From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

As they opened the passage and crawled out, laughter, noise, and shouts gradually rose up, and the originally dull lounge suddenly came alive, as if it had been blown by a spring breeze, and the whole place was full of life.

-

'They came all in such a neat group? But why bring a little burden along…'

William paused for a moment when he saw the students coming out, but quickly regained his composure. "It's good that you all came together. You guys go to Hagrid's hut and wait for a bit. Harry and I have some things to take care of and will be right there."

He pulled Harry aside and said to the rest of the group, "Have Hagrid prepare some roast meat, and I'll bring drinks! See you later!"

"Okay, goodbye, professor."

The students said their goodbyes quite politely, but Harry realized the seriousness of the situation…

'Ron, good luck to you…'

But before he could finish praying for Ron, William pulled him into an empty classroom.

“Potter, we don’t have much time. They can’t hold us off for long,” William said seriously. “Do you remember that house-elf you told me about, Dobby?”

The sudden question made Harry forget about Ron for a moment—how could he possibly forget Dobby?

It was because of Dobby that his inability to use magic was exposed, which led to his imprisonment and almost prevented him from returning to Hogwarts.

“Of course I remember, Professor.”

Harry's answer was quite forceful.

"So, can you still recognize that little elf?"

"Of course, Professor."

Harry was a little confused.

“Alright, let’s go to Professor McGonagall’s office first,” William grabbed Harry’s arm—today’s board meeting was to discuss his issues, so the four heads of the board were not involved, and Professor McGonagall was still in her office.

He had already informed Professor McGonagall through the painting, so now he could simply let Harry see if the house-elf was the same one.

-

"It's him, that's the one."

In Professor McGonagall's office, fragments of William's memory floated above the Pensieve, and Harry recognized the little house-elf named Dobby.

'No...is it really that stupid?'

William couldn't believe his judgment was true—the Malfoys were actually swaggering into school with that little elf.

"Is this the one?"

Professor McGonagall was also surprised—William had brought Harry here before because of Dobby, and although security was increased at the time, nothing more happened afterward, so she thought Dobby wouldn't show up again. But today, it was brought into the school so casually.

"The Malfoys..."

Professor McGonagall recounted the event in a remarkably calm tone, "Potter, to be able to access your memories... oh, you haven't mastered that yet..."

“For now, we don’t need to extract that memory,” William reminded us with a smile. “After Potter was attacked last time, we left a record after we dealt with it. We just need to use it to sue that little elf. I don’t believe it has any powerful Occlumency techniques.”

“If so, we can ask Potter to testify again and have Professor Dumbledore take action personally.”

“By the way,” William turned to Harry, “Potter, don’t mind, although it might require remembering the memories, if this prosecution is successful, the warning you received last year will be removed. That way, even if you break the rules and use magic again, you’ll only get a warning first—”

"Professor William!"

Professor McGonagall's tone was quite serious, making William realize immediately what he was doing—instructing his student on breaking the rules in front of the Headmaster of Gryffindor…

"Of course, of course, that's not important, but it does look good to have your violation record gone, doesn't it?"

William tried to smooth things over.

-

“I’m sorry, professors and board members,” William said with a very polite bow, “the students were so chaotic during the holidays that I wasted a lot of time. I hope I can still make it in time.”

"Not long—it was more like he fled to escape punishment."

The man in the lead, Malfoy (as introduced by Professor McGonagall), asked rather sternly, "So, who have you brought?"

“Oh, Lucius, we must be patient with a good professor,” Dumbledore laughed heartily. “No need for that, Professor William. The Board of Trustees unanimously agrees that you are a very good professor. The Board meeting was a great success.”

'It seems Dumbledore has taken care of everything during this time.'

William was thinking of finding another excuse to get Harry out, but Professor McGonagall walked right in.

"Well then, we need to talk about something else."

Professor McGonagall's tone was more severe than ever before. "For example, a student has made an accusation that he saw Malfoy family house-elves trying to cause all sorts of trouble on campus."

"All sorts of chaos?"

The school board members who came to observe the proceedings were stunned and looked at Lucius—although everyone was thinking about increasing their influence at Hogwarts, this was just too stupid of you.

