Two days passed, and Axel's popularity only increased. On the Wednesday morning, when Madam Pomphrey
finally let Axel "officially" leave the Hospital wing, he went to the Great Hall for breakfast like usual.
!!!!
But as soon as he went past those double doors, he realized something. Every pair of eyes turned towards him and the bustling atmosphere quieted down for a moment, before bursting again with even more noise. Students began pointing at him and many were rushing towards him for autographs and selfies and a few reporters who had been waiting for him also came forward.
'Fuck…' This thing had slipped his mind. Somehow, the concept of people actually treating him like a celebrity seemed quite absurd to him. But, it was happening, and Axel was hating every second of it. He wanted so much to share an eye roll with Daphne, but he resisted the urge.
*CHEERS*
Axel turned his head to see the whole Slytherin house standing up from their seats, clapping and cheering for him, with Patricia standing in front.
""""""SA-VAGE AX-EL!''''''''''
""""""SA-VAGE AX-EL!''''''''''
""""""SA-VAGE AX-EL!''''''''''
Then the Slytherins began chanting this new title which he had apparently been given after displaying his exceptional savagery.
"....." Axel had no words for it. What the fuck was going on with these students? And that title? He didn't know if he was being praised or insulted here. But he supposed it was at least better than some cringe song like 'Axel is our king, he can catch a snitch by its wing, that's why Slytherins all sing, Axel is our King!' Truly, that would be a disaster.
His team members came and started pushing away the crowd and the reporters, making way for him to go towards the table, at the leader's position, right beside Patricia. A bit weirded out, Axel sat down, with his teammates sitting all around him.
"What's all this about?" He asked Patricia in an undertone.
The Brazilian Captain tilted her head as she peered at him, "What do you mean? It's a celebration, of course. We're celebrating your glorious achievements!" She said excitedly.
Axel was confused, "It wasn't a big deal. Doesn't this seem a little too much?"
"Not a big deal?!" Patricia had to squint at him to confirm he wasn't just joking or being humble. "Of course it's a huge deal! Slytherins are a bunch of egoists and supremacists. And they were really aggravated by Gryffindor after the insult on Halloween night and on the internet, especially since there was little to no chances of them actually winning! And, most of us have already been the victims of the Twins' pranks.
But then you pop out of nowhere, and maul the Gryffindors in that savage and satisfying fashion… you should have seen yourself out there. The moment you caught the snitch while throwing that bludger at Weasley… it was thrilling…it was electrifying…" she said with a somewhat intoxicated look, her legs clenching together as she looked at Axel.
"Uh…Okay, I get it," said Axel scooting a bit further away from the girl, "But can you make them stop now? It's causing me a headache." It really was, and so was Patricia's perfume due to her closeness. Axel risked a glance towards Daphne, only to see her stabbing her fork into her plate, while glaring in his direction. He had a feeling that she was going to be grumpy in today's training session.
But then from a few seats beside Daphne, Axel saw another glare directed his way. But this time, it wasn't from a girl. It was a student from Mahoutokoro. It was the wind guy duelled Martina. Looking around, Axel noticed more unfriendly gazes from many other guys, making him frown.
"Have I done anything against Mahoutokoro?" He asked Patricia. Who else could he ask? There was no Daphne here.
Patricia coughed, "Well, Akiko is an unreachable existence among the students of Mahoutokoro. And she personally came to rescue you so…"
"Great. More enemies," Axel sighed, looking at the ceiling. Looks like his life is changed forever.
…
From that day onwards, Axel stopped appearing at meal times at the great hall, and the number of classes he was skipping increased. A few professors complained, but his head of house, Professor Snape, couldn't care less, letting him get away with it.
Just like this, the days passed, with Axel becoming a reclusive star of Hogwarts. Every day, he'd first practice his own skills, then train with Akiko, and then train Daphne. During this time, with their daily interactions discontinued by Axel, Daphne seemed to have gained even more motivation, making rapid improvements in her training. She even learned a few ice-related spells which Axel had asked for from Akiko.
