Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 378 Rowena: It's urgent, very urgent; Salazar: Don't rush.

Rowena suddenly felt that this Christmas was not so wonderful at all.

He thought everyone was progressing at roughly the same pace in teaching the students, and that he was even far ahead of Helga. But when he looked back, he realized he had fallen behind! How could the proud Ravenclaw accept this?

Moreover, according to the information she swindled out, Helga's student had also touched the threshold of the domain, which was outrageous, considering how long she had only taken him in as a student.

Ravenclaw scanned her two old friends with a suspicious look, feeling that they were hiding something from her.

Otherwise, why would both of their students have reached the threshold of the field? If this is a coincidence, then it's too much of a coincidence, isn't it?

Realizing she had inadvertently revealed important information, Helga shut her mouth and began to seriously consider how to deal with Rowena's questioning.

It's like telling your roommate you're playing games all night during final exam week, only to be caught by them studying all night in the library.

Helga's expression betrayed her inner thoughts, and Rowena felt that her guess had been confirmed: the two of them were indeed hiding something from her!

At this moment, Rowena's spirit body changed from pure milky white to grayish white, and a sharp popping sound could be faintly heard in the surrounding air.

Rowena was genuinely angry!

She now felt like a naive student who had listened to her roommates' nonsense during finals week. She hadn't studied, intending to take the exam unprepared, only to discover the night before the exam that her roommate A had not only memorized her notes perfectly but had even borrowed notes from other top students; roommate B was even worse, having completed several past exam papers and obtained the professor's highlighted notes and mock exam questions through special channels—and these two kept telling her they'd been playing games all day!

"Oh, Helga," Rowena asked calmly, "how old are your students?"

Feeling a slight stinging sensation on her skin, Helga realized the seriousness of the problem. She immediately told Rowena that she had taken a fifth-year student from Hufflepuff as her apprentice.

"Oh, a fifth-year student..." Rowena narrowed her eyes. She was 100% certain that either Helga or Salazar had developed some kind of magic that could accelerate the awakening of a domain.

"Salazar, what about you? Have your two apprentices reached the threshold of the realm yet?" She then turned her attention to Rice.

"No, only Daphne has reached this level. Astoria still needs to work harder." Rice shook his head and answered Rowena's question truthfully.

Rowena raised an eyebrow; now she had her target.

Helga, it's you!

If Salazar had developed the new magic, he couldn't have taught it to only one student; that would be too obvious a bias. Salazar clearly wasn't that dissatisfied with a second student. Therefore, Helga found the new method and then taught it to Salazar, who, due to time constraints and limited preparation, only had time to teach it to one student.

Rowena felt she had figured out the whole story. She immediately turned around, floated in front of Helga, and congratulated her.

"Helga, congratulations!"

Helga felt the hairs on her arms stand on end. She forced a smile, indicating that there was nothing to congratulate her on.

"Domain magic has always been the most profound subject in the magical world. Countless wizards have made comprehending domains their life's ultimate pursuit. You are the first wizard I have ever seen who has achieved something in this area." Rowena murmured in an ethereal tone, while the sound of the wind in the background grew louder and louder.

Helga turned sharply to look at Salazar, her first thought being that Salazar had secretly told Rowena about her behind her back.

Rice waved his hands repeatedly, indicating that he had never mentioned this topic to her—and besides, do you really think your move has any special effects?

"Here's the thing..." After noticing that Rowena's mood was obviously a bit off, Rice quickly began to defend himself and Helga: "Helga's student did indeed touch the threshold of the field with Helga's help, but most of the credit should be attributed to that student's talent, which is indeed quite good."

Helga actually wanted to refute Salazar, but after catching a glimpse of Rowena, who had turned into a grayish-white spirit, she changed her mind.

As long as the old viper can appease the old raven, he can say whatever he wants!

Rice's words failed to gain Rowena's trust. She sneered and retorted, "So your apprentice is also exceptionally talented? I never imagined that a thousand years later, there would be so many gifted young wizards in the school."

"That's true, she really did just stare at the fireplace for a while before she woke up," Rice said through gritted teeth. "But that morning, I also used my own methods—I made a slight improvement on Helga's."

Then Rice introduced what he considered to be the correct teaching method.

"Helga's approach, while helping Diggory gain access to the domain, also stifled the student's potential, locking him into the Earth domain. My approach is different—"

"So your top student, who has fully unleashed his potential, has mastered the Magma Domain—is this domain stronger than your Water Domain?" Helga suddenly blurted out from the side.

She felt that the old viper was nitpicking and stifling potential. What field in the world had more potential than the Earth Realm? It was already the top-tier field!

Stifling potential means making someone who could get 90 points only get 60, while she ensures her students consistently get 100 points.

Rice's face turned red at a visible speed.

"Magma is also under my control." As he spoke, a small pool of magma actually appeared in Rice's palm. "Moreover, this composite realm of magma is not inferior to water or fire; they each have their own advantages and disadvantages—in my opinion, magma is even stronger than fire!"

Helga and Rowena both had strange expressions on their faces.

However, this interruption greatly reduced Rowena's anger. After Salazar persuaded Helga to share the experience she had gained, her anger vanished completely.

Starting a few days later isn't a big deal; after all, things like domains aren't something you can master overnight. Compared to that, Salazar had to work hard to get the good stuff, while I just asked for it—it's an absolute steal.

