Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 186 Don't call me teacher at school!

Helena was completely bewildered.

Her brain, frozen in daze, couldn't think straight, so she instinctively asked Rice, "Which mother?"

Rice: ...

Helena's mouth dropped open at the sight of Rice's expression.

"You mean my mother, Rowena?"

Rice nodded.

"But how could this be... I mean, my God!" Helena realized something, rubbed her cheeks with her hands, and then fiddled with her hair. She could hardly believe what Uncle Salazar had said—but the source of the information was Salazar Slytherin after all!

"I told you, she was the one who told me about your escape from Hogwarts with the crown." Rice spread his hands, utterly helpless.

"I thought it was something your mother told you before she passed away."

"Then it won't be Barrow who goes to find you." Rice clearly told Helena that if Ravenclaw really managed to contact him, or revealed the truth to him before he left Hogwarts, then it would definitely be him or another founder who would go to find Helena. If Ravenclaw was willing to go in person, then the three of them would not stop him.

Neither he, nor Godric, nor Helga would allow anyone to take the crown away from the school.

Helena lowered her head.

If it had been Slytherin who set out to find Helena, her fate might have been very different.

"So, is Mother still alive like you?" Compared to vague "what ifs," she was more concerned with more practical questions.

"Of course, but we need to redefine 'living'."

In Rice's view, Ravenclaw is stuck at the critical point between "life" and "death"—closer to the "life" side than to the ghost.

Helena: ?

She couldn't quite understand what Uncle Salazar was saying.

"She's just like you now, but she managed to retain her magical abilities."

After becoming a ghost, Helena felt as if she had lost the emotions of a normal person, but today she realized that it was just her imagination.

"So where is she?" Helena asked anxiously.

Before leaving home, she vowed that she would never return to school until she made something of herself. While wandering around, she also felt lost and didn't know how to face her mother.

But after she became a ghost and wandered the forests of Albania for a while, these emotions gradually faded. In their place came regret; she regretted not being able to see her mother one last time before she died. So, as a ghost, she mustered her courage and returned to Hogwarts, only to learn of a devastating piece of news: the school's founder, the great Lady Ravenclaw, had passed away.

When she learned from Rice that her mother had also become a ghost, the impulse from years ago resurfaced in her heart: she wanted to see her mother one last time.

"She has sealed herself away in the dungeon. If you wish to see her, I can take you there."

"Okay! But..." Helena agreed immediately, but soon hesitated.

The impulse came quickly and went even faster. When the moment arrived, the burning desire in her heart quietly slipped away, taking her courage with it. Because she didn't know if she could gain her mother's forgiveness.

Helena's greatest fear was seeing her mother, only to find that her mother refused to forgive her for being an unfilial and unjust person.

"Think it over carefully. You can come see me when you've made up your mind." Rice wasn't in a hurry to urge her, since he didn't feel that Ravenclaw had any particular desire to see her daughter.

We've waited a thousand years, so waiting a few more days or months won't make a difference, but there are still some things that need to be said.

"You should still go see her. I don't think Rowena really blames you," Rice said after a moment's consideration, adding a few words of goodwill for Ravenclaw: "Even Barrow dared to come see you, don't you even have the courage to see your mother?"

Helena lowered her head.

"I just... need some time to prepare myself. Once I'm ready, I'll definitely come to see you!"

Seeing Helena say this, Rice stopped trying to persuade her and turned to go downstairs. He then saw Barrow, who looked pitiful, at the corner of the stairs.

Rice gave him a look of disappointment.

Some people can win over ghosts; others, after studying together for years and going through nearly a thousand years of life and death, still can't hold hands. I won't say who these people are.

If the total amount of romantic luck of his disciples is ten pounds, then Adrian himself has taken one stone, while the rest of them are in debt for four pounds.

If Adrian had shared even a little of his talent with Barrow, he and Helena wouldn't be in this situation... ugh! Some things are better left unsaid.

Considering Barrow's fragile mentality, Rice decided not to tell him the stories of Helena, Voldemort, and the diadem.

"teacher……"

"Call me Rice at school."

"Yes, teacher." Barrow nodded repeatedly.

Barrow, the Blood Man who is feared throughout the Ghost Realm, is incredibly well-behaved in front of his teacher.

"I'm going back to the lounge now. I had a very fruitful night." Rice walked down the tower on his own. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he seemed to remember something and turned to Barrow, who was frozen in the middle of the stairs, and said, "Oh right, I forgot to tell Helena, could you pass on a message for me? From now on, do as you please at school. I am Rice Lint now."

"Yes." A hint of joy appeared on Barrow's face as he quickly floated up the tower.

Rice sighed heavily: What kind of mess is this!

He then hurried to the auditorium—if he went now, he might be able to snag some dessert.

When Barrow floated to the top of the astronomical tower, he found that Helena was still there.

He was overjoyed and quickly floated behind her, but when he got close, Barrow hesitated, unsure of how to start the conversation.

It was Helena who took the initiative to talk to him, and that's how the two connected online.

"Is there something you need?"

Although Helena's tone remained aloof, she was finally willing to speak to him, marking the most amicable moment in their relationship in nearly a thousand years. This progress invigorated Barrow.

"Um, well, the teacher asked me to tell you that if you see him at school, just call him Les Lint. His exact words were 'Do what you're supposed to do'—" The more nervous Barrow became, the more he stammered.

"Do all Slytherin students really like to rearrange the letters in their names?"

"What?"

"It's nothing." After saying this, Helena fell silent and stared blankly at the night sky, which resembled a deep blue velvet curtain.

Barrow decided not to bother her any longer. He quietly turned around and was about to go downstairs when he heard a voice behind him—

"Come look at the stars with me."

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 second update will be a little later.

Also, I can't be the only one who's seen this Hagrid picture!!!

Note: 1 stone = 14 pounds, 1 pound = 16 ounces. Below ounces are darans and grains, which I'm speechless about. Oh, and there's even larger ones, the hundredweight (1 hundredweight = 112 pounds)...

2. "Good luck with the opposite sex" or "romantic luck" refers to romantic luck in English.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, and I'm sure you all were engrossed in reading novels, right? o(╥﹏╥)o

(End of this chapter)