From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

Everyone in the cell stared at him with a grin.

The big guy charged ahead, his knuckles cracking incessantly.

"Hey, isn't this our newcomer?"

The big guy took a few steps forward, grabbed Monton's shoulder, and looked down at him: "What do you want?"

Hehe, hehe.

While grinning foolishly, Monton's brain raced, and an idea flashed into his mind like lightning.

"I got a little agitated listening to the stories this morning, and I felt embarrassed because there were so many people around."

With a shy smile, he trembled as he hid the money even deeper—at that moment, he was incredibly grateful that he hadn't found any more money, nor had he had time to do anything more.

"cut--"

The big guy spat out a sound through his teeth in response, then turned to look at Nine Fingers.

“I thought something was wrong, so I secretly called everyone over—this kid has a long sentence, what trouble would he dare to cause? Nine Fingers, you draw him a card, let him see for himself.”

Everyone found it boring and dispersed. After walking a few steps, the big guy suddenly turned around and looked at Monton.

Monton's heart, which had finally settled down, trembled again.

"Take it easy, don't provoke those black guys—this isn't unprecedented, and they're starving today."

"Yes, yes, I'll be careful." Monton nodded like a pecking grain of rice, thinking of quickly dealing with the people. The thugs had already released the owls, and Mad-Eye would be coming today. If he was surrounded by these guys before Mad-Eye arrived, he would be beaten up for nothing.

He didn't doubt that Mad-Eyes would help him, but he simply didn't have the face to do so.

Forget it, I won't retaliate. Although everyone thinks he still has a long sentence and won't dare to do anything reckless, the guy who switched bunks with him is no good. He's probably been watching me since the morning exercise period. I can't let this opportunity slip by.

With that thought in mind, he simply walked towards the cell door—he didn't want to smell the Azkaban stench for even a second longer.

What's your hurry?

The voice of Nine Fingers behind him stopped him, and at the same time a piece of paper was thrown over.

"Use it carefully, or I'll beat you up for a week!"

Nine Fingers threatened as he strode out of the cell, muttering, "I've closed the door for you. Use it carefully, or you'll probably never want these papers again in Azkaban."

cut!

Who cares! I'm different from you guys. I have connections, I've made them. Tonight I won't be sitting here watching the moon with the sea breeze. I'm going to Old Tom's pub to have a good drink and make you poor bastards with no cigarettes, no alcohol, and no chocolate drool!

Monton cursed viciously, but did not put down the piece of paper in his hand.

Going out rashly would only attract the attention of the guys in his cell, which wouldn't be good for him as he was about to be released—even if Mad Eyes helped him beat those guys up, would he get any lighter beatings?

To act, you have to go all the way.

He simply lay down on his bed, unfolded the paper, and pretended to show it to those people.

Just then, the cell door opened again.

'I knew those bastards were no good and wouldn't let me off easily. Luckily, I was smart and pretended convincingly.'

Monton tried to force a panicked expression onto his face as he looked at the visitor, but in that instant, the forced expression became real.

At the cell door, a face that looked almost pieced together appeared. Every feature of this face was missing, as if God had deliberately left imperfections when creating it—but Monton knew very well that every wound on this face was inflicted by a top-notch black magician, and was almost incurable.

The owner of this face has provided a large number of tenants for the prison beneath his feet.

He wanted to escape this prison, partly because of his relationship with the owner of this face.

However, this is the situation he least wants to see.

Now, that face, with its asymmetrical eyes, is staring intently at him, and the joy and helplessness of their reunion have been completely replaced by another expression.

The large, round, coin-like magical eye stared intently at the piece of paper in his hand—that magical eye had many uses, including seeing through certain things.

"Good afternoon, Fletcher—it seems, well, you're having a good time?"

……

William, far away, suddenly received a notification:

[A magical creature has shown you greater appreciation; you have received a treasure chest.]

Chapter Seven: The Failed Search

The new treasure chest contained two duplicate cards and one new card.

[Smuggler Monton (R); Monton is a smuggler in most of the underground markets. It is said that if you give him enough Galleons, he can bring you any supplies.]

Skill Trade: Destroy this card. In the purchase of any item, you can pay a currency amount far exceeding the item's price to successfully buy it.

Without the slightest hesitation, William once again chose a card with no chance of failure.

He then quickly went to the system's inventory and found that the note next to the Mondon card had been changed to Hatred.

Goodness, this didn't really get him into trouble—could it be that when those Nine Fingers guys were talking nonsense, and told others about it as a joke, Mondon overheard them?

It's not impossible.

As William pondered this, he walked toward a young boy.

He'd made some inquiries over the past few days and realized that if there was anyone in the prison who knew the basics of magic, it was this guy.

It's not that this young man is a child prodigy, or that he was arrested and imprisoned for scheming against the Ministry of Magic at such a young age—the main reason he knows so much is because he was studying at Hogwarts not long ago.

As we all know, wherever there are exams, there will be cheaters, and Hogwarts, such a large school, catches cheaters every year.

It would be one thing if he got caught cheating on a normal exam, but this guy got caught cheating on the OWL exam. Not only was he expelled, but he also has to spend half a year in Azkaban, which means he's basically been admitted to Azkaban for further studies.

