From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

'Dumbledore tricked us!'

This thought came to mind.

-

"I want to see Dumbledore."

Professor McGonagall looked at Slughorn with a puzzled expression—wasn't this the one who had been avoiding Dumbledore all this time?

"He's away on a business trip. What's wrong? Is something urgent?"

“It was a very urgent matter, and I gave him what he wanted.”

Slughorn looked at Professor McGonagall and shook his head.

"He wants it?" Professor McGonagall looked at him with a puzzled expression, then began to contact Dumbledore in her own way—a method she had mastered over the years.

-

"Another fake ambush?"

“That’s not appropriate… Setting the bar too high for the actors will be noticed by Professor Slughorn.”

"Should we create some more buzz among the Death Eaters?"

"That's not appropriate either."

"I've got it. Let's put some pressure on them and get the Ministry of Magic to cooperate. We can just publish a front-page article in the Daily Prophet about learning common self-defense spells. We'll need them eventually anyway, so it's good to learn them now."

"This way, the public is prepared, and the tension is heightened—perfect! The only thing to do is ensure the Diagon Alley shops continue operating—that shouldn't be a problem..."

"That's it, I refuse to believe I can't fool you anymore!"

William tidied things up a bit and then summarized his opinion: the greater the pressure, the easier it would be to explain things to Slughorn.

"Dun dun dun".

There was a knock on his office—after about five minutes of identity verification and probing with a fake identity, Dumbledore walked in with a hint of resignation.

"Why are you back, Principal?"

William looked at Dumbledore curiously, thinking he could use Dumbledore to hand the report to the Ministry of Magic.

However, Dumbledore looked at William with a strange expression, "Professor Slughorn gave me his memories..."

Huh? I haven't even started yet!

Chapter 561 The Mismatched Soul Weapons

That shouldn't be the case.

William was startled by Dumbledore's message and began to force himself to accept the fact. Then he quickly analyzed the situation—had Dumbledore been deceived again?

He tried hard not to show any suspicion, but the thought just wouldn't leave his mind.

Logically speaking, Dumbledore is the first white wizard and the headmaster of Hogwarts, with extremely high strength and prestige. William shouldn't have such disrespectful thoughts. However, the incident where Dumbledore was almost tricked by a Horcrux last time hasn't been forgotten yet...

He didn't mean any disrespect to the headmaster; he was just wondering if it was possible that Professor Slughorn had actually discovered his plan and then used it to trick Dumbledore.

Trying not to let Dumbledore see his suspicions, William quickly considered whether there was anything wrong with his fraud.

He had to admit that it was indeed a bit rough around the edges—but such a grand scale and such a high level of investment could completely make up for those problems! Three genuine founder props, one destroyed fake prop endorsed by Dumbledore, the First Auror personally involved, and the First White Wizard having fled to a distant land—not to mention Azkaban, there was no bigger or more ruthless deception in the entire British wizarding world.

After thinking it over and over but not finding any flaws, William finally decided to have an honest talk with Dumbledore about the matter.

"Do you think he might have seen through something and then used magical techniques to modify his memories?"

Upon hearing William's statement, Dumbledore paused for a moment, then a thoughtful expression appeared on his face. But soon after, he gave an unwavering and affirmative answer.

“Slight modifications might be feasible, but a complete overhaul that I can’t detect is something Professor Slughorn can’t accomplish, because I can’t even do it.”

...

William suddenly realized that he couldn't think of anything to say except to agree.

'I could have been more terrified, but a simple scare sufficed, and Professor Slughorn handed over his memories—was I wrong about him?'

William was somewhat doubtful—Dumbledore had spent over a semester trying to win over Professor Slughorn, even admitting that he had obtained a false memory from him, and then said that Harry might have to come.

Wait!

He finally discovered the problem.

It was Dumbledore who said that he had spoken with Professor Slughorn many times, but failed to obtain Slughorn's memories. This led William to believe that the professor was a hidden person who was somewhat biased towards the Death Eaters but did not support their actions.

Theoretically speaking, that's how it is—the First White Wizard tried to persuade him many times, but he still refused to abandon his evil ways and turn over a new leaf. What else could he be but a stubborn and potentially wicked Death Eater?

But was Dumbledore really good at persuasion?

William turned his head slightly away, trying to avoid letting his distrustful gaze fall on Dumbledore—upon reflection, it seemed that Dumbledore was only good at using his connections when it came to persuasion, rather than having any special experience.

This is similar to the title of the first-place essay in the neighborhood essay contest being "My XX's Father." It doesn't mean that the content of the essay proves that it deserves first place—of course, the title certainly does.

That being said, it's true—knowledge comes in stages, and skills have their specialties; just because Dumbledore was the first white wizard doesn't mean he was the best at everything. Simply put, in the few shady trades William was familiar with or knowledgeable about, was Dumbledore skilled at smuggling? Was he skilled at fraud? Was he skilled at exploiting loopholes in Gringotts?

'I've wronged you, Professor Slughorn…'

William silently thought to himself—judging from the speed at which he handed over his memories, it was clear that this professor did not support the Death Eaters' actions. His lack of cooperation was entirely based on the premise that Dumbledore was not good at deception and kidnapping… It was this very idea that made William feel he could easily offend two people…

"It would be wonderful to get the memory, Principal. May I see that memory?"

