"Here's your schedule—"
At the Hufflepuff Long Table, William, who had just started breakfast, took his semester's schedule from Cedric. He glanced at it casually and noticed the classes were more densely packed than he had initially expected. This revelation annoyed him, so he folded the paper in half—
It was like starting university, thinking you're stepping into a wonderful life as a freshman, only to find out you have 8 AM classes six days a week.
That Old Man, he's asking for trouble!
So William "maliciously" glanced towards the teachers' table. Old Man was sitting beside Dumbledore, seemingly having an off-and-on conversation. As if sensing William's gaze, the old man suddenly turned his head and waved cheerfully—
"Tsk."
After taking two or three sips to finish the rice porridge in his bowl, William stood up with his bag—actually, it wasn't that bad. Although it seemed like more classes, he knew that sixth grade was the only year in three years without exam pressure. The professors' teaching methods wouldn't be much different from Hogwarts' first four years of happy education.
So there's still a lot of free time outside of classes.
Moreover, under strict scoring control, his O.W.L. exam results weren't too impressive. Except for getting O's in subjects like Magic Potion, Herbology, Transfiguration, Magic Rune, and Defense Against the Dark Arts, subjects like Astronomy or Magic History were just barely passing—
In fact, this result was quite good, but compared to the "geniuses" who managed to get O in every subject, it was like a firefly to the bright moon.
Yes, William was now watching a future "bright moon" hurriedly leaving the hall—
Judging from this, Hermione probably already got the Time Turner?
William thoughtfully watched the trio of Harry leaving the hall. Although the green fire still burning above Harry's head attracted most people's attention, William's focus was on Hermione's noticeably heavy backpack, within which he could see several books from the gaps—
Like "Unfogging the Future" and "Elementary Arithmetic Divination." If he remembered correctly, these two classes were generally mutually exclusive because Arithmetic Divination and Divination were scheduled at the same time—after all, except for those crazy about academics, no one would choose two similar courses.
So, this meant—
Indeed, it didn't take long for William to see the girl who had just left the hall looking tired as she entered from outside again, quickly walking to the Gryffindor Long Table and grabbing the bread and milk beside her, stuffing them into her mouth.
Great, hypothesis confirmed—
He just wondered if she had already taken two classes. If it were just two in a row, there shouldn't be a need to specifically come back for a meal.
Alas, this world of academic maniacs is really beyond him...
Like now, although he was also doing some research, most of his motivation was to satisfy his curiosity and thirst for knowledge. Of course, having been a corporate worker in his past life, he had no plans to push himself so hard, and his future was roughly settled.
After all, unless something unexpected happens, like Voldemort making a comeback and wiping out the British Ministry of Magic, he would probably be a professor at Hogwarts.
Oh, another unexpected option is if Dumbledore might step down—then William doesn't plan to just be a professor; he feels the Headmaster's Office is quite cozy.
Reputation and such... he'll build that when the time comes.
Then there's Voldemort. The Soul Artifact is indeed troublesome, and according to his speculation, Voldemort likely has more than just the diary. If he can't find them all, he'll have to think of another way—like using the power of a Secret Vault to create a permanent prison?
Like how medieval people judged witches, besides burning them (of course, those burned to death were fake witches, since the real ones could cast Impervius Charms on themselves and sleep in the fire), they would put them in iron boxes and sink them to the bottom of the sea.
You, Voldemort, can indeed resurrect, but what if I add an undying buff to you and restrict your movements?
His thoughts jumped quickly, feeling more and more that this plan was feasible. William suddenly felt the urge to make a grand move in the Map Chamber, but seeing the Transfiguration Class as the first class this morning, he decisively chose to grab his textbooks and head to class—the Head Meow's reputation was still important to maintain, after all, her touch was much better than Mrs. Loris (haze).
This time, Professor McGonagall didn't start the class like last semester by saying our progress was lagging. Without short-term exam pressure, it wasn't just the students who wanted to slack off. During the first class of the semester, Professor McGonagall took attendance before starting to review previous content—
"A great Vanishing Spell—"
After William deftly made the button on the table disappear, Professor McGonagall decisively awarded a point to Hufflepuff. Then the class bell rang, and the students filed out, but William routinely walked to the podium.
"...Are you ready?"
Seeing William walk up, Professor McGonagall naturally understood his purpose. After pondering for a moment, she didn't stop him but instead took out a small bag from the bottom of the drawer, "This contains Mandrake Leaves I got from Pomona. There should be enough... as long as you don't eat them for meals."
Professor Meow tugged at the corners of her mouth, cracking a slightly high-threshold joke.
Yes, William planned to learn Animagus—of course, he could secretly practice on his own, as this Transformation Magic, besides being tedious and easy to get the steps wrong, wasn't inherently very difficult or dangerous. So he didn't actually need to inform Professor McGonagall.
But, what William wanted to attempt was, of course, not just this simple—
In the last few days in Cairo, he and Lupin swept through a dozen poacher hideouts. Finally, persistence paid off, and after wiping out "wild monsters" across half of Egypt, the loot finally yielded the drop he needed—a shortcut technique for target-oriented Animagus transformation.
And this technique, indeed looked very sinister, with quite the Black Wizard vibe.
Worship an unknown Evil God, offer the blood and flesh of the animal you wish to transform into, and swallow Mandrake Roots imbued with magic power and raw meat in complete darkness...
Uh, after considering it briefly, William decided not to attempt it directly—not because he was scared of some evil god, but because he could see that among the many steps, only swallowing the Mandrake and the specially treated blood and flesh during the ritual were effective, most others were just useless steps.
But, this was targeted—meaning he could control what he turned into as an Animagus!