From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

"It's past breakfast time, but we still need to eat something good."

"Butter, could you get me a breakfast? A little more, I think I could eat two portions!"

The little elf was as reliable as ever; in less than five minutes, William's breakfast was brought over by Bart in a small basket.

Smoked fish, smoked meat, ham... The little elf probably had a unique understanding of the word "double," bringing half a basket of meat, but William didn't even find it too greasy. After finishing all the food Bart brought, he even felt a little hungry.

"He's alive!"

After ordering another packet of candied fruit, William was finally satisfied—the fresh air, the delicious food, the warmth of the sun, all the beauty tore away the gloom and brought it back to his side, making him even more disgusted with the damned rain.

'I must find a way to learn the Guardian Charm before next year's rainy season!'

William took out his diary and added this sentence below the one about being careful of Weasley.

-

The faculty lounge is always bustling. Even professors who aren't usually talkative like to come here when they don't have anything important to do, to sit and listen to the younger professors gossip.

The professors at Hogwarts are all great in every way, but they all have one common flaw—they love to lecture others.

There's no way around it; it's a deep-seated occupational hazard that I can't change.

Therefore, some discussions in the common room can go quite deep, until one side runs out of things to say—but such discussions are rare, even among Hogwarts professors, who are almost non-all-rounders and mostly have only a superficial understanding, unable to discuss anything in great depth.

"So, even a genius adventurer like Professor Lockhart might have some initial difficulties adapting, but after a period of adjustment at school, he becomes quite adept at teaching."

"Isn't that exactly it? You see, after an adventure comes a test, and after a test comes another adventure, just like an adventure story. How can you start an adventure story where you can just push your homeland aside right away? Even a Muggle wouldn't have the protagonist fighting a dragon in the second chapter!"

"That's not necessarily true. The new Professor William is doing a pretty good job, isn't he?"

"Don't say anymore, poor little William. He's just been too diligent in teaching. Look at how much the illness has tormented him since the rainy season started—" The old professor leaned back in his chair, shaking his head. He didn't look too good either—the continuous rainy days were not good news for his injuries.

"Yes, even if you want to perform well, you can't work that hard. But traditional teaching methods are indeed quite effective—"

The surrounding professors chimed in—they were all professors, and after so long they could tell whether the new professor was putting in the effort or not.

"Professor Lockhart is also good. Although he does like to boast, his attitude is very good. Students have said a lot about Professor Lockhart's courses lately, and they have been completely transformed."

Just then, the door was suddenly pushed open, and William walked in with a big smile. "Good morning, everyone! What's the occasion?"

"Ha, little William, you look like you're all better now?"

The old professor greeted William happily.

“Thanks to you,” William responded with his brightest laugh of the month, “all the discomfort vanished with the October rains!”

“That’s good. Young people recover faster than us old folks.” The old professor said, patting his prosthetic leg. “This is the last rainy season I’ll experience. After living this long, I’ve only just realized that when it rains at Hogwarts, you can take shelter in Australia—William, you’re something else.”

"hey-hey."

William responded with a silly grin—that Adams guy, he made a move at Versailles, and now the whole university knows about it?

"That's right. I'll go there when I retire. Those years at Hogwarts really hardened my brain."

"Yes, yes, let's go together."

...

A group of professors made good-natured jokes—they had a rather favorable impression of William, who had been suffering from the rainy season for so long.

"Right, where were we?"

“William, you just arrived. We were just talking about Professor Lockhart. What do you think of Professor Lockhart?”

The person asking the question chuckled, clearly wanting to hear the opinion of Professor Lockhart's colleague.

"Professor Lockhart certainly has considerable ability, without a doubt. It's just—well, he doesn't seem to be quite used to teaching yet, but I think he'll adjust soon, right?"

William carefully chose his words to avoid making anything too hurtful. In fact, regarding Professor Lockhart's courses, he wouldn't be wrong to say that he was misleading students...

"That's old news, Professor William!"

The professor who asked the question burst into laughter. "During the time you were feeling unwell, Professor Lockhart's teaching level has improved by leaps and bounds, and he has almost received unanimous praise from his students—you know, fifth-grade students don't really like your test papers."

He blinked and laughed along with the people around him—everyone present was a professor, and who didn't know that students hated both papers and exams?

I was upset for only a month. Has the world changed that fast?

William was stunned—in less than a month, Professor Lockhart had transformed from a teaching novice and drama performance expert into a lecturing master.

Even New Oriental's training videos wouldn't dare to boast like that. Whether it's teaching a class or cooking, how can it be that fast?

You don't believe me either?

"I don't quite believe it either, but Professor Lockhart is much more popular than before. You can go and listen to him on Monday if you don't believe me. It's common for professors to learn from each other at Hogwarts."

"Common occurrence?"

