From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

"Mr. Filch!"

William searched and shouted loudly, trying to find him in this way.

Then, the two professors who had been running alongside him, panting heavily, also arrived.

"Did you notice?"

No.

The three exchanged a glance, then quickly began searching the castle. Soon after, the paintings and ghosts that William had asked for also began to arrive.

"I'm sorry, I asked many oil paintings, we searched the corridors and empty classrooms, but we couldn't find Filch."

"There's no kitchen or tool shed, and no room of honor either."

The ghosts added—though only three of them came.

"Could it possibly be lost?"

William frowned, then raised his wand—he suddenly had a solution, albeit a flawed one.

"Filch is flying in!"

William's loud chanting instantly drowned out all other sounds—though it wasn't exactly magical, normally, the louder the chant, the more powerful the spell would be.

The spell that William used with all his might worked. As the sound of something hitting the wall rang out, William heard the sound of glass breaking coming from a classroom very close to them.

Then, the door made a loud crashing sound, and a hole appeared in it. A human body, along with wood fragments and debris, flew out of the hole and flew to William's side, spraying blood everywhere. If William hadn't stopped the spell in time, who knows what the flying body would have brought with it.

Without saying a word, William quickly checked whether the flying human was dead or alive.

Thankfully, I'm alive.

Despite the numerous scratches from glass and splinters of wood, there is no doubt that Filch is alive.

"Thank goodness, thank goodness, it was discovered in time."

William patted his chest and breathed a sigh of relief. If it had been a corpse flying towards him, he really wouldn't know what to do.

"You can't apply phthalate directly; there's too much debris in the wound, which will severely hinder healing."

William quickly assessed the situation and determined that immediate first aid was not an option.

“I’m not that good at treating wounds, although I could do it, but I think it’s better to leave it to the professionals—” William spread his hands toward the two professors. “We need to get Filch to the university hospital. I’m sure they’ll give him good treatment there.”

"Yes, you're a professional."

The two professors who had come along also breathed a sigh of relief. If Filch had gotten into trouble while they were rescuing him, they themselves would have been in deep trouble, not only without being blamed by others.

"What kind of injuries does he have? Why can't he move?"

“Petrification spell, he’s petrified,” William quickly conjured a stretcher from the broken door, then used magic to lift Filch onto it, and then used magic to make the stretcher fly up—so as not to cause three injuries.

"The remaining injuries?"

"I made this..."

William muttered—the petrification curse wasn't fatal, but he had used the Summoning Curse too powerfully, causing Filch to fly too fast. Now Filch had broken both his legs and arms, several broken bones in his body, and countless scratches.

Fractures are easy to treat, but those delicate injuries are too difficult to treat. His healing magic isn't that meticulous, after all, he hasn't studied it for very long.

"Forehead…"

The two professors were at a loss for words, since if it weren't for William, they might not have been able to find out where Filch had gone.

“Then let’s go, Professor William. It seems the Weasley brothers didn’t get away with washing toilets—I just hope they don’t end up washing toilets for Filch.”

The three of them tacitly avoided bringing up the issue of lifting the petrification curse.

William was worried that if the petrification spell was lifted, Filch would be in pain and move around wildly, while the other two professors were afraid that if it was lifted, William would be embarrassed and unable to save face—after all, they both thought the new professor was indeed very good, bold in his actions but reassuring.

-

"Damn Weasley! Fire him, fire him, he must be fired!"

In the school hospital, Filch, now free from the petrification curse, was absolutely furious—William stood awkwardly by, unable to offer any advice.

After all, the petrification curse is different from the stun curse. The person who is hit by it still has thoughts and feelings, but they just can't express them. Filch was already being kind enough not to hold a grudge against him for the flying spell that left him with broken bones and minor injuries after he woke up. He really couldn't bring himself to persuade Filch not to be too angry.

“Mr. Filch, no, no, the Weasley brothers are being controlled. They're just randomly casting spells and they don't even know who they're attacking.”

Although the investigation results are still inconclusive, it doesn't stop the professors from using it to appease Filch.

"do not know!"

Filch sat up, his face pale with pain, as he struggled to sit up.

Do you know what those two little bastards did?

"Those two of them actually petrified me and then hung me on the windowsill, barely clinging to the windowsill with their feet!"

"I was hanging up there for almost half an hour, and those two didn't know! Who would believe that!"

Filch was not just angry.

"They are murdering, murdering!"

"I've been watching that side from the window the whole time, but I can only see the wall! They won't escape punishment!"

Chapter 174 Aftermath

Filch leaned against the hospital bed, his clothes covered in holes from the wood and glass. His face was deathly pale from touching his newly healed wounds when he got up too quickly, and he was covered in sweat from the pain, making him look utterly disheveled.

But this did not diminish his fury, which was about to reach the heavens.

"They must be dealt with! They must be dealt with! I need to see Dumbledore! I need them expelled!"

Filch's furious roar filled the entire hospital. If William hadn't personally caused Filch's serious injury, he would have even doubted that the Filch he had just encountered was the same person.

“Mr. Filch, calm down. The most important thing right now is not to settle scores with those twins, but to recover. You were just seriously injured. What if you develop health problems if you don’t rest properly for a while?”

