From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

"I don't think I can accept that a year from now, a group of OWLs students will hand in papers like this. I think you all feel the same way."

William turned his head and, while writing furiously on the blackboard, released a little of his barely suppressed pride.

"Tutoring, improvement, and a final push!"

Three words appeared on the blackboard.

“I originally wanted to try my best to make everyone happy, but unfortunately, everyone’s foundation is really a bit weak,” William said with a regretful expression. “We have to work harder in the next year.”

Chapter Sixty-Two: The Aftermath of the Exam

Facts speak louder than words. Repeating "This class is the worst I've ever taught" ten times will only alienate students, but defeating them with a test paper once is enough.

“I know that the reason why your foundation is not good is not entirely your fault. I checked the class records from previous years. About one-third of the class time for your class was without the help of the professor. You had to rely on self-study. The textbooks were also changed haphazardly and there was no clue to follow. It’s not your fault.”

“But—” William emphasized, “no matter what excuse you have, the Wizarding Examinations Authority will not give you an A on your transcripts for this.”

"It's not terrible to fall behind in grades. Fortunately, we have a whole year to fill in the gaps in our knowledge. As your professor, I will do my best to help you improve your foundation during this academic year so that today's scenario will not be repeated in the OWL exam room."

"In order to have enough time to catch up on what we missed, we have to speed up our teaching pace—to be honest, this is beyond my original plan, but now it seems I have to make some changes to it."

"Alright, everyone, open your textbooks to the first page and fold your test papers neatly. I'll collect them."

William walked down from the podium as he spoke and began collecting the exam papers.

There's another exam for Slytherin and Gryffindor this afternoon. Missing a few questions won't affect their grades, but if the exam paper gets out, we'll have to use the backup exam paper—the one originally kept for midterms to curb their arrogance.

"If you have done as I asked you carefully, then everyone should have read the first twenty pages of the textbook by now—so, let's begin the first lesson."

……

"bite!!!!"

The bell rang, and William, who was giving a serious lecture, glanced out the window and smiled at all the students.

"I spoke a bit too hastily, but the newly revised teaching plan is finally complete. Because the course was taught relatively quickly, I hope all students can go back and carefully review the textbook twice more, and preview Chapters 2 and 3 in advance. There is no homework for this class, but please complete the review and preview tasks carefully after you go back."

"get out of class dismissed now."

Actually, a whole exam paper has already been prepared, but unfortunately, now is not the time to release it.

William walked out of the classroom with regret, and as he closed the classroom door, he could clearly hear many people panting heavily.

-

"It was terrifying; I even felt like I couldn't breathe."

"The professor was smiling the whole time, but I couldn't smile at all."

"Alright, you guys are all so carefree, can you calm down a bit?"

The students who spoke the loudest were glared at by the class monitor and dared not utter another word.

For the first time ever, the students in the classroom did not leave quickly after class, but stayed in their seats, seemingly unsure of what to do.

The students from both houses turned their attention to their prefects, eagerly anticipating what they would say. However, both of the fifth-year prefects from Ravenclaw were staring at their textbooks, seemingly lost in thought. Only the male prefect from Hufflepuff maintained his usual level of composure.

Although countless senior students and professors had told us about the horrors of OWLs, the pressure that had previously been just talk was now truly weighing on everyone's heads for the first time.

Ravenclaw's average score is higher than that of other houses, which is what Ravenclaw students used to be most proud of. Therefore, in this exam, almost all Ravenclaw students were dumbfounded by this OWLs exam question.

For students who want to improve their studies, nothing is more daunting than a series of "I don't know" questions, especially when they have to face those questions in person a year from now.

It took a long time for the Hufflepuff prefect to stand up.

"Alright, the next class is about to start, so let's not stay in the classroom any longer. The professor is right, we should make up for any deficiencies. Do you think we can pass the OWLs by hiding?"

"Come on, come on, everyone get to class. Next class is Transfiguration. Our professor is Professor McGonagall. Do you want to be late?"

The fear emanating from Professor McGonagall clearly overshadowed the fear of failing the exam a year later, and the students, who were severely discouraged, finally began to reluctantly pack their things and leave the classroom.

-

"What are you all thinking?"

"Without serious study, practice, and application, you will not be able to pass the 0WLs exam."

Professor McGonagall spoke angrily to the group of students who were in low spirits.

“You’re in fifth grade, and I’m sure more than one professor has emphasized the importance of the 0WLs exam! Why are you all spacing out? Was it another Divination class last time—” Professor McGonagall lowered her voice, “...another Divination class? You’re all in fifth grade now, not third graders who just started taking Divination!”

"Which student's death did Professor Trelawney predict this time?"

Her tone was clearly angry.

"It's not Professor Trelawney, it's Professor William."

One student answered.

"Professor William?" Professor McGonagall's tone was tinged with surprise.

"But his classes have nothing to do with divination! Did Professor William punish you?"

Although the Defense Against the Dark Arts class has been renamed, it still doesn't change the fact that the course will include a lot of wizard-versus-wizard content, and it's not impossible that some overly intense battles might occur.

"No, Professor, Professor William prepared a test paper for us, which was full of OWL exam content, but we failed it all."

"all?"

"Yes, Professor, only three students got a P, and the rest did even worse."

“I will discuss this with Professor William. I believe he cares more about grades than you do, but right now, kids, you should be more concerned about the content of this lesson. This lesson covers the most difficult spells that are most likely to appear on the OWLs exam. If you continue to dwell on the exam that has already ended, I suspect you will get even more Ps.”

Professor McGonagall's words drew the students' attention back—if they continued to dwell on the exam they had just taken, they would probably end up with another exam paper where they knew nothing.

But halfway through the course, it became impossible to continue.

