Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 225 Christmas at Greengrass Manor

"Okay, but will my going really bother you?" Rice finally agreed to the Greengrass sisters' invitation.

"Yay!" Daphne and Astoria couldn't help but cheer.

"Of course not. We'll definitely have a lot of guests at home this year. You should be the one worrying about being disturbed by them," Daphne replied with a smile.

Rice initially thought Astoria's claim of "emptying a vault" was an exaggeration, but the morning after accepting the invitation, an owl mail changed his mind—the owl delivered a gold invitation.

With a gold base, several lines of elegant text are outlined in silver wire: "[Dear Mr. Les Lint, the Christmas dinner is approaching, and on behalf of the Greengrass family, I extend my sincerest greetings to you. I look forward to meeting you at Greengrass Manor. This invitation is the key to the manor; please keep it safe. — Henry Greengrass]"

In the upper left corner of the invitation, there was a string of numbers that was ticking away, decreasing to zero with each passing second. Clearly, this invitation was also a door key; when the timer reached zero, it would lead the invited guest to Greengrass Manor.

After seeing the invitation, Rice felt that Astoria's assessment might be a bit conservative.

After a series of tedious tasks, the first semester of this academic year has come to an end.

Overnight, the students were ready to set off.

Actually, there's not much to prepare. Going home for Christmas is different from going home at the end of the school year. Why pack so much luggage? Just bring some textbooks and assignments given by professors.

Some young wizards don't even bring their homework; they choose to create miracles on the last night of the Christmas holidays.

The Rice and Greengrass sisters traveled light, with almost no luggage, just carrying backpacks.

Daphne and Astoria weren't entirely clear on the matter, but Rice had put everything he needed into a backpack that had been enchanted with a seamless extension spell.

The three of them boarded the Hogwarts Express together on their return journey.

With a whistle, the train carrying a group of young wizards headed towards London through the snow-covered landscape.

As the train departed, Rice caught a glimpse of red outside the carriage door.

As soon as he opened the carriage door, several red heads came into view. The aisle outside was almost completely filled with the Weasley family: Percy, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny. In the sea of ​​red hair, there was also a splash of black—Harry was in the carriage too.

"What's going on here...?" Rice asked, slightly confused. After asking what was going on, she learned that the Weasley family had also received an invitation from Mr. Henry.

This is normal. Although the Weasleys are poor, they are indeed a pure-blood family with a long history. Even if it's just out of courtesy, the Greengrass family should send an invitation.

As for Harry's presence here, that's even less surprising. The boy who survived a great calamity, the savior of the wizarding world—if he wanted to come, the Greengrass family would send him an invitation as quickly as possible.

Looking at the group of "Weasleys" in the hallway, Rice thought that this year's Greengrass Christmas dinner would probably be very lively.

When the train arrived at the station, Rice intended to stay in Diagon Alley for the time being, but Astoria's simple words caught his attention.

"Dad invited many pastry chefs from other countries so we can sample their creations beforehand and then decide the weight of the dishes served at the dinner party."

Rice suddenly changed his mind; he wanted to experience desserts from all over the world and feel how millennia have changed global cuisine. Surely this is for the better? The whole world can't possibly be regressing in its culinary landscape like Britain, can it?

The decline of the magical world is understandable, but there's no reason for Muggles to decline in their cuisine—that's a one-sided view. The fundamental reason for the decline of British cuisine and the magical world is the same: simpler, more institutionalized things have replaced the more painstaking processes that used to be.

Simpler and clearer spells replaced the flow of magic, and industrialized assembly-line dishes replaced local delicacies. As a result, a thousand years later, Rice could not find a single wizard who understood the flow of magic at Hogwarts, and in London restaurants, he could only find British dishes such as fish and chips and black pudding.

Fortunately, not every European country has developed its cuisine in the same way as Britain. France, Italy, and Türkiye have all preserved the essence of their own cuisines, providing diners with the greatest comfort for their taste buds.

After moving into the Greengrass Estate, Rice was amazed by the variety of desserts from a thousand years later, especially the Turkish ones. Turkish desserts, which made extensive use of pistachios, walnuts, dried fruits, honey, and butter, were all about sweetness.

One of the desserts, called "Angel's Hair," was the most amazing to Rice: it first fries two layers of fine, hair-like noodles until golden brown, then soaks the fried noodles in sweet syrup before taking them out, and adds a cheese filling between the two layers of noodles, and finally decorates the surface of the dessert with pistachio crumbs.

With each bite, you can feel the heat bursting in your mouth, bringing an unparalleled sense of happiness.

Surrounded by all sorts of desserts, Rice was like someone who had been immersed in a honey pot, and the number of desserts she ate every day was quite alarming, even to Daphne.

"Shouldn't you be a little more restrained?" she often tried to persuade Rice gently, but Rice wouldn't listen to her.

"Sweets are the source of happiness!" That was always his reply to her.

Soon, Christmas Eve arrived.

Greengrass Manor had suddenly transformed: the valley, which had been somewhat desolate due to the arrival of winter, was suddenly "filled" with lush greenery and blooming flowers overnight, with every tree covered in new leaves and blossoms. Various small gift bags hung from the branches, revealing exquisite little gifts inside, such as wizard chess sets and top hats, but mostly consumables like candy and firecrackers—the guests were unlikely to lack a wizard chess set, but being able to set off firecrackers and fireworks would still be a delightful surprise.

After being decorated, the valley looks like it has returned to spring when viewed from afar.

Rice initially thought the flowers and leaves were magically created, but upon closer inspection, he was astonished: the Greengrass family was actually decorated with artificial flowers and leaves, which was far more luxurious than flowers created by magic!

Every flower and every leaf looked so lifelike that even Rice was secretly amazed.

Before nightfall, a group of magical animals that Mr. Henry had acquired arrived at the manor ahead of the guests.

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.

Second update is here! (〃-ω)

Here's another picture of Adrian in his middle age:

I will try to schedule the next update around midnight.

(End of this chapter)