Harry Potter: Reborn as a Prisoner in Azkaban

Friday afternoon, in the staff lounge.

A few professors who didn't have classes were playing Wizard's Chess, while William idly picked up a book on Transfiguration. Theoretically, he should have been reading something related to his subject, but ever since Professor Singed's hair-growth elixir incident, he had realized just how little he actually knew about the wizarding world's basic common sense.

Even though there was no quick way to learn these basics, William felt that expanding his knowledge by exploring books on other subjects was necessary.

Why is Transfiguration so difficult?

This particular book was supposed to be a third-year beginner's textbook, yet reading it felt like tackling C Programming: From Beginner to Beyond.

William's foundational education in magic had been a mix of potion-making and some dark magic, and his pre-Hogwarts self-study had been focused on practical skills to maximize his chances of survival, which now fell under the renamed subject of Wizarding Self-Defense Magic. For him, improving in Transfiguration was proving to be quite the challenge.

The first- and second-year material had been easy enough to go through, but the third-year curriculum was far less straightforward.

Maybe I should go to the library and check out some reference materials?

The thought crossed William's mind. Even with the same subject matter, different books often emphasized different aspects of it—this was true for any field of study.

Just as he was about to put his idea into action, the lounge door suddenly swung open.

"Adams, back from your chicken escapade?" Professor Singed popped his head out from the crowd gathered around the chessboard.

Unfortunately, the teasing no longer worked; Professor Adams, the Herbology teacher, had become immune to such jabs.

However, this time, William guessed wrong.

"Stop falsely accusing people all the time, Singed. Your biggest flaw is making baseless assumptions." Adams wagged his finger with a look of contempt.

Hmm?

William, who had planned to leave after a brief greeting, found himself drawn to the unfolding scene. Watching for a moment couldn't hurt, could it?

"We spent half the day building a bigger chicken coop and added several protective enchantments on top of it. Now we don't have to worry about any strange creatures killing the chickens."

"Is that really necessary? Are those magical creatures faster than you at eating?" Singed's retort was a direct hit.

"That's because every Hufflepuff knows how to cook well. Of course, good food sells quickly," Adams replied proudly.

"Wait, didn't an attack already happen on Monday? Hagrid still hasn't caught the creature that killed the rooster?"

Since Monday's incident had caused quite a stir, all the professors present were aware of what had happened, which had left the students collectively sleep-deprived with dark circles under their eyes.

Hagrid had been the gamekeeper longer than most professors had held their posts, so everyone was surprised that he hadn't managed to catch the culprit yet.

Catch it? That's unlikely. It's probably those twins. Without evidence, how could anyone catch them? William lowered his head to hide his expression. Even though he had reached a conclusion, it wouldn't be appropriate to share his suspicions with the other professors without proof.

"No, not only did he fail to catch it, but the last rooster was killed too."

"The last one?"

"Yeah, this morning. By the time I got there, the poor chicken was already dead. Otherwise, we wouldn't have spent so much time fixing up the coop," Adams spoke regretfully. It was clear that he was lamenting not being able to personally slaughter the chicken.

"The last one? You eat that many?"

Singed immediately picked up on the oddity, making the situation more lively. The atmosphere in the lounge became cheerful as Adams alternated between explaining how one chicken wasn't enough for Hagrid and how it was mostly because they ate so frequently. However, under Singed's sharp gaze, none of his excuses held up.

While they enjoyed their banter, William tucked the book under his arm and left the lounge.

***

What did I miss? Or are the twins not satisfied with one round of trouble and planning a second one?

A whirlwind of thoughts ran through William's mind, but he decided not to dwell on speculation; his last guess had gone awry.

It's no use asking Adams. With so many professors around, the conversation would likely get derailed by Singed and the others. While a bit of humor is fine usually, that kind of atmosphere clearly isn't suitable for investigation.

Walking briskly through the corridor, William made up his mind to question Hagrid first. Hopefully, this time he could get some new information.

"Hagrid! Hagrid!"

Standing outside Hagrid's hut, William called out loudly.

"William! Good afternoon; I was just about to head out. Want to come along? I remember you don't have any classes this afternoon."

Hagrid, with a comical array of gear strapped to him, poked his head out. William could bet that, with the bags and the cage Hagrid was carrying, he could probably catch enough rabbits to feed the entire school for a lesson.

"Well, I don't have any classes, but right now—uh, there's something I'd like to ask you." William carefully chose his words, hoping that this time his questions would get Hagrid to take the matter a bit more seriously.

"All right, you're sounding a bit too serious, but I've already sent an owl ahead to make arrangements. Come on in and have a seat. I think we have enough time to talk."

With a humorous wave of his hand, Hagrid set the cage on the ground and led William into the hut.

"This week, I learned quite a few recipes from Professor Adams; some of them even magical recipes, which aren't easy to come by. If you're free this weekend, I'll whip up something special." Hagrid muttered as he rummaged around for teacups.

If I remember correctly, Adams said the last rooster died today? Is he heading out to restock again?

"So, you're buying more roosters?"

"Yep, planning to get quite a few this time."

Hagrid casually placed a teacup on the table.

"I heard from Adams that the last rooster died today?"

"Yep, same as before. Professor Adams helped me reinforce the coop, even using some methods commonly employed in greenhouses to ward off magical creatures. I also set up a few traps to scare off smaller critters. This time, the new roosters should be safe."

It seemed Adams had done a decent job with the coop. At the very least, Hagrid was quite satisfied.

But William wasn't here to investigate the coop.

"Hmm, was there anything different about this attack compared to the last one? Like the traces, the method, or the amount of blood lost?"

"What method could there be? Same as before; The head was bitten off, and all the blood was drained. If I didn't know vampires don't drink chicken blood, I'd suspect it was one of them!" Hagrid spoke nonchalantly, clearly less concerned about this than last time.

And why wouldn't he be? After all, they had gone through over a dozen roosters in a single week. A dead chicken here or there, especially when the edible parts were still intact, wasn't worth fussing over.

If William hadn't been carrying a curse himself, he wouldn't have cared either. As long as it wasn't poisonous and was still edible, what was there to worry about?

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