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Dumbledore's conditions were far too harsh. Whether he accepted them or not would make little difference. In that case, it was simply better not to accept at all.
After all, when it came to negotiating, the most important thing was who held the initiative.
One should not forget that, in the Muggle world, Dudley ran a company.
And he had built it from nothing.
The wealth he had accumulated was something ordinary people could not imagine in ten lifetimes.
He had muscles, but not just muscles.
That move of his had truly caught Dumbledore off guard.
Dumbledore had seen ambition in his eyes.
But... he did not possess ambition alone.
The proposal for the Disciplinary Group was a way to get ahead of things before they got worse, a way of securing a peaceful school life.
If the restrictions imposed on it were too severe, then he would simply rather refuse it.
After all, as long as he was strong enough, he could still reach the same goal.
After Hamon Energy had advanced to Level 2 and his strength had increased even further, Dudley had come to believe that more firmly than ever.
Power was a way of making life more comfortable.
But it was not an absolute necessity.
From beginning to end, what Dudley valued most was only his own strength.
If the iron itself wasn't strong enough, nothing else mattered.
"If this is all you called me here to discuss, then I think we can stop here."
"If there's nothing else, I'll be heading back to rest."
Without giving Dumbledore any chance to respond, Dudley let out a yawn and turned toward the door.
When dealing with an old fox like that, there was no point behaving conventionally.
'4'
'3'
'2'
'1'
'Your next line will be...'
"What do you want to do, Dudley?"
Dumbledore's voice came from behind him.
Truthfully, if Dumbledore had not stopped him, Dudley really would have walked away.
In any case, everything he had mentioned, he had already been doing little by little, just without any official recognition.
Wasn't that exactly what the morning physical training group already was?
Dudley turned around and walked back slowly.
"In truth, Professor, there's no need to rush so much... this is only an idea of mine... if it's ever to be put into practice properly, it will still take some time."
"But we can start by making some preparations first."
"For example?"
Dumbledore no longer treated Dudley as merely a young wizard.
He was far too mature for that.
"Cultivating suitable members."
As he said that, Dudley raised one finger.
"This can't be done by me alone."
"The strength of a single person is always limited."
And even if he were capable of doing it alone, he would not.
Dudley had no intention whatsoever of pouring all of his energy into nothing but that.
He only needed to control the general direction.
"I need helpers."
"Helpers who are truly capable."
"If there is to be a Disciplinary Group with me in it... then it cannot consist of only me."
Dudley laid all of that out calmly.
"Then, Dudley..."
Dumbledore paused before continuing.
"Tell me. Who do you have in mind?"
Speaking with someone intelligent really was convenient.
One little hint was enough, and they understood everything.
"Hermione, Harry, Ron, Neville, Malfoy."
Dumbledore was not surprised in the slightest when he heard those names.
After all, Dudley had never made any effort to hide his training sessions with them.
"And also Cedric from Hufflepuff, third year. Percy from Gryffindor, fifth year. Elizabeth from Ravenclaw, fifth year. And Carrow from Slytherin, seventh year."
Those latter names were practically the most outstanding students from each House in Hogwarts.
"Of course, Professor Dumbledore, it's still far too early to talk about those people now."
"But Mr. Carrow is graduating this year."
"Even so, I think we can properly cultivate the first five..."
"For example, by adding extra lessons on weekends."
Dumbledore said,
"Dudley, that was your real objective all along, wasn't it?"
"It's better to start with children while they're young. I'm doing this for the good of Hogwarts, Professor."
He winked at Dumbledore in exactly the same way Dumbledore had winked at him before.
"It seems I've no choice but to trouble the professors."
Dumbledore let out a long sigh.
"I only hope they won't mind. After all, there's no overtime pay involved."
Without paying anything at all, he had managed to secure private tutoring from the professors.
"Do you have any other demands?"
Earlier, it had been Dumbledore imposing conditions on Dudley.
Now, the roles had reversed.
"We'll use the remaining two terms of this year as preparation. Before the end of the school year, we'll accept your test. If we pass, then the Disciplinary Group will be officially established at the end of first year..."
"But the Disciplinary Group's scope will not remain limited to first year alone. I want it to cover first through third year. And with each new year, the next year group must be added as well."
"In other words, by the time I'm in fifth year, first through seventh year, across all four Houses, should all fall under the jurisdiction of the Disciplinary Group."
"You certainly know how to ask for things, Dudley."
After thinking it over for a moment, Dumbledore answered.
He did not refuse right away.
And that meant... he had accepted the proposal.
"I only hope I won't end up receiving a pile of Howlers."
"If you truly want what's best for Hogwarts... then it has to change. Otherwise, it will fall behind and fail to keep up with the times."
Dudley spoke slowly and calmly.
"But I still think keeping the four Houses is completely unnecessary... if everything were unified and supervised by the Disciplinary Group, I guarantee the situation would be far better than it is now."
"I can't do that, Dudley. Even as Headmaster, one of the clauses in Hogwarts' contract is precisely... that the school must have four Houses."
"Since we've touched on the matter, there's something else I should clarify in advance. The power to punish professors is also something I cannot give you. Unless you manage to obtain even greater authority within Hogwarts... perhaps you could try becoming the heir to the four Houses?"
As he said that, Dumbledore produced a licorice sweet from somewhere, popped it into his mouth, and savored it with evident pleasure.
"If you managed that, then after graduating, you might even consider staying at Hogwarts and reorganizing it according to your own vision. I'm already old. I'm also at the age where I ought to retire. The future belongs to young people like you."
"You're still very young, Professor. You're only a little over a hundred."
"I hope that when my children come to study here, you'll still be Headmaster of Hogwarts."
Dudley refused in a rather indirect and polite way.
He could sense that whenever Dumbledore spoke about old age and retirement, there was a faint sadness in him that was hard to describe.
Dumbledore looked at Dudley with a certain helplessness.
"Being over a hundred cannot possibly be called young by any standard, Dudley."
"Compared to your friend, Master Nicolas Flamel, your age still makes you a child."
Nicolas Flamel.
The greatest alchemist in the wizarding world.
Without exception.
A legendary wizard who had lived for more than six hundred years, to the point that he no longer even appeared on the modern list of great names in the magical world.
Dumbledore: "..."
After exchanging a few more words, Dudley finally left.
Dumbledore, meanwhile, remained staring at the chair in front of him, which had been left slightly misshapen, lost in thought.
'Has my Transfiguration grown weaker?'
Not long afterward, Harry entered that same room under the Invisibility Cloak.
At first glance, it seemed as though Dudley had controlled the entire conversation.
But who could say for certain that that had not been exactly what Dumbledore had wanted from the very start?
Dudley, who had studied Dumbledore's entire life with great care, simply did not believe the man would ever fail to take control of a conversation.
On the surface, it looked as though Dudley had found a way to get extra lessons from the professors for free.
But at the same time, hadn't Dumbledore also found himself free labor for Hogwarts?
Sometimes, the truth itself was not what mattered most.
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