From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

That's so unfair—can they really do that?

Yes, and even more outrageous.

Just as the sixth-grade students finished lunch and were preparing to return to the lounge, the official announcement was made.

This is an official announcement regarding the treatment of the four warriors who won the Triwizard Tournament, bringing glory to the school. It is posted at the entrance of the notice board in each college lounge.

The announcement was much more comprehensive than the notices received by the prefects, detailing the privileges and benefits that each student would receive during their studies.

The last point about Dumbledore's private lessons made a group of sixth-year students extremely envious.

Among last year's Warriors, there was one seventh grader, two sixth graders, and one fourth grader. While others were happily watching the game, they were preparing for it...

But—nothing to say. The assessment was real. Only a handful of them passed the underage exam, and the Goblet of Fire assessment eliminated everyone.

"This is outrageous... Harry, I'm even thinking of sneaking up on you and using Polyjuice Potion to transform into your appearance and go to class."

Standing in front of the bulletin board, Fred exaggeratedly described his envy to Harry, and George nodded in agreement, indicating that he was thinking of a suitable plan.

All the Gryffindors present shared the same feeling—Dumbledore had been away from frontline teaching for almost forty years, and he was still the undisputed number one white wizard! To be personally taught by Dumbledore!

Harry was startled by the overly enthusiastic gaze. He had already suffered enough today, first being taken up by the professor to be a teaching assistant, and then encountering the strange Professor Snape—he swore he had never imagined that his Year of the Owls would be like this!

"I'm not envious at all. The fifth-grade schedule is already packed to the brim. What difference would it make if Dumbledore's courses were added on? Would they be able to keep up?"

Ron suddenly started yelling in dissatisfaction, his tone clearly showing his anger.

He walked briskly ahead, then suddenly turned around after a few steps. "Harry, what are you standing there for? You have Professor McGonagall's class this afternoon!"

Harry paused for a moment, then apologized and caught up with Ron. After quickly returning to the dormitory, Ron finally breathed a sigh of relief. "That was awful... How was my acting?"

"Not very good..."

Harry put on a serious face, but couldn't help laughing. "You scared me to death."

“I suddenly realized…” Ron laughed as well. “I only remembered it after I got back. I could have used my status as a prefect to call them away. Blocking the way in the lounge is against school rules.”

"Forget it, Professor McGonagall will scold us."

As Harry spoke, he flipped through his afternoon textbooks. "The first class this afternoon is Transfiguration... There are two Transfiguration classes every week this year... My schedule is completely full..."

“It’s the Year of the Owls…” Ron said, pulling out his summer homework. “Transfiguration. I heard that Transfiguration in fifth grade is so difficult that people want to give up… By the way, I heard that Dumbledore used to be a Transfiguration professor. Do you think your class might be about Transfiguration?”

"That's not right either—if it were Dumbledore, he would definitely have a lot of powerful spells, and maybe he would teach you some particularly powerful magic."

“I won’t be able to use it, Ron.” After confirming that everything he needed was in his backpack, Harry lay back and collapsed onto the bed. “Professor William said that it’s not enough to master a few obscure spells to become a great wizard; what’s more important is the understanding and modification of spells.”

It wasn't that he hadn't learned some obscure spells—but overall, those were the ones he used best.

“I’ve tried to write down the spells and techniques. If Dumbledore really teaches them, I’ll show them to you secretly, but don’t let anyone else know—Dumbledore definitely won’t like that.”

But Ron was already snoring in bed—the frantic homework he'd been doing before the holidays, combined with his holiday lifestyle, had caused him to quickly drift off to sleep after a morning of classes…

-

"Dumbledore's lessons."

In just one afternoon, Snape's Divination class was no longer a hot topic among the students, even the fifth-year students didn't care anymore—Professor Snape taking off his robes and running around the castle probably wouldn't be news among the students, because Dumbledore was ready to teach.

