From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

"Indeed... Time flies so fast, so many years have passed in the blink of an eye."

As he spoke, he casually picked up the mop that Sirius had just put down. "Let me feel it too... Hmm, I can definitely feel it now..."

"Gryffindor these days isn't doing as well as we used to. Slytherin has been giving us a lot of credit in the Triwizard Tournament... Luckily, we're the ones who won the trophy in the end."

"Yes, Harry did a good job."

Sirius laughed.

"That's more than just good—we've teamed up with a group of alumni and decided to donate money to renovate classrooms in memory of this event. There are still quite a few empty classrooms in the castle that haven't been properly renovated."

?

"Perfect timing, let's wait for them too—to be honest, I'm still a little scared to see Professor McGonagall alone..."

"Ah!!! What are you two doing?"

……

After exchanging pleasantries, another student reminisced about their school days.

...

"Why haven't we arrived yet..."

Professor McGonagall checked the time in her office—the meeting scheduled for last week had been interrupted by Sirius Black's sudden letter; otherwise, she wouldn't be so angry…

When she decided to leave the office to take a look, she soon discovered a group of middle-aged wizards enthusiastically reminiscing about the past and cleaning up their alma mater...

Chapter 506 The Interrupted Research

"It's done..."

William looked up from his desk and placed a thick stack of parchment there.

Actually... there are only so many classic curses, and very few variants...

He quickly reviewed his work, corrected a few grammatical errors, then left it there and peeled a chocolate for himself.

“Next, once this report is submitted, we can look at the more in-depth stuff,” he said, popping a chocolate into his mouth, closing his eyes, and leaning back in his chair, feeling it melt in his mouth. “Having a deep pocket really does have its advantages; there’s so much more to dig out…”

"After submitting the submission, it will take at least a few days... What should I do during this time?"

Unlike Hogwarts, where one can freely indulge in entertainment, William dared not recklessly wander out into a foreign land, for who knows which corner a Dark Lord might emerge from.

'Why don't we take a look at the book Adams sent? We've got nothing better to do anyway…'

Without further ado—although Adams had sent the book with a hint of joking, it was the real thing. William took it out of his pocket, did a quick check, and then laid it out on the table and began to read.

"... "

"So, I'm at odds with the Voodoo Cult, is that it?"

After glancing at it a few times, he couldn't help but start complaining.

There's no way around it—finding some voodoo dolls and parts of the curse process in that bag before was one thing, but this book is almost a systematic introduction to voodoo cult…

Just as Adams described, most of this stuff consists of methods for making various poisons or other special-purpose potions, while the remaining portion is about resurrected corpses, voodoo dolls, and curse rituals.

"Genuine black magic, where did Adams get it?"

William glanced at the rest of the text and immediately drew his conclusion—if Moody had given him such a book, William certainly wouldn't have doubted it, but Adams…

"I'll have to ask him; this isn't a circle he could possibly have access to..."

He temporarily put the book away, changed his appearance again, went to the post office to hire an owl, and then had it send a letter to Professor Sprague, inquiring about Adams' whereabouts.

After finishing all that, he secretly returned to his rented room and began to study the two combined gains.

-

"Just as I suspected, there's no fundamental difference between resurrected corpses and undead corpses, so there's no need to study them—undead corpses are pure black magic..."

"Those methods for controlling poisonous spiders and other things are disgusting...it feels like using drugs and magic to control magical creatures...only limited to the most lethal magical creatures..."

"Let's skip this one. It feels like a soul-stealing curse, which isn't good..."

"The voodoo dolls are actually quite interesting... their creation, rituals, curses, and blessings... it seems more like a new system of witchcraft..."

"But the means of protection are pitifully few; most are used to curse others..."

"Instead of learning this, why not continue to delve deeper into the study of curses..."

This witchcraft system felt rather useless, which made William somewhat dislike it—but it was still a new system, and curses were something he had been researching recently, so they complemented each other. He had no choice but to start disassembling and studying these voodoo things using the voodoo dolls he had discovered.

Fortunately, the Greek side was indeed very sincere, and his transfer notice came some time after William submitted his report.

