Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 300 Helga's Resolve (Part 2)

After giving a brief demonstration of runes, Rice and Daphne headed to the classroom for Muggle studies.

Sure enough, they ran into Hermione again in the new classroom—Rice was shocked. He couldn't understand why Hermione, a student from a perfectly Muggle family, would be taking Muggle Studies at Hogwarts. It was as abstract as a British student taking English in a French school—a pure waste of time.

Perhaps her only use is to get a perfect score? But Hermione doesn't seem like that kind of person at all.

"How did you end up here?"

Hermione seemed to have anticipated Rice's confusion. She told Rice that she wanted to see the non-magical world from the wizarding world's perspective, to see how wizards "studied" Muggles.

Rice: ...

Fortunately, you arrived a few hundred years too late. A few centuries ago, wizards might have actually brought in a Muggle for "research." Wizards are much more lenient these days.

Muggle studies is a relatively new subject. Wizards a thousand years ago didn't need to study Muggles at all, because they lived among them, and the lines between the magical and non-magical worlds were quite blurred. It was only after the Statute of Secrets was enacted and implemented for some time that wizards began to need to study Muggles.

Few students were willing to attend the Muggle Studies class, for a very simple reason: Muggle-born wizards and half-blood wizards didn't need to take it—Hogwarts didn't have much academic pressure, and they knew that Muggle students taking the class would only be creating trouble for themselves. Pure-blood wizards, on the other hand, disdained the class, feeling that there was nothing worth studying about Muggles. As a result, even as class approached, the number of students in the classroom didn't reach double digits.

The professor teaching Muggle Studies was Kerridine Bubbaggie. Upon entering the classroom, she wasn't disappointed by the sparse number of students; rather, she was somewhat surprised: there were actually several more students enrolled in the course this year than in previous years!

Yes, in previous years, it was difficult to gather five students to take the Muggle Studies elective, but this year the number almost exceeded ten, which is quite an improvement.

Professor Bubbaje, now in high spirits, began his lesson with great enthusiasm.

Unlike Professor Bubbaji, who was quite enthusiastic on stage, Rice was greatly disappointed with her Muggle research. In his opinion, it didn't count as research at all; it was more like modern Muggle research.

The course material is significantly out of touch with real Muggle society. It's clear that Professor Bubbage is trying hard to include up-to-date content in her course, but because she herself lacks a comprehensive understanding of Muggle society, her Muggle research is somewhat like the blind men and the elephant.

When the bell rang, Rice couldn't help but sigh: he had wasted another class period. He could have spent that time sneaking into the kitchen to eat desserts more meaningfully than attending class.

This course won't help him understand Muggles. The real way to understand Muggles is probably to live in Muggle society for a period of time like a real Muggle. But that's unrealistic for Hogwarts students.

The Ministry of Magic has never truly valued Muggle studies; the fact that their textbooks are half a century outdated demonstrates just how perfunctory they've been in this field. But the magical world has reached a point where it absolutely must understand Muggles…

The changes among Muggles were happening so fast that it alarmed Rice.

In the presence of Muggles, the modern magical world can only try to erase its existence, making itself undetectable to them. If wizards and Muggles were to engage in direct combat, the wizards' fate would be the same: any wizards who dared to resist would be killed, and the surviving wizards would be divided into two groups. One group would be enslaved by Muggles like house-elves, while the other group would completely betray the magical world, serving the Muggle elites and overseeing the enslaved wizards.

This is still a relatively optimistic estimate; the pessimistic view is that all wizards will be wiped out.

Of course, this doesn't include him, Rowena, Helga, and other old-timers. Including the three of them, both sides could suffer heavy losses; Rice was confident of that.

However, none of the three are truly immortal; they too will age. Helga is already in her twilight years, and Rowena's movements are restricted. In other words, the magical world is declining, while Muggles are thriving. If this continues, the future of wizards is extremely worrying.

Rice felt that the last few decades might be the wizarding world's last chance, and that he and his friends might need to do something.

