Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 342 Making Hogwarts the World's Number One Magical School

Henry wore a bitter smile: Lord Slytherin had made his point very clear, and he had no room to refuse.

Do you really think a wizard of this caliber would haggle with you? Everything he has, everything his daughter has, comes from this person before him; the consequences of angering him are unbearable. Besides, the position of Director of the International Department of Magical Cooperation is one that many would kill for; he only declined because he was lazy.

Rice's reason for wanting to push Henry into the position of Director of the International Department of Magical Cooperation is for the sake of next year's Triwizard Tournament, which is related to his and his friends' dreams.

They originally wanted to build the world's number one magic school!

But what defines the world's best? Muggles have the QS World University Rankings, but wizards don't. And such rankings aren't universally accepted—it's difficult to definitively say which is better among Harvard, MIT, Oxford, and Cambridge, and Hogwarts would certainly be penalized heavily for its Defense Against the Dark Arts.

If we rely on the reputation among wizards themselves, it's difficult to determine which is better. Each region will believe that the magic school in its own region is the best.

The only school Hogwarts can truly claim in terms of reputation is probably Hogwarts North America, Ilfamori. After all, this school truly originated from Hogwarts, giving Hogwarts a natural advantage.

Rice figured that since they couldn't determine a winner, they might as well have a large-scale competition. Any school or educational institution could send its students to Hogwarts to participate until a winner was decided.

And to avoid some guys calling it a "victory of geniuses," Rice doesn't plan to limit the number of participants—if the top three are all taken by Hogwarts, it can't be said that they won because of geniuses, right?

If other schools disagree, Hogwarts will also accept competitions between professors to prove that Hogwarts has the strongest faculty. After all, with Dumbledore and Hufflepuff in charge, no matter how many people come, it's all for naught.

Rice hopes to use next year's competition to solidify Hogwarts' position among the world's magic schools. It's no fun being the king of the three European schools; we're going to be number one in the world.

Of course, Mr. Henry will have to work twice as hard to realize these ideas. This is also why Rice wanted him to be the head of the International Department of Magical Cooperation. The realization of this competition requires the efforts of the International Department of Magical Cooperation.

However, if Henry truly disagrees, Rice won't force him. The planned competition requires a significant amount of work and genuine commitment from those in charge. In Rice's view, perhaps only Henry is capable of handling this. If Henry is unwilling to take on the task, the plan will likely have to be shelved.

"I will talk to Burns." Henry finally gave in and agreed to Rice's request.

"Very good." Rice was very happy to see that Henry was willing to put in the effort.

"After you take office..." Rice shared his ideas with Henry, letting him understand the heavy responsibility he was carrying.

"I see!" Henry slapped his thigh. Now he finally understood why Lord Slytherin was so insistent on interfering in the Triwizard Tournament—because the tournament was linked to Hogwarts' status!

As the founder of the school, he could not resist the temptation.

"It's also an extremely valuable experience for the students," Rice added before Mr. Henry left.

Mr. Henry nodded, indicating that he understood. He knew that his two daughters were likely to participate, but he had confidence in them.

Watching Mr. Henry disappear through the door, Rice, who was getting thirsty from talking too much, picked up his teacup again and took a sip of tea that was now almost at room temperature.

Then he frowned again. He had thought that being thirsty would make the tea taste better, but it was still hard to swallow. He really didn't know why Henry was so insistent on choosing this place as the meeting point.

After explaining the next steps to Henry, Rice got up and left the teahouse to return to school. He wanted to hurry up and meet with Helga and Rowena.

Half an hour later, deep within the Hogwarts dungeons

"So Salazar, what brings you here all of a sudden? I haven't finished grading the kids' homework yet!" Hufflepuff said, slightly annoyed. Unlike some old viper who had nothing better to do than order his students around to do his homework.

She's very busy!

Ravenclaw also scrutinized her old friends with curious eyes. She knew her two old friends well enough to know that they would most likely not come to her unless there was a reason.

Faced with urging from her two old friends, Rice calmly asked them a question: "Do you know about the Triwizard Tournament?"

People living in the 10th century would naturally not have heard of the Triwizard Tournament, which only began in the 13th century. Rice also gave the two a brief introduction to the rules of the Triwizard Tournament.

When Helga and Rowena learned that this was a competition between "the three oldest magic schools in Europe," their eyes lit up.

Like Rice, they were very interested in this kind of competition.

Then Rowena keenly noticed a problem: each school could only have one warrior.

Her eyes sharpened instantly. She naturally hoped that her students could represent Hogwarts in the competition, and Salazar's two apprentices would be a hindrance—Helgar, who didn't even have any apprentices at the moment, was completely disregarded by her.

"However, I think it's a bit stingy to only involve three schools, and it's also a bit unreasonable to only have one warrior slot per school..." Fortunately, Salazar's next sentence diverted Rowena's attention, otherwise she really wouldn't have been able to suppress the ideas that popped into her head.

After hearing about Rice's plan and the efforts he had made to achieve it, Helga and Rowena applauded him.

"Salvazar, well done!"

"Excellent plan!"

Both of them praised Rice's idea.

The idea of ​​"making Hogwarts the world's number one magic school" was also very appealing to them—it was a shared dream of the four of them.

"Is there anything we can do to help you?" Helga asked eagerly.

This concerned the honor of Hogwarts, and she couldn't let Salazar fight this battle alone. Since Salazar had come up with the idea and placed his people in the Ministry of Magic to advance it, Helga felt she couldn't stand idly by either.

"Go and try to persuade Dumbledore. Hogwarts is the organizer of the tournament, and Dumbledore's attitude is very important." Rice assigned the most important task to Helga.

"No problem!" Helga replied enthusiastically.

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.

This is the first update. The next update will be tonight, so please read it in the morning!

(End of this chapter)