From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

It wasn't impossible—he knew about the Dementors, and he knew his most loyal Death Eaters were in Azkaban. He felt he could easily persuade the Dementors, but that would mean a direct confrontation with Dumbledore.

But he couldn't get away.

A vast magical world lies before him, yet he doesn't even have complete control over Ilfamoni. If Dumbledore discovers this, he feels the old man won't give him enough time to develop it further.

'That idiot Bertha…'

He couldn't help but curse inwardly—at present, the Death Eater he trusted most was Bertha, who had assisted him in completing the resurrection ritual, but he was really not comfortable letting Bertha take charge of too much work.

'The memory lock has been broken, and the effects of the forgetting spell should have almost disappeared, but now…'

It turns out that Bertha's carelessness was partly related to the Forgetfulness Charm, but it couldn't be blamed entirely...

'Wait a little longer—once we catch that old headmaster, we can relax the security here a bit, and then we can find some time to bring Little Barty out…'

'As for Bertha, let her wrestle with those deans...it'll give them a headache too...'

-

"Something's getting increasingly strange. We tried to cross the border today and there were detectives checking us—when did those guys become so diligent?"

"Let's find a new hiding place, the one we made before!"

After listening to the report, the former principal decisively issued the order.

They've been hiding for a long time—and it looks like they've been spotted again.

After packing their belongings and using magic to destroy anything in the room that could be found through divination or similar methods, they quickly began to move.

"School's starting soon, right?"

"Yes, Professor. Students are supposed to return to school today."

"Just like Hogwarts, it seems they're also starting school today—no, to be precise, we're imitating them."

The old headmaster smiled and said, "But the Hogwarts Express has never been imitated. The Magical Congress has never approved the construction of such a railway."

"But to be honest, it's hardly an express train—let's go, next target. If we stay hidden, there won't be any major changes at the school."

Chapter 514 Dangerous Explosive Barrel

"We've arrived!"

When the familiar Hogsmeade Station came into view, most of the students became excited.

They've been cooped up at home for the entire holiday and are eagerly anticipating the time when they can freely cast spells again after returning to school.

Lu Ping looked at the happy students below and felt a headache coming on.

He had already written to Dumbledore about the attack on the two professors, but Dumbledore only replied that he knew and did not reveal any further plans, which made him uneasy.

The weather's turned gloomy again—are they working on another testing potion?

Lupin made a guess, but he wasn't sure at all.

All I can say is that the ongoing chaos in the American wizarding world has provided ample convenience for Hogwarts' inspection work—judging from the situation, it seems that the Thunderbird will be permanently based in the Forbidden Forest.

'Sure enough, it's that potion.'

As Lupin stepped off the train, he immediately caught a faint scent of the revealing agent in the rain.

'That should be over by Hagrid's cabin...'

He shook his head and muttered to himself, "Both of them are being tested with the potion, and I still have to go and call Dumbledore to ambush them... Is this some kind of joke?"

-

Another year has passed—I hope this year will be peaceful and uneventful.

Moody used magic to lift a new bucket of potions and place it beside the fire. William untied the lid, controlled the potions to dissolve into the rainwater, and then turned to Moody, saying, "I don't think so—didn't you say last time that you saw a lot of things that weren't right in the American magical community?"

"Yes, it's incredibly chaotic, something just doesn't feel right."

“That’s the problem, Professor Moody.”

William glanced at the sky. "I've been investigating the prices of some special supplies on the black market these past few days, and I've found that the prices of some prohibited materials from the United States are dropping significantly."

"That's normal. If things are in such chaos over there, there's bound to be problems with supplies management. With a large volume of shipments, prices will naturally drop."

“But the problem is,” William sighed, “I had someone investigate the prices of supplies on the black market in several surrounding countries, and I found that the prices of ingredients for healing potions and some commonly used protective magic items are skyrocketing… That’s not all, the prices of black magic materials in the area have more than tripled!”

"You mean, there are people in the area collecting dark magic materials on a large scale?"

“No,” William shook his head, “the price of that resource is skyrocketing as if there’s going to be a war… and considering the materials commonly used in dark magic, I suspect there’s a powerful dark wizard over there training an army of dark magic practitioners…”

“The local hitmen should notice these anomalies—they’re not stupid.”

"Hard to say... If they dare to arrest their own former principal in public, what wouldn't they dare to do?"

William looked up. "I've been keeping up with the local wizarding news these past few days, and those guys are still going on and on about that headmaster's past..."

"Alright, don't worry about them, Professor William," Moody shook his head. "There's nothing we can do. That's the American magical world. Not to mention us, even the Ministry of Magic wouldn't dare to get involved."

“That’s true,” William said, snapping out of his reverie. The Dark Lord’s Horcruxes were still being collected and destroyed in an orderly manner. Their progress was good, and even if the Dark Lord really caused a big enough disturbance over there, it would be enough time for the Exiled Magical Society to come and ask for help.

If the Horcruxes cannot be destroyed, then dealing with the Dark Lord is just empty talk.

"Keep an eye on the school area first, and don't let those people sneak in."

William glanced at the sky, and seeing that the rain had stopped, he stopped his magic. "By the way, Professor Moody, do you think Azkaban is reliable?"

Azkaban?

Moody paused for a moment, then realized what William was referring to.

"You mean, Dementors?"

“That’s right. Azkaban is not a place that cannot be invaded, and I have never had a good impression of Dementors.”

As William tended to the fire used for casting spells, he explained his thoughts, "Think about it, how many dark wizards are imprisoned in Azkaban? Although those guys lost their wands and had their powers restricted in there, if..."

He spread his hands, gesturing to a scene of a cage being blown open, "If that place is breached, the Dark Lord can get a powerful team that is absolutely loyal to him in less than a week."

