From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

"William?"

Adams noticed William's actions and asked a question out of curiosity.

"It's okay, I feel like I've gained some new inspiration, the kind that's completely new."

William quickly jotted notes in his notebook.

Since leaving Azkaban, the professors and students he had encountered at this school were all straightforward people. He had never met anyone like the Minister of Magic, who could instantly disregard awkwardness.

Compared to Professor Lockhart, the Minister of Magic was more tactful and more adept at conversation.

To be precise, Professor Lockhart wasn't always that popular, while this minister, though not necessarily wildly popular with a particular group, was generally accepted by the majority.

It seems applicable to the theory of being a professor—or more.

William jotted down his rambling thoughts until they were mostly complete, then chuckled to himself, 'Did I somehow gain a higher level of thinking by forcibly infiltrating the professors' circle? Or was I just whining and writing nonsense?'

'I'll save it for later. The prerequisite for getting to know new students is to get through this year first,' William said, closing the notebook casually and glancing around—Minister Fudge's speech was quite engaging, and the students were mostly focused.

"Adams, how do you think this matter will ultimately be resolved?"

William pointed to the minister and then to the board of directors, and casually asked.

"What can we do? Send them a political donation. The Malfoy family is very wealthy; otherwise, they wouldn't have escaped trial back then."

Adams wasn't particularly interested in the speech. He glanced at the students around him and responded in a low voice.

"Escape trial?"

"Of course, it caused quite a stir throughout the entire magical world back then."

"The entire wizarding world knows? You mean the Death Eaters?"

William has been troubled by this news for the past few days, and this is the first thing he thought of.

“Of course not,” Adams wagged his finger. “It seems I have a much more solid grasp of the history of magic than you, William.”

“Abraxas Malfoy (note), old Malfoy, he was a remarkable man, though of course, not mentioned in the books,” Adams said mysteriously. “It is said that he organized a large-scale curse that successfully rendered the then Minister of Magic incapable of handling government affairs, ultimately forcing him to resign.”

“That was a remarkable move, William. Many people know that, but in the end, old Malfoy was not convicted.”

William was filled with awe—he now understood what the Malfoy family on the board of trustees truly meant.

While not quite as bad as the madman gunman, it's enough to show who's in charge in the wizarding world.

“That’s just hearsay,” Singed chimed in with his gossip. “The trial more than ten years ago was a real case of getting acquitted with money. The Malfoy family had a bunch of top-notch alchemical products related to dark magic, that’s a fact known in the circle, but so what? They were still acquitted.”

"That's right. Most of the purebloods who were arrested back then were released after lying. Unless they couldn't hide it anymore, they would say that they were controlled by the Soul-Stealing Curse and then they would be released after making a deal."

Adams shook his head and secretly pointed to the Slytherin audience, "If the Void hadn't been uprooted, at least a third of them would be Death Eaters by lineage."

"Keep your voice down, Adams. You're a professor; you can't say things like that in public! What if the students hear you?"

Singed gave him a hard shove, ending the conversation.

“William, you should also be careful. Don’t be like this idiot who dares to say whatever comes to mind in any situation. Try not to bring up topics related to Death Eaters in public. A lot of Death Eaters ran away back then, mostly from Slytherin. It’s best not to talk about this topic in front of people from that house—you know, most of the board of trustees are from Slytherin.”

William suddenly felt he could understand Professor Snape's bad temper—it was one thing for Professor McGonagall's group of Gryffindors to cause trouble, but those Slytherin boys were just too difficult to manage…

'If he didn't always have a gloomy face, he probably wouldn't even be able to keep the students in line,' William thought as he looked at the Slytherin students and suddenly remembered the story of the Death Eaters that he had just heard about.

'Family inheritance—if it can be passed down to the next generation, then what about the previous generation?'

'Could the previous generation of the Malfoy family also have connections to the Dark Lord? Were they given resources and financial support, or did the very first generation follow him?'

'And what about that so-called Minister of Cursed Magic? Does the Malfoy family truly possess that power, or was the one who intervened the very same Dark Lord from back then?'

Such doubts began to linger in William's mind, and he resolved to make the Malfoy family his next target for investigation.

Note: Abraxas Malfoy, Decola Malfoy's grandfather, is best known for allegedly orchestrating the premature departure of Muggle-born Minister of Magic Nobi Leach in 1968, and successfully doing so.

His birth and death dates are unknown, but based on available information, his son Lucius Malfoy was born in 1954.

Voldemort attended Hogwarts from 1938 to 1945, during which time he recruited his first Death Eaters.

Considering the time difference between graduation, marriage, and having children, Abraxas Malfoy should be the first generation of Death Eaters, and the case of the Muggle-born Minister of Magic being cursed in 1968 should also be the work of Voldemort.

This humble general, Malfoy, is willing to serve the Dark Lord through fire and water for generations…

Chapter 165 When Tom Gave a Nose

Although he had a great idea in mind, William didn't have time to do it at all—the Ministry of Magic had spent a lot of money, not just to go through the motions and send over the Minister of Magic's indescribable parts for a quick rub.

Even if the minister really had this kind of hobby, the person who did it wouldn't be someone from the Malfoy family, they wouldn't be that expensive...

The Quidditch match was just a side event. The Ministry of Magic and the Board of Governors were there to ride the coattails of the crown. With such a large Ravenclaw treasure being found, the Ministry of Magic and the Board of Governors must have played a positive role. Otherwise, who would waste money on this?

Speaking, taking photos, visiting the castle library and hospital, visiting Professor McGonagall's office and taking a photo with the tiara that was taken there—the Ministry of Magic is indeed capable; the series of arrangements were quite appropriate, without any sense of haste in coming up with such a plan only in the morning.

