Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 402 Helga: Can anyone really be this unlucky?

After settling into the mansion, Rice didn't bother the Greengrass family too much. She simply asked the house-elf Bean to prepare a late-night snack for her before going to take a shower in the guest room's bathroom.

The next morning, when Rice appeared at the breakfast table, Daphne and Astoria stared in surprise.

"Rice, you—" Daphne's mouth gaped open, overwhelmed by the sudden surprise, she didn't even know what to say.

"I came out of the Gaunt mansion yesterday, and it was a bit too late, so I came to your house!" Rice told Daphne as she put a soft-boiled sunny-side-up egg, a slightly golden-brown white bread, crispy bacon, and sizzling sausage on her plate.

Although the reason was completely untenable, Daphne and Astoria were still very happy.

"What's the plan?" Astoria asked Rice tentatively after spreading a thin layer of jam on her bread.

"Of course, I'll enjoy my vacation." Rice didn't hesitate for a moment.

He'd been utterly exploited by Helga this semester and needed a good rest. But before he could relax and enjoy himself, he needed to go see Helga.

Rice planned to share his gains with her.

However, it was only at this moment that Rice was shocked to realize that he seemed to have become too distant from his old friend Helga—he had no idea where she planned to stay during her vacation.

After calming down and thinking for two seconds, Rice thought of three places Helga might go.

First, there's Diagon Alley. She might rent a room at the Leaky Cauldron and stay there for the entire summer. That would be the most comfortable and relaxing place, where she could visit Diagon Alley every day.

Helga might also rent a room in Hogsmeade. As far as Rice knows, Professor McGonagall also has a house in Hogsmeade, so the possibility of her becoming McGonagall's roommate cannot be ruled out.

The last possibility is that she stays at Hogwarts and continues to work on her orders—Helga's business has been booming lately, with so many orders that she can't possibly finish them all, so it's quite possible that she won't go anywhere during the summer vacation and will just stay in her office to catch up on her work.

Rice thought the last possibility was quite likely, since the four of them used to live in the castle quite often...

Thinking about this, Rice suddenly didn't want to see Helga anymore; he wanted to enjoy his summer vacation!

After thinking it over for a while, Rice decided to communicate with Helga via email and also to talk to her about the arrangements for the next semester.

He definitely won't set foot in Hogwarts during the holidays! He's a student now; is it appropriate for a student to go to school during the holidays?!

Once he made up his mind, Rice immediately began writing to Helga, even planning to send the Resurrection Stone ring along with the letter.

Unbeknownst to Rice, his good friend Helga Hufflepuff was currently in a little trouble.

boom!

"Damn it, cough cough..."

An explosion was heard in Helga's office, followed by a plume of smoke billowing out of the office window.

Helga, using the alias Smith White, pushed open the door, causing the thick smoke in the office to dissipate more quickly.

"Wait, I must have lost my mind..." It wasn't until the fresh air from outside rushed in through the window and created a convection current with the open door that the disheveled Helga finally realized: she could have used a spell to dispel the smoke!

"Am I really getting senile?" Helga's face showed a hint of doubt.

She couldn't understand why, as a seasoned wizard, she hadn't considered using magic to solve this problem. A simple spell could have easily sufficed...

Helga quickly drew the spell, and just as she was about to dispel the smoke, she suddenly remembered a special feature of Hogwarts Castle.

"No—" A hint of despair flashed across Helga's face.

Before she could react, the thick smoke triggered the castle's built-in fireproof spell, and the ceiling above the corridor instantly turned into the same sky as the auditorium, followed by a torrential downpour.

Helga: ...

Moreover, it wasn't just raining in the corridor; the fire prevention spell they left behind cleverly located the source of the smoke and then extended the cumulonimbus cloud into her office.

Then her office looked like it had been ransacked by a hundred Salazars.

This fire-prevention spell was set up by the four of them years ago to prevent fires from breaking out inside the castle. Moreover, to prevent sabotage by malicious individuals, they reinforced the fire-prevention spell. Once triggered, ordinary "spell-stopping" spells are completely ineffective; only someone with extremely high control over the castle, like the headmaster, can stop the fire-prevention spell from operating.

Of course, they also considered the issue of accidental activation, so the spell's sensitivity is quite low, making it rather difficult to trigger. There was a young wizard in Gryffindor who possessed the innate talent to add explosive effects to various spells, but even after three years at Hogwarts, he never triggered the castle's fire-resistant spell.

In fact, very few people can trigger this spell, so much so that no one knows the castle has this magical ability anymore.

Helga naturally had the authority to stop the weather spell in front of her, but looking at everything before her, she simply gave up resisting and didn't want to do anything.

Destroy it, hurry up.

Helga felt that something was wrong with her lately; she was having bad luck with everything she did, and sometimes she would even choke on her water.

Just now, when she was making the doll parts, I don't know which spell or which part went wrong, but the doll exploded violently as soon as it was assembled.

If Helga hadn't been so skilled, that explosion would have killed her. She's just covered in soot now; anyone else would have perished long ago.

"Something's not right, something's very wrong," Helga muttered to herself.

If this kind of thing only happened once or twice, it would be considered bad luck, and Helga would accept it. But these kinds of things happened far too frequently, to an abnormal degree.

Helga suddenly remembered an absurd rumor that his old friend Salazar had told him.

The curse of Defense Against the Dark Arts!

Anyone can only stay in this position for one year. If they want to renew their contract after one year, they have to pay a huge price. To date, no one has been able to last until the second year. Some professors have even paid the ultimate price for it. For example, it's unbelievable that a professor a few years ago was killed by a wild boar.

