Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 401 Godric: Can I choose Dumbledore as my successor?

Despite constantly complaining about Salazar, Godric still earnestly described his feelings to Rice.

This is perhaps the most valuable firsthand information regarding life and death.

"After things went wrong in my comprehension, I fell into an eternal slumber, as if I had fallen asleep. Yes, I didn't reach the realm of coming and going like other wizards; I didn't even have the right to choose between reincarnation and becoming a ghost. Until I felt a call, and then I appeared outside this dilapidated house."

"Your treatment is comparable to that of the wizards who create Horcruxes." Rice certainly wouldn't miss the chance to tease his old friend.

Gryffindor: ...

"Oh, right." When Godric mentioned ghosts, Rhys immediately thought of Rowena, who was still trapped in the dungeon. So he told Gryffindor that Ravenclaw had chosen to become a ghost in order to gain another form of immortality.

Godric stroked his beard and suddenly said, "What era is this now? I just noticed, Salazar, you've become very young, even younger than when we first met. Has your research into immortality magic been successful?"

Rice nodded.

"Wow!" Gryffindor slapped his thigh. "How did you do that? I always thought you were the most likely among us to break through on this path—"

He suddenly fell silent, his expression growing serious. After a couple of seconds, he asked, "You didn't make a Horcrux, did you?"

Rice: ? ? ?

Why does this sound so familiar? Why do you all have such a terrible impression of me?

"It's a perfectly legitimate method!" Rice, unable to contain himself any longer, immediately refuted Godric's unreasonable speculation, and then shared his snake-like molting immortality method with Godric.

Gryffindor: ...

To be honest, it's a little disgusting.

"Wait a minute," he quickly realized the problem: "You said you shed your skin once every hundred years, and you've shed it nine times, so doesn't that mean...?"

"Yes, a thousand years have passed since we founded Hogwarts, and Earth has entered the 2K era."

"That Helga, and the ghost Rowena..."

"They're all alive and well. Rowena's form is slightly unusual, but Helga is definitely alive." Rice looked at Godric and bluntly pointed out that of the four, only Helga's condition was unusual.

Godric: ...

"Royna has become a ghost, so how did Helga manage to do that?" He couldn't wait to find out about his old friends' recent situation.

When Helga's "immortality strategy" was mentioned, Rice couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed: after all, her "immortality" was inextricably linked to him.

Upon learning that Helga had been "abducted" to the modern world by Salazar, Godric was first taken aback, then burst into laughter.

"This is hilarious..."

After that, Rice chatted with Godric for a while until it got dark.

"It's almost time," Godric sighed, looking at the dim sky outside.

"Salazar, getting too caught up in fantasy isn't a good thing."

"I know."

The old house in Gunter has fallen silent once again.

"I can think of a way to bring you back to life; there are many ways," Rice suddenly said, breaking the silence.

He felt that since he could recall Godric's consciousness, it wasn't impossible for him to "bring him back to life."

Godric shook his head, declining his old friend's offer.

"There's no need for that, and it's not what I want."

Rice understood what his old friend meant.

Godric now needs a stone to sustain his existence, and his power is completely gone; he can't even cast a simple spell. Resurrecting in this form is not something he wants to accept.

He wanted a dignified return, not charity from his old friends, and he certainly didn't want to become a burden to them after his resurrection.

As for Hogwarts, which he cares about most, with Salazar, Helga, and Rowena around, why should he worry about Hogwarts?

If Godric still had any attachments, it was to his old friends. But he believed that in his current state, getting too entangled with friends would be more harmful than beneficial.

"Knowing what Hogwarts will look like a thousand years from now is enough," Godric said with a carefree laugh, preparing to leave.

Before dissipating, he looked at Rice earnestly and said, "Salazar, don't be sad about my departure. For me, it was like taking a nap; there was no pain, and certainly no emptiness. I don't want you to use this little gadget to call me out again."

He pointed to the resurrection stone ring in Rice's hand.

