Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 198 You must have the courage to call him Voldemort.

Upon entering the Slytherin common room and seeing those two silver figures in the corner, Rice had a feeling of "I knew it."

Honestly, he would have found it strange if the Greengrass sisters hadn't been waiting for him there.

"I hope you have a good time at the anniversary party." Rice sat down opposite them and placed the food box on the table.

"The fact that you can say something like that means you barely stayed at the party," Daphne couldn't help but retort.

Her sister agreed with her.

"That was absolutely the worst party I've ever seen."

"But for the undead, it was done quite well," Leslie said, speaking a fair word for poor Nick.

Daphne and Astoria both laughed: The anniversary party was indeed a great success, the only downside being that Sir Nicholas was a bit too noisy, which affected everyone's viewing of the Headless Hunters' performance.

"Oh right, the food you asked us to pack should still be warm, eat up!" Daphne remembered something and quickly pulled a lunchbox from under the table.

Rice was somewhat surprised: he thought they had already finished eating everything inside, but he didn't expect them to have left some for him.

He was somewhat happy.

Some fools would eat all the food, then wait until the teacher got hungry before rushing off to hunt in the forbidden forest.

"I also took a few dishes from the kitchen." Since Daphne and the others were so generous, Rice wouldn't eat alone.

He opened the food box and took out all the main dishes inside.

"Wow!"

"It smells so good!"

Daphne and Astoria were immediately captivated.

The three dishes were so exquisite that they rivaled a family dinner, and the two girls, who were starving, couldn't resist their allure.

"Eat up, these are all for you." Rice said, as she conjured up three sets of tableware.

After Rice spoke, Daphne and the others didn't stand on ceremony and quickly devoured the food on their plates with knives and forks.

"So what did you and Blood Man Barrow talk about?" Daphne asked Rice after swallowing a piece of sheep's tongue.

"Some old stories. Barrow was one of the first ghosts to 'move in' after Hogwarts was founded. He's practically a living fossil. You can get a lot of interesting information from him."

Daphne seemed lost in thought.

Rice secretly rejoiced: with today's story as a foundation, he could use Barrow as a shield when he did science popularization in the future!

What letter from an ancient wizard? I clearly heard it from the Blood Man Barrow!

Thinking about it that way, Rice was actually quite happy.

While chewing on the delicious veal, Rice glanced at Astoria.

The little girl was using her fork to pick out olives from the side dishes and put them on her plate. Feeling Rice's gaze, Astoria blushed slightly, then moved an olive from her plate to Rice's.

Rice: ...

I really didn't want your olives!

"How have you been lately?" Rice inquired about Astoria's health.

"Fortunately, I've been taking the potions on time, and now I can get a good night's sleep." Astoria spoke with a poignant ease when talking about her illness.

"Good sleep quality is a good sign." Rice nodded, extremely satisfied with the effects of his potion.

Seeing that the two were discussing treatment, Daphne put down her knife and fork and wiped the food juice from the corner of her mouth with a napkin.

"What's wrong? Are you preparing a new potion?" Daphne stared at Rice, her eyes fixed on him.

"Yes, we found a precious medicinal herb today." Rice didn't hide it from the two of them, but immediately told Daphne and Astoria the good news.

The Riddle in the diary had been weakened to the extreme, making him perfect for absorbing the "contamination" from Astoria's soul.

Rice was extremely cautious about Horcruxes used by dark wizards. He himself wasn't afraid, but he had to be extremely careful if Astoria were to use them.

If the Horcrux were used to absorb the curse within Astoria's soul, she and Voldemort's souls could merge unintentionally, and Voldemort would gradually take over and dominate the body—ultimately leading to Astoria's tragic end, just like Quirrell's.

Rice guessed that Quirrell probably didn't initially intend to revive Voldemort. He wasn't a Death Eater, so why would he revive Voldemort? He just wanted to squeeze some benefits out of Voldemort, but ended up getting burned and gradually becoming Voldemort's "vessel".

"How do you plan to treat me?" Astoria asked curiously, her big eyes wide.

"It's like this..." Rice explained the general principle.

It's a bit like putting activated carbon in sewage to absorb dirt.

"So you are—?" Daphne had a vague guess: Rice must have gotten his hands on a fragment of a soul?

"Yes."

"Isn't this too cruel..." Astoria felt a pang of guilt at the thought of an innocent soul being corrupted by her.

"Huh?!" Rice noticed that the two little girls seemed to know nothing about Horcruxes, so he took the initiative to explain to them what Horcruxes were.

"Then... whose Horcrux is this?" After hearing Rice's introduction to the Horcrux, Daphne immediately realized that his experience tonight was much more than just "chatting with Barrow for a few minutes".

"His name was Tom Riddle, and he called himself Voldemort."

"puff!"

"laugh!"

Daphne and Astoria simultaneously spat out the food in their mouths.

"What's wrong?" Rice didn't quite understand their reaction.

"That's the Horcrux of the mysterious man—my God, doesn't that mean he's really still alive!" Astoria, belatedly realizing this, covered her mouth and got goosebumps all over.

He's going to use this mysterious person to make medicine?! That's insane!!!

"You guys seem really afraid of him?" Rice raised an eyebrow.

"Of course, that's a mysterious person!" Astoria was much more excited than Daphne, because she was the one who needed to take the medicine.

"A mysterious person?" Rice smiled dismissively.

He had noticed while reading that the modern magical world didn't like to call Voldemort by his real name, but preferred to call him Mysterious.

Rice had initially thought this guy was something special, but after actually fighting him, he was greatly disappointed: he was just an ordinary dark wizard! Quite suitable for use as medicine.

"I hope you two will call him by his name from now on—Voldemort. He's not a big deal, there's no need to be afraid of him. I reckon that if all goes well, your sister will be able to take on Voldemort one-on-one by the time she graduates."

Astoria and Daphne both widened their eyes in surprise.

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.

First update delivered, second update coming soon~

(End of this chapter)