From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

Inside the classroom, William sneezed, then continued to look at a group of sixth and seventh graders, both amused and exasperated.

Upon realizing something was amiss, he immediately placed a mark spell on the child making excuses and followed the clues directly to this classroom.

He was completely distraught after learning the children's excuse.

"It's just that the lower grades missed one exam, why are you all making such a big deal out of it?"

“If you guys keep relaxing like this, I’m not sure if you need more homework—alright, go back to the lounge!”

After making a verbal threat, he left the classroom without any expression.

Such an incident occurred in sixth and seventh grade—it's definitely because there's too little homework.

"The older students are causing trouble, what about the younger students?"

With a sigh, William thought of the two troublemakers again—the twins hadn't caused any trouble for a while, and judging by the timeline, they were probably plotting something again.

"Ah!"

He couldn't help but sneeze again. After quickly checking himself to make sure he wasn't cursed, he walked suspiciously toward the House of Requirement.

Ever since those two idiots sold him the map, their plots mostly took place in places not shown on the map, like the Room of Requirement. William used the Disillusionment Charm to investigate and found traces of their preparations many times. After determining that the matter wasn't serious, he didn't bother with it and instead arrested them through other means after the incident occurred. This method always worked.

-

"Calm down, Phineas."

Inside the headmaster's office, Dumbledore struggled to soothe the portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black—the former headmaster was now practically roaring.

How did Narcissa Black raise her children?

His voice was incredibly penetrating. "Do the Malfoys dare to say that the Blacks are so poor they sweep the streets?"

"While the Black family's reputation was being sung throughout the wizarding world, the Malfoys were still plotting how to use smallpox on their tenants! Those nouveau riche dared to laugh at the Black family!"

"Their inferior bloodline!"

"..."

"Those nouveau riche...!"

"..."

Dumbledore was very careful not to remind the former headmaster that, theoretically, Draco Malfoy also had Black blood.

If this theory is invalid, then Voldemort himself would be a Muggle-born wizard.

If these words were to get out, the former headmaster's voice would probably be even louder, but at that point, it would be difficult to appease the most unpopular headmaster in Hogwarts history.

Although as the current headmaster, he had the right to silence the paintings, Dumbledore wouldn't do so unless absolutely necessary—the other portraits were still helping to persuade the old man to calm down.

-

"Should we catch them in the act or not?"

Standing at the door of the Room of Requirement, William was torn. He could probably catch them, but then he wouldn't be able to use the Room of Requirement again. But if he didn't catch them, it would be difficult to use the place again.

Putting aside the fact that the twins will be in sixth grade this school year and will most likely not choose his classes, the fact that the Room of Requirement is catching people will probably be exposed soon. Those two silly kids aren't that stupid; they'll learn their lesson after being caught a few more times and understand that they need to change locations.

'Speaking of which, they're almost finished with fifth grade. Students really do grow up so fast…'

William sighed, then pushed open the door to the Room of Requirement.

'But it was still a bit short—normally I should have tried to get the house to reject me…'

He shook his head, pointed his wand inside, and said, "Alright, prank over, time to go to detention!"

The three people inside the room turned to look at him at the same time, which surprised William—why was there one more?

"We didn't play any pranks, Professor!"

The twins surrendered instantly, leaving Sirius completely bewildered.

You just said you wouldn't care even if Professor McGonagall came? How come you two are so... over the mere arrival of a professor?

“You’re here too, Mr. Blake.”

William glanced around to make sure there were no crucibles or alchemical vessels nearby before sitting down with a sense of relief—it was good that the kid wasn't inventing anything.

It wasn't that William disliked them—these two children were practically risking their lives in experiments.

Although they were both smart enough, their foundation was really poor; they didn't even understand the most basic things.

As a professional pharmacist, William knew very well that this was a gamble with his life for the chance of success.

They might succeed once or twice, or even countless times, but one failure would be enough to cost them their lives—not to mention that the two of them were even using themselves as test subjects, which, even for wizards, was a sign of having a death wish.

Every year, a considerable number of wizards die in the laboratory, and William does not want his students to become one of them. If possible, he also wants to reduce the number of talents the school sends to Azkaban.

"We only briefly discussed the experiment!"

Before William could ask a question, George interjected, "Mr. Black is willing to provide us with some funding—we're having a great discussion!"

