From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

Chapter 223 The House of Requirement

"I feel like this spring break was too uneventful."

With Easter and spring break approaching, William, suddenly finding himself with plenty of free time, was even a little unsure of what to do.

The exam papers were already up to the OWLs exam date, and he didn't have a better idea for preparing his lessons. Studying curses for too long would affect his mindset like black magic, and the herbs he needed for the research hadn't all arrived yet—for a moment, he didn't know what to do.

'Taking advantage of the holiday, I'll restart the investigation that was delayed because of the basilisk—' Flipping through his memos, William finally found himself something to do.

Although the information stolen from Professor Snape is still waiting for the curse to be perfected, the information found in the Slytherin common room is still not clear enough—where exactly did the Dark Lord and his first Death Eaters operate?

The matter was temporarily put on hold due to the basilisk's activities, but it's not difficult to pick it up again.

'It can't possibly be a locked room—'

Spring sunlight streamed through the glass window, casting beautiful, bright patterns on William's desk that made one want to lie down and take a nap.

'If so many people knew about the secret room, its secret would have been exposed long ago, so it must be in a not-so-hidden location…'

"yawn--"

William covered his mouth, and couldn't help but think about getting a cat to keep by his side.

"There seems to be a place like that...isn't the tiara placed over there? Lockhart also obtained that book, supposedly left behind by Dumbledore, from there..."

'By the way, I wonder how Dumbledore's research on his own diary is going...'

Such a thought surfaced, but William suppressed it—the basilisk was able to stop the investigation because a student had been harmed; changing the subject of the investigation for no reason was not his style.

"Then let's go take a look over there."

-

'An unknown place where things are hidden.'

Opposite to the tapestry on the eighth floor of the castle where the giant stick beats up Barnabas—that's what Lockhart said.

William was confident in his truth serum, and if Lockhart could still fool him in that state, he would accept his fate.

Lockhart said he investigated Ginny's schedule and found something unusual; he didn't believe there wasn't something else hidden where the crown was...

Although William found Lockhart's behavior distasteful, he still quite admired the 'former explorer's' ability to find secrets; it was a skill to uncover those fascinating stories—including this time picking up Ginny's stash.

'But those Weasley brothers…' William gritted his teeth—it's true they handed over Ginny and the Crown, but they completely concealed the Secret Chamber where Ginny was captured…

Because the crown was so amazing and the memory loss was so outrageous, he completely forgot about finding the location where Ginny found it!

"Things get chaotic when there are too many things... William, you're still not careful enough with Weasley!"

Following Lockhart's instructions, William began to walk—concentrating on where Ginny hid her things, and after walking across the wall three times, a very smooth door would appear on the wall.

'I feel like this method doesn't need to include Ginny...'

William's mind went astray, and he had to start thinking again as he walked, without attempting to add or delete any words.

"I need to go to where Ginny hides her things..."

...

Three times passed quickly, and William stared at the wall, hoping for the door to appear.

However, there was nothing there.

He refused to believe it and tried again—but still nothing particularly strange happened.

"The truth serum has worn off! Lockhart is a fraud, he fooled me!"

The thought immediately popped into William's mind, and he almost instantly prepared to run, but was stopped by the thought that suddenly appeared in his mind.

"Wait—that's impossible. If the first part was a lie, what about the rest?"

"Even if he manages to escape Hogwarts under some pretext, the name Lockhart will be ruined—Dumbledore will never let him go, and with so many outrageous stories, even just fabricating them would take a lot of work..."

“Then,” William stared at the wall, “if Lockhart is telling the truth, why isn’t this place open for me?”

Is it because I'm not a student at this school?

'That shouldn't be the case—how could a professor's qualifications conflict with those of a student...? Besides, Lockhart himself is a professor, it doesn't make sense, such sophisticated magic is a bit of a waste...'

“It shouldn’t be an identity issue, but it might be a capacity issue…” William pondered. “Who knows what someone might be doing inside.”

"That doesn't make sense either. If someone is doing something inside and doesn't open the door, then the Dark Lord couldn't possibly bring a whole group of people here, could he? Once is fine, but if they do it multiple times without splitting up, this place would have been discovered long ago."

Since he couldn't figure it out, he decided to try it one by one—William began searching the surrounding area to see if there were any lucky students who stayed on campus that he could catch for an experiment.

Hello everyone, happy holidays!

William shouted happily—although the three people in front of him were not his students, they were not difficult to order around.

