From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

However, perhaps I can introduce you to two possible alternatives…

The house-elf named Gold is currently serving time in Azkaban. If you're willing to pay for its release, it should be willing to work for you.

Dobby, a house-elf, is currently free and looking for a suitable family—but he needs Galleons as payment.

In his office, Sirius was flipping through the letters, looking at the signature.

Sure enough, it was that nemesis I'd beaten up before, a Slytherin graduate with some wicked schemes.

How could a normal, purebred family introduce such a creature that completely violates the rules of house-elves? This isn't an introduction at all; it's practically a sarcastic insult.

'But I'm not Slytherin, I'm Gryffindor.'

He spread his hands, called his owl over, flicked its beak lightly, and then nimbly dodged the retaliatory pecking at his fingers.

Sirius laughed merrily as he took out some owl food.

"Please, send a letter for me. I need to find out about those two house-elves."

He pushed the food tray over and then took the opportunity to start writing a letter.

Professor William's last requirement for him was that he must learn to cook or find a house-elf.

While the professor was back at school, he went back to find his own little elf.

There was no other way; house-poms weren't like fluffy creatures that could be seen everywhere. Returning home was the most convenient method he could think of.

However, it wasn't feasible. Kreacher was still alive, but there were no young elves left in the house.

Furthermore, even if they wanted to make do with having Kreacher cook, it wouldn't work—upon hearing that they were leaving the Black family's old house, the elderly house-elf began a frenzied self-harming behavior, which wouldn't even be done under his master's orders.

So now he has to find a new house-elves before summer vacation arrives; paying for one is better than having nowhere to look...

-

"Troll?"

In Lupin's office, Lupin, who was busy grading papers, was startled by William's visit.

He happened to be teaching a class when William knocked on his office door to discuss a joint large-scale course—after Lockhart's live demonstration, William had become much more flexible with his teaching.

“That’s too dangerous, Professor William.”

After hesitating for a long time, Lupin ultimately rejected this tempting offer.

As a practitioner, how could he not understand how much on-site practice can improve students? Not to mention that Professor William, who was a test-oriented person, took the initiative to accept some of his theories, which made him feel quite recognized—don't underestimate Professor William's age, when it comes to exams, his authority is something even Snape has to admit.

"The school hospital is too busy, and we don't have a very good relationship with the Potions department—Professor Snape was already doing his best to brew me Wolfsbane, and we need a lot of healing potions to hold such a large event."

"I've already cooked it, three large crucibles full."

William shook his finger. "Everything is ready. If you'd like, we can adjust the schedules with the other professors and then spend the whole day organizing this event."

With the potion no longer blocked, things were much easier, and Lupin felt relieved. He even brought up his previously prepared final exam.

"Just trolls would be too monotonous. Why not add other magical creatures and make it a large-scale assessment, which could then be included in the final grade?"

"That's too pragmatic, Professor Lupin. What if the students get trapped beforehand? Are we just going to let the trolls stand there like idiots?"

These words made Lupin wonder whether William wanted to see students fight trolls or trolls fight students.

"It shouldn't be that bad... Honestly, the students who were stuck earlier should have failed their final theory exam too..."

“Then let’s set up multiple entrances…” William thought for a moment and added, “Let’s allow lower grades to team up: three first-year students in teams of two, two second-year students in teams of two, and third-year students alone… and increase the number of trolls for fourth-year students…”

"In addition, the scores have been calculated as percentages, and we will handle how to distribute them ourselves."

"What about fifth grade?"

Lupin began to fill in the gaps in his knowledge; he was already very much looking forward to this joint course.

How can I motivate fifth graders to take the OWLS exam?

"Fifth grade? No problem—they're definitely among the best. Honestly, I suspect they might be beating up a troll like I am..."

William then started making his own joke.

-

"You like adventure?"

"A ransom of three hundred Galleons?"

Sirius Black looked at the reply and cursed his damned former nemesis once again—he knew that the Slytherin he had fought back then would never be so kind as to recommend any reliable house-elves.

The house-elf named Gold Coin can't clean and spends all his time thinking about adventures. He's currently in Azkaban. The house-elf named Dobby has been cursed with the Oblivion Charm. What he can do is another matter. After refusing Dumbledore's invitation, he's been rejected by countless families because he's asking for his wages.

'Let's just hire that Dobby... Even if the Forgetfulness Charm is powerful, it should still have at least some basic cooking skills, or at the very least, it can learn—I've never heard of a house-elf who can't cook.'

