Snape knew little about William's activities after graduation, only that he had become an official at the Ministry of Magic. He hadn't expected Dumbledore to have investigated William's history so thoroughly, even uncovering private details like his two years spent in the Muggle world.
"It seems you pay exceptional attention to our new professor," Snape said, quickly masking his surprise with a sneer. "With such a meticulous investigation, I assume you've even found out what color his underwear is."
Dumbledore was unperturbed by the blatant offense.
"I give equal attention to every student at Hogwarts, Severus," he replied with a smile. "If you wish to hear vivid anecdotes from your own school days, I could tell you those as well."
"As for his post-graduation experiences, understanding a prospective faculty member's background before hiring them for such a crucial role is a necessity. It is a responsibility to the school and to the students."
Snape stared unblinkingly at Dumbledore for several seconds.
He opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to find a sharp angle for another retort, but the other's answer was watertight. Unable to find a flaw in the logic for the moment, a feeling of powerlessness—like punching cotton—made his chest feel uncomfortably tight.
Knock, knock.
Just then, there was a knock at the office door.
Before Dumbledore could speak, the door was pushed open, and William Shafiq walked in.
He walked straight to the desk and placed two alchemy books with intricately patterned covers in front of Dumbledore.
This was a condition agreed upon when he proposed installing comprehensive surveillance at Hogwarts to Dumbledore: the Headmaster must also possess a surveillance book.
Snape, already in a foul mood, felt a fresh wave of anger upon seeing the subject of his ire arrive.
He whipped around, black robes billowing, and demanded viciously, "Why are you here?"
However, contrary to Snape's expectations, William didn't retort or even answer his question.
William simply stopped, turned his head, and looked Snape up and down.
There was no anger or mockery in his eyes; instead, they held a look akin to pity. It was the kind of look one might give a stray dog that, after being kicked by its owner, could only bark madly at passersby to mask its pain.
This silent solicitude drove Snape crazier than any vicious curse could have.
"What is that look?"
Snape was instantly incensed to the extreme. The demand nearly burst from his lips, only to be choked back in his throat by his last shred of self-control.
But William didn't give him a chance to explode.
He shook his head, as if he couldn't bear to watch any longer, and turned straight toward the door.
"Goodnight, Headmaster."
With the door gently closing, the sound of William's footsteps faded away.
In the corridor, as William walked downstairs, he sighed helplessly.
"What a pitiful man... He seems to have lost his mind, attacking innocent passersby indiscriminately," William thought to himself. "I wonder what heartbreaking thing Dumbledore said to him just now to make him lose his composure like that."
Although William didn't know why Snape had such a fondness for this jinxed position—given the variously tragic ends of previous Defense Against the Dark Arts professors—seeing Snape's tangled obsession with the role made him feel the man really had a hard lot in life.
It seems I really am a sentimental person.
The night was as still as water. Inside the staff dormitory, the fire in the hearth had dimmed. Otto was coiled in a heap on the rug before the fireplace, his three heads emitting soft hisses that rose and fell in turn—his unique way of snoring.
William leaned against soft velvet pillows. Holding no book, he summoned the system panel visible only to him.
Looking at the top right corner displaying [Current Points: 600], William's mood lifted slightly. Those were the points he had earned after completing the surveillance for the castle and the Forbidden Forest.
"Let's see what I can get for these points..."
With a thought, William opened the enticingly glowing [System Store].
When he first awakened the system, William believed the magic he had mastered already covered most fields. What good things could a system store sell?
If the system had arrived earlier, he wouldn't have had to study so hard for so many years.
However, as he browsed the item list from top to bottom, his initial arrogance was quickly replaced by surprise.
His gaze first landed on a spell named [Sectumsempra], priced at 1,500 points.
Description: A powerful dark curse invented by the "Half-Blood Prince." Highly concealed and difficult to detect when cast non-verbally. Wounds caused cannot be healed by ordinary healing magic; only a specific counter-curse can resolve it.
"Good stuff," William murmured, rubbing his chin with a hint of appreciation in his eyes.
Although 1,500 points wasn't cheap, this could be called a sharp weapon for single combat. More importantly, in reality, this was Snape's signature move and absolutely would not be taught to others.
No matter how talented William was, he couldn't learn an original spell from someone else's brain out of thin air.
In comparison, the [Fiendfyre] spell next to it, priced at 2,000 points, didn't seem as cost-effective to William.
Rather than spending precious points to redeem Fiendfyre, he preferred to practice it himself.
In fact, William wasn't ignorant of the Dark Arts; at the very least, he had mastered the three most famous ones, which was why he didn't find them in the store.
When William was in school, the Ministry's control over Dark Magic was far less strict than it was now. At Hogwarts back then, many students had dabbled in it to some extent, especially in Slytherin House where studying the Dark Arts was prevalent.
It wasn't until the war ended that this trend was slowly suppressed.
Dark Magic often didn't require high talent; as long as you had enough negative emotions and magical power, you could unleash astonishing destructive power. For young wizards craving strength, this was simply an irresistible temptation.
William, of course, had been among them. However, after personally experiencing the physical and mental devastation caused by Dark Magic, he stopped his research. In the days that followed, he tried to use many normal spells to replicate the effects of Dark Magic.
William pulled his thoughts back from past memories, and his gaze continued downward.
[Legilimency: 2,000 points] — Fairly practical. William had once tried to teach himself but found the practice troublesome.
[Parseltongue: 3,000 points] — The mark of Slytherin. William remembered there was a Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets at Hogwarts; this skill might come in handy, and besides, he wanted to communicate with Otto.
[Unsupported Flight: 2,800 points] — Flying through the air without any props. Few in the wizarding world could do it. Maximum style points, but slightly less practical.
Finally, his gaze fell to the very bottom of the list, on an ultimate item emitting a faint golden light.
[Dark Magic Purification: 30,000 points]
The description was just one short sentence, yet it brought William a huge shock:
Eliminates all negative effects and erosion on the caster's soul and spirit caused by the use of Dark Magic.
William gave a bitter laugh and silently calculated in his head. At his current rate, to buy this purification buff, he'd probably have to work at Hogwarts until his beard was longer than Dumbledore's.
"Forget it. Aiming too high is taboo."
William shook his head and turned his attention to the more budget-friendly items.
Currently, with the 600 points in hand, there were only two things he could afford:
[Humanoid Being Language Pack (includes Goblin, Mermish, Troll): 200 points]
[Magical Beast Language Pack (includes Dragon, Unicorn, Phoenix): 500 points]
"But what would I buy this for?"
William looked at these two options and fell into deep thought.
He wasn't going to rob Gringotts, so he didn't need to negotiate with goblins—besides, goblins spoke English. As for the rest, they were even less necessary.
"Better to save up for now."
William made his decision and waved his hand to close the system panel.
The pale blue screen dissipated into the air, and the room returned to dimness.
William lay on the bed, hands behind his head, staring at the intricate patterns on the ceiling as he began to think about his next plan.
Although the 600 points had come easily enough, in terms of campus construction, William couldn't think of anything else Hogwarts—a school with a thousand years of history—needed in the short term.
Since hardware construction was saturated for the time being, he could only start working on the young wizards.
The good news was that the start of the term was only ten days away.