Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 380 Pushing Open the Door to a New World

"Hermione, wait a minute!" Rice called out to Hermione, who was walking briskly, intending to have a good chat with this little girl from a Muggle family.

"Is there something you need?" Hermione stopped and turned around to look at Rice with a questioning gaze.

"I'd like to ask you about a rather unusual concept. Have you heard of the Internet?" Rice told Hermione about the Internet, which he had read about in the Encyclopedia Britannica.

The little girl blinked: it was the first time she had ever met a wizard outside the Weasley family who was so interested in Muggle inventions.

"We can talk about it sometime." She agreed to show Rice the novelty.

"That's wonderful!" Rice replied happily.

The next morning, after breakfast, Hermione went to the long table in Slytherin House.

"Do you have class this morning? If not, how about we go to the library together?" Hermione approached, naturally intending to discuss the internet with Rice.

Rice looked up and gave her a rather strange look.

Hermione's appearance also caught the attention of Daphne and Astoria, who were both extremely curious as to why this Ravenclaw brown-haired girl would come here to invite Rice to go to the library with him.

The two had indeed interacted with Hermione a few times before, so they weren't exactly strangers. However, since the start of the new school year, the frequency of her contact with them had decreased significantly, which caused them to distance themselves from her.

"Okay, let's go. We don't have classes this morning." Rice recalled his schedule and realized that he did indeed have "no classes" this morning. So he accepted Hermione's invitation and planned to go to the library with her to discuss the "advanced" inventions of the Muggles.

Upon hearing Rice's answer, Daphne and Astoria exchanged a glance, their curiosity fully piqued.

Rice and Hermione exchanged a few words, and after confirming that the other had time, Rice left the Great Hall. Daphne and Astoria hesitated, unsure whether they should follow to see what was going on—in fact, Rice would not object to them going; such changes outside the magical world should be known to more people.

Just as the two were hesitating, Malfoy appeared. He glanced around furtively, and seeing that there were few people around and that Rhys Lint had left, he decisively approached.

"Hi, Daphne!" He pretended to be very casual and sat down next to Daphne.

Upon seeing that the visitor was Malfoy, Daphne's face immediately darkened, and she asked impatiently, "What is it?"

Before the holiday, Malfoy had boasted to his friends that he would convince his father to buy him a fire crossbow. However, he did not expect that while he could convince his father, he would fail to convince his mother.

Having been vetoed, he could no longer obtain the Firebolt from his parents. If he returned empty-handed, he would surely be ridiculed by his friends. More importantly, he had no Firebolt, while Potter and Diggory did. Undoubtedly, he would be at a disadvantage in their competition.

If this led to the team's defeat in the game, it would be a disastrous consequence. So even though Malfoy could sense Daphne's rejection of him, he still forced himself to ask, "Um... I heard you have a spare fire crossbow..."

At this point, he was truly seeing stars.

Unused fire crossbow bolts! This is practically a crime! Why would Professor Flitwick do this? Giving such a wonderful broom to someone who can't fly, letting the world's most advanced broom lie gathering dust among cold broomsticks, gradually becoming obsolete over time...

Malfoy genuinely disapproved of this behavior, feeling it was a terrible waste.

"Impossible. I won't lend it." Daphne understood Malfoy's intentions after hearing only the first half of his words.

Even if she had no prejudice against Malfoy and others, she wouldn't want to lend her broom to a boy; the thought alone made her feel disgusted.

"Why?" Malfoy was surprised to be rejected so directly; he had even planned to offer some benefits. "I won't lend it for free; I'll pay—Daphne, for Slytherin's sake, just rent me the broom. With Firebolt, our chances of winning the Quidditch Cup are much greater, and the Quidditch Cup carries a lot of weight in the House Cup competition. This isn't just about me; it's about the honor of the house."

Daphne's eyebrows stood up.

It would have been better if the House hadn't been mentioned; the mere mention of Slytherin only fueled her anger.

Protecting Slytherin's honor? You think you're worthy?! Your leaving the house is the best way to protect Slytherin's honor.

"Are you trying to use the academy to pressure me?" Daphne asked, suppressing her anger and staring into Malfoy's eyes.

Malfoy looked away, avoiding her gaze, but his mouth didn't stop: "That's not what I meant, but the lack of Firebolts does have a significant impact on the game. I believe a true Slytherin with the Slytherin spirit would not stand idly by at this time."

Daphne's anger intensified.

"Ha! What a true Slytherin! A true Slytherin would never lend a broom to a bunch of clowns like you who don't train hard and expect to turn things around before a match! Malfoy, listen up, you're the last person who has the right to discuss the Slytherin spirit with me. If Salazar Slytherin were alive, the first person he'd expel would be someone like you!"

Daphne's voice was loud, drawing frequent glances from those around her, and Malfoy's face flushed red at a visible speed.

He abruptly stood up from his seat, took two steps back, and then said to Daphne in a low, furious voice, "Even if Slytherin were to come back to life, he wouldn't have the right to expel me! If he wants to expel a student, he'll have to get past the school board first!"

After saying that, Malfoy ran away quickly, afraid that Daphne would realize what was happening and chase after him to give him a good beating.

Daphne did want to give him a really vicious curse, but Astoria stopped her—doing it in the Great Hall would be too conspicuous and would definitely get him locked up. If her sister was really unhappy with him, she could punish him at another time and place.

"He got off too easy." Daphne said bitterly as she watched Malfoy's departing figure.

She suddenly remembered something and turned to her sister: "I remember the Ravenclaw Quidditch Seeker was that Cho?"

"Yes." Astoria also remembered the name her sister mentioned; it was a Ravenclaw fourth-year student who was very beautiful.

