Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 392 Rice: I would call myself the strongest

Hermione was startled, but immediately remembered what Rice had said: this was her territory, her domain.

She is the strongest in her field, and she has nothing to fear!

So she mustered her courage and asked loudly, "Who is it?"

The figure ignored her, simply sitting there silently flipping through a book. Hermione frowned, gripped her wand, took two steps forward, and then saw the figure's face clearly.

"Rice, what are you doing here?" Hermione asked in surprise.

The figure sitting there quietly reading was Rice; no one knew how he got in.

Rice didn't respond to Hermione's question; he just sat there, engrossed in the book in his hands.

Hermione narrowed her eyes and looked at the book in Rice's hand. Sure enough, it was the Encyclopedia Britannica. Rice seemed to be particularly obsessed with this book lately, taking it everywhere he went.

"Huh?" An illustration in the book caught Hermione's attention. She recognized the picture because Rice had shown it to her before and asked her questions.

Hermione had a slight realization. She stood aside and waited silently for two minutes.

Rice suddenly flattened the book in his hand and pushed it forward, as if asking someone a question.

Hermione reached out and pressed her hand against the open book, her hand then resting directly on the cold tabletop through the pages.

Hermione now fully understood that the person in front of her was the "shadow" or imprint that Rice had left behind.

"Interesting." Hermione kept glancing at Rice's phantom, thinking to herself that the phantom was so realistic that she hadn't noticed it even though she was so close.

"It's good to have this shadow by my side; at least the library isn't so deserted anymore," Hermione muttered to herself, head bowed.

Her field is great in every way, except it's a bit too quiet; the emptiness is almost eerie. Having "Rice" here to improve the atmosphere is quite nice.

Hermione basically treated Rice's phantom as a decoration.

Just then, Rice glanced at where Hermione was standing, but the girl was oblivious, and Rice continued reading his book.

"Rice's shadow appears here because he lingered here for a while..." Hermione deduced that others could also leave their shadows after entering her domain to learn.

"What will happen to the phantoms here if Narath enters again? Will his shadow reappear? Will his new actions overwrite the previous phantoms?" A series of questions flashed through Hermione's mind.

These questions cannot be answered except by having Rice come in again.

Hermione quickly deactivated her protective aura and left her room to search for Rice. But Rice was in Helga's office; how could Hermione possibly find him in such a hurry?

So she had no choice but to resort to a clumsy method: she slipped straight to the dungeon area and waited for the snake to bite.

Hermione's plan was to wait for a Slytherin student to appear and then ask them to go into the common room to help her find Rice. To her surprise, several lower-year Slytherin students, even though they had already entered the dungeon, turned around and walked away without hesitation as soon as they saw her from afar, not giving her a chance to speak.

Hermione: ?

She didn't quite understand the Slytherins' thought process.

Just then, the wall beside her twisted, and a magnificent serpentine archway appeared. Astoria stepped out. She froze when she saw Hermione standing at the entrance to the school's common room.

Astoria: ? ? ?

Why is Hermione here? Is she here to challenge us? Astoria couldn't help but wonder.

It's no wonder Astoria and the other Slytherin students thought that way, because Hermione's position was just too coincidental; she was standing right in front of the entrance to the Slytherin common room, which was like coming to cause trouble.

"Miss Granger, what are you doing here?" She became suspicious and questioned Hermione.

"Astoria? Perfect timing, I need to speak with Rice. Is he inside?" Hermione didn't think much of it and immediately explained her purpose upon seeing the familiar face.

"Looking for Rice?" Astoria's eyes narrowed slightly. "May I ask what you want with him?"

"You can discuss it with him," Hermione said vaguely—she couldn't very well say that she wanted to discuss the field with Rice, could she?

"He's not in the common room." Astoria suppressed her surging curiosity and politely informed Hermione that she didn't know Rice's whereabouts; he might have gone to Hogsmeade Village.

"It'll be here soon," Rice's voice came from behind them.

Hermione and Astoria turned around at the same time and found Rice standing at the end of the corridor staring at them.

