From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

Fortunately, William had collected a lot of information on this subject—thanks to the Dementors, he was extremely interested in Azkaban.

He quickly found the relevant information, reviewed it, and then focused on a few paragraphs within it.

The island in the North Sea where the wizarding prison is located cannot be marked on a map, nor can it be found by wizards or Muggles. An evil wizard named Extis may have been the first inhabitant here, building a fortress on the island and luring Muggle sailors there before torturing them to death.

After Extis's death, the concealment spells he used on the fortress and the island failed. It was only then that the Ministry of Magic became aware of the island's existence.

…]

Another document contains the memoirs of the investigators at the time.

Those who were sent to investigate refused to discuss what they found inside, the least horrifying part being that the place had become a haven for Dementors.

'I remember these things being there.'

William nodded—Azkaban was originally the sinister castle of a wizard named Extis, who bred Dementors on the island with unbridled abandon.

So, is it Herpo, or that Extis?

He was suddenly unsure—the one who could so easily exploit the loopholes in the prison set up by the Ministry of Magic was most likely the original owner of the prison, Extis. Although the records showed that he was dead and the castle had been taken over by Dementors, how could a dark wizard die so easily?

Those things that were refused to be spoken of were, of course, all sorts of evil black magic experiments: immortality, resurrection... black magic has all sorts of methods... creating a Horcrux is not difficult at all...

But what about Herbo?

He is a recognized master of dark magic. He was the first to cultivate the basilisk and the first to invent Horcruxes. Anyone who doesn't know Helbo has never been exposed to true dark magic.

If Nicolas Flamel can still live to this day, there's no reason why that master of black magic couldn't find a way to achieve immortality—black magic is actually better at those things.

'Forget it, without enough evidence, I'm afraid I can't make a judgment...'

William shook his head, no longer dwelling on the specific identity of that Horcrux.

'He kept guiding me to learn dark magic, using all sorts of tempting dark magic talents to lure me deeper into it…'

'Furthermore, the prophecies on those cards are extremely abrupt—many things that never happened were predicted, which is simply the biggest slander against the system itself…'

'He's trying to act like an omniscient and omnipotent system, but he's not a true prophet... He prophesies things I should know, then mixes them in his views on magic and everything else... It seems impressive, but it doesn't even resemble the most basic prophecy...'

'The best proof is that Miss Hermione Granger didn't attack Professor Snape in their third year!'

'It's funny to think about it... Because I felt too disconnected from reality, and I had other ways to improve my strength, I tried to avoid using the system. This meant he didn't have to rack his brains to create various cards, lest he expose too many weaknesses.'

'That's why we've been at peace for so long... As for the Felix Felicis incident a while back, he was probably just racking his brains to create cards...'

'Also, even though they're all students at Hogwarts, some people get a lot of introductions, while others, even if they're very talented, don't get much introduction at all…'

Once one problem is discovered, more problems emerge—a lie is still a lie, and one lie requires a hundred more to cover it up, until it can no longer be covered up.

"Seriously... that quote from the textbook is so true: never trust anything that has its own thoughts..."

He shook his head as he carefully collected the venom that had been used to destroy the Horcruxes, restoring everything to its original state. Then he sat down in his chair and began to reminisce about the time when he hadn't yet mastered much magic.

"The very support I've been preparing has turned out to be the one who most wants to harm me... Unbelievable..."

"Oh right... there's also the Animagus. I originally planned to study Animagus this summer, but somehow I suddenly had the idea to choose between Greek and Voodoo..."

"Greece?"

He seemed to remember something, opened his Chocolate Frog card collection album, took out the Helpo card, and started looking at it.

It clearly states above that Herpo was a Greek sorcerer…

'So even the research into those curses was a deliberate attempt to manipulate things? Maybe they'll discover some item from Helbo that will greatly increase the power of that Horcrux?'

'Probably not... Am I just scared by that guy, making me think about Horcruxes for everything...'

William chuckled at himself, then soaked the coin in the basilisk venom to seal it away—although theoretically it was safe, he still felt reassured by soaking it in the basilisk venom…

"Going to dinner... If I stay here any longer, I'm afraid I'll scare myself to death..."

-

"Bigfoot!"

Lupin started yelling again—but this time it wasn't out of nowhere.

The reason is simple: in front of the wolf that Harry Animagus transformed into was a large basin filled with bloody raw beef.

When Lupin came in, the wolf Harry had conjured still had a few drops of blood on its mouth.

