From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

"Waaaaah!!!"

The students around her made a commotion, trying to get William's attention.

But William was determined not to give the man any chance to cause trouble before handing him over to Professor McGonagall—once he was in Professor McGonagall's hands, problems would no longer be his concern.

"Oh, William, the professor said you would come with the students tonight. Why are you here so early?"

Haiger greeted everyone from afar across the school gate with great enthusiasm.

"I've prepared some fine wine, just waiting for you to come and enjoy it together after the dinner. It's good that you've come early, but you can't drink too much, since you still have to attend the dinner."

"Perfect timing! My luggage was still on the train when something went wrong, so I had to take the Knight Bus earlier than planned. By the way, is Professor McGonagall in her office?"

William wanted to resolve the trouble as quickly as possible and send the brat away first.

"Oh, the professor isn't in her office. She's busy arranging tonight's dinner and the Sorting Ceremony."

So, the owl hasn't arrived yet?

Considering the speed of the Knight Bus, William felt his speculation was probably correct—unless the Ministry of Magic used its emergency communication channels with Hogwarts, but for something like a flying car, William thought it was unlikely.

“That’s great. I need to go to the castle first to hand over my current tasks, and then I’ll come find you at the hunting grounds.”

"Alright, see you later—Hermione?"

The giant let out a surprised sound.

"Waaah!"

The Gryffindor girl known as Hermione tried to say something.

"What's up with her?"

"Do you know?"

William was surprised for a moment, then realized he had asked a pointless question—Hagrid and Harry were close, how could he not know Harry's friends?

"Yes, she's my friend. Is she under a curse?"

"No, but she made an excuse to get off the train, cast spells outside the school, and attacked Ministry of Magic staff."

“Good heavens! Her? If you were with the Weasley brothers, I would even think you were covering for their mistakes, but Hermione—she’s number one in her class.”

How could someone who isn't the oldest have the ability to take down a professor?

William glanced at the cards in the inventory and agreed with Hagrid's assessment.

"Waaah!"

"Don't worry, Ms. Hermione, I will undo the spell once I hand you over to Professor McGonagall. Now, please reflect on your mistakes."

"Waaaaah!!"

It was probably an insult, but William ignored it.

"It seems she doesn't want to reflect any further. I need to hand her over to Professor McGonagall quickly. Goodbye, Hagrid."

Hagrid's expression was conflicted. He seemed to want to persuade William to lift the binding spell, but what William said was indeed a bit excessive. In the end, the giant gave up on stopping William—anyway, the person would be sent to Professor McGonagall soon, and the spell would definitely be lifted then.

When William entered the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall was assigning tasks to a group of elves. Judging from the thick stack of parchment in her hand, she was very busy that day.

"Professor William? You're here so early?"

Professor McGonagall exclaimed in surprise.

“That’s wonderful,” the professor exclaimed, pulling a piece of parchment from his hand. “The school’s candle stock is running low. Could you please go to the Owl Loft and mail this order to the general store in Hogsmeade?”

Professor, this is my first day on the job, and I'm not very familiar with the area. Is it really a bad idea to conscript people like this?

As William took the order, he made way for Gryffindor who was following behind him—she had been hiding in William's shadow ever since they entered the Great Hall.

"Professor McGonagall, there's a small problem with the train."

"A train?" Professor McGonagall was taken aback.

Then she suddenly remembered the train ticket she had sent to William.

"what happened?"

The professor's expression suddenly turned stern.

"The two students were blocked outside the passage and missed their train. After investigation by myself and the Ministry of Magic investigators, we found that they were blocked by someone, but we have not found out who did it."

"Miss Granger is stuck outside? And the other one, which college is she from?"

"No, Miss Granger wasn't blocked, but her two friends were. Miss Granger slipped off the train when I got off, so I brought her here ahead of time."

"Sneak off the train?"

Professor McGonagall looked surprised, but then she realized something else.

"Two friends? You mean Potter and Weasley?"

"If she is not mistaken, that should be the case."

Where are the two of them?

The professor's tone became urgent.

"If the information I received from the Ministry of Magic investigators is correct, the two of them are driving a flying car and are currently floating above the Hogwarts Express."

"By Merlin!"

William swore that for a moment he had the illusion of seeing an angry eagle.

"Sneaking off the train and chasing the school bus in a high-speed car..."

William felt that the figure beside him had shrunk by two inches as Professor McGonagall muttered to herself.

Chapter 44 There are always trivial matters before the start of school.

