From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

-

"Gurgle~~!"

A very polite owl knocked on the window of the large office. William stood up, looked at it, then opened the window, let it in, and untied the letters.

After giving it a small portion of owl food, William quickly began to check its mail. Once he made sure there was nothing wrong with the mail, he opened it, glanced at it a few times, and then burst into unrestrained laughter, which attracted Lupin's curious gaze, who wanted to determine if William was under some kind of curse.

"I'm fine, come and see!"

William waved the letter, laughing heartily.

After making inquiries from various sources, it was found that there are not many divination-related items for sale on the market recently. Aside from those with known buyers, the remaining items sold include…

...

Controllable crystal ball (can be manipulated to display the image you want), 150 Galleons

A floating crystal ball, 90 Galleons

A blindfold that won't obstruct vision, 65 Galleons

Giant galaxy model, 650 Galleons

(All three sets were purchased by the same person)

...

]

"What is this?"

Lupin glanced at the letter, but couldn't figure out what William was laughing about.

“I hired someone to keep an eye on the recent market for me. I paid him a salary and assigned him a topic to investigate every week. I will then conduct spot checks using information from the black market to ensure the accuracy of the information.”

"I see..."

Lupin nodded. "You still plan to monitor the prices of those important commodities?"

"Yes, that's right."

"But if you do this, will your salary be enough?"

"salary?"

William looked at Lupin, "This is a market monitoring survey about materials used in Dark Arts. It's a collaborative project with the Ministry of Magic, and we're still short-staffed..."

"..."

Lupin glanced at William, as if he had learned something, but also as if he hadn't. "But these divination tools?"

“I just wanted to see what Professor Snape bought,” William said, spreading his hands. “He’s never even seen a charlatan fortune-telling stall, whether Muggle or wizarding. How could he possibly learn how to act professionally out of thin air after suddenly becoming a fortune-telling professor?”

"So he'll definitely go to Diagon Alley to secretly inquire about where the fortune tellers' equipment is... He's unlikely to stoop to asking Professor Trelawney, so I kindly helped him out..."

???

"Don't be so surprised, it wasn't helpful—I found out too late. The few guys I hired who usually work as instructors in the black market couldn't find anyone to ask about the magical tools used by fortune tellers."

William spread his hands. "That's why I had someone look through our previous purchase records and send them over—and you've seen it, that enormous galaxy model, you've probably heard about it..."

"So, the rest of the items purchased in the same batch are probably also..."

Lupin glanced at the marked items and finally understood why William was laughing.

"Aren't you afraid that Professor Snape will challenge you to another duel?"

“No big problem—” William shook his head. “It didn’t go as planned. In the plan, the black market guides who gave him directions, the shop owners who bought the goods, and the goods he bought should all have been arranged properly—I found out too late.”

As he spoke, he opened another compiled file, "But here, things shouldn't be so passive..."

"Black market price records in the US?"

"Obituary?"

"The Ministry of Magic's crime statistics—how did you get your hands on this?"

"Things have completely fallen apart over there. Galon is practically omnipotent in the black market now."

William sighed. "The news from over there isn't good. Dumbledore and I discussed setting up a rather interesting trap here, but it's only in its initial stages... We'll practice in Divination class... It's a pity we found out too late."

"Sure enough, things that are too complicated are not suitable for me."

William put away his notes. "However, it will be quite interesting to see how much of what we find in the follow-up investigation is correct. Hopefully, Professor Snape hasn't been fooled too much and can at least maintain his image as a fortune teller."

-

"They didn't even check the homework on the spot...and didn't deduct any points..."

After a divination class, the students looked completely bewildered.

Professor Snape didn't take the opportunity to deduct any points from the houses, nor did he add his usual sarcastic remarks—this was so unlike him.

"What evil curse has he been under?"

"I hope the spell lasts a long time!"

...

While the students were buzzing with discussion, Snape changed out of his uncomfortable fortune teller's clothes, removed the covering from the Dark Mark, and covered it up again with his clothes. After doing all this, he anxiously pulled out his textbook and began to review and fill in any gaps in what he had taught in the lesson.

He prepared for this lesson for a week!

"Luckily, nothing went wrong."

He breathed a sigh of relief, then began to work out his summer homework by referring to the textbooks he had reviewed.

"What's going on with this summer assignment? Why did this student predict he'd get injured? According to the book's calculations, he really would get injured? But he's perfectly fine! Is there something wrong with the textbook?"

Chapter 517 Collapse and Despair

Before lunchtime, word had spread throughout the entire school that Professor Snape hadn't bothered any Gryffindor students in class.

This incident was so shocking that even people in the faculty lounge learned about this rather eerie event, and some professors even began to secretly inquire whether the ghost story on campus was real—it was so outrageous that almost no one dared to believe it was true.

