From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

A sharp pain struck…

Little Barty gritted his teeth and pretended to be dead—but the powerful spell and the excruciating pain made it impossible for him to calm down.

"He didn't faint?"

Amidst the pain, he heard these words.

Then, a powerful sleeping spell struck, and Little Barty, who could no longer hold on, felt a force that even suppressed the pain, pulling his consciousness directly into the abyss.

-

"That's strange. They say they look down on me... yet they're so incredibly powerful..."

Susan sighed, "They said they were focused on capturing me, but they were so careless, they didn't even have a bounty book..."

Not entirely reassured, she added another incantation before carefully pouring out the truth serum.

After three drops of truth serum, she carefully bound the young man's hands and feet with ropes and transfiguration before cautiously lifting her sleeping spell.

"who are you?"

She stared at the stranger in front of her.

“Barty, Barty Crouch.”

This doesn't sound like a German name—there's no such name in the areas covered by Durmstrang.

"Who sent you?"

"I came by myself."

...

Is the portion not enough?

Susan was a little unsure.

"What is your organization?"

Death Eaters.

Barty's soft voice startled Susan—he still said he wasn't Durmstrang's man? She knew it! That Death Eater headmaster, Karkaroff, was a scoundrel! Secretly rallying a group of Death Eaters was one thing, but now he was going to cause them trouble!

"How did you manage to target me?"

“Miss Bertha found you among many people’s files. She gave me a test, and I have decided to accept it!”

...

Who is Bertha? Is she Karkaroff's new hound? How could someone find something amiss about her from such a large amount of information?

"What are your plans to do against me?"

"I'll knock you unconscious, then use a compound potion to transform into your likeness, and then use your identity to organize the local population, while constantly interrogating you for relevant information to better impersonate you..."

Under the influence of the truth serum, Barty Jr. described his plans with a sense of exhilaration, leaving Susan completely bewildered.

No—to be honest, why did you dress up as me?

I could understand it when she was younger, but now that she's older, people these days...

Fortunately, she had seen outrageous wizards before, so she wasn't too shocked and immediately grasped the key point of the problem and began to ask questions.

Who is Bertha?

"A capable and lucky one, she is one of her master's most loyal servants, only slightly inferior to me..."

...

This answer made Susan frown.

Did the truth serum expire?

"Who is the master?"

"Lord Dark Lord, of course it's Lord Dark Lord..."

This answer made Susan gasp – it was even worse than Karkaroff's answer!

She still knew the Dark Lord's name. Although he was far less great than Mr. Grindelwald, he was definitely a terrifying dark wizard—how did she provoke him?

She began to ask anxiously and urgently. There was no other way; her current situation was truly...isolated and helpless. She could handle an ordinary dark wizard, but the Dark Lord...

But after about ten minutes of interrogation, Susan frowned.

Things escalated, things got out of hand, and her peaceful life was gone forever.

The Dark Lord has secretly resurrected, taken over the largest magic school in the area, Ilfamoni, and gained the allegiance of a large number of Purgers.

This action displeased Susan, who came from the Malaist Party—they united all wizards, but they resolutely rejected the Purifiers, who even betrayed their own wizards.

Despite her disdain, she had to admit that it was a formidable force, and the Dark Lord's base of influence had been solidified during that orchestrated Azkaban breakout.

This is a very dangerous force; they are trying to take control of the American magical world, and they are doing it quite well, thriving.

"The Magical Congress of the United States is a bunch of good-for-nothings! They were like this fifty years ago, and they're still like this fifty years later!"

She couldn't help but curse, and then began to curse those British good-for-nothings—if they hadn't been so lax in their guard, how could so many people have escaped from Azkaban?

The person in front of you is the one who carried out the Azkaban escape plan!

Seriously—Dumbledore is a complete idiot! He was so diligent in capturing Mr. Grindelwald, but when it came to the Dark Lord, he practically went easy on him!

She poured all her worries about the future, her despair, and her anxiety about the loss of a stable life into a single, cathartic outburst.

But despite the criticism, we still have to face reality.

Chapter 550 A More Practical Course

"Too slow! Hurry up, hurry up!"

William sat on the windowsill on the third floor, where transfiguration vines formed an exquisitely crafted chair, with the other end wrapped around the windowsill.

He poked at a small ball of flame floating in the air while shouting at the sweating students running below—but the students below dared not say a word except to speed up.

