Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 334 The Screaming Shack and Sirius

"The black magic detector from just now—?" Daphne looked at Rice, her eyes filled with suspicion. She had a feeling that the stick didn't seem to have malfunctioned midway.

"As that Auror lady said, it's broken," Rice replied.

In his view, the detector was indeed malfunctioning, forcibly classifying things that were not black magic items as black magic items. Wasn't that broken?

Following the route taken by the Thestrals at the start of the school year, Rice brought Daphne to Hogsmeade Village.

Today, Hogsmeade Village was bustling with activity due to the large number of Hogwarts students. To capitalize on this "overwhelming wealth," the merchants of Hogsmeade Village were working tirelessly. Not only were their shelves overflowing, but they were also stocking up on all sorts of new products, afraid of not being able to satisfy the students' bulging wallets and soaring consumer desires.

Daphne was visiting Hogsmeade for the first time. She stared wide-eyed, looking left and right, almost dazzled by the sight.

"Shall we go to Honeydukes first, then browse Joko's Joke Shop, and finally grab something to eat at Three Broomsticks? Are you interested in the most haunted house in England—the Screaming Shack?" After trying to look away from the shop windows, Daphne pulled out the plan she had prepared earlier and asked Rice what she thought.

Of all these shops, Rice was most interested in Honey Duke, which was said to have the world's best-selling magic candy and sell new products from major candy companies. He would never miss it.

The second place that interested him was the Screaming Shack. He really wanted to see what this so-called "most haunted" house that Daphne had mentioned was like.

There are indeed "ghosts" in the wizarding world, such as the banshees that roam Scotland and Ireland. If there really is such a thing in the Screaming Shack, then he'll have to carefully assess its threat to Hogwarts, as the banshee's screams are deadly.

"Shall we go check out the Shrieking Shack first?" After learning that there was such a magical place near Hogwarts, Rice decided to go check out the Shrieking Shack first.

"Okay." Daphne led Rice toward a slope.

The Screaming Shack sits a little higher than the other houses in the village, and all the windows are boarded up. Standing by the fence and looking into the garden, which is overgrown with weeds, coupled with the rumors surrounding the Screaming Shack, anyone standing here would feel a chill run down their spine.

"It's said that there are very vicious ghosts here, and even the ghosts of Hogwarts don't come here. Nick, who almost lost his head, told me that he heard there's a group of very violent people living here." Daphne couldn't help but shudder as she glanced at the desolate garden.

The unknown is the greatest source of fear. If you told Daphne that a giant lived there, or even that there was a fire dragon inside, it would be difficult to arouse her fear.

But it was precisely this ethereal "ghost" that could frighten her.

Rice carefully examined the small wooden house in front of him but did not see any signs of life. The surrounding houses and screaming shacks were kept at a sufficient distance, so there was no need to worry about the female ghost causing harm to the nearby residents.

"Why don't we go in and take a look?" Rice had this thought in his mind and quickly put it into action.

"Hey!!!" Daphne felt her scalp tingle when she saw Rice enter the screaming shed area on her own.

She didn't really want to go in, but being left outside alone was even scarier, so she followed Rice nervously into the garden of the Screaming Shack.

"Don't worry, there are no dark creatures, magical animals, or curses here. This is just an ordinary, abandoned cabin." Rice sensed the fear in Daphne's heart and took the initiative to comfort her.

"Really? But—" Daphne wanted to tell Rice the rumors she had heard, but Rice interrupted her.

"Everything about the Screaming Shack is just hearsay." Rice turned to Daphne. "What you've seen is the truth. Tell me, have you noticed anything unusual here? I'll ask you another question: what could possibly keep this so-called ghost lingering in this shabby little shack for decades?"

Daphne was speechless; she couldn't answer either of the two questions.

After a while, she remembered the seals beneath the school and quickly asked, "Could they be like the seals in the dungeon? Someone sealed a group of evil spirits in this wooden house...?"

Rice: ...

Thank you, Daphne. You single-handedly lowered the prestige of all four of us.

"No, I didn't sense any sealing magic here. All I felt was—" Rice patted the wooden board on the window and said, "Just a few ordinary, common spells."

"Anti-lock spell, permanent adhesive spell, and spells to reinforce the wooden boards, tsk tsk, the person who sealed the windows of this room obviously doesn't want people outside to come in, nor does he want people inside to come out." He carefully sensed the spells on the wooden boards and pointed out the spells attached to the screaming shed as if they were his own treasures.

Daphne blinked: After Rice's explanation, this place doesn't seem so scary anymore.

"Are all these spells meant to imprison someone?"

"Then why is there only 'ghostly screams' and no cries for help?"

"Perhaps they were drugged, or there's some kind of magical interference in the surroundings?"

Rice and Daphne tried to analyze what might have happened back then, but there were too few clues, and the two of them couldn't come to a conclusion.

"Let's go in and take a look." Rice drew his wand, aimed it at the ground, and quickly dug a very deep U-shaped pit. He used the pit to bypass the defenses on the walls and windows, and went straight into the Screaming Shack.

boom!

Rice lifted a floorboard, waved his wand to clear away the dust, and then leaped into the Screaming Shack.

Once inside, he carefully examined the surroundings and realized that this was exactly what a long-abandoned house should look like. The furniture was covered in dust, and most of it was damaged, suggesting that the person who had lived here before had a terrible temper.

"Huh?" Rice noticed something was wrong. He bent down and carefully examined a claw mark left on the foot of the bed.

The marks looked like wolf claw marks, and a bold guess formed in Rice's mind.

Rice wandered around the house again and then discovered a secret passage that led to an unknown destination.

"Things are getting more and more interesting." He went straight into the tunnel and walked forward. Daphne followed behind him, entering the narrow secret passage together.

The tunnel was extremely long and winding. After walking for a long time, a faint ray of light finally appeared ahead.

Rice had barely emerged from the tunnel and hadn't even had a chance to breathe in the fresh air when he heard a loud bang as if the air had been torn apart.

Now he knew where the secret passage ended.

After swiftly dodging the Whomping Willow's attack, Rice retreated back into the tunnel.

He knew how to deal with this rare and magical creature; all he needed to do was find a scar on a tree root, poke it, and it would return to calm. But before Rice could act, the sound of the Whomping Willow outside suddenly disappeared. Immediately afterward, a huge, sleek black dog rushed into the tunnel.

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.

Hahaha, an update is here!

This update is really fresh, everyone should check it out!

The next update will be tonight.

(End of this chapter)