-

"It's finally over."

William gazed at the procession of the Ministry of Magic departing the campus aboard Nightfall in the distance, and felt genuinely happy.

After the house-elf did his best to prepare a perfect lunch, the Ministry of Magic and the Board of Governors left Hogwarts satisfied—despite the minor hiccup, everyone had a very pleasant day.

'Next, I'll go back and continue checking Slughorn's file, and while I'm at it, I'll also make a note of that Malfoy guy in my notebook—'

A sudden inspiration during a Quidditch match is important, but William doesn't intend to disrupt his investigation based on a guess—haphazardly digging in here and there might yield surprises, but it's far less reliable than the information from the retired professor who has consistently provided clues about the curse.

'If only those documents didn't contain the curse. With that curse, I can't even subtly inquire about things from others.' William shook his head, looking helpless. The curse that the Dark Lord used to protect himself was just too domineering, making it impossible for him to rely on anyone else.

'Investigate! The evidence has already been revealed. I don't believe he can completely shut down everything.'

William stretched his limbs and prepared to return to his office.

"William? Where are you going? The main event is about to start, and the test for that crown is today. You're not going to skip it, are you?"

Adams grabbed William, who was trying to slip away, and stared at him with a questioning look—without a doubt, if William dared to say no, he would pull out his wand and commit suicide in a heartbeat.

“Of course I’ll go, how could I not go?” William patted Adams on the shoulder. He had already dissuaded Adams from the danger of the crown, but if Adams insisted on the experiment, he would definitely have to go with him.

-

Inside the Gryffindor common room, the students were celebrating wildly—they hadn't had time to prepare when the Ministry of Magic representatives came in the morning, and now that they were finally relaxed, they were letting out all the joy they had been suppressing all morning.

In front of the entire school, in front of a bunch of Ministry of Magic officials, in front of all the members of the Board of Governors, they defeated their old rivals Slytherin—could there be anything more exciting than that?

As the hero who turned the tide with the Golden Snitch, Harry received an unprecedented welcome, with countless people rushing over to hug him and offer their congratulations.

When he finally managed to squeeze out of the crowd, his equally excited friend also squeezed through.

"Harry, your Golden Snitch catch was absolutely brilliant!"

Ron beamed. "Of course, that punch to Malfoy was great too—I really want to know Malfoy's expression. I doubt even his father would dare to hit the minister like that."

Speaking of Malfoy, Harry smiled happily. He was standing closer than the others, and he saw Malfoy's expression very clearly at that time. He had never seen that guy show such a desperate expression before.

The two then began to imitate Malfoy's expression, causing the surrounding Gryffindors to burst into laughter.

"By the way, where's Hermione? Have you seen her?"

"No, she should have come to celebrate, but you didn't see her?"

As the two searched for their friend in confusion, a first-year student squeezed through the crowd, panting, "Harry, um, Professor McGonagall asked me to inform you that you need to go to the office to take photos."

"Take a picture?" Ron asked curiously.

“Of course, take a picture,” the voice that spoke was very familiar to Ron; it was his own brother, though he couldn’t quite tell if it was Fred or George.

"In today's rewards, in addition to a bonus, our team also got the opportunity to take a photo with the crown."

Another twin stepped forward and added to what was said.

"Harry, it's time to go, or the photographer will be getting impatient. I heard our photos will be published in the newspaper."

"Place a notice in the newspaper?"

"Of course, the Daily Prophet. Just wait and see tomorrow's paper, Ron. We're all in there."

The hooligans led Harry away, laughing and joking. When they met people, they proudly shoved Harry into the background—"Maybe Harry can even wear the crown for a while. He caught the Snitch so well, it's normal for him to get some preferential treatment!"

-

Hermione, didn't you watch the school team game?

Slightly disappointed, Ron finally saw Hermione in the lounge, where she was cautiously walking towards the exit.

"Shh, Ron, keep your voice down!"

Hermione looked nervous, as if she was about to do something naughty, and put her finger up in a shushing gesture.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

Hermione hesitated for a moment, "Professor McGonagall doesn't want me to announce this too publicly, but, well, as long as you don't shout it out, I'm allowed to try on the crown for a while under the professors' supervision."

"The crown? When?"

"Just today, Professor McGonagall sent someone to inform me."

“Alright then, congratulations,” Ron said, trying to appear indifferent.

"Okay, I'll go first. Don't tell anyone."

Hermione looked around and tiptoed out of the lounge.

-

"Mommy, Ginny, I'm here—"

"Ron, is today's event over?"

Mrs. Weasley looked lovingly at her youngest son, Ginny, whose injuries hadn't fully healed; she had been staying with her at the hospital.

"It's over. George and his team won. They went to take pictures. They said it will be in tomorrow's newspaper."

Ron delivered the good news in a lighthearted tone, "Of course, Harry is there too; you'll see him in tomorrow's paper."

“Fred and George?” Mrs. Weasley’s face beamed. “They played Quidditch really well. You can do it too, Ron.”

"Where's Percy? He's been gone from the lounge for ages. Didn't he come over?"

Mrs. Weasley smiled, and before she could say anything, Ginny cut her off, saying, "Percy's professors gave him a special recommendation, allowing him to go and try wearing that crown."

Since the crown test was to be conducted today anyway, William specially asked someone to call Percy over. Percy was an excellent student with solid basic skills, worked hard without complaint, and was happy for half a day with just a small bonus from the project. William was extremely happy to make Percy work for him. Since he had already given a student a chance, he didn't mind giving this qualified assistant another chance.