With a joyful heart, Rowena opened the notes Helga had given her, but after reading a few lines, her face fell: no matter how she looked at it, it seemed like a bunch of nonsense, like "As long as a person eats, they won't be hungry" and "Tomorrow's weather will either be above zero or below zero."

Salazar is right. Her efforts accounted for at most half of Helga's students' progress. What's even more infuriating is that, in her current state, unless Granger is taken to the dungeon, she can't even contribute that half of her efforts.

"Salazar, you..."

"I cut off a portion of my territory so that the two children could carry it with them," Rice generously shared his solution with Rowena.

In any case, if Rowena wants to reach his level, she still has a lot more work to do.

After hearing Salazar's plan, Rowena fell silent: this method seemed to place a bit too much demand on her. Moreover, her field was more offensive, making the compression much more difficult than Salazar's.

Neither of their solutions seemed to suit them very well.

It's like asking a friend how to get their child into Oxford. One answer is to buy the child a few study guides, while another says he donated 30 million pounds to the university. Neither of these is very realistic for me.

Rowena found it hard to believe that his students could have such extraordinary talent; the probability was extremely low.

Helga stood aside, having overheard everything, and was secretly excited: Salazar's method might be something she could consider? She had already tried compressing the field, but her student had already taken that step; would doing it again be ineffective?

"You two really surprised me; you came up with such a creative idea." After thinking about it for a while, Rowena praised her two old friends.

Rowena spoke casually, but she was anxious inside.

Putting aside the missing Gryffindor students, among the three, only her own students haven't grasped the basics of the field and are tied for last place. How could this not make her anxious?

When did Ravenclaw's student council become the worst? This is simply unacceptable.

So she decided to urge Granger on, to put some pressure on her. Lately, she'd been engrossed in the sandplay world and had neglected the child, which was her fault. But it's never too late to mend things; it wasn't too late to start guiding her into the realm of knowledge. Besides, if she remembered correctly, Granger possessed that…

Helga's move inadvertently spurred the other two founders to start teaching their students the field much earlier, which is hard to say whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.

Seeing Rowena's ever-changing expression, Rice had a bad feeling: this woman in front of him could be very troublesome when she got impatient, and might cause a big mess.

"Royna, you don't need to worry. There's no use rushing things like domains. I'm also struggling with Astoria's domain..."

"Yes, yes," Helga chimed in, afraid that Ravenclaw might do something rash.

Ravenclaw gave a soft "hmm" to indicate that he had taken it to heart.

"I plan to bring Granger to the dungeon and try Helga's method on her." Although she had promised her friends that she wouldn't rush things, Rowena still wanted to bring Hermione to the dungeon so that she could try awakening her domain there.

To be honest, Rice and Helga both really wanted to refuse, because this kind of place was hardly a good place for awakening. But based on their experience dealing with Ravenclaw, they also knew that if they didn't go through Rowena's suggestion, she would go alone and find another way to bypass them. That would only make things more complicated.

"Let us stay here with you; we're experienced." Helga wanted to add her own condition to the agreement, but Rowena rejected it without hesitation.

"No, you two are too proficient in the field, especially Salazar, who has just awakened for the second time. I'm afraid that the fluctuations you unintentionally emit will interfere with Granger."

Rowena's reasoning was somewhat far-fetched, but the meaning was clear: she didn't want her two old friends to interfere in Hermione's upbringing.

"Can't we use your private classroom? This place is under a seal after all," Rice said, making a final effort.

"The power I can project there right now is too weak. Unless you two find a way to get me out of here, I can't help Granger awaken in the private classroom."

This is Rowena's demand to "tear down the roof." The compromise-minded Helga and Reston immediately agreed to let Hermione enter the seal to try and awaken her powers.

It's easier to accept opening a skylight than tearing down the roof.

"You need to find the right balance," Rice said seriously. "If the seal breaks down... it will be very troublesome. The unresolved contamination is just a minor issue..."

"I know, I know, I understand." Rowena waved her hand, indicating that she understood the seriousness of the matter.

The atmosphere among the three seemed to have eased, and Rowena asked Rice to prepare several memory bubbles with different food flavors for her.

After chatting for a while and casually discussing the competition to be held next year, Rice and Helga emerged from their seal.

On the way back to the lounge, recalling how they had treated Rowena, Helga felt a pang of guilt. She couldn't help but ask, "Salazar, was it really right for us to treat Rowena like this? She is, after all,—"

"Think carefully about all the experiments she did back then, all the messes she made," Rice interrupted Helga, looking up at her. "Anyway, Dumbledore is the headmaster now, and you're a professor. If there are any problems, you'll be the ones cleaning up her messes. By the way, I'm currently a student, and what Rowena did has nothing to do with me."

Helga clicked her tongue, and the guilt she felt vanished instantly.

Rowena Ravenclaw, you should just stay locked up in the dungeon! It's for everyone's good...

When Rice returned to the lounge, it was already curfew time, and the students still on campus were already asleep, but Rice did not go to the dormitory to rest like the other students.

After a quick wash, he sat down by the fireplace in the common room and began reading the book Hermione had given him. Two and a half years had passed since he awoke, but he still hadn't given up his thirst for knowledge.

Over the course of nearly a thousand years, a vast amount of knowledge has emerged in both the magical and non-magical worlds, and Rice's attitude towards it has only one thing in common: an insatiable thirst for it.

At that moment, his eyes were firmly drawn to a concept proposed by the Muggles.

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.

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