Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 14: Do we no longer need to bring our own armor when enrolling?

Since graduating from Hogwarts, Rupert has never lived such a comfortable life.

Every morning after waking up, she no longer had to worry about food for the day as before. Rice covered both of their living expenses, and the money in her purse seemed inexhaustible, which took her several days to get used to.

Eating whenever she wanted, sleeping whenever she wanted, and moving around anywhere in Diagon Alley with Deleigh's permission—this was a life that Rupert could never have imagined before. She even had time to visit all the shops in Diagon Alley that she hadn't bothered to explore during her student days.

As for her master, Rice, aside from occasionally going shopping with her in the shops of Diagon Alley, he rarely left Florin Fosco Ice Cream Shop—a shop in Diagon Alley that sold ice cream and cold drinks, owned by a quirky little old man with extensive knowledge of all aspects of the Middle Ages.

Rice's favorite thing to do was to take a few books, order a sweet cold drink, and sit under the parasol outside Florin's ice cream shop. Every half hour, he would order a box of ice cream and chat with the owner, Florin, about medieval matters.

Most of the time, Rice would explain things to Florin, but there were times when he was left speechless by Florin's arguments. At those times, Rice would shut his mouth and look down at his book, while Florin would laugh and give him a milk-flavored ice cream.

He only returned to the Leaky Cauldron when it was time to eat or when the ice cream shop closed.

Of course, Sergi didn't give up his "career" either. He had Lupe select several newspapers, summarize the news in them every day, and then send them to a specific address via owl mail.

There was still no news from the "yearbook," but Rice wasn't in a hurry. He had plenty of time to wait for the fish to take the bait.

Days passed by, and Rice's understanding of the modern world deepened. He learned a great deal from books, among which the most discussed topic was Harry Potter, the "boy who lived."

"Judging by the dates, that boy is coming to Hogwarts soon."

Which boy?

"Who else could it be but Harry Potter, the boy who survived!"

Such conversations echoed in Rice's ears several times a day. In his memory, even when he and his three old friends were at the height of their fame, they were not "widely known" to this extent.

Who exactly is Harry Potter?

Rice's confusion was soon resolved when he read books published in recent years—such as "A History of Modern Magic," "The Rise and Fall of Dark Magic," and "Important Magical Events of the Twentieth Century"—in which the name Harry Potter was frequently mentioned.

From these books, Rice also learned what this savior had done—he defeated a demon king.

Rice was somewhat surprised by this. It was common for heroes to defeat demon kings; the four of them had been one of them back then. But for an infant still in swaddling clothes to defeat a demon king at the height of his power was unprecedented in a thousand years.

Rice was determined to meet this "boy who survived a great calamity" if given the chance.

"The vanilla ice cream is here." Florin placed a large box of ice cream on Rice's table.

"Thank you!" Rice placed the book in front of him and began to enjoy the ice cream that was steaming.

As he ate his ice cream, the pages of the book in front of him slowly began to turn on their own.

"Why don't you try some other flavors? Strawberry and mango ice cream have been selling really well lately." Seeing Rice enjoying his ice cream, Florin couldn't help but recommend his other flavors.

Rice shook his head. He had tried all the flavors of ice cream from the Florin family, but only the fresh milk, yogurt, and vanilla flavors suited his taste best.

Suddenly, a shadow fell in front of Rice, knocking over the book that was standing there.

The uninvited guest was a barn owl, carrying a letter in its sharp beak.

After delivering the letter, the owl, as if it had completed its mission, flapped its wings and flew away.

Rice knew without looking that the envelope contained an acceptance letter to Hogwarts. He broke the sealing wax and took out two parchments: the first was an acceptance letter written by Vice-Headmistress Professor Minerva McGonagall, and the second was a list of required textbooks and supplies.

Looking at the letter in my hand, distant memories gradually surfaced in my mind.

"Is it really necessary to be so formal?" Godric Gryffindor looked at Hufflepuff, who was hunched over his desk writing furiously, with a look of utter astonishment on his face.

"Of course! They are my students!" Hufflepuff replied matter-of-factly.

"But they're already studying in the castle! Rowena, Salazar, tell me, is this really necessary?" Gryffindor couldn't understand Hufflepuff's behavior at all. Why would they write acceptance letters to students who were already enrolled?

"A sense of ceremony, a sense of ceremony!" Ravenclaw waved his hand, indicating that Gryffindor should at least make it a little more formal. The four of us are going to establish the best magic school in all of Britain, don't make it like those makeshift troupes.

After being snubbed by Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, Gryffindor couldn't help but look to his good friend Slytherin, hoping to hear some kind words from him.

Salazar Slytherin stroked his beard: "That was a bit stupid..."

"Right, right!" Gryffindor's eyes lit up: It has to be an old friend, someone who's on his side when they're arguing.

"I've chosen to let the quill write the letter itself, you see," Slytherin showed his friend the automatic writing quill he had developed a few days earlier.

[Dear Miss Greengrass:]

We are pleased to inform you that you have been admitted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Enclosed is a list of required books and equipment.

The three Ravenclaws looked on in astonishment as they watched the quill pen moving across the parchment.

You can play like this?!

We all honestly handwritten our acceptance letters, but you used magic to be lazy?

Although they said the written acceptance letters lacked sincerity, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff still secretly chose to ask Slytherin for an automatic writing quill—writing an acceptance letter for each student was simply too much work.

The letters were written and then delivered to the students' homes by owls kept on campus.

Thanks to the insistence of the four founders, this practice became a Hogwarts tradition, and eventually every child born in the British Isles with magical talent would receive an acceptance letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at the age of eleven.

……

After completing her intelligence-gathering mission for the day, Lupert arrived at the Florin Ice Cream Shop with a pudding in hand. There she found the owner intently staring at a piece of parchment, muttering to himself—

"Huh? We don't need to bring our own armor and longswords to school anymore?"

Lupert: ? ? ?

(End of this chapter)