This lesson is known to be the most difficult part of Transfiguration, the Vanishing Charm—a spell that is difficult even for seventh-grade students to practice.

After the whole class tried for almost an hour but still couldn't lighten the snail's shell even a little, the girl who usually had the best grades had tears in her eyes, gave up on continuing the spell, and cried in her best friend's arms.

As if it were a chain reaction, several girls' eyes welled up with tears, and sobs filled the classroom. Professor McGonagall's classroom was in unprecedented chaos.

Chapter Sixty-Three: William is Reading

While Professor McGonagall's class was in complete chaos, William was spending his time in the school library.

Not long after class ended, he came over with his books and test paper bag.

Although everything has gone smoothly for him at Hogwarts so far, including the fifth year whom he found most difficult to deal with, he has successfully established his authority in just one class, but he is very aware of his own importance.

Setting aside the haphazard teacher-student instruction that led to his accumulation of wizarding knowledge, his understanding of the entire magical world comes solely from the books he has read since his release from prison.

Aside from a few spells commonly used in daily life, he didn't put any effort into any seemingly interesting magic. Instead, he focused all his energy on spells related to attack and defense. In fact, even his learning of these combat spells was supported by his slightly higher-than-average magical power and combat techniques he figured out on his own, the oft-discussed of whether they were useful or not.

Even so, William has yet to master even a few silent spells, let alone the more demanding staffless spellcasting that only appears when Azkaban prisoners boast about it.

Although William felt he was competent as a professor based on the knowledge he had heard in Azkaban and his own years of experience in exam-oriented education, this did not mean he did not have the idea of ​​improving himself.

Even when organizing those exam papers, he greedily absorbed the content he had never encountered before in those exam questions and firmly memorized it.

But those weren't direct learning experiences. Compared to Hogwarts' millennia-old library, all the books William encountered were like a small stream. Now that he had finally established his authority as a professor among the fifth-year students, William decided to reward himself with two class periods to spend some time in the library.

Good morning, Mrs. Pince.

Good morning, Professor William. Are you here to borrow some books?

The gaunt witch glanced at the paper bag William was carrying, hesitated for a long time, and finally couldn't help but add:

"Professor, food is not allowed in the library."

"No, it's just the students' exam papers—" William smiled and opened the paper bag to show them. Since the other party was so concerned about such a formality, he didn't feel offended at all.

“It’s an exam paper, I’m sorry, Professor,” Mrs. Pince said quickly. “Are you looking for a reference list? The restricted section is over in the library. Students are not allowed to linger nearby, so the tables there are quiet. If you’re looking for any books, you can come and ask me. I can probably find most of the books in the library.”

As she spoke her last words, the gaunt witch seemed to grow several inches taller, clearly showing her confidence in her words.

"I'm looking for some theoretical books on silent spells, which are hard to find on the market. I thought I'd try my luck at the library."

"Of course there are. Let me think... Oh, right, there's a book in the forbidden section that deals with dark magic. On the third shelf of the fourth bookcase in the seventh row, there are several theoretical books related to silent spells. The fourth shelf is more practical. On the bottom shelf of the fifth bookcase in the same row, there are several books discussing evil spells."

To William's surprise, the librarian must have used some kind of magic to have the location of every book etched into her memory, because she easily told him the location of the book he was looking for.

"Do you need me to take you there, Professor?"

"No, thank you. The sheer size of the Hogwarts Library far exceeded my expectations."

“Of course, this is Hogwarts,” Mrs. Pince replied matter-of-factly.

William accepted the statement as if it made perfect sense, waved goodbye, and followed Mrs. Pince's directions to the bookshelves.

Fortunately, not all the books he was looking for had been checked out, which put William in a great mood.

When he carried a stack of books, numbering more than a dozen, to the desk next to the restricted book section, he was immediately drawn to this spacious place where he could fully enjoy the sunlight.

'This place is amazing! If it weren't next to the restricted book section, it would probably be packed with students.'

As William looked at the 'No Students Allowed (Note: 1)' sign standing next to the bookshelf, he couldn't help but feel a sense of pride as a privileged user.

Shaking his head to shake off the feeling, he began to calm down and seriously began to read the book in front of him.

Less than half an hour later, William slammed his hand on the table in surprise—this action immediately made him realize where he was.

Fortunately, there were no students nearby, and Mrs. Pince didn't seem inclined to hold him accountable for this minor mistake, which saved him from the tragedy of being kicked out of the library after less than a minute of joy.

William slipped a bookmark into the book and then turned to the first few pages.

The Hogwarts bookplate is clearly visible, followed by the donor's name and the date. There is no edition number or printing batch number—undoubtedly, this is a non-distributed book that cannot be purchased on the market; it must be a private collection written by someone.

'Although I'm cursed, getting into Hogwarts is still a good thing—'

William shook his head as he turned the book back to the original page, sighing as he did so.

He already knew from his time in Azkaban that those guys all had their own prized curses or dark magic, which they kept hidden away and never mentioned to anyone else. He figured that was probably how the magical world was viewed from Azkaban. Hogwarts alone had so many rare and forbidden books, so you can imagine how high the quality of the collections of those pure-blood families must be.

Because of his professorship, he could not only freely browse the library that was only accessible to the school's teachers and students, but also obtain all the books in the restricted section without anyone's permission, and even borrow them freely. For William, this was a benefit more valuable than his salary.

This single rare book easily solved a problem about casting a silent spell that had troubled him for a whole month, not to mention the other reference books underneath and the forbidden books that had been brought out.

William, overjoyed at having solved the problem, took out his parchment and quill pen and began copying notes he found useful as he read. If it weren't for the fact that this was a library catalog, he would have loved to write down all his insights in the book.

"What a treasure trove!"

After solving several difficult problems in a row, William, completely overjoyed, couldn't help but exclaim in amazement.