From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

"Yes, it's really strange that Mom would send us a letter about the increased enrollment this year."

"That's right. Minister Fudge has issued several directives to expand the recruitment of strikers, and the Auror Office is said to be expanding recruitment this year as well, appropriately lowering the grade requirements for courses other than self-defense..."

The two of them took a bite out of their mouths and said, "The most important thing is that Dad's office is actually hiring more people. I bet that's the main point of Mom's entire letter..."

They chuckled simultaneously—not as a mockery of their mother, but rather as a reflection of what they had done together… Strictly speaking, it actually required reporting to the Office of the Prohibition of Muggle Items…

“Actually, it’s pretty good,” a voice suddenly interrupted, “You two must be very good at catching people who abuse magic. But I guess you don’t really like it.”

"Who?"

The two immediately reached for their wands, only to be startled.

However, after realizing who had sat down, a look of helplessness appeared in their eyes.

"Professor... um, hello professor."

This time is too early to say it's morning, and too late to say it's evening—what's worse, being outside the lounge at this time is absolutely against school rules.

"Give me a better reason, and this detention might be waived."

William sat down with a smile and then asked the elf to prepare a sumptuous meal for him.

He stared at the two of them—it's been so long since the semester started, and neither of them has been put in solitary confinement!

Is this reasonable?

This is very unreasonable!

Based on his understanding of his students, he was certain that these two were plotting something big! Although it might sound like he was looking at his students with a stereotypical eye, it was definitely not an unjust accusation!

-

'I can't say, I absolutely mustn't say...'

The twins exchanged frantic glances, deciding that they would rather be locked up than reveal their grand plan.

Being locked up for a prank is acceptable, but a great plan failing before it even begins is something to regret for a lifetime.

They're almost graduating, so this is probably the biggest and most exciting prank ever. How could they possibly sell their work just to avoid a day of detention?

Their resolve solidified as their eyes met, and then their eyes began to dart around frantically, trying to find a rational explanation for their next move.

William watched the two men communicate silently, enjoying his meal while waiting for them to make up lies.

Heh... It's been so long since we've heard anything. Those two definitely didn't ask anyone else for help, otherwise we would have heard something.

Therefore, the crime scene wasn't in the common lounge, otherwise it would have been difficult to hide it from others. So, what useful spots are there inside the castle?

Of course, it's the Room of Requirement! That place is useful and secluded, and safer than most empty classrooms—there's at least a 50% chance that two people will be doing something there.

But this can't be said—let's see if the two will sacrifice their pawns to save the king and reveal some hidden location, then keep an eye on them and take them all down at once.

Completely unaware of the professor's true intentions, the two exchanged glances for a long time before decisively choosing the one most likely to take the bullet.

"You mean, Mischievous Ghost?"

"Yes, Professor, it's Pikachu. We're researching what kind of power it has that has allowed it to fight against so many principals and administrators over the years!"

The two men told their lies so convincingly that William himself would have believed them if it weren't for the time it took to fabricate them.

"Then let's go take a look. You've been studying Peeves for so long, you should know where it is now, right?"

William smiled and laid out his terms, then after the meal he forced the two to take him to find Peeves—he hadn't heard of Peeves committing any serious offense in a while, so going to see him would be a good way to digest his meal.

-

'Please, at least do something... anything you usually like, like putting chewing gum in the door lock or waking up the portrait in the middle of the night!'

This was the first time the twins had ever silently hoped that their rivals would do something.

The professor is really in high spirits in the middle of the night!

But if I'm caught wandering around, I can't exactly tell the professor that I'm sleepy and want to go rest, can I?

'Not near Filch's office, not in the library corridor, please, show up!'

The two were somewhat familiar with Peeves' itinerary and finally found him in the fourth place—but to everyone's surprise, Peeves was staring blankly at the moonlight!

"Ok?"

William glanced at the twins—they actually guessed it? But what's up with Mischief?

Normally, this incredibly bold elf would have been up to some wicked scheme long ago, but now, it stared blankly at the moonlight, looking almost no different from those ghosts lost in a daze.

'This is…'

After William and his companions stared at Peeves in a daze for a while, just as William was about to let them go back, Peeves suddenly moved.

It started singing.

William found the tune somewhat familiar, and upon closer reflection, it seemed that something similar had happened before.

'Special singing? A ceremony? Or something else?'

He had previously planned to investigate, but because of a breakthrough in magical research at that time, he put it aside. He never expected to encounter such a situation again today.

After singing it about three times, Pipi Ghost yawned, then burrowed into the floor and never reappeared.

Confused and confused, the twins gave up after not understanding anything, while William decisively let them go and began to think for himself.

'Strange, so strange…'

"Is it because of the full moon tonight? No, wait, it's not a full moon today; it'll be in two days."

'Why is that?'

He was puzzled, but there was no way to explain it in the middle of the night, so he went back to his office, extracted this memory and made a copy, and then extracted and copied the previous memory, planning to borrow a Pensieve the next day to study this strange singing.

After placing the two crystal bottles containing the memories in their places and reviewing the experimental records again, William discovered that he now had many more tasks to complete.

"Why don't you take a nap first?"

But I can't sleep. The food in my stomach is against it, and my body, which has been sleeping all afternoon, is against it too.

After hesitating for a long time, William finally put his clothes back on, put down what he was doing, sat down at the table, did some calculations, and then looked at the clock and started working on the test papers until about five o'clock.

Seeing that the time had come, William happily ran down to the castle, to Adams' office, and then, using magic to control the sound so as not to disturb others, began to knock on the window from a great distance.

"It's five o'clock, Adams, come and enjoy the beauty of a new day!"

He called out cheerfully, but received no response. However, a distant noise behind him startled him, and by the time he quickly drew his wand, he could hear Adams' voice coming from a great distance.

