From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

The third competition is a duel between warriors from four schools in a maze. The relevant details have already been submitted, and the corresponding maze has been under construction during this period. Considering the strength of the warriors' spells, the walls of the maze will be continuously reinforced with spells during construction to prevent the maze from collapsing while the warriors are fighting.

However, William did not participate in the construction of the venue for the third competition, namely the design and manufacture of the maze.

Unfortunately, although the entire European magical community's attention was focused on the final match of the Triwizard Tournament, the third match was scheduled for June 24th. By that day, not only would the crucial OWL exams be over, but even ordinary students would have already finished their exams and started packing up to leave school…

"I'll leave the maze to you..."

In the large office, William pushed a few interesting trap-setting methods he had just thought of to Lupin, "I need to focus on dealing with those fifth-graders. At least there are still a few days left, so it's good to use the time to review."

"That's true. Ever since the warriors learned about the maze, those guys have been as excited as if they were going to rush into it themselves. I even saw someone drawing up a map of the maze—don't they know that we need to move the walls around before the competition starts, when they're not fixed in place..."

"In short, we can't let fifth graders do something so stupid..."

William sighed and pulled another parchment from the drawer. "Over here are the syllabi for second and seventh grade. Professor Moody, their studies are in your hands for now... Damn Felix Felicis, I'm almost ready to put an end to it..."

How is it?

Moody took the syllabus and casually asked a question.

"Theoretically, this stage should produce the final change, and then I can add the last ingredient and simmer it for about a week to gradually deepen its light golden color. But... it's already almost half a month past the deadline..."

William sighed, "If all else fails, I'll have to risk increasing the temperature and speed; I can't postpone the final change until the exam..."

-

"Nothing has changed..."

William looked at the Felix Felicis boiling over the fire, his heart heavy with worry—he wasn't joking with Moody. If the Felix Felicis wasn't successfully brewed by the time the OWLs exams, which lasted for two weeks, he would have no choice but to regretfully treat the unfinished product with herbs, extinguish the flames that had been burning for more than half a year, and then analyze where he had failed.

Fortunately, the school has three professors this year, so things are running smoothly and the students' studies haven't fallen behind. He has a firm grip on the fifth-grade curriculum, the second grade combines two teaching systems, and as for the seventh grade, they should be absorbing different knowledge and experiencing more practical situations.

"If there's still no change by tomorrow... then we'll try increasing the temperature to accelerate the change in the potion..."

He took one last look at his Felix Felicis, rearranged the protective spells, picked up the paper bag, and walked towards his classroom.

-

"The next class is..."

"There shouldn't be any more... Even Professor William has stopped lecturing and instead distributed some review outlines..."

When the class ended, the exhausted students rested briefly on their desks before preparing to walk to the next classroom like zombies.

Normally, they would return to the common room to change clothes and bring the necessary textbooks and props, but now no one has time to be particular. Being able to take a nap during the break has become their greatest happiness. They will dawdle until it is almost time for the second class before using all sorts of methods to make themselves more alert and then head to the second classroom.

"there is none left?"

The student who asked the question paused, then asked, "Isn't this a herbalism class?"

"No, herbalism classes have also stopped; it's time for independent review now..."

"sky…"

The students began to panic. They had been barely keeping an eye on the external competitions, but now they were completely disoriented, because it meant the OWL exams were practically upon them...

No one used any potions or other stimulants, but everyone suddenly became alert.

Without any hesitation, they began walking towards their college's lounge, forming small groups to help each other with their studies, hoping to lessen their fear of the unknown.

-

"It's come to this after all..."

William looked at the Felix Felicis, which remained motionless on the flame, and began to pick through his collection of herbs.

After gathering most of the necessary materials, he held his breath and began to apply full protection to himself before patiently checking the raw materials again.

"Let's begin."

He carefully lit another cauldron and then skillfully began to prepare the new potion.

While abruptly raising the temperature of a potion can accelerate its special transformations, it also greatly increases the chance of completely destroying the potion. Therefore, protecting the potion is essential.

However, the more complex the potion, the easier it is to be contaminated. Even though he was quite confident in his own potion recipes, there was still a risk.

Fortunately, he was extremely skilled at brewing protective potions. About half an hour later, he successfully brewed the required potion, then poured it into the dragon fat and began casting a spell to allow the potion's properties to be absorbed.

William then added the enchanted dragon fat to the cauldron of Felix Felicis with a "what the heck" look on his face. After confirming that it completely covered the Felix Felicis, William reluctantly increased the flames of the Felix Felicis.

Visibly, the color of Felix Felicis began to change, and a faint golden hue gradually took shape.

-

“William!”

Adams knocked on the door of William's office. "You haven't come out for two days. The elf said it couldn't get into the room either. There was no prior notice or warning. What's going on here—"

Who called me?

William, who was sleeping soundly in bed, turned over, casually pulled out his wand, and prepared to cast a spell on the noisy fellow. But when he touched the wand, he realized something was wrong—when did Azkaban allow wands to enter?

He struggled to open his eyes, stared blankly at the familiar ceiling for a moment, and then realized that he was in his office and not in Azkaban's prison.

"William!!!"

"If you don't respond, I'm calling the professors to break down the door!"

'What's all the noise about?'

He wiped away a trace of drool from the corner of his mouth, then cursed himself for being stupid while using magic to clean the traces off his hands. Only then did he get up, wearing his pajamas and nightcap, and recall what had happened—he was too tired to call out to the door.

"William!!!"