"Want to eat?" Daphne yawned and waved her hand in front of Rice, snapping him out of his daze.

"Eat," Rice replied briefly.

After a morning of rest, he had gradually forgotten the scenes from last night's dream and was now able to face Helga's face.

When Rice arrived at the auditorium, it was already packed with students. She noticed Hufflepuff sitting in the faculty section, chatting animatedly with several other professors. As Rice entered, she glanced at her and gave her a warm smile.

Rice ignored her and went to the dining table, grabbed a plate full of food, and wolfed it down—he was starving because he hadn't eaten breakfast.

After finishing the food on his plate, Rice stood up, preparing to leave the hall, when he suddenly heard Helga's voice: "Wait a moment, shall we find somewhere to talk?"

Rice acted as if nothing had happened and turned to walk out of the auditorium.

"I need to seriously consider whether we should give a toast tonight—a toast to a great wizard who invented a spell that can 'completely eliminate werewolves,' is that too much to ask?"

Rice stopped, took two deep breaths, and tried to calm himself down.

He turned and told Daphne to go back to the lounge first, and he would catch up with her in a little while. After giving his instructions, he left the Great Hall and found an empty classroom to wait for Hufflepuff's arrival.

Less than two minutes later, the classroom door was pushed open, and Hufflepuff walked in.

"How was it? Did you sleep well?" The smile on her face made Rice want to pull out her wand and fight her.

"That's great! I only woke up twice in the middle." Rice's voice was squeezed out through clenched teeth.

"Your reaction is a bit slow. You only realized something was wrong on the second time you entered the dream?" Hufflepuff asked with a slightly surprised tone.

Rice: ...

"I used a forgetting spell to erase my memory of the dinner party."

"That's not surprising." Hufflepuff had a look of sudden realization on his face, and then asked Rice, "How come your mind has become so fragile that you couldn't even withstand the slightest disturbance?"

Two consecutive, poignant questions left Rice speechless.

He could only awkwardly change the subject: "The idea that I invented the Restore to Human Form Charm is a fabrication by outsiders and has nothing to do with me."

"I don't care about this anymore." Hufflepuff waved her hand: she had already punished Salazar with the succubus, so it was over—at least on her end. As for what Rowena thought, that was beyond her control.

"So where did you get that dream monster?" What others considered a dangerous dream monster was just a prank to Rice and his friends.

But Rice still needed to know the origin of that dreavus, because he didn't recall such a creature still existing in the current magical world. However, if Helga had brought it with her to this era, he could rest assured.

"I found it by chance in the Forbidden Forest and caught it on a whim," Helga replied casually. In her eyes, it was just an ordinary dream monster, and she didn't know why her old friend was so insistent on knowing its origin.

Rice's expression darkened slightly: Helga had given him an answer he didn't want to hear.

The sudden reappearance of dreavus, dark creatures that had supposedly vanished, in the Forbidden Forest could be due to three possibilities. First, some experiment conducted by Rowena in the dungeon could have caused the dreavus to escape from its seal. Second, the Secret Order might be up to something again. Third, this dreavus might be a native of the Forbidden Forest who encountered Helga by chance and was captured by her.

Reston felt a headache coming on. He hoped for the first scenario, so he would only need to lecture Rowena.

The second option is not unacceptable either, since he doesn't believe that the Secret Cult could possess a large number of rare dark creatures like Dream Demons.

The third scenario is quite tricky, indicating that "wild" Dream Eaters can actually be generated in the outside world. No one knows if there's only one of these, which immediately complicates the issue significantly.

The most annoying thing is that after ruling out the first case, it's impossible to distinguish between the second and third cases.

"What's wrong?" Hufflepuff asked, noticing his friend's strange expression.

Rice shared her deductions with Hufflepuff, making her understand that drowsy creatures shouldn't exist in the modern magical world.

After listening, Hufflepuff's first question was: What is the Secret Society?

