Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 298 Hermione's Little Secret

Seeing the dream monster vanish into thin air, Rice breathed a sigh of relief: the sooner you discover this kind of monster, the easier it is to deal with. Now he can finally get a good night's sleep.

The moment the nightmare was destroyed, Rice also woke up from his dream. The dormitory was still the same as before, with Crabbe and Goyle snoring in turn.

Rice also noticed that the spells he had cast were not working, but he didn't pay much attention to it. This was normal. When the caster's state is disturbed, it is normal for spells to become unstable or even fail.

After casting a few more spells, he lay down on the bed and drifted off to sleep for the third time. This time, he finally didn't have any strange dreams.

When Rice woke up, she felt refreshed and clear-headed, as if the events of the previous night had only happened in a dream.

But after he got out of his four-poster bed, Theodore Nott—Rice's rather unassuming roommate—approached him and asked mysteriously, "Rice, did you dream about attending a party last night?"

Rice: ? ? ?

Seeing Rice looking at him with a surprised expression, Nott quickly explained, "I got up in the middle of the night and heard you muttering something about 'Homage to the great Slytherin,' and you said it several times. What were you dreaming about?"

Rice: %#&*

His face visibly turned red.

Nott wanted to ask anything more, but when he looked up, he seemed to see the sun, and he immediately felt that it was better not to ask any more questions—perhaps it was just his imagination, but he even felt that the temperature in the dormitory had risen.

He quickly made up an excuse and slipped out of the dormitory.

Rice took several deep breaths, trying to calm himself down and suppress the urge to cast a forgetting spell on Nott.

Composing herself, Rice walked into the common room and saw Daphne and Astoria huddled together. The two were chatting by the fireplace, each holding a cup of hot chocolate.

Upon seeing Rice appear, Daphne instinctively raised her glass to greet Rice, instantly triggering all of Rice's unpleasant memories.

"Put the cup down, and we can have a proper chat." Rice rubbed his throbbing temples, telling Daphne to stop.

"Okay." Daphne, who was completely unaware of what was going on, obediently put down her cup. She had no idea what had happened, but she could tell that Rice seemed to be in a bad mood.

"What's wrong? You don't look like you slept well?" Astoria asked curiously.

"Hmm, I had a few nightmares." Rice didn't dwell on the topic, but instead took out her timetable and looked at today's class schedule.

"Ancient languages ​​like Nietzsche and Muggle studies—I'm really looking forward to these two classes this morning." Rice was very interested in the elective courses offered by Hogwarts, and he was determined to attend those two classes this morning.

"Let's go to the ancient rune classroom." Rice had originally planned to have a hearty breakfast in the Great Hall first, but the thought of possibly seeing Hufflepuff's face there made him lose his appetite.

He didn't want to see his old friend anytime soon.

"Aren't you going to have breakfast first?" Daphne's sense of unease intensified: What's wrong with Rice? She doesn't even want to eat breakfast?

Was ancient runes really that appealing to him? More attractive than crème brûlée or cream cake?

"A little chocolate will do." Rice pulled out a box of chocolate frogs from his pocket, and was surprised to find that the picture inside was of Helga Hufflepuff.

Rice: ...

What a wretched and tragic fate!

He doesn't even want to eat chocolate anymore.

As they reached the lobby on the first floor, a figure rushed into the auditorium. Rice recognized her by her messy brown hair: Hermione Granger. It seemed she wanted to finish breakfast quickly and get to class.

"So proactive!" Rice exclaimed, he had never seen such a studious student before.

Daphne glanced at Rice, thinking to herself, "You're much more proactive than her. She's making the most of her time to eat breakfast, while you don't even bother to eat breakfast!"

The two quickly arrived outside the ancient runic classroom. When they pushed open the door, Rice and Daphne were both taken aback: there was already someone in the classroom, and the person sitting in the front row, previewing the textbook, was Hermione.

"Good morning." Hermione greeted Rice and Daphne as they entered.

"When did you get up here?" Daphne blinked, as if she couldn't believe her eyes.

Hermione paused for a moment, then told them that she had just arrived as well.

Daphne's eyes still held a hint of suspicion: "You said you just arrived, so how did you get past the two of us? We came straight from the auditorium to the classroom!"

Rice looked at Hermione thoughtfully, then suddenly asked her a question: "How many courses did you sign up for this semester?"

Hermione's gaze darted away, and she stammered that it should be similar to what Rice reported, because she kept running into Rice during her elective classes these past few days.

"Let me see your schedule." Rice walked quickly to Hermione's side, insisting on seeing her schedule.

The girl had a vague feeling that something was wrong: Rice seemed to have discovered something.

In that case, she was even less likely to let Rice see her textbooks. He was very smart and knew a lot. If he saw her unusual timetable, he might be able to guess some things he shouldn't know.

She reluctantly refused Rice's request, telling him that she had left her schedule in the lounge.

"Okay." To Hermione's relief, Rice didn't insist. He just gave Hermione a meaningful look and told her that she must abide by the rules and never think that just because she's smart, she can manipulate them at will.

Hermione lowered her head, a feeling creeping into her mind that her secret might have been discovered by Rice. At the same time, she thought to herself: when it comes to breaking the rules, how could I possibly be as bad as Daphne?

She remembered clearly the sudden coma curse that struck her last semester.

If Rice knew what Hermione was thinking, she would surely tell her earnestly: Daphne is different; she mostly breaks harmless things like school rules. She's like a fire dragon; even if she ravages the sky, she'll only burn down a few forests and leave a few craters in the ground. But someone like you, trained by Rowena Ravenclaw, is much more dangerous and could very well cause a huge mess.

In other words, the smarter a person is, the bigger the mess they make. Daphne is unlikely to cause any major trouble—she's perfectly healthy and won't be driven to death by anger.

After giving Hermione his instructions, Rice led a bewildered Daphne to the other side of the classroom and found a more comfortable spot to sit down.

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.

Update delivered, next update will be a little later.

(End of this chapter)