"Ah, William, are you here to enjoy the fresh morning air too?"

Chapter 533 The Arson Case of the Magic Congress

"quiet!"

At Woolworth Building, the headquarters of the Magical Congress of the United States, a chaotic meeting is underway.

The people in the American magical community probably never imagined that a meeting that would determine the future of the entire American magical world would be held so casually.

The wizards present, aside from not using magic to attack each other, used almost every imaginable method to attack their opponents, which forced the leaders of the Magic Congress at the top to shout in an attempt to keep the meeting going.

"quiet!!!"

The amplified sound of magic suppressed the noise in the room, finally allowing the chairman of the Magic Congress to share his thoughts.

"Therefore, representative of Iphamoni, the accusation we have here is... that you have included too much dark magic in your curriculum for the new school year, and there are witnesses who have testified that you..."

He angrily berated Bertha, who was cowering there looking completely bewildered, causing Bertha to curl up even more, making her seem utterly incapable of fulfilling the role of Iphamoni.

'Is it really possible?'

Bertha was still somewhat lost in thought—Merlin's beard! She used to be just a lowly assistant who could be scolded at will. Forget about appearing on occasions like this, she wouldn't even get a coffee, because she was always making mistakes…

"Ms. Bertha, what does your silence mean? Does it mean you are tacitly accepting those accusations?"

Seeing that Bertha remained silent, the president of the Magic Congress above became even more aggressive. He had been having a very bad time lately—the high unemployment rate, soaring prices, occasional attacks, and rampant smuggling were all attributed to him, leaving him overwhelmed with problems.

'What does this have to do with me! Those Aurors, a bunch of useless trash, occupy the best positions but can't find anything, and with the descendants of those twelve families managing it, the Magic Council can't interfere at all!'

The original twelve Aurors are certainly worthy of respect, but even now, orders from the Magical Congress still have to go through the Auror Office Chief before they can be carried out. The Strikers are filled with good-for-nothings, and the Magical Congress President is completely unaware of the number of Aurors and Strikers who have died in surprise attacks!

"Excuse me, Mr. Chairman, we admit that we have added elements of black magic to the school's curriculum, but this is not without precedent. During that failed exchange, we learned about the teaching models of other schools, and thus made changes to our own curriculum."

Just as Bertha grew even more nervous, the councilor representing the school's longhorned water snakes began to speak—"Ephamoni has five seats in total: one for the headmaster, and one for each of the four deans."

"These are advanced experiences learned through exchanges. Durmstrang, who teaches black magic in the course, has achieved outstanding results in the Triwizard Tournament with ease, which is evident to all."

As she retorted, she also glanced at Bertha with envy—this cowardly girl actually received such favor just for proving her loyalty…

"Furthermore, regarding the employment rate issue that the Chairman just raised, Ilfamoni School has done a great deal of work recently. Our Acting Headmistress, Ms. Bertha, has taken a series of measures, including inviting some breeding farms and shops to the school to review grades and sign contracts, providing interest-free start-up relief funds for aspiring students, contacting the overseas magical community, and visiting unemployed students on multiple occasions. The hard work they have put in is evident to all..."

She quickly recounted Bertha's recent busy schedule, emphasizing the school's efforts and the excellence of the recent graduates. She used various examples to demonstrate that the reluctance of shops and farms to offer more jobs was not due to a lack of knowledge among students or a lack of cooperation from the school, but rather because the current chaotic state of the wizarding world left them with neither the will nor the capacity to recruit more staff.

Simply put, it's not that our students are incapable; it's just that the magical world is in too much chaos, which has led to the soaring unemployment rate.

This response naturally displeased the chairman of the Magic Congress, but aside from being very unhappy, he couldn't say anything.

The criticism directed at him wasn't just directed at the representative from the Longhorn Water Serpent Academy, but at the entire Ifamoni and its united council members. They used various methods to demonstrate that the current Magic Council was utterly incompetent, accomplishing nothing except for spending vast sums of money.

Amidst the commotion, the entire Magic Council erupted into another argument, with shoes, water glasses, gloves, and other items flying through the air, turning the entire hall into a chaotic mess.

'It's over...'

The president of the Magic Congress closed his eyes in despair—the election was fast approaching, but given the current situation, it was uncertain whether he would even be held accountable, let alone be re-elected…

He wasn't from one of the Twelve Auror Houses. Although the Magical Congress had never held the president accountable before, what if he did? Back when Grindelwald almost lifted the lid, wasn't he planning for the entire Magical Congress to take the blame and face the accusations from the entire wizarding world?

Just a few months ago, he was happily cooperating with a group of councilors to remove the principal of Iphamoni and demonstrate the power of his Magic Congress. At that time, he thought that the authority of the Magic Congress under his rule had reached a new height, that re-election would be easy, and that he might even become a figure of great historical significance.

'I was supposed to bring a generation of peace, how did things suddenly deteriorate like this?'

He was somewhat puzzled, but several proposals from Ifamoni had already been passed amidst much commotion. After some concessions, the most important proposal, concerning Ifamoni obtaining more funding to support students' job selection, was passed, while the other less important proposals were not blocked at all.

Then came the request from the Auror Office—the Auror Office demanded that the Magical Congress fully lift the ban on the Unforgivable Charm and legally and reasonably allow them to use all magical combat to search.

That's not the worst part. What's even worse is that they demanded the lifting of restrictions on Legilimency against Muggles so that they could obtain more clues to track down the Purifiers who were already hiding among the Muggles.

"Absolutely not!"

"The Unforgivable Curse is fine, but searching Muggle memories will invite criticism from other magical worlds, which could easily violate the Secrecy Act and expose our existence!"

"Strictly prohibit any relaxation of control over Auror spellcasting!"