The time came, the bell rang, and everyone reluctantly put away their magic wands.
"When is the next event?"
A fifth-year Gryffindor student asked eagerly.
"Next Friday," Vid said.
"Can I bring my roommate to join?" Astoria from Slytherin raised her arm and asked, "She has to write a paper tonight, so she couldn't come."
"Of course," Vid said, "As I mentioned before, the doors of the Magic Spell Study Group are always open, you can decide for yourselves when to come and go."
"Awesome, Vid," a Ravenclaw male prefect ran over, patted Vid's arm, and said, "We'll definitely join next time."
When they walked out of the activity room, people were still enthusiastically discussing:
"Did you see that? My spell just worked."
"Yeah, but you still didn't block my Tarantallegra."
"I'm just not skilled yet! With more practice, the spell's power will definitely increase!"
"Why don't we continue practicing in the common room?"
"Sure!"
The students walked back to the common room arm in arm, chatting and laughing along the way, sharing experiences and feelings of success with each other.
As they walked farther away, Vid still heard someone loudly saying, "I've never felt learning a spell could be this easy! My mom always said I had talent!"
He looked down and smiled, waving his magic wand so that the messy items in the classroom returned to their places.
"Hey, should we celebrate? Our first event was a great success," Anthony said as he finished tidying up, walking over with a smile, "I left a few Butter Beers in the common room; I think we can have a drink or two afterward."
"Don't think about it," Michael said, patting Anthony's shoulder, "Vid probably still wants to research alchemy, right?"
Vid smiled and said, "I still have some things to do, you guys go ahead."
"Alright," Anthony didn't insist, saying, "Don't miss the curfew."
After several of them left one after another, the classroom quickly quieted down, leaving only the candles burning, casting flickering shadows on the walls.
Vid turned back for a moment to look at the empty podium, extinguished the candles, and closed the door before leaving.
He turned back once more to look at the wooden sign hanging on the door, the corridor was already very quiet, with serene moonlight shining through the windows, creating an atmosphere as if a pale blue mist was floating in the air.
In a daze, Vid seemed to feel that, decades ago, young Tom Riddle probably walked this corridor alone many nights as well.
Using fear and the pure-blood doctrine, he opened the inner dark desires of the underage students, giving them the authority to bully the weak and gathering his earliest followers.
But after graduating, Voldemort did not continue this rule. Instead, he went to Borgin and Burkes' shop to become a humble employee.
Perhaps in Voldemort's mind, pursuing immortality and searching for the relics of the four founders was more important. But in the minds of those followers, would this count as a betrayal?
The young Grindelwald and Dumbledore were very similar; they were talented and naturally distanced from their peers. Their pride prevented them from lowering their heads to make friends or from bothering to ingratiate themselves with the mediocre, engaging in meaningless social interactions.
It wasn't until Grindelwald found a goal that he began to gather followers; whereas Dumbledore chose to remain solitary due to family and emotional upheavals.
——What about me?
Vid asked himself in his heart: What do I want to achieve? What is my goal…?
...
The activity room was finally emptied, with only the smoke from the candles gracefully rising. After a few seconds, the candles suddenly flared up again and quietly resumed burning.
The air seemed to ripple as a few figures emerged from invisibility in the corner.
"Do you think Vid noticed us just now?" Professor McGonagall asked.
"Haha, you'll have to ask Moody," Professor Flitwick said cheerfully, "I saw him deflect a student's spell! It must have been that move that gave us away! Luckily, Vid didn't expose us!"
"That was a Tarantallegra!" Moody said muffledly, "You can't expect me to hop around the classroom with a peg leg."
Flitwick didn't care what he said, clapping his hands while standing on a table, "What a splendid class it was! I almost couldn't help applauding him several times!"
"It was indeed surprising," Professor McGonagall said with a hint of admiration on her face, "Honestly, some of Vid's teaching methods are worth learning from—even though I've been teaching Transfiguration for decades."
She walked to the blackboard, looking at the diagram with colored chalk markings of magic wand trajectory analyses.
"These kids are in a hurry," Moody said, looking at Dumbledore, "Maybe we should add some more useful content for the tournament in our teaching, as other schools do."
Dumbledore shook his head, "No, follow the usual teaching plan. We all know that most students have no opportunity to participate in the competition, and the Wizarding Level Exams are what truly impact their future."
"As for the current craze..." Dumbledore casually flipped through some student notes left behind carelessly, noticing the densely written words, "Once the champions for the tournament are announced, most students might lose this motivation."
"As for Vid's Magic Spell Study Group..." Flitwick asked tentatively.
Dumbledore pondered for a moment before saying, "Let it continue... he's doing an excellent job, and the students are learning a lot. Any interference on our part would be unnecessary."
"But Dumbledore, you should know how Fudge thinks," Moody said gravely, "He's always concerned that you're training your own army at school. If he finds out about this study group... he'd think you're indeed doing it."
"Oh, don't worry," Dumbledore took out a honey candy from his pocket and popped it into his mouth, speaking indistinctly, "I've been getting along quite well with Cornelius recently."
Moody rolled his eyes. He knew that, even among them, they shouldn't hope to extract Dumbledore's true thoughts.
"Anyway, the tournament is about to begin soon," Dumbledore looked out the window and said, "This competition is no child's play, and we must try our best to ensure the students' safety, that's the most important."
"Fudge, that fool, hopes you could win back the trophy!" Moody said, "That way, he could have something grand to boast about on his resume!"
"Oh, this... with Vid here... right?" Flitwick looked to the others and said.
Dumbledore was silent for a moment before saying, "If he's not genuinely willing to participate, don't force him, Filius."
"Of course, I definitely won't," Professor Flitwick said, "But it's not only us who care about Hogwarts' honor, Albus."