The two professors who came with William to look for the person were carefully trying to persuade him, as they also felt that the Weasley brothers had gone a bit too far.

"In mid-air above the castle, more than ten meters high, I was petrified, my feet barely hooked onto the windowsill—they were murdering me!"

Filch just wouldn't calm down, and he just couldn't get over his anger.

"Expel them! Expel them! They must be expelled! Those two tried to murder me!"

"Alright, alright, expel them, expel them. We'll go talk to Professor Dumbledore right now. Don't be angry, focus on healing your injuries first. We'll go find the headmaster, Professor McGonagall, and cause trouble for those twins."

Seeing that they couldn't persuade him, the two professors had no choice but to coax him in the same tone as Filch, telling him to take his medicine and rest well while his injuries healed.

As for William—who was directly responsible for Filch's injury—it's really embarrassing to say anything, so he silently played the role of a nobody.

Fortunately, the hospital had professionals like Madam Pomfrey, who gave Filch some magic potion that put him to sleep—it must have been the potion of life and death.

“Poor Filch,” Mrs. Pomfrey shook her head. “He’s not badly injured, but he’s terrified. Let him get some sleep.”

"How long will it take?"

“He’ll probably be sleeping all day,” Madam Pomfrey said, putting away the medicine bottle. “Hanging the caretaker in the castle—this is the first time I’ve ever heard of such a thing in all my years at Hogwarts.”

...

After exchanging a few words with Mrs. Pomfrey, the professional school doctor subtly began to usher them out. William and the other two professors quickly took their leave—they still had to go to Professor McGonagall's place; hanging the caretaker on the castle wall was no small matter.

"Professor William, how should we report this?"

Not long after they left the school hospital, the two professors accompanying them began to complain, "Those Weasley brothers were manipulated. Let alone in Hogwarts, even in Wizengamor, crimes committed under control are unacceptable. Solitary confinement is the most they could do; how could they possibly be expelled?"

“But it’s hard to explain if we don’t fire Filch—being hung on the castle wall for more than half an hour, and still under a petrification spell, those twins would have been more than qualified to go to Azkaban if they weren’t controlled!”

That's true; attempted murder is a serious crime, especially torture.

“Let’s report it and hear the school’s explanation. Filch can try to persuade them—it might not even happen to us,” William shook his head. “Anyway, I know even less about school rules and disciplinary actions, so let it be.”

-

When the three rushed to Professor McGonagall's office, there were more professors than they had expected. Even Dumbledore himself was there, not to mention the four Deans.

Professor McGonagall's office, which had been magically expanded four or five times, was still packed with professors.

"Professor William, Professor Campbell, Professor Hall, you've arrived."

Dumbledore greeted William and the others kindly, "How is Filch's injury?"

"His injuries have been mostly treated, but Mrs. Pomfrey said he was too traumatized and needs a day of rest to recover."

William was too embarrassed to say it, but the professor next to him responded.

“Good news indeed, it means we haven’t lost much in this turmoil—” Dumbledore nodded, then looked at William. “Professor William, beautiful Summoning Charm—otherwise, poor Filch would have had to wait until the students found out before he could get out of trouble.”

William felt a little embarrassed by what he said... To be honest, if it weren't for his Summoning Charm, a simple Petrify Charm wouldn't have ended up in the hospital...

“Come and help, our Professor of Self-Defense Magic,” Dumbledore smiled. “You can’t expect Severus to do everything; there are so many memories to explore.”

“Professor Dumbledore, I have not studied memory magic in depth; I have only just mastered it.”

It was a serious matter, and although it was a bit embarrassing, William admitted it anyway.

“Too much modesty is not a good thing, Professor William,” Dumbledore said, unconcerned. “Severus could not have done so much work by himself.”

With things put this way, William really couldn't refuse—after all, he had read the whole theory and remembered it very clearly, and he was sure that doing it slowly and carefully wouldn't cause any problems.

“I think it’s unnecessary now, Albus.”

Just as William was trying to repeat the key points from the book he had read in his mind, Professor Snape, who was operating the Pensieve, looked up.

"The work was much simpler than I thought—all the memories of these three students after they put on the crowns were erased, completely wiped clean, except for the memories of being controlled and then starting to attack people."

"So they're being controlled, Professor Snape?"

One of the professors present asked a question.

"It must be... that they were under control when they carried out the attack."

Although he was stating the facts, William could detect a clear displeasure—it was obvious that Professor Snape was not too satisfied with the result.

Indeed, all three students were from Gryffindor, and given Professor Snape's attitude towards Gryffindor, there's almost no doubt that this result made him unhappy.

“Very well, Severus,” Dumbledore’s voice rang out again, “then the situation is clear: Miss Granger and the Weasley brothers were controlled, which is why they carried out the indiscriminate attack.”

"Therefore, according to school rules, these three children will not be expelled, but will continue their studies after confinement—of course, this will be after they are discharged from the hospital."

Dumbledore's tone was quite mild. "Meanwhile, the professors who conducted the experiments may remain. We need to review your memories of this period again to ensure that such a thing does not happen again."