He had just finished discussing the final exams with Helga when he returned to the lounge and saw Hermione and Astoria.

"Rice," Hermione waved happily, "I need to talk to you!"

Astoria's gaze deepened: What exactly did Granger want with Rice?

Rice had a pretty good idea of ​​why she came.

"How about we go inside and talk?" He planned to invite Hermione into the lounge for a detailed discussion.

Astoria: !

"This...this isn't appropriate, is it?" she instinctively said, trying to stop him.

"Why not? We're not like Hufflepuff who don't welcome outsiders. Come on in." Rice led the way into the lounge.

Hermione hesitated for two seconds before following him into the notoriously mysterious lounge.

Seeing that Rice was determined, Astoria had no choice but to acquiesce to Rice's "mischief." In fact, in this day and age, the four houses rarely visited each other's common rooms; everyone maintained a state of mutual respect. A student like Hermione, from a Muggle family, would certainly not go into the Slytherin common room to cause trouble for herself.

"I know you don't visit each other's common rooms often, but back in the day, the different houses at Hogwarts weren't so distant. It was common for students to spend the night in other houses' common rooms—that's why boys weren't allowed in the girls' common room at Gryffindor." Rice's gaze subtly swept across Astoria's face.

Hermione nodded absentmindedly, while looking around at the layout of the lounge.

Her gaze quickly fell upon the floor-to-ceiling window, which revealed the view of the bottom of the Black Lake at Hogwarts.

"I'd heard before that the Slytherin common room was at the bottom of Hawthorne Lake, and I never imagined it was true." Hermione walked to the window and clicked her tongue in amazement.

"This was the work of Lord Salazar Slytherin, a powerful protective spell that remains effective even after a thousand years," Astoria proudly replied, raising her head.

Rice was pleased to receive such a direct compliment from Astoria.

Hermione touched the French windows with reverence, then realized a problem: Wasn't this place always in a state of complete darkness? The Black Lake blocked out the sun's natural light!

Astoria: ...

Hermione's words silenced her.

Rhys stroked his chin, a flicker of curiosity crossing his mind: Judging from Astoria's expression, could it be that none of these students from later generations knew that the ceiling of the academy's lounge was equipped with a weather charm? He had assumed everyone preferred a dimly lit environment and that's why they didn't do this...

It turns out nobody knew about the ceiling's design?!

"If you want natural sunlight, you can use the Weather Charm." Rice pulled out his wand and tapped it against the ceiling.

Suddenly, the ceiling changed. The original stone bricks gradually disappeared, replaced by a blue sky and white clouds. Bright sunlight streamed in, making the Slytherin common room, which had previously relied on chandeliers and candlelight, bright and spacious.

Astoria: !!

The college ceiling actually has this function?!

Although the bright environment made her a little uncomfortable, sunlight always helps to lift one's spirits.

Looking at Astoria's expression, Rice felt a sudden urge to breathe: these people really didn't know the ceiling here had this function!!!

Did Hogwarts experience a hiatus in its history? How come so many things have been lost?

After a moment, Rice calmed down.

He speculated that it was highly likely that the weather spell on the ceiling had malfunctioned or been tampered with, switching to a storm mode that wouldn't normally occur. Unfortunately, the upperclassmen who knew how to turn the weather spell off and adjust it weren't there, resulting in the lounge being flooded.

hiss……

Rice found the thought of that scene terrifying.

It is estimated that after that, Slytherin students permanently shut down the weather charm on their ceilings, so much so that later students were unaware that their ceilings could be switched to daylight mode.

With that thought in mind, Rice silently deactivated the weather spell on the ceiling, returning the lounge to its dim state.

He was really worried about those Slytherin brats.

"Come on, let's sit down and talk." After Hermione had finished her tour, Rice invited her to sit down and have a detailed discussion.

"Hmm..." Hermione hesitated.

Is this something that can be said?

Rice glanced at Astoria, who seemed completely unaware of what was going on, and decided to have Hermione give her a little shock.

"Speak, there are no outsiders here."

