From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

I do not want any students to engage in similar imitative behavior. Such behavior should not be encouraged, and the students involved have already been severely punished. Therefore, I hope that the class leaders, as well as our newly appointed male and female student council presidents, will ensure that no student engages in similar high-risk actions.

Chapter Fifty: Double Happiness?

"Headmaster Dumbledore was really frightened by what happened in the first half of the year, otherwise he wouldn't have said that."

"It's hard to say. I think it's more likely that Professor McGonagall forced Dumbledore to make a statement."

William had barely finished returning the greetings to the students when he heard the young professors begin commenting on Dumbledore's earlier speech.

However, this was just as Dumbledore announced the start of the banquet, and the entire Great Hall was bustling with noise, so even though everyone was sitting at the same long table, there was no need to worry about the headmaster, who was sitting in the middle, hearing their conversations.

"This is the first time I've realized I can get so nervous in front of a bunch of students that my hands are sweating. How did you guys manage back then?"

William asked, half-jokingly, as he wiped the sweat from his hands with his wand.

"What else can we do? Everyone's like that. You'll get nervous and it'll pass. Anyway, when it's time for class, the number of students won't make you feel nervous at all."

The speaker was a male wizard in his early twenties with slightly thinning hair, Professor Singed, one of the alchemy professors.

"Come on, alchemy classes are only open to students in sixth grade and above. The first time I taught, I taught first-year students. To be honest, I was more nervous than the students."

Several professors around them laughed together; clearly, nervousness during the first class was a common problem for both students and teachers.

Seeing everyone's approval, Professor Adams, who was speaking, chuckled. He was one of the professors of herbal medicine, and his years of work in the herbal greenhouse had given him a rather muscular physique.

"Guess how I managed to calm down?"

Professor Adams kept everyone in suspense, then began to work on the roasted potatoes on the table.

"A goblin got into the greenhouse?"

"The student was bitten by a plant?"

……

After a long while, Adams announced the answer triumphantly.

"I didn't know what to say at the time. Then a naughty freshman stepped into the dragon dung heap. He was in a hurry and crashed headfirst into it. After I cleaned him up with my wand, he wasn't nervous at all."

As he spoke animatedly, he cut the roasted potato in half, the golden, gritty potato now gleaming enticingly in the candlelight.

William, who was about to tackle a piece of roast beef, silently put down his knife and fork.

The same thing happened to the professors around him.

"Adams!"

William saw a wand pointed at the young herbalism professor, but Professor McGonagall's gaze swept over them.

The scene immediately became peaceful.

"Hehe," the professor chuckled triumphantly, then reached for the fattest piece of lamb. "If you don't eat it, I won't be polite. I have to eat at least one meal a day in the greenhouse."

"Eat up, eat up. Look at your manners, and look at Professor Lockhart over there. He's much better than you. I bet he won't be nervous during his first class."

"Of course! This is the first time someone has introduced themselves again after being introduced by the headmaster. Honestly, did you guys see that book list?"

"I saw it, just like seeing the Daily Prophet's report. To be honest, I never expected him to choose to take a position at the school—"

The professor who was speaking glanced at William and said, "I'm sorry, Professor William, I'm used to calling you by your old name, and I really can't remember it right now."

"In any case, I suspect he's here to deal with that curse, and maybe there really is hope, Professor William."

The professors speaking were all very young, some even still in their studies and not yet officially employed—only the course on wizarding self-defense magic was taught without prior training or the practice of experienced professors mentoring new ones, due to the extreme scarcity of professors. (Hagrid had many years of experience raising magical creatures, and judging from the preferences of his predecessor, Kettleburn, Hagrid should have been learning from him regularly.)

'Is Professor Lockhart really that prestigious among the younger professors?'

William's impression of Professor Lockhart was once again refreshed—judging from the comments of the young professors around him, the professor who looked like a bookseller was quite an impressive figure.

While boasting can be somewhat distasteful, sufficient ability can completely erase that negative impression.

A person who is capable and loves to show off is not just boastful; he has enough self-confidence!

Unfortunately, Professor Lockhart didn't notice the corner of the table where he was discussing a problem with some older professors—if William wasn't mistaken, those were probably Professor Lockhart's former teachers.

There's nothing strange about that; wealth and honor without returning home are like wearing brocade at night.

Before Dumbledore, the first white wizard, could even speak, it was clear that the other party was indeed quite capable. Was he, a professor from Azkaban, just there to fill a quota? Could it be that such a renowned figure as the other party was also just there to fill a quota?

With this in mind, William's appetite was whetted—the curse had been diluted, and his teammates, who were now bound together by the curse, seemed to be doing a great job. If he put in a little more effort, he might be able to finish ahead of schedule if he could get rid of the curse!

Thinking of this, William quickly filled his stomach and then excused himself to go to the toilet to leave.

Putting aside the three new boxes, the achievement that popped up is worth doing—who knows, today might be a double celebration, gaining another teammate with a chance to remove curses, or opening some new special card that directly boosts strength.

Avoiding the people around him, William opened the system, skipped the treasure chest, and went directly to the previously grayed-out achievements screen.

[If you're not happy, then hit me: Disliked by five or more people].

[Note: You can activate or deactivate this achievement at any time. When the achievement is activated, you are slightly more likely to be challenged.]

