From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

William was interrupted by the staff next to him, "We need to verify your identity now. You need to show them the letter."

"Ok."

William readily produced the letter provided by the Ministry of Magic and casually handed the list to the staff member next to him.

"Barty Crouch, does that name ring a bell?"

"Little Barty?" He was surprised. "Little Barty is dead? But I haven't heard anything about it. Could it be that Mr. Crouch..."

“I’m sorry, Professor, I’m overthinking it,” said the Ministry of Magic official, whose name was the rather common Albert. “Mr. Crouch almost became Minister for Magic, but his public approval rating plummeted because his son was a Death Eater. Even so, there are still quite a few people in the Ministry who support him…”

"He's now the Minister of International Magical Exchange and Cooperation... Sigh, he's probably the one who kept this under wraps..."

……

Minister of Exchange and Cooperation…

William suddenly remembered that this minister had previously been the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Because of his dual role, he had always been dedicated to combating smuggling crimes—after all, the department's responsibilities included imports and such…

'No wonder I've heard of it...it would be strange if I hadn't...'

"I see," he said, clearly not wanting to discuss the matter further. "These prisoners really are... not to be trifled with..."

“Indeed, they’re all pure-bloods, Professor, you should be careful,” Albert said, taking advantage of the striker’s inattention. “There are Death Eaters among the Hogwarts Board of Governors. They’ve found excuses or found people to help them escape trial, but if you go too far here, those guys will definitely put pressure on the school.”

"Take the Malfoy family for example. They were die-hard Death Eaters back then. They only escaped from Azkaban by donating money. You should be careful."

"OK, thanks."

William nodded slightly, and then the two of them, led by the striker who had finished communicating, walked into the depths of Azkaban.

-

"Damn it, are they serious this time?"

After William and his team left, the previously serious batting team descended into chaos. One batting team member with messy hair swore and muttered something while looking in the direction William and his team had disappeared.

"Of course it's true. The newspapers outside are practically saying that this government is garbage. Sirius Black has been trying to catch them for so long and still hasn't succeeded."

"That's for sure. Do you think we can conjure up a Sirius Black? Besides, it wasn't like we lost him while we were filling in for him. If anyone's fault for not keeping a good watch, it's those black guys' fault. Didn't you see they were the ones who were supposed to be doing the arresting?"

"Exactly, a whole bunch of dark-skinned people chased after him like madmen, and they still haven't found a single hair of Sirius's—if you ask me, Black has definitely been hidden away by some family, maybe even the Malfoys."

"Huh? Why?"

The new batter chimed in—those batters assigned to the Azkaban and Dementors shifts were basically the ones with the most time and energy to listen to gossip.

"Think about it, who in the entire wizarding world doesn't know that the Malfoy family is good at making money and willing to spend it? They even escaped from the trial back then. If I were Black, I would definitely go there and take advantage of the wealthy. If they don't listen to me, I'll blow up their house with a spell. Not to mention, Black definitely has dirt on their family."

"That's not necessarily true—don't forget, there are many others who escaped punishment along with us."

"But aren't the Malfoys the richest and most active?"

"That's true."

The henchmen around nodded. "But can this new professor really find anything?"

What difference does it make whether it can be found out or not?

An elderly batter chimed in, "Even if we can't find out, I'd still like him to teach my kid. Didn't you hear that everyone in the self-defense course passed the OWLs exam last year?"

"What self-defense techniques? Has Hogwarts started a new course?"

"It's Defense Against the Dark Arts, just with a different name, and they passed all the fifth-year courses for the entire year!"

"That's amazing?"

"Exactly, otherwise would the higher-ups think he's an expert?"

"That's really impressive. If I had a professor that good when I was in school, I might be an Auror by now, instead of having to take turns working with those dark-skinned guys."

"Come on, if you can secretly pour alcohol into prison, you're a big drinker. If you can become an Auror like that, we'll probably see you in a few years—but in prison."

...

The group of batters laughed and joked for a while, reminiscing about their life at Hogwarts back in the day, and then boasting about how they would have been back in the day. After that, they dispersed and started doing small business with the prisoners.

-

"You really don't want to talk, ma'am?"

"Get out! Fuck you! Damn it!..."

A string of insults came out of the woman opposite William, but unfortunately, they weren't very offensive; they even made William want to laugh.

Although these Death Eaters, imprisoned in the deepest parts of Azkaban, are the most terrifying beings in all of Azkaban, almost all of them have taken lives on their hands and their personalities are horribly twisted, in terms of insults, she is really terrible.

If you lock her up in the outer districts of Azkaban, without the help of a wand, she will most likely be verbally abused until she is completely bewildered, and then, after barely managing to understand a sentence or two, she will be so angry that she vomits blood.

Chapter 302 Goodbye

William was already mentally prepared for the meager results.

There's nothing we can do. Twelve years have passed since that incident. The children who were still breastfeeding back then are now enrolled at Hogwarts. Finding a breakthrough is already a miracle. What more can we ask for? How will we know about probability if we don't try?

Moreover, it wasn't a complete loss—if even the most loyal Death Eaters didn't know of Sirius's existence, then there might really be something wrong with the matter.

