Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 212 Luckily, she wasn't from an orphanage.

Amidst laughter and cheers, the three returned to Hogwarts Castle.

Rice led Daphne and Astoria straight to the secret chamber. After instructing them not to look directly at the basilisk, he summoned it.

"Here, this should be enough for you to eat." Rice placed the corpses of three eight-eyed giant spiders in front of the basilisk.

When a spider dies, its legs will instinctively curl up together, making it appear less large and making it easier for the basilisk to swallow it.

The basilisk had its eyes closed, its forked tongue flicking in and out, clearly sensing the spider's scent. It opened its mouth wide and swallowed the three spiders one by one.

"This is the Serpent King..." Astoria stared at the serpent monster as it ate, her eyes wide with awe.

What a powerful and beautiful creature it was! Astoria felt her soul tremble, and she couldn't help but place her hand on the basilisk's back.

The area my hand touched was ice-cold.

The basilisk noticed Astoria's little tricks, but out of consideration for the spiders its master had brought, it tacitly approved of Astoria's behavior.

Before long, it swallowed the three large spiders whole, and the snake king's abdomen swelled up with three large bulges.

Daphne frowned as she looked at the bulging snake king in front of her: this scene was really a bit creepy—if it could swallow an eight-eyed giant spider, then it could certainly swallow a person.

Spiders are delicious!

"Go back and get some sleep after you've eaten your fill. Tell me if you get hungry in the future." Rice gave the basilisk a few instructions and sent it back to the statue to sleep.

"It's incredible. This is the basilisk king raised by Slytherin, and yet it's standing right in front of us, alive and well. It's as if it's talking to Slytherin across time and space." Astoria exclaimed from the bottom of her heart as she watched the basilisk slowly walk away.

Perhaps a thousand years ago, Salazar Slytherin watched his serpent king eat in the same way.

Rice: ...

In fact, you don't necessarily need to travel through time to talk to Slytherin.

But he nodded anyway, saying that Astoria was right, the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets was a "living fossil" of Hogwarts.

"It loves eating spiders. Let's catch a few more for it next time. How long will it sleep?" Astoria clenched her fists excitedly, wishing she could run back into the Forbidden Forest to catch spiders for the Snake King again.

They had completely forgotten the terrifying incident that had occurred in the Forbidden Forest earlier.

Rice glanced at her. This little girl, Astoria, seemed to have an unusual fondness for the Snake King. It was a bit incongruous for a witch her age to have such an attraction.

Her sister's reaction was the normal one.

And considering what she just said, could it be...?

He remembered the soul of the girl he had seen at Greengrass Manor.

Rice decided to give it a try.

[The next time it wakes up, I'll send you to capture the eight-eyed giant spider. As for how long it sleeps, it could be anywhere from a few months to a few years. If no one wakes it up, it can sleep for ten years.]

"It can really sleep!" Astoria exclaimed. "Next time I catch a spider, I'll be more experienced."

Daphne's expression changed instantly, because in her ears, Rice had only been making a hissing sound, but her sister understood what he was saying!

Does my sister speak with a snake-like accent?

The thought popped into her mind.

Daphne, born into a pure-blood family, didn't shy away from Parsleyan speech like other young wizards—marriage between pure-blood families was perfectly normal, and having a bit of Parsleyan talent was perfectly common. But like Rhys, she thought of Astoria's soul form.

This is very bad. Does this mean that my sister's soul has been corrupted even more severely? She didn't show any talent for communicating with snakes when she was little!

When leaving the secret room, Daphne deliberately lagged behind and took the opportunity to convey her concerns to Rice.

"Very likely." Rhys pictured Harry's face in his mind. "If what you say is true, that Astoria didn't understand Parseltongue as a child, then she could indeed have been affected by a curse on her soul."

"What should we do then—" Daphne asked anxiously. Although her younger sister was annoying most of the time, she still hoped that she could grow up safely and healthily.

If only my sister were a healthy, unaffected dud!

"I will put her treatment on the agenda as soon as possible." Rice took out Riddle's diary from his pocket.

Out of caution, Rice always carried this Horcrux with him.

Daphne felt a little relieved after hearing what Rice said.

Back on the ground, with some time before lunchtime, Rice made a trip to the Owl Tower, keeping some of the collected eight-eyed giant spider venom for himself and sending it to Lupert to sell on his behalf.

When we got back to the auditorium, it was just in time for lunch.

The effects of last night's student dueling tournament are still spreading, with many Slytherin students going over to the Greengrass sisters to try and get close to them.

After finally getting some peace and quiet around her, Rice said to her, half seriously and half jokingly, "You could hold a small gathering and teach them about dueling."

Daphne shook her head vigorously: she knew all too well where her strength came from.

It has little to do with spells or anything like that; the key is the flow of magic. But she didn't know how to teach it. She couldn't even help her own younger sister, let alone these classmates who were completely unrelated to her.

Seeing that Daphne wasn't interested, Rice didn't bring up the topic again.

In his view, the teaching philosophies of the old and new magical worlds each have their advantages and disadvantages, and perhaps the current state is the best. It is not advisable to force the flow of magic in schools, because this is a teaching method that history has proven to be outdated.

Perhaps I can use various means to teach the students in the school how to flow magic, but will this knowledge really be passed down hundreds of years later?

Rice was skeptical.

In the faculty section, Professor Flitwick smiled and said to Dumbledore, "Albus, look, the children were very interested in last night's gathering, and little Daphne has become quite the star."

Dumbledore watched Daphne chatting and laughing with her classmates, and smiled without saying a word.

"That little girl is indeed talented; I have no idea how she managed to do that flying magic," Professor McGonagall praised Daphne.

She genuinely liked this little girl, even though she was a Slytherin—or rather, Daphne was one of the rare, less annoying students in Slytherin.

Dumbledore remained smiling.

She is good at handling interpersonal relationships, is a good student in the eyes of her teachers, and comes from Slytherin. It's just a good thing she didn't come from an orphanage, otherwise I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to sleep again!

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!

The second update is coming soon.

Today, you're a beautiful little witch with heterochromia!

(End of this chapter)