I must be crazy to install this, right?

William completely ignored this achievement—he wasn't surnamed Long, nor did he have the combat power; activating it would be doing himself a disservice.

[The villain's beginning: You're something else, being hated by the savior officially recognized in history books.]

[Note: You can activate or deactivate this achievement at any time. When activated, your research efficiency in black magic will increase without incurring any cost. —Indeed, you've already paid the cost in advance.]

Recorded in historical books?

William suddenly remembered all the books he had bought about Defense Against the Dark Arts—any book from the last ten years or so would solemnly mention a boy named Harry Potter and the being he had saved, known as the Dark Lord.

Why are you so hostile towards me when we've never even met?

Chapter Fifty-One: A Ghostly Encounter!

Dirty Snape (R); When you see him, your first reaction is to stay away from him!

Skill Aversion: Tear up this card to make a stranger dislike you with a high probability; the effect depends on the difference in strength.

Snape (R), a member of the Slytherin group, joined the Slytherin organization after entering Hogwarts in order to avoid being isolated. Most of the Slytherins became Death Eaters after graduation.

Skill Follower: Tear up this card and designate a target, making them likely to trust you. — Slightly less effective than a love potion, but still sufficient?

[Sherlock Snape (SR); In his first year after graduation, Snape and other members of the organization who graduated that year became Death Eaters.]

Skill: Dark Wizard; Tear this card to gain extremely fast learning speed for one designated dark spell.

Is this lousy system trying to lead me further and further down the path of a dark wizard?

William grumbled as he put the third card into his collection—probability cards are all scams.

[Silly Ronald (R): Some people have mastered curses that even seventh graders haven't mastered before they even enter school, while others come from magical families but try to cast a strange spell on a mouse.]

You've gotten used to the skill; tearing up this card will immediately calm you down and keep you unaffected by negative emotions for a period of time, the duration depending on your personal state. —Does it hurt? Yes, it hurts, that's because you've gotten used to it.

[Curse Failed - Ronald (R); Ronald attempts to curse his enemy, but his wand seems to disagree.]

Skill out of control; tearing up this card will likely cause the target's next spell to fail; the success rate depends on the difference in strength.

Ronald (R) is losing his temper again!

Skill: Enrage; tearing this card will likely enrage the target, with the success rate depending on the difference in strength.

What kind of bizarre cards are these? Both of them are negative cards?

William muttered as he chose the first card, which had no success rate, feeling like he had figured out a little bit of the pattern in gacha pulls.

[Harry (R) with messy hair; the poor kid, his hair has been cut off again!]

Skills grow rapidly; tearing this card will cause a part of your body or that of your designated target to quickly regenerate to its original state. Wounds caused by black magic, curses, or magical items will be greatly slowed down, but will not be canceled.

[Harry the Intimidator (SR); knock off a piece of glass, release a snake, say a few words, tsk, perfect revenge.]

Skill: Destroy this card. For the next five minutes, you can cast spells without a staff and change everything in your field of vision according to your will. The more changes, the shorter the skill duration.

【Meal Coupon】

First or second?

After some thought, William abandoned the seemingly powerful second card.

Many powerful dark spells can cause irreversible wounds, and if the descriptions of the two cards' effects are not misleading, the first card can even heal many wounds that normal magic cannot cure.

Although it can only be used once, it can at least serve as an arm or a leg—or even a head if used in time.

Currently burdened by the curse, William felt he should be prepared to lose an arm or a leg. The old professor he met today left a deep impression on him—that magical creature professor still had one and a half limbs left!

All three boxes contained negative cards, which made William begin to have some doubts about the card-drawing mechanism.

He wasn't too sure about others, but in the storyline he remembered, Harry deliberately told his competitors about the competition events because he knew in advance that the competition content would be unfair. Whether he would turn to the dark side afterward is unknown, but judging from this incident alone, his character before was definitely not bad, so how did he end up drawing a negative card?

Considering the messages attached to the cards and the hints from drawing a treasure chest, William suspected that when someone who approves of him treats him with friendliness, the chest will give him a positive card, and if it's negative, then it will give him a negative card.

'Here's the question: if someone with a positive emotional state experiences a shift to a negative one, and then recovers, will they start refreshing the box again? And vice versa?'

'If my emotions fluctuate, can I farm twice as many boxes?'

How many levels are there in the Affection Box?

These ideas floated through William's mind one by one, but there seemed to be no way to experiment with them at the moment—using affection as an experiment was too risky, and even the most dangerous magical experiments were safer than this.

Whether you're of the same sex or the opposite sex, you might be facing a machete—this is Britain!

William immediately abandoned the idea of ​​conducting the experiment—only villains would approach emotions with an experimental attitude.

Having made up his mind, William suddenly felt a little hungry.

I was in such a rush to open the box that I only managed a few bites of food. Now that the excitement of opening the box is gone, my stomach is starting to rumble.

"What are you thinking?"

A sudden female voice rang out, and William quickly turned around, preparing to make up an excuse such as being mesmerized by the decorations on the wall.

But when he turned his head, he froze on the spot.

There are ghosts!

It was a real ghost, not a fake one—a tall, slender ghost stood behind him, hovering a few inches off the ground.

What were you thinking about just now?

She repeated the question she had just asked.