From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

Adams took a few steps forward, squatted down, and his expression softened.

"Why are you ignoring me, Afra?"

"I am a mushroom, so I can't speak loudly."

The little girl answered in a high-pitched, thin voice.

This child is quite cute, but a little slow...

"Then what are you doing?"

Adams spotted the small water jug ​​on the ground immediately and asked in a low voice.

"Pippi the Ghost told me that mushrooms can grow quickly if you just put them in the corner of the fireplace and water them."

"What else did that mischievous imp say?"

The little girl looked thoughtful for a long time, then frowned and fell silent.

"Uncle Adams, move aside, I need to water the plants!"

The little girl picked up a small spray bottle and poured water on herself, soaking half of her pretty little wizard robe before William and the others could stop her.

"Alright, Uncle Adams, I'm going to grow, stop teasing me!"

The little girl squatted down again, her serious expression making it hard to believe it was a scam.

William was just about to suggest using magic to dry his wet clothes when Adams dragged him away.

"Don't worry about her. Afra is a stubborn girl. She's committed to being a mushroom. Unless Professor Taylor comes in person, no one can persuade her otherwise."

"So we just leave it alone?"

"What's the rush? Professor Taylor will be here soon."

Sure enough, just as Adams had said, the child's father soon arrived at the door of the lounge.

"What? Has Afra gotten into trouble again?"

"No no."

Adams shook his head nonchalantly.

Professor Taylor gave him a questioning look, then pushed open the door to the lounge and went inside.

A few minutes later, a series of wailing sounds came from the lounge.

"Is this what you call persuasion?"

William rolled his eyes at Adams—you're a professor, how can you have such lowbrow tastes?

"Oh dear, everyone's used to it. When Afra gets stubborn, she's pretty much going to get a beating. Anyway, you can't persuade her to stop. Professor Taylor hits her with a certain amount of force, so we just watch. Afra is very well-behaved and never holds grudges."

As they were talking, the door to the lounge opened again, and Little Mushroom, who had been squatting in the corner, was pulled out by the hand, sobbing.

"Professor Adams, could you please look after Afra? I'm going to find Peeves."

Professor Taylor's expression was even more stern than when he arrived. He only managed to compose himself when entrusting the child to his care. Without even putting away his wand, he strode away and disappeared down the corridor.

“William, you go take a look. I’ll stay here and watch Afra. I’m really not sure if Professor Taylor can beat Peeves.”

"Are you kidding me?"

William stared at Adams—although he didn’t understand what Peeves was, what was the point of an adult wizard being unable to defeat Peeves?

“Oh, I almost forgot, you’re new here. Peeves is the school’s sprite, and it’s probably been around even longer than Professor Binns—the school administrators have been trying to get rid of it ever since it moved into the castle, but there’s no precedent for success.”

"According to the agreement between the school and Peeves, the professors will not act against it casually, and it will respect the professors on campus. However, if Professor Taylor actively causes trouble, it will be outside the scope of the agreement."

Wait a minute, William suddenly remembered the cards he had acquired earlier.

The card, covered in dense text, mentioned Peeves—half of the card described its great achievements.

If all the information above is true, then that thing is really difficult to deal with.

“Okay, I’ll be right there,” William nodded in agreement, then took out some candy from his pocket, squatted down, and handed it to the little girl who was still crying.

-

“Peeves,” William said, walking briskly down the corridor, recalling the information he had recently read about Hogwarts. Strangely enough, very few books mentioned the elf.

"This is not a good sign."

William muttered to himself as he walked.

The fact that this spirit wasn't recorded in the book doesn't mean it's unimportant. On the contrary, it's highly likely that no one has found a truly effective way to drive it away, and the spirit hasn't done anything too outrageous, so recording its misdeeds alone wouldn't be worthwhile.

"Hey, ma'am, could you please tell me where Peeves is?"

William asked, pointing to a portrait of someone drinking in an oil painting by the roadside.

"Petty the devil? Professor, has the school decided to expel it again? A professor just asked the same question. It's looking for moldy bread in the kitchen. I hope you can get rid of it this time; it almost hit my portrait with bread last time!"

The word "again" made William tense. This clever little devil was too impulsive!

'Most ghosts are imprints left by wizards on earth. To deal with a ghost, you need to target the memories it values—Peeves spends all its time with ghosts, so what it values ​​is probably pranks. If you can disrupt its pranks, you should be able to make it give up on bothering you.'

'If Peeves is really as strong as the card says, then it's very likely that his prank was so powerful that no one could interrupt him, which is why the school at the time agreed to give him preferential treatment—but it's uncertain whether this is true, and it's also unknown whether the principal at the time went easy on him because he liked this mood-lifting ghost.'

