Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 224 Another Christmas

"So you must have understood everything I said above, right?" Rice changed the subject.

Daphne, of course, didn't understand.

Helga wrote the notes in Latin, and considering that they were intended for Salazar, the content was quite obscure—not intentionally, but because the two of them were at such a high level, what was common sense to them was like a foreign language to the young wizards of later generations.

Seeing the clear, innocent foolishness in Daphne's eyes, Reston immediately understood. If she understood, she wouldn't have come to ask him questions so soon.

"Sigh..." He grabbed a roll of parchment and a quill from the table, and then quickly began translating the text in the Hufflepuff notebooks, adding annotations.

He wrote very quickly, producing a new textbook three times the length of Hufflepuff's original manuscript in just over ten minutes.

"Here, you can take a look at this version first." Rice handed his writing to Daphne, which included a lot of his own insights and reflections.

"Amazing!" Seeing Rice's fluent and concise "textbook" work, Daphne couldn't help but applaud him.

"There was a simplified version of the textbook written by an elder in my family, and I just memorized it," Rice said casually. He felt that it was only a matter of time before his identity was exposed in front of the Greengrass sisters, but it wasn't a big problem.

Anyway, he'll tell the children the truth when they grow up. He's not telling them now for two reasons: first, he's afraid the children won't keep their mouths shut and the whole school will know the next day; second, he's afraid the two girls will become spoiled.

It would be incredibly shameful if, in the future, a Dark Lord emerged claiming, "I started killing when I was twelve, and my master told me, 'Child, it's okay, you can kill whoever you want because you are a Slytherin disciple.'"

The fact that Voldemort emerged from Slytherin House is already a disgrace. That can be somewhat blamed on the fact that he's been "dead" for nearly a thousand years, and his descendants haven't inherited his spirit. But if several more Dark Lords were to emerge while he's still alive, he'd be utterly speechless when Godric and the others ask.

Daphne's current state is: "Whatever you say, Rhys, is right." She's too lazy to argue with him anymore.

If a person is shrouded in only one mystery, others will certainly try to find out what's going on. But if a person is surrounded by countless mysteries, others will be much less inclined to investigate.

Daphne left with the teaching materials written by Rice—she had many things to do.

Time flies, and after Halloween, Christmas seems to arrive in the blink of an eye.

The snow-covered landscape painted the castle, the Forbidden Forest, and the Black Lake the same color, and the students all huddled in the common room, avoiding going out unless absolutely necessary. Any young wizard who entered or left the common room without closing the door promptly would be subjected to countless death stares.

Rhys delivered the things Ravenclaw had asked him to give Hermione, and then stopped interfering in Rowena's teaching. Hermione didn't disappoint Ravenclaw's high expectations, successfully replicating many potions according to the recipes all by herself.

The "Founder's Letter" arrived quickly. Rice handed the three precious letters to Gemma, who, as agreed, told him the location where the dust had been found. But while telling him the location, she also earnestly requested that Rice call her before exploring the place, to avoid any accidents.

Rice, of course, wouldn't let her senior's good intentions go to waste and agreed to Gemma's request.

Before the Christmas holidays, the Duel Club held its usual event, this time with the theme of "Obstacle Spells." But what the students were most looking forward to wasn't any spell lessons, but rather the student duels. Of course, Daphne still held the record for the longest winning streak. And because Gemma Farley went in first to fill the gaps, Daphne practically swept through the competition.

Her perfect combination of offensive and defensive magic left the young wizards at Hogwarts completely helpless, even the seventh-year students couldn't handle her. In the end, if Daphne hadn't voluntarily withdrawn, the dueling gathering that day probably wouldn't have been able to proceed smoothly.

Daphne's reason for not wanting to continue was very simple: when she achieved her thirteenth consecutive victory, she saw the faint smile on Rice's face in the audience. A sudden, phantom pain shot through her abdomen, and her smugness vanished instantly.

Yeah, what's the point of bullying these "primitive people" here? Rice was wiped out in an instant, and so was she. Thinking of this, she forfeited and stepped off the dueling platform.

Her decision disappointed many seventh-year students—it was counterintuitive, but the graduating wizards genuinely wanted to spar with Daphne because it was really fun, novel, and even a way to improve their skills.

At the end of the dueling tournament, Professor Flitwick announced that the champion's prize would be awarded at Christmas—combined with the previous champion's reward.

This piqued the interest of many, with the young wizards speculating about the mysterious reward. However, Professor Flitwick remained tight-lipped, refusing to divulge any information despite the students' attempts to elicit it.

After the gathering organized by the Duel Club ended, the Christmas holidays began. The castle suddenly emptied out, as most students wanted to go home and spend the holidays with their families.

Daphne and Astoria were no exception, but they also longed to spend the holiday with Rice.

So, the two sisters started subtly probing Rice weeks in advance, asking him what his Christmas plans were and hinting that Greengrass Manor would be very interesting during the Christmas season.

"There are thousands of Christmas trees on the estate!"

"The gift bags on the tree can all be opened; they contain all sorts of exquisite gifts!"

"A grand banquet, with delicacies everywhere, and the finest liquor was almost as plain as water. I heard that my father invited chefs from more than a dozen countries this year."

"My father emptied a treasury to host this grand event!"

While Greengrass Manor has hosted grand Christmas dinners in the past to entertain various branches of the family and in-laws, none have ever been as lavish as this year.

The reason is simple: Mr. Henry's contribution of the "Slytherin Manuscript" earned him immense prestige, and now was the perfect time to hold an extremely lavish banquet to celebrate.

For the sake of his family, Mr. Henry had no choice. This was also the "dilemma" of the pure-blood nobles: knowing that these actions would cost a huge amount of money, they still had to do them in order to maintain their dignity.

Of course, the benefits of successfully hosting such a banquet are also enormous. The Greengrass family will continue to maintain its extremely high standards, and Mr. Henry himself will accumulate astonishing political capital—enough to influence the replacement of the Minister of Magic.

After being bombarded with praise from Daphne and Astoria, Rice couldn't help but be tempted: he also loved excitement!

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 here (〃'▽'〃)

My stomach feels a bit better, but I still made an appointment to go see a doctor on Friday. Second update coming soon.

More pictures to come:

(End of this chapter)