From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

Even at lunchtime, he regretted wasting too much time in the swamp level, which meant that by the time he got there, the stone spheres had already been destroyed by the trolls, meaning he could no longer get a perfect score.

Of course, he believed that the stone ball would eventually be repaired by the Weasley named Percy from Gryffindor, but that was none of his business.

'Take a break...'

He followed the crowd back to the lounge, then went straight to his bedside—yes, it was time for him to rest.

"Herbert, how's your Transfiguration homework coming along?"

"It's in your bag, take it yourself..."

The fatigue from studying late into the night for several days, coupled with the excitement of the competition, made it easy for him to fall asleep.

"How long have I slept?"

He woke up reluctantly, still half-asleep.

"You're awake? Class is about to start!"

"Oh, I'll get up now..."

He mumbled as he got up, looked at his roommate who had called him, and then reached for the magic wand.

"Get away from it!"

He warned his roommates—it was an enormous eight-eyed spider, with eight eyes and eight legs, black and hairy, as big as a sheepdog, large enough to hunt young humans.

"What are you saying, Herbert?"

His roommate looked puzzled. "Are you referring to Ral?"

He reached out and touched the enormous spider as if he were petting a puppy. Herbert could even see the spider, named Lar, trembling—though such a word is inaccurate to describe a spider, Herbert truly saw it.

"You've been naughty again, Ral."

His roommate, somewhat disgruntled, pulled out his wand and uttered the terrible spell before Herbert could react.

"Heart-piercing and bone-scraping!"

What a joke! You're insane, that's an unforgivable curse!

However, the spell's effect doesn't lie. The moment the spell was uttered, all of the eight-eyed giant spider's legs retracted and pressed tightly against its body.

It even rolled over and began to convulse violently with all its limbs; just by looking at it, you could tell how much pain it must be in.

"Are you crazy! Stop it!"

Even if this is the Slytherin common room, using the Unforgivable Curse would be extremely unwise—there are plenty of Slytherins who want to send another Slytherin to Azkaban!

"Why are you such a spoilsport today, Herbert?"

His roommate put away his wand in dissatisfaction. "The pets the school assigned to us for duels, can't they even get a taste of spells beforehand?"

"What nonsense are you spouting!"

Is the Unforgivable Curse used so casually? Also, when did schools start distributing magical creatures of level XXXXX danger to their students?

"What nonsense are you spouting! You've been acting strange ever since. Is it because you had a fight with your new roommate and decided to support him? Are you also planning to support aristocratic traditions? Huh?"

What new roommate? We're in fifth grade already, where would we get a new roommate?

Chapter 355 The Trial of the Trio

"Next batch!"

When a student was knocked out, Lupin immediately ran over to help, while William remained where he was, giving orders to the remaining third-year students.

Another redhead, and without a doubt, from the Weasley family.

His name was something like Ron?

William was just about to offer a word of encouragement when another child was slapped away.

"One more student, please."

He immediately changed his mind, and then Harry stepped forward.

William gave him an encouraging look—Lupin probably wouldn't be able to come anytime soon, so he was the only one who could encourage the students.

But then, the seventh graders from another passage brought out students covered in mud.

"One more person, please."

William controlled his expression, making himself appear calm.

Then, Hermione Granger, who was first in the third grade, stepped forward.

"Good luck to you."

William waved his wand, granting the three basic protection, and then offered his blessing.

The three of them nodded to each other and then entered the track separately.

-

"Quite busy," Lupin said, sitting down in a chair after dealing with the three students. "They've all ended up together. Are Harry and his two friends the new ones?"

“Yes,” William nodded, casually pulling out a small handful of candy, staring at it for a moment, then pushing it to Lupin, before pulling a straw from his pocket and holding it in his mouth. “How many of them do you think will make it?”

“Miss Granger should be fine,” Lupin affirmed. “Harry, his overall knowledge is still a bit lacking… but it shouldn’t be a big problem. As for Weasley…”

Lupin shook his head. As the professor who had personally set up the exam room, he was well aware of the difficulty of the assessment, and judging from Ron Weasley's classroom performance, he didn't have much faith in the boy.

"I think it's about the same..."

William nodded, then stopped worrying about it, took his students' grade records, and began to calculate the percentage of final grades.

This test was a bit too difficult, so he planned to give them a huge number of final exam papers and increase their percentage of written test scores so they could have a good summer vacation—judging from their performance this academic year, the students had worked hard enough and deserved a higher score.