Astoria was secretly pleased with the statement that "there were no outsiders," but Hermione's words stunned her.

"Alright... Rice, I just saw your phantom in my domain."

Astoria: Σ(っ°Д°;)っ

"What did you say? A domain?!" She couldn't help but interrupt Hermione, her voice filled with shock and disbelief.

"That's right, Miss Granger has awakened a rather interesting realm."

Astoria fell silent: It seemed she was the only one left who hadn't awakened her domain's inheritance?

At this moment, a sense of crisis gradually overwhelmed her.

"Would they revoke my status as heir just because I haven't awakened my domain?" Such an absurd thought even flashed through her mind.

"Continue." Rice ignored Astoria's shocked expression and let Hermione explain in detail about her phantom.

After hearing Hermione's description, Rice felt that this seemed to be a new ability in Hermione's domain that they had not yet developed.

"Expand your domain once more, and this time bring Astoria along too." Rice felt that to understand the specifics of this ability, she should re-enter her domain to find out more.

"Okay." Hermione didn't hesitate and immediately activated her domain, enveloping both Rice and Astoria within it.

Upon re-entering the realm, Hermione discovered that the phantom of Rice had vanished.

"Will it be overwritten by you coming in this time?"

Rice shook her head at Hermione's guess.

"It's too early to draw any conclusions. Let's read some books here for a while." Rice directly revealed his "true purpose."

He found a seat, took out an Encyclopedia Britannica from his pocket, and sat down.

Hermione was speechless at the sight of Rice, who was completely at ease with her, but she also carried her own reading materials, so she didn't waste any time.

Astoria was put on the spot.

Why do you two carry these things with you? Her feelings were extremely complicated.

"There are books on the surrounding bookshelves. You can pick a few to read, but I recommend that you look at these encyclopedias with me," Rice's voice rang in Astoria's ears.

Rice really wanted Astoria to have a deeper understanding of Muggles, because she carried his high expectations.

"An encyclopedia?" Astoria asked, puzzled.

She knew that Rice seemed to be quite fascinated lately by a set of books compiled by Muggles, but he had never let her see them before.

"Yes, you can learn more about Muggles through them." Rice took out an encyclopedia index and handed it to Astoria.

Astoria vaguely understood Rice's intentions, so she picked up the book and began to read it.

As she opened the book, Rice whispered in her ear, "Don't take the matter of the domain too seriously. You can't force these things. When the time is right, the domain will awaken naturally—that's how it was for me, and I think it will be the same for you."

Rice's words reassured Astoria somewhat, but her desire for the domain did not diminish in the slightest.

Time flew by. Because she had brought Astoria along this time, and her previous rest time hadn't been long enough, Hermione's endurance was even shorter.

Two hours later, the three returned to the Slytherin common room.

"Do you still have any energy left?" Rice looked at Hermione, a bottle of energy potion already placed on the table.

"Yes." Hermione didn't stand on ceremony and drank the energy potion in one gulp. After resting for a while, she activated her domain again.

Upon entering the realm this time, she saw Rice's phantom once again, and along with Rice's phantom appeared Astoria's figure.

"Just as I thought."

Everything went exactly as Hermione had predicted.

But just then, Rice's phantom suddenly turned its head and nodded slightly to Hermione.

Hermione: !

What's going on?! Was that illusion just greeting me?

But after that, Rice's phantom returned to its state of being immersed in the world of the book, as if what had just happened was just Hermione's hallucination.

Hermione closed her domain with extremely mixed feelings.

Seeing Rice reappear before her, Hermione took a deep breath and told Rice everything she had just seen and heard.

After hearing Hermione's words, Rice's eyes widened.

What's going on?! Is this even possible?!

He had a bold guess in his mind: if that were true, Hermione's domain would undoubtedly be the strongest.

"Hermione, remember to take me with you when you activate your domain next time," Rice earnestly instructed.

"Of course." Even if Rice didn't say so, Hermione would have taken him along.

Astoria blinked, seemingly unable to keep up with their train of thought.

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.

耶/

It's finished! Goodnight everyone~

(End of this chapter)