Helga did a quick calculation and realized she'd been working for a full year. Could it be that the legendary curse had taken hold for her? But she hadn't realized she was cursed!

Helga was lost and confused.

She could tell whether someone was cursed or not. Besides, what curse could possibly affect a wizard of her level and have such an effect?

"Professor White, are you alright?" Dumbledore's voice came from not far away.

Helga turned her head and saw Dumbledore standing not far away, staring at the ceiling where the rain was pouring down.

"Hogwarts Castle always surprises me. I've worked and lived here for so many years, and this is the first time I've ever known that it rains from the ceiling."

"Hogwarts Castle is our greatest treasure." Hearing Dumbledore's words, Helga felt a little better.

She stated that after thousands of years, no one fully understands the spells associated with the castle anymore.

This is the truth.

Even Helga, one of the founders of Hogwarts, felt the castle was somewhat unfamiliar now. Over the past thousand years, countless brilliant wizards had left their mark on it, and it had changed greatly from what it was back then.

Of course, the most basic and fundamental things haven't changed, such as Rowena's moving staircase and Godric's dormitory staircase.

"I think the students and teachers of Hogwarts are our greatest asset," Dumbledore retorted with a smile, contradicting Professor White.

Helga was taken aback, then said, "Dumbledore, you're right."

"That's a question without a fixed answer, everyone has a different idea—are you not going to let the rain stop?" Dumbledore pointed to the ceiling where the rain was falling.

By this time, the corridor was already flooded, and Helga's office was completely submerged.

Helga nodded, immediately used her authority to forcibly shut down the weather spell, and waved her wand to wipe away the water on the ground.

"Need help?" A flame appeared at Dumbledore's fingertips.

He felt he could use his expertise to help Professor White clean her office.

"Thank you." Helga was capable of tidying up her office herself, but considering her recent amazing luck, she decided to ask Dumbledore for help.

Without further ado, Dumbledore immediately manipulated the power of his domain to restore the flooded office to normal.

Then the power of the domain reacted strangely with the power within the puppet parts accumulated in the office, and before Dumbledore could react, a new explosion was born.

boom!

Helga skillfully conjured a wall, blocking the shockwave from the explosion.

Dumbledore fell silent, the scene before him stirring up a flood of memories.

The Defense Against the Dark Arts professors seemed to have experienced similar things before, except that Professor White's experience was particularly dramatic.

"Professor White, are you still planning to take on the Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching position next semester? There are actually quite a few other teaching positions available at the school." Dumbledore remembered his original purpose for coming today.

He felt that for Professor White's physical and mental well-being, it would be better to provide her with another job.

"Fine! Why not!" Helga was also provoked.

She really intended to continue teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts. She wanted to see how this so-called curse could affect her.

Dumbledore: ...

Looking at the office that had been reduced to ruins, he suddenly felt that Professor White seemed exceptionally stubborn.

"Well... alright." Dumbledore decided to respect Professor White's choice. However, he would also prepare for the worst and begin looking for backup candidates for the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, just in case.

"This is the contract. Let me know if you change your mind." Dumbledore, with a complicated expression, took out a roll of parchment and handed it to Helga.

Helga signed his name on it without even looking at it.

"Good luck." Dumbledore said as he left.

Helga then began tidying up her office.

She first disposed of the completely unusable items, and then packed the usable items into a package.

Looking at the scattered fragments of parts on the ground, Helga felt a pang of heartache: all her hard work over the past few days had been for nothing.

She had already finished manufacturing most of the parts for the order and was just waiting to assemble them before shipping them out, but these two explosions wiped out all her efforts.

"Sigh..." Helga sighed.

dong dong!

Just then, an owl flew in through the open window with a letter in its beak.

It looked at the messy office, a hint of confusion flashing in its large eyes.

However, as an owl, the recipient's environment is not something it should care about; its only concern is delivering the letter.

It landed directly on Helga's shoulder and stretched out its paw, which was tied with a letter, in front of her.

"Thank you." Helga thanked the hardworking little owl, then took out a piece of jerky from her pocket and fed it to the owl.

While the owl was enjoying its jerky, she took the letter, opened it, and began to read.

The letter was sent by her old friend Salazar, and a ring was attached to it.

Helga's expression changed gradually as the letter's contents unfolded. When Salazar mentioned whether she should continue working as the Defense Against the Dark Arts, Helga gave a wry smile: she was determined to continue until she broke the so-called curse.

If even she backs down, then who can solve this problem?

When she saw the part about the Resurrection Stone ring, her expression immediately turned serious: a stone that can resurrect the dead? One of the Three Holy Relics of the Dead? That's really interesting.

Helga put the resurrection stone ring into her pocket, intending to study it later.

After reading Salazar's letter, Helga fell into deep thought.

If Salazar could come, things would be much better for her, right? At least she wouldn't have to make the parts all by herself.

The idea took root in Helga's mind as soon as it arose.

Without hesitation, she immediately began writing a reply to Salazar and tied the letter to the owl's leg.

During this time, the owl obediently perched on her shoulder, enjoying the jerky she gave him.

"Go ahead." She patted the owl's wing affectionately, signaling that it could go.

The owl took flight and left a puddle of droppings on Helga's shoulder.

Helga: ...

She expressionlessly cleaned the grime off her shoulder, then walked back to her dungeon without looking back.

After some twists and turns, she finally arrived there. This was her private classroom, a relatively safe place.

In the dungeon, those unpleasant misfortunes finally stopped happening, and Helga could wait in peace for Salazar's arrival.

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)