From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

Harry's tone was perfunctory—William could tell, but there was nothing he could do about it; Professor McGonagall was usually too strict, which made students hesitant to approach her with ordinary matters.

"Can elves from outside the school freely come and go?" William tapped his other hand with his finger. "I'll have to ask."

"Bart, could you come here for a second?"

He called to the little elf, and Bart arrived at an incredible speed.

"Professor, is there anything you need?"

"I have a question, Bart. Are house-elves from other families allowed to come and go from Hogwarts?"

"Free access?" Bart reached out and scratched his ear. "Probably not, Professor."

"Can't?"

"Yes, Professor, no, only school personnel are allowed." (Note)

"Do you know Dobby?"

Harry suddenly interrupted and began describing what the little house-elf named Dobby looked like.

“I don’t know him, Mr. Potter,” Bart replied after thinking for a moment, then scratching his ear.

"Okay, thank you, Bart."

Bart bowed and then Apparated away again.

Note: After some consideration, Hogwarts' security vulnerabilities shouldn't be that significant. It's unlikely that just any house-elf could easily infiltrate it—Malfoy's father is a member of the school's board of trustees, recognized by the school, so Dobby's free access would be a major security breach.

Chapter 182 Filch... is dead?

Human beings have limits—a truth that William understood long ago.

Aside from non-human beings, everyone has all sorts of shortcomings and things they're not good at doing; this is human nature and unavoidable.

Just as he struggled to learn to fly but still couldn't outfly some second-grade students, he was equally clueless about the matter of his pet Pokémon illegally invading the school.

So he chose to take Harry with him to file the report.

"Professor, is it worth going to Professor Dumbledore about this?"

Walking beside William, Harry was a little scared—he had just encountered a strange house-elf, surely it wouldn't warrant going to the headmaster?

"As for, especially those strange threats—a huge conspiracy looms over Hogwarts, so it wants to expel you from the school."

William repeated softly, "I'm very curious, just how huge a conspiracy is it that even Dumbledore couldn't protect you at school?"

He chuckled. “Honestly, if Dumbledore can’t protect you at school, running anywhere won’t make a difference. Leaving school won’t make you any safer—Dobby invaded your room during the summer. What it can do, others can do too. For a young wizard like you who can’t cast spells freely, one spell is enough.”

Harry grinned too. What he feared most now wasn't the threat, but the fact that he would actually have to leave Hogwarts. The professor had already said it was a ridiculous thing, so naturally he didn't need to worry about it.

-

"Zzzy Honey Candy".

William gave the command to the stone beast in the principal's office.

"I'm sorry, Professor, the principal is not here. Please go find Professor McGonagall."

...

William glanced at the principal's office, speechless.

"You could at least be a little more tactful in shifting the blame to Professor McGonagall, Principal!"

"Go find Professor McGonagall; the headmaster isn't here."

William controlled his facial expressions, trying not to give the students the impression that the principal was a professional scapegoat—enough of the jokes circulating among the professors; let the students face the truth about the school principal's penchant for slacking off a little longer.

Harry was clearly one of those students who hadn't even heard a whisper of what was going on. After hearing that he was going to Professor McGonagall's place, the boy's expression turned grim.

There's no way around it. Gryffindors are fearless, except for their own headmaster. When they get angry, they'll even argue with professors, but when they meet Professor McGonagall, they all lose their temper.

Despite their fears, the matter still needed to be handled. When William led Harry to Professor McGonagall's office, Professor McGonagall was dealing with a thick stack of documents.

"Professor McGonagall, good morning."

"Good morning, Professor William," Professor McGonagall replied, looking at William. She then stared at Harry for half a minute, making Harry almost shrink his head under the table.

“Phew,” Professor McGonagall sighed, putting down the documents in her hand. “Professor William, what trouble has Potter gotten into this time? How long will he need to be in solitary confinement? In theory, I completely agree, but I hope he doesn’t end up in solitary confinement with the Weasley brothers.”

"It's not confinement, Professor."

"Then, expulsion?"

Professor McGonagall's eyes widened.

