Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 128 Greengrass's Invitation

Rupert wrote the letter as quickly as possible and sent it out overnight. Soon, an anonymous letter arrived at Dumbledore's office.

Dumbledore frequently received all sorts of letters: official correspondence from the Ministry of Magic, letters from his old friends and admirers around the world, and many others with all sorts of purposes—he even received a letter from a candy company asking him to endorse their product.

Dealing with dozens of emails before bed and after waking up each day was already a routine for Dumbledore.

However, today he received a rather unusual package. The package contained no sender's information; it was an anonymous letter, and it appeared to have something attached to it.

The experienced Dumbledore instinctively became wary of such emails. However, after a brief examination, he found that the letter contained no malicious magic.

After carefully opening the envelope, a small black booklet was revealed inside.

A notebook? Dumbledore's curiosity was piqued.

He opened the notebook, and the words on the title page caught his eye. His gaze immediately sharpened: the events that had occurred on the Scottish Highlands had left a very deep impression on him.

Seeing that there was another letter inside the envelope, he took it out and read it carefully.

"The Secret Order," Dumbledore murmured the name, his eyes growing increasingly profound.

He decided to investigate this mysterious organization.

After ruining Dumbledore's holiday with a letter, Rice began to enjoy his summer vacation—delicious desserts, cold drinks, and New Age books, all of which delighted him.

Neville and Valentina have joined Lupert's Dessert Shop and officially begun their working life.

At first, Neville was clumsy and made a lot of mistakes while doing the accounting. Later, Rice made him a simple calculator, and his working life got back on track. As for Valentina, she did a pretty good job. She was very efficient and could make up for the trouble Neville caused.

This continued for half a month, then was interrupted by the arrival of a visitor.

"One tiramisu and one Basque cake, to go." The delicate-looking silver-haired girl attracted the attention of many passersby when she appeared at Lupet Dessert Shop.

"Daphne? What brings you here?" Neville was somewhat surprised, but he quickly took the dessert bag from Valentina's hand and prepared to start calculating the bill.

"Keep the looker." She placed a silver coin on the counter, then picked up the packaged cake and walked out.

Watching Daphne's departing figure, Valentina raised an eyebrow: "An acquaintance?"

"He's a classmate."

"envious."

……

"Want some cake?" Two cakes suddenly appeared in Rice's field of vision.

He was sitting outside the ice cream shop, enjoying ice cream and sunshine while reading a book.

"Daphne? What brings you here?" Rice looked up, and that familiar silver figure came into view.

"Mom pre-ordered a signed copy of Lockhart's book at Flourish and Blotts, and I also had two outfits made at Superior Clothing," Daphne said, waving the two bags in front of Rice. "So I was sent here to run errands!"

As for why she didn't send her house-elves out to run errands, Daphne said it was best not to delve into those details.

"We should buy some summer clothes." Rice nodded and took the Basque cake. Although tiramisu was sweet enough, its flavor was too complicated and not to Rice's liking. He preferred a simpler dessert like Basque cake.

In return for Daphne's kindness, Rice gifted her a creamy ice cream.

"By the way, I remember you invited me to your house for a vacation before your holiday started?"

Daphne was secretly delighted: this was exactly what she had come for. However, she showed no outward expression, simply telling Rice with elegance that the doors of Greengrass Estate were always open to him.

Rice glanced at her, and when he said he planned to visit her again before the end of his vacation, the girl's expression was sure to be priceless.

However, he suppressed the urge to play a prank—something only Godric would do—and instead looked at Daphne, asking her if he could come to her house today.

The answer is, of course, yes.

Rice left a note for Lupert, and after finishing his cake and ice cream, he prepared to head to Greengrass Manor.

"Apparition? Or Floo Net? It can't be a flying broom, can it?" Rice looked around and, not seeing the Greengrass family's carriage, asked.

"Use this." Daphne took out an hourglass from her bosom. The upper half of the hourglass was black, and the lower half was white.

Rice: ?

"This is actually a door key." Daphne briefly explained to Rice how to use the door key she had.

Unlike common trigger-based or timed door keys, Daphne's door key is a combination of timed and trigger-based mechanisms. When the hourglass is turned upside down (black half facing up, white half facing down), the door key will take the holder back to Greengrass Manor after the sand has run out.

"Amazing alchemical artifact." Rice looked at the "portal key" in Daphne's hand with amazement. In their time, there were no such convenient and interesting teleportation devices.

The spatial magic was extremely sophisticated. After examining the hourglass for a moment, Rice came to the conclusion that the wizard who invented the door key could be called a genius.

Daphne placed the hourglass in her palm, gesturing for Rice to place her fingers on it.

As the last grain of sand fell into the bottom of the bottle, Rice felt something hook-like suddenly pull him up from behind his navel, lifting him into the sky at an incredible speed.

He and Daphne spun rapidly like tops, but they weren't thrown off by centrifugal force because his fingertips were firmly stuck to the hourglass.

Rice could feel Daphne being tossed around in the air, their shoulders bumping together from time to time. A dozen seconds later, his feet hit the ground hard.

After taking a few deep breaths to dispel the dizziness in his mind, Rice found himself in a lush valley.

The valley is covered in lush green grass and filled with fruit trees, with a babbling brook flowing through it, bringing a touch of coolness to the sweltering summer days. Upstream from the brook stands a large European-style villa with a predominantly white color scheme.

Rice was quite familiar with this place; this was Greengrass Estate.

"Welcome to the Greengrass family's Summervale. Our family moves here to escape the summer heat."

"So you stay at other estates during the other seasons?"

"Of course!" Daphne said proudly, "The estates we stay at vary depending on the season. For example, the estate in winter has a fantastic hot spring!"

The Greengrass family knows how to enjoy life.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Update delivered, second update coming later.

(End of this chapter)