From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

Chapter 520 Training and Training

"So your view is that our old rival, Voldemort, has already taken over Evamorni?"

In the headmaster's office, Dumbledore listened to William's account, paused for a moment, and slowly asked William a question in return.

“I hope not—but given the current situation,” William ran his fingertips across the parchment spread out on the table, each circled data telling a story of the turbulent undercurrents hidden beneath the surface of peace across the ocean, “there is no doubt that it is.”

“Iphamoni…”

Dumbledore's gaze swept across the pile of data on the table, finally settling on the book about Iphamoni's history, which was currently open to the story of the Snake Tree. "Do you think that will give him a new life?"

"If the legend is true, then there is no doubt."

William leaned back in his chair. "Potion recipes aren't made haphazardly. Every ingredient added has a traceable origin. Potions that use bezoar are either geared towards detoxification or contain highly toxic ingredients that need to be neutralized. Many variations of compound potions rely on African tree snakeskin—a snakewood tree that contains immense vitality. There are so many things it can be used for."

"I don't know about others, but if I were to process that snakewood, I'm confident I could develop a life-extending potion within three years... and that's without destroying the main trunk..."

William sighed. "The teaching of dark magic is readily available, as are the methods for organizing followers. As for manpower, the group of students who just graduated over there haven't found suitable jobs yet, not to mention the layoffs caused by the turbulent situation... The Dark Lord has plenty of manpower."

“So, Professor William, you mean…” Dumbledore paused, “that he’s targeting the entire American wizarding world?”

“Without a doubt, just like what Grindelwald tried to do back then,” William said, looking down at the horrible things, unaware of the flicker of emotion in Dumbledore’s eyes, “the difference is that he now has an impregnable bridgehead.”

“It’s really strange…who exactly is helping that Dark Lord—his methods are completely different from before,” William looked up. “Location selection, concealment, abandoning the previous Death Eaters, he’s practically a different person…”

“That’s one of the reasons I’m not sure either,” Dumbledore finally nodded. “I can’t tell whether he’s really back, or whether there’s a wizard trying to unify the American wizarding world.”

The difference between the two is too great—if it really is Voldemort, he can interfere in any way. Even if there is enough evidence that Voldemort has been spotted there, he can openly notify the local Magical Congress to issue a warrant for the Dark Lord's arrest.

But if it's the latter, then he absolutely cannot participate. His reputation is too great. For the Magical Congress of the United States, unless there is solid evidence, his intervention would be seen as the start of an international war in the wizarding world—the local wizards might even set aside all disputes and unite to resist his 'invasion'.

...

After a moment of silence, Dumbledore looked at William, "I will make proper arrangements to handle this matter, and hopefully obtain concrete evidence... In addition, I will privately ask Fudge to gather some information during his next visit..."

"Stay vigilant, Professor William. The safety of the school is in your hands. If he really does return from over there, he will definitely try every means to kill Harry..."

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind, Principal."

William nodded, then began packing his things, and while Dumbledore was still in a daze, he also packed up the candy on the table.

-

"One more time, before breakfast!"

Angelina shouted energetically, and although the team is currently short of a goalkeeper, she still called out the whole team early in the morning.

Harry swears that if he hadn't been unable to cancel any of his training sessions today, the first one being the headmaster's, he would have definitely found a way to practice on the field for a while longer.

"Let's grab a bite to eat before heading to training, Harry..."

When she reluctantly let Harry go, he had less than twenty minutes left to eat.

Harry had no time to complain. He didn't even have time to say a few words to Ron, who had rushed over to prepare for the trial. After quickly encouraging Ron, he rushed back to the common room, put down his broom, ran to the Great Hall, ate, and barely made it to the empty classroom before the agreed time.

"My god, your captain is way too harsh..."

The other two were already waiting there. When they saw Harry, they smiled and joked with him. Cedric and Monta were both Quidditch captains. After instructing the others to train hard and have their trials, they happily slipped away.

“It’s alright,” Harry wisely changed the subject. “What kind of training do you think we’ll receive today?”

“I have no idea,” Cedric chimed in enthusiastically. “Everyone knows that nothing that happens to Dumbledore is a miracle.”

“I am very honored, but this is indeed a bit of an overstatement.”

Dumbledore's voice rang out as he walked into the empty classroom and closed the door behind him. "To be honest, I haven't done any teaching for many years—I was even hesitating about what to say to you when the semester started."

He said in a serious tone, "Later I thought, for you, it's a good thing to become even better at what you're good at."

Instead of going up to the podium, Dumbledore sat in the row in front of Harry and the others, urging them to sit around him. "Let's start by talking about what you're good at."

This novel teaching style was something none of the three had ever seen before—even professors' clubs were just a continuation of gatherings with a fundamental structure, where they could freely discuss what they were good at, which was indeed a good topic.

However, just after Dumbledore gestured for them to speak, Harry, the first one pointed at, froze.

If we're talking about his strengths... what exactly is he good at?

The professor said he had a talent for combat, could quickly master combat spells, and could almost instinctively perform some combat techniques—but in front of Dumbledore, he really didn't dare to boast that he was good at combat.

Transfiguration?

Lupin told him to keep it a secret. Although Harry knew Dumbledore knew, there were still two former teammates present. But even if they weren't there, Harry felt he couldn't bring himself to say that he was good at Transfiguration.

What else is there?

Herbs? Potions? Divination? Spells? These were even more impossible to answer—Harry's face flushed slightly, and under the gaze of the others, he finally closed his eyes and, in a moment of desperation, said, "I think I'm good at flying..."

