From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

"Yes, Professor!"

Percy was so frightened that even his tone changed.

"Put down your wand, go over there, calm yourself down, and prepare for the test!"

"Yes, Professor!"

Under William's stern rebuke, Percy slowly walked over, carefully picked up the crown, and placed it on his head.

"A magical creature has acknowledged you (with awe), and you have been granted a treasure chest."

Who has the mind to think about drawing cards at this point?

William was completely absorbed, his eyes glued to Percy's face—unlike the professors, Percy's face beamed with undisguised joy, as if he had won the lottery.

'Something went wrong?'

William tightened his grip on the wand slightly, preparing to cast a spell if things went wrong again.

"A magical creature has acknowledged (worshipped) you, and you have been granted a treasure chest."

William ignored the warning and kept his eyes fixed on Percy.

But Percy quickly and calmly removed the crown, his face beaming with barely suppressed joy, yet without any uncontrolled abnormality.

"How are you feeling, Percy?"

William stared into Percy's eyes and asked.

“Excellent, Professor, I’ve even come up with a new spell!”

Percy's tone was a bit too high.

"Very good. Slowly pick up your wand and extract your memories for Professor Snape to test!"

William's words sounded a bit hesitant—the testing had been going on for a long time, and the only memory tester was still Snape. Although Professor Snape was indeed very capable, he looked genuinely tired now.

Percy's test results came back quickly, and he was safe.

“Next,” William called out to the person behind him, looking at the crown, “the sixth-year student from Ravenclaw, come up for the test.”

That child wasn't his student, even though the admission score for the advanced class was the lowest this year...

"Yes, Professor."

“Relax, like Percy, and think about what you want to do with your wisdom—go for it.”

The second student finished the test quickly, then the next one, and the next one, until Hermione, the last student, finished the test. Her memory test showed no problems.

-

After a period of observation and some logical reasoning tests, the professors and students who participated in the test left Professor McGonagall's office, leaving William and his group behind.

How exactly did Ginny trigger the protective magic on the crown? She's just a first-year student, and Hermione, the youngest student who came for the test, is only a second-year student; their magical abilities shouldn't be that much different. Why was it only Ginny who triggered the magic?

William stared at the crown, his thoughts racing.

But it was no use—he wasn't the only wizard stumped; the other professors in the office were too.

"A magical creature has recognized you. You have received a treasure chest."

A sudden notification interrupted William's thoughts—since he had no ideas anyway, he might as well open a card.

[Financial genius Price Smith (R): Hmm, this should go up, this should go down, something like that, does anyone know why?]

Extreme Luck; tear up this card, and for the next hour, you will have extraordinary luck. —Masters rely on calculation, geniuses rely on intuition.

Then came two low-probability cards that William had seen in Azkaban—cards without even a rating—William decisively chose the only one that wasn't so useless.

'Is this the Ravenclaw who just came for testing? They're both students, how come there's such a big difference?'

'There are still two boxes left. Should I tear up the card and open the boxes again?' — This thought instantly popped into William's mind.

It wasn't that he was being extravagant; Adams had just returned home and was very pleased to say that he had solved many problems, so he would send him a bottle of Felix Felicis later.

Since the effects of newly acquired cards can be replaced by potions, he naturally doesn't cherish them.

'Forget it, at least the dosage of Felix Felicis can be controlled. Two boxes and a small sip will be enough. I'll draw more when I get back. No need to be so extravagant.'

In the end, William felt sorry for her.

'Wait, is this extravagance?'

'What's so extravagant about this? That crown is the real luxury—using Ravenclaw's jewels to unleash dark magic—is there anything more extravagant?'

'The opponent is so much stronger than me, they're definitely not stupid. Magic training is very rigorous. A fool might have such powerful magic that an ordinary person couldn't withstand their spells, but they simply couldn't execute such exquisite magic…'

'If this is a targeted trap, then a wizard like me is definitely not their target. If they're using this crown as a bounty to kill me, they could probably kill me ten times over...'

'The only person in the entire British wizarding world worth killing with a crown is probably Dumbledore.'

"No!" William interrupted his thoughts, "If it were aimed at Dumbledore, then this thing wouldn't have been triggered by Ginny at all, unless it was deliberately sent here. Ginny didn't trigger the diadem."

'That's not right either—if Ginny triggered it, we would definitely examine the crown carefully. The person who set this trap wouldn't be so foolish as to gamble such a precious crown on something so uncertain. If it's discovered, the losses would be enormous.'

'So, could the crown, like in the world of immortal cultivation, have a spirit? Perhaps that spirit is evil, but not very intelligent, and it manipulated the weak Ginny into killing roosters, but then chickened out when it sensed a large crowd and didn't dare to act?'

After all, it's an ancient artifact, so it's understandable that it might have become sentient.

William boldly voiced his guess, "Professor Dumbledore, do you think the Crown has come to life? Can it sense danger around it and then take action?"

“An interesting guess, Professor William, please continue.”

