On Monday of the last week of September, William arrived at his classroom, looking sleepy.
The weekend hadn't been great—not only had the investigation made no progress, but the long-anticipated banquet had been ruined by the two Weasleys.
Although he had relied on Adams and the school for various things, this was indeed the first banquet he had hosted as the main character.
'Forget it, I don't want to think about it, it gives me a headache!'
William yawned and started tidying up his lesson plans and other items—cleaning up the mess from Saturday's banquet had taken him more than half a day, and coupled with his daily exercise and self-study time, he had gone to bed very late after grading papers.
'Stay sharp, William!'
Putting down his lesson plans, William rubbed his palms together, then vigorously massaged his face with his slightly warmed hands.
You need to be energetic when facing students, William. If you're not attentive, how can you expect them to be?
While encouraging himself, he popped a mint into his mouth. The slightly stimulating coolness dispelled the last trace of drowsiness.
Taking a few steps to the classroom door, William began to wait for the students.
'Hmm, Professor Lockhart's first class on Saturday was supposedly a performance by the Weasleys—are those house-elves really that dangerous?'
'I haven't heard anything about that—do they have any magical abilities besides mischief?'
Maintaining a normal expression, William's thoughts began to race—he hadn't even had time to go to the dining hall when he woke up that morning, just hastily eaten some sandwiches and come straight here. Now he finally had time to consider what had happened on Saturday night.
'You need to restrain yourself, William. The weekend is over, and escalating their detentions isn't something that can be done now...'
The magical bell promptly interrupted William's jumbled thoughts.
But unexpectedly, no students came.
'Did I misremember the timetable?'
William doubted it for a moment, then quickly confirmed he hadn't.
'Did I notify the students in advance that this class would be a practical lesson?'
'No, I didn't. Where are they?'
Several thoughts surfaced and sank in William's mind, leaving him momentarily unsure of what he was thinking.
'They wouldn't be on strike, would they?'
A bad thought suddenly burst forth, riding a rollercoaster with his heartbeat.
'No, that's not right—sixth-year students don't have much homework, and no exams. Fifth-year students aren't striking, so why would sixth-year students?'
After convincing himself to be steady and then observe what had happened, William took several deep breaths to compose himself.
Taking a few steps towards a nearby painting, William politely knocked on the surrounding wall, waking up the one who was still catching up on sleep.
"Good morning—sorry to bother you, do you know what's happening at school?"
The soldier in the painting rubbed his eyes and grumbled, "I just got a little sleep, you—"
"Oh, Professor, I apologize, Professor, I didn't realize it was you. I was on duty very late yesterday. Mr. Filch was afraid something might happen and instructed some paintings guarding the main passages to stay up all night."
'Staying up all night? Staying up all night is useless. The other party is either invisible or uses a Disillusionment Charm, or knows some strange secret passages. Several investigations have yielded nothing, so paintings working hard is useless.'
But these words clearly couldn't be said to the soldier who had been on guard all night.
"Thank you for your hard work. So, is there anything new happening at school today?"
"Something new?" The soldier thought for a moment. "No, not really. The students just received their punishments. Even the naughtiest pranksters wouldn't have the energy to do anything on a Monday morning. Oh—Professor, your students are here."
"Hmm, I hear them too. Thank you, please continue to rest."
William waved goodbye, then quickly walked towards the corner of the corridor—being late for class on a Monday was somewhat excusable, but being collectively late was too much, wasn't it?
—
"That annoying Filch!"
"And that cat!"
"Exactly—my Quibbler was confiscated, what about yours?"
"Posters, brochures, and a copy of 'Voyages with Vampires'."
"Why does that sound a bit like Professor Lockhart's book—wait, 'Voyages with Vampires'?"
"Don't make a fuss, I slipped it into that pile of books, no name written."
Low laughter came from the boys, causing the girls walking behind them to roll their eyes in exasperation.
There was nothing they could do; boys could just scribble a name and be done with it, while most girls had to compare their fancy signatures with those of surrounding students to see if theirs looked better.
"Good morning, Professor!"
The boy walking at the very front greeted him loudly, causing the girls behind to involuntarily squeeze forward.
—
"So, you feel it's unfair?"
William listened to the students' complaints for a long time and finally understood what these sixth-year students were trying to express.
What they encountered was roughly this: with the approval of the Headmaster and the four Heads of House, Mr. Filch had blocked everyone preparing for class at the entrance to the Great Hall and used a Secrecy Sensor to check their bags.
Logically, this wasn't a very serious matter. Although it was a bit contrary to William's habits, the wizarding world generally wouldn't object.
But today, Filch had gone a bit too far. He confiscated all non-textbook publications, including periodicals, pictorials, magazines, and all sorts of magical books.
The confiscated items were allowed to be claimed by individuals, with their names left, and would be returned after inspection—this was why students who were usually punctual for class were collectively late today.
William finally understood why Mr. Filch had been so adamant about catching people during their conversation on Saturday.
'He probably spent the entire weekend lobbying the Headmaster to agree to this, and I don't know why the Headmaster agreed to something so clearly a bit irregular.'
He now genuinely wanted to apologize to Mr. Filch—although he still thought Mr. Filch shouldn't be hit, there was no doubt that this move was quite brilliant.
Leaving aside whether this was in accordance with wizarding law, this preemptive action was far beyond his own capability, and his use of rules was far better than his own.
Unless the other party could recite all the contents by heart, Mr. Filch would most likely get rid of that book containing forbidden knowledge today.
'Anyone who trusts what's in a book or magazine is unlikely to be willing to leave valuable information in the common room.'
'Of course, it's most likely a book; magazines aren't that easy to trick people with. Hagrid's roosters are safe—never mind, he eats them faster than students kill them.'
This news truly made William sigh in relief. He even felt a bit impatient to go find the caretaker and see what he had confiscated.
"Professor?"
A student interrupted William's thoughts. One by one, the students stared at him with curious eyes—right, the aftermath of the hat incident last time.
No student would like such a near-body search. They probably wanted to emulate the Gryffindor hat incident from last time.
'Hiss~'
William felt a slight headache.
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