Meanwhile, at Azkaban.
This wizarding prison, renowned throughout the magical world, is a lonely island in the middle of the sea, far from human civilization, and is guarded by a horrible species known as Dementors, who feed on the souls of others.
At this very moment, in the deepest cell of the prison, a gaunt, disheveled man with pale skin, yellowing teeth, and a look of madness clung desperately to a newspaper in his hand.
Infinite fury consumed his mind, causing his eyes to bulge as a painful, guttural roar escaped his throat.
"Peter! Peter!!!"
The cell echoed with his furious cries.
Soon after, the alarm bells of all Azkaban began to blare.
The Dementors suddenly started to riot, and the Aurors stationed at the prison immediately sprang into action, their expressions tense.
Instantly, Azkaban was plunged into chaos. A heinous prisoner had escaped from his cell…
The next day, a new edition of the Daily Prophet was delivered to the Swinton family home by an owl.
Previously, at Aliya's strong urging, Victor had subscribed to the newspaper for five years, so a new copy of the Daily Prophet arrived at their home on time every day.
Aliya saw the owl delivering the newspaper through the window. She quickly grabbed some of Cygnus's snacks from a cabinet and rushed out the door.
A moment later, she walked back in, holding a fresh copy of the Daily Prophet, and shouted with her head down, "Victor, come look at this!" It was the first time she had ever seen a wanted poster this large on the cover of the newspaper.
Victor, who was sitting on the sofa reading, looked up and asked, "What is it?"
"The Daily Prophet has a wanted poster on it. The wizard looks so scary!" Aliya said, coming to stand next to Victor and handing him the newspaper.
Victor took the paper, curiously glanced at the man on the cover who was roaring madly, and a familiar yet strange name escaped his lips: "Sirius Black…"
"The paper says he escaped from prison." Aliya rested her chin on Victor's shoulder and pointed to the text on the newspaper.
Victor frowned.
He hadn't realized that the timeline had already reached the events of Prisoner of Azkaban.
In fact, he remembered the events of this book quite clearly:
Because of Sirius Black's sudden escape, Dementors would be stationed at Hogwarts.
Sirius escaped to get revenge on Peter Pettigrew, though he couldn't remember how Sirius found out that Peter was still alive.
Sirius Black had been wrongfully imprisoned. The specific reason had also slipped his mind, but it definitely had something to do with Peter.
Peter Pettigrew was an Animagus who had been living as a rat in the Weasley family for over a decade. He was currently Ron's pet.
Dumbledore had hired a werewolf named Lupin to be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts.
To be honest, Victor felt indifferent towards Sirius.
Compared to this mad lion, he preferred the restrained venomous snake that was Snape.
Victor had no intention of doing anything to Lupin. After all, he had no grudge against him. Besides, from the book, Lupin seemed to be a pretty good Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
However, whether he could withstand the pressure from all sides was another matter. After all, in front of the highly trained eagles, his identity as a werewolf couldn't be hidden.
Peter Pettigrew was not difficult to deal with; Victor could make him die with the snap of a finger.
To be honest, he had completely forgotten about this person's existence before. But as a Death Eater who feared death, whether he had any value for reuse was still up for consideration.
As for the Dementors, Victor just hoped the Ministry of Magic could keep these disgusting dark creatures in check. Otherwise, he wouldn't mind going on a killing spree…
Time flew by quickly.
Half a month later, in September, it was once again time for the annual start of term at Hogwarts.
During these two weeks, Victor had been investigating the world of Fiendfyre.
Unfortunately, he hadn't found anything useful during this time, except for some insignificant texts in the library of the goblin race that might be related to it.
So, Victor's focus had gradually shifted from reviewing historical documents to conducting on-site investigations deep within the world of Fiendfyre.
However, throughout the investigation, because his internal injuries hadn't fully healed, even when he acted as carefully as possible, it was inevitable that he would get a little hurt at times.
Coincidentally, once when he had just returned from the world of Fiendfyre, he was seen by the old bee, and it just so happened that he didn't have time to change his bloodstained clothes.
This led to Dumbledore's incessant and unrelenting questioning about the secrets of the world of Fiendfyre.
And Victor, unable to stand the buzzing in his ears, directly used all his power to cast a full-strength Obliviate on the old bee, successfully making the White King forget some things.
It wasn't that Victor didn't want to tell the old bee the truth, but what good would it do even if he did?
He was over a hundred years old, constantly worrying about this and that. He was so anxious that he might just drop dead from overthinking one day!
Honestly, at Dumbledore's age, he should have long since handed the position of Hogwarts Headmaster over to Professor McGonagall or Snape and gone to enjoy his golden years!
What could the monsters from the world of Fiendfyre do even if they did come over?!
In the end, it would just boil down to one thing: "Let's just fight them!"
If they won, they would continue to eat, drink, live, and sleep. If they lost, the world would be destroyed, and billions of people would join him.
And at this very moment, on the great plains of Scotland, the Hogwarts Express was thundering through the rain on the tracks.
Splashes of water burst from the front of the train, and the wheels underneath made a heavy rumbling sound under the power of the steam.
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!
The weather for the start of term this year was very unfriendly.
The sky was overcast, and it was raining coldly. The gloomy scene gave off a very oppressive feeling.
Inside the train, Harry and Ron were sitting in a compartment. Next to them sat a middle-aged man sleeping with his head covered by his cloak.
"R. J. Lupin, there's no one by that name at school, is there?" Ron asked quietly, looking at the name on the suitcase.
"No, he must be our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. It's the only position that's open now," Harry replied, then sighed helplessly. "I really hope he's a normal professor and not Voldemort or a bigot again."
"Want to bet on it? Do you think he'll last until the end of the school year?" Ron asked.
"Quiet down!" Harry said, cautiously looking at the middle-aged man. "He's a professor, don't make jokes like that!"
"Is he really asleep?"
"What do you mean?"
"Then what are you so afraid of?!"
Whoosh… Bang!
Just then, the compartment door was pulled open, and Hermione walked in, a scowl on her face.
"You didn't find him?!" Harry asked tentatively.
"No, I don't know where he went. I asked some Ravenclaws, and they said they hadn't seen him either," Hermione said, tidying her messy hair, a bit angry.
"Hermione, you don't have to worry too much. Victor's so strong; he'll be fine," Ron tried to comfort her.
"He knows he's still injured, but he went out and took risks anyway! If I hadn't found the bloodstained clothes in his room, I wouldn't have known he was out there causing trouble!" Hermione said excitedly, slamming her fist down. "It's been over a week, and he's gone. Doesn't he know someone might be worried about him?!"
"Hermione, you can be angry, but next time, could you punch your own leg?" Harry said, wincing and rubbing his thigh.
"Could the guild leader already be back at school?" Ron guessed after a moment of thought. "You know, every one of us in the Fairy Tail guild can travel freely to and from Hogwarts. We're just taking the Express for the experience. You know the guild leader is usually all over the place; for any long-distance travel, he just uses teleportation instead of flying."
"Hmph! Forget about him!" Hermione temporarily wiped Victor's face from her mind, then looked at Harry and asked, "Harry, what about you?"
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