From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

As for her ability to take action, William was quite confident that she could muster the courage to slip off the train on the first day of school and carry out the "kill the chicken" plan.

William glanced tentatively at Professor McGonagall—to be honest, he wasn't familiar with the younger students, and after already making a mistake with the twins, he didn't dare to jump to conclusions.

"Miss Granger?"

Professor McGonagall was also hesitant—she knew better than William how much trouble the student who had just entered his second year could cause.

The mechanism protecting the Philosopher's Stone was completely destroyed by the three children. Although Potter was the one who ended up inside, Professor McGonagall, as the vice-principal and dean, knew very well which child had made the greatest contribution to the entire operation.

Last year's events, coupled with the fat lady's completely inconsistent answer, led her to temporarily list Hermione as the prime suspect.

'Call Miss Granger and the other capable students over for a talk, and let's put this matter aside for now.'

Wood had reported the conflict between the Slytherin team and Gryffindor to her long ago, and although Professor McGonagall hadn't explicitly stated it, she had taken note of her student's grievances. Just as Quidditch players get less homework, she decided to go easy on this outstanding Muggle-born student this time—if it really was her.

"Necessary conversations are still needed, just don't let others know, especially Lockhart; he's such a blabbermouth."

Having made up her mind, Professor McGonagall decided to discard the bridge after crossing the river. One professor was enough for the conversation; bringing in three would turn it into an interrogation—especially since Professor Lockhart particularly liked being in the newspapers, and who knew how much trouble his involvement would cause.

As for William, in order not to make Professor Lockhart feel it was unfair, he could only be sent away along with him.

“Hmm, I think I understand. It looks like we can have a proper celebration with a banquet next. Professor William, you’re not very familiar with Hogwarts, so I think you’ll definitely need a good guide to help you with the preparations for the banquet.”

Professor McGonagall smiled and said to William, but before he could react, she turned to look at Lockhart.

“Professor Lockhart, I think you wouldn’t mind bringing Professor William along to prepare his small banquet. If you decide to hold the banquet tonight, Professor William might be able to help quite a bit.”

"Of course, of course."

Lockhart flashed his signature smile—though he still didn't quite understand what had happened, things seemed to be resolved, and he was quite interested in tutoring a professor.

'Perhaps Professor William will become an important character in my next Hogwarts story!'

Chapter 127 Human joys and sorrows are not shared.

Faculty and staff lounge.

William sat in his usual spot, his upper body slumped on the table, showing no emotion.

"What's wrong, William?" Adams' voice was full of joy—he had just won a small pile of snacks after dominating the card game.

Candied fruit? Candy? Cookies?

Before William could respond, Adams piled the snacks on the table and began picking through them, asking questions.

“Let me be quiet, I just suffered a disaster—” William raised his head, his voice weak and feeble.

In the last two hours, he truly suffered a disaster, only slightly worse than going back to Azkaban for another stroll.

Professor Lockhart, who was assigned by Professor McGonagall to be her guide, spent two hours boasting non-stop, which made him realize that there were such people in the world. He had seen many people who boasted, but this was the first time he had encountered someone who could boast for two hours straight without stopping!

Even people who are drunk at a dinner party don't act this outrageously!

William thought listlessly, and casually pulled out a bag of pineapple preserves from the pile of snacks—he finally understood why the senior professors at the table would quickly finish their food and leave after seeing Professor Lockhart.

"All taken? Then I'll distribute them to the others—" Adams said with a happy expression, holding the snacks and starting to redistribute them, leaving William, who was temporarily recovering his strength with candied fruit and some sarcastic remarks.

William swallowed a mouthful of candied fruit with satisfaction, staring at Adams's retreating figure, offering him his sincere blessings—hoping that Adams's adoration wouldn't be shattered before Professor Lockhart left the school.

Honestly, this wish is a bit difficult, since Professor Lockhart, after seizing the opportunity, didn't even let go of a new professor like him.

After taking another bite of candied fruit, William began to ponder the rooster incident that had been bothering him for the entire week.

Although he was still a little uneasy, the matter had already been handed over to Professor McGonagall, and the professor's intention to get rid of him was obvious, which he could naturally see.

Hopefully, the professor can catch the culprit and resolve this matter properly.

William had great confidence in Professor McGonagall—if he could manage so many Gryffindor professors so well, what problem could possibly stump this vice-principal?

-

"Alright, that concludes our conversation for today. Please return now."

Professor McGonagall's voice was as calm as ever, but the student sitting across the table seemed to have been granted a pardon. He suppressed his joy, greeted the student, and quickly left the office.

This situation made the professor even more unhappy.

Today was arguably the most unpleasant day of her life since becoming the Head of Gryffindor—she had subtly tried to talk to thirty students for nearly four hours, but to no avail!

Even if these children are naughty and cause trouble in the past, they would immediately behave themselves after arriving at the office. This is the first time they have kept quiet like today.

Troubles don't just disappear into thin air—once William stopped causing trouble, the trouble shifted to her.

