"Where's the box?"
After seeing off the little girl, whose mood had become much brighter, William waited for a while but didn't receive any system notification. After some speculation, he came to a conclusion—his half-day of persuasion had been completely ineffective, and he had been taken advantage of by that mischievous child.
"Forget it—at least I figured out a difficult point in Transfiguration. It's not a complete loss," William reached into his pocket, then stopped himself midway. "Can't eat any more. I've had enough candy for today."
"Sigh, I wonder how Adams explained it to them—being cooped up in the office studying Transfiguration isn't a good job." Scratching his head, William yawned and turned to the second page of his book.
Speak of the devil, Adams's voice was already at the office door before William could solve the next problem.
"William!"
"I'm here," William replied with a yawn. "Come in, Adams."
"It's done, they've gone to find Dumbledore." As soon as he entered, before even settling down, Adams excitedly announced the good news to William.
...
Adams, you'd get beaten to death by the wardens in Azkaban for this.
William mumbled weakly, completely forgetting his own act of passing the buck earlier.
"Why are you so sleepy—have you been reading A History of Magic?"
Adams asked while skillfully rummaging through William's pile of books. Soon enough, he found the preserved fruits William had hidden inside.
'You've only been here three or four times, how are you better at finding things than me?' William pulled out a bookmark and inserted it into the page. "No, I saw some extra-curricular books, and I couldn't figure them out for a while. A History of Magic, I just skim through it anyway, so it's not that hard."
"That's truly the statement of a standard practical wizard. I bet Professor Binns wouldn't like your opinion." Adams casually tossed over a small pouch. "Common herbs for processing phoenix feathers. I brought some for you, to prevent them from losing their potency if not stored properly."
Right, the materials still needed processing—William, who had never used such high-grade materials before, suddenly remembered the theoretical section he had read earlier.
What was he thinking at the time?
That's right—'You can't get fat in one bite, practicality is key. Just glance at the processing of high-grade magical ingredients, it's not needed for teaching, and even less so in reality. Save time by reading other things.'
'I never thought Hogwarts would be this exaggerated!'
"Thanks, Adams," William pulled open a drawer and stuffed the herbs inside. "Speaking of which, how are things going with you and Hagrid?"
William was referring to the cause of the incident, the constant presence throughout the investigation—the roosters.
As far as he knew, Hagrid had bought a bunch of roosters, and Adams, as a chef, had been "dealing with" those purchased roosters with Hagrid.
"Still deliberating. We still haven't figured out what was written on that parchment, and Miss Ginny Weasley has almost lost all memory of that period. We still don't understand what kind of strange ritual rooster blood would be used for."
Adams clutched his hair in distress, clearly having been troubled by this matter for some time.
"You guys?"
"Yeah, Hagrid and I. We thought about it for a long time, and then we put a bunch of protective spells on the chicken coop to prevent anyone from stealing rooster blood," Adams said very seriously, as if he wasn't guarding a chicken coop full of roosters but priceless treasures.
One barely passed the Defense Against the Dark Arts exam (William subconsciously changed the course name), and the other was a half-giant with no wand at all—although William knew it was wrong to think this way, he almost burst out laughing.
But even with his suppressed laughter, Adams still noticed.
"Fine," Adams grumbled defiantly. "Go ahead and laugh. I often laugh at that idiot Sinister for not knowing how to take care of herbs. And you, of course. You two probably can't even tell the difference between Devil's Snare and a common bouquet."
...
William was instantly put on the spot—he really couldn't tell the difference. When the smuggling team encountered complex vines, they would immediately test them with two quick flashes of light and stone. If it moved, it was Devil's Snare; if it didn't, it was a regular plant.
And since this dangerous plant couldn't be used in potions, William had never bothered to study it.
"See? Besides, Hagrid and I haven't not studied protection." Adams raised an eyebrow. "You've been at school for so long, you must have heard about Professor Quirrell last year, right?"
...
'How could I forget?'