The noise grew louder, forcing William to stand up and stretch his aching muscles. He then used his wand to conjure a fake figure that stood at the door of the outer office, while he himself stood to the side. With a wave of his wand, the door opened.

"William, are you angry with your students—"

Adams was about to finish his sentence when the door slammed shut.

William finally remembered why he had been sleeping so soundly—although he was extremely worried and had a million concerns, the Felix Felicis had smoothly passed the final stage under his almost constant watch and had perfectly integrated with the last ingredient. All that was left to do was wait for the last week of slow simmering.

The quality isn't as good as expected so far, but it's basically very close to success.

It was the second night after he started speeding up the cooking process. He hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided not to share it with anyone—almost finishing and finishing are two different things. He planned to share the good news after it was done, to avoid any unexpected setbacks.

So he quickly cast a protective spell on the cauldron to conceal his impending success with the potion, and then casually used a transformation spell on his clothes to turn them into everyday attire before opening the door.

"It's just a matter of a nightcap... and you even closed the door..."

"Did you stay up all night working on the test papers? How come you slept for so long? Or were your fifth-grade grades really that bad, so after your last OWLs lesson, you hid in your room and were too ashamed to show your face?"

Adams looked at William curiously. "Let me tell you, the fifth-grade grades are indeed a little worse than last year, but there's really no need to worry so much. Those students, hearing how worried you are about their grades, have even started using their time to review self-defense magic. You're breaking the rules a bit..."

'I've already squeezed out most of those guys' exam-taking potential... Where do you see me worried...'

William rolled his eyes silently, almost imperceptibly. He was in a good mood and, although his rest had been disturbed, he still didn't think about doing anything excessive.

"I'm going to sleep a little longer...we'll talk at noon, Adams..."

After explaining the blunder so thoroughly, William felt incredibly sleepy. He hurriedly rummaged through the drawer for some snacks, gave some to Adams, ate some himself, then ruthlessly pushed Adams out, locked the door behind him, cleaned his mouth, and went straight back to the lounge. After restoring his clothes to their original shape, he lay flat on the bed, pulled the covers up, and fell into a deep sleep again.

-

"The self-defense skills assessment is over. The next assessment will be on herbs."

Professor Machiban, the examiner, announced the end of the exam with a blank expression. The last few students who participated in the practical assessment left the classroom with a sigh of relief—now it was the professors of the next subject who should be nervous.

Adams was holding a chocolate frog in his hand, but he had no intention of eating it. He was squeezing the packaging so hard it made a cracking sound.

As a professor who isn't exactly a novice, he shouldn't be so theoretically rigorous, but—this class of students is just so unsettling…

In particular, this year's herbalism exam had to be rescheduled with the self-defense course, which was originally scheduled to be held later, due to weather conditions (rainy days can cause plants in greenhouses to become less active, affecting the exam results). This caused his assessment, which should have ended today, to be delayed a little longer.

"Don't be nervous... it's just a swap this year..."

William chuckled and patted Adams on the shoulder—it's true that student grades were somewhat affected this year, but overall they're still okay, except for Christmas when they were truly awful…

“Professor William, the students’ grades are very good… Hmm, perhaps we can make the same optimistic prediction for this year’s exam results.”

Professor Marchban smiled. The Examinations Authority was never happy about how many people failed, especially not at her age. They were very pleased to see Hogwarts students achieve good results.

"That's great... To be honest, with the three-way competition this year, the learning atmosphere at school is really..."

William shook his head. "Next year, the rest of the grades will have to suffer a bit. This year, except for the fifth grade, everyone has fallen behind quite a bit—but it's not all bad. At least everyone has some understanding of the excellent wizards from abroad."

“That makes sense,” Professor Machiban nodded. “But then again, how good do you think this year’s warriors are at winning—that’s what all the examiners are thinking about… It’s unbelievable, I actually have to urge them to take the exams seriously…”

After a brief chat, William finally returned to his office with good news. Adams seemed much calmer now, but William didn't dare ask any questions...

Fortunately, the fifth-grade students proved themselves again in the exam on the second day—no matter how chaotic the outside world was, the professors could still keep them in check even if they were determined to succeed.

Professor Marchban secretly revealed that this year's students were no worse than before, which put Adams, whose students had already finished their exams, at ease.

'Seriously... those students around Christmas were really something...'

He ate dinner in peace and went to bed earlier than usual, drifting off to sleep peacefully.

"Adams!"

In a daze, Adams suddenly heard something calling him, the voice very close, as if it were exploding right next to his ear.

"Adams, wake up! The exams are over, and the results were supposedly pretty good. With results like that, and at this hour, how can you possibly be sleeping? Get up and celebrate with a drink!"

The sound continued to explode in his ears. Adams opened his eyes and saw a magic bubble drifting in through the window, then reaching his bedside and exploding with a bang.

'Who could be so malicious? How utterly despicable must someone be to come up with such a spell?'

"Adams, get up and have a drink!"

New bubbles burst around him, and unless he was woken up, the neighbors probably wouldn't hear a thing...

He peeked out and saw William, the instigator, and Professor Singed standing below the castle with wicked grins on their faces.

'Revenge, absolutely revenge!'

He suddenly remembered waking William up about a week ago—without a doubt, it was revenge!

Thinking of this, he leaned out, whispered something, sealed the words in parchment with magic, creating a simple shout message, and then threw it down.

However, the people downstairs didn't buy it, and a bubble floated up.

"Okay, come down now!"

What do you know—you haven't even read the letter! No, you've destroyed the letter!

Adams grumbled, then put on his clothes and prepared to go downstairs.

"Quick, jump down! We'll catch you with magic!"