'Those who go back should be able to convey the seriousness of the situation. Also, we can consider casting some protective magic on Hagrid's chicken coop.'

The professor rubbed her aching temples, hoping the matter could be put to rest and not escalate further—it was no longer a simple chicken-killing incident; attacking the guard in the break room was already a serious disciplinary violation. If it continued, she would have to regretfully issue her first expulsion notice of the year.

-

People's joys and sorrows are not shared—Gryffindor is hosting a small party.

Professor McGonagall's decision to call so many people out at once was clearly impossible to keep secret from anyone. After the second student who had been summoned returned, the whole lounge was already buzzing with the news.

Just like Harry and Ron were given a hero's welcome after crashing their car into a tree, the Gryffindors began to eagerly spread the news of the incident—although Professor McGonagall concealed some details for fear that someone might try to imitate the portrait of the Fat Lady, everyone quickly guessed the two chicken killings.

Faced with the spontaneous gathering of many students, even the prefects were somewhat powerless—to be precise, most of the prefects were having a great time too.

Harry and Ron were also among the crowd, watching as the older children came in and received a hero's welcome.

“Harry,” Ron pulled Harry aside and whispered, “I have a feeling that the Howling Letter is going to fly over from somewhere.”

"Didn't they say they hadn't really found out yet?" Harry asked, barely able to contain his joy as he dodged through the crowd.

The joy before him made him extremely happy, especially since the focus of the crime and the incident was not on him, which made Harry, who had been suffering from Lockhart's torment for some time, breathe a sigh of relief.

“I think it’s Fred and his group. Professor McGonagall must have made a mistake, otherwise the problem would have been solved long ago.”

Ron sold out his brother effortlessly, looking around the crowd—maybe the next ones to come back would be Fred and his gang, who had been caught.

Harry didn't respond. Although he also thought it might be the twins, he couldn't justify shifting the blame onto them.

"Hey Harry, look at those two!"

Ron nudged Harry and gestured towards the corner of the common room.

It was Fred and George, along with a large group of fourth and fifth graders. They had strayed slightly from the celebration and were whispering amongst themselves.

Before Harry could respond, Ron pulled him and squeezed over there.

Good evening, Harry.

Fred greeted everyone cheerfully, then his gaze drifted to the entrance of the lounge, where he was seen taking notes in a small notebook.

What are you doing?

"secret."

George responded to Ron with the simplest answer.

Suddenly, a roar of cheers erupted from the crowd.

Everyone immediately turned their gazes over, Ron and Harry included—and their mouths nearly dropped open.

Hermione? Are you kidding me!

Ron heard George mutter a curse under his breath, but George quickly jotted down another name in his notebook.

However, he had no interest in the notebook anymore—the many Gryffindors began to praise Hermione for starting to act like a real Gryffindor.

"Think about it carefully—it's actually quite possible that Harry could bring Ron to school in a flying car and she would make a big splash too."

Harry heard someone whispering, and then George and his friends started scribbling in their notebooks again.

But he couldn't care less about that now; Harry pulled Ron and squeezed next to Hermione.

Fortunately, there were quite a few people being talked to today, so Hermione was easily brought out.

"What, you're here too?"

Harry couldn't wait to ask.

Hermione's face was a complex expression—a mixture of happiness and anger, like someone who knew their neighbor's house was being demolished along with theirs.

"The professor said I am an excellent student and is quite concerned about my recent academic progress."

Chapter 128 Friday Night

“Honestly, today’s events are truly surreal—I thought George and the others were going to be called over by the professor, but they weren’t.” Ron, looking puzzled, squeezed through the crowd with his two friends.

He struggled to drag a chair out from the corner, then added to Hermione with a puzzled look, "And you, you were called away by the professor."

"What exactly happened to make the professor so angry?"

Ron looked puzzled—from what he'd heard, the school had only lost two chickens.

"Perhaps someone broke into Professor McGonagall's office?"

hiss~

Harry's casual conjecture elicited a collective gasp—several people who had been craning their necks curiously upon hearing their discussion of the day's events were now completely taken aback by Harry's audacious speculation.

Even Hermione, who was still angry about being called away by the professor, was startled by this bold guess and began to refute it.

"How could that be? What Gryffindor would dare to barge into Professor McGonagall's office?"

Even the most mischievous Weasley brothers wouldn't do something like hanging a bell around a cat's neck—who would have a mouse looking for a cat for no reason?

Hermione's rebuttal was accepted by most people, and everyone laughed for a while. But after the laughter subsided, for some reason, the cheerful atmosphere in the lounge disappeared. The students who originally wanted to have a good time quietly returned to their dormitories after the laughter.

-

"Why did they all go back so quickly?"

Lee Jordan emerged from a corner of the lounge and greeted the others.

They had already planned this while many Gryffindors were preparing for their banquet: to keep a close eye on everyone's performance in the common room, and then hand over the real murderer in exchange for a vacation when he made a mistake.

"How many people did you record?"

"Four—eliminate two."

"Five, not ruled out."

...