Unfortunately, along with this thing came letters from Hogwarts—in addition to Professor Sprague informing him that Adams had returned to the school, Dumbledore's letter also arrived directly at her workplace.

He had previously promised Dumbledore he would be on standby until the summer holidays, but Dumbledore has dragged that out until now…

That's outrageous, having to work overtime even during the holidays...

"There's no other way, I still have to go..."

William looked at the letters in his hand and shook his head – he had originally planned to improve his curse skills, but now he was in for a lot of trouble.

Almost everything else comes second to the Horcruxes. He's still burdened with a curse. If he doesn't completely destroy the Horcruxes, trying to suppress the Dark Lord by improving his curse level through self-study is simply a joke...

-

"Hey, Professor William, are you leaving?"

Upon seeing William, who had come specifically to resign, the staff member responsible for receiving him went from a beaming smile to panic.

"Is there anything you're unhappy about? Has someone neglected you in any way? Or do you feel our procedures are taking too long? Tell us, and we'll resolve what we can immediately. For what we can't resolve, we'll do our best to create a similar environment for you!"

"No, no, everything you've done is excellent, and I really enjoy the research atmosphere here—it's just that something came up at Hogwarts, and I need to go back during my vacation to work overtime..."

William shook his head and explained to the staff around him with a smile.

"Ah...this..."

Although schools are currently on summer vacation, students' and professors' vacations are not entirely the same, and there's nothing that can be stopped from going back to work overtime—after all, that's their main job.

...

After declining the farewell ceremony and several exquisite magical ornaments, William hurriedly left Greece with the payment for the report, took a detour and disguised himself to return to England, and then went straight back to Hogwarts.

Good afternoon, Hagrid!

When he stepped into the school through the gate, Hagrid was already waiting at the entrance.

"Good afternoon, William. You look very energetic after half a holiday—why did you suddenly return to school?"

"There was an emergency... I was urgently called back from Greece."

As William responded, he pulled a barrel of wine from his pocket, flicked it with his left hand, and sent it flying toward Hagrid. "Want to try some of that local specialty?"

"You didn't become a liquor dealer, did you?"

Hagrid chuckled and joked, gripping the barrel with one hand, "A barrel like that won't be easy to cross the border..."

...

I was practically legally dumping what they'd dug out of their warehouse... The management there was a complete mess... When I left, I even got a letter authorizing my departure without inspection... and it was even signed by the local Ministry of Magic...

"If I'm going to cross the border to sell them, they should at least be dragon eggs, okay..."

William began to boast without any restraint.

"Really?"

Hagrid's eyes lit up...

"It's fake, how could it be... Even if I managed to get rid of the dragon egg quietly, Professor McGonagall could still kill me without a trace..."

"That's true..."

Hagrid nodded heavily.

"I'm going to the Forbidden Forest first. Come back for dinner tonight!"

"Okay, I'll pack my things and head over. See you later!"

"See you later!"

-

After putting down his luggage, tidying up his office briefly, and entrusting the blankets and other bedding to the elf, William got up and headed towards the principal's office.

The password was already marked in the letter, but Dumbledore might not be there.

If Dumbledore isn't here, I can go to the owlhouse at school later to check on my owl, then find a familiar professor on campus to deliver the gift, and while I'm at it, see what's going on with Adams—once that's settled, we'll have a chef for dinner tonight…

Unfortunately, when you really need to find Dumbledore at Hogwarts, Dumbledore is always there.

Good afternoon, Professor William.

When William knocked on the door of the headmaster's office through the guard, Dumbledore was studying a document.

"Good afternoon, Principal, I'm back."

“A little faster than I expected, Professor William,” Dumbledore looked up from the table. “How are your preparations for today?”

"Now?"

"Of course, I've been waiting for a long time..."

“No problem,” William nodded—he was well-prepared for his situation in a foreign country and didn’t need to go back to his office for further checks.

"This is very good news."

Dumbledore laughed. "Then I'm ready for an adventure, Professor William."

"So, now?"

"That's right, now."

Dumbledore nodded. “Come here and take my sleeve, Professor William. I think you may not recognize that land.”

William was just about to announce that Apparition was not possible on campus when he fell silent.

...

So what if you have such powerful permissions...?