From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

Chapter 266 The Final Journey Back to School

Although Hogwarts experiences a lot of rain every year, none of the students have ever found the rain to be that terrible.

Although it was only a few steps from Hogsmeade Station to where the school carriages were parked, with each step the rain felt like ice knives pounding down, sending chills down to every part of my body.

William, who was talking to Dumbledore, suddenly sensed something was wrong—at the beginning of the semester, the students should have been lively and energetic, with the rain not being able to dampen their enthusiasm for conversation. Why did they look like they had been hit by frost today?

"I'm sorry, Principal..."

He apologized to Dumbledore, then walked against the flow of students, opening a large bag of chocolate beans and giving a few to each student as he went.

“Eating it will make you feel better,” he said loudly, repeating it every few steps, before distributing the food along the line.

After a short while, he finished distributing a bag of chocolate beans, then pulled out a large bag and continued distributing them.

-

"The chocolate is so sweet..."

Fred popped a chocolate chip into his mouth, trying to suppress the image of the thick stack of holiday plans swirling in his mind.

"Professor! Why do first graders get chocolate frogs, but we third graders only get chocolate beans?"

A discordant voice came from the crowd, making him turn his head sharply to see which idiot had said such a thing—of course, there was also jealousy of the first-year students.

Coincidentally, he immediately recognized the person who had shouted—it was a group of three, and the one he disliked the most was desperately trying to squeeze to one side, as if trying to distance himself from his friends…

'No wonder, it was those two idiots.'

He recognized him immediately—stupid Ron kept talking about punching those two idiots in the nose and bragging about how Scabbers bit their fingers.

"Oh, that..."

William glanced at the student who was trying to question him, then shook his head. "The Transfiguration skills learned in the first year are enough to turn things into rainproof tools. They may not look good, but they're definitely better than getting soaked..."

"I understand that you can dry your clothes with a single spell once you get back to the castle... but don't you have any other plans for keeping your wands in your pockets or somewhere else?"

William's voice wasn't loud, and it was even partially muffled by the rain, but almost all the students felt their faces burning, as if they had been slapped...

The surge of shame instantly freed them from the aftereffects of being affected by the Dementors. Almost instantly, the trees along the road suffered—it was just a temporary transformation; leaves are very useful.

The tension among the first-year students at the back of the line vanished—although this was their first time experiencing the magical world, seeing so many upperclassmen struggling made Hogwarts seem less intimidating.

"We're out of chocolate frogs, here's some more chocolate for you."

William remained calm and continued handing out chocolates to the freshmen, then moved on to the upperclassmen, distributing them little by little.

This made the new students laugh even more.

Although they don't know much about the magical world yet, the new professor is amazing—even though Dementors are scary, the professor dealt with them in five minutes.

I heard from the older students that those were Azkaban's guards, and that's why even the strikers couldn't handle those guys!

"By the way, have a pleasant trip!"

Just as the professor was almost out of sight, the freshmen suddenly heard these words.

Have a pleasant trip?

Many people had this question in their minds, and then they realized that Hagrid, who was leading them, had taken a different path.

Despite their doubts, they followed Hagrid closely and continued forward.

-

"Puhahahahahaha!!!!"

After the new students turned around, all the students, including the prefect, couldn't help but laugh.

Even William, who was distributing a new batch of chocolate beans, couldn't hold back any longer.

"Alright, alright, grab it and eat it, it'll help you."

He quickly placed the chocolates in the students' hands, maintaining his composure and not smiling.

The way first-year students at Hogwarts attend school is completely different from that of other grades—which is a major reason why William treats them differently.

The other grades flew by in horse-drawn carriages, but the poor first grader had to take a boat…

It's still raining today...

The seventh-grade students laughed and moved closer. They were already at the back of the line, and it wasn't their turn to receive the candy yet.

"Professor, was the first one you used a Patronus Charm?"

They had already become familiar with the professor last year, and were bolder than the students who had just started sixth grade.

"Yes, but that's not a spell for exams. We generally don't discuss this kind of magic in class."

The Patronus Charm is far too difficult; it's entirely possible for an entire grade to fail. Such magic, which undermines students' confidence, would naturally not be taught in the classroom. Furthermore, given the Ministry of Magic's use of Dementors as guards of Azkaban, such a targeted spell is unlikely to appear in exams.

Of course, this still doesn't prevent wizards who can use it normally from being looked up to in private.

"Can't we learn it, Professor?"