The trio of Harry and Meghan, whom I had just met, were walking down the corridor. Although I didn't know why they had all stayed at school during spring break, it was a good place to open the door—just in case they really recognized a student.

"Could you do me a favor?" William called to his assistant with a smile, "Could you open this door for me?"

"Professor, what door?"

Hermione remained calm and answered before the other two could respond—they had met up with the Weasley brothers, and ever since they shared the place, the three of them had fallen in love with this absolutely secluded cabin.

“Just walk back and forth three times over there by the tapestry—” William recited Lockhart’s instructions, his eyes glancing at the other two men—their expressions were off; they didn’t look like they were up to anything good!

Before William could finish speaking, Harry panicked, "Professor, entering a hidden room isn't against the rules, is it?"

“It’s not against the rules,” William said with a serious expression—it seemed like he had tricked them into revealing something. What were these three guys up to?

“But—” he drawled, “if you’re caught violating school rules in a secluded room, you’ll still have to go through solitary confinement…”

"No, we just use this Room of Requirement to study..."

What's the difference between this statement and a student who gets arrested at an internet cafe claiming they were there to look up information?

However, William was too lazy to add anything—the name "House of Requirement" sounded intriguing, "always granting wishes"... Could it be like Aladdin's lamp, where different things can be conjured up according to one's desires?

Although we know it's hopeless to catch violations on the spot, it's still good to have made this discovery.

“Then open the door, Harry,” William said casually. “I won’t put you in solitary confinement unless there are any contraband items.”

Harry frantically winked and mouthed to his two friends from what he thought was a hidden angle, 'Has the love potion been cleared off?'

'It's been resolved!'

Ron responded that he understood.

Harry immediately felt relieved.

"The room we used for negotiations."

...

While deception is theoretically possible, Harry didn't think he could fool a wizard who could quickly find and kill the basilisk in one fell swoop...

Professor William was smiling broadly, but it was beneath that smile that Harry lost his leg.

He absolutely refused to believe the deception of that smile, especially with the Weasley brothers still inside.

Harry deduced that Professor William had come with the Weasley brothers—he couldn't imagine what would have happened if they hadn't been able to open the door and see the Weasleys…

The door appeared.

Harry closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and opened the door.

"Harry, you're finally here! Look at all the new gadgets we've been working on!"

Fred's energetic voice suddenly came through, filling Harry with guilt.

Sorry—but the professor has his eye on you.

"What's new, Weasley?"

William smiled and raised his wand. Two spells were cast almost simultaneously and flew into the doorway—to prevent the perpetrators from destroying the evidence.

"Thump. Thump."

Two short, crisp thuds as someone fell to the ground caused the expressions of the three people next to William to change.

'Let me see,' he said, taking the lead into the so-called Room of Requirement and looking around.

The room wasn't big, but that was compared to a classroom. If it were a group of people—based on the previously estimated number of Death Eaters—it shouldn't be crowded.

'Will it be a room?'

"Or is one for each person?"

'I'll try it later—but first, let's check what's going on here, whether these guys have caused any trouble.'

The room was empty except for chairs, and not far away there was a cauldron on which some kind of magic potion was bubbling away—the appearance was too ordinary for William to tell.

'It's not an aphrodisiac, nor a compound decoction…'

It's good that it's not one of those obviously illegal drugs—truth serum is still illegal for most pharmacists, and William still has some left over…

Curious, he walked to the pot and began to examine the potion inside.

“A disappointing potion…” William shook his head. “You two made this?”

The twins nodded—even though they were tightly bound by bandages.

"I knew it was you guys..." William said irritably, knocking the potion out of the potion pan. "You two don't even have the basics, yet you dare to mix potions randomly. You two are really... fearless!"

The potion in the pot is a modified version, unlike the most basic and foolproof recipes; it's an improved version with a personal touch.

But the twins were completely messing things up—they wanted to build a skyscraper before they even laid a proper foundation.

"Although I don't know why you want to research these almost prank potions, I guess you don't have a solution for the side effects yet, right?"

"Reflect on this carefully... Bring your potions textbook to the office today. Your confinement is for copying the textbook!"

"Professor, this is spring break!"

The two of them shouted with innocent expressions.

“Do you expect me to recount that week of detention?” William glared at the two men. “I remember saying we weren’t allowed to keep secrets, right? Why didn’t I hear about Ginny being arrested here?”

“Um, Professor, the bandage is a bit tight—” Fred’s face immediately lit up with a smile, “We need to get the textbooks.”

-

"Professor, how do you know it's not Hermione's?"