From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

As for him, after realizing his ambition and pursuit of power, he indefinitely shelved his research on the Death Saint, and has fallen far behind in this area.

Therefore, the biggest problem for him now is that there is nothing or no one to refer to—to put it bluntly, there are not many people in the entire magical world who can match his research capabilities.

Nick might be able to help, but he has already chosen a different path and begun his journey in a new world.

The remaining people...

"Could it be..."

"No... absolutely not..."

He shook his head, dismissing the sudden thought of asking Grindelwald for help.

"Let's create the magic stone first..."

He ultimately chose to put the matter aside for now and wait for the future to deal with it.

"Gurgle!"

The hooting of an owl in flight startled Dumbledore from his thoughts. He looked up and saw a familiar, troublesome owl.

That was Minerva's owl; it was one of the few owls that could directly find Dumbledore.

'No way... I just reviewed those documents last week...'

The First White Wizard began to frown and started to ponder how furious Minerva would be if he pretended not to have received the owl's letter...

After a moment's thought, and considering the consequences of Minerva's anger, Dumbledore unwrapped the letter, taking out the one that didn't seem too urgent from the envelope.

As expected, the letter was as boring as ever—return to school and go back to review those documents.

'I knew it…'

The happiness vanished in an instant, but I still had to go back to work.

'It's a pity I can't instruct Hagrid to take better care of them—but I can still offer a little help to prevent that reckless new guest from frightening her…'

Dumbledore waved his wand, casting a blessing spell on the soon-to-be-born unicorn, before reluctantly heading back to the castle—to linger a little longer before Apparating back, lest Minerva develop any hallucinations and intensify the summoning...

-

“Although…” In Professor McGonagall’s office, the vice principal was trying to organize her thoughts, but the usually serious and capable woman was now a little incoherent and unable to speak properly.

"Okay, okay, professors, don't be nervous now..."

...

Her words aroused William's extremely strong urge to complain—Professor McGonagall's explanation successfully dispelled his suspicions about Dumbledore, so he was just accompanying Professor McGonagall to ask about something, and wasn't nervous at all.

Professor McGonagall herself, however, seemed far more nervous than the three professors—as if she weren't about to question Dumbledore, but rather preparing to rebel with three henchmen…

Although William likened himself to a henchman, he figured the other two wouldn't have any objections—the prefix "ambushing Dumbledore" was no ordinary adjective…

"coming!"

When an owl hooted, Professor McGonagall hurried over, took the owl, and then untied the letter.

"Albus will be back soon."

She glanced at the brief reply, a hint of nervousness in her voice.

This rare scene made William and the other two want to laugh, but they all held it in.

About twenty minutes later, there was a knock on the office door.

"Please come in."

William and the others, who had been relaxed, almost simultaneously took out their wands, then looked at each other and put their wands back a little.

"Professor, I..."

Hermione stood in the doorway, looking surprised. As a top student, although she didn't possess Harry's keen sense of combat, she still managed to discern, based on the professors' instruction, that all three self-defense professors were prepared for battle…

“What happened, Miss Granger?”

Professor McGonagall tried to keep her tone calm.

"I've just run into a minor problem with Transfiguration. Since you're talking to the professors, I'll come back another day to ask..."

She was still very intelligent, but to her surprise, Professor McGonagall showed no intention of keeping her.

'That's strange...what's going on? Everyone's acting weird.'

"Ah, good morning, Principal."

"Hello, Miss Granger."

Dumbledore nodded politely to Hermione, then walked toward Professor McGonagall's office.

"And the principal?"

Hermione's mouth dropped open, then she covered it—good heavens, what was going on? Were the headmaster and the others going to ambush Fudge, the Minister for Magic?

-

"Minerva, oh, you're here too. Are you applying for new funding? Or is there a new exam schedule? If we're not too nervous, we should actually have a drink or something..."

When Dumbledore saw William and the others, he was only slightly surprised, and then he laughed.

However, Professor McGonagall did not laugh. To Dumbledore's surprise, Professor McGonagall's expression remained as composed as ever.

"I'm sorry, Albus..."

She stared at Dumbledore. "I got a tip from the Hog's Head..."

"A whistleblower letter?"

Dumbledore was taken aback for a moment, then became serious. "Severus is a trustworthy man, and I trust him as much as I trust you."

?

"It's not Professor Snape, it's you... Albus. The letter says you're collecting some of Grindelwald's things, and also collecting materials related to the legendary Philosopher's Stone."

...

Silence, and more silence.