"I've made up my mind." A resolute look appeared on Daphne's face. "I'll lend that broom to Cho Chang free of charge."

Astoria raised an eyebrow but did not object.

The broom is my sister's personal property, and she is free to do whatever she wants with it.

As for Daphne, she felt that she was happy to do anything that would annoy Malfoy.

Inside the library, Rice and Hermione had already found a table and sat down.

"I don't know much about the internet either," Hermione said frankly, admitting that she only had a superficial understanding of this novel gadget, knowing only that her father's clinic used it to receive appointment emails.

"The Internet connects computers—it's a virtual connection, somewhat like a Filo network, except the fireplace is replaced by computers. Information is sent to the other end like someone jumping into the fireplace; conversely, this sent information can also be intercepted en route..."

Hermione's words gave Rice a deeper understanding of the Internet.

"Through the internet, patients can more easily schedule dental appointments—of course, calling is still the primary method. You should know what a telephone is, right?"

Rice nodded. Although he didn't fully understand the underlying principles, he knew that telephones were devices used by Muggles for long-distance communication and that he knew how to use them.

"How does the Internet achieve all this?" Rice asked, puzzled. He wanted to understand the principles of the Internet and then try to replicate it at Hogwarts.

Hermione shook her head. This question was far too advanced for a fourteen-year-old girl, especially since she had devoted most of her energy to studying magic in recent years.

"Maybe it works on the same principle as a telephone?" she said uncertainly to Rice.

Rice: "So, how does a telephone work?"

Hermione: ...

She thought for a moment and told Rice that sound is transmitted through vibration. You connect two cups with a thin thread, then taut the thread. After that, even if two people are tens of meters apart, they can talk to each other through the cups.

Rice: !

He felt that Hermione had opened a door to a new world for him.

"Of course, modern telephones don't rely on these methods to transmit sound. They use electricity—I read in a book during my vacation that vibrations convert sound waves into electrical signals, which are then transmitted through the telephone line and eventually converted back into vibrations, thus reproducing the sound."

Rice: ...

"Excuse me, could you repeat that?" He felt like he had only taken one extra breath and couldn't understand what Hermione was saying anymore.

Hermione patiently spent about half an hour explaining the underlying principles to Rice.

"Amazing!" Rice only knew that lightning could cause great damage, but he never expected that it contained such amazing knowledge.

How did Muggles manage to do that?! How did they even come up with this knowledge? It's not just about the use of electricity, but also the methods of storing it. If only I could store magic in some medium like the Muggles store electricity in batteries…

Novel ideas bubbled up like the effervescence of champagne, swirling in Rice's mind.

This is the effect of being exposed to the wisdom accumulated by Muggles over thousands of years. Even the slightest spark of inspiration can be transformed into a lightning bolt of enlightenment in the mind of Rice, this "old relic".

Rice firmly believes that combining the wisdom and magic of Muggles might create endless possibilities, which would completely revolutionize the magical world.

This is the future of the magical world.

Moreover, after learning about the various inventions of the Muggles, Rice found a way to completely counter them. A wizard who had mastered the "electricity" domain was probably the wizard who could bring the greatest suppression to the Muggles in the first place—his own and his old friends' water, fire, earth, and wind were actually minor matters; the electric domain could truly bring unimaginable blows to the Muggles.

"You know so much!" Hermione's explanation broadened Rice's horizons, and he couldn't help but praise the erudite little witch.

"It's nothing, I just flip through those public school textbooks during the summer vacation." Hermione was a little embarrassed by Rice's direct praise.

"You actually had the energy to study some Muggle courses on your own during the holidays?!" Rice asked in astonishment.

This was the first time he had met someone so eager to learn. Apart from Hermione, probably no one else at Hogwarts could do that. There were many young wizards from Muggle families at Hogwarts, but they almost never went to learn about non-magical knowledge because it was useless to them.

Do you know about electromagnetic waves and can recite the periodic table? Will that help your OWLs exam score? Not at all. The examiner won't give you an excellent grade just because you're very knowledgeable about Muggle knowledge—unless you're taking a Muggle studies exam. But the course is also very abstract. Every young wizard from a Muggle family who has taken it is always very curious about what wizards actually research. The content in the Muggle studies textbooks is practically like rambling.

"Your future is limitless; you are a true Ravenclaw." Rice gave this the highest praise he could give to a Ravenclaw student.

The study of Muggle science took place for a morning.

As lunchtime approached, Hermione couldn't help but ask Rice, "Didn't you have any classes this morning?"

"I'm skipping History of Magic class." Rice didn't care about Hermione's shocked look and told her that in his eyes, there were no classes this morning.

"I won't attend any class that I don't think is worthwhile," Rice said, instilling his "outrageous" ideas in the little girl. He paused, because he suddenly remembered something.

"Hey, you had Defense Against the Dark Arts class this morning, right? Are you sure you're okay skipping that class?"

When he worked for Helga, he had seen her schedule and he remembered that she had a class for third-year Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students this morning.

He had a vague feeling that something was off when he was in the Great Hall, and it wasn't until Hermione asked him about it that he realized what was going on.

Rice felt that given her relationship with Helga, she couldn't possibly skip class. Hermione, in order to "catch up" on her lessons, actually skipped Hufflepuff's class; she'd probably be severely punished afterward, right?

Hermione's expression changed immediately.

"Don't ask so many questions... It'll be fine," she stammered, giving a vague reply.

Hermione's change in expression alerted Rice to the problem.

Something's wrong with this girl; she's hiding something from me. Rice quickly came to that conclusion.

A small note transformed into a paper bird and flew out of the library, soon returning with the information Rice wanted.

Miss Granger was not absent today – White

Rice raised his eyebrows.

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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(End of this chapter)