From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

After patiently checking the book several times with potions, William cautiously began to turn the pages with magic—and sure enough, the box contained what he had originally intended to learn about: a voodoo doll from the Voodoo Cult…

This is quite a unique system in terms of curses, and he originally intended to study this aspect...

But isn't it a bit outrageous that British wizards would smuggle voodoo dolls into Greece...?

'Perhaps they came here to ambush people after running over there. After all, curses aren't suitable for use in their place of origin, nor are they suitable for use in their own hometown…'

He didn't know—but the things he was hoping for were unlikely to be found in a smuggling ring's bag anyway. Golden Fleece, Golden Apple—these were things a smuggling team wouldn't use…

Just like the most famous magical artifacts in Britain, they are basically either related to Dumbledore or the Dark Lord, or at the very least, to a so-called 'blood' family or high-ranking official. Azkaban could never have one.

'Coming to one place to do two things... that's fine. I'll study voodoo dolls later when I have time. I still need to pay more attention to curses...'

"It was a pleasant surprise..."

-

"A surprise...no, it's definitely more than just a surprise..."

Former Slytherin Headmaster Slughorn never imagined that someone like Dumbledore could do something so shameless... but unfortunately, he fell for it completely...

'Why don't we just go back...it's nothing...'

'Even though I'm retired, I can still teach…'

He tried to control himself, but his eyes involuntarily drifted toward the boy Dumbledore had brought.

That's Harry Potter!

Many people thought Harry Potter would fade into obscurity, but just recently, the boy in front of him represented Gryffindor and brought the Triwizard Tournament trophy back to the school!

'The eyes are very similar, extremely similar...very talented...'

Yes, very talented, a student chosen as a warrior, and the winner of the Triwizard Tournament!

"Let's have a drink to celebrate the past, Albus!"

He spontaneously offered his opinion, which Dumbledore readily accepted.

'It's so similar, so similar…'

"How's retirement life, old friend? Any plans to cause some trouble at Hogwarts this year?"

To Harry's surprise, Dumbledore went straight for the ball.

"Ah, it's alright. It is a bit boring, but my students still come to see me from time to time, and we get together—of course, it's not as lively as Hogwarts, but it's still nice..."

Even Harry could tell that the professor was clearly interested.

“So it’s time to get out and about. Look at Alastor, he came to Hogwarts last year and he plans to continue as a professor this year. And our courses won’t be too tiring, with Severus helping you.”

"Yes, Severus, I know him. He's doing really well, hasn't he? He's been excellent since school... His talent in potions is terrifyingly high; only Lily can consistently outshine him..."

Upon hearing this, Harry instantly felt conflicted—he didn't like people who spoke too highly of Snape, but…

“However,” Slughorn said, completely oblivious to Harry’s expression, “I heard that Moody is working as an assistant to a young professor over there… Professor William is the head of the office for that, yes, self-defense technique?”

"There's no other way. Alastor has no teaching experience. I think Professor Snape would be willing to learn some teaching experience from you."

Upon hearing this, Harry suddenly felt somewhat more agreeable towards the professor in front of him.

"But...but..."

He looked at Dumbledore, his tone hesitant.

“We think that fifth and seventh graders need experienced professors to guide them. Old man, I don’t think you mind putting some effort into this, do you?”

Dumbledore seemed to have guessed his thoughts and said something Harry couldn't understand—but one thing he was very clear about was that, with this arrangement, he probably wouldn't have to see Snape's face again in his fifth year.

This…

He instantly felt an overwhelming liking for the professor in front of him—to not see Snape's face in fifth grade would be pure bliss…

“That’s asking too much of a retired person—” Slughorn said, looking at the decorations in the room, “but if you put it that way…”

As he spoke, he looked at Harry. "Well, Albus, you've convinced me."

Are you willing to go back to work?

"But I'm asking for a raise."

Dumbledore laughed. "That's a perfectly reasonable request."

"Then, shall we have dinner together?"

"Sure, why not?"

So Harry ate a rather sumptuous dinner in a daze—although he was not used to the mandrake leaves in his mouth, the food was indeed very, very exquisite.

Chapter 502 The Right Direction

"No, absolutely not!"

Inside a room in Spider's End Alley, the Slytherin Headmaster, who should have been enjoying his vacation, was instead venting his anger at the Headmaster who had traveled from afar.

"You promised me, Dumbledore!"

Snape was extremely agitated. He slammed his fist on the wobbly table in front of him, causing a lot of the freshly brewed tea to spill out.

"Absolutely, absolutely not!"

He shouted again at the headmaster, who was sitting on the frayed sofa, his emotions running high, "That idiot Potter will kill himself if no one's watching him!"

"He's still in school, and you're still in school, Severus."

Dumbledore, however, remained calm, saying, "I will do everything in my power to protect him."

