It wasn't until early the next morning that Wade and Tom finally saw Anne in the Great Hall.
She looked much better today compared to yesterday.
"Good morning," Anne greeted them first.
"Morning," Tom said. "You look good today. I guess that means your problem's been solved?"
"Yeah!" Anne nodded. Lowering her voice, she said, "Things turned out almost exactly the way Wade said they would! Professor Dumbledore told me not to worry, just to act like I didn't know anything and leave everything to him… Honestly, I feel completely relieved now!"
"I told you already—when you run into something you can't solve, just trust him," Tom said as he frowned at the breakfast on the table, finally deciding on a bowl of oatmeal.
"Tom, don't glorify my abilities too much. I'm human too, and humans can make mistakes," Wade said as he peeled an egg for Nagini.
Tom turned around, sat down, and gave an exaggerated bow. "As you wish, Lord Wade. Any further orders?"
"…Why do I feel like you're being sarcastic?"
"How would I dare?"
"Forget it… Just remember to go recruit people for me after class," Wade instructed.
Tom nodded. "Got it… Anne, you heard that, right? Since your problem's been solved, it's time to get to work! After class, you're coming with me to recruit new members."
"Recruit? Recruit who?" Anne asked. She hadn't been in the Great Hall last night and had no idea which new talents Wade had his eye on this time.
"New students, of course. We need to let them know what the SMASH Club is," Tom said.
Although Wade had only mentioned Flitwick and Moody last night, those two first-years were clearly the priority.
Still, Tom knew how to read between the lines—no way would a recruitment drive stop at just two people.
In Tom's mind, Wade's meaning was clear: the club was expanding, and those two were just the key targets.
"Tom, I suddenly think you'd make a great secretary! Why don't you be Wade's secretary? A club president needs someone to help manage things!" Anne said in surprise.
For a moment, she almost felt like she was seeing her aunt—her aunt had served Grindelwald in much the same way.
Tom waved his hands quickly. "No way, I'm not being anyone's secretary!"
Then he turned to Wade. "Wade, how about a female secretary?"
"Hm… not a bad idea," Wade said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"As long as you say the word, I'll find one for you!" Tom replied decisively.
"Well… that doesn't sound bad either. Can you find someone pretty?" Wade said with a mocking grin.
"Of course!" Tom immediately turned to Anne. "Anne, I've been meaning to ask—are there any girls in the club who are both pretty and capable? I've got to find my boss here a female secretary!"
Anne brushed her hair back and said, "What about me?"
Before Wade could respond, Tom's eyes lit up in delight. "Are you serious?"
"Of course!" Anne nodded.
"That's perfect! I've had enough of doing all his paperwork!" Tom said, pulling a thick stack of parchment from his bag and dumping it into Anne's hands. "Here, you can handle these from now on! Merlin, I should've gotten him a secretary ages ago!"
"Ah? Wait—" Anne hadn't even processed what was happening before Tom took off running.
He didn't even finish his porridge—just bolted straight out of the hall, clearly afraid Anne might change her mind.
"Where are you going?" Wade shouted after him.
"I'm going to find you a few more female secretaries!" Tom's voice echoed from down the corridor.
"Uh… then go find some from Ravenclaw! Ravenclaw's got plenty of pretty—I mean—intelligent girls!" Wade shouted after him.
"Got it!" came Tom's voice, the last word echoing faintly as he disappeared down the corridor.
…
Thinking back, when Wade first tricked Tom by saying he'd hand over the entire club for him to manage, Tom had actually been tempted.
After all, Tom was an ambitious person.
But once he actually took charge, he realized things weren't at all what he had imagined.
Sure, he had wanted to be in charge—and when Wade didn't bother managing things, Tom really was the one with the most authority in the club.
But what awaited him wasn't the thrill of strategizing and commanding—it was… an endless pile of trivial nonsense.
Within the club, everything from drafting rules to mediating fights between couples ended up on his desk.
Tom felt like his head was about to explode. Writing rules was one thing—but breaking up lovers' quarrels?
Seriously, if your relationship's a mess, why are you coming to me?
I've never even been in a relationship myself!
And besides… you're eleven or twelve years old—what kind of "romance" could you possibly understand?
But… the Student Mutual Aid Social Hub's whole purpose was to help one another.
So Tom couldn't just outright refuse to mediate their problems.
He had no choice but to find some gentle Hufflepuff upperclassmen to help handle those disputes.
Even now, whenever Tom thought back to the time he'd had to beg those Hufflepuff girls for help, he still felt so embarrassed he could dig out an entire Hogwarts castle with his toes.
