From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

……

"Next group!"

As the three students came out, William immediately called out their names—strange, had George angered Mrs. Marchband to the point of fainting? Why is the exam still not over?

Fortunately, his fears did not come true. George came out after a short delay, his face full of happiness.

"He was laughing as if he had successfully removed the school's toilet seat."

William called in the next student, and then took the opportunity to complain to Lupin.

“What kind of professor talks about his students like that, Professor William—” Lupin retorted with a laugh, “But then again, Bigfoot laughed like that when he made a mistake.”

The two chuckled softly, trying to keep it from being heard by the students outside.

Chapter 363 The End of the Exam

"Finally... it's over."

Beside the carriage shed, a group of professors, led by Dumbledore, waved goodbye to the examiners—yes, Professor McGonagall had once again caught the Headmaster and brought him along to act as a mascot.

The OWLs and NEWTs exams, which lasted for more than two weeks, finally came to an end today.

Yeqi's carriage carried away the examiners and stacks of papers sealed by magic. These papers would be graded by multiple people over the next month, and then the Examination Authority would tally the results and deliver them to the candidates by owl.

Even though the seventh-grade exams were graded with priority, the complicated and confidential process still prevented them from receiving their results before the summer break.

This means that, starting today, seventh graders can be considered to have officially graduated—they are just one formal graduation ceremony away from leaving this place.

However, no one has the energy to wallow in sentimentality right now. The exams of the past two weeks have been tormenting the fifth and seventh graders, and also giving the professors a hard time. Both exams had penalties for cheating, ranging from expulsion to being sent directly to Azkaban. Even with repeated warnings from the professors, there are always those idiots who occasionally appear.

Fortunately, this year has been a peaceful year, with no cheaters appearing—that alone is enough for the professor to shout "Merlin, please bless us!"

It's not a pleasant thing for any professor to personally expel or even send their own students to Azkaban.

"A very happy day,"

Dumbledore watched the carriages disappear into the air, then turned around with a chuckle. "I think those students must be starving and worried sick. We should go to the Great Hall and have a good celebration."

I was so worried...

William couldn't help but smile—his current concern wasn't whether the students were worried or not, but whether those fifth-graders would dismantle the castle during this time!

With the seventh graders fanning the flames, it's hard to imagine what might happen—the only saving grace is that students in other grades have to prepare for their final exams and don't have time to go crazy with them, otherwise there would probably be more students in solitary confinement than in regular classes!

-

"No...why is it still not there?"

Sirius stood frozen by the roadside, wand in hand, but his face showed a look of unprecedented confusion.

To be on the safe side, he waited until the villagers had dug for a long time and were sure that no further land would raise any suspicion before he decisively made his move at night.

Without any protective spells, the land was like a giant lump of putty under the power of magic. He easily turned over the soil, trying to expose what was buried inside. With the help of Apparition, he searched through all the land he thought might contain bones in a very short time.

but.

Nothing was found—nail, worn-out boots, plastic packaging, landfill garbage, the occasional bone fragment of someone who may have died a violent death—everything was there, but there was no massive amount of white bones to prove the disappearance of an entire village…

"This is impossible!"

He stood there, muttering to himself, his face full of confusion.

His guess was wrong from the start—those people really did disappear, not killed and hidden in some corner of the land!

"How could he...disappear?"

Sirius looked at the gold coin, and the gold coin looked at him; both the human and the elf were simultaneously lost in confusion.

After a long while, Sirius finally came to his senses and cleaned up most of the traces of the last piece of land that had been disturbed. Only then did he leave with the gold coins and return to the house they rented in the next town.

"Welcome back, Mr. Blake."

Dobby bowed. "What kind of midnight snack should we prepare?"

"Just some bread will do."

Sirius gave the instructions, then sat down and began to ponder the question of where the missing people had gone.

Where do you think they'll be, the gold coins?

“Somewhere in the corner, Master.” Gold Coin sat in the chair, still a little uneasy. “When William told the story, he said that there were people who would do business in Azkaban, but no one would do business in delivering Galleons.”

"so?"

"So I think it's unreasonable for a wizard to go to such lengths to wipe out a group of Muggles without expecting anything in return. Even in a massacre, they wouldn't be so careful to move the bodies elsewhere. Who knows..."

Jinbi hesitated for a moment and didn't continue.

But Sirius immediately realized that Muggles were also materials in some forms of dark magic that wouldn't spread.

The infamous dark magic item, Hand of Glory, is a prime example.

The kidnapper who took a group of Muggles but not their belongings was not because he was not greedy, but because he thought that the Muggles in some village might be the treasure he wanted to plunder.

