From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

The thugs left the cell cursing, glanced at the list of prisoners in their hands, and began escorting people out of the next cell, locking William's cell door behind them.

"Tsk, tell me, aren't you wronged? Why are you shouting so loudly! Nobody's paying you, and you're already in Azkaban, but you still can't control your mouth!"

The big guy mocked mercilessly, tossing a bottle of potion from his bunk—there were plenty of bumps and bruises in the cell, and this stuff was common; everyone kept some on hand.

"I never expected to run into the professor in this godforsaken place, and he even scolded me for misusing Transfiguration. When I got back, I panicked and forgot all about it—be gentle, it hurts!"

"You brainless idiot, it hurts so much! Everyone knew it was a professor when they saw it. Why did you come back and yell about it? We're blind, why didn't you see it? Why did you say something when no one else did? Weren't you warned before?"

Nine Fingers responded irritably while applying the medicine.

You all noticed?

How come I don't recognize him?

Why didn't anyone warn me?

Aren't we all in Azkaban? Who am I? Where am I?

Chapter Twelve: Going to work at Hogwarts

"Professor Kettleburn (Note 1), are you sure you want to recommend Mr. Layton? What are your reasons for recommending him?"

“Oh, Albus, I questioned eleven prisoners in total, and he was the only one whose crime was not one of the regular crimes and had little impact on the students.”

"That's a very good reason. Are there any other reasons?"

Dumbledore smiled gently and made marks on the documents in front of him with a quill.

"He's very strong. He's been hunted by centaurs ever since he offended them with a few investigation reports, but he's still alive and well. I think if someone has that kind of strength, we might be colleagues for a long time."

“Great! We’ll take these factors into consideration during the next review. Would you like some honey if you don’t mind?”

"Then I won't stand on ceremony."

Professor Kettleburn took two candies from Dumbledore's snack box and headed straight for the makeshift dining hall.

When only Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall remained in the room, Professor McGonagall spoke in a low and rapid voice;

"Mr. Layton's resume is indeed very impressive, but he is very stubborn, and the centaurs have always put a lot of pressure on the Ministry of Magic. If we were to recruit him to the school, not to mention the centaur tribes all over the country, the tribe in the Forbidden Forest alone would go crazy."

"If it really has to be done, Hagrid will handle things in the Forbidden Forest."

"Professor Kettleburn has been placed on probation 62 times so far this year! Albus, think about it carefully, if they didn't share the same interests, how could Kettleburn, who is retiring next year, have said something like 'let's be colleagues for a longer time' against his will!"

Professor McGonagall's voice became urgent.

“We already have a record-breaking professor. If Mr. Layton becomes our colleague, are we just going to watch him break records in the days to come?”

“Don’t worry so much, Minerva. If he passes the final election, we will take care of those things one by one. If he doesn’t pass the final election, those problems will not bother us.”

Just as Professor McGonagall was about to retort, there was a knock on the door.

It was Sybil Trelawney, a professor of divination.

"Good afternoon, Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall. Although the trajectory of Mars tells me it's best not to go out today, the crystal ball tells me I will have lunch in Azkaban. I will not refuse the revelation of fate."

“Of course, of course,” Dumbledore said, using magic to pull a chair for her.

“I reviewed a total of thirty prisoners. Although their fates were dim, I still selected one recommender.”

“Thirty people, that’s incredibly efficient.” Professor McGonagall’s voice was slightly sarcastic—it was perfectly normal for a pragmatic vice-principal to look down on a mystical divination professor.

“The Heavenly Eye has cleared away the fog for me, allowing me to see everything about the unknown more clearly. Minerva, although I never boast about my omniscience, it doesn’t mean I won’t use the Heavenly Eye to see these things.”

“Well then,” Dumbledore said in a cheerful tone, but with a slightly raised voice, “what do you recommend for us, Sybil?”

“Of course, Principal,” Professor Trelawney handed a form to the table, “although his fate is still dim, I think he is the most suitable candidate.”

"So, even though you didn't see anything, you still knew?"

“If you absolutely must know, Minerva, my answer is quite clear—yes.”

"Then, what about him—this prisoner named William? What's the difference in his fate?" Professor McGonagall's voice was dry.

“The ignorant will attribute everything to the fate of others, but I am different. Fate will guide me, Minerva,” Professor Trelawney stood up and walked gracefully toward the dining room. “Of the thirty prisoners I examined, their fates were all dim, but this one is the best-looking of them all.”

The door closed again, leaving behind a disgruntled Professor McGonagall and a calm Dumbledore.

-

In the afternoon, when the batters escorted William away, William was completely dazed.

When he learned at noon that it was the Hogwarts professors who had come to investigate, he was quite upset. Although it was impossible for him to receive an acceptance letter at his age, given his current state of self-taught research into magic, he could make rapid progress by talking to any professor for an hour or two.

That's the best teacher in all of Britain!

When it came to him, there was no communication, not even a question. They just took him away—which made him eat lunch a few steps late, even though today was supposed to be a rare treat!

In the morning, when no one was seen, everyone almost got into an argument about whether or not to hide their shortcomings. In the afternoon, everyone felt that they could have performed even better during the investigation.

It's all incredibly true—there's no way around it, Hogwarts' reputation is just too high, so high that even the Ministry of Magic personally getting involved in smear campaigns wouldn't have much of an effect.

Therefore, when William was taken away, the entire prison was filled with envious glances.

Everyone thought that Hogwarts was looking to recruit a group of temporary workers for menial tasks such as building workshops, repairing waterworks, or constructing herb greenhouses.

After all, only a minority of formal wizards are willing to do this job. Designers are fine, but construction workers are almost always doubled, which means that many wizards have to act as both engineers and construction workers to build their houses. Small projects are fine, but if the project is a little bigger and there are no connections, you don’t know how long you’ll have to wait in line.

