What?
Whether William would choose to develop his own influence among the students, learning from how Voldemort controlled the Death Eaters to build his own army—if William knew that was what Dumbledore was thinking, he would definitely say the old man was overthinking things.
Cultivating students is one thing, but to nurture a completely loyal faction of his own?
He's not planning to rule the world or start a war—what's the need? And why bother with that effort when he can just take over what's already there? Voldemort left such a strong base, it just needs to be fully taken over, which would not only strengthen himself but also weaken the other side, achieving twice the result with half the effort.
What?
That the loyalty of the Death Eaters cannot be guaranteed?
No kidding, he certainly knows that. After all, every Death Eater still active outside is a fair-weather friend, the type that would scatter when Voldemort fell. He never counted on their loyalty; his only goal is to ensure they don't remain loyal to Voldemort anymore—
But, Voldemort's die-hard followers aren't all dead; there are still many locked up in Azkaban... one even escaped recently, which might be a breakthrough. Once Sirius is caught, he can be questioned about how he bypassed the Dementors' surveillance, perhaps finding a way to rescue those die-hards too—
Render Voldemort completely powerless, and when he resurrects, stage a "real or fake Voldemort" act with the Death Eaters, leading them in a "righteous" beatdown of Voldemort!
Killing someone, one must also destroy their spirit!
Once Voldemort is completely dealt with, those Death Eaters could all be taken out too. They're not any good anyway, and letting them live a few more days could be considered as giving them some time to say goodbye to a world that would be prettier without them.
And William could leave these plans alone for the time being, since it's actually still early to talk about these. After all, with his interference, whether Voldemort can resurrect is still uncertain. Right now, he decides to focus on getting the Duel Club going, and paving the way for a future at Hogwarts.
Meanwhile, in the Gryffindor common room, under the eyes of everyone, Harry slowly pulled out a parchment from his pocket again. This time, before he could pin it up, George snatched it away, raising it high and squinting at the words against the light.
Holding it up is necessary because everyone wants to snatch it.
"Notice: After dinner this Saturday, Professor Flitwick will hold the 'New Duel Club' selection ceremony in the fifth basement classroom. Little wizards in third grade and above are to register with third-grade Gryffindor wizard Hermione Granger before lunch this Saturday.
"Note: Maintain order while registering; those caught chasing or brawling will be detained."
"New Duel Club?"
Chewing over the somewhat peculiar term, the surrounding crowd fell into a brief silence before everyone turned their heads towards Hermione, who was sitting on the sofa near the fireplace engrossed in a thick book.
Noticing the hungry eyes, Hermione raised her head somewhat bewilderedly... Ah, she got so caught up in reading she forgot about this.
"Ahem, yes, Wi… Professor Flitwick said to register with me…"
"I want to join—"
"…But not now."
Hermione's words interrupted a crowd of little wizards trying to push through, and the girl stood up, clutching the thick book and heading straight towards the girls' dormitory while continuing, "Starting at breakfast tomorrow, you'll see me in the Great Hall—register uniformly then!"
With that, Hermione's figure disappeared around the staircase corner.
Why run? Obviously because staying means no good will come—just as Hermione predicted, her figure had barely disappeared before those who came to their senses quickly grabbed the slightly slow-to-escape Harry. Caught by Fred's arm around his neck, Harry could only paw at the arm, indicating he wouldn't run.
"What is this New Duel Club exactly?"
"How come Professor Flitwick never mentioned it in class? What are the selection criteria?"
"Harry, was Mr. William kicked out by the professor?"
"..."
Soon, Harry was completely drowned by a pile of questions until an "invisible hand" with an Invisibility Cloak quietly rescued him.
"...Wait, where did Harry go?"
Seeing a space that moments ago was filled with someone now emptied beside the bulletin board, Fred's eyes nearly popped out.
"...Ro, Ron."
Quietly moving through the crowd with the help of the Invisibility Cloak, standing in the boys' dormitory hallway, Harry finally tugged off the cloak from his head, slightly out of breath—how could he know the answers to those questions, he was just a drafted messenger for notices, the only one who knew more was Hermione—
Because she said that William was good at organizing information, so the task of registering applicants naturally landed on her—of course, this was only Harry's reasoning. The real reason was that Hermione had a Time Turner, allowing her to sit in the Great Hall all day registering while still attending all her classes.
She's simply the top multi-tasker!
"Harry."
Ron looked at Harry, hesitating for a moment, then, seemed a bit tangled, "Why, why didn't you tell me any of it?"
"Tell you what—"
Harry had just asked the question when he realized the implication was obvious; what he didn't tell Ron was clearly about the revamp of the Duel Club. Evidently, Ron realized that both he and Hermione knew, and he alone was left in the dark, clearly feeling a bit aggrieved.
"..."
Upon guessing Ron's thoughts, Harry opened his mouth, not out of being at a loss, but because he was speechless to the point of not knowing what to say...
"Big brother, isn't it that day when I asked you to find William and you didn't want to go? Now you think we excluded you? What about when you were off playing Wizard Chess?"
Indeed, teenagers are just so sensitive and suspicious; an unusual action from others can make them speculate for half a day—of course, having guessed this point, Harry didn't plan to keep secrets, he decided to come clean with Ron, dispelling an emerging misunderstanding before it formed.
...
Friday, it's a lovely day, because after it comes two days of rest—but it could've been better.
If it weren't for this old man… Sitting in the Muggle Studies classroom, William stared 'unpleasantly' at the old man on the platform who was looking down and smiling at the students. Originally, he conveniently didn't have classes on Thursdays or Fridays for a full four-day break!
But the old man's meddling split up those perfect four days—
Although learning these isn't difficult for him, it's like how the National Day must be a continuous seven-day holiday, it's a matter of principle! As for compensating for the missed classes? Whoever came up with that idea should be, TMD, executed by slow slicing!
The disturbed William fumed inside until the students had all arrived, and Professor Graves on the platform finally began, his hoarse voice pulling William back to the present, "Good, it seems everyone is here—put your books away, we will be using new ones."
As he spoke, the old man's gaze shifted to William, nodding, "Come, Mr. Richard, help me distribute these new books—"
He pointed to a stack of books beside him.
"..."
William silently stepped up onto the platform and looked at the titles on the book covers—"Basic Physics"
William: ...
?