Patricia didn't let a peep anymore, even if he didn't show up for training even once. On the other hand, the Hufflepuffs were under a lot of pressure, due to their upcoming match against the Slytherins. Axel was living the thug life, with the Slytherins worshipping him whenever he showed up at the dorms or the House table and skipping classes as he pleased. Even the students from Mahoutokoro wouldn't bother him without a reason. After all, he had Akiko's protection. They could be jealous and outraged but they couldn't really do shit.
Overall, anyone would think he must be very happy, right? He was not.
In his quiet training room, Axel looked at the damaged wand in his hands. For the hundredth time, he cursed himself for being so careless. The thing is, he didn't actually realize how much he cared about it until it was lost. During this time, he hadn't bothered getting a new one, opting to make do with Daphne's father's wand when it was absolutely necessary. That was also one of the reasons behind his class skipping.
But it wasn't like losing it only had downsides. Axel raised his free hand.
[Magic Hands]
[Proficiency: 52%]
"Incendio."
His hand suddenly began to feel hot, before gradually, a very tiny flame lit up on the tip of his finger.
Looking at the flame, a crooked grin stretched across Axel's face. "Finally Wandless, huh?"
After loosing his wand, Axel realized his dependence on it. Take a wand away from a wizard and he's suddenly more fucking useless than a muggle. So, he had been training his skill, [Magic Hands] a lot lately. Magic Hands increases his hands dexterity. By training it, he can get absolute control over his hands. When you have absolute control over your hands, you can do very awesome things with them, which everyone thought were impossible.
But still, he's a long way off before this actually becomes useful, and it might never be comparable to his output with his wand. So, fixing his wand was a must. Pocketing his wand, Axel sighed. Fortunately, the wait was finally over. Going down towards the Great Hall, he noticed the changes from the usual mornings. The Hall was decorated in Christmas decorations, and students could be seen lugging various types bags.
Yep, the Christmas Holidays were here, and as decided, Axel was going to the Valentinos to get his wand fixed.
As Axel arrived into the Great Hall, many eyes were drawn to him, of course. But no one really came to bother him. It is already known how much he hates crowds. Only Patricia seemed to break the rule. "Merry Christmas, my Estrela," she said, coming to walk alongside him.
"What do you want?" Asked Axel.
"How hurtful. Can't I approach you just to wish you?"
"No you can't, Patricia. Get to the point."
Patricia sighed as she got serious. "The interview. Have you thought about it yet?"
Axel shook his head, "I already told you. It's not my thing."
Patricia didn't agree, not letting him leave. "But you have to understand, it's for the best. There's literally little to no information about you out there. Right now, you are just a blank canvas. And if you don't fill it, people are going to fill it the way they want."
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Axel stared at her for moment then scoffed. "You're making a big deal out of it."
"No, I'm not," said Patricia, coming to stand in his way as she fished out her Magi-mirror. "Look here." She said, showing him an article in her magi-mirror.
It was an article titled: "MOST POPULAR BOY AT HOGWARTS?"
Below were Axel's various pictures attached. One of him being supported by Martina and Akiko, one of him face to face with Rose, one of him being Hugged by Patricia and one of him and Daphne. Looking at the Article, Axel's brows furrowed as he gave it a read.
"Hogwarts seems to have gained a new most popular student. And the escapades of this particular student are so extra-ordinary that we feel compelled to write this article. The name of the student in the picture is Axel Hunt, an unseen Quidditch prodigy and a Valedictorian. And as can be noticed from the pictures, it seems that not only in Quidditch, he is also an amazing player in terms of wooing beauties as well. But the most astonishing detail here is not the jaw-dropping beauties of these girls. It is their identities. Here's a detailed review of the identities of these beauties and their relations with Axel. It will truly boggle your mind.
