From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

"Crackling sound!!!!!"

"Whoosh!!!"

"hiss!!!"

Three completely different sounds rang out in the sky. The enormous sound pierced Harry's eardrums, and three bright lights pierced the sky almost simultaneously, heading straight for the Astronomy Tower.

As the first ray of light touched the ground, Harry recognized the person immediately: Professor McGonagall.

She rode a flying broomstick, moving with lightness and speed—something Harry had never seen before.

That broom...it looks like it's going to be ruined.

Although he knew he shouldn't, Harry still made this outrageous judgment—the poor broom's tail was indeed on fire.

'It seems to be catching up to the speed of the fire bolts, but at the cost of sacrificing the broom?'

Although he knew it was a bit absurd to think about this at this time, Harry couldn't help himself—besides, Professor McGonagall's flying skills just now seemed no worse than his.

That idea was too much, Harry shook his head to dismiss it.

As he shook his head, a second beam of light stumbled down.

The Seeker's keen observation skills allowed Harry to spot the falling planks and the person who had been pulled up.

'That posture is so ugly... and the landing point is inaccurate too.'

However, the person in mid-air waved his left hand towards the sky, and something resembling a glider took shape, which immediately slowed down his landing speed.

During this process, the third figure landed on the astronomical tower.

'No props?'

Harry's mouth dropped open in surprise. He looked closely and made sure there were no props, no wooden planks falling with strange noises, and no flying brooms.

But he quickly realized who it was, because the other person's face was devoid of emotion, as cold as ice.

It was Snape.

Snape saw Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore over there before turning his gaze to Harry—just like in class, Harry could even imagine the mockery that would follow.

"Whoosh!"

The sound of flying brooms at full speed echoed through the air again, and this time it was Professor Flitwick who landed.

At that moment, the figure in the air floated down unsteadily; it was Professor William.

"Wow, everyone's here!"

William chuckled – he saw Dumbledore in mid-air, so he didn’t choose to risk twisting his ankle by trying a new landing method.

However, he was indeed a little curious as to why so many people had come, especially since it was so late at night and so many professors had so much free time.

“Sybil started bragging about her Astronomical Tower astrology course two days ago… and yet this still happened,” Professor McGonagall shook her head as she looked at Dumbledore lying on the ground.

'Is that so? I've never heard of it.'

William was completely bewildered—he had no idea how much pressure his test paper had put on the divination professor.

Making a living was being jeopardized by an amateur, and to make matters worse, the other party kept telling everyone that they weren't good at divination and that the divination professor was the real expert—it was infuriating.

Professor McGonagall, who had the lowest opinion of Professor Trelawney, disdained to mention it, and Adams and the others would never gleefully report it as news. This resulted in William being completely unaware of how widely the lesson had been publicized.

"Still under investigation?"

Dumbledore remained lying there, and the wind carried intermittent sounds.

"...He's coming back...He'll be even more cruel...even more cautious...even more terrifying..."

But then the wind began to swallow most of the sound.

'What is this?'

Harry was even more confused, but he noticed that everyone in front of him seemed to have agreed on something and their expressions had all changed.

Professor McGonagall's face was full of surprise, Snape's face was full of confusion and indignation, Professor Flitwick's face was full of recollection, and as for Professor William, his face was full of astonishment and determination.

'They all know?'

Harry didn't dare ask any more questions, instead turning his curious gaze to Dumbledore and Professor Trelawney, the originator of all this.

Dumbledore remained patiently listening, while Professor Trelawney abruptly rose from the table—she almost instantly raised her head, looking at Dumbledore with a blank expression.

"Oh, Professor?"

"I must have been teaching too hard, so I was so tired that I took a nap—what brings you here?"

-

'Was that... a prophecy?'

William was still in a daze—the prophecy hadn't affected him much. He already knew Voldemort was coming back, and he also knew that the self-defense professor for next year was an undercover agent!

Although he wasn't clear about the rest, these two points weren't enough.

'It's a shame we never figured out how the Dark Lord remained immortal.'

However, he had another method—if he couldn't kill it, he would seal it. He had already been researching this and was preparing to submit it to Dumbledore after making theoretical preparations.

He doesn't have that much time to develop new magic right now.

Of course, how to capture and seal it after it's developed is also a problem, but with the two pieces of information mentioned above, Dumbledore should be able to handle it.