"Harry is not a wolf!"

Lupin rushed over to stop him, but this time he was stopped by Sirius.

"No, he could be—I hope he's more like it, rather than being so silly that people recognize him at a glance!"

Sirius Black stopped Lupin while encouraging Harry.

"Try to bite through the bone, Harry, you can do it! Imagine yourself eating in a noble manner!"

"You're crazy!"

“I’m teaching him how to survive! If he’s going to use the Animagus transformation to escape, then he has to look like a wolf, instead of being immediately recognized as a fake!”

"That's how I survived and escaped. I can get away with anything else, but I can't get away with Animagus transformation!"

After his protests failed, Lupin could only leave in a huff, leaving behind Harry, who was still in his transformed state, and Sirius Black, who had become incredibly serious.

"Alright, now run, jump, and dodge like a wolf. You need to learn how to survive in Animagus form so that people won't find you out of place when they see you, just like that traitor. No one would suspect that he was a wizard turned into a rat!"

Sirius Black opened the door to the next room as he spoke, “Try to get past the obstacles. Coin and I have set up plenty of obstacles in this room. You should give it a try!”

"Ouch..."

Harry responded in a soft voice, sounding incredibly—endearingly silly…

"Make some impact, Harry!"

Sirius repeated his criticism—he absolutely would not allow Harry to slack off on this.

'It just feels like the professor's stuff...'

Harry raised his howl as he thought about it—compared to the previous training, the current training felt somewhat shameful to him…the way they moved, the sounds they made, and even the eating of raw meat all felt very, very strange to him.

But there's no doubt this is useful knowledge...

'The professor should be here by now, but…'

He let out a soft howl as he leaped over the first obstacle with incredible speed.

"Very good, next!!!"

-

“You don’t look too well, William.”

By the fire near Hagrid's hut, Adams was preparing the last of the ingredients while talking to William.

"Because I was scared."

William sighed, then continued to use Transfiguration to conjure up the sticks.

"Were you scared? Did something terrible happen?"

"I almost got scammed."

"Didn't you teach fraud prevention in your class?"

Hagrid lowered his head curiously, trying to hear more clearly.

"Yes, but the other party is very experienced, and I was just a little bit away from being tricked."

William sighed. "Never mind, let's not talk about this anymore. How was your summer vacation?"

"As for me, greenhouses, meetings, that's about it. But if I had to mention something interesting, I remember there was a magical creature riot in the Forbidden Forest a few days ago—I almost forgot to ask, Hagrid, what happened?"

Adams thought for a while, then suddenly remembered to ask Hagrid.

Hagrid, who had been listening to the conversation, immediately turned around and began busying himself with the lamb in his hands…

This is such an obvious attempt to fob you off.

William and Adams simultaneously read the information on each other's faces, then tacitly changed the subject—Hagrid always did some very dangerous things in the Forbidden Forest, but this... was barely within the scope of his duties as a professor of magical creatures...

"By the way, Adams, do you have any mandrake leaves left? Fresh ones would be best."

William first changed the subject—he planned to try Animagus during the rest of the summer vacation, lest another year pass by.

"What do you need that for...? Growing that thing is just too..."

Adams thought for a while but couldn't find a good adjective, "It was a living nightmare!"

"Eh..."

The shadow is so big? Wasn't the last one planted when he first started teaching?

"Can't I use dried leaves? How do you plan to use them?"

“I want to try Animagus.”

In any case, William didn't intend to use this as a trump card. To him, Animagus was more like an experiment in transformation.

“That could be done with dried leaves… but what about your Transfiguration?”

"Thank you so much, Professor McGonagall! She was a great help today!"

William boasted without reservation—he had personally taken Professor McGonagall to see Dumbledore, who seemed to be under control, today, so a Transfiguration class shouldn't be an exaggeration.

“I don’t think you’ll be able to understand that spell,” Adams shook his head decisively. “The rest is fine, but the final step, the transformation, is almost impossible to explain. Those who know it will understand just by watching, and those who don’t will just never learn it…”

"I'll give you the dried leaves tomorrow, but you know, the next full moon isn't until more than half a month away."

"Perfect timing, I'll read a book."

The two chatted about this and that until the things were placed on the fire, they realized that Hagrid hadn't said anything for a long time.

When William and Adams looked at Hagrid, Hagrid's surprise was still evident on his face.

"... "

"…"

You're really wearing your answer on your sleeve...

-

“It’s finally over, Bertha.”