Chapter 73: Income

The express had arrived at the station, the students began to descend quickly, then William approached Ginny, he patted her on the shoulder to get the girl's attention.

"You must go with all the first years Ginny, Hagrid will lead them" William pointed to the half giant in the distance.

"Ah" she looked at Hagrid, she had seen him earlier in Diagon Alley "but my brothers."

"They'll be fine, they already know the way to Hogwarts, they're not first years, you are."

Although Ginny was reluctant to the idea, in the end she just heeded and headed in the direction William indicated.

"We should go to the dining hall shall we?" William looked at Hermione who was somewhat disconnected and was looking everywhere.

"They haven't shown up yet."

"They'll show up on their own" William crossed his arms behind his head and started to walk "anyway I'm going to the dining room, I want to eat something before any event"

"how can you be so calm?" Hermione turned to reprimand William but he was already several feet ahead walking with total calmness "William!"

She was worried about her friends and it was hard to see William so calm, but the truth was that she couldn't imagine the reason behind this calmness.

As Hermione continued to look at their surroundings, the duo finally approached the crowd of students entering through the large oak doors, they walked through the torchlit foyer which housed a magnificent marble staircase connected to the upper floors.

Many of the students looked at William with different eyes than the previous year, just to the right of his position was the door that connected to the great dining hall, he just had to follow the crowd like any other student, the enchanted ceiling was dark with stars all over the place and then a voice called out to him:

"Rosier, I need to talk to you!"

William closed his eyes and let out a long sigh, from the tone of voice of the person calling him it wasn't hard to guess that it was Professor McGonagall, professor of the transformations class and head of Gryffindor house, she was calling him over all the students.

Hermione and William turned, they came in contact with Professor McGonagall it seemed her eyes pierced him straight through the heart, he almost felt he had done something wrong, then Hermione and he looked at each other, they glanced down and noticed William's boots outside the school rules.

"That wasn't a good idea" she said causing William to shake his head "I'll wait for you in the dining hall, just don't get yourself expelled."

"Sure, I'll work on that" they both separated, William walked past the students to get to where Professor McGonagall was standing, she looked at William's boots "before you reprimand me Professor McGonagall I must excuse myself, I just wanted to keep a souvenir of Castelobruxo and the boots were the only thing that matched the Hogwarts uniform."

"You don't have to be scared Rosier, it's not me who wants to talk to you but the director and I think the dragon leather boots has its own charm" she had a slight smile on her face.

"Do you think so too professor?" she looked at her boots more closely with a smile on her face.

"It's good to see you safe and sound Rosier, you don't know what a fright you gave me when I saw you in the prophet" she looked at William as if he was some kind of son.

They both quickly made their way to a professors office near the dining room, there was Dumbledore waiting there as he looked out one of the windows to the outside.

"William it's nice to see your face at Hogwarts again, for a moment I came to think you wouldn't be back."

"Don't make such jokes headmaster, you know I would come back here even if you expelled me" they both stared intently, Dumbledore pulled from the sleeve of his robes a sheet of paper showing Greyback's moving photograph.

"Will he be transferred to Azkaban?"

"Yes and he will also receive the Dementor's kiss" Dumbledore looked closely at William's reaction but could find nothing "but before that there will be a trial to fully convict him, your attendance has been requested to testify."

"Do I have to attend?" Dumbledore nodded

"You don't have to worry, I will accompany you so that everything will come to an end once and for all."

Professor McGonagall who was in the back couldn't stand the silence any longer "That man has many charges against him, no matter what you say Rosier, nothing will change the fact that he will receive a Dementor's kiss and justice will finally be done."

She was absolutely right about it, she just had to go up there, answer some questions and go back to school, nothing that could bring more trouble, it's just that somehow every time she's around Dumbledore she feels like a chess piece on an oversized chessboard, maybe it's just her thing but she still can't forget how she tried to sacrifice Harry in the original timeline or how she made use of Newt Scamander in the past. William really didn't want to become another chess piece.

"I will tell you the day we will have to leave for the trial in advance, plus I will write a letter to your grandfather explaining the matter. Now you can go back to the dining room."

William turned to leave, he really wanted to get out of that office as soon as possible, being around Dumbledore only made him sick, then before he left the voice reached his ears once more.

"Ah, William."

"Yes, Headmaster?"

"You can keep the boots, they really do make a difference and can protect you from curses at the most important times."

William stared at Dumbledore for a moment "thank you..."