From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

Arresting your own students doesn't count as cross-regional law enforcement like last time, right?

But William soon faced a dilemma—if he remembered correctly, there were currently five Weasleys at the school, and if he arrested this one, then all but the youngest would be in his hands, with the other four locked up in solitary confinement…

Chapter 86 The Culprit is the Niffler

"Cough cough..."

William coughed with all his might.

Ultimately, skipping class to go to a bar is not the same as sneaking out of the castle for a date. What's the point of arresting someone? To teach them not to date?

Almost all wizarding families are eager for the next generation to be born as soon as possible, since wizarding birth rates have always been low, and early dating is not something to be encouraged here.

As for sneaking out of the castle, it wasn't a big deal, so William decided not to be the bad guy and would turn a blind eye.

However, to his surprise, after he finished coughing, the two young men looked at each other and then looked in the direction of the cough—what were those two silly roe deer doing?

When the two of them turned to William, they both simultaneously showed expressions of fear.

Surely they'll run away now?

But William overestimated them. The two men looked at each other, then stood up with pale faces and slowly walked towards William, looking like prisoners being forced to the execution ground.

"Hoo, cough cough!"

William coughed again, and the girl next to Percy suddenly realized what was happening. She tugged at Percy's hand, and the two of them froze for a moment, their faces lighting up with surprise. Then they looked at each other and ran away as fast as they could, their backs to William.

Looking at the bright red hair shimmering in the starlight, William couldn't help but cover his face—how could these two kids be so stupid? Especially Percy, you should have at least tried to look convincing! You covered your face with your hair, who wouldn't recognize you?

In any case, there were no more people around on the grass, which finally gave William time to properly look at the stars.

-

When William saw Weasley, named Percy, again, it was Monday of the following week.

When he collected the papers and magically glued a bunch of pictures to the blackboard, the students let out a clear sigh of disappointment.

"Professor, is this lesson just about pictures?"

Clearly, the last lesson spoiled them, and now they're hoping William will come up with some strange gadgets.

"If it's not a picture, what do you want, Charlotte?"

William pointed at the picture, making an exaggerated expression. "Catch a Thunderbird? Or catch a dragon? Are you sure it's me catching them and not them catching me?"

The students below burst into laughter. The magical creature William pointed out was the rarest and most powerful in the picture. Any wizard with a little knowledge of magical biology knew that this was not something a wizard could deal with.

“Last class we learned how to avoid losing your wallet while out and about, and we also had most of you review how to properly store your wands—” William’s gaze swept over all the students, finally settling on the papers he had collected.

"It seems you have all done your homework very diligently, which is good. Last lesson we learned about the four most important things for a wizard: preventing other wizards from attacking or harming you, preventing magical creatures or herbs from harming you, protecting yourself in unexpected events, and preventing your property from being damaged."

"You've probably come to accept these viewpoints, so today we'll use these pictures to introduce the content of this lesson."

"Let me see how many people choose to work closer to their families after graduation?"

As William expected, only four people raised their hands—most of them had a strong sense of adventure to have taken this course to the point where they could participate in the advanced class in such a terrible environment as Hogwarts.

After all, people who work in offices at places like the Ministry of Magic, apart from a few who frequently run outside the office, don't even need to learn basic protective spells.

“Very good, being closer to your family is not a bad thing. You don’t need to hand in homework for this class—but only for this class.” William emphasized the last sentence.

"The rest of you, take careful notes and do some homework in the next class. Write a short reflection on this class. There's no word limit, even just one sentence is fine, but it must be meaningful."

As William spoke, he tapped the nearest painting with his wand, and the image on the painting immediately appeared in mid-air—this was the magic he had learned on Sunday.

"Although graduation is still a while away, it won't be a big problem to learn a little about them—these are magical creatures that you might encounter in the wild that are dangerous. Well, this is just the most terrifying one, the Niffler."

This statement elicited laughter from the students, who took it for granted.

“I’m not here to give you a lesson on magical creatures. I think you’ve already learned about the habits and preferences of these little devils—but you have to remember that these creatures will frantically plunder anything shiny that they can see—including, but not limited to, all kinds of currency, buttons, metal buckles for securing tents, iron rings on boots, and so on.”

"Hey, you in the front, what's your name?"

William fixed his gaze on the guy who looked the most active.

“Jack Cook, Professor, I am Hufflepuff.”

"Very well, Cook, could you please take off all your metal buttons and walk around a bit?"

"Buttons?"

"Yes, buttons, you can use magic to fasten clothes in any way you can think of."

He obediently removed the buttons, then conjured long straps with his wand, threaded them through the buttonholes, and securely bound his clothes and boots together. He looked at William with a cooperative yet defiant gaze.

"Charlotte, Cook owes you fifty Galleons and is trying to renege on his debt. You've found him. A Stunning Charm is a good option—so, let's do it!"

William spoke the above words at top speed, and the witch named Charlotte happily pulled out her wand and carried out the professor's order.

But Cook could hear it too, and he instinctively drew his wand, then tried to retaliate while dodging—but the temporarily conjured straps were clearly not very obedient, especially the boots.

Just as his trousers were about to slip down, William intervened, securing the straps back in place and dispelling Charlotte's magic.

"Alright, game over. Galon has cancelled. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw each have two points."