Martina Valentino:
(Here's a picture)
Do not have any thoughts about this beauty, because this is Martina Valentino, the little princess of the extremely powerful Valentino Family. The Valentinos is the most dangerous and influential family of Italy, with its businesses spread in many fields, running in many parts of the Wizarding World. And Martina is the one and only extremely doted princess of this family. Not only that, she is also an exceptional prodigy in Magic and Enchanting, owning patents to various Magical Inventions. It is also suspected that she might have a hand in the invention of various other Patents registered under the Valentino family.
According to our sources, this prodigy has long taken a liking to Mr. Hunt, even before he had started to show any talents. In his very first year, a picture of Axel and Miss Valentino sleeping together on the Hospital bed had gone viral, causing quite a stir. With the school belle apparently getting together with a weak boy of unknown origin, her suitors were outraged at Axel, to which, Miss Valentino herself came forward, announcing that anyone daring to bother Axel Hunt will have to face the wrath of the full Valentino family. And this year, the two were seen going in and coming out of a broom closet, with evidences of some suspicious activities. The response of the rest of the family to their precious daughter's wild actions is yet to be noticed, but the speculations are, it might not be positive, given Hunt's relations with other women. Regardless of the outcome, everyone is looking forward to how the relationship develops. Click here to see more on this.
Rose Potter:
(Here's a picture)
The next in the list is Rose Potter, none other than the Girl-Who-Lived herself! Rose Potter is said to be the girl who vanquished Britain's one of the most fearsome Darklords, Lord Voldemort and also a very talented Quidditch player. She's the heir to the Ancient Potter Family and adoptive daughter of the Black Family, which is currently the most influential in Britain.
So, something is going on between this Vanquisher of The Dark Lord and the Quidditch Prodigy Axel Hunt. And the fans are loving it. Axel and Rose have this love and hate relationship that many have come to adore. According to our sources, their first meeting had occurred even before the two arrived at Hogwarts and they were on friendly terms. But then the Sorting happened and they were sorted into rival houses, Gryffindor and Slytherin. And before they knew it, the friendship turned into rivalry, with the two often seen being at odds with each other. And during this time, our witch charmer began to make friends with other witches. At the end of the year, Axel went to be the Valedictorian of first years while Rose went on to win her House the Quidditch Cup and House Cup, beaten Slytherin to the punch.
In their next year, in order to settle the scores, Hunt managed to get himself into the Slytherin Quidditch Team, also as a seeker, the same position as Rose, while he continued his relations with other girls. Unable to take it anymore, Rose confronted Axel, calling him to stop his wickedness. To which, Hunt, also thoroughly irritated, proposed a wager that whoever loses will do whatever the winner says. At this time, Hunt had no history with Quidditch, while Rose was adroit in it to point of even getting offers to play for major league Quidditch team. There was no way Hunt could have won. Hence Rose accepted the challenge, and Hunt was lambasted throughout the internet by all of Rose's supporters. But who would have thought that Hunt would actually turn out to be a never seen Quidditch Talent? Truly triggered by all the ridicule and criticism, Hunt caught the snitch 22 times in that match, setting many records and winning the wager by thoroughly beating a very stunned Rose Potter. Fans are immensely curious about how this love-hate dynamic is now going to play out. Click here to see more on this.
Patricia Afonso:
(Here's a picture)
The stunning beauty in you see in Slytherin colours is Patricia Afonso, a Sixth year Slytherin Prefect and the current Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team. She is the only daughter of Pedro Afonso, the Head of the very influential Afonso Family and the current Minister of Magic of Brazil. Axel seems to have had no interactions with Patricia in his first year, but in his second year, he managed to get the Slytherin Captain to hire him into the team without even a trial. The Slytherin team was already pretty weak at the time, with most of the players graduating just last year and there was a lot of pressure on her as the Captain and de-facto leader of House Slytherin. But she went against everyone's expectations and selected Axel without a trial. From our sources, it is known that Patricia had started to approach Axel on a daily basis, asking him for something, and it wasn't until Axel got himself the seeker position did he agree for whatever demand she had.
