From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

Few in Slytherin wanted to hear the Weasley surname, because it was truly disgusting to them…

Attacking based on bloodline is inappropriate—basically, you can easily find out that your family is related to the Weasleys by some means; they are purebloods…

To say they're poor isn't true; not every Slytherin family is wealthy. Besides, according to rumors, the Headmaster's family wasn't well-off either. After spending some time at the school, no one brought up these insults anymore.

What's even more infuriating is that Weasley's children have exceptionally good grades—three in a row!

They finally got a pair of mediocre twins, but this pair was surprisingly popular, attracting a whole bunch of troublemakers to form a small group—this kind of cohesion is more effective than grades in the eyes of some pure-blooded families…

But now those twins have become much more infuriating. After they got a perfect score in the last competition, many families wrote to them questioning whether they had lied about the Weasley twins. How could they get a perfect score when their grades weren't good?

It's infuriating.

"They have perfect scores in the fifth year of both colleges, so they look down on us."

"Who? The twins?"

"Cedric is one thing, but those two cheated their way into getting a perfect score and they still have the nerve to look down on us?"

"But it's true that they got a perfect score. They were even planning to beat us in the OWLS exam... We just couldn't take it anymore. We were actually being outdone by Gryffindor in our studies."

Seeing that the situation had been stirred up enough, the Ravenclaw prefect immediately got up to take his leave—if he continued talking, he himself would want to go and beat up the twins.

Anyway, Slytherin certainly wouldn't be so foolish as to ask Gryffindor for verification, so that's good enough.

Slytherin has a strict hierarchy, and I'm sure that when Geoffrey goes back and talks about the Slytherin students, he'll be indignant and try to put Gryffindor above them. That's for sure.

"Hmm... what about Gryffindor... how about Slytherin trying to outperform them in overall grades?"

"No, no, there are two perfect scores..."

"Just tell them to pay attention to the unusual behavior of Slytherins—they'll fill in the rest of the story themselves!"

After thinking about it for a long time, he finally made a decision.

"There's only one left. How should we trick Hufflepuff?"

Chapter 360 Professors and Examinations

The examiners cannot start the exam as soon as they arrive; that would be against the rules.

Although the school cannot provide students with the benefit of cheating, it still needs to do the necessary work.

They checked every corner of the exam room, cast all sorts of anti-cheating spells, and reconfirmed that the exam papers would not be affected by common cheating spells, as well as various rituals that would never be circulated outside the exam room to disable common cheating magic items.

The school will not interfere in any of these aspects to ensure the authority of the results—the reason why OWLS results are recognized by the entire wizarding world is because of the members of the Examinations Authority, which are beyond the influence of the Ministry of Magic.

"Why are you more worried than I am..."

William looked at Lupin in his office, who wasn't even enjoying his chocolate, and couldn't help but laugh. "Your student won't be taking the exam, so why are you in such a hurry?"

"That's the Order of Merlin!"

Lupin looked at him with a disappointed expression. As a poor wizard who had spent half his life drifting in the gray areas of the magical world, he knew better than anyone the importance of the Order of Merlin. It was proof that the British magical community was endorsing you, and even a pure-blood would have to pay a high price to obtain it. When the Ministry of Magic was in financial difficulty, it took stacks of Galleons to exchange for such a medal that represented recognition.

"You are a professor at Hogwarts."

William leaned forward and placed his hands on the table. "Professor Lupin, don't take that medal too seriously."

“You don’t understand at all, Professor William. There’s still some time before the self-defense exam. Perhaps we can prepare some practice questions…” Lupin stood up abruptly. “That’s the Order of Merlin. I swear, when you wear it on a formal occasion, you’ll realize just how important it is!”

“Sigh…” William spread his hands. If he didn’t produce something real, Lupin would probably keep harping on the medal. He had originally planned to use it after the exam to provoke Lupin into not resigning.

“We need to close the door,” William said, as he cast a sound-blocking spell and a magic lock on the door.

After casting the spell again to confirm that everything was alright, he began rummaging through his drawer.

Soon, a large pile of letters appeared on the table. William pointed to the pile of letters and gestured for Lupin to take a look.

"This is?"

Lupin opened the first letter—he was quite familiar with the markings on it.

He worked for three years at an amulet shop with this symbol, earning half the salary of a normal wizard, but at least they were willing to provide him with a job.

Out of curiosity, he opened the letter, glanced at it, and put it down after only a couple of seconds.

"Two hundred gallons a month for consulting fees, just to have your name listed on his shop?"

Lupin put down the letter. "This is outrageous..."

"There's more, let's open it up and see..."

"A crash course in self-defense magic? What kind of organization is this—I've never heard of it before? Three hundred Galleons a month…wow, just one class on the weekend?"

"Is this French?"

Lupin stammered as he translated, "A month of summer classes, three lessons a week, and they're asking for... are they crazy? A thousand Galleons?"

“Earn pureblood money and experience Hogwarts’ self-defense magic education during the summer—you know, after all, we have Dumbledore.” William smiled, picked up his cup and took a sip of water. “Authentic Hogwarts education. I bet if I really went, they could charge several thousand more Galleons just for tuition.”

"The rest are mostly things like this—nothing formally organized. After all, I haven't been at Hogwarts long enough, and people are worried I might suddenly leave..." William said, destroying the contraptions one by one with his wand. "There was one proper one, though, inviting me to join the International Anti-Dark Magic Organization. Unfortunately, I know far too much dark magic; I'd feel a little awkward going in..."

