From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

Cheating has to be this sophisticated? Changing the timeline during the Lunar New Year?

Chapter 198 The Secret Chamber Has Been Opened

The Time-Turner is a top-tier application within advanced magical theory, something William doesn't understand and has no intention of delving into for the time being—with Dumbledore here, it's obviously pointless to ask the Headmaster!

“Professor Dumbledore, do you think it could be because one of the students used a time-turner?” William asked earnestly. “I really have no memory of a blizzard today.”

“The Time-Turner can’t do that,” Dumbledore chuckled, pushing a plate of bacon toward William. “In fact, it’s a failure; the principles behind it are something that only those who specialize in it can understand.”

"A failed product?"

Although William knew early on that this thing could only be used by underage students with insufficient magic power due to magic limitations, it was a bit much to call it a failure.

“Of course,” Dumbledore thought for a moment, “Well, it was originally developed to help users alter time, but it has become part of time itself, and is strictly limited by magic. The user cannot change anything and bears risks. Of course, the reality is probably more complicated—”

Dumbledore looked at William without changing his expression, but William understood that this was the simplest interpretation.

Although it was difficult, he roughly understood what Dumbledore meant—but Headmaster, didn't you say that only professionals could understand this thing?

“Older people always like to study a little bit in various fields, there’s nothing strange about that,” Dumbledore explained with a smile—making William wonder if his Occlumency had failed.

But he was certain that he had not been subjected to Legilimency. Putting aside the card in his backpack, his experience in Azkaban alone made him more sensitive to memory disturbances than most wizards.

“I guessed it again,” Dumbledore said with a smug look on his face, swirling his wine glass. “So, the professors’ teams, like the students’ teams, need to absorb fresh blood. Look at Minerva, she always has a straight face, you can’t guess anything from her expression.”

William didn't want to take that lying down—he'd just gotten a raise last month, and after a semester here, he knew exactly who was in charge of the money in the castle.

He raised his glass. "Merry Christmas, Professor Dumbledore. If it's not a Time-Turner, then what is it?"

“Perhaps a Thunderbird,” Dumbledore said cheerfully. “Hagrid has been saying for a long time that he wants to have one.”

Hagrid, who was struggling to deal with half a sheep, suddenly looked up and exclaimed, "Ah, Dumbledore, you've brought a Thunderbird?"

William could clearly see the smile on his face even from that height; it was almost overflowing. "That's wonderful, wonderful! I think that's the best Christmas present I've received in all these years!"

William noticed Dumbledore's smile freeze for a moment, but Hagrid continued, "When you sent Lucy off, you told me it wasn't a good school for me now, and I even doubted you—(Note)"

Unable to continue listening to this topic, and fearing he might get into trouble, William excused himself, saying that a student had arrived—of course, mainly because the Weasley brothers had appeared, and William wanted to inquire about Blizzard.

Although Mr. Filch was already in the school hospital, William agreed with one of his observations: 'If anything strange happens at school these days, you can't go wrong looking for the Weasley twins.'

-

“It’s finally finished,” George said, rubbing his neck. Mrs. Pomfrey’s treatment was excellent, but he still felt some discomfort in his neck.

“Yeah, I slept in the rocking chair, and then, without getting enough sleep, I had to get up and deal with the presents,” Fred chimed in. “But at least Christmas wasn’t a complete waste—Hogwarts had a blizzard! I’m really proud of myself!”

"It's a pity we can only use this excuse once; there won't be as many students cooperating with us next time—"

"What kind of cooperation? Tell us about it." A head suddenly appeared between them, and their shoulders were put around each other.

“Oh, Professor,” Fred said sternly, “you should keep your distance from your students to maintain your authority.”

“Let’s talk outside,” William said quietly, gesturing towards the outside of the restaurant with his eyes.

"The dinner is about to begin, Professor."

“You two cheated. According to the previous punishment regulations, if you do it again, the detention period will be doubled and your parents will be notified.” William said with a sincere smile. “I don’t think you’d expect me to send a letter like this at Christmas.”

"You said cheating is allowed!"

“But Professor Lockhart caught you, and cheating is indeed against school rules,” William gestured with his chin toward Dumbledore. “The headmaster is over there. Why don’t you go and protest?”

Three minutes later, William and the twins were standing in the hallway.

"Tell me, what's with the blizzard under the castle?" William asked the two men with an air of confidence.

"They actually consulted you?"

The two looked on incredulously—where had the most basic trust between people gone? Did they have to consult the school about the delays caused by the blizzard?

-

"Professor William, look at what the Daily Prophet has degenerated into!"

Filch was discharged from the hospital in high spirits. His holiday recuperation had restored the administrator's fighting spirit, allowing him to return to the stage of confronting the students.

"It can't be that bad, what happened?"

William chuckled and placed the documents he had just retrieved on Filch's desk, glancing at the newspaper.

[Massive Snowstorm – Thunderbirds May Appear at Hogwarts; Insiders Claim the Snowstorm Even Damaged the Owl Hut!]

