Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 270 Hufflepuff's Re-employment

"His talent must be pretty good, right?" Helga's curiosity was piqued by Rice.

"Of course—" Rice perked up at the mention of this, enthusiastically showing off the talents of his two apprentices to his old friend.

"That's wonderful..." Hufflepuff's eyes revealed envy. She truly envied her friends when it came to taking on apprentices; they always managed to discover the most talented students.

This is perfectly normal. The disparity in student quality among the four houses means that Hufflepuff will have a hard time finding true geniuses—the talents of pure-blood families have been taken by Salazar, and the outstanding students from Muggle families have either gone to Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, leaving her with only ordinary people.

After her initial envy, Helga's eyes darted around, and she asked another question: "They must look a lot like Adrian, right? After all, they are his descendants."

Rice's expression changed instantly.

"No, they—"

"You'll definitely have two little Adrians in the future—I envy you, Salazar!"

Rice's face had turned greenish-blue.

Seeing her old friend's displeasure, Hufflepuff was relieved—she was doing it on purpose, after all, the old viper was always jumping around in front of her, showing off his students' talents.

The two old men chatted as they walked up the sand dune, with Helga casting a translation spell on herself to avoid any communication barriers with the younger generation.

When the two came to her, Daphne took a step forward, shielding her sister behind her. She greeted Rice casually, but her eyes kept glancing at Hufflepuff.

"This is Ms. White. She was trapped inside the ruins, but I just rescued her," Rice introduced Hufflepuff to the two nervous little girls.

Upon hearing Rice's words, Hel suppressed the urge to roll his eyes and waved to the two little witches as a greeting.

"Trapped in the ruins? What do you usually eat?" Daphne was very curious about this person trapped in the ruins and wanted to know everything about her.

When the topic turned to food, Helga suddenly became very interested. She magically produced a basket and several cups from her bosom—she was going to show off her cooking skills to the children.

Seeing that his old friend was in high spirits, Rice waved his wand and conjured a picnic blanket and a parasol.

"I brought my own food, would you like to try some?" Helga said with a smile, her face full of kindness and gentleness, just like her grandmother who lay in the wicker chair basking in the sun every day.

"Uh, okay." Daphne was a little hesitant at first, but seeing that Rice didn't give any hints and was even helping to set up a parasol, she readily accepted.

However, what Ms. White took out disappointed her greatly: she only brought out a few dry pieces of bread and a piece of cheese wrapped in linen.

This feeling lasted only a moment, because Daphne immediately realized that this was probably the last bit of supplies the poor old woman had left.

"Let's eat what we brought. We just replenished our supplies a few days ago." Daphne took out her lunchbox.

But Hufflepuff firmly rejected Daphne's offer, insisting that she try the "food" he had brought out.

Unable to resist Hufflepuff's insistence, Daphne reluctantly accepted the bread and cheese. But after just one bite, her expression changed drastically: the seemingly dry bread was incredibly soft and fluffy, with a rich, buttery aroma. Without looking at it, just by the taste, she would have thought she was eating a freshly baked French croissant. The cheese was even more magical; every bite tasted different—somewhat like Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, a popular snack in the wizarding world.

Astoria also encountered something very magical. Helga gave her a cup and then filled it with spring water using a water-cleansing spell.

"Here, drink!" Hufflepuff gestured for her to drink the water in the cup.

Astoria looked puzzled: she had heard of people urging others to drink alcohol, but why would someone urge someone to drink water? But the moment her lips touched the glass, she understood why.

The water in the glass magically turned into juice, and it was even chilled!

"Amazing!" Daphne and Astoria exclaimed in unison, "How did they do that?"

"I'm better at food magic." Faced with the two little witches' questions, Helga frankly admitted that she changed the taste of food through magic. Astoria drank water that tasted like fruit juice, and Daphne ate just ordinary bread and cheese.

"I'm getting old, and these are the only things I can do to satisfy my cravings now," Hufflepuff lamented, reflecting on the relentless passage of time.

After enjoying a simple yet incredibly delicious meal, the group set off on their journey home.

Before leaving, Lesch gave Helga a wink, and Hufflepuff understood immediately. He waved his hand, and a large amount of sand fell, burying the palace ruins under the yellow sand once again.

When they returned to the town, Rice saw that Daphne and Astoria were exhausted, so he took them to a small inn in town to settle down temporarily. After quickly using magic to remove the sand and dust from their bodies, the two fell asleep in the simple bedroom without even taking off their clothes.

Rice went outside, brought a pot of coffee, found Hufflepuff, and started chatting with her.

"So, what are your plans for the future? How about you go and see the world a thousand years from now? The Muggle world has undergone earth-shattering changes."

Helga shook her head; what she cared about most was Hogwarts and the children of Hufflepuff a thousand years from now.

"Just as I thought, same as you." Rice nodded. "However, given your situation, I'm afraid you won't be able to enroll as a student."

Hufflepuff: ...

"Is the school still short of teachers?"

Although something felt off, she thought she could easily slip in as a teacher—she had plenty of experience teaching students.

Rice stroked his chin: "The school doesn't seem to be short of teachers..."

It's said that Hogwarts used to change its Defense Against the Dark Arts professor every year, but this year—well, actually, they changed professors again this year, with Lupin replacing Lockhart. So, according to this "pattern," will Lupin resign next year? Because Lockhart used this year's "spot"!

But in that case, it seems the school really doesn't have any extra teaching positions.

Hearing Rice's words, Hufflepuff was a little disappointed. However, she still decided to try writing a letter to the current headmaster, just in case.

She believed that as long as she could meet with the principal, she would definitely be able to persuade him.

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!

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(End of this chapter)