Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 139 Ms. Spitter

The four founders of Hogwarts each had their own private classroom and enjoyed absolute control over it. They would set up their own classrooms with magic in their own style and impart more advanced magical knowledge to the students they chose.

Ravenclaw is no exception; her private classroom, which resembles a study room, helps her select "secret apprentices" who meet her requirements. The selection criteria are simple: spend enough time in the library or borrow enough books in a year.

Although the requirements are not complicated, Ravenclaw found that there were not many wizards who met the requirements when they returned to their private classroom after a thousand years. The list of names barely exceeded three digits in the past thousand years, and in the last twenty years, there has only been Hermione Granger.

Fortunately, Hermione hadn't graduated yet, so when she stepped into the library, Ravenclaw approached her.

Her eagerness was partly due to Rice. After he showed Daphne off to Ravenclaw, Ravenclaw decided to take on a new student—Salarchar had a new student, and they couldn't fall behind!

However, she wasn't indiscriminate in her choice of apprentice, so before accepting Hermione as a "Chamber of Secrets apprentice," she planned to assess Hermione's abilities. If Hermione could pass her test, then the young woman would be eligible for Ravenclaw's training.

After asking a few questions, Hermione's answers satisfied Ravenclaw: she loved reading, had excellent grades, and was a Ravenclaw student—this was important. Ravenclaw was a little nervous when she asked this question. Although students who met her criteria were most likely from Ravenclaw, there was always the possibility of an exception, wasn't there?

People are complex, and sometimes several houses might be a good fit for a young wizard. For example, a brave, intelligent, and ambitious pure-blood wizard might simultaneously meet the admission criteria for Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. In such cases, the young wizard's own opinion is crucial. If, before the Sorting Ceremony, the young wizard hears biased advice and develops prejudices against other houses, the outcome could be unpredictable.

According to the rules established back then, because the "Chamber of Secrets Apprenticeship" involves succession issues, the four founders could only recruit talented students from their own houses. If Hermione were a student from another house, Ravenclaw would have to reluctantly give her up; it was a matter of principle.

If it were just her alone, it wouldn't be so bad, Salazar is still alive! If she really broke the rules, she wouldn't have the face to see that Slytherin guy.

Fortunately, Hermione is from Ravenclaw, so Ravenclaw has nothing to worry about now.

After making the decision, Ravenclaw continued chatting with Hermione.

"Speaking of which, I haven't even introduced myself yet. My name is Raven Spitter." Like Rice, Ravenclaw also chose an alias.

Unlike Rice, Ravenclaw felt it was unnecessary. What good would revealing his true identity to the young girl do, other than letting her go around bragging about being a Ravenclaw student? It would only bring endless trouble. Therefore, it was better to deny being a Ravenclaw from the root.

"Is it the split Raven, or the Raven?" Hermione was a little confused.

"There's no point in worrying about names. If you're unsure, just call me Ms. Spite." Ravenclaw didn't directly answer Hermione's question.

"Okay." Hermione nodded, remembering the name of the elusive professor.

The only thing that bothered her was why she had never seen this professor before at school.

"By the way, you're in second grade now, right? What spells have you learned?"

After Hermione finished listing the spells she knew, Ravenclaw smiled slightly: "Do you know why you can cast these spells?"

Hermione: ?

She had hardly thought about this question.

"Because I recited the spell correctly and used the right hand gestures?" she asked tentatively.

Yes, but not entirely.

Next, Ms. Spitter opened a new door for the young witch Hermione, leading her to peek behind it at the stunning scenery known as "The Flow of Magic."

"So that's how it is." Hermione felt she had gained a new understanding of spells and magic.

"These are some notes about the flow of magic. Take them back and study them first, and you can start practicing. If you have any questions, I'll be back here next Monday. Just come find me at the library—this is my personal collection, so please don't share it with anyone else."

Before she finished speaking, an antique-looking key and a roll of yellowed parchment appeared on the table.

"If you can't find a suitable place to practice, go to the room next door. This is the key to get in here." Ravenclaw had even found a place for Hermione to practice.

"Thank you!" Hermione exclaimed, clutching both items to her chest.

At this point, Ravenclaw had nothing more to say, and she waved to Hermione that she could leave.

"There's one last thing." But just as Hermione was about to leave, Ravenclaw called her back.

"Although you had your reasons for doing this, you still violated school rules."

Upon hearing this, Hermione's heart sank to the bottom: In the end, I'm still going to be punished?

"You're going to be punished, and the specifics of the punishment... Find me some books. I need to read 'A History of Magic,' 'Hogwarts: A History of the School,' 'Selected Eighteenth-Century Spells,' 'Important Magical Events of the Twentieth Century,' 'Major Discoveries in Modern Magic,' and 'Studies in the Development of Modern Wizardry.' Bring these books to this study room, and that will be my punishment for you." Ravenclaw rattled off a long list of books like reciting a menu.

These were books she had noticed while browsing the library, which would give her a general impression of the development of the magical world over the past thousand years. Unfortunately, Ravenclaw was currently just a very realistic phantom and couldn't touch these books at all—only in her private classroom could she manipulate magic circles to make the pages turn automatically. The general arrangement was a book floating in mid-air, its pages turning automatically, with Ravenclaw standing in front of it, browsing its contents. Therefore, she needed Hermione to bring the book in for her.

"That's all?" Hermione couldn't help but blurt out.

Ravenclaw raised an eyebrow: "If you think the punishment is too lenient—"

"No, no! I'll go get you the books right away." Hermione dashed out and returned a few minutes later carrying a large stack of books.

After placing the book on the table in the study room, Hermione said a proper goodbye to Ms. Spitter and then left the study room, which she had never paid attention to before.

Back in the common room of Ravenclaw House, upon seeing the statue of the house's founder, Madam Ravenclaw, she finally found the source of that familiarity: Madam Spear and Madam Ravenclaw had very similar temperaments, although their appearances were quite different.

Perhaps this is what all clever witches have in common! Hermione didn't take any of this to heart, and just hurriedly went back to look at the notes that Ms. Spitter had collected.

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. Goodnight everyone, we all have to go to work or school on Monday—next update at the usual time.

For Ravenclaw's alias, I use Raven Spirit.

Because "raven" and "riven" sound the same, the Chinese name can also be "瑞文·斯派特" (Ruven Spite).

(By the way, a little-known fact: in the Taiwanese translation, Gryffindor is called "Granfendor" and Hufflepuff is called "Hufflepuff"—which is closer to the original pronunciation.)

Ravenclaw is Ravenclaw, and Slytherin is Slytherin. This is... emmm

Of course, when it comes to genius translators, it has to be my swagger, Malfoy.

(End of this chapter)