The subtitle is: [Ministry of Magic Plans to Hold Emergency Meeting and Allocate Funds to Deal with This Special Incident!]

It's outrageous!

This was William's first impression—the so-called Blizzard was just a lie made up by students. The Daily Prophet was practically an official media outlet, so how could it dare to make up any story?

'Those twins are probably going to be smug now…' William even regretted promising to help them downplay the incident on Christmas Day.

'I wonder what Dumbledore thinks. Anyway, he knows Blizzard is fake. How he deals with it will be a headache for the headmaster…'

"Isn't that right, Professor William!"

Filch pointed to the outrageous headline, "Have I gone mad from being in the hospital? Where did Hogwarts get a blizzard? If there really were Thunderbirds, Hagrid would have captured them and shown them to everyone already. How could he have let them stay in the Forbidden Forest for so long!"

He slammed the newspaper on the table and said angrily, "Not a single thing in the Daily Prophet is reliable!"

That's because you haven't seen French newspapers...

However, William couldn't reveal the twins' prank—Filch had finally been discharged from the hospital, and he didn't intend to make him angry enough to go back.

"Alright, Mr. Filch, let's leave the Daily Prophet aside. We have a lot more to do."

“It’s more than just a lot!” Filch began to complain. “It’s only a Christmas holiday, and the students who came back are like monkeys. They even want to climb the castle!”

Are those staircases just for show?

As he spoke, he jogged to the window, peered outside, and said, "Thankfully, there's nothing there now."

"It must have been the Weasley brothers again. While I was in the hospital, those two little rascals definitely pulled some new prank. Now all the students have designs on the castle walls. They're trying to climb up the castle using alchemical devices, and they think it's really cool!"

"When I was in the hospital, two boys were sent there because they broke their arms—first graders who couldn't even use the Levitate Charm properly, and they were thinking of doing such dangerous things!"

Filch's uninterrupted rant made William feel ashamed, after all, he was the one who started it all.

"How about we cast a spell on the bricks at the very bottom of the castle?"

William suggested—even though doing so would ruin his rope, it was better than the students being sent to the hospital, right?

“No need for that. We just need to ask Professor McGonagall to activate some of the protective magic for a while,” Filch said confidently. “I’ve already written the report. Hogwarts Castle was designed to be able to withstand a group attack from dark wizards!”

William wondered if it was just his imagination, but he felt that Filch's eyes seemed much brighter when he said that—could it be that he had been wanting to try out those protective spells for a while?

-

"Hermione, please, the paper on Transfiguration."

Harry's tone was humble.

Behind him stood a humble figure.

The enjoyable holiday went by too quickly, and with the new semester starting, the dreaded homework is back.

However, Hermione ignored their humble pleas, which immediately alarmed the two.

“Professor McGonagall will kill us,” Harry said dramatically, “if we don’t hand in our assignments on time.”

"No, if you study hard."

Hermione stormed out of the library.

“She’s angry,” Harry said, looking at his Transfiguration textbook and then at Hermione, completely bewildered.

“Of course,” Ron agreed, “she got so angry just because she didn’t pass Percy.”

"You have to understand, she's number one."

"Percy too, and Percy has never come in second place!"

Ron countered—although he, the twins, and Ginny all agreed that Percy was a complete fool, who wouldn't envy Percy for getting first place?

That's his own brother; only he can question Percy's grades!

“Okay, you’re right,” Harry raised his hand in exasperation, “but what about the Transfiguration assignment?”

The two were dumbfounded and had no choice but to flip through the book together.

“So she completely forgot about the five Galleons she got as a reward from the professor,” Ron shook his head, trying to glean something from the boring text. “Second place. Apparently, many sixth-year students not only had their money halved in their red envelopes, but they were also ridiculed by the professor!”

Harry thought about it and realized that sixth grade was indeed too bad.

"Of course, the worst off were Fred and George—they cheated and got the lowest marks, one of them and one of them. If it weren't for that gift thing, I would have written home to tell my mother!"

Ron was laughing unusually happily; only a younger brother could laugh like that.

"You should have seen the looks on their faces when they were called out of the Christmas dinner and came back. It was hilarious!"

-

"Selma, good afternoon."

"Ah hello."

In the corridor, Selma greeted everyone she met warmly.

Ever since the exam, she's become famous at school—though not for a good reason.

'The guy who cheated and got the lowest score.'

This is her new title.

'It's just a game, cheating is the most fun! There are so many sixth graders, do you really think you can get first place?'

She thought to herself nonchalantly—she had slept soundly the night before the exam and didn't care at all about having an exam the next day.

Not sleeping well can affect your development!

She hummed a little tune as she walked toward the kitchen. The little elves were very friendly; a few words of pleading were all it took to get her plenty of fresh ingredients. Compared to exams, wasn't rice more appealing?

"I just didn't expect there to be a cash giveaway. I thought everyone was just there to make up the numbers, which is a bit of a shame."

She muttered to herself, "If my grades were better, I could buy a lot of seasonings..."

-