From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

"The mysterious death of the Minister of Magic is still a mystery! You run a private agency that investigates secret affairs—you should know better than I how many undocumented curses exist in the entire wizarding world!"

He glared angrily at Sirius, even wishing he could slap the idiot to wake him up. Reading stories is one thing, but if you really want to imitate them, even Sirius and Harry combined wouldn't be enough to warrant the curses!

Compared to this damn detective agency, he would rather Sirius obediently go to Egypt, collect Gringotts' money, and eat sand; at least that would save his life!

“It’s just a claim, Remus,” Sirius took the book from Lupin. “I will absolutely not consider investigating cases in the wizarding world until Harry is an adult.”

"But if I don't claim I'm investigating cases in the wizarding world—how can they possibly allow me to open a detective agency targeting Muggles on the fringes of secrecy?"

Sirius looked into the distance, his disdain undisguised. "No one understands those pure-blood family guys better than me—if I agree to make concessions, they'll call me a disgrace to pure-bloods while helping me get things done. They won't give certain people in the Ministry of Magic the opportunity to act in the name of the Black family."

"Moreover, if there's a possibility of negotiation, curses won't exist—tsk, former First Death Eater, I've read those newspapers!"

He doesn't lack Galleons; he just wants to do something meaningful. If the opportunity arises in the future, it's possible that he can expand his business.

He considered his investigation in the Muggle world as practice; he believed that the methods in the book, combined with some special help from the wand, would allow him to quickly approach the level of someone who could see through the truth.

"All right…"

Lupin thought about it for a long time, but in the end he didn't raise any objections—Sirius was more mature than he thought, and although he hadn't considered everything comprehensively, there wasn't anything seriously wrong with him.

"Professor McGonagall! What's wrong? Another student is injured?"

Madam Pomfrey's voice rang out from the outer room, sounding relatively calm: "A fracture, a magical burn, a curse, or an explosion?"

"No, I came to check on the patient."

Professor McGonagall's voice came through the door, and Lupin suddenly had a new idea.

He's a bit undecided about the firm right now; perhaps Professor McGonagall could help.

Chapter 330: Plans and Unexpected Events

What classes are there this afternoon?

In Hufflepuff's common room, Selma hummed a tune as she shared her freshly baked cookies, casually asking her roommate, who was making plans as she passed by.

"Self-defense techniques, what else could it be?"

After eating the cookie without looking up, the girl, who was lying down, tapped the timetable with her wand—"Perhaps I should spend more time in Transfiguration class; the lessons have been getting harder and harder lately."

"Self-defense skills class?"

Screams erupted from all around, even from the girl making the plans.

"Damn it... I'm not going to take the exam, am I?"

"God knows—this is the first day of the new semester, Christmas is already over, do you think the professor will let us have an easy time? He'd like to count down the days until the OWLS exams are over!"

The fatigue brought on by the Christmas holidays was almost completely swept away, and everyone unanimously took out their textbooks to start reviewing, while also wishing Merlin that there would be no exams today.

The same thing happened in the dormitories of the fifth year. Just before class, groups of students with somber expressions emerged from the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor common rooms. They walked toward the classroom with serious looks and a fighting spirit.

Good afternoon, everyone!

In the castle corridor, a cleaner who seemed to be smiling (at least that's how he appeared) stood in a corner, greeting the students who looked somber. Although no one responded, there was no embarrassment on his face.

"Are you crazy? —Is Filch grooming a successor?"

After turning the corner, the students complained one after another—that uncle looked no younger than Filch, and his first impression was that he was annoying. Everyone was in a bad mood, so why was he smiling so brightly?

"He looks vaguely familiar, like I've seen him in the newspaper..."

Another person commented hesitantly.

"It seems so."

"Like Sirius Black—don't you think?"

"Sirius? That's possible. The newspapers said he stayed at Hogwarts for treatment because of his serious injuries, but didn't they also say he was very handsome?"

"That was over a decade ago! How long has it been since then!"

"..."

The topic quickly veered off course. Nobody cared why Sirius was there. It was common for the Minister of Magic to come to Hogwarts. Sirius had already been exonerated, so what was there to be curious about?

-

“You did a great job, as smart as ever. I thought he would need more time to get used to communicating with other people.”

Professor McGonagall, who had taken a break from her busy schedule to take a look, said to Lupin beside her, "It's good to communicate with people more. He's been in Azkaban for too long, and then he spent time in the hospital. He definitely needs this kind of training."

'Then you don't need to help Filch clean the castle...'

But Lupin didn't dare say that. He could only agree, "Yes, it's much easier to deal with students than outside, and proper exercise is also good for his recovery."

Aside from the fact that it lasts for three months and includes things like cleaning the toilet, the arrangement is indeed quite reasonable. The only drawback is that it feels too much like solitary confinement.

“It seems he’s as good at these things as ever,” Professor McGonagall nodded. “I remember your coursework is about to start, Remus?”

"Yes, Professor, I'll go right away."