"That's right. Nifflers, though they only steal metal items, have a huge impact. When people are down on their luck, they're especially unlucky. After encountering a Niffler, they often run into creditors. I heard an interesting story about several wizards who accidentally had all their buttons stolen by Nifflers while they were sleeping. But when they woke up in the morning, a magical creature—yes, because there are many versions, I can only tell you it was a magical creature—chased them all the way."

"The straps that were temporarily used to secure the pants naturally came loose, and one of the wizards had to bear the title of 'Bare-Buttocked Man'—because the pants without buttons were too much of a hindrance to his escape, and this unfortunate fellow had to painfully dispose of his pants with his wand and the Split Charm."

The students burst into laughter.

The truth is that William had heard of a smuggling team that was cornered by the police. Because the pants were in the way, the person involved had to ride a flying broomstick for half an hour in a special state—because of severe frostbite, he had to give up looking for the pants and go for treatment.

Of course, the culprit is definitely the Niffler.

Chapter 87 The Professors Collectively Slack Off

"Alright, in this lesson we introduced some magical creatures that you should be wary of when going on an adventure, as well as some spells commonly used to ward them off—of course, this is not comprehensive, just the most common ones."

“You should all know what to write in your papers now—” William smiled lazily at the crowd. “Well then, that concludes today’s class. See you next week.”

The students filed out of the classroom, still discussing the course content before leaving.

For children of this age, adventure is always something to look forward to. Although they were a little disappointed that the professor hadn't caught a dragon, just hearing the stories about adventure was enough to excite them.

Although William didn't consider himself as knowledgeable as Professor Lockhart, with a string of legendary adventures worthy of a book, the smugglers in Azkaban often slept in the wilderness at night to avoid the Ministry of Magic's free food, so it wasn't too much different.

"Speaking of which, being an adventurer is indeed a good profession. At least you don't have to worry about smugglers coming to bother you while you sleep. And when they point their wands at you, you can calmly say, 'You've got the wrong person; the smuggler is sleeping by the fire next door.'"

William, who was tidying up his lecture notes, was amused by a joke that suddenly popped into his head, and then he noticed that there was a student standing at the classroom door.

'Has a life that's too comfortable led to a decrease in vigilance?'

As William walked out of the classroom, filled with self-doubt, he realized that the two people standing at the door were quite familiar to him—they had just met the night before.

"What is it, Percy? Is there something else?"

William looked as if nothing had happened.

"Professor...I...I, last night..."

It's clear that this child mustered a lot of courage to decide to turn himself in; he's obviously a student who has never made a mistake.

However, William had heard of this student's name from other professors, and his dean, Professor McGonagall, had even introduced the student to William.

This child is considered a top student among sixth graders. He demonstrated admirable learning abilities in third grade and obtained certificates for twelve exams in his fifth-grade graduation exam.

This is a remarkable achievement, because some courses are not just one class a week. The class times of the twelve courses are seriously conflicting, and to obtain twelve certificates, one may even have to apply for special assistance from the Ministry of Magic in order to complete the coursework on time.

William, seeing Weasley's evasive expression, suspected that he had channeled all his destructive tendencies into his younger brother.

"Last night? Did anything happen, Percy?"

This sentence successfully confused Weasley, who wanted to turn himself in. William smiled at him and said, "The stars were beautiful yesterday, but I didn't notice anything else."

"Yes, Professor."

To William's surprise, it seemed that not punishing Percy at all was the worst possible punishment. After William refused to admit that he had seen him the night before, the boy left sullenly.

'Is this child the kind who's unexpectedly obedient, convinced that mistakes deserve punishment, even at the expense of himself?'

William closed the classroom door and walked away, lost in thought.

-

"William, are you done with class?"

In the faculty lounge, Adams lay languidly in a rocking chair, exuding an air of utter despair.

However, William knew that wasn't the case—some of the herbs in the greenhouse had been harvested, and Adams had worked an extra night shift to finish harvesting them with the seventh-graders; he was completely exhausted.

Unfortunately, Professor Sprout was too old to stay up all night.

"The class is over. It went pretty well, although it was a bit off-topic. But the students liked it, and it's a good start to my planned course. By the way, why are there so few people in the faculty lounge today?"

Quidditch.

Adams was a man of few words, almost as if he wanted to close his eyes.

Quidditch?

"Yes, the freshmen's flight lessons are about to begin, and Mrs. Hodge needs to check the brooms in advance. The professors have all gone over there under the pretext of helping out—it's on the lawn in front."

Adams, looking like he'd been indulging in some kind of spiritual practice, rattled off a long string of words as if he couldn't wait for William to run to the lawn and join in Quidditch.

Understanding that he might have only slept for less than three hours, William smiled and shook his head, then left the lounge as he had wished.

William himself was also very interested in flying broomsticks—although theoretically, he was captured and imprisoned in Azkaban on a flying broomstick.

'Flying is something even wizards rely on brooms for; it's neither scientific nor magical.'

William thought this as he left the castle.

But at this moment he couldn't care less about the difference between science and magic. Since he came to the magical world, he had never personally touched a flying broom!

-

The September sun is warm enough but not scorching, and it hasn't rained recently. The temperature at Hogwarts is just right for human habitation, neither too warm nor too cold.

There weren't many students outside the castle on Monday. The lawn, neatly trimmed by house-elves, was a feast for the eyes, making one want to sleep there and waste a luxurious morning.

However, William wasn't there to kill time; compared to flying brooms, the lawn held little appeal.

'After all, it's a flight. If I don't take this opportunity, I'll have to buy the broom myself, and with my procrastination, I don't know when I'll get around to it.'