Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 173 Rice, you're nothing but a member of the Greengrass family—(Happy New Year's Eve!)

"Les Lint, how much did Greengrass pay you to be her house-elf?" a gruff, glib voice rang out.

Daphne knew it was Malfoy from the sound alone. Her expression immediately darkened: Malfoy knew something he shouldn't have. More importantly, judging from his tone, he would likely bring it up every time he saw Rhys.

To be honest, his actions weren't a big deal, and Rice wouldn't really punish him severely for it, but he just didn't want Rice to know.

Astoria's expression was quite amusing. She first chuckled, then quickly hid her emotions so her sister wouldn't notice.

She was just worried about not having a suitable person to take the blame, and then Malfoy stepped in himself. How considerate of her!

Malfoy looked at Rice, his words mocking him, but in reality, he was somewhat envious of Rice. He envied Rice's ability to be so close and inseparable from Daphne, which made him jealous.

What would he do if Daphne ordered him to massage her back? The thought flashed through Malfoy's mind, but he dared not seriously consider the answer.

But that didn't stop him from making sarcastic remarks about Rice.

After Malfoy spoke, Rice stopped what he was doing, turned his head and looked at him calmly.

Malfoy was quite annoyed by Rice's gaze: he wanted to step forward and tear Rice's dirty claws off Daphne, but the bad memories left by the several conflicts he had with Rice in his first year made him hesitant to make any rash moves.

"Draco—" Daphne was about to say something when Rice interrupted her.

"It didn't cost any money."

"What?"

"Daphne didn't pay me to be her house-elf; she just asked me to give her a back massage, so I did. A back massage can relax muscles, relieve fatigue, accelerate blood flow, and is also good for the circulation of magic."

Daphne: ...

Malfoy: ? ? ?

Why is Rice actually answering my question? Can't he tell that I'm provoking him? Or is he just pretending to be nonchalant?

The imposter Rhys genuinely couldn't tell. Given the hasty turn of events, it was already quite remarkable that Rhys and Ravenclaw had managed to create an imposter with this level of intelligence; they certainly didn't have the time or inclination to add the ability to discern others' emotions. Therefore, the imposter was truly answering Malfoy's question earnestly.

"If she tells you to massage her back, you'll massage her back. So if she tells you to kneel down and lick her feet, you'll do the same?" Malfoy raised an eyebrow, continuing his provocation. However, after saying this, he also slightly distanced himself from Rice to avoid Rice suddenly attacking him.

"If Daphne has a valid reason, then yes, it is permissible." Rice answered Malfoy's question with a serious expression.

The three people present fell silent.

After a moment, Daphne was the first to react. She clenched her fist and waved it in front of Malfoy: "Draco, if you say another word, I guarantee your nose will burst open!!!"

To be fair, although Daphne was angry, her pleasant voice and adorable appearance significantly reduced the intimidating power of her threat. Nevertheless, faced with Daphne like this, Malfoy obediently turned and left.

He knew very well that Daphne was like a black-footed cat on the African savanna—a cute exterior concealing an extremely deadly nature—and that he had better take her words to heart.

Anyway, I can just mock Rice later, but I still need to remember to keep my distance from him.

But just as Malfoy was about to turn and leave, Daphne suddenly drew her wand and whispered to him, "Forget everything!"

Malfoy froze, then his eyes became unfocused.

Daphne's forgetting spell has taken effect.

"Did Rice teach you this spell?" Astoria asked in astonishment. She was completely unaware that her sister had the Forgetfulness Charm, which was quite unexpected.

Daphne glanced at her, smiled, and didn't reply.

Rice hadn't taught her how to use the Oblivion Spell; it was a spell she had taught herself, and today was the first time she had used it on a real person.

Astoria: ...

"Sister, you wouldn't—" She had a very bad feeling about it.

Daphne flashed a sweet smile—at this moment, all she had to do was smile.

"He might become an idiot because of this!" Astoria was really getting anxious. Unlike other evil curses, the Forgetting Curse directly manipulates a person's memories, making recovery extremely difficult. Some wizards who are proficient in the Forgetting Curse can even make the modified memories completely irrecoverable.

Daphne's act of casting spells on real people after learning the spells on her own can be described as extremely bold.

"So what? He's an idiot anyway." Daphne didn't care about the consequences at all. In her view, what happened to Malfoy was none of her business. If something really happened in the future and old Malfoy wanted to arrest her, she could simply hide in the secret room. What Rice taught was far more practical than what the professors taught.

After giving her sister a very firm reply, Daphne said to Malfoy, who was standing there dumbfounded, "Hey, Draco, what brings you here?"

When his name was called, Malfoy's unfocused pupils gradually regained focus, and then he scratched the back of his head: "Uh, I was planning to go have breakfast. Daphne, do you want to come with me?"

"Of course not, I'm eating in the lounge today." After confirming that Malfoy hadn't gone mad, Daphne gestured for her sister to sit next to her and have breakfast with her.

Having been rebuffed, Malfoy felt embarrassed and turned to leave.

Daphne winked at her sister, then took a slightly cold sausage from the table and slowly began to enjoy it.

Astoria sighed, picked up the Daily Prophet that her sister had put aside, and began to read today's news.

Opening the newspaper, the front page headline reported on the "experiment of the century" that took place yesterday on the school's Quidditch pitch. The editor of the Daily Prophet was very optimistic, saying that "wolfism will become history," and also mentioned Professor Lockhart's actual performance.

Presumably, Lockhart's reputation would collapse along with the publication of the newspaper—in fact, Lockhart's resignation was published in an inconspicuous corner of the newspaper.

According to him, his "health condition deteriorated," which forced him to resign from his position as Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Lockhart's departure didn't surprise Astoria too much; it was the second news article that piqued her interest—[Dumbledore Burns Dark Wizard, Suspect Currently in Stable Condition]

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.

This is the second update. The next update will be next year (I'm sure of it). Happy Lunar New Year's Eve everyone!

Enter the funny picture: Hermione from The Godfather

Thinking about it carefully, the caster of the Forgetfulness Curse should be able to undo it, because although Slughorn altered his memories, he eventually handed over his true memories after being persuaded by Harry. Lockhart's hospitalization is very likely because he also forgot how to undo the Forgetfulness Curse.

(End of this chapter)