“I’m sorry, Minerva, I have my reasons for doing this. The only thing I can tell you is that I remain opposed to Grindelwald’s views as always.”

"It seems this is the only way..."

???

William stared at Professor McGonagall in surprise. Wait, they're already making their move? And there wasn't even a code or anything?

Not only him, but everyone else, including Dumbledore, looked surprised.

"Facts speak louder than words, Albus."

???

What is this going to do?

William was completely bewildered.

"I'd like to trouble you to temporarily assume the duties of dean for a month, Albus. Oh, and there are also courses to attend. Thank you."

???

Seriously, Professor McGonagall? Are you serious? Even a duel isn't this terrifying!

However, things turned out exactly as William had predicted.

"Albus, I'm going to take a month off. Please fulfill your duties as principal and dean. I'll organize the follow-up work for you tonight. I'm going to enjoy my vacation."

Everyone in the office stared wide-eyed, including Dumbledore.

To be precise, besides disbelief, Dumbledore's face also showed a look of despair.

'You're too cruel, Professor McGonagall…'

William silently reminded himself—never offend the principal.

Chapter 570 Headmaster Dumbledore

The Hogwarts faculty lounge is different from other offices. There is a large wardrobe by the door, which contains the robes and hats that professors change into when teaching. Occasionally, a few Boggarts will appear, which adds a unique touch.

After class, when the professors weren't planning to go back to their offices to handle personal matters, they would often gather here to play a couple of games of Wizard's Chess, or get together to play some Quidditch. During Quidditch season, they would also get together to discuss the current state of their favorite teams. Only after they had chatted to their hearts' content would they disperse to their respective offices to handle the following classes or grade assignments.

If something interesting happens on campus, this place becomes even more interesting—there have been many more topics of conversation in recent years, but they mostly revolve around the Weasley brothers from Gryffindor. Their pranks have been among the best at Hogwarts in the last decade or so, so there are bound to be plenty of funny stories.

However, most of the people discussing this here are ordinary professors. Deans and other professors are generally unwilling to come here to get involved in campus gossip. But that doesn't mean they don't know—the oil paintings all over Hogwarts are incredibly well-informed and often go to their deans' offices to tell them what the students did that day.

William integrated quite well into Hogwarts after entering the school. Although the position of professor of self-defense was considered a waste of talent by many professors, he still made friends. A year later, having successfully survived the curse, he naturally became one of the occasional gossips circulating in the faculty lounge.

Although some professors at the dean level were not happy with him, fortunately he did a good job in the position. Although the fifth-year courses were really boring, the grades were solid, which made such tedious courses a regular occurrence.

But not all deans are so boring; Dumbledore was the only one who came to listen to interesting stories about the school without showing the slightest bit of deanly demeanor.

He was tall, with a completely white beard and hair. His nose looked like it had been broken and reattached. Although he was the principal, he didn't seem to do any work, as if the principal was someone else entirely, and he was often nowhere to be seen. He always spoke to people with a smile, and even the twins occasionally played some harmless pranks on him.

Because he was never seen using dark magic, and his strength was so great that everyone admired him, everyone respectfully called him the strongest white wizard.

But this very strongest white wizard has recently encountered trouble.

Now, whenever he shows up, numerous professors greet him with smiles, holding application forms, saying, "President, my application should be reviewed by now!"

He awkwardly accepted the form, then took out the approved form and said, "This was approved yesterday. Just process it accordingly."

Another group of professors squeezed over, saying, "Principal, we're running out of teaching materials again!"

The First White Wizard's eyes widened. "Didn't we just buy a batch of parchment yesterday?"

"Professor William took it and used it; he organized another joint exam!"

Dumbledore pressed his forehead. "Exams definitely need paper. I'll write to get another batch. What else? Ink? Herbs?"

His face was full of helplessness, which made the professors feel a little ashamed. However, more professors rushed over with application reports, and in no time, the entire desk was piled with documents that needed to be reviewed.

-

"Albus was quite organized when he was a professor, but unfortunately, before he became headmaster, Professor McGonagall came to the Transfiguration office at Hogwarts. That was bad enough, but when Grindelwald was causing a huge disturbance, Dumbledore was busy dealing with Grindelwald and then cleaning up the mess, leaving all the office work to Professor McGonagall..."

Moody was in the self-defense office, explaining things to William and the others.

"With Dumbledore taking over as headmaster, it should have been a good opportunity for him to hone his skills, but Voldemort has risen again. He can only disappear from the school from time to time to organize clubs to deal with Voldemort. I used to be in that organization too—I was always busy and would disappear from time to time."