No one would say it wasn't worth it or shouldn't have been—the three people being taught were all warriors who had won honor for Hogwarts, but everyone still couldn't help feeling a little envious.

Among these people was even Hermione Granger, who was always number one in her grade.

She was genuinely happy for Harry, but still felt a pang of jealousy.

“Without serious study, practice, and application,” Professor McGonagall said solemnly from the podium, “you will not be able to pass the 0wls exam. I believe that as long as you have invested time and effort, there is no reason why any of you in this class should not receive the .ls certificate for the Transfiguration course.”

"Today's lesson is on the extremely difficult Vanishing Charm... I hope you are prepared for it."

"The first thing we'll experiment with is the snail. It's the simplest creature to use for the Vanishing Charm. I must emphasize that this is an extremely dangerous spell. Although it won't cause any accidents in most cases, it's still strictly forbidden to use it on wizards."

...

As always, she quickly grasped all the principles Professor McGonagall had explained and, combined with her previous review, mastered the entire spell.

Next, all you need to do is—

As Hermione prepared to try for the first time, Professor McGonagall sighed.

Before Hermione could figure out why the professor sighed, she heard a gasp of surprise.

"He's gone! He succeeded!"

He succeeded?

This was a scene Hermione had never imagined—or rather, a scene that had never occurred in her usual classroom.

She turned her head and saw the source of the scream.

Harry caught the wand with remarkable ease, while the large snail that should theoretically have been placed in front of him was nowhere to be seen.

"Gryffindor gets ten points."

Professor McGonagall nodded, acknowledging Harry's achievement.

Hermione hurriedly raised her wand and began to cast a spell on the snail in front of her—but after one spell, nothing happened.

She said nothing, gritted her teeth, adjusted herself slightly, and cast the spell again.

Another failure...

She bit her lip slightly, paused for a few minutes, and then carefully began the third spell—this time, she finally succeeded.

The surrounding students didn't cheer—although many of them had been watching Hermione's first spell, now…

Even the slowest-witted student found it strange.

Although Hermione earned three points for Gryffindor, she wasn't happy at all...

First, self-defense lessons… then Transfiguration? She didn't know what she was thinking—the mindset she'd finally managed to adjust that morning was now…

“Very good,”

While the other students began their own experiments, Professor McGonagall stood before their table and spoke softly, only the three of them could hear, "Potter... I think you can actually start self-studying some Transfiguration. Come to my office after class; I'll give you a reading list."

“You should be stricter with yourself, not just sticking to what you learn in class—of course, my personal advice is to avoid learning about human deformities for now.”

...

Chapter 518 Slughorn's Regret

"No, Professor, it's only been less than a week since the start of the semester, what's he doing here?"

In Professor McGonagall's office, William, who had been summoned at the last minute, asked in surprise.

Just a minute ago, Professor McGonagall announced to him some news that could barely be considered important—the Minister for Magic was planning to visit Hogwarts, and the relevant letter had already been sent from the Minister's office.

“Give them the money,” Professor McGonagall glanced at William—the security operation to welcome the minister was to be as lavish as possible to secure more funding, and naturally, this task should be handled by the Office of Self-Defense.

"During the summer vacation, the Ministry of Magic signed several large contracts with the Magical Congress in the United States. The Ministry of Magic is currently flush with cash. As you know, the application for the herb greenhouse has been in the works for a long time, but the school hasn't been able to come up with the necessary funds."

“I understand,” William nodded. “They’ve come all this way to deliver the money, so we should treat them well and try to make sure the Ministry of Magic delivers the money happily.”

"Please show the Minister of Magic the necessary respect, Professor William."

Professor McGonagall spoke in a serious tone, though not particularly stern, "Also, remember to urge Lupin and the others to submit the application forms as soon as possible; we need them urgently..."

