From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

"Minerva, you called me here in such a hurry..."

Snape's voice was as low and clear as ever, only his pace was faster, but his tone quickly rose, "Lohart?"

What mischief is this peacock trying to do?

Snape stared at Lockhart, who was firmly bound to the chair, his eyes full of mockery—he hated flamboyant and self-important guys, and he also hated so-called self-defense magic professors, and this guy had it all.

“Everything,” Professor McGonagall said curtly. She had just finished questioning Lockhart, who had been so eloquent under the influence of Truth Potion that he had almost driven her to use Dark Magic.

"Dumbledore caught him?" Snape glanced at Lockhart. "Could it be that Potter, that idiot, was captured by this peacock? Exactly the same stupidity. If Dumbledore hadn't been there, Potter would probably be a ghost by now."

“Severus, you are a professor, and I expect you to take each student seriously,” Professor McGonagall frowned, gently criticizing Snape. “It wasn’t Albus; Professor William went to the Chamber of Secrets, found them, and brought them back.”

“Looks like our other professor isn’t so useless after all—” Snape said in his signature infuriating tone, “So, shall we have some truth serum now?”

“I’m afraid what we need is an antidote,” Professor McGonagall looked at Snape with trust in her eyes. “Professor William said he accidentally gave too much Truth Potion when he was administering it, and it was still working when I asked him just now.”

"Too much?" Snape lowered his head, pried open Lockhart's eyelids (who couldn't resist), and then grabbed Lockhart's hand to examine the color of his nails.

“What do you mean ‘too much’? Is he trying to torture a dragon?” Professor Snape cursed. “Double the dosage is dangerous enough, how much did he use!”

While cursing, Snape examined her more patiently, drawing blood, testing with his potions, and administering some antidote, but in the end he shook his head.

“You should have notified me immediately, Minerva.”

For the first time, the usually serious Professor McGonagall bowed her head—after asking Lockhart a few questions, she angrily continued asking until many things were clarified, which caused a considerable delay.

Anyone would have done the same. A basilisk suddenly appeared at the school, and the culprit was given a truth serum. To make matters worse, this culprit revealed a secret that would shock half of the magical world during his confession.

What will happen to him?

“The effects of Truth Potion can be reversed, but the damage to memories is unavoidable,” Snape shook his head. “The Truth Potion forces people to recall the deepest secrets in their minds and then express them verbally. Its effects are more terrifying than Legilimency.”

“Amnesia is the least serious consequence; in more serious cases, he might not tell a single lie for a very long time afterward.”

-

"My snake... Albus, my snake..."

In the girls' washroom, Dumbledore appeared first at the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Then, the old professor appeared with a headless snake and a little moody creature using magic.

“I’ll go check on Harry and the others first,” Dumbledore said, finding a good excuse to shake off Professor Kettleburn. “Sylvanas, I’ll leave things here to you. I trust you.”

There was nothing Dumbledore could do; he was no match for an older professor who had been with the school longer than him—Professor Kettleburn was good in every way, except that he was even more stubborn than Hagrid.

He found the painting and asked him what had happened during his journey to the Chamber of Secrets. Dumbledore called back Hagrid, who was still guarding the Forbidden Forest, and headed toward the university hospital—where the victim and the victim were now.

-

"Hello, Professor."

William suppressed a yawn and made the final handover with Dumbledore—although he was eager to examine the diary that Lockhart had named Dumbledore's book, it was best to hand it over to the headmaster, both from an evidentiary standpoint and for security reasons.

Books that allow for the exchange of ideas are dangerous things that even the braggarts of Azka wouldn't dare to read.

Therefore, William politely declined anything that was beyond his capabilities.

"Was it this diary that bewitched Professor Lockhart?" Dumbledore cautiously flipped through the diary, wearing dragon-skin gloves. "My book—that's what he said?"

Dumbledore laughed. "I thought such a thing would happen later, like decades later when Dumbledore's Chamber of Secrets or Dumbledore's secret treasure would appear in the wizarding world."

'It could also be a female-centric doujinshi…' William subconsciously looked away. 'Of course, considering the feelings of the illustrators, it could also be a BL doujinshi…'

"A diary from fifty years ago—it would be perfectly normal to say it's mine." Dumbledore flipped through the diary with great interest, even though it was completely empty.

"A single Oblivion Charm destroyed the most meaningful part of this book," Dumbledore concluded after flipping through it for a while. "Professor Lockhart's skill in some spells is frighteningly high."

"What about Professor Lockhart's treatment?" Dumbledore continued to address him as "Professor," and William followed suit, "How is he now?"

"It's not good. His memories have barely returned to what they were like when he was in school, but the aftereffects of the Truth Potion can't be cured no matter what. He still answers whatever people ask him. Professor Snape has refused to treat him anymore—he said some unpleasant things."

...

William couldn't help but recall the bad things Lockhart had said about Snape on the day they met, and suddenly he understood what those unpleasant words really meant.

After the two talked for a long time about the Chamber of Secrets, Dumbledore finally steered the conversation toward something more serious.

"Although I'm reluctant to say it, I'm afraid we can't deal with Professor Lockhart's matter publicly."

"The Board of Trustees' opinion?"

"Yes, but I don't object—partly because Lockhart was also influenced, just like Ginny Weasley, except that he was more deeply affected."

“Cluckhart continued his crimes even after destroying the diary that had bewitched him, but Ginny did not.”

"The bewitching cannot be undone by destroying a diary. Its nature is the same as dark magic, and its side effects are almost impossible to cancel," Dumbledore said calmly. "More importantly, we cannot afford to lose another professor. If Lockhart's affair is widely reported, even if the university tries to cover it up, Professor William, we will receive a lot of letters demanding your resignation."

