From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

“A wonderful spell,” Hagrid exclaimed, then crouched down to look at the black dog—though it wasn’t a Swallowtail with its tail cut off, it looked a bit wild.

'Perhaps with a swallowtail dog…'

This thought surfaced in Hagrid's mind and then appeared on his face, causing Harry and Ron to involuntarily take a step back, and also sending a chill down the spine of the black dog underground who was dealing with the rock bread.

“It’s a little scared,” Hagrid said with a chuckle, then continued to observe closely.

"Harry, I think that black dog is going to..."

Ron whispered in his ear, "Hagrid looks exactly like he did in first year."

Harry remembered that time very clearly—Hagrid had acquired a dragon, but it had been sent away because it was illegal.

“And let me tell you a secret, Harry,” Ron said in a voice Hagrid could hardly hear, “as far as I know, after Hagrid became a professor, most of the Ministry of Magic’s training bans became ineffective against him. Even if he did manage to get a dragon, the Ministry of Magic wouldn’t say anything—as long as he could come up with a reasonable excuse.”

Does Hagrid know?

"Shh, keep your voice down. Hagrid doesn't know, I overheard this from Dad. Think about it, if we didn't have special privileges, how could our textbooks have been replaced with a book that bites?"

This fact easily convinced Harry and made him agree with Ron's point of view—who knows what would happen if Hagrid realized how much power he now had.

"By the way," Ron asked curiously, watching the black dog struggle to eat a piece of rock-skin cake, "that 'Clear Water Like a Spring' technique is very difficult. How did you master it?"

"Very high?" Harry was taken aback. "But the professor said it's basic magic, and I'm required to master it during the holidays. I was only able to cast it consistently recently..."

"Basic? That's a sixth-grade spell, I think—I remember Fred and George saying they'd mastered it, and Mom was quite proud of them."

“But…” Harry hesitated, “The professor said it’s an essential spell for wilderness survival and disaster self-rescue, and even has the function of preventing poisoning, so it’s a widely used basic magic…”

"Disaster self-rescue? Are Fred and the others trying to prevent the dorm from burning down...?"

"We should go. If I'm not watching carefully, another troublemaker will try to sneak into the Forbidden Forest!" Hagrid called out to the two of them, then easily scooped up the large, somewhat intimidating black dog under his arm with one hand. "We should head back!"

With Hagrid around, the black dog doesn't seem so scary after all...

This thought suddenly popped into Harry's mind.

-

"Are you sure?"

In William's office, William pushed a basket of snacks toward the other person while asking questions, but his tone was not very relaxed.

“I’m absolutely certain, Professor, this is the best time I’ve found in all this time.”

Percy Weasley, sitting opposite William, nodded solemnly.

“To be honest, it would be great if an outstanding student like you were willing to help, but I don’t think it’s suitable for you.” William looked at Percy. “This isn’t your previous career path, so this resume won’t be of much help to you, and it’s also very risky.”

When it comes to assistants, William prefers children who aspire to be Aurors—there are two in this seventh grade, and although their overall grades aren't as good as Percy's, their fighting abilities aren't too far behind.

This resume will be helpful to them later, and William also plans to give his assistants some extra training, and the training techniques that have already been tested can be tested in various ways so that they can also experience them.

"But Professor, you said I was the best in this class."

Percy smiled, radiating confidence.

“Of course, whether it’s grades or practical experience,” William nodded, “or any subject.”

“Don’t let this get out,” William said with a serious expression. “Among all the students in your class, from top to bottom, no one can compare to you in terms of talent or hard work. Cedric, who is one year below you, is good, but he has obvious weaknesses. Your two younger brothers are also talented, but they have much more trouble than Cedric.”

"Even if we go down the list, the only one who can match your level of effort is Miss Granger in third grade, but she's still a little short..."

William usually only discussed student behavior with a few professors, but now he unusually said it to Percy.

"You have excellent patience, execution, and self-discipline. To be honest, whichever area you choose to specialize in, you will become a very outstanding wizard."

"Being an Auror is also an excellent profession, Professor."

"But you don't know how. What you want is to interact with younger students, right, Percy?"

“Yes, Professor, if I speak to them as a prefect, it quickly becomes an ineffective exchange. But it’s different for teaching assistants. I want to hear their true thoughts after a battle or something else.”

……

“Okay,” William nodded after a moment of silence.

"The salary isn't high, one to three times a week, three Galleons each time. I'll let you know when it's time."

"Yes, Professor."

-

"Is the assistant Percy?"

“Of course, Professor McGonagall,” William said casually, sitting down in the chair opposite Professor McGonagall, “you know your student better than anyone else.”

"Yes, he is a very good kid, just a bit too rigid—but he's much better this year."

"But then, will he still have time to go to the Ministry of Magic?"

Professor McGonagall hesitated for a moment, "But it's not a big problem. There are many Weasleys, so going to the Ministry of Magic a little later won't hurt. Maybe we can avoid those pure-bloods who don't like the Weasleys."

Of course, you can't say this to students, but it's fine for professors to say it among themselves.

Since it concerns students' graduation and employment, the professors naturally wouldn't reveal the kind of information that the Daily Prophet would put out in the open—Hogwarts does its research, and the professors know exactly how many slackers the Ministry of Magic admits each year.

It's impossible for a student to have mediocre grades for seven years and then suddenly shine like gold at the Ministry of Magic. If seven years of education at Hogwarts can't compare to one enlightenment at the Ministry of Magic, then the professors might as well just switch jobs and become students at the Ministry of Magic.

