Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 244 Ravenclaw: Salazar, you've done a great job teaching!

"It's like this..." Harry recounted their ordeal to Hermione in as few words as possible, while Daphne's face was filled with impatience.

She didn't want to waste a single second, so she preferred to choose a more direct solution.

If the spells they just cast had knocked Hermione and Neville to the ground, they wouldn't have wasted this time. Unfortunately, Hermione's dodging and counterattack speed exceeded her expectations, forcing her to pay a price.

After hearing Harry's explanation, Hermione still preferred to seek help from the professor to resolve the issue.

"I don't even dare to count how many school rules this would violate..."

Hermione's words infuriated Daphne so much that she wanted to draw her wand again and resolve the issue by force.

She just wanted to get to the Forbidden Forest as soon as possible, investigate the anomalies there, and ease some of Rice's burden—she didn't have time to waste here with Hermione, discussing whether to ask the professor for help, let alone those absurd school rules.

"So where's Rice? Why haven't I seen him?" Seeing the atmosphere gradually becoming tense, Harry quickly changed the subject.

"He has more important things to do and can't come right now, but he also hopes we can solve the problem," Astoria explained to Harry.

Daphne retorted angrily, "We're facing an unprecedented crisis, so forget about school rules now!"

Astoria chimed in, "Harry has already spoken to the professor, but it's no use. Now we have to rely on ourselves."

Hermione frowned, looking down at Neville, who lay frozen on the ground, without saying a word.

Daphne, unwilling to persist any longer, grabbed her sister's hand and headed out of the castle.

"Never mind them, let's deal with the monsters in the Forbidden Forest first—let her go tell the teacher if she wants, I'm going to the Forbidden Forest right now!" Daphne said firmly.

She was prepared to be fired.

Hermione froze on the spot.

Her worldview was shaken. In her mind, school rules held an extremely high status, so everyone would obediently follow them, and violating them would result in punishment. The fact that two people were willing to be severely punished by the school rules to do something today was truly astonishing to her.

By the time she realized what was happening, Daphne and Astoria had already run more than ten meters away, and even Harry had caught up with them.

At that moment, Daphne's earlier words, "Let her go if she wants to tell," rang in her ears again, and Hermione's face flushed red.

They're all young and hot-blooded; how could they stand this kind of treatment? If she backs out tonight, wouldn't that confirm her identity as an "informant"?

With that thought in mind, Hermione didn't hesitate any longer and quickened her pace to catch up. She wanted to show the Daphne sisters that she wasn't the kind of person who would snitch.

And to be honest, she was quite interested in the "world-devouring" crisis that Harry had mentioned.

……

After the four left, Rice's figure appeared in the corner.

"Salazar, what a fine student you've taught—is this how Slytherin teaches?" Rowena's tone was full of sarcasm. She was also quite surprised when Daphne chose to ambush Hermione and Neville: this was completely unlike the Slytherin style! Instead, it was full of Godric's influence.

"Please be understanding, she's a descendant of Adrian." Rice wasn't surprised at all.

Moreover, he felt this was very Slytherin—sometimes, you have to be ruthless to achieve your goals. If Daphne made any mistakes, it was failing to take down Hermione in one blow. If it were him, he might have used a more potent spell instead of weak ones like the Stunning Curse or the Petrifying Curse.

Upon hearing the name Adrian, Ravenclaw immediately understood: Yes, Adrian's descendant, that makes perfect sense!

"We wanted to give the kids more responsibilities, but they didn't agree," Ravenclaw chuckled.

Rice rolled her eyes: It's only because Hermione survived that round of attacks. If she had been taken down by Daphne and the others here, I'd like to see if you would still have the nerve to continue chatting with me.

What a pity! Thinking of this, Rice couldn't help but feel a little regretful: if Hermione had fallen here, Ravenclaw's expression would have been very interesting.

Just as Rice was about to leave, he caught a glimpse of Neville lying unconscious on the floor out of the corner of his eye.

He couldn't help but sigh: the children were really too excited; they didn't even bother to clean up the mess. If Neville lay here, he'd soon be discovered by the professor on night patrol or Filch, and that would only cause more trouble.

At the same time, he felt a pang of sorrow for Longbottom, who had been knocked unconscious: this was the consequence of being weak. If Hermione and Neville were as unremarkable as they were, then the two of them would be lying here tonight.

I hope you'll be able to participate in adventures someday, instead of lying on the cold ground. With a flick of his wand, Neville vanished.

……

"According to the information Harry provided, the monster is located in the nest of the eight-eyed giant spider. Our first priority is to find the spiders' nest." On the way to the Forbidden Forest, Daphne began to analyze how they should complete the task assigned by Rice.

Harry had quickly caught up, with Hermione close behind, her breathing slightly rapid. Daphne glanced at her but didn't say anything. However, Daphne was quite pleased that Hermione had kept up.

Astoria frowned: "But choosing to enter the Forbidden Forest at night will limit our visibility, making it very difficult to find the spider's nest—if we are suddenly attacked by spiders like last time, it could have very serious consequences."

She didn't say it aloud: This time, Rice won't be there to bail them out.

"And last time?" Hermione couldn't help but retort.

Daphne and Astoria ignored her.

Upon hearing about their predicament, a bold idea popped into Harry's mind. He spoke, his voice trembling with excitement, "Perhaps I can help you."

Daphne, Astoria, and Hermione all looked at him.

They were all somewhat skeptical: after all, Harry hadn't shown much of anything extraordinary in the past two years, while the three people present each had their own backgrounds.

"Give me a flying broomstick, and I'll fly up into the air to find the spider's nest." Harry spoke faster and faster. "In mid-air, with the moon's help, finding the spider's nest is quite easy—I can guide you from the sky."

The three of them fell silent, mentally assessing the feasibility of Harry's proposed operation.

"I think it's a good idea," Hermione said first. "Many magical creatures that hunt in the air go into hibernation after nightfall, so the airspace above the Forbidden Forest isn't that dangerous at that time. We can definitely send Harry up to scout."

Her statement was unanimously approved by Daphne and Astoria.

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!

(End of this chapter)