William wanted to slap himself—although the death of the previous professor made him somewhat reluctant to investigate, it concerned a matter of life and death. He should have asked the students for all the information about Professor Quirrell!
"There are some things the students don't know clearly; they only know a part of it. Of course, because the information is quite messy, I don't know it too clearly either," Adams probably misinterpreted William's expression. "As you know, Professor Quirrell died, but the situation at the time was actually very complicated."
"William, you won't tell anyone else, right?"
Adams stopped his description and stared into William's eyes.
"Of course, I won't tell the students or Professor Lockhart, nor will I tell anyone outside of school."
William replied very seriously—the other professors had lifetime contracts and wouldn't casually speak about Hogwarts matters to outsiders. Only he and Professor Lockhart, while nominally on lifetime contracts, everyone knew it wasn't really the case.
Especially Professor Lockhart, who was a famous author who would write about everything in his books, so it was understandable that some information within the school was kept secret.
"That's good, William. You probably know that Professor Quirrell died under the last enchantment of the Philosopher's Stone, but the problem at the time wasn't that simple. As far as I know, it was the Dark Lord who was possessing Quirrell."
Adams lowered his voice, speaking softly.
"The Dark Lord? You mean the Dark Lord?"
This strange title momentarily confused William, but he quickly realized it was related to what Dumbledore had told him.
"That's right," Adams nodded. "Sure enough, all the professors in that class are Dark Arts masters. William, you need to be careful not to say that in front of the students."
'How would I know? That's a common term among Azkaban prisoners. I've only heard the term 'Dark Lord' a few times since I entered the wizarding world.'
"Hmm, I'll try to be careful, Adams," William nodded. "So, the Philosopher's Stone was protected?"
'Wait, the Philosopher's Stone?'
It was only when the name escaped his lips that William realized something was amiss—the Philosopher's Stone, which he had heard about from Hagrid on the day he started school, had reappeared, and the Dark Lord, worshipped by those in the deepest parts of Azkaban, had also appeared?
"It was guarded, but the enchantments at the time were mostly broken. Only the last defensive enchantment delayed them, and of course, the first enchantment played a significant role too—the first enchantment was set up by Hagrid."
The vast amount of information overwhelmed William's thoughts, but fortunately, Hagrid had mentioned the Philosopher's Stone, which gave him some psychological preparation.
"Set up by Hagrid?"
William would certainly believe Hagrid could fight, but that Hagrid's traps played a significant role—what a joke!
"Of course, Hagrid set it up. Although the Philosopher's Stone incident was widely spread, the design of those enchantments and the specific methods to bypass them were not. Adams bit into a preserved fruit. "In fact, Professor Snape was bitten by Hagrid's dog after Professor Quirrell outsmarted him at the first enchantment."
"Fang?"
William was a bit skeptical—the news today was too explosive. Was a dog at Hogwarts that powerful?
On weekdays, when he went to Hagrid for a drink, he had even petted that dog's head, and it felt quite good. So that seemingly timid fellow was actually that brave?
"Pfft, haha, of course not—if it bit him, Professor Snape would jump into the Black Lake." Adams spat out the preserved fruit, quickly cleaned it up with his wand, and waved his hand while talking. "It was a large three-headed dog."
'The one the old professor said he'd show me?'
William remembered the old professor's joke; it must be that one.
"So you should know, William, Hagrid is a very good caretaker of magical creatures. If he's guarding something, even the Dark Lord would be helpless for a while."
Adams had a boastful expression.
'Are Yao Ming and I over two meters tall on average?'
"What about you, Adams, what kind of enchantment did you make?"
William mercilessly poked the wound.
"Uh, well, I made Devil's Snare. Professor and I did it together, a huge Devil's Snare—" Adams stammered.
The professor he referred to was the Head of Hufflepuff, but William guessed that the main effort wasn't from Adams.
"And then it was bypassed?"
