From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

Afra's figure appeared on the chair; she was extremely happy, even humming a little tune while holding onto the chair.

"Professor Taylor couldn't watch the commotion, so he told her to stay in her office. But two unlucky first-year students were being chased by Prankster, who somehow found a bag of dung balls. They came running to the office in a panic, begging for help..."

Lupin spread his hands – although Pippi had been driven away, the faculty office was too uninhabitable, so he had no choice but to bring him over.

"That's true... I reckon a lot of people were dealing with their prank props today, after all, Professor McGonagall is back..."

William shook his head, opened his snack drawer, picked out a few items for Afra, and then began grading papers.

It's best to get the grades sorted out before the holidays so that we can properly manage the fifth-grade students during the break.

Grading papers, calculating grades, planning for the next semester (the last semester), and then welcoming summer vacation—these are all William's plans before the holidays arrive.

However, the arrival of a letter completely changed his previous plans.

-

Dear Professor William:

How have you been lately? Do you remember that interesting phenomenon you told me about last time?

Yes, that's the one, the amazing one, about how Animagus transformations might effectively suppress the werewolf curse.

That's right—I still stand by my opinion: werewolves are not a new species; they are just wizards or humans who have accidentally been afflicted with a strange curse!

I did some interesting research to simulate the effects of Animagus using various drug formulations, and it was very effective, but the power of imitation is probably only up to this level.

I desperately need a real Animagus to help me with this job, but as you know, there are just too few Animaguss.

That's true; only a handful of such people have emerged nationwide in a hundred years…

Therefore, I plan to visit Mr. Animagus Black, whose identity has been revealed, during the Easter season and earnestly request his assistance in our research. I hope this research will lead to a significant advancement in the development of the wolfsbane medicine.

[Yours, faithfully, Belby]

"Mr. Belby's visit..."

William put down the letter and looked at Lupin, who was standing to the side.

Without a doubt, Lupin will fully cooperate with this visit to Sirius—because there are only so many Animaguss currently known, and the production of Wolfsbane Potion is extremely helpful to Lupin.

'But I had planned to practice magic in Animagus form for Easter...'

Thanks to those shoes, William can now barely use his limited Apparition ability in Animagus form, so casting spells in Animagus form has naturally become a priority.

But there was no way to turn down Belby's offer—inspiration for potion research can easily slip away if you're not careful, and it's not easy for someone as busy as Belby to find the time to do so…

"Let's start with potions... I happen to have some new ideas about potions. There are so many ways to increase strength, potions are one of them..."

William thought for a moment, and finally picked up his pen to write a letter to Sirius—though Sirius certainly wouldn't refuse.

"The holiday is a long and arduous journey..."

He shook his head, quickly wrote a letter to Sirius, and then summoned his owl—which was still resting. It opened its sleepy eyes, glanced at William, and then arrogantly stretched out a leg, gesturing for William to tie the letter to it.

“Please,” William said, ruffling the fur on its head with a mischievous grin, “I’m in a hurry to reply to a letter.”

"Gurgle!"

William opened the window and watched it hop and leap out of the windowsill before taking flight.

"Dumbledore still owes me flying skills..."

William watched with envy as his owl soared freely, and the memory resurfaced in his mind.

Just as he was considering whether to give Dumbledore a hint, there was a sudden knock on the door.

'who?'

William waved his wand to create a fake body before using magic to open the door.

"Good morning, Professor William."

Dumbledore's smiling face appeared in the doorway, which greatly surprised William—why was Dumbledore here all of a sudden? Had he discovered another clue about the Horcrux?

"Good morning, Professor Dumbledore."

William calmly put away the dummy and then began to lay out snacks and drinks.

"Well, I actually came here this time to ask you for a favor, Professor William."

?

William looked at Dumbledore—"Didn't you stop attending classes, Professor?"

"It's not the test paper, but..."

Dumbledore's voice suddenly lowered, as if he were somewhat embarrassed.

"What happened, Professor?"

William looked at Dumbledore curiously, wondering why Dumbledore was being so secretive.

“Yes, yes,” Dumbledore looked at William, whose face was more embarrassed than scared, “that unicorn is about to give birth, could you please go and deliver it?”

"Midwifery?"

William looked at Dumbledore with a "you're kidding me" expression.

He's a pharmacist, he's a professor of self-defense, he's not a magnifying biologist!

You should definitely ask Hagrid for a delivery; he's the real expert in that area.

"Yes, for the delivery, I need you to make sure it's safe."

'Is it because I know?'

William thought about it for a moment and then figured it out—although he wasn't very good at magical creatures, his potions were pretty good and could be a backup option.

