Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 194 Thank you, Riddle!

Riddle was completely bewildered: this person claimed to be a Slytherin! And judging from his demeanor, the truth of his claim seemed highly plausible!

So, this little wizard named Rice might actually be his ancestor?

Considering the benefits of recognizing Rice as his ancestor, and the fact that he was no match for him, Riddle made his decision in less than a second.

"Ancestors above! Your junior pays you the highest respect. You are a living legend, and the blood that flows in my veins is my eternal pride." Riddle greeted Rice with utmost seriousness and solemnity, as if in an ode.

"I, Tom Marvolo Gaunt, have offended you with my arrogance and ignorance. Please punish me for my sins, great ancestors!" Tom's tone was extremely sincere, as if he truly wanted to be punished by Rice.

Rice: ...

"That's enough," Rice's face contorted upon hearing the surname Gaunt. "Gaunt is my adopted son; you don't have my blood in your veins."

"Whatever your punishment may be, I feel only gratitude, because I am finally—" Riddle's words trailed off.

The impact of Rice's words on him was stronger than that of a thousand Explosive Charms. Slytherin himself had vouched for it; what was there to deny? Now, all that flowed in his veins was the filthy blood of a Muggle and the blood of a thief and a liar.

However, Riddle quickly found the best way to cope. His face turned sorrowful, and his voice trembled with tears: "Great Slytherin, you may not know, but I grew up in an orphanage..."

Riddle used concise language to describe Rice's childhood in the orphanage.

Orphanages in the 30s were far from benevolent places. Due to the war, orphanages were overcrowded, while government funding was scarce. The children lived in harsh conditions and lacked sufficient attention and care; it was a world where the strong preyed on the weak.

"The orphans' ultimate goal is to be adopted. Whenever a family willing to adopt an orphan comes to the orphanage, the children are as excited as pet dogs in a pet store, showing themselves off with great enthusiasm." Riddle said this with indignation: "Me too, and I put in a lot of effort for it, but a small rumor was enough to make all of it go down the drain."

“He can talk to snakes,” Riddle said in a childish, high-pitched voice. “If those damned brats ‘inadvertently’ mention it to adoptive parents, it will wipe out all my good points—no family would want a child who could possibly talk to snakes.”

After describing his difficult childhood, Riddle changed the subject: "My first sixteen years were dark, but after meeting you, I finally had family again! You, great Slytherin, are the father of all Slytherin students! I, Tom Gaunt, finally have a father! Please let me be your adopted son, and from now on your commands will be everything in my life—"

When he got emotional, Riddle even shed tears.

Rice interrupted Riddle's performance, kindly reminding him that he had a father, that Muggle named Riddle.

Tom Riddle: ...

What he hates most is the Muggle blood that comes from his father.

He wanted to say something more, but Rice was no longer willing to waste time on him. After several exchanges, Rice saw through Riddle's true nature.

Consistent with his initial conclusion, Riddle was a beast in human skin, and language was a weapon to him.

"I shared the secrets of dissociation magic with you before, and now I'll give you another lesson—" Rice stretched his upper body, twisted his neck, and his joints cracked a few times.

"—That means using soul-level magic with caution, especially when you're unsure of your opponent's level."

He loosened his control over his soul.

Riddle had a bad feeling halfway through Rice's sentence, and what happened next proved his premonition: the ground of the flower field was originally dry sand and gravel, but now a lot of water was seeping out from the gaps in the sand and gravel, and the surrounding air began to become humid, with a watery smell everywhere.

Riddle subconsciously wiped the dew that had appeared on his forehead, and then he noticed some fine scales emerging from his palms.

"What...?!" He looked toward where Rice was standing and saw that Rice's body was also undergoing drastic changes. The scales on his body bulged and deflated repeatedly. After several repetitions, green venomous snakes crawled out of his body and soon his lower body was completely covered by these slippery snakes.

These snakes rolled and intertwined, forming a "tail" below Rice's waist. At first glance, it looked exactly like a green snake tail that was several meters long.

His upper body calmed down, but all his scales turned silver, and his face became more like a snake.

Seeing that Riddle was staring at him, Rice grinned.

"Don't look at things you shouldn't see..." A somewhat hoarse voice rang in his ear.

Riddle felt as if thousands of needles had pierced his entire body. He let out a painful scream, then swelled up rapidly like a ball before exploding into pieces with a "bang".

Most of Riddle's soul turned into specks of light, floating in the air, with only a thin wisp of light drifting towards the sky.

Rice did not stop him, letting him disappear into the air.

Riddle has already given back all the benefits he squeezed out of Ginny, and even lost a lot of his own resources. It's time to put him back in the diary.

If he continued to harm him, Rice was genuinely afraid that he might accidentally destroy the Horcrux—it still had a very important role to play, and he couldn't afford to break it.

I can't find a second Horcrux!

Rice was very grateful to Riddle, who contributed a lot of valuable "material" to him and provided the best treatment plan for Ravenclaw and Astoria's illness.

Rice returned to its original state, and the ground of the flower field dried up, as if the water had never existed.

A drop of water fell onto the field, followed by a second, a third...

Rain fell from the sky, mingling with the dappled sunlight floating in the air, and settled in the fields, nourishing the parched sand and gravel.

Rice waited in the sea of ​​flowers until the rain stopped. By then, the land had turned back into fertile black soil, and the withered dandelions had disappeared, replaced by densely packed tender shoots that had just broken through the soil.

"The dandelion field will definitely reappear, but it may take a few days." After confirming that Ginny's soul world had recovered, Rice also withdrew from her soul world.

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.

The first update is here, the second update will be coming soon.

(End of this chapter)