After grabbing several textbooks and a few vials of unicorn blood, he left the dormitory and headed toward the Great Hall.
Lunch was unusually quiet as most students were still away at Hogsmeade, enjoying their weekend trip.
Alexander quickly filled his plate with food and began eating.
Once he finished, he wrapped up some extra food to eat later and immediately left the hall.
Training waited for no one.
Alexander went into the Room of Requirement and began his routine.
Practice spells.
Read.
Repeat.
Again and again.
He practiced wand movements, carefully controlling the flow of magic through each spell.
After a set of spell practice, he switched to reading his textbooks before returning to spell casting again.
Hours passed without him noticing.
Eventually, the sun began setting, and dinner time approached.
Alexander returned to the Great Hall and sat beside Cho.
Cho looked incredibly excited.
"You should've come today," she said. "Hogsmeade was amazing!"
Alexander raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? Did you drink too much Butterbeer?"
Cho blinked in confusion.
"What?"
Alexander smirked.
"Are you drunk?"
Cho burst out laughing.
"You can't get drunk from butterbeer!"
Alexander laughed as well.
"Good. I was worried you were already becoming an alcoholic."
Cho lightly pushed his shoulder.
"Very funny."
They continued talking while eating dinner.
Cho excitedly described the shops, the candy stores, and all the magical items she saw in the village.
Alexander mostly listened while finishing his food.
After dinner, the two walked together toward Ravenclaw Tower.
Just before they separated, Cho suddenly stopped and sniffed the air slightly.
"When was the last time you showered?"
Alexander paused.
He thought about it carefully.
"…Maybe a couple of days ago?"
Cho immediately started laughing.
"Go shower."
Alexander frowned.
Cho crossed her arms.
"You're starting to stink a little."
Alexander sniffed his sleeve.
"I smell fine."
Cho shook her head firmly.
"No. Go shower."
Alexander sighed dramatically before leaning forward and giving her a quick kiss.
"Yes, ma'am."
Cho rolled her eyes but smiled.
They split up afterward.
Cho went to study.
Alexander went to shower.
After cleaning himself and changing into fresh clothes, Alexander immediately left again.
Back to training.
This time, he adjusted his focus.
Instead of only practicing spells, he decided to finish reading all the school textbooks.
Normally, Alexander would have casually completed them by now. But with the amount of spell training he had been doing lately, he had fallen behind on reading.
That couldn't happen.
"A star student doesn't slack off," Alexander said quietly to himself.
So he started reading.
Every chapter.
Every note.
Every explanation.
Time passed quickly.
The entire week flew by.
During that time, Alexander kept the same routine every day.
Practice spells.
Read textbooks.
Meet Cho during meal times.
Then return to training again.
Because of his detention duties, the Dueling Club had been delayed until next month, giving him even more time to train.
The results were incredible.
Within that single week, Alexander fully mastered Bombarda Maxima along with all its variants.
He could even cast the spell silently.
However, Alexander noticed something interesting.
When he spoke the incantation out loud, the spell seemed slightly stronger.
The magic felt more forceful.
Because of that, he decided to continue using the incantation during combat practice.
By the end of the week, Alexander had finished reading every textbook for his classes.
And he understood them all, all except one.
Ancient Runes.
Alexander leaned back slightly while staring at the complex runic symbols.
"I have to admit it…"
"This class is harder than I expected."
But he also knew the subject would be extremely useful in the future.
Which meant he had to master it.
Fortunately, the diary had been very cooperative.
After Alexander fed Tom a small bottle of Unicorn blood, Tom stopped complaining entirely.
Instead, he patiently continued teaching him.
Rune meanings.
Ancient translations.
Magical structures.
And with Tom's guidance, Alexander's understanding of Ancient Runes slowly began improving.