But Patricia might have never thought that selecting Axel could be a such a significant risk to her, as the seeker and captain were both humiliated in a prank by Gryffindor team's beaters right before the match, getting covered in Gryffindor colours in front of the whole school. The prank sparked great outrage in the Slytherins and to make the matters worse, the clip of the prank was shown on live international broadcast, making winning a necessity for Slytherin and Patricia. With Patricia at her wits end to save her political career, our dreamboy Axel came to not only save the day, but also win Slytherin's honour back by defeating Gryffindor by more than a 1000 point margin. During the match, out of sheer joy, Patricia claimed of loving Axel and even proposed marriage to him, and gave him a tight hug after the match, almost making our charmer pass out as he added yet another member to his growing list of Witches. Click here to see more on this.
Akiko Matsushima:
(Here's a picture)
The next of the list is Akiko Matsushima. Don't get fooled by the cute face. The girl you see in the picture is a very dangerous Hunter-nin. Akiko Matsushima is arguably the most talented warrior of Japanese School of Magic, Mahoutokoro. She is the first ninja to get a Hunter-nin license at her age, something which is equivalent to a Hit Wizards in Britain. Her talent can estimated by the fact that she defeated Martina, the Hogwarts undefeated prodigy in a duel. Akiko is also the Granddaughter of Hiroshi Yamazaki, the current Headmaster of Mahoutokoro and the inheritor of the powerful Matsushima clan. Currently, it is quite unclear exactly how and when Axel and Akiko have known each other, but when he was about to fall unconscious after his Akiko came to his rescue, with the two exchanging words smilingly before Axel passed in her embrace. This behaviour is quite uncharacteristic of the cold hunter-nin who has never cared for anyone. Akiko's only comment on the matter has been, "We're good friends. I'll help him out whenever he needs." Which is already enough to state to the magnitude of significance coming from someone like her. See more on this here.
Daphne Greengrass:
(Here's a picture)
The adorable witch in the picture and the last in the list is Daphne Greengrass, the Heiress of the Greengrass Family, one of the sacred twenty eight in Britain. She has been known to be quite a good friend to Axel and she is reportedly the one who forced Rose to confront Axel. The two of them even went to the Halloween party together like a couple. But it would seem that the only purpose of this relation was to make Rose jealous, as Axel has completely cut off all contacts with Daphne after the match. See more of this here.
Whatever his relationship might be with these girls, it seems a strange coincidence that all of them are outstanding witches, with prominent backgrounds. And to be able to win over all of these with no background, Axel's charm cannot be underestimated. Many are curious to find out how he's doing this and there are many men out there who are willing to become his stude—"
Axel stopped himself from reading more of this nonsense now that he was sure nothing sensitive about Daphne was written, but he did get Patricia's point. These guys had dug up his whole history and made him out to be some kind of witch charmer who is going for witches with powerful background. But… giving an interview? That's just not his thing.
"Did you see? There are a lot more like this," said Patricia, scrolling down to show articles with other headings.
"Axel Hunt: Background Search"
"Secret Behind Hunt's success"
Axel sighed as he side stepped her and began walking away, "Well, let them write whatever they want. Anything is fine as long as they don't change my name," he said, walking away.
He wasn't doing this to get everyone's approval. To get his name across to the Organization, he just needed the fame. Even if it's infamy.
Walking a few more steps, he finally encountered Martina, who had been searching for him.
"Ready to go to my home?" She asked excitedly.
For going to the home place of the most dangerous magical mafia? Who's princess is rumoured to have romantic relations with him? Yeah absolutely...
...
A.N.: Delivered the article you guys demanded.
Next chapter: Daphne Fainted (Out of embarrassment)
Next next...next: Angry Axel: Super Savage Mode On
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