From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

"Actually, the woods were already known as the Forbidden Forest when I took over the job. The Weasley brothers told me that the guess was because I was worried all the time about how to get them out of the woods, and that's what they told me."

While I think that's probably true, if I'm not mistaken, these words were probably just something they came up with on the spot to distract you.

William thought to himself silently, but refrained from saying it aloud.

“Look, that’s my house over there, and next to it is the land I farm—my job is to guard the Forbidden Forest and communicate with those magical creatures, and incidentally prevent students from sneaking in.”

William looked at the land Hagrid had drawn and hesitated for a long time before finally asking if the other man was a farmer at Hogwarts.

This land is too big!

"If you don't mind, come in and have a cup of tea. My rock-skin cakes are pretty good."

William readily accepted.

The moment Hagrid opened the door, he froze on the spot.

Chapter Thirty-Four: Such White Teeth

If a different wizard were to come, most people would think that the house in front of them was dilapidated and small, with nothing to praise.

It was simply pieced together from ordinary wood, so small that there wasn't a second room in the entire house.

The interior decoration was not high-end. The bed was placed in the corner of the room. There was no separate kitchen, only a brazier that served as both a place for heating and cooking. Smoked foods such as ham and pheasant were hanging on the walls of the room—this was the standard configuration of a hunter's cabin.

If William's previous profession hadn't made him overly sensitive to most magical materials, he would have definitely thought that the decorations in this room and Hagrid's clothes were not very valuable.

But the sight of that silver hair hanging from the roof alone stunned him.

A whole bunch, at least several hundred strands—that's the core of William's wand.

Although prices have fluctuated quite a bit recently, even at the lowest prices in recent years, this whole bunch is enough to buy a detached house in most streets of the wizarding world.

However, the unicorn tail just hung there, as if it were attached to a rope or something else, and was completely ignored by its owner.

William swallowed hard and began searching the house with a serious attitude.

Before long, he discovered more—the seemingly crudely made bows and arrows on the wall, the luster of the arrowheads clearly indicating that they were made of metal commonly used by fairies to create magical artifacts, and the feathers at the fletchings were simply the best raw material for magical shorthand pens.

Although William's estimate wasn't very accurate, the cost of materials for just this one arrow was significantly higher than that of a magic wand.

To shoot people with a magic wand—what's the difference between that and using a stone to make a slingshot out of gold?

William instinctively gripped his wand.

Although he had only drunk with Hagrid two or three times at the Leaky Cauldron and boasted about it when they were drunk, he never expected that the Hogwarts Game Ranger in front of him was actually a Versailles master and a true tycoon.

As William was looking around at the room's furnishings, Hagrid rushed to the owl by the window, taking out owl food from a bag and frantically searching for letters at the owl's feet.

But he was soon disappointed—there was no reply. The owl clucked as it ate its food and stretched out its leg to indicate that it had not brought back any mail.

“It’s been a month,” Hagrid said to William, disappointed.

"It's been a month?"

“It’s been a month, and Harry hasn’t given me any response. I sent him some rock cakes on his birthday, hoping for a reply, but still nothing.”

Hagrid's voice was filled with sorrow.

William could feel the sadness. Judging from the way Hagrid spoke of Harry, Hagrid's friendship was genuine, and such feelings, when trampled on, could be unbearable.

"Alright, Hagrid, don't be sad. Maybe something's happened to Harry."

William racked his brains, trying to comfort the big man in front of him who was half a head taller than him even when he was squatting down—after hearing such a story, it would be hard for a normal person not to feel sympathy for this kind-hearted big man.

At the same time, he also began to blame Harry, whom he had never met before, in his mind.

It's been a month, and someone still specially sent you a gift for your birthday. Is it a waste of your time to say thank you?

"I guess so. Those Muggles mistreated him. I gave those guys a proper warning, but I can't use magic recklessly—"

Hagrid suppressed his emotions, wiped his eyes while pouring tea, and then brought out the tea and a plate of desserts.

"Let's eat some rock cakes first. We still have to go to the castle later. I need to ask Professor McGonagall. Maybe those Muggles really are mistreating Harry and preventing him from replying to my letters."

It's good that you think that way... William picked up a piece of rock cake and recalled the memory of the boy named Harry.

He doesn't have many related memories, but if his memory isn't wrong, Harry and Hagrid seem to have had a good relationship later on.

Perhaps, he really has been controlled by Muggles?

That's good. It's much better than being cold-blooded and ignoring your friends. William took a bite of the dessert in his hand with relief.

I couldn't bite it.

William, refusing to believe it, increased his strength, and his teeth began to bark in warning.

He then resigned himself to drinking the tea and, with the help of the tea, managed to eat a piece of rock-skin cake.

Ah—if he remembers correctly, Hagrid said he gave Harry rock bread as a birthday present on Harry's birthday.

He stared speechlessly at the rooftop. If someone gave him such a gift on his birthday, he might consider ending their friendship.

"Shouldn't we be heading out soon? I arranged to meet Professor McGonagall at ten o'clock. If we're slow on the way, we might not have enough time."

William asked tentatively, trying to get rid of the remaining dessert.

“Good idea,” Hagrid replied in a muffled voice.

The two left Hagrid's house together and headed straight for the school's castle.

Perhaps eager to get there quickly so he could ask Harry if he had been imprisoned by Muggles, Hagrid moved much faster than before, leaving the two with almost no time to talk on the rest of the journey. Although Hagrid didn't use his fastest speed to take care of William, his almost jogging pace meant William had little time to observe his surroundings.

