Settling Down in Diagon Alley

The number 93 plaque on Diagon Alley was nailed to a mold-stained brick wall. Passing wizards all assumed it was an abandoned warehouse.

Sagres tapped his wand three times, and the bricks rose and rearranged like piano keys, revealing a spiral staircase leading underground—his temporary residence, rented for two Galleons a week. It had once been a confectionery shop's candy cellar.

"Scourgify." He waved his wand at the oak barrels covered in frosting. Amid the scent of aged cream, twelve barrels automatically joined together to form a desk, while the toffee syrup clinging to the walls turned into an amber desk lamp.

When the Daily Prophet slipped in through the window crack, its front page bore a striking headline: <Order of Merlin Recipient Cleared of Charges, to Teach at Hogwarts>. The accompanying photograph showed his back as he left Azkaban, the hem of his black robe lifted by the sea breeze.

A copy of the Ministry of Magic Pardon Decree was tucked directly beneath the headline.

Sagres folded the newspaper into a paper crane and tossed it into the fireplace. The flames licked over the words "dangerous genius" in the headline, reducing them to ash in the blink of an eye.

Suddenly, a warm lump of bird droppings landed on the pardon decree.

"You're two minutes and seventeen seconds late," he said without looking up.

Ash drifted down as the raven Noctis folded its metallic-sheened wings, a sealed letter clamped in its beak.

This creature was a cursed construct he had found in the ruins of Durmstrang. Its creator had embedded a piece of obsidian capable of refracting magical power into its left eye. Now, it relied on Sagres's magic to sustain its life, and in return, this raven named Loctis served as Sagres's messenger.

Sagres took out the letter and glanced over it twice. A quill and parchment automatically flew out of the dragonhide trunk.

He took out a handful of mithril shavings. Loctis immediately flew onto his arm, tilted its head, and let out a piercing cry.

"Quiet."

The silenced raven turned to peck at the mithril shavings. At the same time, the quill scratched across the parchment:

Advanced Charms Theory and Practice Required Reading List

1. Advanced Charms Applications · Miranda Goshawk (1897 Revised Edition)

2. Introduction to Magic · Ancient Runes Study Society

3. Advanced Magical Topology · Sagres Greengrass (Manuscript Facsimile Edition)

The quill paused, then added a line of small text at the end: "Recommended tools:

1. Mithril-plated slide rule

2. Double-sided crystal prism"

By the time the final stroke was finished and the stopper was pressed into the ink bottle, sunlight was shining through the cellar window onto the side of his face.

Sagres undid his shirt collar and stood before the dressing mirror. His Hogwarts professor's black robes automatically adjusted their cut until silver-thread embroidery appeared over his left breast, forming the Ravenclaw eagle crest.

It was a privilege granted to him as an alumnus.

Steam carrying the smell of coal ash rushed at him on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Sagres passed through the crowd of first-years pushing luggage carts, the hem of his black robe brushing against a red-haired boy's suitcase. On the corner of the case, a Chocolate Frog card showed Dumbledore winking at him.

"Make way! Make way! This bloody suitcase is about to fall apart!"

Ron Weasley's shout erupted at the same time as the suitcase springs snapped loose.

A heap of magical books, mixed with magazines, comic books, newspapers, and half a bag of leftover Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans—even a lame rat—flew past Sagres's boots. Behind him, another bespectacled boy was trying to patch the cracked suitcase with tape.

"Reparo." Sagres gave a light flick of his hand. The scattered items flew back into the suitcase even faster, while its brass clasps automatically reassembled into a sturdier geometric structure.

Ron stared wide-eyed at the restored suitcase. Sagres asked, "Red hair? You're from the Weasley family?"

Sagres noticed the worn wand sticking out of the boy's pocket. A fine crack ran through its ash wood grain, its tip glimmered faintly, and the unicorn tail-hair core had worn through and become exposed.

Without waiting for Ron to answer, he continued, "Even a first-year shouldn't be unable to use the most basic Repairing Charm, especially not a Weasley."

Seeing the two boys frozen in place and unable to speak, Sagres shook his head and turned toward the rear of the train.

The whistle swallowed the boys' stammering thanks.

The moment he entered the compartment in the final carriage, frost crystallized over the door handle—a powerful Banishing Charm made everyone passing by instinctively overlook the compartment.

Hermione Granger pushed open a compartment door. "Have either of you seen a toad? Neville Longbottom's lost one."

Harry and Ron, who were eating snacks, looked up and shook their heads at the girl in the doorway. At that moment, wind blowing in from outside opened the Daily Prophet to reveal its front-page headline: "Order of Merlin Recipient Cleared of Charges! Controversial Genius Returns to Hogwarts!"

In the photograph, the handsome man in black robes had a profile as cold and sharp as a sculpture. Behind him, Azkaban's iron bars twisted into a blurred backdrop beneath the morning light.

"Merlin's beard! He's the new Hogwarts professor!" Ron's nose was practically pressed to the newspaper. Chocolate Frog crumbs clung to the edge of the headline. "It says he blew up five wizards with magic!"

"Five Dark wizards," Hermione corrected, turning to close the compartment door at the same time. "I've read reports about him. More than one."

"What's the Order of Merlin?" Harry took the chance to ask.

Hermione pulled out her wand and began cleaning up the stains. "I've read reports from several newspapers. I heard the Daily Prophet always likes to deliberately confuse the facts. The Ministry of Magic Enforcement Department Archives makes it very clear that those five were Dark wizards attempting to kidnap a Muggle member of Parliament, and Professor Greengrass was a rookie at Auror Command at the time."

"But it says here that he burned all the bodies to ash..." Ron shuddered.

"Not burned. It was a spell he created himself." Hermione pointed at a line of small print in the article. "Witnesses said he used only one spell. He didn't even chant an incantation."

"You still haven't told me what the Order of Merlin is!" Harry asked again when neither of them answered his question.

"You don't even know that?" Hermione gave him a surprised look. "The Order of Merlin is one of the wizarding world's highest honors. The Wizengamot has awarded it since the fifteenth century, and it represents recognition of a wizard's personal achievements and contributions." Hermione waved the newspaper in her hand. "The paper says that on the very day he was expelled from Hogwarts, he improved several healing spells, including Episkey, Vulnera Sanentur, and Rennervate. He raised the recovery rate for severe injuries by at least sixty percent. Dumbledore, the Hogwarts Headmaster who expelled him, was criticized by plenty of media outlets at the time. They said he was going senile."

"That sounds like he was trying to spite the person who expelled him..."

"I heard my father mention it too, but Professor Greengrass didn't even attend the award ceremony afterward."

Hermione neither agreed nor disagreed, instead pointing to another passage. "The paper says that after being expelled in his fifth year, he chose to study at Durmstrang and graduated two years later. After that, he was invited to teach at Ilvermorny, then resigned a year later. After traveling for another year, he was exceptionally recruited by England's Ministry of Magic."

Ron chewed Drooble's Best Blowing Gum and muttered, "And then he went to Azkaban for killing people?"

"It was self-defense!" Hermione's curls trembled with the force of her indignation. "The Wizards' Rights Protection Act clearly states that when Aurors encounter danger during a mission, they may use defensive measures as circumstances require."

Having said that, the little girl nodded to herself. "Two pure-blood families jointly accused him. It must have been because some of those five Dark wizards belonged to their families!"

"So why did Headmaster Dumbledore expel him in the first place?" Harry couldn't help asking.

Hermione fell silent. After a while, she finally said, "I don't know either..."

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