From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

"cough…"

The coughing around him interrupted his speech—although the Minister of Magic would definitely be replaced, it wasn't good to be so blunt.

"Take good care of him!"

The batter's squad leader hastily uttered those words and then left.

Chapter 311 Snape, driven mad with rage

Hold on tight to your wand!

"Yes, yes, that's it!"

As William praised the student opposite him, he waved his wand. After casting a disarming spell, the child's wand flew directly towards him, while the Hufflepuff child fell onto the thick cushions behind him, struggling to get up after a while.

"Your posture is perfect. You can start using the disarming spell next class."

William nodded to him, then casually placed the child's wand aside. "Take the wand and practice holding it some more."

"Next!"

"Your posture is far from standard. Go back to the back of the line and review your notes. Compare your posture with Louis's, who failed earlier, and correct yours using the standard diagram! Next!"

The child who was called upon slunk to the end of the line and began to study the standard diagram again with the child in front of him. The other children wanted to laugh, but after considering who the professor was, they all gave up.

"Next!"

William continued cheerfully, "The biggest advantage of being a first-year student is that you know almost nothing about magic."

Although each wizard has their own preferred way of holding a wand, some traditional standard grips can slightly speed up spellcasting for most people. He wasn't sure if the previous professors had covered this, but Lockhart definitely hadn't put any effort into it last year.

'There's one thing that's hard to fool—students of all grades are eager to catch the wand and cast spells; they have almost no interest in theory or anything like that…'

"Holding the wand, concealing the wand, drawing the wand, even the way it's waved... all of these need to be corrected, but if we only focus on teaching this, these kids probably won't even be interested in listening..."

'This is also a drawback of Hogwarts' communal education system... Each professor has limited energy, and there's a lot to learn... Of course, this could also be due to a shortage of professors.'

'If I were to teach first graders just how to hold a wand... I reckon the parents would flood Professor McGonagall's office with owls...'

William thought to himself, but his hands showed no sign of stopping. "I need to adjust. Don't use so much force. That's your wand, not your enemy!"

"Ah...yes, Professor!"

The child who was being instructed loosened up a bit, but his posture unconsciously shifted.

'...'

After a long while, William finally finished his wand-holding exercise. He pointed at the large parchment on the other side, and the matchstick figure on it stopped, stood still, drew his wand, and held it in a slow cycle, which was fixed there. Then the entire parchment rolled up into a tube and flew into William's hand.

"Three students need to strengthen their training. Go back and ask your classmates or roommates for help."

William nodded to the children below. "There will be no tests or papers this week, but everyone must read about the Disarming Charm before the next class—there will be a short quiz before the next class, and those who fail will have to copy down the relevant information."

"As for those three students, you will take the exam after you have been tested on wand holding techniques, and you will be treated the same."

He quickly packed his things, preparing to end the class.

However, a Ravenclaw suddenly raised his hand.

"Professor, where did you buy your diagram? I'd like to buy one!"

“This?” William waved the object in his hand. “I made it myself. Bookstores probably don’t have something this simple, and many books have more intuitive pictures.”

He casually tossed a piece of chalk onto the blackboard, where it began to scribble and write.

"These books are all available. Interested students can refer to them, but there are no requirements."

Although William provided the reading list, he didn't think many people would actually look through it—the books were all good, but they had one flaw: they were so trivial that one wanted to burn them.

-

"get out of class is over."

William stretched his limbs and then considered where to go for his routine exercise today.

'The Forbidden Forest? The Black Lake? A Quidditch arena?'

This is a happy problem, because Hogwarts is big enough to provide professors with a place to relax when they're not teaching.

As William was planning his next route, he encountered the third-year students who had just finished class on the first floor when he passed the castle gate.

'Has there been another accident?'

He sized up the students who weren't exactly in good shape—judging from their appearance, it seemed the crucible had exploded and the last class was about potions.

Because he was in a good mood and had some free time, he decided to ask one of his students. He had taught Lu Ping half a class last time, so he could still find a few familiar faces.

Soon, he spotted a red-haired figure, undoubtedly from the Weasley family.

'Is his name Ron?'

"Ron Weasley?"

Hearing William's voice, Ron squeezed out from inside with difficulty, "Professor William, have Fred and George gotten into trouble again?"

"Should I write to my mother to let her know she's coming?"

???

!!!

'Are you really brothers?'

"Were you having a potions class just now?"

After hesitating for a moment, William gave up on the previous question.

“Yes, Professor,” Ron replied without hesitation, “Snape has been acting like a madman today, relentlessly causing trouble for Harry!”

Generally speaking, second-year students should already know that there is a professor named Snape at this school who hates all the self-defense professors because he couldn't get a position, so even if Ron speaks ill of the professor in front of him, he doesn't feel any pressure.

