Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 309 Helga: It's decided, I'll use dark magic on the students.

In the end, he quietly increased Professor White's salary by five gallons.

Although the increase may not seem like much, it's still 5% proportionally, which adds up to an extra 60 Galleons a year, making Hufflepuff very satisfied.

Dumbledore paid the price for his loose tongue. But looking at it from another angle, hiring a founder-level person to do your work for a year for less than two thousand Galleons is incredibly cost-effective. Organizations like the Secret Order, if they had the connections, would sell everything they own to hire someone for fifty years.

In other words, Dumbledore should be grateful that he can afford to spend this money; many people want to spend money but don't have the means to do so!

After fulfilling Professor White's request, Dumbledore began to seriously consider the content of the prophecy.

The first half of the prophecy was quite encouraging: Voldemort was currently in dire straits, abandoned by everyone. But the second half was much worse: he seemed poised to make a comeback, and this time he would be even more powerful.

Dumbledore was mentally prepared for Voldemort's return, so the focus of the entire prophecy was on Voldemort's change of identity and the rope that bound him in the prophecy, which might be hinting at something.

With his intelligence, Dumbledore understood after a little thought that Voldemort had most likely escaped by now, but at a price—he had become a "puppet" of another organization.

Calling him a puppet might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it's quite accurate to say he's fallen from being a "boss" to a "working person."

Thinking about it this way, the prophecy implies that some organization with ulterior motives has already resurrected Voldemort or is attempting to do so, and then plans to use him to accomplish some nefarious purposes.

Dumbledore remembered the organization he had encountered before, called the Secret Order.

He frowned: This feeling was terrible. He had thought Voldemort was the only enemy, but now it seemed Voldemort was just the beginning, and his time was running out.

A sense of urgency rose in Dumbledore's heart.

Helga, who was standing to the side, keenly noticed Dumbledore's change in mood, and took the opportunity to suggest further deregulation of the teaching content of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Helga had long disliked the current defenses against dark magic—the students had never even seen dark magic before, so how could they possibly defend against it? The students knew almost nothing about dark magic, so how were they supposed to defend against it?

Therefore, she believes that to defend against dark magic, you'd better know dark magic better than the dark wizard on the other side.

Unfortunately, her ideas clashed slightly with the mainstream thought in the contemporary wizarding world, making her work difficult. But Dumbledore's change of heart gave her an opportunity.

At this moment, after being persuaded by Professor White, Dumbledore's psychological defenses developed a small hole.

He began to seriously consider Professor White's suggestion and then realized that it might be the best approach: while he still had a few years left, he could cultivate a "golden generation" capable of standing on their own to face the challenges that would begin with Voldemort. Moreover, with him there, he could also effectively control Professor White's teaching content and prevent her from going too far.

He granted Professor White's request to loosen control over Defense Against the Dark Arts, but for most Dark spells, he still only allowed White to teach the theory and not students to practice casting spells—otherwise it would be large-scale teaching of Dark Magic.

Hufflepuff blinked. "Can I use dark magic on students?"

A question mark slowly appeared on Dumbledore's forehead: Professor White, do you want to hear what you're saying?!

Seeing that there seemed to be some misunderstanding, Helga quickly explained to Dumbledore that she only wanted to show the students what dark magic looked like, and that she would definitely not harm them, much less use the guise of teaching to abuse dark magic for fun.

Dumbledore thought there was some truth to what she said, so he allowed her to do so as long as it did not harm the students' physical or mental well-being.

After receiving Dumbledore's permission, Helga's lips curled into a smile: This is truly wonderful!

After finishing her business, Hufflepuff began to observe the headmaster's office, and then she saw the phoenix perched on a sycamore branch behind the door.

"Its name is Fawkes, and it's my friend," Dumbledore introduced his phoenix to her.

"A truly rare and magical creature. I never imagined you could gain the Phoenix's approval," Helga exclaimed in amazement.

The phoenix, such a powerful and magical creature, is almost impossible for any wizard to tame. Or rather, when they use the word "tame," they know they will never be able to tame a phoenix. Only by genuinely treating the phoenix as a friend and partner can one have even a slight chance of gaining its approval.

Dumbledore didn't respond, but it was clear from the spark of pleasure in his eyes that he was indeed happy about it.

Helga took two steps toward Fox, and the large, golden-red bird, which had been sleeping with its head buried in its wing, suddenly woke up and stared intently at her.

Dumbledore smiled. "It seems you haven't built trust with it yet. You're doing alright; Fawkes squawks loudly whenever it sees Mr. Ollivander."

Ollivander, the wand maker, only used three magical materials to make the wand cores. Unicorn tail hair and dragon heart nerves were relatively easy to obtain, but phoenix tail feathers could only be "purchased" from Dumbledore, which caused Fawkes to have many conflicts with him.

Looking at the phoenix before her, Helga inexplicably thought of her old friend Salazar.

His method of achieving immortality is similar to the phoenix's rebirth, only the time frame is much longer.

"Is the phoenix after its rebirth the original phoenix, or a new phoenix carrying the memories of the previous phoenix?" she couldn't help but ask.

Dumbledore thought about the question carefully, and then told Helga that he believed that Fawkes, after his rebirth, was still Fawkes.

"As long as the previous memories are inherited and the previous emotions are retained, it is the same phoenix. I believe that the core of humans and living beings is the soul, and the vessel of the soul is not so important. The soul is composed of fragments of memories."

Helga agreed with Dumbledore's words.

Before leaving the principal's office, she looked around at the portraits left by the principals of previous generations, but she didn't recognize anyone in them.

This is normal. Not every headmaster chooses to leave a portrait, especially in the early days of the school's founding. Many successors, like the founders, choose not to leave portraits or statues—the so-called founder portraits and statues that exist in Hogwarts today are all made by later generations based on their legendary appearances, and are far removed from their actual appearances.

Have you seen your principal?

"I've said it before, I never attended Hogwarts," Helga said, before leaving the headmaster's office.

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. Please wait a little longer for the second update, which will definitely be served before midnight tonight.

(End of this chapter)