-

"Everyone looks great after a holiday apart."

William's voice rang out from the podium, "How is everyone doing?"

'It's pretty average, of course...'

Can the Christmas break for fifth graders still be called a holiday?

It seems that none of the professors communicated, and each assumed that only they would assign more homework when the holidays came—so, in the end, everyone ended up with a ton of assignments.

Unfortunately, no one dared to speak up, not even the boldest twins.

They were now more concerned about the meeting that evening. If it weren't for the fact that the professor above them was William, the two of them would have loved to go over all the things they needed to do that evening right now.

"Hand in your holiday papers, and then we can start today's lesson."

However, what the professor suddenly said on the podium startled everyone.

God knows how much effort they put into this expected exam, but the professor told them there was no exam?

'Yes, this year's schedule is much more stable. Last year, many items were added at the last minute, and we were all scrambling. It's true, even with something as simple as teaching, having a plan is always a good thing.'

"What? You guys are really that eager to take the exam?"

Of course not, but no one dared to show it openly—what if the professor got angry and made them do another one?

Finally, the class ended amidst the skeptical gazes of a group of anxious students, and even after the course concluded, the students remained in shock.

Was there really no exam for this lesson?

After the group of students walked out of the classroom in a daze, William couldn't help but reflect—had he been giving them too many tests on a regular basis? The students were so terrified!

Or, how about we move a few exam papers to the homework assignments?

-

"He'll come, won't he, Fred?"

"Of course, of course..."

Inside the room where everything is responsive, the twins looked at each other and encouraged one another—as the ones directly involved, they knew better than the other students that Sirius was nominally Filch's assistant but was actually being kept in solitary confinement.

Although they weren't worried about Sirius having tricked them, the thought kept nagging at them as their meeting approached.

But they didn't worry for long, not even a quarter of an hour, before the door of the small hut that the House of Requirement had conjured up for their meeting was opened.

Sirius stood behind the door, surveying the room's furnishings with an appraising gaze, finally fixing his eyes on the twins' red hair.

"Weasley?"

Yes, it is us.

The twins suppressed their emotions and spoke in a calm tone.

“Harry told me about you guys—but I never imagined that after graduating from Hogwarts, you would be caught by Professor McGonagall because of Gryffindor’s report.”

Sirius Black sat down at the table with a helpless expression; he wasn't angry.

Although he verbally said he wanted to find some real work instead of being a freeloader at Hogwarts, he naturally had no reason to object since Professor McGonagall asked him to do three months of school volunteer work.

Doing volunteer work at school is also a job—at least he doesn't feel the emptiness he does in the hospital. He's not short of money, and besides, it's a perfectly reasonable way for him to stay at Hogwarts.

As for things like solitary confinement, he didn't care at all. He used to be put in solitary confinement by Professor McGonagall all the time, so he felt no pressure being confined now—it was better than being in Azkaban, right?

"You guys are something else! If you hadn't written your own letter admitting it, I would have thought Professor McGonagall had discovered it herself. I was about to be discharged, and for a moment I even thought I'd failed to be discharged and would have to stay!"

He recounted the events at the hospital that day to the twins in an exaggerated tone. When Professor McGonagall heard that he planned to start his own detective agency, she kindly offered advice—Sirius should make more contact with people before starting a business, so that he wouldn't fail the Ministry of Magic's approval later when he opened his business in Muggle society.

This was necessary, given the strict secrecy laws in this regard, but Sirius knew he had been exposed after Professor McGonagall offered him three months of volunteer work.

“The professor doesn’t physically punish students—” George said, shaking his head, “but it’s still very frightening. To be honest, Snape’s eyes are far inferior to Professor McGonagall’s. I feel like I’ve met my nemesis when I see Professor McGonagall.”

"What's worse is that the professor initially thought we did it, otherwise we wouldn't have gone to such lengths to find the real culprit."

"So you guys made the first one, right?"

Sirius Black immediately grasped the blind spot of the problem.

"Of course it's us."

The twins simultaneously spread their hands, looking completely matter-of-fact. "Such a creative prank, of course we're the ones who discovered it—think about it, something as ordinary as an exam paper becomes interesting, so of course we have to try to imitate it—you imitated us, didn't you, Mr. Blake?"

'Those two rascals…'

Sirius Black rarely exclaimed in admiration; he hadn't seen such an interesting student since graduating from school.

"So, were you put in solitary confinement because of that investigation?"

“Shut up, we’re in fifth grade now—we’ve accumulated more detention records in those five years than you have in seven, Mr. Black!”

"..."

Sirius took a deep breath, then another, for the first time ever. He swore that nothing so outrageous had ever happened when he was in school. "You've investigated my detention record?"

If he remembers correctly, Harry said his best friend was also a Weasley, Ron Weasley.

If so, then…

"Yes, we pretended to be in solitary confinement and then got it from Professor Binns."

George, oblivious to anything amiss, added, "We're your fans, Mr. Blake!"