'Hopefully Dumbledore can catch Sirius…' William sighed, trying to adjust his mindset. 'It's been two weeks since school started, and there's still a bunch of Dementors stationed at the gate…it feels like that joke is coming true…'

"An old friend once left Foxconn to learn a skill at Lanxiang Technical School, where graduates were guaranteed job placement..."

"professor?"

Seeing that he didn't react, the Ministry of Magic staff member approached—he wasn't too worried about William's safety, but rather that the Death Eaters wouldn't cooperate, and William might get angry and kill the Death Eaters in the prison.

"It's nothing, I just didn't get enough useful information..."

William shook his head and left—if the harvest wasn't enough, so be it; he still had things to do. He couldn't stay in Azkaban all day, could he?

-

"You want to go to the regular prisoners' area? No problem. Should we let the Dementors go in first?"

"Okay, then I'll open the cell door right away."

The stuntman who was leading the way opened the cell door without asking any questions, and the Ministry of Magic receptionist who was originally with them was also sent away by William.

"A new person has arrived!"

Cheers erupted from inside the cell the moment the cell door opened.

'Still the same...' William couldn't help but curse under his breath, but he wasn't angry at all.

Once William entered, the beater left without even locking the door, merely closing it as a formality—what difference would it make whether a wizard with a wand, who could be considered an expert, went in or not?

"New guy—no, William, what are you doing here again!"

Nine Fingers, who had the loudest voice, was originally the first to squeeze over to give a lesson to the newcomers, but when he realized it was William, he immediately shouted loudly.

“What do you mean I came in again—” William rolled his eyes. “This robe cost me seven siscos!”

"Oh right, this isn't Azkaban's clothing. Tsk tsk, you're doing well. Which big shot are you working for now?"

Nine Fingers looked William's clothes up and down, turning him around halfway and praising them.

"The top figure in the magic world, well, to be more precise, his deputy."

While being a professor is not shameful, quite not shameful at all, the professorial identity makes conversations extremely awkward—that's what happened at the Leaky Cauldron. Originally, everyone was drinking, chatting, and satirizing the Fudge government, but after William's professorship was revealed, many topics disappeared.

"That's impressive, tsk tsk, working for the Ministry of Magic, no wonder you were able to sneak into Azkaban." The big guy ran over and looked William up and down. "You've grown quite a bit taller and fatter than last year. The food outside must be good."

“That’s not true,” William smiled and nodded, then started rummaging through his things—he wouldn’t bring anything that could help with the escape, but he took a bunch of food and drinks.

Large bags of chocolate were brought out, followed by piles of chocolate frogs…

"You've struck it rich, little William!"

Big Guy shouted happily, grabbed a chocolate frog without hesitation, and stuffed the whole thing into his mouth.

While they were happily dividing the money, William walked up to the jailer and handed him a small bag.

The jailer didn't mince words. After taking the bag, he quickly sorted out the contents and handed it back to William, his smile unchanged. "Azkaban can't have bags like this that have been enchanted. If the Unseen Expansion Charm is misused and discovered, I'll have to stay here for another two years."

'I learned it at school and got used to it... I forgot that it's forbidden for ordinary wizards...'

Before he could come up with an excuse, the jailer said in a low voice, "There aren't many wizards who can still live in the sunlight after leaving Azkaban and work hard at Hogwarts. Don't give them those books; if they get out, it won't be good for your reputation. Also, I've already destroyed all those papers you had before."

After saying all this, the jailer acted as if nothing had happened, and his voice grew louder, "There's still wine. We're having a good time today, so everyone can have two drinks. We'll share the rest!"

"Great!"

-

Two glasses of wine, not too much, not too little—those tormented by Dementors will get drunk with just a little alcohol.

"Hey William, what brings you here today? Can you tell me?"

Nine Fingers, drunk, began to ask questions.

"Is this something you can ask?"

The big guy yelled, then snatched the wine that the other guy hadn't finished and downed it in one gulp.

"It's not convenient to go into details, but I've run into a bit of trouble..." William shook his head. "I've encountered a tricky guy. I know he's wrong, but he's pretending to be crazy and there's no way to deal with him."

"That's easy, just give him a truth serum! Didn't you used to work part-time as a pharmacist? Just give him a few drops, even if it's risky, just use a higher dosage."

"No, that won't work. The other party has Occlumency technique, and they're extremely skilled at it."

"Brain shut-in surgery...that's troublesome..."

Nine Fingers was extremely enthusiastic, "Hey, by the way, that new guy, he's a liar!"

'Wasn't that guy released from prison a long time ago?'

William paused for a moment, then saw a guy he'd never seen before, who was dealing with Beans of Flavor, stand up.

"Nine-Fingers, what's wrong?"

"Didn't you boast that your so-called Occlumency procedure was useless? Come and solve the problem!"

Nine Fingers strutted around arrogantly—it seems he's finally made it through the tough times.

"Yes, yes," the swindler looked very thin, though his height was normal, but his figure was so small that he could be blown over by the wind.

Nine Fingers pointed at him and looked at William, "Don't let this kid's appearance fool you. He was very dishonest when he came in. He almost fooled us all with his lies. If the hitman hadn't come over for his shift and said that this kid was a liar, we would have thought that he had accidentally broken the secrecy law and that's why he came in."