“Look, Hogwarts has a Sorting Hat that can sing, talk, communicate with people, and even read people’s minds. That’s Gryffindor’s hat, but Ravenclaw’s tiara isn’t bad either, is it?”

"Of course, the Ravenclaw crown is a symbol of wisdom!"

Professor Flitwick, unusually, interrupted, indicating that his resentment towards that crown was exceptionally deep.

"So, the crown may have also given birth to a soul, but it wasn't very intelligent, and it was even quite evil."

"How is that possible!"

Professor Flitwick's complaint.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean the crown was evil,” William apologized to Professor Frivi. “What I meant was that perhaps the crown, which had just gained intelligence, was corrupted by its previous owner. After all, you told me…”

William looked at Dumbledore, but didn't say what he was going to say—he was afraid that all the professors present had been cursed, and that Hogwarts would be almost completely wiped out.

“A rather bold inference, Professor William.”

“But that’s just a hypothesis, Professor,” William said, even voicing another of his bold conjectures. “I have an even more outrageous idea: perhaps it’s not alive, but a trap designed to target you. In Hogwarts, the only one worth using it to set a trap against is you.”

Because the speculation was too shocking, William simply used honorifics.

“You overestimate me, Professor William,” Dumbledore shook his head. “I’m just an old man who’s lucky enough to be standing on high.”

'It also needs to be prefixed with "relatively strong in combat" and "top-tier in magic"...'

William remained silent, inwardly grumbling.

“Alright, everyone’s tired today, go back and rest. The tiara will remain in my office. Severus, please put it in the box,” Dumbledore pointed to the transparent box. “I think we do need to be a little more cautious about it.”

-

'After a busy day, I'm finally back in my office. Quidditch, the Minister of Magic is visiting, the Coronation Test—' William lay down on the bed without even taking off his robes, sprawling out like a Chinese character, completely at ease.

'Take a short break before looking up information; it's easy to miss things in this state…'

He stretched and listened to the tapping sound outside the window.

'It has quite a rhythm, doesn't it?'

But William quickly realized something was wrong, and he hurriedly opened the window and let in the two banging prisoners—two owls.

One of them was already getting angry, hopping around on the table, staring at his fingers as if it wanted to peck him.

"Alright, alright, I just got back," William said, pulling out two packets of owl food and waving his wand to summon two small dishes. "Eat up, and give me the letter."

The first letter in the package was a small note.

“William, I can’t wait to do the experiment, and you’re not back yet, so I asked the owl to deliver this to you—Adams.”

Inside the small package behind the note, wrapped in thick cotton and cloth, was the Felix Felicis that Adams had promised William.

The bottle was full of golden potion; although it was just a small bottle, it looked much more tempting than a bag of Galleons.

'As a former potion maker, you actually stoop to using a herbalist's Felix Felicis? William, you've fallen!'

After berating himself, William opened the drawer and began looking for a place for the precious potion—he knew his stuff, it was worth more than a bag of Galleons!

Chapter 167 Hogwarts Feels a Bit Disdainful After Missing a Long Holiday

Despite its decadence, Felix Felicis still smells sweet.

William was certain that he couldn't conquer this thing at the moment, and Adams, who gave him the potion, was definitely not at that level either—this thing was absolutely the most precious item in Adams' collection.

'Adams is probably still feeling the pinch,' William thought, staring at the bottle of potion that shimmered like molten gold, wondering what kind of revelation Adams had received to make him so happy.

"Want to give it a try?"

William stared at Felix Felicis, struggling internally, but ultimately gave up on the tempting idea.

He's too busy right now; his mind isn't on potions at all. Even if he drank the whole little bottle of Felix Felicis, it would only have the potion's intended effect—for a former potion master, that would be the most shameful waste.

If he had enough time and energy, plus the feeling of recovering after a period of refining potions, plus the luck boost that taking the potion might bring, William felt that he was at least 70% confident in solving the problem of refining Felix Felicis.

The premise is that he can endure not touching a drop during this period—the first time he comes into contact with a potion is the most impactful for a wizard, and it brings the most insights.

'Put it away,' William said, forcing himself not to look at the potion bottle with his eyes closed. 'A little bit of luck won't help in the current situation. What I lack isn't luck, it's time.'

Why can't adult wizards use the Time-Turner?

William sighed and shoved the bottle into the deepest part of the drawer. He had learned about the incredible existence of the Time-Turner after becoming a professor, but it was tightly controlled by the level of magic power. Normal wizards nearing adulthood would be in danger of being caught in time turbulence, let alone someone like him who hadn't gone through the entrance ceremony and wasted his magic power.

'That makes sense. If Dumbledore can use the Time-Turner, then the Dark Lord shouldn't even think about appearing—if the Dark Lord does appear, Dumbledore can try all sorts of methods to keep him here.'

"I don't want to deal with all this random stuff. Let's see what the second letter says first, and then I'll go look up the information."

William casually unfolded the second letter and discovered that it was from Hagrid.

William;

Are you free tomorrow?

I'm planning a big celebration to commemorate Harry's victory in this Quidditch match.