'Never mind, let Hagrid give a proper introduction when we get out. Right now, he's focused entirely on Harry and probably isn't in the mood to answer my questions.'

Passing through the greenhouse, the castle gate, the floating staircase, and the moving paintings, the two arrived at Professor McGonagall's office at twice their normal walking speed.

Just as William was wondering if Hagrid would just knock on the door and barge in without giving him any time to rest, the usually taciturn giant hesitated at the professor's office door.

When William caught his breath and realized that the other person wasn't taking care of him but was preoccupied with their own thoughts, he burst out laughing.

I guess this guy was afraid of getting a bad answer, so he simply froze at the door.

Without saying a word, he reached out and patted Hagrid on the waist, giving him a firm look, then strode forward and knocked on Professor McGonagall's office door.

Although it was a bit earlier than the appointed time, Hagrid was there, so it wasn't considered impolite.

"Please come in."

Professor McGonagall's voice came from inside the door.

Hagrid followed William hesitantly into Professor McGonagall's office. Before William could explain why he had come early, another person in the office greeted him with a slightly surprised voice.

"Ah, Professor William, I didn't expect that you, like me, chose to visit early. It seems that our discussions this morning will be very pleasant!"

Who is this guy? How come his teeth are so white?

Chapter Thirty-Five: You're here to sell books, aren't you?

William had imagined what his new colleague would be like, but he never expected that his new colleague would be a teeth expert.

Considering the diverse array of magical creatures and the various forms of transformation magic in the magical world, he couldn't rule out the possibility that the other party was actually a puppet or magical artifact made from dentures.

“This is Professor Gilderoy Lockhart,” Professor McGonagall introduced him to William with a rare look of unease on her face.

"This is Professor Lee William."

"It is an honor for Hogwarts to welcome two professors of Wizarding Self-Defense Magic this year. This is quite rare. Although I have said this many times before, I will repeat it here and now: Welcome to Hogwarts."

William shook hands with the toothy man named Lockhart and greeted him, then sat down in the two chairs facing Professor McGonagall—Lockhart's white teeth occasionally peeked out, reminding William of his earlier speculation about his new colleague.

Professor McGonagall began cleaning the desktop.

Professor McGonagall piled up all sorts of reports and bills. A few lively stenographer feathers obediently jumped into the drawer under the professor's wand. William glanced at the piled-up documents and noticed that the top document was addressed to Dumbledore.

Without a doubt, Dumbledore entrusted most of the school's affairs to this vice-principal.

While wondering just how hands-off the First White Wizard really was, William handed over a table he had prepared outlining the textbook selections and the grade levels he wanted to be responsible for.

Professor McGonagall took the form, looked at it carefully for a while, and then took Lockhart's application form from the table and compared them.

"The textbooks are fine, but it seems there are quite a few conflicts between you two in terms of the professors' grade levels."

Professor McGonagall pushed out the form and said:

“You have all chosen lower-grade students, but upper-grade students also need professors, especially as they approach their major exams, they need more guidance from professors.”

William glanced at Lockhart's form and noticed that the other party had selected grades one through five, leaving grades six and seven out.

As for William, considering his lack of experience, he simply chose only the first to fourth grades, leaving the higher grades to the new professors who had received a more orthodox education.

So here's the question: who will teach the older students?

Professor McGonagall turned her attention to Lockhart—although neither professor had any work experience, she preferred Lockhart.

In terms of personal qualities, Lockhart is considerably older than William, has spent more time immersed in magic, has a host of impressive titles, and his adventures are genuinely documented in the books. His strength and experience far surpass William's.

Personally, William was, after all, a self-taught wizard who had not received Hogwarts education. With the establishment of Hogwarts over the past thousand years, such self-taught wizards have become increasingly rare, and their abilities have varied greatly. Lockhart, on the other hand, was a legitimate Ravenclaw graduate with excellent grades. Professor McGonagall trusted this Hogwarts graduate more (Note 1).

By all accounts, Lockhart seems more suited to be a senior professor than William.

But just as Professor McGonagall was about to speak, Lockhart quickly spoke before her.

"Although I would love to teach those older students, I have some good friendships with the people who are responsible for setting the exam questions. In order to avoid anyone using this to smear those students for their own benefit, I think it's best if I don't get involved with the students who are about to take the exam."

William was completely stunned—what kind of ingenious excuse was this?

Three in one go?

He slandered the invigilators for favoritism and cheating, claimed that the relationship between the school's professors and the examiners was not as good as his personal relationship, and even believed that the school's students would gladly cheat.

Also, if this is true, why are you teaching even fifth graders?

William noticed that Professor McGonagall's expression was turning sour, but the professor seemed to hold back.

"Alright, Professor William, in that case, do you have any difficulties in becoming a professor of wizarding self-defense magic for upperclassmen?"

Yes, William wanted to say that, but his excuse was clearly not as convincing as Lockhart's.

Since he didn't mind being a senior professor anyway, he simply didn't decline the offer.

"Okay, then I'll take charge of the sixth and seventh graders. Although this is a bit unexpected, there's still a month left, which should be enough time to prepare lessons."

“Teaching five grades at once is too tiring, and the fifth grade also faces OWLs. I hope Professor William can take on the responsibility for the fifth grade students as well.”