“Professor William, expulsion is a last resort when confinement doesn’t work. The school doesn’t recommend expelling any student. Perhaps things aren’t so bad after all—”

William dared not omit anything now, fearing that if he continued, Harry would be sent to Azkaban.

"It's like this, Professor..."

William briefly recounted a conversation he had with Harry—during which he noticed Professor McGonagall's expression suddenly relax.

"So, in other words, a house-elf that doesn't belong to the school has entered the school's hospital?"

"Yes, that should be the case."

"But Potter, you only have a broken bone, why are you staying in the hospital overnight?"

Professor McGonagall turned to look at Harry.

"Wood and the others thought I needed to recover properly, and after consulting with Mrs. Pomfrey, I was placed in the hospital for observation for a day."

Harry was as docile as a quail.

"Theoretically, non-school sprites shouldn't be able to get in, and the magic is still active—how could it have broken in..."

Professor McGonagall's expression turned serious.

"What magic, Professor?"

“That’s not something you should be concerned with, Potter.”

"Yes, Professor."

Harry was perfectly fine.

-

"Professor McGonagall said she would tell Dumbledore, so this is none of our business, Potter."

William left the office looking relaxed—the task had been assigned, and all he had to do now was keep an eye on things to ensure nothing went wrong.

“I’ll have Bart keep an eye on you for the next week. If any Dobby dares to come over, Bart will stop him,” William said in a low voice. “Just don’t even think about doing anything wrong during this time. Although I might turn a blind eye normally, if you dare to go out at night again during this period, I will apply to Professor McGonagall for confinement.”

William spoke in a mix of threats and persuasion: "This is a strange situation. If we don't say something harsh, who knows if Harry might run into trouble in the middle of the night?"

House-elves capable of sneak attacks are no pushovers. William has house-elves as fellow inmates, and even without using magic, they are still formidable fighters, able to escape the kind of re-education through labor that new inmates do with their fists.

"Yes, Professor, I will be careful."

Harry agreed without the slightest hesitation—in Gryffindor, compared to Professor William's exam papers, his dazzling methods of solitary confinement were truly unforgettable; students who had been confined there even lost their urge to play pranks.

"Is there a shout outside the window?"

William seemed to have heard something, but unsure, he asked Harry.

"It seems so?"

Harry nodded, which prompted William to pull out his wand and rush towards the window—a crowd had already gathered outside, making a racket over there.

William listened for a while and finally confirmed what they were shouting.

"Filch?"

'Why are they calling for Filch?'

William instinctively looked at Harry, but realizing that Harry knew nothing, he could only helplessly turn his head downwards and listen carefully to the shouts of those people.

“Filch, Filch again…”

It's Filch, but what happened to Filch?

The sounds below grew louder and more chaotic, and William focused his attention, trying to glean something useful from them.

"Filch is dead!"

"Filch is dead!"

...

"Are you kidding me!"

William wanted to continue explaining, but it was too late. He didn't even have time to go down the stairs. A spell shattered the window and he jumped down, casting Ironclad Charm and Levitation Charm on himself in mid-air.

With a "thud," William landed on the ground unharmed, much to the astonishment of the students.

'Thankfully, the levitation spell slowed me down enough to adjust my posture; I didn't need to roll over—'

The thought flashed through his mind, and William immediately began searching for Filch.

"Class, make way, I need to check on Filch's condition—" William began, then turned serious, "Everyone stop moving! Don't move unless I give the order!"

"Those near Filch, raise your hands!"

However, no one raised their hand. After a few seconds, the student at the very edge raised their hand. "Professor, over here!"

William glanced over instinctively, then realized something was wrong—the situation seemed much better than the worst-case scenario he had considered, but now another problem arose.

Why is Filch hanging on the wall again?

Chapter 183 Professor McGonagall's Furious Outburst

William was present when Filch was hung on the castle wall last time, but he didn't see it. This time, however, he saw it clearly.

Filch wasn't secured with any ropes or anything like that; he simply hooked his feet onto the small gap in the windowsill and pressed himself firmly against the exterior wall—undoubtedly, Filch was petrified again.

'Which bastard did this?'

William was getting angry—hanging someone on a windowsill was tantamount to playing with human life, it was practically murder.

However, despite his anger, he was still able to control his emotions.