From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

He even remembered to flash his unusually perfect smile when he waved goodbye.

Almost the instant he left, Professor Singed pulled a mirror from a small drawer and earnestly looked at his slightly overly competitive hairline.

"Thank goodness, thank goodness, I swear, since I graduated from Hogwarts, even Professor McGonagall has never been this lecturing."

"Perhaps, this professor is very capable, but not very good at teaching?"

Adams cautiously offered a final defense of Lockhart, but even he did not deny that Professor Lockhart's teaching skills might not be very good.

"After all, you can revise the wording of a manuscript, but you don't have that much time to prepare for speaking in real life."

William was also a little unsure—from a professional perspective, the story in the book seemed to have no major problems, but after only half a day of conversation, it seemed that Professor Lockhart didn't even quite understand what was going to happen in class.

Does he think of teaching as writing about his own adventures?

After all, being an adventurer and being a professor are two completely unrelated professions. Not everyone is Bear Grylls, able to provide comprehensive and professional explanations while on an adventure.

Not to mention, this isn't about explaining adventure, but about teaching a systematic course.

Regardless, William wasn't going to listen to a single word of Professor Lockhart's useless advice—he even suspected that the professor's lectures were dry and boring, and that the students were just there because they were already there.

But this conjecture was far too insulting for a full-fledged professor, so William simply didn't share his opinion.

But when he went to bed in the evening, William soon realized that this viewpoint was not his alone.

Whether it was Professor Lockhart's constant recounting of his adventures that offended some professor, or his attempts to portray himself as a genius in every way that displeased someone, by dinner time, everyone at Hogwarts, including the ghosts, knew what had happened that afternoon.

While teaching second-year students, Professor Lockhart brought a cage of highly aggressive Pokémon into the classroom—and in the next hour and a half, the second-year students encountered a disaster.

It is said that it took the house-elves a full half hour to restore the classroom to its original state—and any one of them could clean a messy room in less than 15 minutes.

"It's only the first class—and three students have already been admitted to the school hospital!"

"It seems that Professor Lockhart doesn't distinguish between the school and the jungle where he ventures."

……

Amidst the diverse opinions, almost all the professors reached the same consensus—Professor Lockhart may be a great adventurer, but he is definitely a terrible professor!

Chapter 59 When Professor William Feels He's Not Quite Capable

Good morning, professor.

"Yes, good morning to you too."

Another unfamiliar student greeted him, and William returned a standard adult smile.

After Professor Lockhart's class was exposed last night, he suddenly became popular—even though he had only taught his first class and had only met those students once at the opening ceremony.

Moreover, it's one thing for older students to join in, but why are younger students getting together?

You're still a long way from falling into my hands!

By the time William finally sat down at the table, he felt his face was a little stiff from smiling.

It's only been a few minutes?

Letting out a sigh of relief and relaxing the muscles in his face, William began adding food to his plate.

'That's probably why Professor McGonagall and other older professors tend to have serious expressions; smiling is much more tiring than keeping a straight face.'

Just as he was silently contemplating whether he should act aloof to reduce the frequency of laughing with the students, Adams, who smelled of dirt, plopped down in front of him.

This slightly mischievous, big guy slapped William on the shoulder and stated in an extremely exaggerated tone:

"My God, I'm finally back alive—you have no idea how terrifying Professor Sprout was today. It took me almost an hour to check the herbs the second-year students planted yesterday, and Professor Sprout didn't smile once during that time!"

"Is it really that exaggerated? Professor Sprout seems to have a pretty good temper."

"That's how it is most of the time, but today is an exception—Professor Lockhart went to the greenhouse again this morning to check on how the willow he helped yesterday is recovering."

"Huh?"

William couldn't help but exclaim in amazement—such a big problem had occurred in Professor Lockhart's class yesterday, and today he was able to go and observe the recovery of the Whomping Willow?

Is this the skill of a professional adventurer? No matter what setbacks they encounter, they can always face life with optimism?

However, Professor Adams clearly misunderstood; he probably thought William believed that Professor Lockhart and Professor Sprout had a conflict.

"It's not a conflict or anything. Professor Sprout is a very nice person and very patient with his students. He just doesn't like people who talk too much and prefers people who do things seriously. On the other hand, Professor Lockhart likes to show off, so Professor Sprout doesn't like Professor Lockhart very much."

Are you trying to cover something up?

Based on your description, Professor Sprout must have been sulking all morning.

Adams was probably torn between a respected professor and his idol, unsure of who to side with.

"Alright, don't worry about that anymore. Professor Sprout definitely has more experience in handling this than you do. It's more important to take good care of the herbs in the greenhouse."

"That's true. Hufflepuff has managed to handle so many students and professors so well, so there shouldn't be any problems this time either."

