From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

"You made a promise with Professor William, Percy... You won't betray the professor's trust, will you?"

The two men stared at Percy and pressured him into signing the agreement—to do exactly as the professor said.

So, according to the prevailing opinion at the time, it was perfectly reasonable not to inform Mrs. Weasley.

-

After a chaotic scene, the Weasleys finally squeezed onto the dining table.

"It's been a long time since I've had such a complete breakfast," Mrs. Weasley laughed, looking at the table full of redheads. "Arthur, you don't have to work overtime today, do you?"

“No need, I took a week off specifically to be with the children,” Mr. Weasley replied with a smile. “Of course, not all day, just a little late for work. You know, the department gets very busy during the students’ summer vacation.”

"It's okay... as long as I can spend more time with the kids..."

Listening to his parents' conversation, Percy couldn't hold back his own discussion, which he had originally intended to postpone. He was afraid that if they continued talking, he wouldn't be able to speak anymore.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Percy said, mustering his courage. “I have something important to announce.”

The twins' expressions suddenly changed—it wasn't about grades, was it? Didn't we agree that if they cooperated well, we wouldn't be asked about their grades?

For this, they also bribed Ginny with a considerable sum of Galleons, a full seven!

"Speak, my dear."

“Well,” Percy paused, “I found an internship. I just got a reply this morning. It’s very urgent. I’ll probably have to report for duty the day after tomorrow.”

"An internship at the Ministry of Magic, darling?"

"No, Mom, it's an internship with a caravan. The professors think I need to see the magical world around me."

“A caravan internship?” Mrs. Weasley hesitated for a moment, then immediately refused. “No, Bill and Charlie have gone far enough. A caravan internship is too far away.”

"But Mom, after I finish my internship I will get several letters of recommendation, which will basically guarantee me a job at the Ministry of Magic."

Percy immediately pulled out the final reward—he knew very well what kind of news his mother liked.

"Several letters of recommendation..."

Mrs. Weasley looked at Percy, a little hesitant.

Several letters of recommendation, coupled with his admission to the Ministry of Magic, meant that Percy wouldn't be leaving England like the other children after graduation, but that meant enduring a summer of separation…

“Alright, I agree,” Mrs. Weasley said with difficulty, looking at Arthur Weasley. “What do you think?”

"I'll listen to you, Molly."

Mr. Weasley wisely refrained from offering any opinion.

-

"Damn it, something's still not right. What went wrong?"

William was trying to calculate the curse, but he still couldn't pinpoint the name accurately.

The staining requirement was more difficult than he had imagined, and multiple experiments still failed.

'Controlling font coloring is just too difficult. Curses are born to cause destruction, and when the effect of a curse is too mild, even the slightest reduction becomes incredibly difficult…'

...

'That's it, destruction! I'll just destroy the name on the paper!'

This sudden thought brought William, who was in agony, back to life.

Compared to staining, it's much easier to simply delete the original text. Even if the spell's effect isn't ideal, it's just a matter of whether there's a blank space or pitch black, which doesn't affect the ability to look up information at all.

Guided by this line of thinking, he quickly overcame the obstacle that had been holding him back and successfully completed the curse that was not part of the original plan.

However, in order to prevent the hard-won data from being destroyed, he spent another day rewriting all the data.

'The experiments on school-wide materials have all been successful; we've tried single parchments and multiple sheets. Now we just need to see if it will work on these copied contents…'

Breathe, breathe again.

William carefully arranged the simply categorized documents into stacks, and then unleashed a curse he had developed that would destroy a specific name on the first stack.

"Phew...perfect."

He removed his wand and began to carefully read the documents in front of him.

As expected, all the Slytherin records that were obtained from Professor Snape's office are here.

"The first curse is the Malfoy family..."

William had a vivid memory of that family and made them his primary target for investigation.

"Yes, there is some missing content. After comparison, it was found to be the Malfoy family, with no error."

"Then we can begin the second stack..."

-

"I knew it!"

William gripped his wand excitedly, his eyes brimming with barely suppressed joy.

"Even before the Dark Lord's rise, the Malfoy family's small-scale donations to Slytherin had decreased by a level. Although they were still considerable, the shortfall in Galleons was indeed significant."

"It wasn't until the Dark Lord disappeared because of Harry that the Malfoy family's donations initially dropped significantly before slowly increasing again..."

"Hmm—something's strange..."

