From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

The cost is small, but if it succeeds, the reward could be ten times greater!

"Of course, this doesn't mean I'm advocating cheating, much less encouraging you to cheat. In fact, what I want to tell you is, never cheat! You might think cheating is easy, but in reality, how easy is it to get caught!"

William's voice echoed throughout the entire auditorium.

"Actually, I can tell you this: cheating is allowed here, but when it comes to the actual exam, if you're caught cheating, the lightest consequence will be being expelled from school!"

William's voice turned serious.

“To make the invigilation even more rigorous, I have specially invited Professor Lockhart to serve as the invigilator,” William said, extending his hand. Professor Lockhart stood up in response, revealing his perfect smile.

“I’m glad Professor William invited me to proctor the exam,” Professor Lockhart said, his teeth flashing again. “While I’m happy to help you out, it’s obviously not an option during the exam. Don’t even think about cheating, or I’ll have to regretfully deduct your points.”

“Professor Lockhart, you’re being too formal,” William interjected. “Since we have this opportunity to experiment, I hope you will use every method you can think of, and then you’ll find that you will lose points accordingly.”

He shrugged. "However, that may not be a bad thing. Don't take winning or losing so seriously. Trying to fail is also a good thing."

“Alright, that’s all I have to say,” William put the potion away. “See you tomorrow, Christmas. The exam starts at nine o’clock, and I’ll hand out the papers on time.”

After taking a few steps, William turned back and added, "Those who want to cheat, please take a break. If you're not focused, you'll be more easily caught. I hope you won't use that as an excuse!"

-

'I haven't finished speaking yet!'

Lockhart gripped his wand, but the students clearly had no intention of listening to him.

The news William just told them was so explosive that they didn't react for a moment. But now they suddenly understood what had happened—Professor Lockhart was caught cheating during the exam and had a point deducted.

Originally, everyone was a little worried that they wouldn't be able to pass the test as well as others, but now that it's open-book and they're cheating, there's nothing they can say about not being able to pass the test as well as others!

"Does anyone have any energy boosters?!"

"Ten Xike!"

The students stopped eating and started talking about buying and selling at the table.

Seeing the group of people around him talking so enthusiastically, Fred looked at his brother.

George's gaze fell on them almost simultaneously. The two exchanged a glance and immediately understood what the other was thinking. Then, they quietly left the table together without alerting anyone else.

"Harry, you can cheat, the kind that's approved!"

Ron put his arm around Harry's shoulder—the three of them had argued about cheating, and it seemed he had won.

"It's just cheating. What's the point of cheating if you don't know how to do it?"

Hermione scoffed, "It's just an open-book exam and cheating, and I'm still number one."

She ignored them both and walked away with her head held high.

Is she angry?

"Who knows? Let's discuss how to cheat—we have all night!"

When it came to cheating, they quickly reached a consensus, and the other students were no exception. They began to discuss it enthusiastically in their usual small groups.

This is blatant cheating!

Only one point will be deducted if you are caught!

This is simply impossible. Although the proctor has been changed to Professor Lockhart, whose level is increasing day by day, it's only one point. Why not give it a try?

The Christmas spirit was originally suppressed by the exams, but now the festive atmosphere has suddenly returned. Even receiving gifts is not as enjoyable as this – an exam where you can cheat!

-

When Harry and his friend returned to the common room, all the good spots had already been taken by students.

"Harry, are you guys sleeping?"

"Sleep?! There are still many days of holiday left. I can't sleep until I've prepared my cheating methods tonight!"

Before Harry could reply, someone else spoke first.

Although it wasn't quite right to say it like that, Harry still felt that what the other person said made a vague sense.

"Harry, have you ever cheated before?"

Ron asked in a low voice, "Back when you were in Muggle school?"

"I didn't, but someone made a cheat sheet."

Harry muttered to himself, recalling how others cheated when he was in school.

"Cheat sheets are useless; you can bring in any book."

Ron lowered his voice to ask questions, which gave Harry a great sense of satisfaction—Ron used to be the one introducing him to things in the wizarding world, but now Ron was asking him how Muggle things were made, which felt much better than Mr. Weasley asking him questions.

"Let me think about it again. It seems they also use secret codes to answer questions. If you don't know how to do something, you can either tidy up or make a sound to ask me. If I don't know how to do something, I can ask you."

Harry tried hard to recall, and that memory suddenly seemed beautiful.

Chapter 195 Taking exams during the New Year is just too inhumane…

On Christmas morning, William was still fast asleep when he was suddenly awakened by a noise outside the window.

What's going on?

He reached for his wand and cast an Ironclad Charm on himself. Then, he rolled towards the wall with the bed. As his body hit the wall, the bed beneath him flew off under the magic, causing William and the blanket to fall to the ground.

As he fell, William protected the back of his head with his left hand and waved his wand directly in the direction from which the sound came—only then did he have time to look in that direction.

Then, with a mix of amusement and exasperation, he landed on the ground and sat up, supporting himself on the ground.

'Aren't owls supposed to deliver mail to offices? Why are they knocking on the bedroom window?'

