playground, the three boys shooting hoops—Adrian, Harry, and Frog Brown—suddenly found themselves surrounded by a gang of large, sneering students.
"Well, well, look what we have here! Rotten fish stink worse when they're together!" one of them jeered as he snatched their basketball.
As Adrian turned, he immediately recognized the ringleader—of course, it was Dudley Dursley.
"Dursley! I'm not scared of you!" Frog yelled, his voice trembling more with adrenaline than courage, glaring at Dudley as he held the ball out of reach.
"Hah! Potter's always my number-one punching bag, and today the second and third ones just delivered themselves right to my feet!" Dudley laughed, narrowing his beady eyes as he cracked his knuckles in delight.
It was the first time Adrian Blackwood had ever faced actual schoolyard bullying in his current student identity. The lingering instincts from his days as a teacher made the situation feel oddly surreal—and, for a second, he almost forgot he wasn't in a position to intervene with authority.
But reality quickly set in. Without a wand on him, and equipped only with the cleaning and disillusionment enchantments built into his wizard robes, Adrian had no way to use magic for defense. More importantly, the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery made it illegal to cast spells in front of Muggles—even if in self-defense.
Suddenly, a system message appeared before Adrian's eyes:
Side Quest Triggered: "Trial of Flight" — Avoid being caught by Dudley Dursley and his gang. Reward: "McLean Conditioning Technique" – boosts wizarding physique and enhances neuromuscular control.
Harry, having endured years of this routine, instinctively understood the odds and didn't wait for more trouble. With a quick glance at Frog, who nodded in silent agreement, Harry shouted:
"RUN!"
The three scattered in different directions.
Harry moved like someone well-practiced in evading bullies. Frog, despite his scrawniness, zigzagged with surprising agility. Adrian, by contrast, found the sudden sprint activating physical strength he hadn't used in years, thanks to improved nutrition and his rapid magical growth. Halfway through, he whirled around, planting a solid punch directly into the nose of the nearest thug. The boy collapsed with a yelp, and Adrian bolted toward the teachers' office.
Behind them, Dudley roared in frustration. His bulk and overconfidence left him lagging far behind, and his fAdrian friend only added fuel to his fury.
"Oi! What's going on here? Are you lot fighting?" a sharp voice rang out.
Relief flooded Adrian's chest. Albert.
Panting, Adrian darted behind his older brother, using him like a shield. Moken and the others froze mid-laugh, their faces pale.
"Mr. Albert! Dudley Dursley and his gang tried to gang up on me, Harry, and Fletcher. They were trying to turn us into their new punching bags. We didn't want to get flattened, so we ran for it!" Adrian quickly explained, his words sharp and deliberate as he described the incident, hoping to frame it before Dudley could twist the narrative.
Albert's eyes darkened. The fact that his own brother and his assigned target—Harry Potter—had been bullied right under his nose ignited a deep anger beneath his calm exterior.
"This true?" he asked.
Harry and Frog nodded like bobbleheads, eager to back Adrian's story.
Dudley and his friends fidgeted awkwardly. None of them dared speak up.
Dudley tried to subtly hide his hands behind his back, hoping Albert wouldn't notice the telltale bulk of his new boxing gloves.
"Mr. Dursley," Albert said evenly, "what are you hiding behind your back?"
"N-nothing," Dudley muttered, tightening his grip and tucking his gloves in deeper.
Albert's eyes narrowed. He flicked his wand—disguised as a pointer—and a nearly invisible non-verbal spell pushed Dudley forward. The boy stumbled several steps like he'd been shoved by an invisible hand, bracing himself against the wall to avoid falling.
"Who pushed me?!" he growled, spinning around. Moken and Peel stared at him as though he'd gone mad.
"It is boxing gloves," Albert said calmly. "Nice hobby, but if you're going to wear them, you'd better know how to throw a punch. Your classmates shouldn't be the ones winded instead of your sandbag. Let me show you how it's done."
Before Dudley could protest, Albert stepped forward, seized his pudgy hands, and yanked the gloves off—then forced them snugly back onto the boy's fists himself.
"Focus. Watch closely."
Without waiting, Albert snapped into motion.
His left fist whooshed past Dudley's left ear, followed immediately by his right—barely missing Dudley's nose. Then left again. Then right. The punches were fast—too fast. Dudley stood frozen in terror, unable to move, unable to track the blur of fists aimed near his face but never hitting.
To Dudley, it felt like a hurricane had erupted in front of him.
Then—suddenly—it stopped.
Dudley's knees buckled, and he collapsed onto the dirt, too shaken to even speak.
Albert pulled off the gloves, dropped them in Dudley's lap, and wiped his palms with a disgusted sneer. "If I ever see you bullying anyone again, I'll show you what real boxing looks like. And if you want to tattle to your mummy and daddy—go right ahead."
The crowd had grown during the commotion. Laughter and applause followed as Dudley and his gang limped away, defeated and humiliated.
"Mate, your brother's a legend!" Frog said, admiration glowing in his eyes.
Harry stared after Albert with open envy. "Man… Adrian, I wish I had a brother like yours. If I had someone like that around, maybe Dursley would think twice before turning me into his personal punching bag."
A soft chime echoed in Adrian's mind.
Side Quest Complete: "Trial of Flight" — Congratulations! Reward unlocked: "McLean Conditioning Technique." Keep working hard, young wizard.