Thanks to a current Hogwarts professor, Sirius Black was very diligent in his Defense Against the Dark Arts class and has a very solid foundation.

The image of that quintessential product of dark magic instantly flashed into his mind—the Inferi, the corpse he had personally fought, controlled by Voldemort.

"A corpse?"

"It should be, Master."

"But why was such a remote place, such a desolate village, chosen?"

Sirius was even more puzzled. The Infernals couldn't Apparate, so what was the point of creating an entire village of Infernals in such a remote place?

The Yin Corpses are created for combat. Creating a large number of Yin Corpses in this remote wilderness that can't go very far is no different from creating a bunch of useless things. If you build a tourist resort in the deep mountains and forests and don't even build roads, who will go there?

Something's fishy!

Sirius and Gold Coin both thought of this problem at the same time.

"I'll go get the map!"

Gold Coin nearly lost its voice; it simply Apparated away, leaving Sirius with a still-shaking chair.

-

"It's so good that the castle wasn't demolished."

William followed the professors to the castle gate, and seeing that the castle was safe and sound, he felt relieved.

The end of the OWLs exams means that most of the work for this school year is done; all that remains is to organize final exams for other grades and hold a graduation ceremony for seventh graders.

"Another batch of students is about to leave," Adams remarked, then his tone brightened. "Summer vacation is almost here!"

The professors, who had been feeling a bit sentimental because of him, suddenly cheered up. After seeing off two of the most important groups of students, summer vacation was just around the corner.

"Cough cough."

Professor McGonagall coughed, silencing the group of excited professors—the seventh graders hadn't even left yet, what were they so happy about?

However, although people no longer discuss the summer vacation issue loudly, they still discuss it privately.

"William, where are you going to go for summer vacation?"

"I'm not going anywhere; I plan to devote myself to research for a while."

William responded quietly, "I think I've discovered something special, so I'm planning to organize it over the summer."

For some special reasons, he plans to disappear for a while this summer vacation, and he will also warn Lupin to hide for the summer vacation.

He knew all too well what the professor who was being replaced taught. If he didn't know the exact time, he would have even planned to drag Dumbledore along to ambush that Auror's house. Unfortunately, not only did Dumbledore not have that much free time, but even he himself didn't have that much free time.

Without Dumbledore around, wouldn't he just be sending himself to his death? So he can only ask his colleague next year to make do—after all, he needs to use Polyjuice Potion to sneak in, and killing the original owner is almost impossible—after being separated from the body for a period of time, things like hair will no longer be effective.

“That’s a shame. I was planning to invite you to go on vacation to Egypt with me—” Adams shook his head, puzzled. “Then I’ll have to go with Singed.”

"Yes, I have a really great plan for the Christmas holidays."

"Okay, it's settled then."

-

"The map is here, Master!"

The gold coins unfolded a huge map, a massive topographical map obtained from Muggle society for just a few pounds—the local area had made various attempts to develop tourism, even trying to offer low-cost summer travel services to certain social groups, but with little success.

The two amateurs practically buried their heads in the map, using their rudimentary theories to search for a place where a large number of undead corpses might be hiding to guard their secrets.

Hmm, this hilltop is fine.

That sea area is also nice.

This river—it seems very likely.

That abandoned factory over there looks exactly like it!

By the time Dobby arrived with a huge basket filled with roast chicken, smoked sausages, fresh white bread, and a whole bunch of other food, Sirius and Gold had already drawn a ton of circles on the map.

It's like a beginner playing Minesweeper; there are danger signs everywhere.

"The simple meal is ready. I've also prepared a bottle of white wine. Would you like to open it now?"

"Wait a moment, Dobby."

Sirius lay on the map and drew another circle.

When he and Jinbi started eating because they were hungry, they realized something was wrong—the map was almost completely covered, how long would it take to find it one by one?

-

"...We will continue to keep Hogsmeade Village open to fifth-year students until summer vacation, but Mr. Filch asked me to warn everyone that if you come back smelling of alcohol, he will arrest you and put you in solitary confinement."

Dumbledore's speech made William realize once again that the school had a deep understanding of the level of activity of this year's fifth graders—or rather, that the headmaster of Gryffindor knew his students very well, but the actual meaning was pretty much the same.

The fifth graders, exhausted from the exams, started cheering wildly. Their previous listless demeanor vanished instantly, and the Weasley brothers even started whistling—with Professor McGonagall present, after all!

"Also, I need to remind everyone that Hogsmeade is only open to fifth and seventh year students, and I hope that students of other years will keep this in mind."

William noticed that Dumbledore's gaze drifted towards Gryffindor for a moment, then looked away with a puzzled expression.

"Alright, let's begin our banquet!"

-