…Wade was the one doing the bragging, but Tom was the one actually doing the work!
And of course, when things went well, the credit went to "President Wade." When things went wrong, the blame fell squarely on him.
This so-called "temporary management position" was the biggest scam imaginable!
It was only then that Tom finally realized why Wade had sweet-talked him into running the club instead of doing it himself.
Damn it… he should've known better. When had Wade ever not tricked him?
Though dealing with all those issues had indeed taught Tom a bit about handling people, it also drained him completely.
I came to Hogwarts to study and improve myself, not to play babysitter!
For a while, Tom even suspected that Wade had arranged all this on purpose—to slow down his progress.
Of course, after witnessing Wade's true strength, Tom no longer thought that way.
Because Wade didn't need to hold him back.
Still, it was true—Tom had long grown tired of all those trivial matters.
Otherwise, when Wade had just now reminded him of the "recruitment task," he wouldn't have gotten so snarky about it.
But now, Anne had willingly taken over all those tedious responsibilities!
Ah, Wade was right all along—he should've won Anne Rosier over sooner! What a wonderful person she was, handing him the perfect chance to escape all that work!
Now he finally had free time to go study in the library!
He'd even thought up the perfect excuse—if Wade asked why he was spending all day there instead of handling club affairs, he'd just say that all the Ravenclaw girls liked hanging out in the library, and he was only there to help Wade find more secretaries.
Flawless plan!
Watching Tom's retreating figure, Anne suddenly felt a twinge of regret.
She had originally thought Tom would compete with her for the position—but the result was far beyond her expectations.
Somehow, Anne had a faint, uneasy feeling about this.
She looked at Wade, wanting to say, maybe they should just forget about it.
But the moment she met Wade's hopeful gaze, Anne knew she couldn't escape.
"Excellent! From now on, the club's yours to manage. Do your best!" Wade said cheerfully.
"Uh… yes.. President Wade…"
…
Tom's efficiency really was impressive.
By lunchtime, every club member had already seen the notice posted on the bulletin board—this year's club leader had officially been changed to Anne.
Inside the club room, Anne's face showed not a trace of happiness.
Because she had finally opened that thick stack of parchment and seen what Tom had been dealing with every day.
Tedious and endless—that was Anne's first impression of the whole pile of nonsense.
She had never realized how trivial and boring Tom's responsibilities actually were.
Even with the other core members helping, this was just far too much trouble!
Although Anne was impressed by Tom's ability, she was already thinking about quitting.
Her head was spinning from all the work, and she finally stood up in frustration, planning to find Wade and discuss bringing in more help.
But just as she lifted her head, she saw Grindelwald. "Ah.."
Anne nervously pressed her lips together. "Sir, you…"
Grindelwald smiled. "No need to be tense, and no need to worry. No one will disturb our conversation."
Anne's heart skipped a beat. If she wasn't mistaken, Grindelwald must have come to give her new orders.
But then she quickly remembered she now had Dumbledore as her backing, and her nerves settled down.
"Sir, what are your instructions?" she asked.
"No, I have nothing left to instruct," Grindelwald said with a smile.
"Ah?" Anne stared at him in surprise.
"Because the first thing I wanted you to do—you've already done it today." Grindelwald smiled as he glanced around the large room of the SMASH Club.
"I… I did? What did I do?" Anne asked blankly.
"Heh~ Gaining the authority to manage the club from Wade… didn't you already accomplish that today?" Grindelwald said approvingly. "However, Anne, it's not that I don't trust you. I'm simply curious—how exactly did you manage it?"
In Grindelwald's view, Wade should already know that Anne was working for him.
So it was reasonable to expect Wade's attitude toward her to change.
Still, Grindelwald could understand why Wade would choose to keep Anne nearby.
Perhaps he needed her as a messenger between them.
But what Grindelwald couldn't understand was why Wade, knowing Anne's true identity, would so easily hand over management of the entire club to her.
Anne looked slightly nervous, but since there wasn't really anything to hide, she told him everything that had happened that morning.
However, her explanation only left Grindelwald more puzzled.
No one in their right mind would casually hand over a club like that to someone else.
And yet Wade and Tom had treated it like a joke—just passing it off to her, and to a traitor at that!
Why?
Suddenly, Grindelwald's eyes lit up. Could it be…
Wade was already planning to join his cause? That's why he entrusted the club to Anne—in other words, to him!
I see now! Wade Reynolds is secretly supporting my movement. What a subtle, brilliant maneuver…
Indeed, my prediction was correct! Wade and Tom truly are destined to play a great role in my cause!
_________
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