Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 197 Harry Who Speaks Parsley? Thank Goodness I'm Not the Headmaster Anymore

"Thank you!!!" Ron took his wand from Rice and thanked her sincerely.

His wand at least looked normal. When he first tried to repair it, he couldn't even fix its appearance.

Ron picked up his wand, gave it a gentle shake, and a burst of sparks shot out from the tip.

"It's fixed!" Ron exclaimed in surprise.

Rice: ...

"It's not exactly fixed. You still need to be careful when casting spells, or it will break again if you use too much force," Rice reminded Ron, warning him not to get carried away. In his opinion, Ron's wand was far from being repaired; it was barely usable. In actual combat, it would probably overload and explode after just a few spells.

"Yes, I'll be careful," Ron nodded repeatedly. As for Rice's suggestion to get a new wand whenever he had the chance, he pretended not to hear—where would he get the money to buy a new wand!

Rice could tell what Ron was thinking just by looking at his expression. He sighed inwardly: The Weasley family is a pure-blood family, how did they end up like this?

As for Ron, he's completely inflexible—often, buying things doesn't necessarily require spending money.

"Actually, you don't necessarily have to pay money to buy a wand."

"Huh?" Ron's interest was immediately piqued.

"The key words are 'you' and 'buy'," Rice said, holding up two fingers.

"Wands aren't actually that expensive. If I remember correctly, Mr. Ollivander's wands only cost seven gallons each. Even if the price fluctuates depending on the materials used, it won't deviate too much—I believe your twin brothers can afford it." Seeing that Ron seemed about to say something, Rice waved his hand to stop him. "Of course, there's no such thing as a free lunch. You can borrow from them, and as for the repayment method... you can discuss it further and talk to them more. There are quite a few ways to make money at school; you can also look into that."

Rice glanced at Ron, intending to tell him not to accept Daphne's orders to do homework for all subjects, but considering his level, Rice kept quiet.

Ron nodded thoughtfully, but considering the nature of his twin brothers, he felt it was best to avoid provoking them.

Fred and George have left Ron with psychological trauma.

"What about the second method?"

"Wands don't necessarily have to be bought with money. You can also exchange them for things." Rice spread his hands, showing the oldest form of human trade: barter.

"Mr. Ollivander always needs materials to make wands. You can send him a letter and ask if you can exchange magical creature materials for a new wand."

Ron was dumbfounded: "Where am I supposed to find materials that meet Ollivander's requirements?! Gather them in the Forbidden Forest?"

"It was indeed picked up from the Forbidden Forest, but you can ask Hagrid for it; he has plenty of treasures there—as for how you get the materials from him, that's your problem."

Ron took a deep breath.

Surprisingly, he felt Rice's suggestion was quite plausible. And dealing with Hagrid was far more reliable than making deals with Fred or George.

He needed to carefully consider whether to borrow money from his unreliable brother or try his luck with Hagrid.

As for borrowing money from his brother and not paying it back... that's Fred and George's money! Ron still wants to study at Hogwarts.

"Alright, thanks for finding my wand. It's getting late, I have to head back now. Be careful not to get caught by Filch." After dealing with Ron's wand and giving him a few words of advice, Rice was also eager to return to the lounge.

"Wait a minute." Harry suddenly remembered something and called out to Rice just as he was about to leave.

"Is there something you need?"

"Did you hear any strange noises while you were in the bathroom? I mean... um..."

"What did you hear?" Rice looked completely bewildered, just like Ron's initial reaction.

Harry hesitated for a moment before stammering out that he had heard a very evil-sounding voice, which seemed to be discussing topics such as eating and offerings.

"It certainly doesn't sound like something good is being done." Rice scratched his head. "But it's also possible that the portrait is whispering. Peeves and the ghosts are also suspects."

"Okay, so you didn't hear it either?"

Rice smiled. "Hogwarts is the safest place in the wizarding world, so you can rest assured!"

After comforting Harry, Rice left with the food box.

On his way back to the lounge, Rice squinted: This is getting more and more interesting. Harry Potter is actually a Parseltongue?

The Potters have lived in Godric's Hollow for generations. Rice wouldn't believe that a child born into such a family would be born with Parsleyan speech.

Then it can only be due to acquired factors.

Judging from Harry's appearance, he has never learned Parsley, this "foreign language," and combined with the faint, elusive feeling about Harry... it's really quite interesting!

If his guess is true, then Dumbledore will face a difficult problem!

At this moment, Rice was very glad that he wasn't the current headmaster of Hogwarts, so he could confidently dump some of his troubles on the "taller" people.

After parting ways with Rice, Harry and Ron followed Seamus's directions into the kitchen, where they found a large amount of food.

When the two emerged from the mural, they were both carrying a food box identical to the one Rice had used.

"I've never seen these dishes on the table before!" Ron thought to himself that he had opened the door to a new world.

"Hmm." Harry nodded, looking preoccupied.

Ron didn't notice Harry's change in mood; his attention was completely drawn to the food in the lunchbox.

"Something's not right." Harry stopped in his tracks, his brow furrowed, finally grasping the anomaly in his mind.

"Is something wrong? Is it Filch?" Ron became nervous and looked around.

He didn't want to be locked up.

“It’s Rice.” Harry turned to Ron. “Do you think Rice is the kind of person who would drop his wand?”

Ron's eyes widened: "Indeed... but he might make mistakes sometimes too."

"He never answered my question directly; he didn't say for sure that he didn't hear the sound."

"Did you tell me?" Ron frowned. "I don't remember very clearly. You're overthinking it. To me, you're just hallucinating from hunger. It's a common symptom, and a sandwich will do the trick."

Harry fell silent.

Ron's point was valid, but he still stuck to his own judgment.

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 second update is here!

The next update will be at midnight tonight~

(End of this chapter)