"Wait a minute." Rice called out to Godric before his old friend left.

"What's the matter?"

"Is there anything else you wish for?"

Godric thought for a moment and blinked.

"How about you help me find a successor and train him?"

Gryffindor's words immediately triggered a flood of negative memories for Rice, and the face of a silver-haired girl appeared in his mind.

Seeing his old friend's changing expression, Godric couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Just kidding. Of course, you have to raise your own heir. I remember you mentioned Dumbledore from Gryffindor? Then I'll just designate him as my heir."

Rice couldn't help but complain about her old friend's shamelessness: "Everyone else finds children to train as students, but you're going to pick up an existing expert in the field as your successor, huh? The successor you found is even older than you!"

Just then, a wave of heat swept over him, and Rice instinctively squinted. When he opened his eyes, Godric had vanished.

The dilapidated hut was empty, as if everything that had just happened was just his imagination.

Rice's fingers unconsciously gripped the resurrection stone on the ring, and then he remembered Godric's words:

I don't want you to use this little gadget to wake me up anymore.

Putting aside his seemingly joking wish to find him an heir, this was probably Godric's last wish.

Rice stood there, lost in a long silence.

Outside, a sliver of moonlight gradually climbed into the sky.

After an unknown amount of time, Rice sighed inside the house.

He stretched his legs, which had become stiff from standing, and just as he was about to leave the hut, he stopped again.

He had a vague feeling that something was wrong.

After thinking about it carefully for a while, Rice found the source of the problem: Godric's disappearance seemed to be different from that of other "people".

Metaphorically speaking, the departure of others is like frost meeting the sun, disappearing without leaving a trace. Godric's departure, however, is like a clump of sand scattered by the wind.

Perhaps that's just Godric's nature; even his departure is unconventional.

After calming down, Rice turned to look at the door—a "guest" was already standing outside.

As Rice walked out of the old Gaunt house, he indeed saw Mr. Henry huddled under a large tree, waiting for him to come out of the hut.

He wasn't surprised that Mr. Henry had found his way here. It must have been that little girl, Astoria, who had told him where she was.

As the head of the Greengrass family, Mr. Henry had no reason not to know where the Gaunt family was, especially since the Gaunt family hadn't used any spells to hide their dilapidated house.

"Why bother waiting so late?" Leslie laughed at Mr. Henry. "It's much more meaningful to stay home and read than to stand here like an idiot."

"A quarter of an hour with you is worth more than reading a hundred books."

Mr. Henry's words completely baffled Rice: Why did you suddenly start doing something so awkward!

"Be serious, what's the matter?" Rice rolled her eyes helplessly, telling Mr. Henry not to do this again.

Mr. Henry then told Rice the reason why he had rushed to this desolate place overnight: he had done what Rice had asked him to do!

"Professor Dumbledore has given his approval, and the Ministry of Magic has also agreed. Now all we have to do is send the invitations to those schools."

Upon hearing this, Rice beamed with joy and exclaimed "Good!" several times.

"In addition to sending them to those prestigious schools, we can also announce that students from primary schools, educational institutions, family wizarding families, or other organizations can come to Hogwarts to participate in the competition."

In terms of knowledge transmission, the magical world has eight world-renowned magic schools, as well as many lesser-known regional primary schools and countless educational institutions. There are even wizards who are homeschooled—the Lint family is such a family in front of Daphne and Astoria.

Rice thought it was worth giving these people a chance. After all, so many other schools had already hired people, so they wouldn't be any different.

The students trained by the "organization" are, in Rice's words, the Secret Order. He wants to take this opportunity to eliminate another batch of the Secret Order's forces, but he doesn't know if the Secret Order will fall for it.

"Isn't this a bit too much?" Henry asked with some concern. "With so many people, and so many eyes looking around, won't it cause trouble?"

Rice glanced at him and indicated that it wasn't a big problem.

