From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

Even though Harry had a lot of gold in Gringotts, he never equated it with wealth in the Muggle world—he had enough pocket money at Hogwarts, while in the Muggle world, he couldn't even afford a decent lunch.

Chapter 344 Using Contracts to Ensure

Although William had never met the Dursleys, he had done his homework before coming.

The school administration took Harry very seriously, although William hadn't yet figured out why. Professor McGonagall had already told him beforehand—'Try not to have excessive conflict with the Dursleys. Appropriate warnings are fine, but don't go overboard.'

Simply put, as long as he doesn't completely break ties, the school will send someone to play the good cop.

So he lightly touched his toes, and the next second, he appeared downstairs—although the training was somewhat difficult due to the school's facilities, he had never given up practicing Apparition in the past two years.

"Um…"

William looked at Mr. Dursley, casually snapped his fingers, and the gun flew up and landed in William's hand.

“Hello, Mr. Dursley, if I’m not mistaken.”

Vernon stared at William, his temples throbbing so hard they felt like they were about to burst, but he ultimately remained silent.

“This unwelcome guest has arrived with a gun, Mr. Dursley. According to the laws of the castle, I seem to have an unlimited right to self-defense.”

"According to the law, you guys should be tied to a cross and burned at the stake!"

He shouted menacingly at William.

“The Church’s laws are outdated, sir, but the Castle Law still applies…” William spread his hands, snapped his fingers, and dragged over a chair and a table. “However, we don’t need to discuss that now. If possible, let’s sit down and talk.”

He was the first to sit down at one side of the table, and even handed the gun back to him from the table.

“Please have a seat, Mr. Dursley. Although this meeting came a little earlier than I expected, it’s still quite nice.”

Vernon hesitated for a moment, but eventually sat down and grasped the gun—though the young man before him casually dismissed it as worthless, the cold barrel was now the best source of his courage.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is William, and I am a professor at Hogwarts."

William gestured to himself, then turned to Sirius and Harry. "Harry, Mr. Black, come here for a moment. I think this negotiation requires the participation of all three of us."

When William uttered Harry's name, Vernon's hand twitched, but he ultimately chose to say nothing. He simply observed everything, trying to glean usable information from the chaos.

His gaze moved from the table to the chair, and then to the surrounding decorations.

Garbage bags, game consoles, some replaced furniture, and other old items that were sorted out...

Ultimately, he had to come to the sad truth—these self-proclaimed wizards hadn't just decided to take over the place on a whim; they genuinely considered it their home.

"It may be impolite to say this, but Mr. Dursley, I think you haven't introduced yourself yet."

Once Sirius and Harry were seated on either side, William addressed Dursley across from him.

“It wasn’t that I was being rude on purpose…” The words themselves were rude, but William acted as if he hadn’t heard them. “But you’ve already figured everything out, haven’t you?”

"certainly…"

William nodded, then began to lie through his teeth.

"In fact, we have come here to investigate Mr. Dursley's serious illegal acts and to take remedial and punitive measures."

"I'm not like you!"

William's words clearly angered the guy opposite him, who directly and bluntly distanced himself with a roar.

“It’s different, so you’ve broken the laws of both places,” William nodded. “The house has been magically soundproofed, right when I was trying out that gun, so yelling won’t solve anything, sir.”

“Based on Harry’s description,” William glanced at Harry, “it is certain that your family abused children and used child labor.”

"You're a professor at that school, not an investigator for some damn organization!"

Vernon's voice grew louder, "I adopted him and raised him for thirteen years!"

"Without a doubt, Mr. Dursley, so Harry will pay you six hundred Galleons, which is about three thousand pounds, for child support after he comes of age and starts working."

William nodded, offering no objection to Dursley's opinion.

This enormous number startled Harry. He didn't want to pay the Dursleys a single galleon, let alone six hundred Galleons!

Nevertheless, he did not voice his objection, but instead turned his gaze to William.

Three thousand pounds…

Vernon's expression shifted between anger and uncertainty; he no longer roared as before.

"Okay, if that's the case, I don't have much of a problem with it."

“Wait a minute, Mr. Dursley.” William shook his head. “Because you didn’t provide a good place to live, and Harry actually slept in the cupboard until he was eleven—therefore we need to deduct six hundred pounds for child support.”

……

"Therefore, we need to deduct one hundred pounds here, which means Harry will need to pay 1,500 pounds in child support after he comes of age," William finally gave Harry a figure that made Harry feel much better after he spent a long time negotiating.

"If there are no additional demands, we can probably get an agreement like this."

As William spoke, he made the quill pen work, and a final draft of the agreement was quickly reached.

"If you have no objections, please sign here, Mr. Dursley."

The final draft was very simple, without any patterns or anything like that, and it was written very clearly.

Basically, the Dursleys adopted Harry until he turned seventeen, and Harry was required to pay £1,500 in child support during his first year of adulthood when he found a job.