-

"But now that I think about it, something just doesn't feel right..."

William stared at the unicorn before him, unsure of what to say...

But it's too late now. The deal has already been agreed to, and the unicorn is about to be born. Calling Hagrid over now, aside from the issue of confidentiality, isn't exactly timely either.

Moreover, he sadly discovered something—he seemed to know a little bit about this too…

Smuggling isn't just about smuggling goods; it can also involve smuggling live animals. While taking care of magical creatures isn't exactly his specialty, he's not too clumsy at it either.

More importantly, the abundance of potion bottles around him filled William with confidence.

"It should be fine, and I can guarantee that even if there are any problems, I can maintain it until Hagrid arrives!"

William nodded to Dumbledore, who was visibly nervous, indicating that he still had some confidence.

However, before he could finish speaking, the unicorn had already been produced very smoothly, so quickly that William even suspected that his previous appearance was just an act.

Fortunately, he remained relatively calm. He first gently removed the attachments from the little unicorn, then aimed at the umbilical cord, gently waved his wand, and carefully collected the blood flowing from the umbilical cord into a crystal bottle.

That's enough!

"Dumbledore said as the bottle was nearly full," and then carefully took the blood from William's hand.

William then took the opportunity to take out a crystal bottle and began filling a second bottle.

"Aren't you worried that I'll learn how to make the Philosopher's Stone?"

He spoke quite boldly and casually.

“If that’s possible, that would be wonderful, Professor William,” Dumbledore nodded and spread his hands. “Nick has been telling me not to let the Philosopher’s Stone be lost again. If you can figure out half of the process, I can tell you how to make it.”

"You can use the rest of the blood as raw materials. Good luck, Professor William."

Dumbledore smiled, then Apparated and disappeared.

Chapter 574 The three of us work together to improve the potion

"What a blissful dilemma..."

William looked at the small crystal vial of blood in front of him and couldn't help but sigh.

He hadn't been this wealthy since he destroyed that Horcrux—not in terms of money, but in terms of his choices for the future.

He made considerable progress during this period, achieving significant breakthroughs in polymorphism, becoming increasingly skilled in wandless spellcasting, and making astonishing progress in dark magic—but it was precisely because of these advancements that he became more acutely aware of the differences between himself and top wizards.

'The Philosopher's Stone is out of the question for now, but it's highly likely that I'll use a portion of my blood to research a potion that enhances my abilities…'

Unicorn blood, stripped of its curse, is far more valuable than Felix Felicis in every sense—more importantly, it is merely a raw material, while potions were developed precisely to maximize the effects of their ingredients.

'I'm starting to get a feel for casting spells in Animagus form. If I can do it, it will be terrifying…'

'Human transformation techniques have reached a certain level of expertise. With further investment, we estimate we can conduct more in-depth research in this field…'

'In addition, the research of some spells is also…'

William couldn't help but sigh – he now had so many choices, and each one seemed so excellent that he couldn't bear to give them up.

'It's not time to give up yet, and I always felt that magic wasn't so divided... While I can, I'll learn them all first; it's not impossible to apply them to other areas...'

'But with this Easter holiday... I have to make a choice...'

He glanced at what he had in his hands, hid the uncursed unicorn blood deep inside the bag, then set aside most of the other books, leaving only a few potion-related notebooks.

"Let's start with potions... The Easter holiday isn't too long or too short, and it would be enough to make me happy if I could learn something from Mr. Belby..."

A potion like Wolfsbane, with its strong personal touch and almost entirely innovative concept, is undoubtedly the pinnacle of a potion master's work. Being able to hear his thought process up close and even participate in the improvement process would be of immense help to his potion-making skills.

"Then, these will be enough, along with the rest."

-

"It's strange that there isn't much homework for any of the subjects."

On the Hogwarts Express, the fifth-year students were all puzzled – this year was supposed to be the Year of OWLS, but their homework was barely more than that of the fourth-year students, which was really puzzling.

In particular, the self-defense course, which is known as "hellish in difficulty," was already so difficult before, but this Easter holiday, not a single assignment was given.

"Anyway, the assignment is as it is—to be honest, when I saw Professor McGonagall's assignment, I almost couldn't help but remind her that the Easter holiday is so long and she should assign more..."

"If you're so capable, why didn't you warn me then? Let's see if you'd been challenged to a duel then."

"I wouldn't dare—but I've already said it, the professor can't exactly catch up with the train to assign homework, can he?"

The student who started the conversation blinked and made a witty remark—his expression successfully made everyone laugh.