The Ministry of Magic can handle the Quidditch World Cup finals with 100,000 people, so this kind of competition is naturally no problem for them, not to mention they have him with them.

Hearing this, Henry was relieved.

Then, an awkward silence fell over the room.

Rice glanced at Henry and immediately saw through his little scheme. This guy really wanted to invite him to stay at his house, but he was too embarrassed to ask directly, afraid of upsetting him.

As a wizard who considers himself kind and compassionate, Rice would never put those close to him in a difficult position.

So he took the initiative and asked Mr. Henry if he could stay at his house for the night, since it was getting late.

"Of course, no problem." Mr. Henry's eyes flashed with genuine joy, and he immediately agreed.

Soon, Rice entered Greengrass Manor.

On the way to the mansion along the creek, Rice and Mr. Henry chatted idly.

"You're going to the Gaunt family to see them, right? Well, unfortunately, the Gaunt family has been sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban for attacking Ministry of Magic officials and murdering Muggles." Mr. Henry subconsciously assumed that Rice was going to see his descendants.

As soon as he spoke, Rice understood that Daphne and Astoria certainly hadn't relayed their attitude toward the Gaunt family to their father.

"I remember there is still one surviving descendant of the Gaunt family named Morfin. I need to make arrangements for him—"

"No need," Rice shook her head. "I didn't go there entirely to see them; I just wanted to fulfill a wish. But there were some unexpected gains, for example..."

Rice directly exposed Voldemort's true nature to Mr. Henry.

Henry: !?

Good heavens, that Dark Lord has such a background!

Although he had experienced the Wizarding Wars, Mr. Henry was a neutral party, so he had never heard of such a secret that even most Death Eaters were unaware of.

"This adds up to some strange and interesting facts," Mr. Henry couldn't help but exclaim.

"Don't rush, there's something even more interesting." Rice tossed the resurrection stone ring into Mr. Henry's hand.

"This is..." Henry didn't recognize the ring at first, until Rice told him it was the Resurrection Stone.

The legendary Trinity of Death, the Resurrection Stone!

Mr. Henry's vision blurred: My goodness, you just tossed this thing around like that? Aren't you afraid it will break?

As a pure-blood wizard, Henry Greengrass had naturally heard the legend of the three brothers. But just a minute ago, he had been telling it as a bedtime story.

In the blink of an eye, the legendary resurrection stone appeared before his eyes?

It's like someone on the street handing you a stone and telling you it's the stone Nuwa used to mend the sky, and you happen to know that this person is a living fossil from ancient times.

"You can keep it for fun," Rice said, sounding somewhat disinterested.

For him, the stone was no longer of any use; the Voldemort fragment on it had exploded, and it couldn't even be used to treat Rowena.

Mr. Henry was startled by Rice's words and quickly stuffed the ring back into Rice's hand.

"This thing is too precious, and... too dangerous," Mr. Henry said seriously.

He knew the legend of the three brothers by heart, and naturally knew the fate of the second brother.

In his eyes, the Resurrection Stone was a dangerous creation capable of bewitching people, and he didn't want to gamble with his self-control. If he fell for it, he'd be in deep trouble.

"Alright." Rice didn't insist and put the ring away.

"Oh, by the way, how's Percy's studies going?" As he was about to enter the mansion, Rice remembered that he had previously arranged for Mr. Henry to carry out another of his projects, and now he wanted to find out about the "project progress."

"That boy is really good at enduring hardship." Mr. Henry spoke highly of Percy.

Percy has been using the Time-Turner that the Ministry of Magic gave him so much lately that it's practically smoking, absorbing all sorts of knowledge from the Muggle world like a sponge.

He can now be considered a "Muggle expert".

"I trust you to handle things." Rice gave Mr. Henry an approving look, to which Henry responded with a wry smile.

"Now, Lord Slytherin probably won't allow me to retire after the tournament," Mr. Henry thought pessimistically.

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.

Update delivered, goodnight everyone~

(End of this chapter)