Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 297 Battle in a Dream

Rice's goosebumps didn't go away even after she returned to the common lounge.

Helga's ambiguous smile lingered in his mind, as if it had taken root there. Whenever Rice closed his eyes, the image of Hufflepuff would appear, bringing him intense shame and sending chills down his spine.

After this happened several times, Rice realized that Helga had secretly sabotaged her. Clearly, she was very concerned about who invented the Humanoid Restoration Charm.

After realizing what had happened, Rice laughed: Did he really think he was a child like Malfoy? He had a plan.

Reese pulled out his wand and cast a "Forget-Me-Not" spell on his head. Under the powerful and precise effect of the forgetting spell, Reese instantly forgot what had happened during dinner, and his mood instantly became peaceful.

Although it was only a moment's hesitation before he realized he couldn't remember anything about Helga's dinner, Rice wasn't confused at all—he knew perfectly well that he must have used an oblivion spell on himself. And there was definitely a reason why his past self did this; no need to overthink it, just go about your business.

He went straight to the washroom, intending to wash up and then go to sleep.

But as Rice lay in bed and drifted off into a sweet dream, things suddenly started to go wrong.

"Eat up!"

"As for this... it's a leg from a hairy, shell-less land crab."

Rice dreamt that she brought the Greengrass sisters to Hufflepuff's office for a dinner party. At first, everything was normal except for the ingredients, but at the end, Hufflepuff suddenly stood up.

"Great Salazar... the Restoration Charm... it's truly magnificent!"

"Let us raise a toast to Slytherin!" Hufflepuff raised his glass, glancing sideways at Rice. "To the great Slytherin!"

Rice: ?!

Daphne and Astoria, who were sitting next to him, stood up together and shouted in unison, "Homage to the great Slytherin!"

The office door suddenly popped open, and a large group of Slytherin students rushed in, shouting: "Homage to the great Slytherin!"

After everyone finished their drinks, they all turned to look at Rice. Helga, with a gentle smile, spoke: "Rinte, why don't you toast the great Slytherin? Do you perhaps have a problem with him?"

The Slytherin students in the office instantly turned hostile.

Seeing this, Rice could only helplessly raise his glass and say through gritted teeth, "To the great... Slytherin!"

"Speak more sincerely, don't sound so reluctant." This reluctant toast did not satisfy Helga.

Rice: "Homage to... the great Slytherin..."

"More passion!" Hufflepuff wasn't about to let him off the hook.

With his cheeks flushed, Rice let loose, raising his glass and shouting, "To the great Slytherin!!!"

The dream shattered like glass, and Rice suddenly woke up from the bed, finding that her hand seemed to still be in the position of holding a glass.

With Hufflepuff's help, Rice was able to witness the events of the dinner party all over again.

Deleting memories? No problem, just go through it all again, right?

He wiped the cold sweat from his body, then took a small box from his suitcase under the bed. He opened the lid of the box, and inside were a dozen or so small crystal bottles neatly arranged.

These were some commonly used potions he had concocted for himself and kept in his suitcase for emergencies. What started as a habitual act of caution turned out to be quite useful.

He took out the calming potion and gulped it down in one go. As soon as the potion hit his stomach, drowsiness washed over him like a tidal wave, and Rice lay down on the bed, falling into a deep sleep once more—theoretically, with the help of the calming potion, he should have a dreamless night.

The dream made Rice overlook a detail: the soundproofing magic he had set up beside his bed was showing signs of instability.

But when Rice opened his eyes, he immediately realized that something was wrong: because he was standing in Hufflepuff's office again!

After going through the same routine repeatedly, Rice had become somewhat numb. So when, at the end of the dinner, Hufflepuff began to toast Salazar with great emotion, Rice stood up along with the Daphne sisters and "excitedly" shouted, "To the great Slytherin!"

In the dream, Hufflepuff squinted, seemingly taken aback by Rice's proactive approach. After a second of silence, the office door was pushed open again, and a group of Slytherin students rushed in as usual, then began their enthusiastic celebration once more.

Rice, as if he had given up all hope, simply lay down and drifted along with the crowd, raising his glass and toasting with everyone else.

But in her dream, Hufflepuff stirred things up again. She pushed through the revelry of the students, came to Rice's side, and asked him, "Mr. Lint, why do you think Salazar is so [great]?"

Rice had long harbored suspicions about Helga in this dream, and now, faced with this unexpected turn of events, he immediately sensed something was amiss.

He stared directly at Hufflepuff's fake smile—this guy had his own mind!

Helga Hufflepuff, is it really necessary?! To go so far as to stuff a drowsy demon into my dream just for the ownership of a spell?

These dream monsters, if not eliminated in time, will take root in the dream world, absorbing its nutrients and growing stronger. Once fully developed, they become an ineradicable menace, causing nightmares every time the person sleeps. The person only noticed the anomaly during their second dream, already caught off guard.

Rice pulled out his wand and waved it casually. The entire castle in the dream shook, and the half of the castle where Hufflepuff had just stood turned to ashes.

As expected, Rice's incredibly powerful spell failed to destroy the Dream Demon.

Hufflepuff's figure appeared outside the castle, standing in mid-air with a faint smile on her face.

It spoke: "You cannot kill me during the day, nor at night; I cannot die outdoors, nor indoors."

Rice's body trembled, and a strange feeling arose within him.

He understood that the dream demon was using the power stolen from his own dreams to amplify itself, gradually bringing it into an invincible state.

Fortunately, I discovered it in time, and it didn't steal too much power, so the boost it gave me was very limited.

"I can't kill you indoors or outdoors, day or night, right?" Rice's lips curled into a smile, and in a flash, he appeared beside the oak door of Hogwarts Castle with the Dream Demon in his arms—in the dream, he was in a position of absolute superiority, which was why the Dream Demon needed to steal power to strengthen itself.

He looked up at the sky, and it immediately turned into dawn.

"It is neither day nor night, but dawn; you are neither outdoors nor indoors, but at the boundary between indoors and outdoors—therefore you can be killed."

A look of fear appeared on the Dream Demon's face, but before it could say anything, Rice tore it to pieces.

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 first update is here!

The second update will have to wait until tonight.

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(End of this chapter)