"I think—you all need to see today's news!"
At Hogwarts Great Hall, just as breakfast was starting, Ron came rushing in from outside, waving a copy of the Prophet Daily he had found somewhere—he was even earlier than the owls, as Hedwig hadn't appeared yet, not even a single feather—
"Did you get a job at the post office? Do you want some owl biscuits?"
Ginny instinctively started teasing Ron, only to receive a firm flick on the head from him in return.
"I'm serious—Malfoy has been caught!"
Ron pretended to look around, then loudly announced without any attempt at concealment, even though his expression seemed sneaky, the boy's voice instantly spread across the four house tables, making even the professors at the main table look up reflexively.
Yes, Ron even used an "Amplifying Charm."
"...Who?"
Harry was so startled by Ron's shout that he was seeing stars. He patted his ear and loudly asked back.
"Malfoy! Lucius Malfoy!"
Ron didn't plan to lift the effect of the Amplifying Charm, but feeling the death stare from Professor Meow at the main table, he weighed the pros and cons between embarrassing Malfoy and saving his own skin and chose the latter, "Don't worry, I'll read it to you—"
He cleared his throat, signaling the curious little wizards of Gryffindor around him to calm down.
"... It's reported that Lucius Malfoy, even after the Dark Lord's return, continued to serve him. According to reliable information, the criminal Lucius Malfoy provided basic living conditions such as food, clothing, and shelter to the leader of the terrorist organization Voldemort and the Death Eaters in the organization, fueling the terrorist group's rampant arrogance..."
"Under the wise guidance of the British Ministry of Magic Minister, Cornelius Fudge, the Aurors captured Lucius Malfoy yesterday and plan to transfer him to Azkaban this afternoon. According to reliable intelligence, Mr. Malfoy has been sentenced to thirty years imprisonment..."
Watching the newspapers delivered by the owls, Flitwick's frown grew deeper and deeper. Chewing a sandwich, he turned to look at William.
But before he could speak, William, who was spreading chili sauce on his bread, seemed to guess what he wanted to ask and spoke up first, "The Ministry of Magic asked us to keep the news hidden because Lucius Malfoy wasn't present that night. They didn't issue a warrant afterwards for a sting operation—"
William put the chili sauce aside and opened a jar of fermented bean curd, "To avoid alerting the enemy. If Malfoy heard the news and hid, we probably wouldn't have caught him."
What a ridiculous reason.
On the other side of the main table, Snape couldn't help but twitch his eyebrows when he heard their conversation.
But Filius seemed to believe it, nodding deeply in agreement, "Given the cunning of those Death Eaters, the situation the Ministry of Magic anticipated could very well have happened."
"Yeah, if they had issued a warrant, we'd be more worried Malfoy would react like Bellatrix Lestrange once did, like a cornered animal."
"Ding-dong," Professor McGonagall joined the conversation. The witch was habitually arranging her utensils neatly, while speaking, she glanced at the piece of toast in William's hand smeared with butter, chili sauce, and fermented bean curd—and now strawberry jam—and couldn't help but frown, "Professor Richard, wasting food is shameful—"
"Don't worry, someone will... finish it."
William sighed, gesturing to Norbert in his sleeve to stay calm; its special sandwich was almost ready—who knew why this fire dragon's taste suddenly changed so much, now the more bizarre the flavor, the more it aroused its appetite. To avoid trouble from the animal protection organization, William could only prepare its breakfast like this.
"Yeah, poor Longbottom—"
Professor Sprout also chimed in, her tone filled with pity, "Although, the outcome wasn't so bad, Frank and Alice have recovered under William's treatment, and those Death Eaters have been punished—by the way, William, I remember you said it was Diggory who defeated the disguised Percy Weasley, Barty Crouch Jr? How did he escape from Azkaban?"
"...Polyjuice Potion, Crouch's wife disguised herself as Barty Jr. and switched him out, then she died in Azkaban."
William stuffed the cream, strawberry, Lao Gan Ma sandwich into his sleeve, feeling relieved and finally started on his own breakfast.
"This... William, how do you know?"
Professor Flitwick, after joining everyone in a two and a half minute shock, found the blind spot and asked curiously.
"The little elf from the Crouch household knows the whole story, and she's now in the Hogwarts kitchen—"
"Then, isn't Azkaban a bit insecure?"
Professor McGonagall couldn't help but knit her brows, counting earnestly, "First Barty Crouch Jr., then the mass breakout of Death Eaters—oh, no, in between there's also Sirius Black who escaped, in just a few decades, there have been so many jailbreaks—"
"Don't worry, this concern is actually unnecessary."
"Why?"
"Because..."
Because if nothing unexpected happens, Lucius Malfoy might not even be imprisoned in Azkaban at all.
Snape completed William's sentence in his mind—
Yes, he was once again forced to learn about William's plan and join in, though he didn't want this damn trust, but he had no choice, he really couldn't beat this damn bastard. Under threat and bribery, he had no choice but to get on the thief's ship again.
Watching William, who was calmly chatting nonsense with a bunch of professors, Snape's thoughts returned to that night—
William appeared in his room uninvited again, holding the gray cat raised by the caretaker, cat fur flying everywhere in the air, and Snape heard William speak—
"Yes, Severus, you must know, when I come to say goodnight, you should say goodnight to me too, instead of shouting 'how did you get in here,' 'get out of my room' which is very rude—"
"... But I haven't said anything yet."
"That's not the point."
Then, Snape listened as William told him everything that had just happened (details at the end of chapter 445) from start to finish and reached a conclusion—Voldemort still had a chance to return, his Soul Artifacts were still out there.
...Wow, how fresh?
Snape only remembered feeling numb at that time, perhaps due to hearing this news, but more likely because he had just fallen asleep and was suddenly woken up, but William didn't give him any chance to react afterward, instead dropping one bombshell after another, overwhelming him—
For example, Voldemort had turned into an eight-year-old child and had enrolled this year, being sorted into Gryffindor by the Sorting Hat.
Who knows, after hearing this string of secrets, Snape's brain had nearly given up thinking, leaving him with only one thought—
This guy suddenly came to tell me all this, what is his purpose? Am I going to be silenced? Does he still have his eyes on my position as Potions Class professor? Should I be wise and surrender? Or is it just a simple case of burning bridges?
The birds are all shot, the bow is stored? When the rabbit dies, the hound is cooked?
Briefly contemplating, Snape chose to let his brain free-fall between kneeling to beg for mercy and keeping his integrity, sitting on the bed with lifeless fish eyes staring at William, saying nothing.
"Hello? Are you awake?"
William lifted Mrs. Loris onto his shoulder and waved his hand in front of the stupefied Snape—who remained unresponsive, as if his system had crashed from an overload of information.
"Huh?"
After a long time, the slowly rebooting Snape blinked his eyes, finally saying the second sentence of that night.