From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

"He's joking!"

Inside the Ministry of Magic's office, Fudge stared at the letters before him, feeling as if the sky had lost its color.

He felt like he was drinking the last bite of soup and then saw a cockroach; he wished he could vomit.

That Professor Lupin, the 'former hitter' who was praised by him many times in the newspapers and was considered one of our men, was actually a werewolf!

According to the Daily Prophet's continuous reports, it was this wise minister who sent Lupin to protect Harry in order to capture Sirius Black, who had not yet been cleared of suspicion. It was also under his leadership that Lupin found the truth and solved this cold case that had lasted for more than ten years.

All of this was quite wonderful. The people no longer complained that he, the minister who took office in peacetime, lacked the courage to do practical things, nor did they clamor that Sirius's escape was due to the Ministry of Magic's incompetence.

But all of this is predicated on the fact that he didn't send a werewolf...

The Ministry of Magic sent a werewolf to Hogwarts as a professor—those parents will tear him to pieces!

He even wanted to curse Dumbledore—why did you have to hire a werewolf as a professor!

But after hesitating for a moment, he gave up cursing Dumbledore—compared to letting Sirius continue to escape, sending a werewolf was nothing. The former was a direct questioning of the Ministry of Magic's capabilities, while the latter was a suspicion arising from the werewolf.

If Dumbledore and the Ministry of Magic jointly acknowledged the werewolf professor's reliability, public doubts would be greatly suppressed—and Dumbledore would be happy to use his own credibility to endorse the werewolf.

So, the problem is no longer a problem, even though he doesn't like werewolves and even intends to pass Umbridge's proposed werewolf bill.

But what does it matter?

The bill that wasn't introduced should just be cancelled. If Dumbledore is willing to support the werewolves, then he can support the werewolves with Dumbledore. Just use that so-called wolfsbane potion. After drinking it, Professor Lupin will become harmless.

Thinking about this, he calmed down and called his secretary over.

"Please call Dolores for me; I need to talk to her about something."

"Yes, Minister."

Although this was somewhat disrespectful to a deputy minister of magic, neither Fudge nor the secretary felt anything was wrong—the deputy minister was deputy minister not because of her outstanding abilities, but because she was obedient enough to fulfill the minister's requests without compromise and by any means necessary.

Senior Deputy Minister Umbridge was quickly summoned, and she greeted Fudge in her usual high-pitched, girlish voice.

Good afternoon, Dolores.

Fudge stood up, smiling kindly, "Please sit down."

"Do you remember your draft law about werewolves?"

"Yes, Minister."

“Stop it, and then make a draft that is more lenient than the current law.”

Fudge spoke these almost joking words in a serious tone, but Umbridge, sitting opposite him, did not hesitate at all, as if those harsh and time-consuming laws were not her creation.

To what extent do I need to make concessions?

"It would be better if things looked more peaceful. We should also communicate with the Daily Prophet. We need to gradually get people to accept the fact that our striker Lupin is a werewolf over the next period of time."

"Yes, Minister."

Chapter 364 Lupin's Secret

Hermione?

Harry called Hermione's name softly; she looked somewhat...mad.

I don't know if it was due to her incredible class schedule or the OWLs exam that just ended.

Seeing that she didn't react, Harry couldn't help but call out again.

"what…"

Hermione looked up at Harry, puzzled. "Wh...what's wrong?"

"Um, would you like to go back and rest for a bit?"

Harry asked cautiously—Hermione's condition was getting worse and worse, something he had never dared to imagine before.

"No need...but...that..."

Hermione hesitated for a long time, her mind in a daze, but in the end she still couldn't bring herself to reveal the biggest secret she was keeping in her heart.

Their professor, Professor Lu Ping, who is outstanding in every way, is actually a werewolf!

Already plagued by a chaotic sleep schedule, she became even more listless after swallowing this secret—the accusations were too serious; she had even violated regulations by using a time-tamper to observe the professor, but no matter how she looked at it, no matter how she thought about it, the professor was a werewolf…

Should I tell Harry and the others this secret?

Should I report this to the dean?

'Who should I consult? And who can guarantee that they won't spread this information carelessly and cause negative consequences?'

Countless thoughts tangled together, pushing her to the brink of collapse.

Sensing that Harry seemed to have discovered something, Hermione made an excuse to leave, almost taking the homework she had promised them, and wandered around the castle corridors in a panic.

“Excuse me, Miss Granger,” a voice suddenly came from the wall, startling Hermione.

