From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

"Who?"

Everyone's attention was focused on the doorway.

Hagrid himself was also surprised—he didn't recall hearing any announcement that other people were coming.

It doesn't matter who's standing at the door right now. Even William didn't habitually draw his wand to prepare for defense—just kidding, even if Voldemort came knocking, tonight he'd be nothing more than a messenger owl... This is Hogwarts!

"Hagrid!"

Harry and Ron's heads appeared, their voices quite excited.

Then, following Hagrid's unobstructed gaze, the two saw Professor William, Headmaster Dumbledore, and the most terrifying Professor McGonagall sitting there.

'Gulp…'

Harry and Ron glanced at each other out of the corner of their eyes, and this time, they understood each other's thoughts with unparalleled clarity, something they rarely did together.

"We're doomed..."

-

The reason the two came to find Hagrid was very simple, so much so that even William couldn't help but laugh.

After parting ways with Hermione, Ron and Harry returned to their dormitory to begin exploring the craft of weaving voodoo dolls. However, after dozens of attempts, they made no progress whatsoever, and their failure rate only increased.

Even though he knew he could do it, Ron still threw a tantrum. To cheer him up, and since Harry hadn't had time to transform into an Animagus, he suggested to Ron that they sneak into the Forbidden Forest together and ask Hagrid to help them walk around without being seen by anyone else.

This compelling reason almost made Professor McGonagall forget to calculate how many points should be deducted from her own college…

'Actually, I still want to do what Black said, to run wild in the Hogwarts open space with my best friend after transforming...'

Harry habitually lowered his head, thinking about being scolded; that was all he could think about.

But for this reason, he still intends to hide himself.

Fortunately, the ones in front are enough.

After paying a price of thirty points, the two Gryffindor students who had come out for a stroll obediently slipped back into their dorm rooms—their only gain was that the professors and headmasters were all gathered inside Hagrid's hut.

What are the professors doing?

The two unlucky fellows even had their invisibility cloaks temporarily detained by Dumbledore, and could only mutter to themselves as they walked toward the castle.

'Perhaps it's Animagus?'

Harry, who had just undergone his own transformation, guessed—because the hands were very similar and the dates matched.

But before he could think it over carefully...

"You two! I caught you! Gryffindor deduction—"

Filch suddenly appeared, laughing unusually happily.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Filch,” Harry realized and quickly removed his hand from his wand. “We’ve been caught, and we’ve had points deducted from our house… Professor McGonagall did it.”

……

Filch stared at the two of them for a long time, his eyes growing increasingly reluctant.

Just as he was about to say something.

"Click!!!"

A deafening clap of thunder interrupted their conversation, and the two of them, except for Harry, were stunned.

'Just as I thought!'

Harry got excited. "The professor is going to perform Animagus transformation!"

-

"The final step..."

William hardened his resolve and pointed his wand at his heart.

"Amado, Animo, Animado, Animagus"

With the spell complete, he drank the potion in one gulp.

Just as described in several sources, intense pain and two rapid heartbeats struck simultaneously, and a huge, lazy, yet incredibly ferocious beast appeared in his mind.

"Bear?"

William was taken aback—but Animagus couldn't be changed.

His body began to swell and swell, and his hands turned into broad and powerful bear paws. Light gray fur grew out. He looked at his hands, which had turned into bear paws, with some discomfort and a little frustration.

'Until Dumbledore figured it out, or I figured it out myself, flight was out of the question... I thought it would be a hummingbird...'

But it must be said, very strangely, he took a few steps, then came to Hagrid's side, and for the first time ever, reached out his hand to Hagrid and patted him on the shoulder.

Feeling good—this was the first time he had tried to reach Hagrid's shoulder, though it was a bit of a struggle.

Releasing Hagrid, he swung his hand—or rather, his forelimbs—and slapped the tree. It swayed with difficulty, then swayed again, and with William's third slap, it was uprooted.

William nodded and began to imagine what he would look like in human form—it wasn't difficult, just a little time-consuming.

Three minutes later, as the last patch of hair disappeared, William returned to his previous appearance.

Chapter 531 The Study of Animagus

"The Thunderbird is truly..."

William looked up at the sky. Although thick, dark clouds obscured the entire expanse, he could still hear the distinctive cry of the Thunderbird amidst the raging wind and rain. "The Animagus's time-saving weapon..."

Without a storm, his Animagus transformation will have to wait a long time—but it's not a big problem, Britain is rainy, and summer isn't over yet, so thunderstorms aren't that hard to come by.

The most dangerous part of Animagus is not the waiting time beforehand, but the final transformation. If you haven't mastered the Transformation technique to a certain level, attempting to transform rashly is no different from courting death.

"Yes, I remember I waited for a whole six months back then..."

