From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

"That dog is so handsome!"

Ron exclaimed in genuine admiration, "Did you learn that from Sirius? I remember Professor McGonagall could turn into a cat?"

...

Harry looked at Ron, wanting to bark, and also wanting to bite him—what do you mean by "dog"?

"Don't move, let me touch it!"

Without a word, Ron patted the dog's head, quickly stroked it twice, and let out a satisfied exclamation, leaving Harry rolling his eyes.

“Indeed, we should keep this a secret! Sirius even used it to escape from Azkaban!”

He watched Harry revert to his original form with lingering reluctance, his hand still unable to resist the urge to touch him a few more times…

"This month's confinement is complete!"

Ron exclaimed confidently, "It's really, really amazing!"

“Oh, right…” he hesitated for a moment, but finally asked, “It’s just that Fred and George have been talking about whether Professor McGonagall would really like to eat fish when she turns into a cat… so, you…”

"I don't dislike meat; I can even eat some raw meat..."

Although he could use Wormtail as an example, Harry honestly answered his own feelings...

"Wow!" Ron exclaimed softly, "And that one, you know... that one..."

Harry glanced at Ron, his expression turning suspicious, and followed his gaze.

...

For some reason, he now felt that either Fred or George had secretly drunk the Polyjuice Potion and turned into Ron's appearance—anyway, he was now somewhat tempted to start a duel…

-

"Almost transformed in class? Almost got caught?"

“…” William looked at Lupin, speechless. Although he knew that this was probably the case, the thought that Harry had already mastered Animagus to this extent made him feel that the student’s talent was a bit too extraordinary.

Or perhaps... it's because some of Sirius's special methods are too powerful...

After all, all three of them suddenly became Animagus, and William didn't believe there was no secret to it.

However, he still decided to study hard—although he had already read the books very carefully, he still read them very quickly and had already covered most of the content.

"So, I should let the water out a bit more during detention?"

"Yes, please, Professor William—Animagus is a completely different concept before and after exposure."

"Okay, no problem."

William nodded. The fewer people who knew about the way to save his life, the better. So Ron had to be put in solitary confinement. But because Professor Binns had asked him to do it, he could make a big deal out of the content of the confinement.

"Fudge got into trouble before his visit—thankfully he didn't fall into Professor McGonagall's hands, or he would have been really done for."

However, William is quite loyal and decided to give Ron some extra tutoring—whether he succeeds or not depends on his own fate.

"By the way, what is Harry's Animagus transformation?"

"Wolf."

Lupin's face showed a mix of helplessness and a touch of happiness.

"Wolves? There aren't many wolves left in Britain... Next time, I'll have to teach him to wag his tail like a dog, otherwise it'll be really hard to fake it..."

...

Lupin glanced at William, who was talking to himself, and wanted to say something, but held back.

-

“I’ve heard about your situation from Professor Lu Ping. It’s not your fault that something like that happened.”

In William's office, Ron came to this place of confinement for the first time.

"But we still have to go through the procedures. After all, Professor Binns said he would put you in solitary confinement for a month, and that will take a month."

Seeing Ron's unease, William gestured for him to sit down. "Relax. I've put Percy in solitary confinement before, I've put Fred and George in solitary confinement before, and I think I've put Ginny in solitary confinement before too. Relax, it won't make a difference if you're put in solitary confinement too."

...

Ron didn't want to say anything right now—he seemed to understand why his three older brothers kept talking about Professor William.

"Ginny was also put in solitary confinement?"

"Yes, or maybe Adams locked them up? I don't remember. I have a lot of people in solitary confinement here, but not many are innocent."

William smiled and put down the snacks. "Tell me, what do you want to learn? Maybe we can take this opportunity to learn some magic or something. We're already here..."

...

Is it something that can be explained now that we're already here?

But Ron dared not say anything—he felt it was best not to challenge the professor's ability to torment people, given that the professor had managed to outmaneuver his two older brothers.

Fortunately, probably because he really didn't make any mistakes, Ron felt that the professor across the table wasn't very stern and was quite patient.

"It's just...if I wanted to be like Harry..."

"Sorry, no, you're not good at that..."

William shook his head regretfully. "Judging from Professor Lupin's comments, your monthly exam results, and the test in the first class, you're not really suitable. Harry has the talent for fighting; you're only slightly above your peers..."

“It’s not that you’re not good enough…” William carefully chose his words, “but rather… you don’t have that kind of extraordinary talent.”

“However—” Seeing Ron lower his head, William still revealed his discovery, “You have an extremely strong talent in areas such as curses and other dark magic-related fields.”

“But unfortunately, Hogwarts doesn’t teach that kind of course, and I won’t teach dark magic to students, especially underage students…” William paused, “but if you can convince your parents and get their signatures, then I will instruct you on how to avoid some dark magic… and a few rather powerful curses.”

He had given it considerable thought—the first time he met Ron, he was struck by his own curse, and without a doubt, a spell of that age and nature was definitely a family curse.

Pure-blood families all have some foundation in the arts, and how much they learn is up to their own decision.

Chapter 526 A Trivial Disagreement

"Can I not take it?"