'If I were him, I'd go crazy too…'

The main reason William hasn't been going to the faculty lounge these past two days is that he doesn't want to ignite a powder keg.

There may be others in the entire wizarding world who hate Sirius the most, but Snape would definitely be in the top three.

However, William really couldn't comment on this matter.

According to the information he found, Sirius Black, James Potter, Lupin, and Wormtail were put in solitary confinement for a long time because they beat up Snape together, and the main ones who were put in solitary confinement were James and Sirius—without a doubt, it was a case of one of them getting tired of beating the other.

Without a doubt, their every instance of confinement was justified.

However, Snape was also put in solitary confinement quite a few times. He was put in solitary confinement for insulting Hufflepuff students, and he was put in solitary confinement for participating in dark magic research. Moreover, those who were put in solitary confinement with him were quite famous - basically all Death Eaters that William could find out about.

Furthermore, Ron and his fellow Gryffindors had their reasons for disliking Snape—arbitrarily deducting points, bullying students with lower talent, and physically assaulting students…

'God knows what happened... but Professor Snape's potion-making skills are simply...'

William shook his head, looking at Ron. "Every professor has their own way of teaching... You'll probably have to talk to Professor McGonagall about this..."

'Although the effect is not significant...'

Being a Potions Master is a very valuable title, and there aren't many Potions Masters willing to give up their time to teach at Hogwarts. Compared to a professor's bad temper, a decline in teaching quality is a much more serious problem.

Like William, who, despite repeatedly arguing with Adams that he wasn't a bad potion maker, wouldn't dare accept a Potions professorship if Professor McGonagall put it on the table.

Potions aren't something you can just teach casually. Unless you're far beyond the student's ability, you won't even be able to find where the student went wrong—that ability to tell exactly where the potion went wrong just by looking at it isn't something cheap; it's the real skill of a master.

Not to mention advanced classes, without showing off some high-difficulty magic potions, how can you convince the students?

Potions is a course that truly tests your abilities; there are no tricks or gimmicks involved—ability is ability. The theatrical courses like those taught by Professor Lockhart last year simply don't apply.

The quality of teaching is closely linked to the employment rate. For example, in the past, Hogwarts' self-defense course was not very good, and the Aurors even stopped recruiting new students.

If the Potions professor is incompetent, there's no doubt that future Hogwarts graduates shouldn't even think about pursuing related fields—that would be truly terrifying—the entire magical world isn't just about teaching Potions in Britain.

This only highlights the importance of the Potions Master. Although Professor Snape's courses have been criticized, his students' grades are truly excellent... You can criticize his classes for this or that problem, but the results speak for themselves.

In conclusion—even if Professor Snape weren't the Dean, Professor McGonagall would at most have a brief chat with the students about their feedback… No one is perfect, and it would be too harsh to demand everything.

Upon hearing William's almost useless suggestion, the students who had initially shown some interest immediately wilted. Professor McGonagall was their dean, and they had no idea how things would turn out.

The students quickly dispersed, while William remained where he was, deep in thought.

"Sirius has been exonerated for so long, why are you only getting anxious about this now? It can't be that Professor Snape got angrier the more he thought about it, so he came to cause trouble for Harry today, right?"

"That's not scientific! Sirius Black can't fight in the hospital, but Professor Lupin is over there. Let's duel like before!"

"Did Harry say something provocative?"

William couldn't figure it out any longer, so he gave up trying and went to the hospital.

-

"What do you want, Snape?"

When William arrived at the hospital, he happened to witness Snape and Lupin getting into a fight after class.

"Make some potions; Madam Pomfrey says there aren't enough."

Professor Snape didn't seem as angry as Ron had described; although his voice remained deep and sarcastic,

"Who wants your potion?"

Sirius's sarcastic voice came from inside, "Snotty, your potions might have an unknown ingredient that others don't—like snot?"

"Oh, what a coincidence. Perhaps I should remind you that I'm the one who concocted all the special medicines in this school hospital."

After a long while, Sirius's voice finally came from inside.

"Oh, really? Looks like you can still do some normal work, not the idiot I always thought you were who only hung out with Death Eaters and talked about bloodlines."

“Perhaps,” Snape’s voice rose a few decibels, “but I would be happy to prepare some medicine for you, after all, twelve years in Azkaban can be extremely damaging to the brain.”

The sound of tearing cloth could be clearly heard coming from inside the hospital. For a moment, William even thought that Sirius Black inside was going to rush out and attack someone.

But the sound stopped.

"Yes, it's amazing. I'm not a Death Eater, yet I ended up in Azkaban, while some people are the exact opposite."

...

William never expected Sirius to say such a thing so calmly, which even overturned his consistent impression of Sirius.

But Lupin's expression was not strange at all. He simply stood blocking the hospital entrance, his hand firmly on the spot where the wand was inserted.