From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

"Do a good job."

William reached out and patted Adams on the shoulder. "Keep it up. I'll bring you some local specialties when I go back to school."

"Specialty items? You're staying at the Leaky Cauldron, what specialty items would you bring..."

Adams muttered a complaint, "I'll just have to wait for me to bring it from Egypt!"

"Speaking of which, you're being so secretive, saying you have new plans—where exactly are you planning to go?"

“It’ll be a secret for now,” William leaned back, glancing at the curious professors around him. “You’ll find out when school starts.”

Are you planning to switch careers and become a divination professor?

Adams grumbled irritably, then quickly cleaned himself up with his wand. "I need to check on those little ones' growth again before the holidays. See you at lunchtime!"

He waved and left the auditorium with a flourish.

"Is being a professor of herbal medicine really that tiring?"

Lupin sighed, realizing he hadn't noticed these details at all when he was at Hogwarts—the allure of summer vacation was too great for students; who would have time to care about anything else?

“The professor who’s always been the most overworked, besides teaching, he also has to take care of the greenhouse,” William said, tidying himself up with his wand as well. “Let’s recalculate the grades and see how we can make them look a little better.”

-

"Don't do it, George!"

"I know, but I'm starting to lose control of myself..."

George stared at the toilet in front of him, his wand trembling slightly – the other grades wouldn't be out until tomorrow, and the Hogwarts Express would depart the day after, speeding all the way to London to drop off the students.

Theoretically speaking, the best time for them to give a toilet seat to someone is before they get on the bus the day after tomorrow.

But now the two of them were stuck on this dilemma. They couldn't wait to take the toilet seat off and give it to Professor William as their last prank of the semester.

This was a vow the two of them made at the beginning of the school year, and they had to keep it!

"How about we don't wait until the day after tomorrow..."

George hesitated, looking at the toilet seat. "Let's take it off today. Solitary confinement is part of the prank, and I'd even tolerate having this thing hanging in the hallway. But honestly, if we do it on the last day, I'm worried it'll cause even bigger trouble..."

"I couldn't agree more...and the confinement itself was part of the prank."

As Fred spoke, he waved his wand and swiftly removed the toilet seat—after accepting the punishment of being locked up, he felt no qualms about taking it apart.

"Hurry up, we need to pack it up nicely and then send it by parcel!"

George decisively pulled out the wrapping paper and then skillfully began packing the toilet seat.

-

"Finally done."

William put away the compiled report card and then combined it with his own. "By the way, how's Sirius's side? It's been so long, and they still haven't made any progress?"

"He's only searched halfway through, but he's decided to give up for now so he can take Harry to enjoy the holiday."

Enjoying a vacation is fine...

An adventurous Gryffindor would actually interrupt an expedition he was only halfway through just to take care of his children… This joke would be met with a chorus of laughter and middle fingers even in Azkaban; nobody would believe it was even possible.

"how about you?"

"Blake invited me, but summer vacation is too long... and the moon is full..."

Lupin looked conflicted—he naturally wanted to spend the summer with Bigfoot, but he was cursed by the full moon. While at school, Snape might send him a potion out of Dumbledore's sake, but expecting Snape to bring it over during the summer? What a joke…

"Wolfsbane potion... um..."

William thought for a moment, then summoned a quill and had it write quickly on the parchment.

"This address definitely has the wolfsbane medicine, and it'll be very fresh, it's just the price..."

However, Lupin's salary is only slightly lower than his, so getting it shouldn't be a problem.

“The main problem is that I won’t be in England during the summer, otherwise I could have figured out how to make some,” William shook his head. “Long-distance transport is a disaster for potions.”

He was already able to brew werewolf potions, but the potions had an extremely short shelf life. Even the potions brewed by Snape couldn't solve this problem. Professor Snape had to brew the werewolf potion again before each full moon.

"That's enough."

Lupin took a close look and noted down the address—potion making is different from cooking. You can't make high-level potions with simple ingredients, not even a potion master can. And high-level potions almost always require high-level embargoed materials. Without a recommendation, you can only try your luck at a legitimate store if you want to get high-level potions.

“Alright, and one more thing—don’t go far during the holidays, and try to stay with Sirius as much as possible unless absolutely necessary,” William said, looking at Lupin and issuing a serious warning. “Remember the curse we talked about last time? I suspect it will also take effect during the summer. Be careful of strangers, be careful of anything that suddenly changes, and if you must go out, take precautions.”

William's serious expression made Lupin, who had originally intended to make some witty remarks, also become serious.

"So, should I move out on my own?"

He abruptly asked a question that William hadn't considered.

'I only said the holiday curse was working because I wanted to prevent you from living alone... How am I supposed to explain that someone tried to impersonate a self-defense professor and infiltrate the castle this year?'

Aside from Mad-Eye, whose future with the castle is uncertain and whose name William only recently figured out, there are two professors with the least seniority and most easily imitated: himself and Lupin.

He was planning to escape the UK during the holiday to find a place to hide until the start of the semester, so how could he let Lupin, a professor who was even more dangerous than him, live alone?

William had investigated Mad-Eye's background very thoroughly—a former Auror, a combat expert, whose presence filled almost half of Azkaban's innermost territory. He had spent his life on the battlefield, either fighting Death Eaters or on his way to capture them, making him practically the ceiling of Auror combat prowess.