Sirius hesitated for a long time, but finally decided to hire the house-elf who didn't know how much skill he still had left.

As for that gold coin…

He hesitated for a moment.

'Azkaban is no good place, and I ran away...and even met Harry...'

'Fine, let's go together.'

He wrote a letter paying the ransom and gave Dobby a letter expressing his willingness to hire it.

'All done! Now we just wait for Harry's summer vacation!'

With some excitement, he put the matter aside and began to look up other information.

-

"Bang! Bang!"

Two almost simultaneous apparition sounds rang out, and Sirius Black immediately drew his wand and pointed it at the newcomer.

But the next moment he stopped preparing to cast a spell—it was two house-elves.

If nothing unexpected happens, it should be those two.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Blake."

"Good afternoon, Master."

They bowed almost simultaneously.

"It's almost evening, I need to eat dinner..."

Startled, Sirius instinctively complained—if a wizard randomly Apparates into someone else's room, it will be considered an attack.

“It’s not evening, Mr. Black, we haven’t had dinner yet, it’s afternoon.”

Dobby was somewhat serious.

“Yes,” Gold Coin chimed in, “At night, the Dementors come and suck up happiness to start their dinner, so it’s afternoon now.”

Chapter 348 William is busy with planning

Everything in the office was very basic. Although Sirius wanted to make it more formal, the various restrictions of the secrecy law made it extremely difficult.

Unless Sirius Black completely abandons magic and wands, hiring Muggles is out of the question.

But what normal wizard would give up their wand? Especially Sirius Black, who spent so long in Azkaban, only picking up his wand again after being officially cleared of suspicion.

'Although these two little elves don't seem very reliable, it's still best to hire them unless something too outrageous happens...'

"Okay... let's do a simple assessment."

He addressed the two guests.

He redeemed Jinbi from his bondage, so he's practically one of us now. Therefore, he'll definitely prioritize assessing Duobi, who's in charge of cooking.

To his surprise, despite being cursed with the Oblivion Curse, Dobby was an excellent cook and a whiz at housework. Apart from needing a salary, he perfectly fit all the criteria for a house-elf.

“Very good, you’re hired, Dobby.”

As he ate the food on the table, Sirius nodded and began to question his existence—why had he been so presumptuous as to try cooking for himself all these days? Was he cursed?

"So, let's talk about salary. Seven gallons a week, and then, well, how about one day off a week? The holiday is a bit short—let's raise the salary to nine gallons."

He originally planned to give Dobby a two-day weekend, as his firm had been open for a while and he was quite familiar with the market. However, considering that he would have to take care of his own meals on both weekend days, he chose to increase his salary.

Dobby took two steps back, looking utterly incredulous.

'Is one day a week too harsh?'

"No, no, no! Too much, Mr. Black, too much! Dobby is a free spirit, but Dobby loves to work, and the pay and vacation time are too much!"

Dobby screamed, expressing his dissatisfaction.

“One Gallon a week, one day off a month! That’s enough, Mr. Black!”

"One Galon? That's too few..."

Sirius frowned. His agency's income was quite substantial, and even if the amount that could be exchanged for Galleons wasn't much, this was still too much...

However, Dobby was stubbornly insistent, as if under a spell—either accept the salary or he left…

'The family that rejected him before is simply hopeless…'

In the end, Sirius accepted the contract, which he considered extremely harsh, and hired Dobby.

On the other hand, the little sprite named Gold Coin was surprisingly easy to handle—although he refused to do wiping, washing, cooking, or other services, he readily accepted the position of assistant.

In short, he can help restrain cats and dogs, cooperate in tracking adulterers, and use his skills to provide any assistance in major cases—unless there are a large number of Muggles, in which case even using the Disillusionment Charm would be detected.

"This is also a kind of adventure, Master. I like this kind of life!"

After getting a basic understanding of what Sirius was doing, Gold Coin decisively abandoned the rhetoric he had prepared for half a day—he had originally wanted to persuade Sirius to invest in his expedition team, but it seemed that the detective assistant was quite interesting as well.

-

Hogwarts professors have a great deal of autonomy in their selection.

In short, after the two professors of self-defense techniques met and discussed the matter, the same announcement appeared in the lounges of all four academies.

Course Adjustment Notice;

Due to the need to prepare for a large class, the self-defense class for sixth graders next week will be moved to Wednesday morning. The original class will be replaced with herbalism. The fourth graders' class...

Except for the first graders who were already scheduled to attend classes that day, all other grades had their class times adjusted.