The only known way to barely control the Basilisk is Parseltongue.
But now, it's clear that William and this Basilisk share a master-servant relationship—why? More crucially, why can he keep a Basilisk in the castle... as well as a Fire Dragon, lots of Nifflers, Bird Snakes, Cheetahs, Horned Serpents... What's that over there, nodding off? A Nundu?
"Your zoo keeps getting richer."
Dumbledore was somewhat surprised, at least that Nundu was something he'd never seen before.
However, ever since William instructed Norbert to perform a tap dance before Dumbledore, and even spun three and a half circles in place with two floor moves, the old man had no objection to William keeping these creatures—history has no precedent of humans truly "training" Fire Dragons.
"Alright, I've played enough with these little guys. Can you let me see what you're doing under the castle now?"
"Of course."
William waved his hand, and the whole motley crew in the Secret Chamber spun into a circle, then all drilled into the suitcase by the wall. With a "click," the golden latch on the suitcase closed. After all the sounds disappeared, Snape finally moved his feet again.
"What on earth are these? Dumbledore, you're actually tolerating him keeping a Nundu in the castle?!" The man glared, feeling like he might be going mad, looking at Dumbledore with a strange gaze.
"I believe William can take care of it—"
"Why?"
"...You haven't told him yet?"
William looked curiously at the two seemingly about to argue—of course, mainly because Snape was agitated, while Dumbledore remained calm and composed, gently stroking the soft fur of the Niffler in his arms, his voice very calm, "I thought you would tell Severus."
"Huh? Me?" William pointed at himself, looking surprised, "Dumbledore, do you think he would believe a single word that comes out of my mouth?"
"..."
Snape admitted, William was quite right; although he didn't even know what the other wanted to say to him, he would probably instinctively disbelieve it.
"Alright, I'll tell you."
William turned his head, his tone serious and solemn, "Actually, I'm the legendary William Richard, the one who resolved the second Goblin Rebellion in 1892. Professor Binns should have taught you that lesson... Honestly, seeing oneself in the history books is still quite novel."
"That I agree with."
Dumbledore agreed with the latter part of William's statement, as he often sees himself in history books too.
"Impossible!"
But Snape thought for a moment, then instinctively, categorically denied it.
"See, I said he wouldn't believe it."
William waved his hand, didn't continue, but instead waved his magic wand, letting the "pool" in the center of the Map Chamber dry up.
"He..."
Snape looked at Dumbledore with pleading eyes, seemingly hoping the latter would tell him that William was just spouting nonsense.
"Sadly, he's telling the truth, Severus."
Dumbledore shook his head, saying softly, as the latter continued to shake his head in bewilderment, not wanting to believe it.
That is the hero who saved the British Magic Realm; how could he be so reprehensible... Well, Snape actually had no filter for heroes, he just purely disliked William, so instinctively didn't want to admit the other was that capable at all.
It's like in your class there's always a nemesis, you both dislike each other, and then one day the class teacher says your nemesis has been guaranteed admission to Tsinghua (of course, not implying anything bad about Peking University), this kind of heart-wrenching feeling...
Snape didn't even know how he walked down those stairs, all in all, when he came to his senses, he saw two mummies in cages, bound entirely in brown-yellow bandages.
But actually, it's hard to say if there are two—
Because one of them is completely dismembered, its fragmented body seems to be healing at a speed visible to the naked eye, just still somewhat slow.
"This guy actually endured a 'Missile Head' of mine, and still lived... can mummies be considered alive? They don't breathe."
William clicked his tongue, this was the most surprising, because although the defense and self-healing capabilities of these mummies had been verified, he didn't expect this guy to be this troublesome—a hydraulic press, smelting furnace, liquid nitrogen spray guns... none worked.
Even ten minutes ago, it had been frozen into a popsicle or smelted into an iron block—it could still revert to its original state in just ten minutes.
So, William simply gave it a small "Secret Vault" bomb, and it could still recover—honestly, William was a bit at his wit's end now, although this time of research hasn't been entirely unfruitful, like those bandages seemingly growing on the mummies, the runes on them many of which weren't found in the Olympus palace.
Maybe it's because the mythology systems are different?
"...In general, that's the gist of it."
William briefly explained the origins of these two mummies, obviously skipping his relationship with Lucius Malfoy and Fudge, and as to why he was heading to Malfoy Manor at that time, it was of course because he'd already noticed something off about Bertha Jorkins at the Ministry of Magic—
"The Dark Lord returned before summer break?!"
Snape's attention clearly wasn't on the mummies; he instantly focused on William's mention of Voldemort, "...But he hadn't even summoned us—that's bizarre?! He went to find Malfoy, but not..."
"Find you? And then be caught by Dumbledore in a trap?"
William paused, somewhat baffled by Snape's "mysterious confidence," "Not to mention, hadn't he returned once attached to Quirrell? You think Voldemort wouldn't know that you've betrayed him?"
"..."
Snape took a breath, barely calming his agitated emotions.
"And the key problem isn't why Voldemort wasn't flamboyant upon return, but—"
William paused, and seeing the two's attention, he tapped the railing and continued, "Instead, this mummy came to help Voldemort steal Soul Artifacts, its target was clear—the Room of Requirement, Ravenclaw's Diadem—only Voldemort knows the Diadem's location, Dumbledore."
"...Alright, I understand now."
Dumbledore's smile finally disappeared, the old man pressed his chin with one hand, staring at the broken mummy body on the ground, blue eyes full of thought, "This unidentified person likely has reached some sort of collaboration with Voldemort—"
"Moreover, he has some ancient heritage in Britain; these mummies are not modern products." William nodded, adding further.
"...We need to move faster now."
Dumbledore took a deep breath, the relaxed expression on his face vanishing.
...
...
"...Must we cheat again?"
A week later, it was once again the day the Duel Club was scheduled to be held. Harry stepped into Underground Classroom No. 5, seeing all the Champions gathered on one side of the classroom, none absent, the boy thought instinctively.
However, today is clearly more than just about revealing questions, because this time sitting inside the classroom were far more people than just those nine Champions.
"Professor Lupin hasn't arrived yet?"
Harry pulled out a chair and sat beside Hermione, which was a spot close to the front door, asking softly.
"Today it's probably the senior."
Hermione blinked, then, seemingly a bit nervous, she lowered her head and used her hand to brush her bangs against the small mirror.
"Do I look okay?" She asked quietly.
"Not bad."
William pushed open the classroom door, winking at the girl whose cheeks were slightly flushed.