Although Dumbledore put it subtly, William understood after a moment's thought—with a great adventurer gone, the remaining professor of self-defense magic had become the center of attention, even if he wasn't the main focus.

Given the legend of Hogwarts and Lockhart's reputation, if William doesn't want to be expelled, the only option is to let the matter drop.

Otherwise, he really would have no choice but to resign.

Chapter 221 After the Secret Room and Before Spring Break

Although it's said that Lockhart won't face any public punishment, and the conspiracy he orchestrated inside the secret chamber won't be exposed, the punishment he receives is very real.

William's life experience of over a decade had been completely washed away by the truth serum, and he had developed a habit of speaking the truth from time to time. After putting himself in William's shoes, he realized that if it were him, he would rather stay in Azkaban than live like this.

William couldn't take all the credit for the Chamber of Secrets. Although many professors knew what had happened, the announcement to the students stated that Dumbledore had returned to deal with the Chamber of Secrets and prevented it from being opened again.

Although Dumbledore didn't need such an honor, William still received a thousand Galleons as compensation—his salary was not going to increase, and this was a reward issued by Dumbledore in his personal capacity.

Harry's leg recovered quickly. Although Hermione and Ron's memories hadn't returned, they were still engrossed in their studies. The twins, who had been controlled by Peeves' prank, were teased by their classmates for a few days before returning to normal.

The basilisk's head also proved useful—William carefully extracted the thousand-year-old venom for other uses, while he gave the remaining head directly to Singed, saying he needed it.

Everything was getting better, except for one thing that made William uncomfortable.

-

“Professor McGonagall, I feel I have enough experience to help Professor Lockhart with his classes, and I’ve almost finished preparing the curriculum for the first to fourth years.”

“No, Professor William,” Professor McGonagall shook her head businesslike, “Although Professor Lockhart has amnesia, his teaching level has actually improved, and I think he is doing very well right now.”

Because he kept a lot from the students, Lockhart was even visited after being hospitalized—but this was not a good thing, because Lockhart now almost exclusively tells the truth.

You've gained weight again!

"The Slytherin idiot is here!"

"You big fool from Gryffindor, what are you laughing at..."

"Hello, Ravenclaw trash. Except for Lockhart, all Ravenclaws are trash..."

"Hufflepuff, can you leave my sight?"

……

Such truths caused Lockhart's popularity to plummet instantly, even his fans abandoned him—"I must have been blind to like a guy like that."

Although telling the truth made the once popular Professor Lockhart disliked by many, Lockhart's self-learning ability and knowledge level were greatly improved by only having memories of his student days.

As long as someone is willing to tolerate Lockhart's tendency to say whatever comes to mind, they can still come up with something. Students who like the course start to study on their own and also go to the hospital to ask for advice. And because Lockhart speaks his mind, they gain quite a lot—therefore, this strange teaching method is retained by default.

William, who had already prepared the exam papers, rushed to Professor McGonagall's office when the appointment still hadn't arrived, but Professor McGonagall refused to budge.

Although this kind of class is not very efficient, it is much better than the previous pure self-study.

Besides, what if Lockhart really isn't allowed to teach? And what if the curse goes wrong? Are we going to send the only remaining professor?

Obviously impossible.

Since the university hospital is funded by the board of trustees, Professor Lockhart can just take his time to recover.

-

Although I didn't get those four grades from Professor Lockhart, I still have to attend the classes.

The diary and the diadem were with Dumbledore, and all William had left to do was deal with the stolen private accounts from Snape's office.

William's schedule was packed with all sorts of random things: researching curses, setting exam questions, preparing lessons, studying potions, transmutation... He had no time for anything else—it would have been great to use the teaching time originally reserved for those four grades to improve himself.

But these busy and fulfilling days were soon disrupted.

Adams finally began his new life with great enthusiasm.

He had been in low spirits for a while because of Lockhart, but he has finally recovered. Lockhart was not the adventure master he had imagined, and the poor herbalist professor almost became depressed.

"What are your plans for spring break, William?"

"What, spring break?"

“Yes,” Adams nodded, “Spring break, Hogwarts’ second break, Easter is just around the corner, otherwise do you want to be busy until summer vacation?”

“Spring break…” William fell silent.

"What's wrong? Still feeling so awful during spring break—" Adams whispered furtively, "Did the basilisk slap you so hard you went mad?"

“I suspect so,” William gritted his teeth. “I’m saying those kids were so happy to hear about those tests!”

"examination paper?"

“Yes, test papers! I assigned them four test papers last class. If spring break is coming soon, then they will only have four test papers for my classes for the entire holiday…” William recalled his failed attempt and wished he could rush to the lounge to reassign the homework.

But that would be too tasteless; he couldn't do that.

"Then let them have a pleasant spring break," Adams chuckled. "Anyway, the other professors have plenty of assignments to give. By the way, how are you going to spend your spring break? How about disguising yourself and going to Muggle society to see Easter?"

"I'm not going. I've hit a bottleneck in my potion research, and I happen to have no classes right now, so I'm going to focus on my research."

Thanks to the thousand Galleons given to him by Dumbledore, William was able to purchase a large amount of precious potion raw materials at once. Although potion research was not as expensive as alchemy, such a large sum of Galleons still had a very immediate effect.

"You can create the Benefiting Elixir now?"

Adams looked delighted.

"Uh..." William said with a sullen face, "Not yet..."

“What else is there to say…” Adams shook his head. “I’ll go check on those basic herbs for you—the school had a bumper harvest of herbs last year.”

William was speechless for a moment after being stunned by a single sentence—don't potions and herbs have the same properties?

"Who can withstand Folic Acid right off the bat?"—Who asks such a question?

That being said, it's still quite embarrassing to be stumped by such a question. Even if the success rate isn't 100%, trying to master it shouldn't be a problem, right?