Hogwarts is a school, and major projects have to be scheduled during holidays. It's quite normal to have prisoners perform labor instead of going to jail. But if there isn't enough time, the prisoners to do the work will definitely be carefully selected to avoid any safety issues for the students.

William thought so too, and he had no intention of refusing.

Although working as a bucket carrier at Hogwarts sounds exhausting, it's still far more pleasant than staying in Azkaban feeding Dementors. People who haven't encountered Dementors might hesitate, but for every prisoner in Azkaban, they'd rather be worked to death outside than be served as a buffet in a dark cell.

On the way to be escorted, William gradually strengthened his resolve—to perform well and strive for admission. Although he couldn't become a student at Hogwarts, working there would be an excellent alternative!

He's determined to be a working-class man!

-

Note: Sivanas Kettleburn, Hagrid's former teacher of Conservation of Magical Creatures, had a similar temperament and made similar mistakes to Hagrid. Therefore, Dumbledore's decision to hire Hagrid was not out of nepotism. During his tenure at the school, Hagrid was placed on probation at least 62 times. His most famous act was burning down the Great Hall of Hogwarts before Dumbledore became headmaster, which resulted in Hogwarts never having pantomime performances again...

Chapter Thirteen: Questioning

This room was temporarily converted from the batters' lounge, and besides William, there were six other prisoners sitting in the room.

However, the guards had no intention of letting the prisoners communicate with each other. Even though they were so bored that they started looking at the room's decorations, they didn't chat with each other to pass the time, which made William a little uneasy.

If they really came to recruit workers, would it be worth going to such lengths for just a few?

Just as he was lost in thought, the first prisoner had already been brought inside, and the door was firmly closed, without letting out a single sound.

This doesn't seem like training prisoners; it's more like recruiting assassins—but why would Hogwarts need assassins? To form an army to attack the Ministry of Magic?

Before William could come up with a second possibility, the door to the room was pushed open.

He only realized he was in second place when the batter led him into the house.

This put his mind at ease. According to the general rule of most stories, the first to go is bound to lose. Someone like him, who was the second to participate in the test, was either a background character or someone brought in to make up the numbers. He didn't need to worry about his safety at all.

The moment he entered, he quickly glanced at the two interviewers and realized that they looked familiar.

A white-haired, silver-bearded man, tall and thin, wearing half-moon glasses, who looked remarkably like Gandalf. William had seen a picture of this interviewer in a Chocolate Frog he only met two or three times a month, and knew that he was the current headmaster of Hogwarts, the universally acknowledged first white wizard, Dumbledore.

Incidentally, it's worth mentioning that Dumbledore's cards have an incredibly high drop rate in Chocolate Frog. William and his friends didn't even use up a few packs, yet they still managed to get four Dumbledore cards.

As for the other one, William seemed to have met her before and could roughly guess that she was Professor McGonagall, the Vice-Headmaster of Hogwarts—but he wouldn't be so confident if she wasn't with Dumbledore.

To William at present, the two are undoubtedly important figures.

Don't be fooled by the fact that the thugs can easily deal with any prisoner in Azkaban; when these two need them, the thugs at the door don't even dare to chat.

“Lee William, right?” Dumbledore, dressed in a grey and white robe, glanced at the documents in his hand and asked with a smile.

“Yes, sir,” William replied with utmost formality.

"Don't be so nervous, please sit here."

A chair was magically pulled over by Dumbledore.

After William sat down, Professor McGonagall, who was sitting next to him, began to ask questions rapidly.

"You're in here for smuggling, right? Did you know it was illegal before you did it?"

"Yes, Professor."

"What's the reason?"

"My skills were too poor. After taking on a potion order, the success rate was too low, resulting in the loss of a large amount of herbs. I had no choice but to smuggle them."

William answered, barely suppressing the urge to cover his face.

“But I learned from the Ministry of Magic’s report that you already had a large sum of money when you were arrested. Wasn’t that enough?”

"Many of the damaged herbs are specialties from the Far East. At that time, Britain had no herbs from the Far East at all. What I need to compensate for is the potion. If I only compensate with money, I won't be able to do the potion business in the future, Professor."

"You've never attended school?"

"Yes, I was taken away from home by my former teacher before I was eleven years old. My parents received a large sum of money and happily sent me away. Later, I learned from historical records that after Hogwarts was established, in order to ease the conflict, independent wild wizards were given priority in accepting apprentices over Hogwarts. It's just that now more and more people are choosing to go to Hogwarts."

William obediently recited his background information, but because he didn't feel a strong connection to the story, he could only maintain a blank expression.

"Later, my teacher passed away after failing in his potion experiment, and the laboratory was also destroyed by the explosion. So I simply took on some potion business to support myself. But I failed several times in a row, so I had to go to the Far East to get herbs and start making potions again."

"Okay, we have a basic understanding of these."

Professor McGonagall began to doodle on the paper in front of her. Dumbledore smiled but remained silent.

"Then I'll be going out, Professor."

William bowed, turned, and walked toward the door.

Although those events were all things the original owner had experienced, for some reason, when describing these things, he always had the feeling that this silent old man could see through all lies.

This gave William the illusion that his past, which wasn't entirely his own, would be exposed the next moment when he recounted it.

Just as he was about to push open the door, Dumbledore suddenly spoke from behind him.

"Please wait a moment, Mr. William."

Dumbledore stood up, then strode to the cabinet by the wall and took out a tattered stone basin (Note 1).

"Although it may be presumptuous of you, could you share your memories of that experiment? I only need those memories and will not interfere with your other privacy."