From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

William refused, and if he had an owl and there was nowhere to rent one on the train, he would have done the mail himself.

Having rejected the burden, William strode straight toward the front of the train.

But as William got off the train and watched the Hogwarts Express depart, preparing to Apparate, the girl from before appeared running back.

"I'm sorry, Professor, I told the train conductor that you promised to take me to find my friends. I'm really worried about them."

The brown-haired girl said with an apologetic smile.

She has a cute appearance and a very innocent smile.

But something just didn't seem right to William.

Those two slightly larger front teeth gradually transformed into a word under that smile.

trouble.

William suddenly felt a bit worried about his future teaching career.

First encounter at Hogwarts

Chapter Thirty-Nine: I did a sliding tackle and—

"Gryffindor?"

"Gryffindor".

"I knew it!"

William sighed.

There's a famous joke in Azkaban: economic criminals are Ravenclaws, violent criminals are Gryffindors, and the rest are Hufflepuffs—as for Slytherins, they're not outside, they're inside having meetings with Dementors.

Every house has them, so none of them should complain. The entire Azkaban is filled with talents supplied by Hogwarts.

It's not entirely accurate, but it gives a general idea. Ravenclaw criminals tend to be opportunistic and cunning, with a high proportion of economic criminals. Gryffindor criminals are more impulsive, often violating the Secret Act or getting into fights—they practically dominate both categories. Hufflepuffs have the largest population, so proportionally, they produce the most criminals.

As for the Slytherins, most of them come from relatively well-off families. They either don't commit crimes or, if they do, they are serious criminals. Besides, a bunch of Death Eaters occupy the deepest cells, and every single one of them is a die-hard Slytherin.

Of course, William wouldn't dare say this at school—offending all four deans before even starting work would take a lot of guts.

However, jokes aside, William only realized today that the joke actually has some real meaning.

If it were a student from another college, they probably wouldn't dare to sneak off the train.

Considering that stopping the train was not a realistic option, William had no choice but to reluctantly take the student with him—in the middle of nowhere, could he really just leave someone behind?

With a hint of helplessness, William said earnestly:

“I will tell Professor McGonagall the truth. I don’t think running off the train on my own will help the two children who missed their train. But now, grab my left arm, hold on tight, don’t let go.”

William grasped the wand with his right hand and offered his left arm.

A child's hand gently tugged at William's sleeve.

"Hold on tight, grip my arm firmly, and don't let go."

Perhaps William's tone was a bit stern, because the other person seemed startled and grabbed him tightly.

"That poor kid," William thought to himself.

Then I started using Apparition, targeting the spot where I had just boarded the vehicle.

The familiar squeezing sensation came over him, and after a moment's adjustment, William pointed his wand around.

Safety.

Only then did he have the mind to observe the student he had brought—although the manifestation of followers mainly relied on the spellcaster, the dizziness they experienced was the same. Although arranging the students in this way was not like that of a good professor, he did feel that this student should be given a little punishment today.

The discomfort caused by Apparition was not something that first or second-year students could easily bear. After enduring it for a long time, the other person finally bent over and vomited.

"Completely cleaned up."

William waved his wand to clean up the vomit, then pulled a mint-flavored candy from his pocket—since leaving Azkaban, his pockets had always been stuffed with all sorts of candies.

He had already given up on the idea of ​​punishing the little girl in front of him.

He's been through that age too; kids in that age group are extremely concerned about saving face, whether they're boys or girls.

They refuse to wear thick clothes even when it's cold, just because others will laugh at them for such a small thing—it sounds unbelievable, but it has happened to many children of this age.

"The first time a follower manifests, it's always like this. Holding this mint in your mouth will help a lot. When I was practicing, I vomited for a long time before I recovered."

William lied without any pressure.

"Ah."

William casually peeled a chocolate for himself and popped it into his mouth.

"I was worried that someone was deliberately blocking the passage here. I Apparated to the vicinity of the platform, but I still had to walk a little further to get there."

“Oh—right,” William used his transformation magic to turn the chocolate wrapper into a paper cup, then filled it with water and handed it over.

"Rinsing your mouth will make you feel much better."

"Ah."

"Stay a little behind, I'll go check what's going on over there. You keep an eye on things behind me, and if anything happens, just yell and lie down."