If possible, killing him would be a better approach, after all, he's burdened with that damned curse—but figuring out how to make him immortal and how to break it also requires investigation…

'Things are really piling up—'

William sighed – Professor McGonagall had repeatedly hinted that the club's funding was ready and he could simply put together a framework to apply.

There's just not enough time...

William glanced at Professor Trelawney, who looked completely bewildered—she was still unaware of what had happened.

'I thought there were only two slacker professors like us at the school, but I managed to break free and slowly transform myself into a professor who didn't just coast along with the exams…'

'However… from beginning to end, I was the only slacker…'

William couldn't help but feel relieved—thankfully, he hadn't followed Professor Trelawney's example and wasted his time...

"You can't let your guard down, William!"

He tried to convince himself.

Chapter 334 After the Prophecy

"What? Peter Pettigrew has gone mad? Like the other prisoners?"

When Minister of Magic Fudge opened the files to be processed that day, he was quite surprised to see a report from the batter.

"Boring—"

Fudge shook his head. "I thought that guy could last a long time, just like Blake back then."

According to the report sent by the secretary at the time, there should have been two more follow-up reports.

'But at least this matter is over. If Sirius had continued to go on the run, it would have been a real problem…'

"He is, after all, a real criminal—perhaps the Daily Prophet could do a special report on this?"

The secretary standing nearby proposed a feasible solution.

“You take charge, Dan,” Fudge nodded, “while the public still has interest in him.”

"Yes, Minister."

The wizarding world is short-sighted. If we don't broadcast this now, their attention will soon be drawn to the upcoming Quidditch tournament, and then they won't be able to appreciate the immense effort the Minister of Magic has put into the Sirius Black case.

"Speaking of which, what is our former fugitive doing now?"

Fudge's curiosity was piqued by the mention of Pettigrew, and he casually asked his secretary about it.

"He is still living at Hogwarts, and according to some intelligence, he seems to be busy doing volunteer work at the school—that is, helping to repair the castle."

"That's such a pity. The Black family is a very famous pure-blood family..."

“But Minister…” the secretary hesitated, “Although Sirius Black is also a Black, and has a clear right to inherit the Black family line, I’m afraid he will have a hard time gaining the approval of the other pure-blood families. The news of his expulsion is widely known…”

Fudge wagged his finger—"Of course not, Dan, I meant campaign funding, like the Malfoy family..."

The Malfoy family was a strong supporter of Fudge, providing him with ample financial assistance even before he was a minister. Minister Fudge lived up to this investment, helping the Malfoy family gradually overcome the negative impact of the trial.

This friendship was inherited from Minister Fouché's predecessor, and as the minister's secretary, Dan was very familiar with this history.

"Yes, Minister, I will arrange a visit for you to Hogwarts—how about before Easter? Use the excuse of being concerned about the upcoming second round of negotiations for the Triwizard Tournament."

Fudge nodded, then turned to work on the next document.

-

"A true prophecy..."

William sat in his office, staring blankly at the ceiling, a rare sight for him.

Dumbledore hasn't shared the prophecy yet, and it's highly likely he won't hear it.

There was no way around it; according to reliable historical records, the true prophecy was essentially unalterable—the vast majority of wizards firmly believed in it, and the more powerful the wizard, the more they believed in it.

While this might be a somewhat one-sided view, Hogwarts' Divination class...

From that perspective, Dumbledore most likely believed the prophecy, so it's impossible that he would share it with the professors before figuring out and understanding its contents.

The question is, how should I interpret this official prophecy?

'If the principal shares it, what should I do? Should I try to change it—is it the kind that's described in the book in a particularly vague way?'

William was curious and conflicted.

Honestly, he desperately wanted to ask Professor Trelawney, but he figured it wouldn't work—according to reliable sources, the person who made the prophecy had no memory of it.

'Professor Trelawney, what's with this sudden prophecy?'

Finally, he gritted his teeth and muttered a complaint.

There's no way around it, prophecy is prophecy, and fortune-telling is fortune-telling. After fortune-telling predicts something, it usually tells you what to do, and then you can deceive heaven and earth and steal the sun and sky. Prophecy, on the other hand, is just peeking into a corner of fate, which cannot be changed.

'It's best if it's blurry...that way there's more room for maneuver...'