Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 174 Rice: Daphne, you're a true Gryffindor! (Happy New Year!)

The Daily Prophet's second edition reported that Dumbledore used an "extremely powerful" spell to burn several treacherous dark wizards to ashes the previous night. The fire reportedly burned for fifteen minutes, and countless visitors witnessed Dumbledore carrying out the burning.

Such methods naturally drew criticism, but there were also many who supported Dumbledore. After all, these people were attempting to infiltrate Hogwarts, and no one could say for sure what their true intentions were.

As Astoria read the newspaper, Daphne was also watching her. She was considering whether to erase her sister's memory, because the more people who knew, the greater the risk.

But after a moment's thought, she abandoned the idea. Astoria was, after all, her sister, and her own affairs weren't really a significant secret; why should she harm her sister for that?

Her sister and Malfoy held different weight in her heart.

Astoria was completely oblivious, simply sitting to the side watching the news with great interest, occasionally complaining to her sister about the overestimation of these dark wizards' abilities.

Then she suddenly realized something.

"Sister, why did Rice leave? Was it because of these dark wizards?"

Daphne pursed her lips: This little white-haired girl has a pretty keen sense of things!

"So what if he is, so what if he isn't? His whereabouts are none of your business."

Upon hearing her sister's answer, Astoria's cheeks puffed up immediately. Her sister's answer almost explicitly implied that Rice's departure was related to the dark wizards invading the school, but that this matter had nothing to do with Astoria.

"But I also learned magic from Rice, so I have the right to know his whereabouts! Maybe I can be of some help?" Astoria argued.

Seeing her sister's exasperated expression, Daphne instantly felt a surge of joy. A sense of superiority filled her, completely forgetting that she too had initially been kept in the dark by Rais. If she hadn't been so observant and hadn't exposed the imposter, she would be no different from Astoria at this moment.

A smile crept across Daphne's lips as she said to Astoria, "This isn't something you should know. I've got Rice covered for him. I'm the person he trusts most; otherwise, why would I be in control of the avatar?"

Astoria's face visibly flushed red.

"Alright, it's getting late, I have to go to class. Rice, it's time to go." After getting her fill of superiority from her sister, Daphne stood up from the armchair and went to class with her fake self.

Daphne was initially worried that the fake Rice might be exposed during class, but the fake Rice's abilities exceeded her expectations. He could cast simple spells on his own, and perhaps more complex problems would require Daphne to take control, but after a day of classes, they did not encounter any problems that the fake Rice deemed "complex".

After Daphne finished her dinner, she and her avatar went into the library. The two "people" had barely sat down when Rice appeared, plopping down next to Daphne and letting out a long sigh of relief.

Although the three bases controlled by Vigo were all located in North Africa, they were still quite far apart. Besides the base in Egypt, the other two were located near the Persian Gulf and the Atlantic Ocean, respectively, thousands of kilometers apart. Rice also had to eliminate the informants who maintained one-way communication with Vigo. This whole ordeal was taking its toll even on Rice.

"You're back? So soon?!" Daphne was quite surprised, and at the same time a little flustered: what she did this morning shouldn't have been exposed, right? Astoria wasn't there, and Malfoy's memory had been erased... Hmm, there shouldn't be any problems!

Daphne regained her confidence.

Rice glanced at Daphne, but did nothing else. Instead, he changed the face of the fake person sitting opposite him to prevent others from seeing two Rices.

"How was your trip?" Daphne couldn't wait to know what Rice had done.

"We destroyed three hideouts and uncovered a large number of informants, but we didn't get much valuable intelligence." Rice didn't hide much from Daphne about this. First, he felt the young girl should know some information about the Secret Order—contact and combat were too early, but it was never too early to learn about them. Second, he sensed Ravenclaw's arrival and decided to tell her here rather than have to go back to the dungeon to explain it again.

"The only thing of value is this, which is related to the whereabouts of Helga Hufflepuff, one of the four founders." Rice took out the small bronze cup.

As soon as she spoke, Rice sensed Ravenclaw's urgency. Her figure emerged from the bookshelf behind Daphne, her eyes fixed on the bronze cup on the table. Daphne, completely absorbed in the wondrous little cup before her, didn't even notice Ravenclaw's appearance.

It's clear that Ravenclaw is very concerned about the whereabouts of his old friend, and Daphne is also extremely curious about this founder whose whereabouts are unknown.

"Unfortunately, it's a very indirect clue... All I know is that she visited the tomb of a pharaoh." As soon as Rice finished speaking, Ravenclaw disappeared.

She also understood that this level of intelligence could only serve as comfort at best, and it was almost impossible to find Hufflepuff's whereabouts based on it.

"So this cup can really turn water into wine?" The function of the copper cup reminded Daphne of a person who was quite well-known among Muggles.

"It used to work, but it's broken now." Rice demonstrated for Daphne, showing how the clear spring water turned into a sour, black liquid after circulating in it.

Even the damaged bronze cup still aroused Daphne's great interest. She picked up the cup and examined it from all angles.

"By the way, did you know that the avatar has a 'rewind' function?" Looking at Daphne, who was completely absorbed in the bronze cup, Rice casually introduced the hidden function of the avatar to Daphne.

"Huh?!" Daphne's smile vanished, and she was so shocked she almost jumped up.

According to the law of conservation of smiles, the smile on Daphne's face was transferred to Rice's face.

"It seems you don't know. Come on, let me demonstrate for you?" Rice stood up, walked to the mannequin, and put his hand on its shoulder.

"No, no..." Daphne shook her head weakly, but she didn't know what reason to give to stop Rice.

Daphne's behavior practically screamed "I have a problem," which made Rice curious about what Daphne had done to her fake body.

So he simply and decisively used the backtracking function.

"Rice, bring me breakfast."

"Rice, feed me breakfast."

"Rice,..."

A series of commands came out of the fake body, leaving Rice silent for a long time.

"Daphne, you are a true Gryffindor!"

Finally, Rice let out a heartfelt exclamation.

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! The next update will be tonight~

Happy New Year to everyone!

Here's a picture of Grindelwald when he was young.

(End of this chapter)