He looked closely, and after confirming that it was an owl, he stood up in his pajamas, waved his wand, and opened the window.

"Luckily, I put a big bag of owl food in the bedroom to prevent any owls from rummaging through the food, otherwise I would have had to get dressed and go out," William shook his head, pulled out the whole bag of owl food he had bought, waved his wand to clear the table, and then scattered a large handful on the table.

There was no other way; a total of seven owls came knocking on the window, and William didn't have enough containers, so he simply let them divide it up.

'What letter is this, sent so urgently? Has Dumbledore cracked the secret of the crown?'

As the window opened, the cold wind that blew in instantly banished William's drowsiness. He began to wonder why the owls hadn't gone to the office, but before he could even begin to ponder it, the owls that had been lining up on the windowsill flew in all at once and swarmed around the desk.

'A package?' William glanced at it, casually threw on a coat, and walked over curiously—he hadn't ordered this much stuff, had he?

Before he could go over, the owl around the table unloaded the package itself and crowed twice at William, seemingly indicating that I had finished my work and should not disturb my meal.

William found this amusing, so he casually waved his wand to close the window, then pointed at his poor blanket, sending it back onto the bed.

William moved the bed back and used a cleansing charm to remove the dust from the blankets before slowly walking over to the package that the owl had unloaded and examining it with his wand.

'No magical fluctuations, most likely safe.' William then picked up the package with his left hand and began to look through it. 'Who sent this? So many packages at once?'

Upon opening the package, I found a package of liqueur-filled chocolates, along with a card.

"Merry Christmas, little William-Tom."

Upon seeing the name, William shuddered, then realized that this was not a Tom.

'I'm so used to calling him Old Tom, Old Tom, I almost forgot…'

He opened the packaging, popped a chocolate into his mouth, and immediately his eyebrows shot up in surprise—such good wine wasted like this?

'Fine, whatever, the bar owner's capriciousness.'

He excitedly examined another package, and after confirming it was harmless, he turned it over and opened it.

It's also a small card, but it's from Hagrid.

Although the giant tried to write the words smaller, they were still ridiculously large, which made William chuckle.

'etc!'

William suddenly realized something was wrong and, without even looking at what Hagrid had delivered, began to check the other packages.

The old professor's, Adams', Singed's...

He unpacked the packages one by one, then covered his head in his hands.

'A Christmas present! Damn it, I just spent a shabby Christmas exchanging gifts in my Azkaban cell, how could I have forgotten all that!'

He glanced around with lingering fear, and only calmed down slightly when he saw that there were no more owls outside the window. Then he quickly searched through his belongings according to the names on the cards.

'It'll be a laughing stock if word gets out. I've been plotting for over a week to outmaneuver the students and professors staying on campus, planning a perfect intrusion into the lounge today, and now I'm already scrambling to find gifts!'

This is even more outrageous than becoming a king in a game and still having to unclog toilets!

William rummaged through his belongings, starting to prepare a suitable gift—things had already come to this point, so careful selection was no longer an option; he'd just fill the hole first!

'Please don't give any more gifts!' William quickly prepared seven gifts, then took out the packaging he had bought at the beginning of the semester from the cabinet and carefully packed them. Fortunately, magic helped, making the job less tiring.

"It's ridiculous, really. I bought this wrapping paper right before school started..." William quickly filled out the card, offering his blessings. "At the beginning of the semester, I was even thinking about how to set up punishments and rewards, and I even planned to prepare small gifts for students who did well. How come the fifth graders started failing?"

The surprise cards that were originally meant to be used to write encouraging words for the students were perfectly fitting as Christmas gifts, which put William's previously tense heart at ease.

'There are advantages to being a hamster; I wonder when you'll be able to use them…'

After packing the last gift, William glanced at it and cautiously stuffed it into a small bag that had been enchanted with a seamless expansion spell—if the students saw him carrying a bag of gifts on Christmas Day, the story would probably gossip for ten years!

-

In the Ravenclaw tower, a group of students who had stayed up all night helping others cheat looked refreshed.

Traditionally, Ravenclaw is the house that uses incense and similar things the most, because it is believed to help people think—and last night, those invigorating spices were constantly being used.

"My God, it's already 6:30!"

A student glanced at the sky and noticed some light. He checked the time and exclaimed in surprise.

"It's okay, just don't sleep. If you rest a little, you'll be even more tired," an experienced senior student explained. "Study until the exam, and it's best not to eat breakfast either, as eating will affect your thinking ability."

“That makes sense, but we need to get some fresh air and let the incense dissipate, otherwise we might faint without even realizing it.”

Another older student stood up with a smile, then opened the window to let in fresh air.

What's that over there?!

The student who opened the window exclaimed in surprise, and most of the others who had stayed up all night put down their books and gathered by the window.

A moment later, someone ran out of the dormitory. "I bought this telescope at the World Cup. Let me make room and see what's going on!"

Soon, the person with the binoculars recognized the person walking steadily in the snow below—Professor William, the professor they had been talking about the most these past few days, who had generously given them a dose of Felix Felicis.