You absolutely cannot admit to something like this. How did you manage to give them leverage to sue you?

McGonagall brought it up directly, so there must be evidence. Now you're in trouble...

But Malfoy reacted even faster than he expected.

"House-elves?"

His angry eyes were fixed on his servant, as if he were hearing this for the first time.

'We can't let Dumbledore read its memories... or it's all over.'

"You idiot, what disgraceful thing have you done behind my back?"

He roared, his tone quite forceful.

“The Malfoy family has no need for a servant like this, a servant who has forgotten to obey his master’s will and uphold his honor.”

"This means—clothes."

He pulled out his gloves and threw them at Dobby like trash, yelling, "Get lost!"

"And—" Malfoy suddenly drew his wand and pointed it at his elf before William could react and attack him, "Oblivion!"

The spell slammed into the head of the little elf named Dobby, knocking him unconscious.

'That old fox still managed to evade me…'

William sighed – this seemed to be what they called the glory of purebloods… Big Guy seemed to have mentioned it.

The ultimate purpose of house-elves was abandoned by Glory.

If only the Pokémon is involved, then the pureblood family could simply give it clothes to sever its ties with the Pokémon, making it impossible to proceed with normal legal procedures.

In other words, it's used like a white glove; if there's even a possibility of dust getting on you, the glove will be mercilessly thrown off. (Note)

Although losing a Pokémon is a huge loss for a pureblood family, it is not even in the same league as the crime of escaping.

“This is very unpleasant, Albus. Although I have made amends for my mistake, I will resign from my position on the Board of Trustees as punishment for this dishonorable act.”

"Well then, farewell, Dumbledore."

He bowed hastily, paying no heed to the house-elf behind him, as if discarding a used tissue.

-

"It's over now."

After the board members left, Dumbledore laughed. "I didn't expect you to give me such a surprise, Minerva."

“Professor William noticed something amiss,” Professor McGonagall chuckled, “but I never imagined that Malfoy would actually dare to bring a troublesome elf to the school.”

“There’s definitely something fishy going on, but I don’t know what he’s planning…” William shook his head. “By the way, Professor Dumbledore, I remember that elves can’t break their contract and reveal information that is detrimental to their master, not even if they gain their freedom after receiving the clothes. What’s the point of that clumsy Oblivion Charm?”

“Lucius has too many secrets, and I strongly suspect that he is involved in the opening of this secret room, which is why he so voluntarily resigned from his position on the school board…”

Although Dumbledore didn't say what came next, William barely understood.

Resigning from the board of trustees was a serious concession—a condition that prevented the school from pursuing the matter further.

'What's the difference between this and Azkaban…'

“Oh, right,” Dumbledore chuckled, “Professor William, summer vacation is coming, and you’re still number one…”

"Oh dear, Professor Dumbledore, I have something to attend to, but I just remembered!"

William knew what Dumbledore was going to say without even thinking, and rudely interrupted the headmaster, "Excuse me, it's urgent, I have to take my leave, otherwise that very novel potion will spoil!!!"

"I'm sorry, Principal, Professor," he practically fled, "if we don't leave now, it will really be too late!"

He hurriedly opened the door and ran towards his office. Summer vacation was almost over, and he didn't want to be labeled a "flag" by Dumbledore.

"Well, our new professor—seems a bit eccentric."

Dumbledore paused, then said, "That's a pretty suitable word."

"Maybe. I was originally planning to talk to him about a raise first, but it seems I'll have to keep it as a surprise when he gets his paycheck next month..."

"My God, Minerva..."

Dumbledore's eyes suddenly filled with fear.

"Ok?"

-

How did the exam go?

"Haha, half of them are failing!"

"You can, George?"

"Not a single drop was wasted, yet half of them still failed!"

The twins were happily looking at their final grades in a corner of the lounge. They hadn't wasted any of the privileges that came with this amnesia incident; they failed everything they were supposed to fail.

"Ron, how are you?"

"Shh—" Ron whispered, "Don't let anyone hear!"

"If there's anything you can't say, hand it over!"

The two older brothers, true to form, started vying for the report cards.

"All of them failed..."

"Tsk..."