After confirming that there were no hidden traps or extortion attempts, Vernon muttered as he signed the document.

Although being around these strange guys still made him uncomfortable, the unexpected income, which wasn't too small, made him look at Harry a little better.

"So, that's all?"

He came over to threaten him and ended up signing a messy document. Although he gained some profit, he still didn't want to stay there for another fifteen minutes.

"Yes, that's all, Mr. Dursley."

William nodded and put the contract away.

-

"A major problem has been solved."

After Mr. Dursley left, William stretched and exhaled, feeling pleased with himself.

Harry, on the contrary, looked unhappy—pay the Dursleys three hundred Galleons after he comes of age? Are you kidding me!

“That’s what you have to pay, Harry,” William said to Harry as he put away the contract. “I know you certainly didn’t like that life, but there’s no doubt you lived in the Dursleys’ house for eleven years, and this is the compensation you have to pay.”

“The cheapest option is to buy it out with money, Harry,” William said, glancing at Sirius Black beside him. “Mr. Black, I hope you won’t pay for Harry’s outlay; let him use his salary after he starts working to cover it.”

“Okay…” Sirius hesitated for a moment before agreeing—the amount wasn’t large anyway, and the professor in front of him had come with an investigation mission, so he wouldn’t refuse such a small thing.

That's wonderful.

William rolled up the parchment and put it away.

This result justifies his series of actions: first intimidation, then nonsense, and finally price negotiation.

Adopting Harry until he turns seventeen and then having Harry pay child support is a two-way contract that cannot be changed once signed, since magic exists on the parchment.

Adoption itself means that Harry becomes a member of the Dursleys. Unless Mr. Dursley suddenly becomes proficient in magic and finds the original to modify it with a power far exceeding William's, even if he kicks Harry out of the house and publishes a notice severing ties, it won't work—the patch on the magic only recognizes magic, not Muggle rules.

He didn't know what Professor McGonagall was thinking or how she had arranged things, but having an extra layer of insurance was definitely a good idea.

In any case, according to feedback from Ravenclaw convicts imprisoned in Azkaban, this trick of using magic to replenish magic is quite effective. If they hadn't spent too much Muggle currency at Gringotts, they definitely wouldn't have failed.

-

"So, Professor William, you ultimately signed this contract with Mr. Dursley?"

In Professor McGonagall's office, William was reporting on his experiences during the holiday and also handed over the original copy of the contract—it was certainly better to leave something that could become a breakthrough to the school; what Dumbledore couldn't protect, he certainly couldn't protect either.

“Yes, Professor McGonagall,” William replied, suppressing a yawn. He had returned to school before the holidays were over in order to hand this over, and for safety’s sake, he took the Knight Bus, which made him a little sleepy the whole way.

"With a contract as a guarantee, at least we'll have a way to deal with situations like last summer, instead of having to persuade the Dursleys to continue accepting Harry."

If it weren't for what happened last year, he wouldn't have needed to use a contract to ensure Harry wasn't kicked out; it was truly...

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

Professor McGonagall thoughtfully put away the original contract, then asked another question with concern, "What do you think about Sirius adopting Harry?"

'The little elf didn't even know what to do when I left...'

This was the first thing William thought of, but since Sirius said he was going to look for it, there was a high probability that he would be able to find it.

“I’m still investigating. At present, there seem to be some minor issues, but Sirius is working hard to fix them.”

"He was surprisingly reliable in this matter."

……

William was at a loss for words.

"Alright, that's settled then... If you don't mind, could you come with me to find Albus? I think he should be in his office today."

Of course, he didn't mind—Dumbledore was the most mysterious person in the castle, but as the first white wizard, his presence alone was equivalent to half a library.

Unfortunately, even the dean couldn't always find this principal who seemed to be doing nothing.

The headmaster was only easy to see when the rumors about Sirius were at their most intense. Dumbledore was much busier than usual these days. Judging from the professors' casual conversations that William overheard, the headmaster had traveled abroad many times since Christmas.

-

"contract?"

Dumbledore stood up from his chair, looking slightly tired.

William noticed that the diary he had found last year was floating on the table, and next to it, the top sheet of a stack of parchment contained all its secrets—origin, materials, number of pages…

"Yes, the contract."

Professor McGonagall repeated, "Professor William is trying to supplement that protective magic with a contract, but I'm not sure if it's feasible."

“An interesting question, Minerva… I think it should be possible, but we need some experiments to prove it.”

Dumbledore nodded to Professor McGonagall, then looked at William.

“Excuse me, Professor William, could you wait here for a moment? I think I need Minerva to do some experiments.”

"Of course, no problem, Professor."

After all, it's a common tactic used by fraudsters, and even Dumbledore wasn't entirely sure—even though he was the first white wizard, it's still not certain. Everyone has their own expertise, so it's unlikely he still wouldn't know.