Watching the battered old Sorting Hat croak out its off-key song while each new student reacted with delight or despair after putting it on, William felt a wave of nostalgia he hadn't experienced in years.
Back then, he had sat in the same place, the Sorting Hat wavering between Slytherin and Ravenclaw for quite some time before finally placing him in the latter.
"…"
"Katie Bell!"
"Gryffindor!"
"…"
"Cho Chang!"
"Ravenclaw!"
"…"
After the final first-year was sorted into Hufflepuff, the applause gradually faded and the Sorting Ceremony came to an end.
Albus Dumbledore rose from his golden high-backed chair. Spreading his arms wide, he smiled as though nothing made him happier than seeing the Great Hall filled with students once more.
"Welcome!" he said. "Welcome back to Hogwarts for the start of a new school year. Before we begin our feast, I have a few announcements to make."
"First, let us welcome two new members of our teaching staff."
His gaze swept across the hall.
"Professor Quirinus Quirrell, who teaches Muggle Studies, has taken a year's leave to attend to personal matters. This year, Professor Arif Sikandar will be taking over the course."
A wizard seated not far from William stood up nervously and bowed. Polite applause followed as the students welcomed the new professor.
"And next…" Dumbledore's voice rose slightly. "It gives me great pleasure to introduce Professor William Shafiq."
"He was one of the finest students ever to graduate from our school, and this year he has kindly agreed to my request to teach both Defence Against the Dark Arts and Alchemy."
William stood, smiling and nodding toward the students.
The hall fell silent for a second before erupting into enthusiastic applause—mixed heavily with whispering.
"Two subjects?"
"Merlin's beard, he's teaching two classes by himself? How can he handle that?"
"Alchemy? Isn't that a sixth-year elective? He knows alchemy too?"
"See? I told you the rumor was true!" Percy said excitedly to his friends.
From the Ravenclaw table, William faintly heard proud whispers of "Professor Shafiq is from our house." He couldn't help the small twitch at the corner of his mouth.
Yes. Pure Ravenclaw energy.
Many students looked at him with the kind of awe reserved for someone slightly insane. Holding two positions, one of them the school-wide compulsory Defence Against the Dark Arts—was almost unheard of in Hogwarts history.
"That is all the important news," Dumbledore said, clearly pleased with the reaction. Sitting back down, he announced loudly, "Let the feast begin!"
In an instant, the previously empty golden plates filled with food: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops, lamb cutlets, sausages, steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, chips, Yorkshire pudding…
As the delicious aroma spread through the hall, fewer eyes remained fixed on William. After all, for growing children, nothing mattered more than food.
William looked at the sizzling medium-rare steak in front of him and felt his appetite awaken. He cut off a piece and took a bite.
The familiar taste. The familiar Hogwarts.
Eat well, children, he thought as he watched the students devour their meals.
Because starting tomorrow, you may not have the appetite for it.
…
…
The cheerful feast soon ended. After Dumbledore dismissed them, the students rose amid chatter and followed their prefects back to their common rooms.
---
At the Ravenclaw corridor…
A few overstuffed older students lagged at the back of the group. Suddenly, one of them stopped and pointed at a shadow high on the wall.
"Hey, look at that."
Following his finger, they saw a grey half-body stone statue clinging to the upper wall in the torchlight.
Expressionless. Dull. Unremarkable.
"Hogwarts got new decorations?" one student muttered after inspecting it. "Honestly, the craftsmanship's terrible. The facial features are practically smudged together. The suits of armor look better."
"Maybe it's some ancient artistic style?" another guessed.
Yet after walking a few more yards, they saw another identical statue. Then another.
They appeared at regular intervals like mass-produced trinkets.
"Why are they everywhere?"
One student hurried forward to the prefect Robert Hilliard.
"Do you know what those statues are? Who put them there?"
Robert glanced up, equally puzzled. "No idea. Maybe Filch is up to something, or a professor's new decoration. Ignore them and keep up—we don't want you failing the riddle and sleeping in the corridor tonight."
---
At the staff quarters—
William lounged in a soft armchair, holding the surveillance book.
The pages displayed live footage of the corridors. Watching students stare wide-eyed at the statues amused him greatly.
"Stay curious, kids," he said cheerfully, closing the book and tossing it aside. "I wonder how long it'll take you to figure out what they're really for."
His good mood lasted less than two minutes.
The moment he picked up the finalized timetable for the semester, his smile froze and was replaced with utter despair.
"Is this even a human schedule?!"
Under candlelight, the parchment was crammed with ink.
From Monday to Friday… morning and afternoon, every slot read Defence Against the Dark Arts.
As a compulsory subject for all seven years, even with houses combined, the workload was staggering.
The "only four classes a week" of Alchemy had been squeezed into the time slots normally reserved for Astronomy—night classes.
William's fingers trembled as he did the math.
From Monday to Thursday, he would teach from morning until late night.
Friday had no night class, but the daytime D.A.D.A lessons were still packed.
Weekends would be for survival, not rest. Lesson planning. Grading hundreds of assignments. Student disputes. Exam papers. And, as the Alchemy professor, he still had to find time for experiments.
William suddenly realized that the ominous reputation of the Defence Against the Dark Arts position might not even come from Tom Riddle's curse after all.
It might simply come from the awful job itself.
"Smack!"
He slammed the timetable onto the table and collapsed backward onto the bed, lying spread-eagle.
Maybe he should start brewing potions.
"Wit-Sharpening Potion is essential so I don't drop dead mid-lecture. Calming Draught and Cheering Potion too… to prevent a mental breakdown."
Without potion support, William felt he might become the first Hogwarts professor to die from overwork.
He definitely didn't want to end up in school history that way.