From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

"At first, Professor McGonagall was not very willing to get involved, but as time went on, and Dumbledore was often away from the school, she had no choice but to take on all the work."

As Moody spoke, he unwrapped a chocolate frog. "To be honest, Albus was a true headmaster, and he always worked hard and fought to protect Hogwarts, but he really didn't do much of the work of a headmaster."

-

"Albus, are you really the headmaster of Hogwarts?"

In the headmaster's office, as Dumbledore struggled with the piles of documents on his desk, Phineas Nigellus Black on the wall (looking at the perplexed Dumbledore) gave a sharp, mocking laugh.

"Do you have any doubts about this, Phoenix?"

Dumbledore raised his head, remaining calm despite his less-than-ideal situation.

"Of course, a little bit—how come you haven't even learned the most basic document processing skills of a school principal?"

True damage is the most real damage—Dumbledore, who is usually calm and collected, was starting to lose his composure at this moment.

"Let me help you with this..."

However, to his surprise, the painting volunteered, "You just need to do me a small favor: urge my great-great-great-grandson to get married soon, to fulfill a Blake duty..."

This deal, which in theory could not be considered stingy, was stalled by Dumbledore.

Clearly, Dumbledore was hesitant—which was worse, learning to handle these things from scratch or letting Phoenix handle the documents?

This may sound insulting, but it's an undeniable fact: Phoenix was the worst headmaster in Hogwarts' history—while Dumbledore might have wanted to slack off, this was far too much of an attempt to shirk responsibility…

While Dumbledore hesitated, Phoenix immediately connected the dots, muttered curses, and then retreated back into his painting frame, becoming withdrawn...

-

"Professor William, can I trust you?"

When William came to submit the list of supplies from the Self-Defense Office (mainly the magical creatures Lupin needed), Dumbledore glanced at the list and put it down, instead staring at William with a serious expression.

?

what happened?

William was startled by Dumbledore's demeanor. What was going on? Was Voldemort about to attack? Or was Dumbledore preparing to establish a secret society? Or perhaps, was Dumbledore deciding to reveal some secret? Or even—was there news of the last Horcrux?

"Of course, Professor."

He responded decisively that although Dumbledore had been somewhat forgetful in handling school affairs these days, no one could deny the fact that Dumbledore was the first white wizard. To be precise, if Professor McGonagall hadn't acted so rashly this time, Dumbledore wouldn't have been so flustered.

"That's great! You'll definitely take good care of this school, right?"

"Of course, Professor."

"Then, will you protect the students and do your best to consider their needs, Professor William?"

"It has always been like this."

Is the Dark Lord about to appear? Should we find a way to kill him?

William was barely able to contain his excitement; he genuinely wanted to kill the Dark Lord.

"Great! Please help me process these documents, Professor William!"

???

William stared wide-eyed at Dumbledore, checked the date—and confirmed it wasn't April Fool's Day yet.

"It is possible, Professor, but I'm not good at this."

"It's alright, it's just a temporary arrangement. Minerva is only on leave for a month. Professor William, you wouldn't want the students to go hungry, would you? Yesterday, we didn't consider Peeves' prank, which resulted in the kitchen not having enough food..."

'I think the twins were involved too, but there are too many Gryffindors in solitary confinement, I can't be sure…'

William pondered silently, but after glancing at Dumbledore, he decided not to cause any trouble.

The twins would graduate in another month or two, and since the prank wasn't too outrageous, he decided to turn a blind eye—Professor McGonagall would be back to report together.

It wasn't that he thought Dumbledore was anything special, but rather that Dumbledore, who had been hastily taken over, was far inferior to Professor McGonagall...

“I think you’re absolutely right, Principal.”

William nodded, then added the most twisted word in the world, "But..."

"But Professor McGonagall isn't just taking a vacation. Do you think she might take another month off if she finds out you've delegated the principal's duties to others...?"

Dumbledore glanced at the mountain of documents, sighed, his eyes full of regret, but didn't bring up the topic again.

-

"Transfiguration class..."

When Dumbledore appeared in the fifth-year classroom, all the students, including Harry, who was receiving training from the headmaster, became incredibly eager.

Professor McGonagall, in a fit of anger, left all the fifth-grade students' coursework unfinished, but this was hardly irresponsible—the substitute professor was simply too powerful.

The students stared longingly at Dumbledore. They had witnessed enough amazing Transfiguration in the last class, but they greedily wanted more…

However, amidst the expectant gazes of all the students, their headmaster, their substitute professor, the interim head of Gryffindor, Dumbledore, with a benevolent expression, pulled out something that instilled a deep-seated fear in everyone.