"Hey William, do you think Professor Snape is really planning to change careers...? That's absurd!"

Before lunch, Adams sidled up to William and brought up the question.

Professors also gossip in their spare time, but most of the time their topics are either about which professor or which student in which grade did something stupid.

'There really is one... but I'm afraid he'll chase me down with his wand...'

William suppressed a laugh and resolutely did not reveal that Professor Snape had spent a lot of money to be ripped off, buying a bunch of equipment meant to fool novice fortune tellers—frankly, it wasn't entirely Professor Snape's fault; if he hadn't heard the tricks from the con artists in the prison cell, he would have been fooled too.

“I don’t know about that,” William lied through his teeth, “but anyway, he didn’t really like Potions class, so it’s not surprising that he suddenly found himself loving divination.”

"Don't like potions?"

Adams' eyes widened, then he laughed. "That's not a funny joke at all—Professor Snape doesn't like potions?"

“Look at his basement, look at his potions grades, and look at his office full of all sorts of potion ingredients—oh, you haven’t been there…” He shook his head. “If you had, you’d know how much he loves potions!”

I've been there—but without the owner's permission…

“That’s why I think he doesn’t like potions…” William spread his hands. “You know, I’m in this business. I can tell whether someone likes potions or not at a glance. He’s just incredibly talented in this area, which is enviable. Honestly, he doesn’t really like them that much…”

William's expression turned serious. "I'm asking you, how many kinds of rare herbs have you cultivated? Have you independently cultivated any new varieties of herbs?"

"Rare... According to my own understanding, there are currently seven types. According to the generally accepted understanding, I have probably cultivated a little more than two-thirds of that list?"

Adams got excited when herbs were mentioned. "You know, some herbs have incredibly demanding growing conditions. Even the greenhouses at Hogwarts can't replicate their preferred environment... We're currently applying to build a small greenhouse a little further away from the Black Lake to cultivate some aquatic magical herbs."

“Hmm, that sounds very meaningful,” William nodded. “What about the cultivation of new varieties?”

"As for variants, there are nine... but if we're talking about truly new varieties that can be published in journals or papers on their own, there's only one and a half. Only one of them was something I came up with and cultivated on my own, while the other one received a lot of help from the dean."

"What about Professor Snape?"

William laughed. "Over the years, have you heard of any new potion recipes he's released? Have you heard of any improvements he's made to the steps of potion recipes in textbooks? Have you heard of any potion-related conferences or exchanges he's actively participated in?"

“It seems there really isn’t…” Adams paused, “He just seems to be able to manufacture any new drug instantly, and he can spot problems at a glance when teaching students, but I’ve never heard of him publishing any research on related issues in any journals…”

"How did you find this, William?"

...

I'm a professional pharmacist, okay? I subscribe to relevant magazines and newspapers!

William rolled his eyes. "That's not important. What's important is that Professor Snape's favorite thing is actually the Dark Magic—you know that, he's always been after our office."

Moreover, that guy's mastery of dark magic is frighteningly high; he's even mastered the skill of flight…

William reviewed the incident several times afterward, but no matter how he calculated it, Professor Snape used techniques related to the Dark Arts. He couldn't imitate them for the time being, but he definitely couldn't see through them.

"Then what do you mean?"

"He probably views divination the same way he views potions—he plans to use his talent to crush everything in his path—I can't think of a better explanation..."

"That makes some sense... but dinner's almost ready, why hasn't Professor Snape shown up yet?"

As Adams was speaking, the food had already appeared on the table.

"Has it really come to the point of neglecting sleep and meals?"

William glanced at the empty seat and couldn't help but wonder—no way, is it really going to be all about fortune telling?

That thing really requires talent; ordinary wizards can't do it!

-

"How come all the good things happen to fifth graders..."

While a group of professors were discussing Professor Snape's sudden antagonism with divination, the sixth-year students were quietly sighing.

Aside from these students who had just finished their OWLS year, did no one in the school notice that Professor William's first class didn't give the students a tough start?

Professor Snape's divination was just for fun; it was Professor William's exam questions that were the real source of suffering! Doesn't anyone care about that?

Unfortunately—there really isn't one.

Fifth graders can't imagine what sixth graders go through, seventh graders had a blast last year, and those below fourth grade still have no idea just how dreadful the word "owls" really is...

Potions class doesn't have Professor Snape's sharp tongue, Divination class doesn't require you to fabricate an injury story, and even Self-Defense class doesn't require you to desperately deal with those damned exam questions.

What's even more infuriating is that last year's Triwizard Tournament was quite unpleasant for these current sixth graders because of the OWLS year—this series of blows made them feel like even the lamb chops in their mouths had suddenly lost their flavor.