"A hidden organization is collecting the corpses of gods and using them to gain immense power—the elite members even possess domains. Besides divine remains, they also collect all sorts of antiques. I found your whereabouts through a cup in their collection."

Hufflepuff clicked his tongue: "You really do encounter all sorts of things when you live long enough. I never thought those barbarians' gods would be of such use."

Rice also shook his head. After the great war, the handling of the remaining divine corpses was indeed not perfect, which led to the emergence of the Secret Order, a remnant of the gods, a thousand years later.

But they had no choice. Unlike ordinary corpses that could be destroyed by digging a hole and setting a fire, the remains of gods contained divine power. The best way to deal with them was to dispose of what could be disposed of first, and then let the power in the remains dissipate little by little over time, or to turn them into various magical items—they had already dealt with the most dangerous parts in this way.

Who would have thought that a secret society would emerge and use those remnants to cause trouble?

Helga suddenly realized that there were actually individuals within the Secret Order who had comprehended a domain? Given the extent of the decline of the modern magical world, modern wizards probably really wouldn't be able to handle this organization.

"But we're still here! If I hadn't chosen to go back to school after waking up, I might have already taken care of them. With me here, they can't cause any trouble."

Hufflepuff wholeheartedly agreed. In the end, the Secret Order was nothing more than a bunch of ghouls who drew power from the remnants of gods. They weren't even afraid of the real gods back then, so why would they be afraid of these things? Perhaps some of the best among them had comprehended domains, but so what? There are differences between domains.

"Once I graduate from Hogwarts, I'll be almost fully recovered, and then I'll deal with them. I should thank these people for speeding up the process of dealing with the divine remains."

Helga laughed too: Indeed, the monks of the Secret Order are drawing power from the divine remains every day, which is really accelerating the harmless disposal of the divine remains.

They sacrificed their lives to transform pieces of divine remains into raw materials for magical artifacts; Helga really wanted to give them a little red flower.

Through Rice's explanation, Helga gained a general understanding of the so-called secret society.

"I don't think it's likely a Secret Order tactic. If they can get a drowsy demon into Hogwarts, why not just send it straight to the castle?"

Rice thought about it and realized that Helga's words made sense, so only the worst-case scenario remained.

"That makes things even more complicated. Dream monsters don't belong to this era... Helga, you should know what I mean."

The appearance of a dream demon was a very bad omen, and Hufflepuff lowered his head and remained silent, the classroom falling into silence.

"It doesn't matter, we're still here. Nothing can stop us. If any more enemies appear, we'll just take them out." Hufflepuff raised his head, his mood returning to normal. "Can you still get the Philosopher's Stone?"

Rice glanced at her.

"The Philosopher's Stone makes an elixir of immortality, not an elixir of eternal youth."

"I know."

"..."

Rice hesitated for a moment, then told Helga that only Nicolas Flamel knew how to make Philosopher's Stones, but he could try to reverse engineer them and see if he could replicate them.

"That's enough." Helga had made her decision. She would continue to consume the Philosopher's Stone until she completed her mission, should Salazar be able to be replicated.

The atmosphere in the empty classroom was somewhat oppressive, and Rice and Helga were both trying to compose themselves.

After a moment, Rice smiled and said, "Don't overthink it. Maybe it's Rowena who's up to something. She's the kind of person who would do something like this."

Hufflepuff burst out laughing: Salazar was right, this is exactly the kind of thing Rowena would do.

"Want to go down and meet her?" Rice offered a suggestion.

He had assumed Helga would agree without hesitation, but to his surprise, she hesitated for a moment.

"I get a little nervous just thinking about seeing her. Maybe I need to prepare myself mentally." Helga seemed rather hesitant.

"Why are you nervous? She definitely wants to see you again too!"

Hufflepuff glanced at Rice: Don't you know why I'm nervous?

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.

A combined 4,000-word chapter!

The next update will be at midnight.

I got a portrait of the four founders; it seems to be from a foreign fan art piece.

(End of this chapter)