Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 268 The Hufflepuff That Can Never Go Back

"First of all, you must be very curious as to why I look the way I do now, right?" After sitting down, Rice felt much more at ease and began to talk at length.

Hufflepuff nodded. She really wanted to know why her old friend looked so much younger after not seeing her for several years. Even reverse aging wasn't going to happen this way.

Perhaps he invented some kind of special potion that could restore a person's body to its youthful state? Hufflepuff guessed.

She thought it was perfectly reasonable.

Salazar was, after all, one of the world's leading potions masters, so it wasn't surprising that he created such a potion.

'Royna might really like this potion,' a strange thought popped into Hufflepuff's head. Then she thought that maybe she could get a dose of the potion from Salazar.

Who wouldn't want to regain their youthful physique in old age? Even if it doesn't extend lifespan, it can at least make the last few years of life more comfortable. Many functions are not felt when they exist, but their importance is only realized when you lose them.

Rice's voice pulled Hufflepuff's wandering thoughts back to reality.

"After leaving the castle—" Hufflepuff snorted heavily again, clearly extremely dissatisfied with Rice's actions back then. Rice pretended not to hear and continued, "I wandered around outside for a while and by chance obtained a fragment of Origin."

The words "Fragment of Origin" struck Helga like a thunderclap. She stood up abruptly, staring intently at Rice.

"You wouldn't..."

"It's not what you think. I used it to concoct a magic potion."

Seeing that Rice was using the Origin Fragment to make medicine, Hufflepuff was slightly relieved. If her old friend had directly consumed the Origin Fragment, she would really have to seriously consider whether to bury him in this palace.

Having overthrown the rule of the gods, she could not allow herself and her friends to become new deities.

However, even a magic potion is hard to reassure people, and what does it have to do with "millennia" or anything like that?

"I was inspired by snakes shedding their skin. After taking the potion, I fell into a deep sleep. During my sleep, I would shed a layer of skin every now and then, and with each shed skin, I would become younger, until I became a ten-year-old child, at which point I awoke from my slumber—by then I had been asleep for nearly a thousand years."

Hufflepuff: Huh?

Salazar's words were somewhat bizarre even in the magical world, like a fable from a storybook. However, considering he obtained a fragment of Origin, it seemed rather reasonable? That thing, if one was willing to bear its negative effects, could grant immortality simply by consuming it.

The problem is, according to Salazar himself, he slept for a thousand years after taking the potion, so how did he manage to talk to his past self from a thousand years ago?

Hufflepuff was quite certain that he hadn't been asleep for a thousand years.

"It was the effect of this palace that allowed me to meet you from a thousand years ago through its power."

"They even got into a few fights," Rice thought to himself, but he didn't say it aloud.

Rice explained the function of the palace ruins to Hufflepuff in detail, which filled her with awe and respect for the place.

"I thought this was just an ordinary, undiscovered ruin, but I never expected..." She opened her eyes wide and carefully observed the main hall in front of her.

Despite her eyes getting tired from looking at it, she still didn't notice anything unusual: it looked exactly like an ordinary historical site.

In the end, Hufflepuff gave up. She turned to chatting with her old friend: "So you went back? As a student?"

Rice nodded: "As a young wizard of the right age, I will naturally be admitted to the school if I show magical talent in Britain—the Book of Admission is still functioning perfectly a thousand years later."

"That's wonderful." Helga smiled from the bottom of her heart. She was extremely happy that the school she and her friends founded was still functioning properly a thousand years later.

In fact, Hogwarts is far more than just operating normally; it truly lives up to the description of being thriving—it's now the best magic school in the world. Perhaps some other magic schools are still unconvinced, but whether they admit it or not, they all know the significance of Hogwarts.

"Um..." Hufflepuff had a question she was very concerned about, but she was a little embarrassed to ask Rice because it was indeed a sensitive topic.

"A student from a Muggle family, is that what you want to ask?" Just by looking at his expression, Rice guessed what Helga wanted to ask.

Helga nodded seriously.

"They integrated very well. There are just as many students from Muggle families in the school as there were back then, and most of them stayed in the wizarding world after graduation, becoming part of the wizarding community."

As for those wizards who adhered to pure-blood supremacy, Rice didn't mention them, lest he annoy Hufflepuff.

"Even Rowena has taken a little witch from a Muggle family as her apprentice!"

Helga: ?

"Wait, you mentioned Rowena? She actually lived a thousand years in the future?!" Hufflepuff was stunned—am I the only one who hadn't considered the possibility of immortality?

"We can't say she's still alive..." Rice told Hufflepuff what had happened to Ravenclaw and how he had restored her to her senses.

"Thank you for your hard work." Hufflepuff offered Rice his heartfelt thanks.

"It's Rowena who's had a tough time," Rice said, shaking her head.

Hufflepuff nodded.

"I have to go back." Upon learning of Ravenclaw's predicament, Hufflepuff decided to end her travels immediately and return to Hogwarts.

"We can't just leave Rowena alone at school, can we?" Hufflepuff shrugged, indicating that she definitely had to lend a hand to Ravenclaw and share her burden.

hiss--

Rice suddenly sensed something was wrong. As Hufflepuff stood up, he realized with a start that Helga's plan was likely doomed; she could never go back.

This palace traveled upstream in the river of time, taking him to a point a thousand years ago. But when he stepped out of the palace's perimeter, the outside timeline remained the 20th century—a fact he had already confirmed before.

So what happens after Hufflepuff leaves the palace? Is she in the 10th or 20th century? Considering that Ravenclaw lived out his days alone in the castle and Hufflepuff disappeared while traveling, the answer is obvious.

This is time, this is fate.

Helga and he were both fish in the river of time. He, the fish, led the "fishing boat" from downstream to upstream to "fish" Helga out. Now the fishing boat had gone downstream, and Helga could only go downstream with him.

Thinking about this, Rice's forehead began to sweat profusely.

Ultimately, he told Hufflepuff his speculation as tactfully as possible.

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.

The second update is here.

The next update will be (if possible) at midnight.

(End of this chapter)