From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

The telescope was quickly passed around to everyone. After confirming who was below, everyone became curious. Why was Professor William up so early on Christmas Day?

"Could this be part of an anti-cheating measure?"

Some boldly speculated, "I've heard that some people can disguise surveillance magic as birds!"

"There's no such magic! Why don't you guess that Professor William is trying to bribe the owl?"

"Owls won't help spy on people!"

The students started arguing about this academic issue—whether owls can spy has always been a hot topic in the wizarding world, and in Ravenclaw, arguments over differing opinions are far more frequent than in other houses; that's just how the house is…

-

'Ah,' William wiped his brow and headed toward the Great Hall—the worst had happened. When he returned to his office, the second batch of gifts had arrived, and he had to make another trip to the owlhouse.

'Logically, Bart should be more than willing to help, but I feel it would be too embarrassing if the elves found out…'

William thought to himself, clutching the thick stack of exam papers.

He didn't eat breakfast—although skipping breakfast isn't good for your health, it's not too serious if it happens occasionally.

After all, the goal is to infiltrate the Slytherin common room. If you're full and slow to react, and something unexpected happens, you might not be able to handle it for a long time.

'I always thought Christmas wasn't a very important holiday, but today I realized—it's almost like Chinese New Year, isn't it?'

William regretted scheduling the exam for today. If the exam was held on the first day of the Lunar New Year, it would have been displayed and framed.

'Oh well, the exam's already happened, and they even allow open-book testing and cheating, so let's just treat it as New Year's entertainment.'

William tidied up the papers, trying to convince himself not to take it too seriously—if everyone treated this as a Christmas activity, then it wouldn't be an exam.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, mobile games still require you to sign in and participate in activities. You can also draw prizes for free when you log in. I've already used up all the lucky charms in the prize pool.

Let's add some more prizes and consider it a New Year's event!

With this encouragement, William's mindset calmed down immediately—no pay-to-win elements, real big prizes, lots of fun activities. In a game, players would worry that the planner would be fired if this was done. This is so generous, who can say that this is a thriving event?

'Snapped. '

With a soft sound, William realized that a little elf had appeared—not Bart, but one he didn't recognize.

"Professor William, we have decorated the auditorium and added tables for the exams to the existing Christmas decorations. The exam room is ready."

The little elf said happily, "We discussed it for a long time before making this decision!"

“Thank you,” William said, looking at the elves. “Do you usually prepare the decorations as well?”

"Of course, Professor, we did most of the holiday decorations. The addition of exams this time has made the Christmas atmosphere even better!"

...

After an incomprehensible conversation, William thanked the elf again and began to wonder why the exams made the Christmas atmosphere better...

The conversation didn't last long. The elf hurriedly took his leave just as William was about to enter the hall, leaving William with his curiosity until the moment the hall doors opened.

-

'Whose devil orchestrated this scene?'

William was stunned when he walked in after he connected Christmas with the Lunar New Year.

The auditorium looked exceptionally grand and imposing today—not only were there more than a dozen Christmas trees covered in silver frost, but also thick ribbons of mistletoe and holly crisscrossing on the ceiling, making it clear that it was a Christmas-only decoration.

Enchanted snowflakes drifted gently down from the ceiling, warm and dry, perfectly enhancing the festive atmosphere.

But can anyone tell him why there are exam papers mixed in with the falling snow?

All sorts of test papers drifted down with the snow. On any other day, William might have thought they could even serve as a backdrop for fifth graders, but after receiving so many gifts and feeling the warmth of Christmas, he felt that using test papers to scare people on this special day was really going too far…

The students had arrived early, and Professor Lockhart, dressed in a green robe, stood among them speaking—if it weren't for the students around him, William might have even mistaken Professor Lockhart for a Christmas tree decoration…

"Good morning, students," William waved and greeted them, then looked at Professor Lockhart, "Good morning, Professor Lockhart."

"Good morning, Professor William." Lockhart smiled more brightly than usual, a stark contrast to the ethereal expressions of the students around him.

Are they all still awake?

William suddenly felt more like it was New Year's Day—the warmth of Christmas deepened instantly.

"Alright, let the Christmas festivities begin!"

William pulled a large bag of candy from his pocket, used his wand to make the candy fly into the air, and then cast a spell to make the candy fall down along with magical snowflakes.

"I've left the papers here. Professor Lockhart, could you please hand them out?"

Lockhart smiled and replied, "No problem."

"Merry Christmas everyone! And by the way," William stood up and walked towards the hall exit, waving to the students, "the top ten will all receive prizes, though it's nothing compared to first place. Have a wonderful holiday!"

Lockhart can handle distributing the exam papers; the New Year's atmosphere is too intense, and William doesn't want to do it anymore.

'Let's go, time to Slytherin. The password is—um, long live Salazar!'

William repeated the password he had obtained yesterday and started walking towards his office—there was a secret passage nearby that led directly to the Slytherin common room.

-

"What did I tell you?"

Inside the venue, students whispered amongst themselves in the last moments before the exam papers were handed out.

“Even if owls don’t monitor, they must have other methods of surveillance. Don’t forget, Professor William can climb to any floor of Hogwarts Castle with just a rope!”

The student cautiously added to his conspiracy theory, "Giving out candy before the exam—we didn't even have breakfast! If we eat candy and our reaction time slows down, our grades will be lower—don't forget how fifth graders take their exams, it's the same trick!"

The surrounding students nodded in agreement.

Not far from them, at the Gryffindor table, the twins were exchanging knowing glances.

"How much did you make, Fred?"

They communicated with their eyes.

"I estimate there are seven or eight Galleons, it's like picking up money off the ground!"