"Of course, that's exactly what I was thinking."

Dumbledore was clearly unaware of the complex drama unfolding within William's mind. He waved his wand, and after a flash of red light, Fawkes appeared in William's office, clutching the Pensieve in his claws.

'Like this?'

William glanced at Fox, then thought back—good, he understood it, but couldn't learn it.

"Then let's look at this memory that we desperately need—I think you'll be quite surprised, Professor William."

'No, I'm already surprised enough…'

William thought to himself, and then followed Dumbledore into Slughorn's memories.

-

'Is this the office?'

William glanced around and immediately recognized the place—Professor Slughorn's office hadn't changed in style over the years.

However, this should be Snape's office now. William glanced at the location of the secret room without making it obvious. If nothing unexpected happened, Slytherin's private accounts were kept over there.

He soon spotted Slughorn, a man with thick, glossy straw-yellow hair and a ginger mustache, sitting in a comfortable winged armchair with his feet resting on a large velvet cushion.

The professor was clearly in a good mood—he held a small glass of wine in one hand and picked through a box of pineapple preserves with the other, while seven teenage students surrounded him.

That must be Voldemort.

William quickly identified the seventeen or eighteen-year-old Tom and noticed that the ring that had almost bewitched Dumbledore was now quietly on the Dark Lord's finger.

'Very handsome, with a clean-cut look...he seems to have leadership qualities...'

"Sir, is Professor Miles retiring?"

As William scrutinized him, Voldemort respectfully asked Slughorn a question.

“Tom, Tom, I know and I can’t tell you,” Slughorn scolded him, shaking a sugar-coated finger, but then winking. “I have to say, I want to know where you got your information, son. You know more than half the teachers.”

'Punishment…'

William almost couldn't resist giving Slughorn a thumbs up—the professor was incredibly well-informed back then.

But clearly, his complaints had no effect on Slughorn's performance.

"You little devil, you know things you shouldn't, and you're so good at trying to please important people—and by the way, thank you for the pineapple, you guessed it, it's my favorite—"

Slughorn spoke with great confidence, "I believe you'll be Minister for Magic within twenty years. Maybe even fifteen, if you keep sending me pineapple preserves. I have very strong connections in the ministry."

This was a bold statement, but William believed it, and he glanced at Dumbledore out of the corner of his eye, confirming his earlier guess…

However, Dumbledore didn't notice this—clearly, Dumbledore's attention was entirely focused on the boy named Tom over there.

“I don’t know if politics is a good fit for me, sir,” Tom Riddle said, amidst the good-natured laughter of a group of students who looked like followers. “First of all, I have no background.”

'Come on, give me a break...'

William couldn't help but roll his eyes—according to his investigation, Voldemort during his student days tirelessly promoted his bloodline from Slytherin himself, and the first generation of Death Eaters were his followers.

“What are you saying?” Slughorn said cheerfully. “With your talent, it’s obvious that you come from a respectable wizarding family. You have a bright future, Tom. I’ve never misjudged a student.”

Slughorn uttered another piece of nonsense—that people in Slytherin believed it, but people from other houses didn't really.

This was very frustrating, but neither William nor Dumbledore intended to fast forward—especially William, who had very few ways to find out what the Dark Lord looked like in his student days. If it weren't for Professor Slughorn's insistence, he would have read through all of Professor Slughorn's memories of the Dark Lord without interruption.

Fortunately, the main event didn't last long.

When it was eleven o'clock, the Slytherins who had been gathered in the Dean's office finally left one by one, with only the Dark Lord himself lagging behind slightly.

"Sir, I'd like to ask you something."

Upon hearing this, both William and Dumbledore widened their eyes.

At this moment, Voldemort even became somewhat humble, "Sir, I would like to ask if you know anything about... Horcruxes."

This topic clearly startled Slughorn; he even glared at the Dark Lord, and his fingers began to move unconsciously on their own.

'Is he...thinking?'

William was watching very closely—Slughorn clearly knew about Horcruxes, otherwise he wouldn't be thinking about them, but he also knew how terrifying they were, so he was thinking about them too.

Professors are reluctant to show their ignorance in front of their students, and they always have an inexplicable sense of idol image when facing their students—clearly, Slughorn's is even more serious.

"The subject of Defense Against the Dark Arts, is that right?"

"No, sir, I read it in a book, but I don't quite understand it."

The Dark Lord's eyes gleamed with an eerie light—as far as William knew, books that mentioned Horcruxes were all in the forbidden section.

“Hmm…yes…it’s hard to find a book that details Horcruxes at Hogwarts, Tom. They’re very evil things, very evil.” Slughorn sighed—and William knew from his tone that he was about to show off his knowledge.

“But you clearly know a lot about wizards, sir? I mean, wizards like you—excuse me, I mean, if you can’t tell me, obviously—I only know that if anyone could, it’s you—so I wanted to ask—”

...

William was stunned by the Dark Lord's answer—he hadn't heard such a pure con artist since he left Azkaban!