Professor Flitwick also noticed the scene opposite, and seeing the two red-haired boys staring at each other, he first chuckled, then couldn't help but marvel. The scale of this Capacious Extremis, although most wizards can do it with enough time, but he knows that William only started yesterday.
"Just a little trick with Magic Rune—"
William shook his head, even Ancient Magic couldn't change the laws of this world's magic, but Ancient Runes could. It only required carving a few stone slabs enriched with magic power, and by replacing them regularly, it could ensure that the expanded space wouldn't collapse—this is how he handled the little world in his suitcase.
To make an analogy, compared to building a house brick by brick using the Capacious Extremis, his method is more like directly moving in a livable container.
Space system powerhouse, truly terrifying—
… Ahem, after waiting a bit longer, Snape, originally intending to leave, also stood in place silently, staring at the crowd not far away without saying a word. His cold gaze made the little wizards' hearts shiver involuntarily, with many beginning to reflect if they had done something to provoke him lately... No, provoking Snape didn't seem difficult—
After waiting for quite a while, the never-ending crowd outside the door finally all entered the room. Hermione, Cedric, and Harry had already greeted William after closing the door, but it was just a brief greeting as they returned to the group. The reason was none other than the intimidating gaze of Snape leaning against the wall—
Especially Harry, who almost didn't dare to come up and say hello.
"... What's wrong with that Bat Spirit again?"
Beside Harry, Ron's tone was somewhat peculiar. He stared at Hermione's back standing outside the crowd for a long time, seemingly still pouting, but when she never turned around, he paused before redirecting his gaze to Snape.
"I don't know, but his expression has been pretty rotten lately." Harry shook his head, indicating he was unsure.
"What about you, Hermione and that Hufflepuff boy haven't returned to the team—"
Without dwelling too much on the issue, Ron looked at Harry with some confusion, appearing to not entirely understand, after all, Hermione and Cedric were now standing outside the group, maintaining order, while Harry, who had just shared the same role with them, was now in the student body.
"Uh, I told William I also wanted to participate in the selection, they probably didn't say."
"So, what's the selection content exactly?"
"I don't know either..."
"Ahem, alright, since everyone is here—"
Seeing the little wizards automatically split into four groups without needing to be organized, William nodded, stepping onto the grass and slowly walking up. He waved his wand towards his throat, and his speaking volume was amplified several times. His somewhat distorted voice echoed above the "classroom"—
"Next, I will explain the requirements for joining the Duel Club to all of you—"
As he spoke, the soil beneath William surged, and a yellow earth platform lifted his figure up into the air. Saying so, he raised his right hand, his palm slightly open, and a deep blue shadow floated from his palm, capturing everyone's attention like a ring of flame.
"In this forest, a total of forty rings are scattered."
As William's words fell, almost everyone's gaze shifted to the dense green forest behind them. They felt dazed momentarily, and not far away, the sea of trees seemed to sway gently. Gazing at the forest with a size seemingly no less than the Forbidden Forest, almost everyone fell into silence.
Seriously, buddy—
Only forty rings in total, yet scattered throughout this forest?
Will they even find them all by next year?
"Rest assured, they're not as dispersed as you think. You'll definitely finish tonight and allow those who haven't done their homework to go back and make up their weekend assignments."
As if guessing what everyone was thinking, William's voice rang out again, dispelling their doubts, "Moreover, the locations are quite obvious, even with guidance—so you just need to find the rings and bring them back to enter the retest—"
"But it's totally impassable—"
Before William could finish, he heard Fred shout loudly. He quickly ran over, relying on his memory to push hard in the direction they were pointing... then he fell face-first into the shadows of the forest.
Did that invisible wall disappear?
Fred wiped the grass-stained face and didn't feel embarrassed at all despite falling flat on his face in front of so many people. He quickly stood up and dashed toward the forest, shouting, "The ring is mine!"
Then, the boy's silhouette disappeared into the forest.
"... Well, I've prepared some surprises in the woods for you, good luck."
As William's words fell, the well-prepared little wizards turned around in unison and sprinted toward the woods—none of them bothered considering what the surprise might be. Only Harry, upon hearing the word, paused slightly in his steps and then retrieved his magic wand from his pocket.
No matter what the "surprise" is, it's best to be prepared.
...
"... Isn't this kind of dangerous?"
Flitwick's voice was somewhat puzzled. Watching those little wizards disappear into the forest in an instant, he completely missed the chance to stop them. Moments later, this Half-Elf Professor glared at William, expressing disbelief at his completely irresponsible behavior.
Even though this is inside Hogwarts itself, a classroom that's been expanded with spells. As long as William doesn't throw some dangerous Magical Creatures inside, the forest shouldn't be that inherently dangerous—
However, letting a group of energetic teenagers run wild in that forest is inherently an extremely dangerous thing.
Needless to say, throughout the entire history of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, those notable mass brawls were essentially because students were allowed too much freedom without any professors supervising them, coupled with the spirited youthfulness of those little wizards, especially those little lions, when young people get worked up, they'll do anything—
While the cause of conflicts might not entirely be Gryffindor, the first one to start the fight will definitely be Gryffindor.
"No, this can't be done—"
A thought arose in his mind, and Flitwick ignored William's explanation that he had obtained the Headmaster's consent, insisted on opposing such a reckless selection, "With such a large space, letting them duel one-on-one would definitely help sift out suitable candidates."
"There are two or three hundred applicants. If you want a duel, this selection might have to run until next Saturday. This workload is larger than the UK Duel Tournament."
"But..."
Before William could appease Flitwick, Snape, who had been leaning silently to the side, suddenly stood up. He raised his hand to rub his shoulder, and an unusual smirk appeared on his face—
Only, perhaps due to years of maintaining a stern expression, his smile looked somewhat stiff.
"I just said, William, I'll be watching you closely—Heh, disregarding the safety of the students, all for some rubbish club selection."
Snape took another deep breath, his smile showing a hint of joy as if he was delighted to finally catch William's misstep. He tugged at the corners of his mouth, didn't bother to look at William's expression, and even didn't wait for his response, "I'll be writing to the School Board soon; Dumbledore can't protect you now."
As he spoke, he reached out to grip the door handle and forcefully pushed outward—
It didn't budge.
"?"
Snape, puzzled, raised his hand to brush aside the hair falling in front of his eyes, and used force on his wrist again this time. However, he saw a segment of white English characters set within a black frame quietly appearing on the door plate—
[Door cannot be opened from this side]
"?"