-

"The professor said that students in fourth grade and above are not allowed to damage the walls, which means..."

Harry walked down the aisle, calculating the distance to the lower grades' track.

The scoring method for this exam is very interesting. You get points for each level you pass, but to get a perfect score, you either need to get the stone ball, avoid making mistakes, or simply accumulate points like Fred and George did to get a perfect score.

Abandoning the level will cost me my base score, but it will also give me a lot more time, allowing the giant to destroy the stone sphere after the allotted time.

Although reason told him that he should honestly overcome those obstacles and save as much time as possible to obtain the stone ball.

But an irresistible urge made him raise his wand against the wall.

"This way, the lower grades' track!"

He quickly broke through the wall and crawled inside. After repeating this twice, he found the path he needed.

"The finish line is over there," he quickly estimated, then cast the Ironclad Charm on himself again and sprinted off.

The unused sections of the track only had basic traps, which were easy for Harry to handle. He even crushed the traps all the way to the finish line.

"It's over there!"

As Harry ran, he raised his wand and cast the Disarming Charm, disarming the troll that hadn't even figured out what was happening.

The giant wooden stick flew into the air, causing the giant to raise its head to look at its own stick and clumsily reach out its weapon to try to grasp it again.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Harry used Transfiguration on the ground slightly in front of the troll's feet—he had already started thinking about how to deal with these guys while watching the students being sent flying in the stands.

He still vividly remembers that giant monster, especially its short, thick legs that resemble tree stumps and its flat, calloused feet—all of which meant that those legs were constantly under tremendous pressure.

Under the transformation spell, the soil in that area began to soften rapidly, fill with water, and turn into a swamp—compared to the troll's small head, the ground beneath its massive feet was incredibly easy to aim at.

It's a little off-center.

Harry glanced at it and immediately received this feedback. Almost without thinking, he cast a Summoning Charm at the troll, who had regained his grip on the weapon—a stick that was practically a tree with its branches removed.

Having regained its weapon, the giant was naturally unwilling to lose it so easily. It gripped the stick tightly, and naturally, it was pulled forward a step by the stick.

The land, now a swamp, immediately taught the behemoth a lesson. It stumbled forward and fell, its mountain-like body swaying, looking quite imposing.

"Legs stiffen and he dies!"

Harry swung his wand again, shattering the giant's last effort. With a flash of light, the troll, trying to regain its balance, slowly but steadily tumbled downwards with a whooshing sound.

A levitation charm lifted the stone ball, freeing it from the troll's control before it crashed down. Before the stone ball even hit the ground, Harry had already waved his wand again, transforming the spot where the troll had crashed into a large rock.

"sky!"

Percy's scream suddenly rang out, and with his shout, the rock rapidly turned to sand, becoming soft sand before the troll fell.

"boom!"

The huge impact kicked up a cloud of sand, but even so, the giant was still dazed and confused and couldn't stand up at all. Percy jogged over and gave it a quick check-up.

After confirming, Percy felt relieved and cast a sleeping spell, then looked at Harry and said:

Thank goodness!

For some reason, Harry felt that the words weren't directed at him.

"How did you manage to escape through the closed passage, and so quickly at that—but anyway, you got a perfect score, well done, Harry!"

Percy patted Harry on the shoulder, then casually summoned a flying broom from the other wall and handed it to Harry.

"Enjoy the cheers, Harry!"

Taking the broom and using magic to lift the stone ball, Harry felt right at home—except for one thing he couldn't quite understand: why was Percy so quick, as if he wanted to get rid of him?

But that's not important. The most important thing now is to leave with the champion's stone ball.

He casually mounted his broom, lightly touched the ground, and gracefully glided across the ground like a swallow. The stone ball, guided by the wand, flew up, but Harry stopped it with his hand, and then, under the control of the wand, it flew up along with the broom.

The broom shot into the sky, flying straight into the air. The enchanted stone ball began to turn completely golden as it rose higher, resembling a giant golden thief.

With the giant burglar in tow, Harry began to fly around the area.

The Gryffindors rose again and cheered, just like Harry had caught the Snitch in a Quidditch match.

Like a master thief, Harry expertly displayed the large golden stone ball before it glided in a beautiful arc all the way to the professors' table.

Lupin stood up, clapped, and grinned. "Well done, Harry!"

"Gryffindor, Harry Potter, perfect score!"

Lupin's amplified voice filled the entire arena, and the Gryffindor seats erupted in cheers once again. Professor McGonagall's complexion had visibly improved.