"Of course not—what do you take the Guardian Charm for?"

Before William could answer, another student chimed in, "Read more books and you'll understand. This isn't something you can control. Going back a little further in time, wizards who could summon physical guardian spirits were often elected as high-ranking officials in Wizengamor and the Ministry of Magic!" (Note)

"Wissengamo?"

"High-ranking officials of the Ministry of Magic?"

The students who had gathered around gasped in surprise.

The former is the Wizard Inquisition, and the latter goes without saying; both positions are quite attractive, even to pure-bloods.

"That's all history now, we don't do that anymore."

William smiled as he looked at the student who had spoken. "Kerry, it seems you've had a very fruitful summer."

“In the past, the Guardian Charm was not so widespread, and the learning methods were uncertain. Back then, those who could summon Guardian Charms were wizards with lofty ideals, which is why they were able to become such people. It is the person who determines the spell, not the spell that determines the person.”

“So,” he looked at the students, “even if you learn this spell intensively now, it won’t have the desired effect. The Ministry of Magic won’t use it to find officials—otherwise I would have given you special training this semester, and there would be no need for NEWTs exams.”

The students laughed, then boarded their carriages and embarked on the final leg of their journey back to school.

"Hey, you guys said that the professor used to be in Azkaban, right?"

"Of course, it spread all summer. You didn't see how my mom reacted when she heard that all the fifth graders had passed their exams—she said she wished the professors would come out soon and teach my fifth grade."

"Yeah, so tell me, how many Dementors were guarding the professor? There were so many today, and the professor dealt with them in less than five minutes..."

"hiss…"

The student in the same car thought for a moment, then gasped, "Could it be that Sirius Black is sitting next to the professor? Is that why he's so wary of that guy?"

Prisoner and Prisoner

Chapter 267 The New School Year Begins

"Where am I...?"

Harry woke up from his coma feeling dizzy, as if someone was shaking his head.

"Are you awake?"

Ron's voice came from his head, which made Harry struggle to open his eyes and look up.

"Hmm, where are we now? Where's the professor?"

“Now—” Ron pulled back the curtain of the carriage and glanced down, “we’re almost at school now.”

"Are we almost at school?"

Harry struggled to get up, but Ron held him down. Hermione watched him nervously from the other side of the carriage. "The professor instructed that you should lie quietly until you get to school. If you wake up, you can have some chocolate."

"Are the professors alright?"

"It's alright. The Dementors were easily driven away, and Sirius Black hasn't shown up yet. Everything will be settled once Dumbledore appears."

"That's good."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief; he simply couldn't imagine how he would deal with the swarm of Dementors.

"You'd better watch out this semester, Harry."

Ron looked at him with an unusually serious expression—those Dementors had just taught these fearless children what fear truly meant.

“He must hate you to death, that’s why he sent so many Dementors to kill you…” Ron shook his head. “Even the Strikers and the Prefects couldn’t handle those Dementors…”

This topic caused an awkward silence to fall over the carriage.

Even Hermione, who loved to talk, had no interest in discussing them—she learned for the first time the inadequacy of those books. Although the books described Dementors as evil enough, Hermione found that her knowledge was completely useless when they surrounded her.

Fortunately, this situation did not last long. A few minutes later, the carriage stopped inside Hogwarts. Ron jumped down first, and Hermione helped push him.

'I'm going to be laughed at…'

Harry thought to himself—but he really didn't have any strength left.

But it didn't.

In fact, the students who got off the carriage weren't in a very good mood—Dementors are such terrifying creatures that once you're affected, even if you deal with it in the right way, like laughing, you still can't easily get rid of their influence.

Harry even saw Malfoy—his nemesis—staggering toward Hogwarts Castle. Normally, Malfoy would get excited like a fighting cock when he saw Harry, but today he looked like a quail.

'But I'm not much better off...'

Harry thought to himself... He felt weak in his limbs and even needed to lean on Ron's shoulder for support to walk.

'Wait, Malfoy! I've been training all vacation…'

Such a thought suddenly popped into his mind, but he quickly suppressed it—if the professor knew that he had spent his entire vacation training for this small goal, he would definitely mock him, right?

-

"Professor McGonagall, good evening."

When William and his students stepped into the castle, the first professor they saw was Professor McGonagall.

“Good evening, Professor William,” Professor McGonagall nodded. “You too, Professor Lupin.”

"Albus rushed over as soon as he saw the magic. Where is he now?"