It was the same paper bag as Professor William's, and he pulled out the same kind of test paper from inside.

The students panicked, but Dumbledore shook his head. "I haven't studied fifth-year education in a long time, but I've looked through them. These papers are still good practice."

After one class, amidst the groans of many fifth-grade students, Dumbledore left with the test papers.

-

In Professor McGonagall's absence, life in Gryffindor was wonderful and fulfilling.

The interim headmaster, Dumbledore, was busy dealing with school affairs all day long, and even the matter of confining the Gryffindors basically fell into Filch's hands—but that punishment was far less enjoyable than the joy of Professor McGonagall's absence.

As the Easter holidays approached, the students, who had gradually grown accustomed to Dumbledore's somewhat slow pace of work, finally started chatting about why Professor McGonagall had suddenly taken a vacation.

Logically, this matter should have been exposed immediately after the person involved left, but Professor McGonagall's influence was too great, and it has been delayed until now—and this was instigated by the most audacious Gryffindor.

"Why did Professor McGonagall suddenly decide to take a vacation?"

"Hey, isn't it because Dumbledore has too many papers piled up and hasn't come to deal with them yet?"

"Ok?"

"I heard it was witnessed by the professors in the Self-Defense Office. Apparently, there was some kind of meeting over there that required the principal's participation. Professor McGonagall got angry because she couldn't find the principal. An international conference, huh? How could that be delayed?"

"So what if it gets delayed? That's Dumbledore, after all..."

"That makes sense, but apparently Professor McGonagall wanted to arrange an international competition or something—otherwise, the professors from the Self-Defense Office wouldn't have gone..."

"So what?"

"He got angry, then they argued, and afterwards he just took a vacation and dumped everything on Dumbledore..."

"So when do you think the professor will be back?"

"Hmm? Isn't it good now? Isn't life better than when Professor McGonagall was here?"

Gryffindor, who had brought up the topic, countered with a question.

"It's not that it can't be done, it's just that I feel... something's missing..."

“What’s missing, Mr. David?”

A familiar voice suddenly rang out, and the boy named David even felt a little short of breath.

Although Easter is approaching, the wind outside is so cold, as if winter has not yet passed!

"Professor McGonagall."

He tried his best to make a very well-behaved expression when he greeted me.

"Yes, you too."

Professor McGonagall nodded and then walked into the castle.

"Didn't you say Professor McGonagall was on a month-long vacation? There are still five days left!"

"Merlin's beard, only God knows!"

"We're doomed! Go get the twins! Someone's going to die!"

"Quickly, go to Filch and finish his confinement first!"

The Gryffindors were in complete disarray—they had learned through excellent intelligence that Professor McGonagall wouldn't be back for several more days, but now the intelligence was wrong!

-

"Dun dun dun".

There was a knock on Dumbledore's office.

"Please come in. Put the documents on the table. We'll get back to you within a week. Of course, I would recommend you contact Minerva; she's about to finish her vacation."

Professor McGonagall, who had been nodding in approval as she watched Dumbledore busily working on the documents, suddenly lost her smile.

"Ah, Minerva!"

Dumbledore smiled sincerely, as if he hadn't just said those words.

"Work is tough, Albus. I'm back from my business trip. I'm relieved to see everything is fine on campus. I plan to visit places like Diagon Alley for the next five days."

Professor McGonagall smiled and nodded.

Chapter 571 Trivial Matters Before Easter

The news that Professor McGonagall was off vacation spread like wildfire throughout the entire school, transforming the entire castle into a different place.

Taking advantage of the loopholes in the detention process, the Gryffindors who had been causing trouble suddenly became well-behaved, and the other students who were watching the show also became obedient.

The fifth-grade students cheered – Dumbledore's lectures were incredibly lively and interesting for the other students, but for the fifth-grade students, it was all test papers!

The professors in the staff lounge were all very happy and began to sort out the various applications that had been put on hold during this period, preparing to get everything in order before the Easter holiday.

Even Peeves toned it down a bit. He had been happily mocking Myrtle, but after learning that Professor McGonagall had returned to school, he lost interest and gave up his plan to bully Myrtle.

Unfortunately, this change stopped at lunchtime.

"What? You mean Professor McGonagall didn't end her vacation, she just came back to campus for a visit?"

William stared wide-eyed at Adams, who was incredibly well-informed.

"Are you kidding me, Adams? Professor McGonagall is actually planning to take a full month-long vacation?"