"Who would have thought that a first-year student would master such an obscure plant as Devil's Snare?" Adams said dejectedly. "Wasn't Hagrid's three-headed dog the same? Whether it's magical creatures or deadly herbs, as long as you have the relevant information, even a first-year student can easily deal with them."
"First year?"
"Yes, it's the current second-year top student, Hermione Granger." Adams looked as if he was questioning life itself. "That stuff isn't even on the exams; even graduates wouldn't know much about it!"
'The Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook does have it, but it only explains how to deal with it—but that's advanced class material. After all, it's a wild plant; those who haven't passed the exam don't even touch on that knowledge.'
William rubbed his forehead.
He finally understood how biased and difficult his questions were—and by the way, Adams, you really haven't taken the advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
"Anyway, those roosters are foolproof now," Adams confidently patted his chest. "Miss Weasley can't possibly bring Potter and his friends to steal them again, can she?"
...
The two talked about protective magic for almost two hours before stopping.
"Heavens, those mushrooms need their spores collected. It's only effective at dusk. William, I have to go to the greenhouse," Adams glanced at the sky and stood up in a hurry. "William, see you later!"
The office door was hastily closed by Adams as he left, and the sound made William chuckle.
"That guy," William happily unwrapped a piece of chocolate and put it in his mouth.
"Why act so mysterious?" William shook his head. "He came here just to say this, didn't he?"
He deliberately brought up the topic, then rambled on about a bunch of things, most of which were supposed to be strictly confidential among the professors. But Adams practically spilled everything he knew.
'He's been approved, then,' William pulled out a new piece of parchment and took out his quill.
Undoubtedly, although he and Adams had a certain friendship, openly violating a gag order and speaking out names that could cause chaos was not something Adams would do. That guy would at most sneak in some materials and then caution him to be careful of his surroundings and watch out for danger.
'He's finally been approved by the Headmaster, otherwise, how could the details of the previous professor's death be revealed so easily? Adams probably got permission when he went to Dumbledore, and then found an excuse to come and tell me all this.'
'The Philosopher's Stone,' William couldn't help but write the name. 'Dumbledore was actually willing to destroy it. No wonder he wanted to destroy the diadem too. He's a complete destructive maniac.'
William couldn't help but rub his face, pushing away the heartache.
Although that precious stone wasn't his, he still felt heartbroken—'So the Philosopher's Stone really isn't just a legend. Should I dabble in alchemy or something? I just don't know if I have the talent for it…'
'It's too late to regret now—the Dark Lord was already planning so much to attack Hogwarts when Harry Potter was in his first year!'
'Speaking of which, he'll come again later, so now that it's the second year, there shouldn't be anything, right?'
The relaxed state of mind he had after finding the diadem suddenly became unstable; William grew nervous.
'Wait?'
'The Dark Lord?'
William noticed something was off—'Dumbledore said he couldn't resist the diadem's magic, and the Dark Lord might cause trouble this year—could the diadem have been left by the Dark Lord?'
'It's possible—the diadem grants unparalleled wisdom.'
'For a wizard, the most important things, besides talent, must be wisdom. Without talent, you can't learn; without enough wisdom, you can't improve quickly.'
'I believe that if the diadem belonged to the Dark Lord, his improvement must have made excellent use of the diadem, just as the old professor said, he solved a problem that had plagued him for a long time very quickly after putting it on.'
'Even Dumbledore studied at Hogwarts for seven years, and his exam records can still be checked. What about the Dark Lord? Did he study at Hogwarts? Or was he like me, a wild wizard by origin?'
'If he studied at Hogwarts, what was his name?'
William's eyes lit up—he remembered the name Helena had mentioned.
'Tom?'
'Could that Tom be the Dark Lord?'
'Did he use the diadem to become a master of the Dark Arts?'
'Right, Dumbledore said the Dark Lord was his student! So he must have studied at Hogwarts!'
'Check the records, I have them here. To revise the school history, I have most of the data—the Dark Lord's rise to power, those original Death Eaters, and then the years around those people, see if there's a Tom!'
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