Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 384 Helga Hufflepuff's Golden Jug

Rice's idea is actually somewhat similar to the ceiling of the Great Hall at Hogwarts, except that it faces outwards.

The magic would form something like a "cover," displaying the illusion he and Helga had created to the outside, while the weather remained normal inside—so the Quidditch team members still had to play the game in the storm.

"This will place high demands on us." After a moment of joy, Helga also realized the difficulty of this solution.

To put it bluntly, it's about making things difficult for the two of them.

Rice sighed.

"We always have to leave something for future generations, and creating a large magic circle is simpler than continuously destroying Muggle satellites or completely eradicating Muggle civilization." As he said this, Rice suddenly narrowed his eyes.

Hmm? I think I've got a bold idea...

"No way!" Helga punched Rice on the head, slapping back the bold idea that had just popped into her head.

"You're absolutely insane! The knowledge system of modern Muggles is extremely complete, and the methods of inheritance are very stable. You can't do it all by yourself. What's more, there are so many students from Muggle families who won't stand idly by—for example, isn't the child Rowena took in from a Muggle family? If you do something like this, she'll definitely fight you to the death."

"Relax, I didn't do that either." Rice rolled her eyes.

Helga glanced at him and thought to herself: If it weren't for me and Rowena, you might actually have done something like that.

With an old viper like Salazar, it's best not to push him to the brink, because he'll destroy the whole path. He really is like a viper; he can tolerate minor troubles and only punishes people lightly. But if you really displease him or put him in a desperate situation, he's extremely ruthless—showing his fangs and injecting all his venom at once is his style.

However, the wizard from a Muggle family that Helga had just mentioned struck Rice like a bolt of lightning, and he realized something.

"Helga, I have a question." Rice's fingers traced his chin. "Do you think Hogwarts can truly keep all the Muggle students completely secret from the non-magical world?"

Helga initially thought Salazar was experiencing a "relapse," and that to maintain secrecy, he was focusing his attention on the Muggle-born student, trying to pull the same trick he used a thousand years ago. But after hearing more of Salazar's words, she also became curious: Yes, why?

Unlike a thousand years ago, the modern magical and non-magical worlds are strictly separated, but there is a group of people who can move back and forth between these two boundaries: students from Muggle families and half-blood students.

After graduating from Hogwarts, without exception, they all chose to stay in the wizarding world; no one considered returning to the non-wizarding world to attend university or anything like that.

This is a bit strange.

"Do you think it's possible that the school or the Ministry of Magic cast some strange spell on the young wizards from Muggle families when they graduated, making them..."

"Absolutely impossible," Helga said with absolute certainty.

This was unlike Hogwarts' style; it was too Slytherin. She didn't believe Dumbledore could do such a thing. Besides, to put it bluntly, she felt that the current state of the wizarding world didn't have the power to achieve the scenario Salazar described.

That's equivalent to casting a Death Curse on every young wizard born into a Muggle family, which is clearly beyond the capabilities of the modern magical world.

Besides the Soul-Stealing Curse, there are other spells that can achieve this effect, but Helga has never heard his colleagues mention them, and there is no trace of them in the books, so they are most likely lost.

"That's right." Rice nodded, agreeing that the Ministry of Magic and the school couldn't possibly have that kind of resolve. Expecting them to accomplish what he himself hadn't was asking too much.

"So I'm thinking that maybe a small number of Muggles know about the existence of the wizarding world, but their numbers are extremely small. I mean, apart from those Muggles who are related to wizards, there are still Muggles who know about the existence of wizards, which is something I just realized."

Helga began to consider the possibility of her old friend's guess. She rested her chin on one hand, while her other hand unconsciously tapped rhythmically on the table. After a while, she also felt that Salazar's words made sense.

"Perhaps the Ministry of Magic will let the leaders of the Muggles know about the existence of the wizarding world. Who is the current leader of Britain?"

"The Queen and the Prime Minister, I suppose?" Rice thought for a moment, then took out the corresponding Encyclopedia Britannica from his pocket. "You can take a look at the description of the British political system there."

Watching Helga rapidly flipping through the encyclopedia, Rice couldn't help but say to her, "I feel like you really need to brush up on your knowledge; you're so lacking in understanding of Muggles. How about starting with this Encyclopedia Britannica? I find them very useful; I can get you another set if you want."

Helga stopped what she was doing and glared fiercely at Rice.

"At my age, I should be traveling around the world first, and then finding a quiet little village to enjoy my retirement. But instead, someone brought me here to work again! Now I have to learn a whole bunch of new things. Is this what an old man who is about to retire should be going through?" Helga's tone was full of resentment, clearly extremely dissatisfied with the workload at Hogwarts.

"I need to remind you, there's no concept of retirement in the wizarding world—" Seeing Helga about to explode, Rice quickly changed the subject: "If you turn a few pages, you'll find the section on the British political system."

Guided by Rice, Helga found the encyclopedia's description of the British system.

"Queen, Prime Minister, constitutional monarchy? What does all this mean?"

Rice gave Helga a brief introduction to the British political system. He had consulted Hermione in detail about this before and had some understanding of it.

"The royal family has become a symbol, and the prime minister is the most powerful?" After hearing Rice's explanation, Helga felt that something was not quite right.

"That's just the surface. In reality, the royal family (the Queen), the prime minister's cabinet, and the civil service jointly govern this country," Rice analyzed for Helga based on the information he had obtained from Hermione. "Based on some snippets that Hermione heard from her father, and my own understanding, I believe that the civil service is the group that holds the highest power in this country, and the royal family is definitely not just a mascot as the books say."