This is the only area he can confidently say he excels at.

But no mockery followed. Dumbledore smiled and nodded. "Flying? That's a little different from what I expected, but it's not a big problem. I think we'll find something helpful about it soon."

"And you, Cedric?"

While Harry was pondering, Cedric was also racking his brains for his own expertise, especially after Harry's answer, which had refined his own.

"I wouldn't call myself good at it, but I prefer adventure more—I tried going on an adventure last summer. Although I was a bit overwhelmed at first when dealing with the difficulties, it was really a lot of fun."

"Adventure? That's great too."

Dumbledore nodded. "I think I have an idea."

Next up was Monta, whose answer was very concise and clear: "I'm good at stealth. I like the feeling of hiding in the shadows. I've been thinking about this all summer."

"Stealth? An interesting answer."

Dumbledore nodded in agreement. "Then, let me briefly describe the lessons we will be teaching over the next period of time. It will be adjusted according to your learning progress."

"If you mean flying, I think you mean using a flying broomstick, Harry?"

Harry nodded quickly.

“Then, a seamless expansion charm bag that can be easily put into a broom would be great. We can practice the seamless expansion charm first, and then get familiar with the charm variations.”

"After mastering the basics, we can learn a simple method for temporarily creating a flying broom..."

"This requires some advanced applications of Transfiguration, and I think you can try to master this part of the assignment next."

"I'll think about the subsequent courses later, that's all for now..."

When Dumbledore spoke, Monta and Cedric's eyes lit up—they had imagined many times what Dumbledore would teach them, but neither of them expected such a surprise!

Such a course might be useless to others, but for them, it's a course tailor-made for them!

As expected, Cedric's next training consisted of some common camping transfiguration techniques, with a lot of prerequisite material on transfiguration.

As for Monta, Dumbledore said Monta's idea was good, and then after mentioning several unorthodox concealment spells, he instructed Monta to begin training in Transfiguration as well, with further concealment spells to be learned later.

No one else would have believed this, but Dumbledore said it so naturally that the three warriors present all felt that Dumbledore intended to spend some time researching the relevant magic.

-

"The Seamless Expansion Spell is so difficult..."

Harry was still a bit dazed. Although Dumbledore tried his best to explain things in a simple and easy-to-understand way, he didn't seem to have that much talent in this area. He only grasped the general idea and would need to spend a lot of time studying it further.

The other two were slightly better at it than him, but not by much—but none of this really discouraged Harry…

After all, he had seen the questioning looks on Monta and Cedric's faces today.

Aside from the Unseen Expansion Charm, he had already completed most of the other two students' lessons by simply auditing them, especially the concealment techniques that Monta was teaching… Harry was even too afraid to succeed in the end…

This is absolutely outrageous—but that's the truth.

Of all the things he accomplished, Monta had only completed one... Harry could clearly feel the resentment in Monta's eyes.

"There's just so much homework."

He needed to learn the Unseen Expansion Spell, and he desperately needed it—it would be fantastic if he could carry the Firebolt with him!

To be honest, he was really looking forward to the moment when, in front of his twin brothers, his other teammates, and Qiu, he would lightly wipe his pockets, pull out a fire crossbow bolt, and leap into the sky. The image filled him with anticipation.

Perhaps because of his overwhelming anticipation, when Ron came over at noon to deliver the good news, his smile was so bright that several people around him couldn't help but turn their gazes toward him. Even Ron himself wondered why Harry was so happy.

'Show off your skills after you've mastered them!'

Harry made up his mind, and then, taking advantage of a short break during his lunch break to finish his homework, he hurriedly headed to Moody's office to receive Moody's professional training.

-

"I understand now..."

After Harry finished a series of tests and took a short break, he found Moody's eyes fixed on him, whether it was the Demon Eye or the only normal eye left.

'What do you understand?'

Harry was puzzled, but didn't dare ask.

"Let's try this one again!"

Moody's wooden leg tapped rhythmically on the floor, the room had been expanded considerably—he moved to another open area and pointed it out to Harry, "Try dodging attacks, then using your wand to retaliate, destroying as much as possible!"

A muddy road appeared as Moody tapped his wand, something Harry hadn't been trained on—but it wasn't a big problem.

Both the special training for third-year students and the training of the fourth-year warriors involved similar preparations. He rushed forward and began to rely on magic and transfiguration to avoid the obstacles—it wasn't very difficult, and although he was a little faster, Harry still made his way through the muddy path with a bit of a mess.

"I'm done!"

Harry shouted without turning his head, but before he could finish speaking, he raised his wand and shouted a new spell, "Protect Yourself!"

Just as the Ironclad Charm appeared, a silent spell struck Harry, creating a loud bang.

"That's amazing, that's amazing!"

Moody's mouth snarled, his smile almost menacing.

“I understand what Professor William is saying. It truly is a talent, a once-in-a-decade genius—no, no…”

He forcibly stopped himself from praising him further, saying, "He's still a bit lacking, but he can barely be considered an Auror prospect."

Chapter 521 Daily Life

"Only potions are left... Thank goodness."

When Harry came out of the office after finishing Moody's intensive training session, he couldn't help but think back to the time two years earlier when he had been nervously trained by Professor William during that summer.

He was filled with insecurity at the time, and every time he passed a street corner, he felt that Sirius would suddenly pop out and unleash his dark magic that could flatten a street.