“That won’t do either—I have to keep Potter under my nose. Those Gryffindor guys can do something stupid if I’m not careful.”

"But what will you teach, Severus?"

Dumbledore unfolded a piece of parchment and gestured on it. "These are the lessons Harry will be taking this school year. What can you teach?"

"Self-defense magic?"

Snape blurted out, but Dumbledore responded with a warm smile.

He couldn't deny Snape's excellence in this area—a master of dark magic would be absolutely adept at dealing with it, but being adept and achieving results are two different things... This is OWLs year.

"Charms are impossible. You should know that Professor Flitwick is the best."

"I don't think you'd dare to dream of Transfiguration."

"You're also skilled in herbalism, but I don't think you'd want to get into such a conflict with Professor Sprout..."

That definitely won't do—Slytherin and Hufflepuff don't get along very well to begin with, and if they were to steal the professor's job, there's a high chance the herb supply for Potions class would be cut off...

Dumbledore's hand swept over the report card. "Astronomy, I don't think you're interested..."

“Protecting magical creatures… Hagrid is definitely out of the question, and besides, you’re not good at it…”

"All that's left are History of Magic and Divination..."

Dumbledore spread his hands, indicating that none of the courses were suitable; all of Harry's electives were listed here, but none were appropriate.

"Divination".

"Are you sure, Severus?"

Dumbledore's eyes were full of doubt; he had never heard of Snape being good at this.

"I'm sure—this course is bad enough anyway..."

Snape drew a line on the grades table; almost all were PDTs (Problem-Based Tests), with even a passing A being extremely rare. "Clearly, there aren't any gifted students in this class. We all know Trelawney's tricks—predicting one student's death every year... I think I can handle it over the holidays..."

"This is really..."

Dumbledore sighed. Trelawney had indeed made a true prophecy, but her teaching ability was truly just so-so… and frankly, she was one of the few professors who didn't seem unhappy about not teaching Harry…

Judging from her prediction of Harry's death on his very first day of school, Dumbledore felt that convincing her wouldn't be too difficult...

"I can only help you persuade her. If she explicitly refuses, then the matter will have to be dropped..."

As for Snape's talent—well, given the job market in the wizarding world, nobody really cares about Divination... Even Aurors, who are expected to be well-rounded, don't consider Divination grades at all...

It's like a math teacher showing up during PE class. You could say it's not their job, and that's fine, but few parents would find it strange that a math teacher is in PE class… even if that teacher is actually there to teach PE…

'If Sybil agrees, then let's get Minerva to approve the funding for her fortune-telling club. It'll be a good way to improve... though it's not exactly a sure thing...'

Dumbledore nodded, reassuring his Potions professor, before setting off to return to the school to discuss adding another Divination professor with the Vice-Headmaster.

-

"Truly, this is a paradise for scammers..."

When William woke up in the inn and prepared to explore the magical items in Greece again, he couldn't help but sigh as he looked at the roadside stalls.

He'd heard several stories about himself these past few days—the latest version being utterly absurd, claiming a discerning wizard discovered a blanket hiding a secret, then knocked out the vendor with a Galon, thus obtaining an ancient treasure…

Such legends have led to street stalls now selling counterfeit goods on top and high-quality imitations on the bottom... presumably to scam people who want to imitate the products after hearing the story.

Such blatant behavior would have been met with fierce criticism from the British wizarding world long ago—yet it's being done so brazenly here, clearly indicating that the situation is indeed as chaotic as William had heard…

"What a miscalculation..."

"This place is too close to the British magical community, which has resulted in the magical systems not being differentiated at all..."

Differences in magical systems and differences in magical proficiency are two completely different things—while the three major European magic schools have their own deviations in curriculum and different areas of expertise in magic, they are still within the same spellcasting system, unlike in Uganda, where even spellcasting techniques differ significantly…

“Magical biologists would probably love this place, because there are so many magical creatures here. But for a wizard like me, the really high-end stuff is simply inaccessible without the necessary resources, while the low-end stuff is too easy to get my hands on, I could even find it back in England…”

After William visited the black market in a small town again, he disappointedly concluded his search.

Just as he was pondering whether to change his destination or delve deeper, the next table became lively.

"Long time no see, where have you been making your fortune?"

"Get rich? By digging up bird droppings..."

The speaker yelled, seemingly unconcerned about being overheard, "If you ask me, our line of work is hopeless... all the good stuff has been smuggled out by our predecessors, and even the Ministry of Magic itself is tirelessly organizing those ancient ruins..."

"That's for sure... They started digging a thousand years ago, and now, how much is left...? Maybe we can just go to the islands and see what the pirates left behind..."

The sounds coming from next door made William want to berate himself even more as an idiot…

The spellbook describes it very well, so naturally, countless people have tried to come here to excavate over the years... Aren't there prisoners like that in Azkaban too...?