“No problem, Professor, I’ll keep an eye on things and make sure they spend more time on the report,” William readily agreed—undoubtedly, Professor McGonagall intended to take advantage of Minister Fudge’s visit to deliver the money and get the job done, so he wouldn’t stand on ceremony.

Speaking of which, he did find out about the order, but his thinking was nowhere near as far-sighted as Professor McGonagall's.

For Fudge, having money in the Ministry of Magic wasn't his achievement; the money needed to be distributed so the public could see it.

In the entire magical world, where is it easiest to achieve political success and make changes that satisfy most people?

Of course, it's Hogwarts.

Almost all the children in the British wizarding world come here to study. If Minister Fudge comes to the school and allocates funds to build a greenhouse or improve the students' living or learning environment, it's definitely headline news that no one will object to—conspiracy theories might exist elsewhere, but not here.

'Indeed, I still have a long way to go.'

While William was figuring out how to get Lupin to go and support Minister Fudge, he was also figuring out how to urge Lupin to write a report.

Professor Moody is doing alright, but Lupin is so stingy with his experiments—he doesn't even dare to report any prohibited ingredients. He's hardly the kind of professor who researches ways to combat dark magic.

"However, it's not all good that large orders end up in the hands of the Ministry of Magic. The Ministry of Magic will be even more pleased with the situation there."

The situation at the Magical Congress of America is becoming increasingly tense. According to some recent rumors William has obtained, there is a severe labor shortage there – which is not good news, as it means that the latest batch of graduates have not integrated into the magical community.

Ilfamoni was basically modeled after Hogwarts, meaning that their graduates were never even twenty years old, the age when they were most easily attracted to things like dark magic.

Newly graduated students have the strongest learning ability. If someone deliberately organizes them and then teaches them black magic, a privately armed force with combat capabilities can be formed very quickly.

"A storm is brewing..."

William sighed.

He was almost 60% certain that the Dark Lord was hiding there, and he was already prepared to inform Dumbledore—but even without reporting it, he already knew the outcome.

Leaving aside whether a guess could convince the Ministry of Magic—even if it were effective, the Ministry would at most issue a note warning them to be careful; they wouldn't dare, and couldn't, send Aurors involved…

"Focus on your classes, improve your students' and your own strength... and keep a close eye on those guys in Azkaban, absolutely do not hand them over to the Dark Lord for nothing."

-

"finally…"

Slughorn checked himself in the mirror, making sure everything about him was perfect, "Finally, it's my turn."

He felt a little ashamed because, for his own little hobby, he had forcibly pushed Snape out of the upper grades—taking a student's job was nothing to brag about.

However, he didn't think it was a big problem—he had taken good care of the exceptionally talented Snape during their student days, and later even supported the student's appointment as Head of Slytherin. It was just a small, legal hobby, not a robbery or a power grab, and it was perfectly acceptable no matter where you put it.

Perhaps taking all three victorious warriors under his wing was a bit excessive, but Snape shouldn't have devoted himself entirely to Divination lessons...

"Severus did quite well in the other grades, though..."

As he spoke, he carefully brought out his treasured possessions, preparing to give the students a taste of their own medicine—although Felix Felicis was completely beyond the curriculum for fifth graders, who could completely trust a new professor without letting them witness the potion's magic?

He also plans to bring the students he missed before into his club!

"Forget about compound decoctions and aphrodisiacs—showing those to a fifth-grader would definitely get me nagging from Albus, and I have no intention of listening to his nagging. Felix Felicis will do... Hmm, and I'll fill a small bottle to reward the best student, and then I'll take him under my wing."

He happily calculated, then carefully sealed a bottle from the crucible. "I'll have to use it sparingly. I wonder which bastard drove the price of Felix Felicis raw materials so high..."

The key issue is that there's a price but no market for it—even he managed to get the materials for one potion through connections, and recently, many raw materials are even scarcer… Especially recently, because Felix Felicis has been hyped up in the American magical community, making the materials even harder to obtain.