Professor McGonagall looked at the dark clouds in the sky and sighed. When she was learning from the Animagus, she didn't have the enjoyment of having a custom thunderstorm. If it weren't for the concessions made by Ilvermorny's side in order to participate in the Triwizard Tournament, it wouldn't have been so easy for the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts to openly acquire such a Thunderbird.

She now had an urge to select the best talents from her Transfiguration club and let them try Animagus transformations—but she quickly dismissed the idea.

It wasn't that she was unwilling, but rather that Animagus was just unreasonably difficult. Without talent, nothing else mattered. Not only might not one student from five or six cohorts achieve this, but those who could learn it did so secretly, unwilling to let anyone know.

This means that while the Thunderbird is useful, it's essentially the same as Hogwarts' defensive magic system—powerful, but practically unusable.

However, something is better than nothing. It might come in handy someday. Two consecutive successes already speak volumes.

As for the Thunderbird issue later—now that Hogwarts has its first Thunderbird, it's understandable that it might lay a few clutches of eggs if it's in a good mood…

Therefore, Professor McGonagall's face showed a rare smile, as if she were seeing a bountiful harvest, making those who were still savoring the transformation process almost doubt that they were hallucinating.

'Speaking of which…would Dumbledore use Animagus?'

William was somewhat curious—undoubtedly, Dumbledore could learn the Animagus, but whether he had actually learned it was another matter.

According to Professor Marchban, Dumbledore was already ahead of most wizards in his youth, and he found it hard to imagine anyone being able to force Dumbledore to unleash his Animagus.

With a talent like Dumbledore's, would he be willing to spend a lot of time training an Animagus?

He looked at Dumbledore with suspicion, but received not a single word in return.

“A fantastic transformation, Professor William.”

Dumbledore smiled and exclaimed, "I think you'll sleep very well tonight—after all, having a leaf stuck under your tongue isn't a pleasant thing."

“It’s late. Staying up too late isn’t good for an old man like me. See you tomorrow,” he said, glancing at the three professors. “Minerva, Hagrid, and Lee.”

He smiled and nodded, then Apparated and disappeared.

The method was so cool that it left William, who couldn't Apparate within the school grounds, stunned for a moment—wait, with such heavy rain, Principal, couldn't you temporarily grant him some access?

“I have to go and reward him,” Hagrid said with a chuckle, waving his hand. “He did a really good job today, a great lad, isn’t he?”

"Of course, without a doubt."

William gave a thumbs up.

After bidding farewell to Hagrid, William and Professor McGonagall hurried toward the castle.

"A very classic Animagus transformation, Professor William."

Professor McGonagall conjured up a beautiful umbrella that floated in mid-air while congratulating William.

"Yes, I think I did a pretty good job—it's just a bit of a shame, I thought it would be a lighter creature."

William graciously accepted the compliments, though he still felt a little regretful.

He preferred a lighter creature, preferably one that could fly.

Unfortunately, none of his wishes came true; no matter how you look at it, bears have nothing to do with either of those things.

“You prefer a more agile Animagus? That’s a bit of a shame, but a highly aggressive one isn’t bad either,” Professor McGonagall seemed very interested and was quite talkative. “I’ve done some research on this, you know, Professor William. Because of the limited sample size, we currently only know that the Animagus’s changes in animals are related to the personality and weight of wizards.”

“That’s true, but—” William looked at himself, “my weight doesn’t seem to fit the description of a bear at all.”

“There are always exceptions. For example, the Guardian Spell can't be used in battle by most Guardians, but the invincible Andros can summon a Guardian that is as big as a giant.”

William was somewhat familiar with this Chocolate Frog character—he was proficient in wandless spellcasting, could summon guardian spirits without a wand, and then use the guardian spirits to fight. He had no rivals in his time, and invincible was the title all his enemies honored him with.

He had planned to try and get some relevant information during his trip to Greece—but unfortunately, there was an abundance of unreliable information about Andros, and he couldn't find any at all.

"Speaking of the invincible Andros, I've always believed that his guardian spirit was actually transformed. That's difficult, but perhaps feasible. Therefore, I have some relevant research data—I remember Professor William, your guardian spirit was a hummingbird, wasn't it?"

“Yes, hummingbird,” William nodded, “I thought Animagus would be one too.”

“That’s different—Animagus, once formed, never changes, but the Guardians don’t.” Professor McGonagall shook her head. “Go to my place tomorrow and pick up your research materials; they might help you get to know Animagus transformations.”

-

"Something's not right...something's not right..."

A full month into the new semester, many older students noticed something was amiss.

Professor William, who hadn't been to the library for a long time, not only reappeared inside, but the books he was holding had changed to those related to Transfiguration.

In their memory, the professor was always in his office researching materials written in strange languages, or books about black magic that looked dangerous from the cover, or setting exam questions.

Transfiguration?

Although many students knew that the professor was good at Transfiguration and used it skillfully, the professor never went to the library to look at books on Transfiguration.

For a time, all the students except those in the fifth grade started talking about this strange thing.