She finally calmed down and realized that the sudden voice came from a ghost—to be precise, their Gryffindor ghost, Nick, who was almost headless.

Because Hermione consistently brought many points to the House, the House Ghost was always friendly to her.

"Hello, Sir."

“You seem to be looking for something, Miss Granger—is something missing?”

Hermione initially wanted to find an excuse to trick the kind ghost, but ultimately hesitated and gave up.

Perhaps there's a room inside the castle that can solve the mystery—after all, there's already a mysterious Room of Requirement, isn't there?

"I have some minor issues...and I don't know who to discuss them with..."

She carefully considered not revealing the most important information in order to protect her professor Lupin from being harmed by this matter—as a so-called 'Mudblood' who had been humiliated by Slytherin, she understood better than others why Lupin concealed his identity.

"Is that the secret you told the professor, because it has particularly bad consequences...?"

"I can't tell the professor..."

Nick hesitated—"Even Hogwarts doesn't have a place like that, but if you're willing to listen to the advice of someone who keeps secrets, I suggest you go to Professor William."

"Professor William?"

"Yes, he was happy to answer questions for each deceased person and never revealed those secrets to anyone. He was trustworthy."

He said it with certainty.

After thinking for a moment, he added, "Moreover, he is good at handling all kinds of problems, the principals trust him, and he is strong enough to deal with the problems within the castle!"

"Professor William?"

“Yes, that’s right,” Nick, who was almost headless, affirmed earnestly.

-

"Professor William, how difficult would that be?"

Lupin sat opposite William and pushed a test paper towards him.

Their desks were piled high with all sorts of OWL original questions, and the floor around them was covered with reference papers that William had made himself.

After a brief but important conversation with Dumbledore, his already strong desire to stay became even stronger. As a result, he began to actively participate in the editing of the final exam papers and even volunteered to learn how to guess the thoughts of the question setters.

"If we're talking about fourth graders, I remember quite a few of them got zero because of their extreme behavior. The scores you gave are a bit too low based on the percentages you've calculated. I suggest we lower the difficulty a bit more."

William quickly calculated the scores for the next four years and offered his own suggestions.

He was very willing to share some tips on setting exam questions with other professors, regardless of which professor they were.

There's no need to be so stingy with our knowledge; it's a good thing that students' grades are improving. Although Hogwarts may not have any rivals in Britain, there are so many magic schools around the world that there's bound to be competition. Isn't the Triwizard Tournament going to be held next year?

"Dong dong dong."

Just as William was offering his opinion that revising the questions would significantly reduce their difficulty, there was a careful knock on the office door.

"Please come in."

Just as William drew his wand to take some defensive measures, Lupin's voice rang out.

Just as William looked at Lupin curiously, Lupin finally noticed something was wrong—this didn't seem to be his office.

However, the door had already been opened, and Hermione cautiously peeked in, her face showing heavy dark circles and confusion.

Then, as if she had been burned by flames, she quickly pulled her head back, leaving William stunned—what's going on? If you do this, my reputation will be ruined!

After carefully examining himself and confirming that there was nothing inappropriate about his attire, William noticed the test paper on the ground.

'Okay...it's a little scary.'

William shook his head, clapped his hands, and then the papers began to fly up and were neatly stacked on another table.

"Professor William, if I didn't look at your face, I would never have believed you were a young professor—"

Lupin shook his head. "Honestly, you can only see this kind of skill in elderly professors."

"You'll get used to it after a few more tests, Professor Lu Ping."

William responded jokingly while calling out loudly towards the door, "Come in, Miss Granger, I've already prepared the exam papers."

However, contrary to his expectations, Hermione timidly entered, holding out the book list. "I'm sorry, Professor Lupin, I went to your office but you weren't here..."

She turned to a page in the book; it contained a particularly obscure curse.

This explanation makes perfect sense. Lupin sat on the other side of the desk and chuckled.

Even a kind-hearted person like Lupin would feel a little upset if his students asked questions of other professors and he didn't get an explanation.

"Then I'll answer."

William said with a chuckle, "Let's also see what kind of questions could stump our third-grade champion."

“Hmm, very interesting… To be honest, Miss Granger, I now suspect you can pass the OWLs test, a curse that many fifth-year students don’t even know.”

William traced a line on the table with his finger, and a piece of parchment floated over and landed next to his finger.

"This is actually a variant spell, somewhat similar to transfiguration—"

William pointed his finger at the parchment, and the flying ink blob quickly formed letters on the parchment, recording what William had said.

...

That's about it.