“The venue is ready, the equipment will take some time to prepare, and the teaching assistant’s salary is not a problem,” Professor McGonagall closed William’s application form. “Now, Professor William, you can post the notice on the bulletin board.”

"If possible, I would like to give the student an interview opportunity. Of course, this is my personal wish. If Professor William prefers a private club, the school has no objection."

“It was originally intended to take care of students with extra learning capacity,” William said with a smile and shook his head. “Joining the club won’t reduce the amount of homework either. Let them come if they want. I’m not here to collect geniuses.”

“But you’ve already put my best student on as a teaching assistant,” Professor McGonagall even joked, perhaps because she was in a good mood. “Percy is such a good student; you might only find one like him after a whole batch of students have graduated. He’s being selected from all the wizards in Britain!”

“Great talents cannot be buried forever; he is a true Gryffindor.”

"Of course."

Professor McGonagall nodded, ready to draw her wand and duel anyone who dared to object—after all, she was the Head of Gryffindor!

-

“Venue, teaching assistants, funding… the equipment is still being purchased, it should all arrive next week,” William pondered, “What else is needed?”

He had never officially run a club; last year he had only organized a similar banquet. Those people could have come to help, but unfortunately, most of them were already in detention with the twins during the class on Friday when they were catching students cheating.

"Is there a dedicated textbook or instructional document?"

As William pondered this, he began to refer to Adams' club.

'No, that club over there seems to be geared towards employment, and it matches the theme of those candy stores perfectly, which is why it developed the way it is. I definitely can't take it all as a reference…'

"The key to my club should be to allow students with extra capacity to learn more self-defense magic, and to pass on what we can't teach them due to time constraints to those with more energy."

"So, forget about sponsoring Sugar Club. The people who come out of that club are either good at adventure or dueling; no store would want that."

'There probably aren't many clubs on campus that I can refer to... Other magic spells have some aspect of daily life, but self-defense magic sounds like it's related to combat, so it doesn't seem to have anything to do with daily life at all...'

'Aside from schools, I can only refer to Azkaban, the two places I'm most familiar with... but what's there to refer to in Azkaban?'

William began to ponder deeply.

Chapter 290 Reflections and New Ideas about the Club

The preparations for establishing a self-defense club were more extensive than William had anticipated.

He spent the entire weekend working on it, and even had to give up some of his rest time.

It was something that seemed easy, but actually required a lot of thought—since he had decided to teach his students something properly, he had no intention of shoddy work.

Because it's an on-campus club, the participants are naturally students from all four houses. Due to the Hogwarts sorting system, the higher the year, the more serious the disagreements between students. He had to take precautions to prevent these disagreements from erupting in the club.

The other professors' clubs might be alright, but self-defense inevitably involves using magic for both offense and defense, which is much more dangerous than the other professors' clubs.

This is just the initial question. As the club expands, how will funding for subsequent activities be calculated? How will the growth and development of students be arranged?

Problems like these kept popping up, wasting William's entire weekend. He even yawned unusually at breakfast on Monday morning.

"what happened?"

Adams, looking energetic, greeted William with a curious expression. "How come you've adopted Singed's sleep schedule? If he accidentally wakes up on Monday morning and shows up at the dinner table, he'll look just like you, as if he hasn't woken up yet."

"Regarding the club," William shook his head, "I've been working on it all weekend, and I'm still only getting a rough idea."

“That was indeed difficult. If it weren’t for the professor guiding me, I probably wouldn’t have been able to make it through,” Adams said sympathetically to William. “After all, there wasn’t even a professor in the castle who could provide you with guidance. There was a self-defense club before, but it never lasted more than a semester.”

“Sigh…” William shook his head and sighed, completely agreeing with Adams’s point of view.

The two complained about how tiring the club was, which made the professors around them laugh. "Don't worry, you're still young. You'll discover the benefits of clubs that are different from courses later. Without training and development, the things you like will never become popular in the wizarding world. You'll find that you don't even have a suitable person to talk to."

"The club isn't an extension of the classroom; it's where you share what you're most interested in with your students. While it certainly has some similarities to the curriculum, it's not an after-school tutoring program—that's what Muggles say, right?"

Professor Taylor added, looking around at the people with a questioning gaze, "Professor William, Professor Adams, don't think of that as homework. It's not like student days. Don't get confused. If you can't find interest at a party, what kind of club is that?"

"Huh? Is that how it is?"

Adams stared blankly at Professor Taylor, then looked at the professors around him, completely bewildered.

"Otherwise, you didn't actually treat it as homework, did you?"

“I just felt that it was for training high-achieving students… although it suited my tastes better,” Adams covered his face. “I’ve been a professor for years, why hasn’t anyone told me this before!”

"You've always seemed to be enjoying your work..."

Professor Taylor looked at Adams, speechless for a moment—so you've been a professor for so long and still can't figure it out?

William, who had been watching them debate back and forth, wished he could just collapse on the table and take a nap—after all, he had spent the entire night brainstorming and coming up with countless plans, but the club's true nature was really...

"William?"

"It's nothing, I just feel... I should go back to my office and get a good night's sleep, then wake up when it's time for class..."

Although the professors' discussion was a bit discouraging, he felt like there was something still floating in his mind, but he was too tired to think about it properly.

-

"Class, class, class!"

The sixth-grade students chanted slogans in a very cheerful rhythm, and they were in a very good mood.

In the last class, they finally escaped the damn exam and happily spent their self-defense class, which made all the kids who had struggled through their OWLS year put their last bit of worry behind them.

Then, the good news that a large number of fifth graders were locked up on the first day of school, along with their three full test papers, made all the sixth graders overjoyed.