"Because you only have power when you have time. Prime Ministers and cabinets change too frequently, while civil servants have lifetime appointments. The Queen has also ruled for decades."

Helga nodded thoughtfully.

Dumbledore is a prime example. He lived long enough to remain the headmaster of Hogwarts, and his victories over two Dark Lords brought him immense prestige. If it weren't for some of his personality flaws, the Ministers of Magic would never have been a match for him.

"So you think the Queen and the head of the civil service are aware of the existence of the magical world?"

Rice shook his head; he couldn't be sure.

If he were in charge of the Ministry of Magic, he would certainly inform the Queen of the existence of the wizarding world and then appoint one or more elite wizards as chief civil servants. This would effectively allow him to secretly monitor the Muggle government and interfere with the implementation of policies detrimental to the existence of the wizarding world.

As for the Prime Minister, Rice was not inclined to let him know about the existence of the magical world. However, there was no need to control him with the Imperius Curse; that would be too extreme and unnecessary, unless there were truly exceptional circumstances.

Why should someone who faces a general election every five years really care? How long can he actually govern? He'll first get to know the situation for a year or two, overturn or continue the policies of his predecessor, fix the problems his predecessor created, and then spend two years in a battle of wits with the civil service. Once everything is settled, the election year will arrive, and the prime minister will have to prepare for the election!

If Rice were to lose the election and the opposing party were to come to power, the former prime minister's few achievements would likely vanish immediately. It's somewhat unreasonable to expect Rice to take such a situation seriously.

Furthermore, there are significant differences between prime ministers. Some even form coalition governments, which could lead to cabinet crises and even early elections. If Rice knew that decades later, some prime ministers' terms wouldn't even last as long as lettuce, he would definitely insist on keeping the decision about the existence of the magical world a secret from the prime ministers.

"I will contact Henry and have him ask Burns and Fudge to see if the Ministry of Magic has strictly adhered to the Statute of Secrecy."

"That's impossible." Helga didn't believe that the Ministry of Magic and the non-magical world had no connection whatsoever; it was unrealistic.

"And about the magic circle, do you have any ideas?" After putting aside the topic of the Law of Secrecy, the two turned their attention back to building a new magic circle for Hogwarts.

"Yes, it's similar to the ceiling of the auditorium, but the direction of the spell is reversed..." Rice explained his concept to Helga.

Rice's idea was to use Hogwarts' existing defensive magic to create a protective shield above the school, thereby hiding it away.

Once the protection is activated, not only Muggles but also wizards cannot see Hogwarts.

He would call this magic "the magic tent".

"Of course, this is only the first layer of protection. We will also set up a wider area of ​​enchantments around Hogwarts to ensure that Muggles do not get close to this place."

"A great idea. However, this spell is quite difficult; do you need help?"

"Yes, I need it." Rice didn't stand on ceremony; he certainly needed Helga's help.

"Okay, please wait a moment." Helga left the office without saying another word.

Rice: ?

Think for a while.

Holy crap?! She didn't go to get that thing, did she?!

Rice's intuition was correct; Helga did indeed return with a golden wine jug.

The gold wine jugs were about the size of an adult's palm and were rather crudely made, not nearly as exquisite as the wine jugs on the dining table in the auditorium. But the moment Rice saw them, his breathing became heavier.

"Why go to such lengths? Why even bring it out?" Rice felt that Helga was making a mountain out of a molehill. It was just a major alteration to the school's magic circle, why did she have to use her golden wine jug?

After Ragnarok, the four of them used some difficult-to-process parts from the gods to create their own unique treasures. Helga used Odin's crown as material and the eternal fire, the energy source of the fire giant Surtur, as a base, and with Godric's help, he made a wine jug from the golden crown.

She collected the blood of the gods in a wine jug. According to her, the blood would slowly transform into wine within the jug, and the drinker would receive a comprehensive boost—increased magical activity, speed of domain expansion, perception, and even luck. After the effects wore off, it would also bring a permanent increase in physical constitution.

More importantly, as long as it is a fully transformed, mature wine, drinking it will have almost no side effects. At most, some fragmented images and strong emotions will flash through your mind. It has the fewest side effects among the four people's exclusive treasures.

After this treasure was made, Rice had hardly ever seen Helga use it, and he himself had never tasted the wine brewed with divine blood inside. And now he was actually able to get a little bit from her? This was truly an unexpected delight.

"Thanks to you, it stayed in my dungeon for a full thousand years, accumulating quite a bit of wine there." Helga smiled sincerely.

Being brought to the modern era by Salazar had its advantages and disadvantages, but it inadvertently did Helga a great favor by allowing her golden jug to lie quietly in her private classroom for nearly a thousand years.

If she takes it with her when she travels, that would be a huge loss.

"Has it been completely transformed inside?" Rice stared at the wine jug, his eyes full of curiosity.

"Of course not. Of all those false gods, only about half were converted."

"That's quite a lot." Rice's curiosity turned into envy: Helga has brought out all her best stuff!

Helga took out two glasses and poured a little wine into each. She poured out only a small amount, just a sip, and the wine was very viscous, looking like a ruby ​​embedded at the bottom of the glass.

Rice didn't stand on ceremony; he took a glass and drank the thick wine in one gulp.

The initial taste of the wine is not much different from ordinary wine, except that it is much thicker. It is more like syrup than wine. After drinking it, it feels like swallowing a ball of fire, with your mouth, esophagus, and stomach all burning.

Several afterimages flashed before Rice's eyes, followed by a surge of anger and sorrow that made his eyes turn crimson for a moment.

"Huff...huff—" After taking a few deep breaths, Rice managed to suppress these complex emotions, and the fire in his stomach had already spread to his limbs and bones during this time.

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)