The purpose of collecting these letters was to overwhelm Lupin with those numbers. He wouldn't go; he didn't need Galleons much. Although Professor McGonagall probably wouldn't say anything if he went, it would be too beneath him.

To be honest, if it weren't for those letters, William wouldn't even know that correspondence courses existed in the magical world—he originally thought that the entire magical world either went to magic schools or received traditional wizarding education like him. However, those strange letters told him the truth: not every wizard can go to a magic school (note).

“Professor Lupin,” William said, having dealt with the last letter, turning all the scrap into an irreparable ball of paper and tossing it aside, “theoretically every British wizard can enroll at Hogwarts, but the professorship is awarded to the best selected from the entire British wizarding community.”

"To be honest, if the school hadn't been so short of professors, we probably wouldn't have been able to step through the doors of Hogwarts as adults—you'd heard about the curse associated with this course before you even enrolled, right?"

Lupin paused for a moment, then finally nodded—how could he not have heard? The news that Lockhart had to transfer to St. Mungo's Hospital because of memory magic had been the subject of much discussion in the newspapers for days; those were the last words he left for the entire wizarding world.

"But what if I told you that the curse is real?"

"Really?"

"Yes, it's not just a rumor, it's a real curse. I only recently felt the power of that curse while researching Felix Felicis—"

Since he was ready to lay everything out in the open, William naturally revealed the excuse he had prepared long ago.

“A vague, unsettling feeling that’s been clinging to me,” William said, spreading his arms. “It’s like the feeling of being enveloped in good fortune after drinking Felix Felicis. If I hadn’t been cursed, had done some research on it, and started to understand Felix Felicis, I would never have been able to find that feeling.”

Only someone who is cursed, more skilled in curses than him, and also adept at potion research could expose this lie; he wasn't afraid of his boast being exposed at all.

"But this is something that can't be admitted to the outside world. It's a curse left behind by that Dark Lord, and you and I both know that he's still alive—"

The news that the Dark Lord appeared in the castle and even possessed the back of a former professor's head had spread so widely that any professor who was willing to inquire would know some inside information, and Lupin couldn't possibly be unaware of it.

“So—” Lupin looked at William, his eyes full of helplessness, “in order to find a way to deal with the Dark Lord, I have to stay, right?”

...

Why are you, a Gryffindor, wearing Ravenclaw clothes?

The emotional build-up hasn't been established yet—it's all scattered and lacks a general outline to integrate the main points and achieve the goal of persuasion. You're not playing by the rules here!

“Yes… to be honest, the students need you, Lupin—last year they were all ruined by Professor Lockhart, and you've been in charge for a year, so you should know what they learned last year.”

“But I told Dumbledore before I came that I would only work for a year—my last lecture was already scheduled to be about werewolves.”

"Leave it to Headmaster Dumbledore, he'll take care of everything."

This kind of thing should of course be left to the all-powerful principal—they are just diligent professors who have done their jobs well. Teaching good classes and guiding students well is enough to fulfill their duties. How to get the outside world to accept Lupin's continued tenure is, of course, up to the principal.

"All right…"

Lupin finally made a hesitant decision and left William's office with a heavy heart—his firm plan to leave had been canceled, and he was now even more confused.

He didn't remember his purpose until he reached the door.

"About the medal."

“Trust the students—” William’s face was full of confidence and joy, “They will handle everything!”

-

No matter how many students wish the exam could be delayed, no matter how much homework they regret not finishing, the exam still arrives along with the relentless passage of time.

“George…”

Fred sat in the chair, his buttocks shifting restlessly as if under some strange spell, unable to sit still at all.

"I'm nervous too... Damn... I didn't feel this way during last year's final exams..."

George, too, seemed to be under a curse; the comfortable chair turned into a brazier, making it impossible for him to stop moving.

The twins' nervousness dampened the spirits of the entire Gryffindor school—usually, the twins were the ones who eased everyone's tension before exams, always managing to cheer everyone up with funny jokes and harmless magical items, preventing worries about failing. But today, their nervousness was truly...

But the tension couldn't stop the passage of time. Before long, the fifth graders and seventh graders were led to the lobby to wait for the auditorium exam room to be set up.

We have to do something!

The unfamiliar tension made the twins unsteady on their feet. After exchanging glances, they finally nodded to each other as if to confirm their feelings, and then walked to the edge of the foyer.

They drew their wands from each other, then stepped back five paces facing each other and bowed.

“Let’s begin, George…”

"Okay, my brother."

The two drew their wands, preparing to cast the Ironclad Charm on themselves, but after exchanging a glance, they gave up.

"Obstacles are numerous!"

The same spell was used again, and the two people who hadn't defended or dodged were knocked to the ground by the magic, then struggled to get up.

The students who were closest to the scene immediately gathered around—they were also more or less nervous, and naturally wouldn't let go of anything that might distract them.

The gathering crowd quickly attracted the attention of the prefects, and Percy, who was still planning his graduation arrangements, was also soon alerted.

"What are you doing!"

He shouted, then quickly pushed through the crowd and entered the circle, where he saw a scene that surprised him.

His two twin brothers were dueling, laughing as they attacked each other.

"Nonsense!"

As he scolded him, he pulled out his wand and flicked his wrist. The next moment, Fred was hung upside down, while George was immediately immobilized by a petrification spell.

Percy quickly removed their wands, then put Fred down, summoned bandages with his wand to secure him, and tossed him against the wall. George followed him over.

"Today is exam day!"

Percy first shooed the onlookers back, then squatted down in front of the two men with a sigh and began to complain in a low voice.