This is yet another self-defense lesson—the lesson has only one content: when danger occurs, retreat to the castle in the shortest possible time.

It sounds simple, but it's not so easy to do. The castle gates do look big, but if the crowd rushes in even slightly faster, they become completely blocked.

Therefore, it requires coordination and scheduling by the class leader, as well as guidance from professors above—who comes first, who comes later, and how to accomplish all this with the least command force in case of an emergency.

It sounds like it's only a little complicated, but in practice, there are too many variables. Even though this exercise was only conducted among grades one through four, many problems still arose.

People fell down, sprained their ankles, or bent down to pick up lost belongings—it was all absurd and outrageous.

Despite William's repeated emphasis before class, some students who didn't heed his advice still panicked and became obstacles.

'Indeed, there's a huge gap between ideals and reality.'

William sighed—but without chaos, there would be no effect. Although he didn't want to think the worst of the students, after witnessing the situation in Azkaban, he still considered the possibility that someone might deliberately create chaos during the student evacuation in the proposal.

'Of course, it would be great if the Dark Lord could pull the battlefield to America's side when he officially decides to step forward, but we must prepare for the worst…'

"Electing a class leader only after fifth grade is indeed a bit late. Honestly, if something bad happens, it's best to have a peer among these younger students as a leader. But if they're too young, we have to worry about whether they're capable enough to protect their classmates..."

"Okay, let's rest for five minutes!"

As William shouted, he used his Transfiguration spell to pull himself down with the help of the transformed vines, landing among the students.

"Thank you for your hard work, Adams."

He nodded at Adams—yes, it wasn't Lupin and Moody who were cooperating with him, but Adams and his group.

Well, this is a necessary thing.

We can't expect Lupin and Moody to do everything. When Hogwarts is in danger, our precious fighting force shouldn't be used to guide the students to retreat... although the real reason could easily lead to a duel.

How are you feeling?

He smiled and took out some snacks from his bag, distributing them to the professors.

“Not so great—I’ve never seen work more tiring than working in a greenhouse,” Adams said, picking up a small bag of candied fruit. “Honestly, when I see someone bending down to pick something up, I just want to grab them and run away.”

He shook his head helplessly—bending over in a crowded place is almost suicidal, especially since the person doing it is a child… If he falls and gets stepped on a few times, it could very well lead to a tragedy that even magic can't save him from.

"That's why we need to practice more. Otherwise, why do we spend so much time taking these kinds of classes? Isn't it so that we can prevent them from having problems in an emergency?"

William smiled. "I'm keeping an eye on things up there. It's much better than last time."

"At least last time no one bent down to pick up the hair ornaments..."

Another professor was still a bit angry—they originally thought such drills would be a piece of cake, but they didn't expect reality to be much more difficult than they imagined.

"So please keep a close eye on things, everyone—it's an activity that's easy to get hurt in, otherwise why would we need to ask Madam Pomfrey to keep an eye on things and prepare so many potions?"

William smiled and reassured the professors, then after a while, he began to call over the prefects who were responsible for assisting.

"Well done! This is a big improvement over the last one! But there are still many flaws. Let's try it again. Thank you for your hard work!"

The prefects, all his students, nodded hurriedly and then began to arrange for the students to evacuate the castle to the outer area in groups according to their grade and college.

"Okay, all ready!"

William once again used the vines to pull himself up to the perfect spot on the third floor, re-secured the magic, and began to give the order to perform.

'I never thought I'd be able to use this experience one day…'

He shook his head helplessly.

Hogwarts is not afraid of fire because of magic; even Fiery Inferno has a counter-curse.

This place is not afraid of earthquakes. It has been reinforced countless times, and its defenses are so strong that even Apparition cannot get in. Most earthquakes are not even detected here.

Similarly, it is not afraid of floods, because even the heaviest rain and the fiercest currents are somewhat powerless against the Transfiguration.

They're not even afraid of students bringing in dangerous weapons—frankly, wands are the most dangerous weapons in the magical world.

However, things are different when war comes.

"I hope I won't need it..."

William sighed—and continued issuing orders.

Prices in the American wizarding world are becoming increasingly outrageous, attacks are no longer being concealed, the black market is thriving—and even the supply of basic necessities is being disrupted.

The Dark Lord is steadily expanding his power; if Azkaban hadn't intervened, who knows how far his strength would have gone by now…