Lupin looked at the freshly delivered flowers with obvious reluctance—today was Fudge's arrival, and his professor, responsible for his reception and protection, had already changed into a brand-new wizard's robe, but those flowers that needed to be pinned to his buttonholes…

“No, this is a matter of etiquette, Professor Lupin.”

Without waiting for a reply, William handed over the flowers. "You have to stand guard at the main gate and greet the people from the Ministry of Magic in the best possible light."

“Except for the fifth graders, the classes for all the other students have been adjusted. You have to think about how hard they've worked!”

...

After a flurry of activity, Lupin, somewhat reluctantly forced into the task, was led to the gate to greet them. William, smiling, returned to his office to change into his wizard robes; he didn't have any fifth-year classes today and needed to go along.

Although the fifth-year students were briefly delayed in getting out of class, adjusting the schedule was the best solution—Hogwarts not only doesn't charge tuition, but it doesn't even charge for meals. The Ministry of Magic has invested a lot of Galleons in it, so if the Minister comes to visit, this time cost will still have to be paid.

And to be honest—including fifth graders, very few students wouldn't want to take a break during this time, since Hogwarts' big cleaning doesn't involve students…

-

"They should be here soon... Today's match is against the Ministry of Magic..."

Adams glanced into the distance while chatting with William about today's Quidditch match, "Honestly, I think today's game was a one-sided stomp..."

"Do you even need to ask? Unless they directly hire a professional team, what about the Ministry of Magic's employees—don't you know what they were like when they were students?"

Professor Taylor rushed over, and after listening for a couple of minutes, he interrupted before he could even catch his breath.

This comment caused a burst of laughter from those around them—after all, there was nothing wrong with it. These professors could tell you all sorts of stories about how each of the Ministry of Magic's employees got in, not to mention their ball skills.

Anyone with a bit of talent is basically recruited by those league clubs, and very few people make it into the Ministry of Magic. On the other hand, Hogwarts, despite being a temporary school team, basically selects professional players. After years of competition, they are familiar with each other, so they can easily beat each other.

"I think we need to tell the players who are officially playing to not play too badly, to give up a few points, and not to let the game turn into a big score."

Another professor chimed in, prompting everyone to nod in agreement—"The thief is worth 150 points, and with the base score difference, if these players don't hold back, a margin of over 300 points would be too much..."

Because the professors were being a bit too loud, Professor McGonagall turned around, frowned, and after confirming that everyone had quieted down, she turned and walked towards the Quidditch team.

The visit was limited to a few things: Fudge would look at the Hogwarts greenhouses and other buildings, watch a friendly ball game, give a public speech, have a half-hour conversation with Dumbledore, and let the reporters take some photos along the way.

That's all there is to it. Things have been going well at the greenhouse, and there haven't been any student disturbances during the speeches. Albus's communication is also not a problem—so the friendly match is the main event, and the professors' speeches do have some merit.

They're here to donate money, so we can't let them lose too badly—we need to talk to Mrs. Huo Qi about this and ask her to say something during the pre-match preparations to prevent the players in those hastily assembled teams from becoming too competitive.

-

"So, have you started yet?"

During a break from practicing the spell, Dean asked his roommates.

"I don't know, we can't even watch the first Quidditch match of the new school year..."

Seamus lamented, "He's a huge Quidditch fan, but the fifth graders aren't in today's game..."

The two of them, along with Neville, Ron, and Harry, made a five-person dormitory. Now that Harry has gone to the competition, the rest of them are all here listening to lectures.

"Ron, by the way, how was your time in solitary confinement with Professor William yesterday?"

Seamus suddenly changed the subject, as if he had just thought of something, and asked Ron, who was standing to the side—ever since Ron was selected for the House team, he had enjoyed talking to Ron about Quidditch-related things.

It wasn't that he was being opportunistic—back when Ron was the prefect, he didn't like talking to Ron about Quidditch either, simply because he always thought Ron's Quidditch skills were too poor to be considered a true fan.

There was no way around it; Ron's favorite team, the Charlie Cannons, had consistently been at the bottom of the league, the worst team of all. According to Quidditch fans, those who supported the Charlie Cannons didn't even deserve to breathe. It was already a sign of friendliness that he didn't verbally mock Ron for not understanding even the slightest bit of Quidditch…

"Ron?"

Seeing that Ron didn't react, Seamus called again, and Ron finally snapped out of his daze and replied, "Um, my confinement is a bit... troublesome..."

"Professor William's confinement..."

Seamus shook his head. "Why did you think of restraining Harry just because you felt he was being harassed—Professor Binns has never been this angry before..."

The "harassment" excuse was something he and Harry came up with to fool others, but Ron didn't have the energy to pay attention to it now. He had a nervous class last night and had an amazing performance on some minor curses.

So he mustered up his courage and wrote a letter home, carefully describing his current situation and the difficulties he was facing, hoping to get some advice from his family.

So he was constantly looking forward to his owl bringing back the letters, and he wasn't even as concerned about Quidditch anymore—according to Professor William, he had a rare talent for it, and it was the first time he had ever heard anyone use such a word to describe himself.

"What does this have to do with me? -- Shouldn't Fred and George be the ones being punished..." Ron muttered deliberately, trying to cover up his dazed state after realizing he had been in a daze for a while, "But neither of them went!"

-