William flipped through the pile of documents, copying down the ones with obvious white patches. "Logically speaking, a family like the Malfoys should have immediately expressed their stance after the Dark Lord disappeared, but their donations that year not only didn't increase, but actually decreased—that's really absurd."

"There was no reckoning after the war—that's the rumor circulating within Azkaban." William chewed on a straw. "It's said that the pure-bloods cooperated with Gringotts to withstand the Ministry's demands, and the Malfoy family spent money on this back then?"

“Something’s not right. For something like this where everyone is involved, the donation ratio should be about the same for two consecutive years, but the Malfoy family’s has shrunk too much.”

"Yes—there's a rumor in Azkaban that some purebloods use money and excuses to escape life in Azkaban!"

"If that's your thinking, then there's definitely no problem!"

William laughed.

“Well,” he glanced at the files in his hand, “there are many more names like ours. I’d guess that at least 70% of people with similar behavior are Death Eaters, that shouldn’t be an exaggeration, right?”

He took out a parchment from his pocket and copied the first name onto it.

'Lucius Malfoy, presumably a former Death Eater.'

"Next up is a fun time-spotting game, everyone can find the differences."

He put down the straw and rewarded himself with a chocolate frog.

"Unfortunately, this list can only raise doubts at best; it cannot actually lead to charges, nor can it be used to hand over the list to anyone."

After all, the list came from dubious sources.

Professor Snape's legacy of Slytherin's secret accounts—if this thing gets passed down, William can forget about staying at Hogwarts.

Hogwarts has four houses. If Slytherin has one, shouldn't the other houses have one too?

And also, stealing Slytherin's bills, the rest of the houses... um?

So, this list was just for fun, to make it easier to find Death Eaters later. As for handing it over to someone else, that would be a sign of not wanting to do it anymore...

He barely survived his first year at Hogwarts under the curse, and it would be too much of a loss to be rejected by all the headmasters as well.

Chapter 242 almost led a group of people astray...

"call…"

William sighed, his tense nerves relaxing.

It's been a full year since I got that curse, and nothing unexpected happened on the last day. The curse itself didn't show any signs of upgrading or anything; it just hung there motionless, scaring people.

'I guess we managed to dodge it sometime last year, given the level of chaos last year... anything could have happened if things weren't handled properly.'

William considered the possibility that the curse hadn't taken effect and began working on the protective magic around him.

Don't worry about the Ironclad Charm and Bubble Charm on your body. First, lower the protective magic level of the surrounding walls. The building materials here are not like Hogwarts Castle. Powerful magic and durability will affect the building's lifespan.

Of course, sound insulation and basic protection are still maintained, since it doesn't cause any problems.

"We've made it through this ordeal, time to celebrate!"

William took out a chocolate frog, thought for a moment, and then put it back; he couldn't eat it anymore.

“Let’s go downstairs for a drink,” he said, standing up and walking toward the door, his wand gripping tightly in his hand. “Of course, we have to be careful about poison testing.”

-

"William, William!"

Just as William was drinking his third beer, Adams' voice appeared in the Leaky Cauldron before he could even speak.

"I remember we agreed to meet tomorrow—By Merlin, what did you buy?"

William was startled by Adams's attire.

Adams was dressed in mountaineering gear, and a string of small bottles on his belt glittered in the dim sunlight of the bar, making him look exactly like a newbie who was fully equipped at max level...

That's right, they're newbies, like those newbies who read a bunch of guides on forums and online communities, then bought max-level accounts and showed them off.

"Adventure gear!"

Adams, using the muscles he'd honed in the herb greenhouse, made the gear look quite impressive. "A full set of adventure gear! I can't wait to set off on an adventure in the Far East..."

'If you changed into another outfit, I'd believe you if you said you were a witcher... but you'd better be careful to protect your knees...'

William inwardly scoffed, but didn't show it. "But we agreed to meet tomorrow, didn't we?"

"Today...didn't we agree that I'd come to the Leaky Cauldron to see you after two weeks of vacation?" Adams paused, "You didn't forget the day you left school, did you?"

"..."

William paused for a moment, then asked, "What about Singed?"

"Him? He's still picking out suitable equipment. There are two tents he just can't decide on, so I asked you to help him with some suggestions and also to urge him on."

I could tell from their voices that they were both complete novices when it came to adventure.

With William, an Azkaban graduate and a theorist, on the side, the three newbies teamed up to go out...

William suddenly lost faith in this so-called adventure.