William knew he couldn't defeat someone like that through normal means, and he vividly remembered how the Death Eaters had entered the school by imitating this very person…

If we don't give Lu Ping a proper warning, we'll probably have to find a way to save him next year—compound decoctions can't be imitated using materials that have been separated from the body for too long, so killing him would be almost impossible if someone wanted to impersonate him.

"You seem to underestimate that child—"

One lie leads to more lies to cover it up; at this point, all I can do is boast.

"That power can protect you well during the holidays. You don't feel embarrassed to accept the protection of a child, do you?"

William preemptively cut off the possibility, saying, "We must preserve our strength until we find a way to eradicate the last trace of that Dark Lord. Besides, the school needs you, Professor Lupin. I don't want another irresponsible professor like Professor Lockhart."

"And what about you, Professor William?"

"Me? I'm investigating the power of that curse; I have to try it out, but I can't explain the plan to you right now..."

William began to play tricks, “You should pack your bags, Professor Lupin—by ​​the way, you should work on Harry’s self-defense skills during the holidays; he’s the second most talented person I’ve ever seen in that area.”

“Okay, I will,” Lupin hesitated for a moment and then nodded, “but first—okay, I think I understand.”

The first one is naturally Dumbledore—although it's more likely to be the mysterious figure who cast the curse, but William certainly hasn't seen him.

-

"This is the transcript for the Wizard Self-Defense Arts course this academic year, Professor."

In Professor McGonagall's office, William submitted the compiled forms, which marked the end of his academic year's work.

“Actually, the last exam could already be considered the final grade,” Professor McGonagall took the materials and shook her head. “Unfortunately, there were too many zeros, so it’s not suitable for parents to see.”

Those who dare to break the rules are either confident individuals or clueless idiots, so there are quite a few high-achieving students among them. If they all went home with failing grades, their parents would probably be upset for the entire holiday.

"They actually managed to get passing grades on all of them..."

Professor McGonagall glanced at the report card and couldn't help but smile. "Thank you for your hard work, Professor William."

“Let them have a better summer vacation so I can be a bit harsher with the homework I assign—” William replied with a smile, “I gave you all a passing grade, but you don’t expect me to do the same thing again next year, do you?”

“That’s a great idea, Professor William.”

Professor McGonagall nodded very seriously. "Perhaps I need to be a little more lenient with this year's grades."

"Dong dong dong."

There was a knock on the office door.

William, who was about to say something, immediately stopped. Professor McGonagall called out towards the outside, "Come in."

The door opened, and Cedric walked in.

He immediately spotted William standing beside him. "Professor McGonagall, Professor William."

Good morning, Diggory.

William looked at Cedric. "How have you been these past few days? Will you be coming to the advanced class next year?"

"Of course, Professor."

Cedric answered without hesitation—even if you didn't ask him, you would get the same answer from any other soon-to-be sixth grader.

There's no way around it; the difference between fifth and sixth grade self-defense courses is like heaven and hell. Having finally survived the hellish fifth grade, why would I give up instead of happily attending sixth grade?

Are you kidding me? Nobody would do something so stupid.

After saying this, Cedric froze on the spot, hesitating to say something, but not knowing how to start.

Professor McGonagall hesitated for a moment, then suddenly brought up the subject as if she had thought of something.

"You've come to return the time-tamper, haven't you?"

Professor McGonagall's initiative to bring up the subject immediately put Cedric at ease—he had sworn not to reveal the existence of this item to anyone else, and although he could clearly tell from the grades and course selection list that someone else in the castle definitely possessed it, he simply couldn't say it.

“Yes, Professor, I have finished the OWLS exam, and it’s time to return it.”

Cedric carefully took a box from his pocket and opened it—inside was a small time converter attached to a gold necklace.

He sighed as if a heavy burden had been lifted, looking at the converter with a complex expression that conveyed both reluctance and relief.

“This is it,” Professor McGonagall nodded and closed the box. “Alright, go and get some rest. These three years have been a huge challenge for you. You can now enjoy your vacation.”

"Yes, Professor."

Cedric glanced at the closed box, bowed to William and Professor McGonagall, and then left the office.

His spirits improved noticeably, and he felt much better, as if a large stone had been lifted off his back.

“I didn’t expect Diggory to actually make it to the end,” Professor McGonagall sighed. “Honestly, obtaining those twelve certificates is a huge challenge even for top students, not to mention using the Time-Turner to get more Divination lessons…”

Following that prophecy, Trelawney continued to spout mystical nonsense and threaten students with death, which led Professor McGonagall to quickly regain her attitude towards divination.

“Granger was quite wise not to continue obsessively with divination and Muggle studies—frankly, in my opinion, she would have been better suited to work on other subjects rather than trying to get twelve Os just for the sake of sounding good.”

"Miss Granger has given up too?"

"Yes, she chose to hand it in before the first exam, which was a very wise choice. Those kids always like to be demanding of themselves in inappropriate places, as if they think that's the courage to face difficulties."

"Fortunately, she finally learned the courage to give up."

As Professor McGonagall spoke, she opened a drawer and placed the converter inside.