As Adams spoke, he began making himself a sandwich.

“By the way, William,” Adams said, omitting the title, “I heard from students that you can take a wand away in an instant, is that true?”

What kind of strange rumor is this?

If I had that ability, would I have needed to stay obediently in Azkaban for so long?

"How could that be—I might believe it if the rumor's protagonist were Dumbledore, but me?"

William pointed to himself and said in a rather confident tone:

"Do you believe that someone like me, Headmaster Dumbledore, could take on ten men without even breaking a sweat?"

"That's what the students said, and it's all over the upperclassmen—saying that you easily made the wand disappear."

It's gone?

What the student said?

Who came from to be so good at spreading rumors?

William suddenly realized—the students had probably exaggerated the story of him putting a wand on a student.

After all, it was my own stupidity to have my wand stolen by the professor, but the professor's ability to make the wand disappear with magic was his own doing and had nothing to do with me.

Considering the homework they assigned yesterday, it's understandable that those who were found out to be writing papers would boast a bit.

"Hey, the students are exaggerating a bit. It's just a silent disarming spell, nothing more than a slight modification. They hadn't noticed it before, so they were a bit surprised. It's really nothing special."

William couldn't really say it was a theft-like method, so he planned to just brush it off—the effect would be about the same anyway.

"But speaking of which, I didn't see you in class yesterday afternoon and evening?"

"Late at night, when I was with the seventh graders, they said that a batch of Udumbara flowers had bloomed in the greenhouse, and it was best to collect them in the early morning so that the seventh graders could see them."

"The school greenhouse has such a wonderful thing?"

William's eyes widened in surprise.

He did recognize this plant; many high-level potions required this ingredient.

There are related legends in the Muggle world, but like the dragon, they are all exaggerated, but this does not diminish the preciousness of this herb.

"Of course! This is Hogwarts!"

Adams said matter-of-factly, his face full of pride—it's only interesting to tell a story when you meet someone knowledgeable.

Yes—this is Hogwarts, after all.

Hagrid's room still has a bundle of wand cores hanging on it, and it's quite normal for him to grow a batch of rare materials that are almost invisible to the outside world in his herb greenhouse.

"Can you sell it to me for a little bit, at market price?"

Although they had only met briefly, the allure of this precious material made William disregard the fact that it was unfamiliar to most people—this stuff was out of stock for eight or nine months of the year, even on the black market.

"Six flowers at most. Professor Snape and Professor Sprout both want them. There are only so many that can be sold on the market. They cost twenty gallons each. I need to use them to buy fertilizer and other things."

It's already incredibly cheap—at this price, people would fight tooth and nail to get their hands on it in the market.

William then realized that Professor Adams was not just an ordinary teacher, but very likely a top herbalist in the entire magical world.

'Perhaps all the professors at this university, except for me, are among the top ten in the country?'

William couldn't help but think of this.

Then he realized that he was probably just brought along to make up the numbers—Professor Lockhart, no matter how bad he was at lecturing, was still a first-rate adventurer.

"Professor William, what's wrong? Is it too expensive? Or is the quantity too small?"

"No, no, the amount is enough, even a little more than I expected. I don't have enough cash with me. I'll go to Diagon Alley to get more cash this weekend before I can give it to you."

"Alright, I'll save the herbs for you later—the money isn't urgent. I'll go buy supplies next month, so it'll be fine as long as the accounts match. If you're too lazy to collect it, you can just give me this month's pay slip. I'll have to make the trip anyway, so I can take care of things while I'm at it."

Adams's confident speech made William feel even worse, realizing he was the worst student. He secretly made a resolution—'I'll increase the workload for fifth graders and get them good grades. I absolutely won't let anyone think I was just there to make up the numbers!'

Chapter Sixty: William Reveals the Radish

"A new professor is coming!"

"How did you know?"

"The oil painting at the entrance says that the professor was carrying a thick paper bag, so we guess our course will have some new tricks up its sleeve!"

"awesome!"

"I wonder what kind of game will start when it's our turn—it would be so cool to just take away the wand like nothing happened!"

A group of fifth-grade students were excitedly discussing what courses they would be taking, their words filled with anticipation for the future.

The well-informed students had already found out what happened in yesterday's wizard self-defense magic class from the sixth graders, which made them eager to arrive at the classroom early.

-

In the corridor, William earnestly thanked the knight in the oil painting who had led the way since downstairs—this enthusiastic knight had traversed more than thirty paintings to guide him and was now panting heavily.

“You’re welcome, Professor William. It is a knight’s duty to help those in distress.”

The lovable knight answered William earnestly, then led his horse and began to gallop back the way they came.

After waving goodbye again, William glanced at his watch and realized the time was just right.

When he pushed open the classroom door, all the students were already there.