Hogwarts is not a place where everyone can graduate. Most of the prisoners in Azkaban are Hogwarts dropouts, either because they failed too many exams, used magic outside of school, dropped out on their own, or seriously violated school rules... and so on. As for the remaining prisoners, most of them are Hogwarts graduates.

If you only look at the school the prisoner attends without considering other information, you might think Hogwarts is doing something in collaboration with Azkaban.

While not uncommon in the magical world, wizards like William, who never attended Hogwarts and were instead mentored by older wizards, are extremely rare in Azkaban. Wizards who have passed down their skills through generations have unique ways of making a living, making them much less likely to break the law.

When William found the guy called 'Goat,' the guy was selling potions.

Actually, that thing can't really be considered a potion—most potions lose their effect without the help of a wand when brewing them, otherwise potions wouldn't be such a daunting subject for wizards.

Compared to simply calculating the proportions of materials and the order in which they are added, the right amount of magic is more important in helping the potion to take shape.

The kind of potion that 'Goat' promotes is a low-quality concoction made without a wand, relying solely on the unstable magical manipulation of wizards and the effects of herbs. Its composition is quite unstable, and its effects fluctuate wildly between causing diarrhea and not being able to get the patient to the hospital in time.

However, this stuff isn't for drinking, it's for use—William easily recognized it as an incomplete version of an aphrodisiac.

After all, the original owner of this body was a potion maker, and he had gained more knowledge in this area from his memories.

Although this drug cannot be ingested, simply smelling it is a top-notch pleasure in Azkaban. Despite its pungent, unfinished odor, it is perfectly suited to be the prison's premier drug—it reminds people of their favorite scents.

"A newly discovered banned substance—a flavor even more addictive than chocolate!"

The 'goat' enthusiastically tried to sell to William, his animated manner making it impossible to tell that he was an Azkaban prisoner.

"Aphrodisiac?" William raised an eyebrow. "What's the price?"

"You're an expert, this is fifty gallons a bottle—don't think it's expensive, it's Azkaban, and if you use this little bottle sparingly, it'll last you a month!"

A month?

William chuckled. Based on his limited knowledge, it would be a miracle if this thing could remain stable for two weeks—he'd be afraid it would explode in his pocket if given this half-finished potion.

Seeing that William had no intention of paying, 'Goat's' expression changed instantly.

He waved his hand impatiently: "Get lost, you poor bastard, don't interfere with my business!"

Ha—you're really not afraid of being beaten to death if your medicine expires and is discovered to be expired?

William turned and left without any intention of continuing the conversation—he had originally thought that since the other student had come to Azkaban, he must not be eating or sleeping well, so he would take some leftover chocolates in exchange for the other student's presentation on the Hogwarts curriculum, which would be a fair trade.

But now, with such a big business to do, there's no point in even asking for chocolate anymore. They're focused on making money, so who cares about your worthless chocolate?

……

It took Monton half a day to finally convince Moody that he was just too tired and wanted to rest—or perhaps he pretended to believe him, but Monton couldn't ask for more.

He was too embarrassed to reveal his true colors and surprise his fellow inmates in front of them, so he could only leave Azkaban with Mad-Eyes, filled with endless regret.

However, he ultimately took the nine sikes and fifteen nut with him, which was considered the final stripping of those scoundrels' wealth.

As a part-time thief and smuggler, it's never a habit to leave a settlement empty-handed; it's a matter of face.

Although Mad-Eye scoffed at the idea and even tried to destroy the money and the prison clothes he had changed out of on the ship off the island, Monton insisted on keeping the spoils.

“Mundungus, you’re not allowed to steal after you get out of prison this time. If you go back to Azkaban, don’t expect me to bail you out again just because we’re old friends.”

"Of course not, I'm thinking of helping Dumbledore for a few more years!"

The long-awaited freedom and the fresh air brought by the sea breeze made Monton feel incredibly comfortable. He even spoke in a cheerful tone what he thought he would never say before he went to prison.

Compared to the terrifying place of Azkaban, the things Dumbledore had to do were incredibly easy. He could even slack off during work and help the Ministry of Magic transport a batch of cheap goods!

Mad-Eye looked Monton over carefully, then smiled.

"I doubt you can be of any help this time—Albus is having a lot of trouble with that."

"Is there anything Dumbledore couldn't handle?"

Monton's tone was full of confidence; he had more confidence in Dumbledore than in himself.

"Yes, Hogwarts is short of a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor again. Why don't you give it a try?"

"What's so difficult about this? Do you think I, Mundon, can't do it—"

He was only halfway through his sentence when Monton quickly clapped his hand to his mouth, forcing himself to swallow the rest of his words.

Chapter Eight: The New Cellmate

Hogwarts is a good school. Although the income of being a professor at the school is not very high, considering all other factors, being a professor at Hogwarts is a career choice that most people are satisfied with.

Apart from the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

After Hogwarts recruited a bunch of Defense Against the Dark Arts professors at a rate that resembled using professors as food, rumors began to circulate that Hogwarts ate people—oops, the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts was cursed.

What's worse, not only was this speculation not debunked, but Hogwarts also continued recruiting professors specializing in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

So, Monton almost instantly swallowed the "let's give it a try" part—what a joke! He had just escaped from that hellhole Azkaban through connections. If he were really to become a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, it would be better to send him back to Azkaban, where at least the Dementors were guarding the place and he wouldn't be in mortal danger.