William was taken aback – “What about when I started working here?”

"You two are both new professors, so who's going to learn from whom? Normally, when you start working, you have to focus on auditing the classes taught by senior professors for a period of time before you can teach classes yourself."

I said it seemed a bit off to start teaching right away, especially since she didn't even have a teaching certificate...

"Learning from other professors wouldn't be bad either, right? At least you can learn some experience..."

William's voice trailed off—he quickly realized he had asked a foolish question.

All the professors here are Hogwarts alumni, learning by auditing other professors' lectures.

Are you kidding me? I've been listening to these lectures for seven years. Do you think listening to them again will be of any new help?

With William's arrival, the topic of comparison regarding the new professors naturally shifted, and everyone began discussing the rainy season at Hogwarts and where they would go to avoid the rain after retirement.

-

"Adams, based on your experience, there won't be a rainy season anymore, right?"

Once the crowd dispersed and everyone went about their own business, William secretly pulled Adams aside and began to ask him questions.

“This is the fifth time, William. I assure you, from today onwards, there will be no more incessant rain at Hogwarts. With just a little patience, you can observe it.”

Adams finally realized how annoying his previous questions about the crown had been—William was now just as long-winded and incessant as he had been.

"That's good. By the way, has there been any progress in the research on that crown during this time?"

“No,” Adams shook his head. “Dumbledore has been studying that, but he seems to have no clue whatsoever. If it weren’t for the fact that Miss Ginny and Filch were attacked, we would even doubt that there was anything wrong with that crown.”

As a wizard who was not good at fighting, Adams had been following up on the research on the crown—as agreed upon at the time.

No progress is not good news, especially considering that his researchers are practically the strongest team that can be found in the entire magical world.

"Has Miss Ginny been discharged from the hospital yet?"

"You were discharged from the hospital yesterday. I was thinking of calling you, but you've been in such bad shape these past few days, so I decided not to bother you."

Adams said quietly, then joked, "The school has actually been pretty quiet lately, maybe even trouble is afraid of the rain?"

Come on, the biggest problem is the rain.

William pursed his lips, patiently listening to all sorts of things that had happened at Hogwarts during this time when William was completely out of it.

Just as the two were getting into a pleasant conversation, the door to the faculty lounge opened again.

The gasps of surprise echoed from the doorway all the way into the depths of the office.

"Tian Tian, ​​Professor Singed, did you fight a troll?"

The professor closest to the door exclaimed in surprise—William looked in the direction of the exclamation and immediately understood why the other professors had made such a sound.

The description of Singed at the doorway was beyond unkempt; he looked as if he'd been struck by some kind of magic, without taking any precautions whatsoever.

Disheveled hair, tattered robes, a stained face, and hands as black as coal miners—if William saw such a person in Azkaban, he would immediately recognize him as the one who scrubs toilets in prison.

This image could easily be interpreted as one of abuse!

“Great, William, you’re here. I couldn’t find you in your office, so I came here to ask Adams. It’s good that you’re here—I’ve made your crucible, the kind that will definitely satisfy you!”

Singed's words were resolute, but they left William completely bewildered—it took him a while to remember that this was a crucible made from the shell of a fire crab, which he had vaguely entrusted to Singed to make on a rainy day.

'If I said I forgot, I doubt even using illness as an excuse would stop him, right?'

"Is that all?"

"Of course! Don't you know who I am? This is a brand new alchemical product, absolutely incomparable to those brass crucibles on the market!"

"Wow, Professor Singed is amazing! A crucible alone can exhaust you like this?"

"The shell of the fire crab! I've preserved most of the properties of the raw material!"

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go together!"

The professors who were talking started to jeer, and Singed didn't bother to hide it—for an alchemy master like him, the purpose of creating works was to be seen by others; otherwise, would such a painstakingly designed and exquisite product just sit there collecting dust?

So, a group of professors who hadn't left campus over the weekend and didn't have anything urgent to do made a grand procession toward Singed's office.

-

"Good morning, Professor!"

Hello, have a great weekend.

"Good morning, Professor!"

Hello, have a great weekend.

The most impatient professor's voice rang out as they approached the corner, causing the professor behind to chuckle involuntarily—leaving William, caught in the middle, somewhat bewildered.

'What are you laughing at? It's just a normal greeting.'

Good morning!

The student who greeted him hesitated, and his expression became quite interesting. "Good morning, Professor."

"Yes, hello."

The professor in front walked past without changing his expression.

Then it was another professor.

The students who were greeting him stood there awkwardly, grinning foolishly as if to say hello. William followed the professor's example, nodding and greeting him without any expression, and then walked past without showing any extra emotion.

'More interesting than that nameless cauldron—but then again, what use could a cauldron made from a fire crab's shell possibly be?'

-

"My God, why are there so many professors? What happened?"