“Of course, that’s after we graduate,” Fred added. “We’ve become very aware of our shortcomings in the basics and are working hard to improve.”

This is no exaggeration; judging from the papers taken over the past six months, the two students have made significant progress.

"Yes, we had a great talk."

Sirius tried to smooth things over for the twins—they had talked about what they would do after graduation, and he promised to provide them with some necessary assistance, but that was only a small part of the conversation.

"That's good. If you can make up for your shortcomings, business probably won't be too bad. Doesn't Hogsmeade have a joke shop?"

"Then why won't you invest in us..."

The two spoke, half changing the subject and half complaining.

"That would have a terrible impact on later students. There aren't many students who have the ability to choose novel careers on their own, and blindly pursuing them isn't good for them—"

"As for the rate of return, it doesn't really matter to me. I can't give students too many wrong ideas."

William spread his hands and gave a brief explanation.

Hogwarts' salary isn't too high, but it's not too low either. He lives and eats at the school now, so he doesn't need much money. He can even use the school's experimental materials. The only thing he usually needs Galleons for is snacks, but that's not much.

He doesn't indulge in parties or anything like that, so his expenses are minimal. He actually already has a sum of Galleons in hand.

Moreover, once he is able to brew the Felix Felicis in a few days, he will have even less to worry about money.

Even if the potion project stalls and there's no progress, after a few more years as a professor, he can apply for a piece of land to build his own house, just like the employees of the Ministry of Magic. Without that, the other expenses are practically nothing.

Although he knew of many single professors who didn't claim this benefit because it was too much trouble, he certainly wouldn't mind.

"Okay, you always do this..."

The two responded helplessly, then exchanged a furtive glance—it's approved!

William noticed the furtive glances exchanged between the two, but he couldn't be bothered to do anything about it.

Three people who are only involved in the detention project during their daily tasks get together and start talking about investment? Who are you trying to fool!

However, considering that the twins weren't planning to continue those messy experiments recently, he decided to turn a blind eye—there were alumni around, and he couldn't let Sirius laugh at him.

After rambling on about random things, they left the Room of Requirement.

Perhaps to make it seem more convincing, the conversation on the street still revolved around the items in the joke shop and the twins' opinions and ideas for improvement.

William would occasionally offer some key points, such as laboratory animals or the formula for antidotes, as a way of guiding the two children and preventing them from taking unnecessary detours.

Sirius Black wasn't idle either; he kept up with the twins' train of thought perfectly, and even thought of some key issues before the twins.

The group chatted happily until Harry suddenly appeared in the corridor.

"professor?"

Harry looked at the mismatched pair with a puzzled expression.

"Well, what happened?"

"Professor McGonagall sent me to put him in solitary confinement."

Harry spoke, but his eyes kept drifting towards Sirius.

"I met two kids today, and we talked about quite a lot."

Sirius patted the twins on the shoulder with a cheerful smile.

'Your family hierarchy is all messed up, isn't it?'

Chapter 332 Tradition and Change

"Solitary confinement?"

Sirius glanced at Harry, who looked a little embarrassed, and his first thought was—it's just solitary confinement, why are you blushing?

"Um... I got into a fight with Malfoy and the others. The three of them planned to ambush me, but I discovered them..."

Although Harry still believes he was right, that doesn't stop him from describing the conflict in a rather cunning way.

"So all three children are in the hospital?"

"Um…"

Harry lowered his head.

"Cool! Woohoo!"

George couldn't help but speak up, but he was silenced by Fred's outstretched hand before he could finish his sentence.

Malfoy is the Seeker for Slytherin, and the Slytherin team is particularly good at off-field activities. As a member of the Gryffindor team, he has no liking for anyone on the Slytherin Quidditch team.

Fred certainly shared the same thought, but the professor was still here—they had barely escaped the huge quagmire of confinement, and if they were to fall back in because of a single word, they would be unjustly killed.

"The Malfoys' brat?"

Sirius thought for a moment, then laughed, "Well done."

Although the previous generation of Malfoy married his cousin, what does it matter? He didn't get along well with most of his family.

Now it was William's turn to glare angrily—are there really parents like this?

A threatening gaze fell on Sirius, who paused, looking at William with a puzzled expression, as if wondering why he was angry.

???

William was amused by the innocent look in Sirius's eyes. He turned around and stared at Sirius with a serious expression. This was a non-magical skill he had acquired nearly two years after becoming a professor.