William also came up with this question by associating the rain from the cauldron with Dementors—the consensus among almost all wizards was that Azkaban was safe and reliable, but he had heard the story of Sirius Black's prison break, read countless stories of rescues from the execution ground in the Water Margin, and knew that there was no such thing as an impregnable fortress.

He didn't think the Ministry of Magic's existing security measures could hold the Dark Lord. When the Dark Lord was no longer around, Azkaban was naturally a prison for those dark wizards, but what if the Dark Lord himself intervened to rescue them?

That wasn't just one or two Death Eaters—it was an entire army, a giant powder keg buried over there!

That makes sense.

Before William pointed it out, Moody didn't think Azkaban was a problem, but now he was getting nervous—he had captured more than half of the dark wizards in the deepest part, and he knew better than anyone how troublesome those guys were.

One-on-one is fine, but if those guys sneak out in groups, the Dark Lord will immediately gain a power powerful enough to overturn magic...

"what do you mean?"

Moody became serious, scanning his surroundings with his magic eye before making a concealed spellcasting gesture—not everyone he captured was put on trial, and sometimes it was inevitable that he would lose control.

"No, this is not only a serious violation of the law, but most of those people are pure-blooded. If something really happens, the magical society will be finished."

Although the Ministry of Magic has been trying to downplay the presence of pure-blood families, if the entire group of pure-bloods deep within Azkaban were to suddenly meet with misfortune overnight, the resulting chaos would likely be far more terrifying than the return of the Dark Lord.

The wizarding world belongs to the wizards, not the Ministry of Magic—if a mass extinction were to occur in Azkaban, the entire wizarding society would collapse, and William was well aware of this.

He could guess what would happen next even with his fingers—a large number of pure-blood families would flee, and their complex intermarriage system would lead to even more related people fleeing, ultimately causing the Ministry of Magic to lose control of the wizarding world. Hogwarts would be forced to close indefinitely due to a shortage of professors and students, which would again lead to a large number of wizards fleeing, ultimately causing the complete collapse of the magical system.

How many pure Muggle wizards are there in the entire British magical system? Killing them all at once sounds like a quick fix, but who dares to gamble? Divine cutting has conditions—given the current state of wizarding society, completely disregarding the feelings of pure-bloods would mean nothing at all…

Even the Ministry of Magic, which has always been determined to weaken the influence of pure-blood families, only dares to highlight its role little by little. Who would dare to be so radical?

“Well,” Moody said, his demeanor shifting away from his usual adeptness at dealing with dark wizards when it came to politics, “you mean…?”

"We need to find a way to get the Ministry of Magic to pay more attention to Azkaban. Relying solely on Dementors to guard it would be too much of a test of their loyalty. I've never believed that Dementors are that loyal."

"At the very least, we need to strengthen the guards on duty in Azkaban so that someone can warn us if the Dementors defect, so that we won't be completely unaware when the Dark Lord goes to rescue people."

William pondered a remedy, while secretly cursing the judicial authorities for not doing their job properly—although keeping those guys locked up until now was the result of a multi-party struggle, in the current situation, William really didn't know what else to say if he didn't curse them.

"I'll go talk to the principal about this later—we can't just hand over an entire prison of wizards in Azkaban to the enemy."

“That won’t be necessary,” Moody laughed. “They’re here, Remus and Albus.”

Shortly after Moody finished speaking, Dumbledore and Lupin appeared.

"Good evening, Principal. Professor Lu Ping, what are the test results?"

William waved to Dumbledore, then turned to ask Lupin, only to find that Lupin was looking at him very strangely.

Is there a problem?

William looked himself over and didn't find anything wrong with him—if he had to say, he was slightly wet from the rain.

There was nothing he could do. Seeing the rain reminded him of Azkaban, and then a series of associations led him to forget about making any rain gear for himself, and he didn't even have time to dry his clothes.

"Thank you for your hard work," Dumbledore nodded kindly. "Has something happened? You all seem to be in low spirits..."

Is it that obvious?

“It’s nothing—I suddenly remembered the prisoners held in Azkaban,” William said, since everyone knew a little bit about it anyway, so he didn’t keep it to himself. “If the Dark Lord really has been resurrected, or even has already been resurrected, I think Azkaban is practically defenseless against him.”

Lupin: ...

Now there's even less need for testing—unless the Dark Lord has gone mad, he would never remind someone of something so important.

"The prisoner...yes, Azkaban seems to hold more appeal for Voldemort than anywhere else..."

Dumbledore nodded. "Excellent reminder, Professor William—I'm afraid I must leave for a moment and arrange a time to speak with Fudge."

After he finished speaking, he Apparated away on campus, leaving Lu Ping, who had come with him, behind.

-

"It's raining again... I'm starting to suspect someone is deliberately causing trouble... We haven't seen a cloudy day along the way, but it suddenly started raining so hard when we got to Hogwarts..."

Inside the auditorium, students complained as they stared at the ceiling where no stars could be seen.

Because it was raining again today, the trees along the road were damaged by the students who used their transformation magic to destroy them—but even so, many people's clothes still suffered to varying degrees.

"Dumbledore doesn't seem to be here. Where did he go?"

The sharp-eyed students had already noticed this and started whispering among themselves—the principal's absence from the sorting ceremony was quite a topic of conversation, but none of the students could actually give a real answer.

Because of the Headmaster's absence, the Sorting Ceremony was unusually late by more than ten minutes—when Dumbledore appeared where he was supposed to be, Professor McGonagall's expression was already somewhat unfriendly.

Fortunately, the headmaster was a mascot who stayed there until the Sorting Ceremony was over. After confirming that Dumbledore was in place, Professor McGonagall couldn't wait to begin the Sorting Ceremony.