William gave instructions as he walked quickly toward the platform—although it was most likely an accident, he did not rule out the possibility that someone had deliberately sabotaged it.

Even with the curse on his mind, William felt perfectly justified in being extremely cautious in everything he did.

William arrived at the platform quickly.

The platform where we had just met was empty, with no sign of anyone lying in ambush.

After checking the surroundings and finding no one, he then began to carefully examine the layer of magic used for concealment.

"There were traces of spellcasting, but it was canceled. The method was not very skillful, even worse than that of a novice like me."

Considering that the opposite side was a busy train station, William felt that the other side was unlikely to be lying in ambush, but it was always better to be cautious.

After confirming once again that there were no other additional spells on the barrier, William shouted to the students behind him to hide themselves.

He then retreated a considerable distance, cast a spell on the soles of his shoes and himself, and quickly rushed towards the barrier. Just before he got close, he lowered his center of gravity and changed his posture to a sliding tackle—the spell on the soles of his shoes took effect, carrying him across the barrier at high speed as if there was no friction.

William lowered his body to the lowest point, quickly surveying his surroundings as the sky changed color, and swiftly rolled to the side in an attempt to evade any potential attacks.

Nothing happened.

At King's Cross Station, people were coming and going. Passengers looked at William and assumed he had slipped and fallen. They smiled knowingly, and several kind-hearted people ran over to help him up.

But William quickly pressed his hand to the ground, stood up, dusted himself off, and pretended nothing had happened.

As long as he's not embarrassed, he's not the one who's embarrassed.

This is nothing in prison; he's already developed a thick skin.

However, William soon noticed a strangely dressed person trying to move towards him. William quickly maneuvered through the crowd, managed to shake off the person's gaze, and successfully got behind him.

William extended his wand and pulled it directly from the other man's waist.

"Behave yourself, Professor Hogwarts. Who gave you permission to block the entrance?"

“I am a member of the Ministry of Magic, and I deal with incidents that may arouse suspicion from Muggles. Today is the first day of Hogwarts, and I am here specifically to deal with the mess left by people who were accidentally exposed at the station.”

……

I knew it! How could someone who can suddenly block someone be so bad?

William asked impatiently, "Where's your work ID?"

"In the left pocket."

"Take it out yourself." William took a step back to prevent the other person from snatching the wand, and stared at the other person obediently taking out their identification.

As expected, they are employees of the Ministry of Magic.

"Come with me to check the passageway and pick up the students while you're at it."

"Okay, Professor."

I don't know which year the graduate was from, but they rediscovered the fear of being dominated by their professors back then.

Chapter Forty: Reality Taught William a Lesson

The two men re-examined the barrier used to block their view and confirmed from the outside that someone had tampered with him.

"It's obvious that someone activated the magic that's usually used to block the passage; that was supposed to be done by me."

The unlucky guy guarding the station looked to be about twenty years old. After carefully examining the place for a while, he concluded that it was useless.

He probably realized something was wrong, and quickly added:

"Professor, I'll go check the other side; maybe I'll find some traces."

"How afraid this child must have been of his teachers when he was in school," William nodded, refraining from mentioning that he had already carefully checked the document.

It's clear that the graduate who was assigned to guard the train station is eager to show off his competence, so stopping him now would be too discouraging.

After carefully considering how to praise the other person, William fell a few steps behind, glanced around to make sure no one was watching, and then passed directly through the barrier.

The moment he passed through the barrier, the sound of a spell traveling through the air reached William's ears directly.

"Armor protects you!"

William quickly chanted the Ironclad Spell, then leaned to the side, simultaneously casting a Sleeping Spell in the direction the spell had come from.

"Thump." "Thump." "Thump."

A series of thuds were heard as people fell to the ground. William, who had fallen, was the first to get up.

He brushed off the dust he had just gotten on, then looked at the two wizards, one big and one small, lying on the ground, and fell into deep thought.

The child will only quiet down because of motion sickness, but will not change his habits.

William didn't understand this principle before, but life taught him a good lesson.

A child who dares to lie and run off a train is destined to never settle down, even if she has just been obedient for a while due to a motion sickness-like effect.

Although he hadn't seen the beginning clearly, William had already guessed most of the situation based on his guesses alone.