"The most direct pranks definitely rely on props. The spells I need to cast should include obstacle spells to destroy flying objects, flight spells to hold objects up, spells to unlock traps, spells to unlock locks—and if none of those work, spells to leave peacefully."

Although he hadn't met Pikachu yet, William had already planned for some possible scenarios.

Although he was somewhat confident in his combat abilities, he wasn't arrogant enough to think he could easily handle the problems the school hadn't been able to solve for so many years—after all, he hadn't yet mastered the Silent Spell!

This should be the kitchen.

Following the directions of another portrait, William went to a painting of fruit and scratched at the pear in the painting.

Then, the pear wriggled and chuckled, suddenly transforming into a large green doorknob.

William pulled the doorknob, and the next moment, a moldy loaf of bread flew out—if William hadn't been prepared, it would have hit him squarely in the face.

With his armor enchanted, William slipped inside.

At this moment, the entire kitchen was in chaos. A dwarf with evil black eyes, mouth agape, was floating cross-legged in mid-air, carrying a full basket of moldy bread. He was using the house-elves below as targets to practice throwing.

'This is Peeves? Where's Professor Taylor?'

But he had no time to think. While William was distracted, bread was already attacking him like bombs.

"La la la, another naughty student barging into the kitchen! Let Mischievous Ghost teach you a lesson. This isn't a school you can just walk into anywhere!"

William quickly drew his wand and used a barrier charm to block, but some still slipped through the net and landed on the armor charm from the air, making a clanging sound.

Such an attack wasn't particularly lethal, but it was disgusting enough—William almost instantly understood why this guy had made such a name for himself.

Just like a mop in the toilet, once you pull it out, you become a war god. It's not that others can't withstand the attack, but that the negative status is too disgusting.

'Let's try it and see if it stops the prank.'

While attacking the falling moldy bread, William also took a moment to aim at Peeves' basket.

Great, hit the mark.

The bread basket exploded, and the moldy bread began to move erratically through the air. Several pieces slammed heavily into Pikachu's face, causing the elf to curse.

Amidst the constant cursing, the elf swiftly rushed towards the wall and then disappeared into the kitchen.

'It's not as strong as I imagined; in fact, you could say it's rather weak. Is it because the prank prop was just bread?'

William made a deduction and kept it in mind.

When he turned around, he saw Professor Taylor with a serious expression and the delighted administrator, Filch.

……

Professor Taylor, so you went to find outside help?

“That was fantastic, Professor William, that Barrier Charm you used was amazing.”

On the way out of the kitchen, the caretaker, whom William didn't know well, was lavish in his praise, as if William were dealing with not Peeves, but his mortal enemy.

Professor Taylor, who had failed to take revenge himself, seemed a little dejected. Although he expressed his gratitude sincerely, he didn't say much on the way back, as if he was brewing some kind of revenge—something William could completely understand.

If it were him, he'd probably want to use a petrification spell to freeze Peeves in place and keep him in the office as a decoration for a week.

But regardless of how Professor Taylor plans his next revenge, the operation to strike Peeves was a complete success.

As elves who have existed longer than most of the castle's inhabitants, they should not be expelled from the castle without a particular reason—especially if they cannot be expelled.

Administrator Filch said goodbye to William and the others halfway and returned to his office.

"William, you're back? Did you find Peeves?"

"That's right, Professor Taylor successfully smashed Peeves' head with a Barrier Charm. After he recovered, he could only grumble and scramble out of the kitchen—of course, I deserve a lot of credit; I managed to subdue that guy with great difficulty."

William boasted shamelessly, his exaggerated expression resembling that of a drunken patron at the Leaky Cauldron.

Adams had no desire to expose the lie, but suppressed laughter could be heard coming from under the table next to him.

William instinctively looked toward the source of the laughter and found little Afra, whose wizard robes had been dried by magic, crouching in a corner, avoiding everyone's gaze. She had just made a sound because she couldn't hold it in any longer.

As William and the others turned their gazes toward her, Afra shifted her body and then tightly closed her eyes.

Professor Taylor gave her a disapproving look, then stomped back to his desk, leaving a bewildered William and Adams trying to suppress a laugh.

"What? Did they get angry with Professor Taylor?"

William lowered his voice.

"No, she's chanting a spell to make herself invisible."

"Invisibility?"

William took another serious look, then realized that he didn't seem to have any X-ray vision, and asked in confusion.

"Of course not now. Afra has a great talent for magic, just like Disguise Magus. She was born with the Disguise Charm. Last time we played hide-and-seek with her, we only found her when she was hungry."

She must have come out on her own!

"To prevent her from getting lost, her robes were specially enchanted—but she doesn't know it yet."

"so?"

"Professor Taylor didn't hit her hard enough today. She still thinks she's a mushroom, but she's afraid of being hit, so she's hiding."

……