"Everyone's preparing for exams, so the prices of those energy drinks are going to skyrocket, aren't they? Using owls to get permits from those who've already left school, then reselling them at an even higher price—the stores won't be open this late—it couldn't be more ingenious!"

"We've made quite a bit of money on food too. Even though we didn't raise the prices much, it's still a good business to get food from Hufflepuff and resell it."

The two laughed heartily. Although they were a little sleepy, they still persevered and prepared to finish the exam. Lady Luck had already been kind to them enough, but what if she was so happy today that she let them get first place?

Chapter 196 Have a Happy New Year

'The Slytherin common room…'

William muttered to himself as he walked through the secret passage, using this method to relieve his unease—sneaking into the lounge was nothing, but the exams during the New Year were really making his conscience ache.

This should be it.

William pushed open the secret passage and cast an illusion spell on himself.

Based on previous observations, the entrance to the Slytherin common room does not contain any portraits, but is simply a stone wall that can understand commands.

'According to the records in the book and the stories told by the ghosts, only the Gryffindor common room in the entire school is occupied by a sentient portrait,' William said cautiously, standing before the stone wall. 'Didn't the Gryffindors ever consider why their comings and goings needed to be recorded...?'

With these complaints, he soon arrived at what was most likely the entrance to the Slytherin common room—an empty, damp stone wall.

"Long live Salazar!"

William whispered the command.

As the command was given, a stone door hidden in the stone wall slowly opened.

'All the students are in the auditorium. Because it's an open-book exam, practically no one will hand in their paper early. Even considering unforeseen circumstances, I'll have at least an hour to do what I want.'

William took out his watch, checked the time, and began to examine his surroundings. He didn't have a clear objective when he broke into Slytherin's common room. He wasn't trying to steal any private accounts or spy on students' privacy. Instead, he wanted to identify the parts of the common room that couldn't be changed, so he could compare them with the information he had obtained.

'This is the basement.' William quickly scanned his surroundings, making a rapid assessment of the environment.

To be precise, Slytherin's common room was a long, narrow, low basement with walls and ceilings made of rough stone.

'Although I had thought of it when I was looking for the location of the Slytherin common room, I didn’t expect this place to actually be a basement…' William carefully examined the decorations of the common room under the green light.

The fireplace was exquisite, but it was the only decoration in the entire lounge that matched William's traditional impression of Slytherin; the rest of the decorations were so shabby that they seemed like something out of Azkaban.

"What a mess of decorations!" William grumbled. "Skulls, ornate hardwood chairs, green lamps, faded tapestries—am I really in Slytherin's common room or some empty cell in Azkaban?"

The decor was fine, but the dampness was the worst part. The air in the room was exactly like the damp, cold air brought in by the sea breeze from Azkaban.

'This is outrageous! I remember at least half of the school's board members are Slytherin alumni, and they live in this kind of environment?' William quickly determined the location and then immediately understood why it was so damp—if he wasn't mistaken, part of the common room should be submerged in the Black Lake.

Is it for security reasons?

He speculated that if the castle were attacked from this location, and the students had to retreat to the lounge, they could use the Bubble Head Curse to open the ceiling over there, allowing people to escape from the Black Lake.

"Of course, you can do it the other way around," William stared at the ceiling. "If you want to infiltrate the castle or the Slytherin common room from the outside, you can just dive down to the bottom of the Black Lake and then carve out a path..."

What are you thinking!

He couldn't help but slap his forehead—why was he thinking about invading the castle? Did someone guard the castle and let him break in?

'Forget about the roof over there; the fireplace is worth taking a closer look at.'

William paced around the fireplace, estimating how many people it could comfortably warm themselves by.

Just as each cell in Azkaban was divided into classes, the small groups in the lounge must also have classes, and one could roughly estimate the upper limit of this group.

The logic is simple: the initial formation of a small group is either about mutual support or about giving people a sense of superiority. The fireplace in the lounge, as one of the most important resources during student years, is definitely closely related to the number of people in the small group.

In William's old cell, there must have been an unlucky guy who was assigned to a bed near the toilet because of the bad smell there, and that's where Dementors are first affected when they come—the same logic applies to the allocation of seats by the fire among students.

'In such a damp environment, the fireplace in the lounge is absolutely crucial. Perhaps the Dark Lord couldn't allocate it according to his will when he was younger, but when he's older, he'll definitely be in the warmest spot by the fireplace.'

'This place can't be too hot, and we can't get burned by the occasional sparks. It's roughly around here—' William swayed back and forth, roughly determining the location.

'Whether it's the dignity of the team leader or the personality of the Dark Lord, no one can stand behind him,' William measured the size of the stool and estimated the distance that a small team's chair should have for conversation. 'It should be about this far away, to a place where the fire can barely reach.'

Beyond this distance, the outermost people basically can't get any warmth from the fire. That Dark Lord isn't stupid; he wouldn't be so inconsiderate of his members' feelings. These should be the core members.

Will the chairs be arranged in two rows facing each other, or two rows on each side facing each other?

Judging from the distance at the very front, placing two rows on each side would be too crowded—so without a doubt, these are the core numbers of the Death Eaters in the early game.

'There must be other areas,' William thought, looking at the cramped lounge. 'The Death Eaters are such a dynamic group; they certainly don't just confine themselves to the lounge, and their conversations definitely aren't about criticizing professors or discussing romance—students wouldn't have such strong cohesion if they didn't experience some exciting things.'

The exciting thing was definitely not the Azure Dragon Study Group, or a group of Slytherins studying together—even William of Ravenclaw was a little skeptical. Slytherins? Are you kidding me?