Although Hermione seemed to be trembling under Professor McGonagall's intimidation, William regretfully had to reveal the rest of the story as well.

Keeping things a secret sounds good, but in practice, it can actually cause even more trouble.

The practice of minors performing magic outside of school is closely monitored. If William does not speak out and establish that he has temporarily allowed students to perform magic outside of school, further trouble will follow.

Especially the attack on Ministry of Magic staff; without William's endorsement as a professor, this could have landed him in Azkaban for more than six months—did he really think that hitting Ministry of Magic staff would get him away with it?

William needs to report the spellcasting record to the school, and then the school needs to communicate with the Ministry of Magic to prove that the spell was cast off-campus with the professor's permission before it can be canceled. Otherwise, the spellcasting off-campus alone would be enough to warrant a major demerit, and coupled with the attack on Ministry of Magic personnel, expulsion would be the least of his worries.

"That's how it happened. With my permission to cast the spell, Miss Granger mistook a Ministry of Magic official for a suspect and attacked him."

“Okay, I understand, Professor William.”

Professor McGonagall's expression calmed down, but William sensed that a storm was brewing—Warning: Lightning Storm Created.

"Then, shall I go deliver the message to the owlhouse first?"

"Thank you for your hard work, Professor William."

As William stepped out of the castle, he couldn't help but look back. The ghosts that had been floating around the hall, gesturing and offering all sorts of suggestions, had now quietly hidden in the corners, leaving the entire hall empty.

-

"Flying car?"

The blazing flames greedily devoured the dripping grease from the skewered meat, and the occasional wisps of smoke were quickly expelled from the magically transformed room. Despite it being late summer, the room felt surprisingly cool, prompting William, who was waiting for the meat to be grilled, to marvel at how wonderful magic truly was.

The roasted meat that was originally intended as a welcome drink for William's inauguration was now served over a fire ahead of time, and Hagrid, holding a glass of wine, talked with William about what had happened on the train.

“Speaking of flying cars, I do have one too. Harry would never guess that he’s ridden in something similar before.”

Hagrid laughed and talked as he picked up his glass and took a big gulp.

This is a violation of school rules. Please take this seriously.

The giant clearly didn't take Harry's decision to go to school by flying car instead of train to heart; in fact, he treated it as an amusing story.

However, William himself didn't really care about this.

Although he didn't know much about the plot, it didn't mean he didn't know Harry Potter as a person—during the time before he arrived at the school, he collected a lot of information about the boy, hoping to find something useful from it.

Although he eventually found that the information wasn't very useful, he did learn a lot about Harry Potter.

This flying car incident might be difficult for other students to handle, but for Harry, it probably wouldn't be a big problem.

Because this person truly saved the world…

Although all the information about him is speculating about what happened back then, all of them are very certain to admit one fact—Harry Potter defeated the mysterious man whose name cannot be mentioned and saved the entire British wizarding world.

So, regardless of the emotions of the students at school, from the perspective of the outside magical world, as long as the boy named Harry Potter doesn't blow up Hogwarts, then the mistakes he makes are not a big problem.

Considering William's limited impressions and Dumbledore's staunch supporter Hagrid's impressions of Harry—Harry Potter himself had a very good temper and was well-liked by professors and classmates.

Even an ordinary person with this reputation could be protected from this incident, because the current headmaster, Dumbledore, is probably the most insightful headmaster in recent years—this is also the information William collected.

Without a prophet, we can only guess by gathering intelligence. We can't just eat hairy pigs if Zhang the butcher is gone, can we?

Foresight is ultimately limited; having it is certainly good, but even without it, one must still strive to face these troubles.

"Oh, right, where's Hermione?"

Hagrid slapped his head and asked amidst the loud noise.

"She? She's probably writing a self-criticism with Professor McGonagall—maybe she can finish it together after Harry and the others arrive at school."

“Hahaha,” Hagrid let out that schadenfreude unique to friends, “Yes, that’s it, back in the day James and Black—”

Hagrid suddenly stopped laughing, as if he had said something taboo.

"Blake?"

“It’s nothing, William. I don’t want to talk about that story. It’s too heavy, too heavy.”

Hagrid shook his head repeatedly, and William had no choice but to give up asking.

Hagrid remained in low spirits afterward, and around evening, the two parted ways to prepare for the opening ceremony that night.

-

William had not received his suitcase until the eve of the dinner.

"Professor, we will deliver the boxes to your office, but they are currently being moved, and we may have difficulty finding where your boxes are located or who is in charge of them."

William was so reluctant to force them to look for his box immediately because of what the house-elf had told him.