Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 440 Which is the best house at Hogwarts?

One hundred points? Really?

Not only were the contestants shocked, but the school principals were also extremely surprised.

Among a group of contestants who scored at most in the early nineties and generally around seventy or eighty, a score of one hundred is truly eye-catching.

But the truly astonishing thing was yet to come: Hogwarts produced several players who scored near-perfect marks, causing the heads and players from other schools to become serious.

Hogwarts, this is no friendly place!

(Hogwarts: You are the ones who have come!)

With so many high-scoring contestants, if it weren't for the previous rule that high-scoring contestants would be disadvantaged, they would all suspect that Hogwarts had rigged the scoring.

Rice: Yes, they did tamper with it. I can be a witness for the prosecution.

"Miss Ekaterina, it's time for you to go up and take the test too." After all the contestants from the eight great magic schools had gone through the test, Dumbledore looked at Ekaterina, the vice-principal of Cordostadt School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, who was standing behind him, and indicated that since she wanted to participate as a contestant, she should go up and take the test.

Without saying much, Ekaterina walked to the front and put on the Sorting Hat.

She was quite curious about this legendary hat, said to have been passed down for over a thousand years. She had hoped to take this opportunity to have a proper conversation with the Sorting Hat, but the Sorting Hat completely ignored this outsider, simply shouting, "One hundred points!"

Now, everyone is taking notice.

These are scores that only a monster like Hogwarts could achieve! No wonder he's the vice-principal of Cordostadt.

In the recent test, aside from those monsters from Hogwarts, this vice-principal scored the highest. The other contestants' highest scores were only slightly over ninety.

Helga, sitting on the stage, raised an eyebrow and whispered in Rowena's ear.

"Is this score a bit too high...?"

"I told the Sorting Hat to be a bit more tactful and give a few high marks to students from other schools," Rowena chuckled. "Otherwise, things might not look good. But giving a perfect score shows that this vice-principal is quite capable."

"Could it be that she..." Helga began to doubt whether the other party had the power to control the domain.

"Maybe it will happen after the competition." Rowena didn't think anyone could awaken their domain in the modern environment.

If Cordosdoriz had that kind of foundation, how come the average score of all the school's elite students didn't even exceed 80?

After Ekaterina, it was the turn of the independent competitors.

As soon as they stepped onto the stage, everyone immediately realized that the eight great magic schools were still the top in the world, because even the bottom-ranked Cordostadretz outperformed the independent contestants by a large margin.

Some organizations have very intimidating names, such as "Heraklion-Patlay United Magic School," which sounds extremely powerful and prestigious. However, the contestants revealed their fear as soon as they put on the Sorting Hat.

But not all the independent contestants were novices; an Indian man wearing a turban and a black-haired youth wearing a long robe stood out from the crowd.

When the two men touched the crystal ball, the colors it displayed were different from each other. The Indian man's color was somewhat like the color of curry, while the black-haired youth caused the crystal ball to display a burst of lightning, attracting a lot of attention.

Both of them received very high scores, one 93 and the other 94. Even among the eight great magic schools besides Hogwarts, they would be among the top talents.

The monks from the secret order were still the last to go on stage.

By this point, most people's minds were no longer on this—the whole process had taken more than two hours, and everyone was exhausted.

When the Sorting Hat announced the scores, everyone was stunned.

"Eighty-eight points!"

"Ninety-one points!"

"Ninety-five points!"

"..."

None of the seven young monks from the Secret Order scored below 85, with the highest score reaching 98.

"Was this also one of your instructions?" Helga asked in a low voice.

Rowena shook her head, her expression grave: the Secret Order was coming on strong, but luckily she had made some preparations.

While Helga and Rowena were able to remain calm, the headmasters of other magic schools found it much harder to keep their composure.

What's the deal with this organization called the Secret Order? How come every student there is so strong?

Their gazes couldn't help but drift towards Godric Gryffindor, who sat calmly in his seat, and a realization dawned on them: it was most likely the work of this legendary wizard.

But understanding this doesn't help anything. These seven members of the Secret Order are so powerful that they'll probably all get good rankings in the end, which would be terrible.

Imagine if, in the final rankings, a secret society that appeared out of nowhere snuck into the top eight magic schools—where would they put their faces then?

Being ranked higher than the Secret Order is one thing, but being lower is simply devastating.

What else can we do? They've already entered the competition...

"We can only hope that the people from Hogwarts will clash with them!" the headmasters thought, while also preparing to give their students a heads-up when they got back that evening.

If only we could make both Hogwarts and the Secret Order suffer heavy losses.

Dumbledore lowered his eyes as he watched the young monks of the Secret Order who had scored high marks.

Even after learning that the Secret Order was an organization led by Gryffindor alumni, his impression of the organization remained very poor. The reason was simple: this organization had attempted to infiltrate Hogwarts more than once.

Although his senior Gryffindor had explained to him at the banquet that it was a misunderstanding, that someone was wandering off on their own, and that he had immediately stopped them upon hearing this, and even used the tournament as an opportunity to return and explain in person, Dumbledore's dissatisfaction remained unresolved.

The actions of the Secret Order monks demonstrate that Gryffindor is Gryffindor, and the Secret Order is the Secret Order; the Secret Order and Hogwarts have not even left a trace of camaraderie between them.

More importantly, Dumbledore's suspicions about Godric's identity remained unresolved. His remarks at the welcoming ceremony were merely a temporary decision made out of consideration for Professor White.

There are far too many suspicious points about this person. His explanations for why he was able to live for thousands of years, why he left Hogwarts to form the Secret Order, and why he had not contacted Hogwarts for so long, while reasonable, still make it difficult to gain Dumbledore's true trust.

He felt he had to have a good talk with Professor White and Professor Arius.

After the monks of the Secret Order had finished their tests, the entire hall was filled with a buzzing sound.

The monks' performance dazzled the young wizards and shocked them greatly: it would be one thing if this happened in other magic schools, but the Secret Order was an organization they had never heard of before!

The young wizards quieted down only after Dumbledore spoke again.

"The tests for the contestants are complete, and the rewards prepared by various magic schools will be placed in the competition venue starting today—the purpose of this competition remains the same: to promote everyone's collective progress!"

At this point, Dumbledore's expression suddenly turned serious: "But I must warn all participants before the competition begins that the Global Young Wizarding Championship is an extremely dangerous competition, and participating students may even face life-threatening situations. Until this moment, you still have the option to withdraw."

Dumbledore's gaze swept across the contestants' faces, and their expressions turned serious.

Life-threatening? Really?

Rice, however, knew perfectly well that Dumbledore wasn't lying, because most of the events in this competition were designed by Rowena. She was no saint, and without special preparation, the casualty rate among the contestants in this tournament would likely be quite alarming.

It might even become the last championship tournament.

However, the surviving players will definitely benefit greatly. Rice is willing to guarantee that.

Although it was said that the competition was very dangerous and that there was a risk to life, no one stepped forward to give up - how could they give up when they had come this far?

"The contestants have the final say, so if you change your minds, just come to me or Mr. Henry before the competition starts tomorrow, and you can forfeit your qualification without notifying the headmaster. Everyone is primarily responsible for their own life," Dumbledore said earnestly.

The principals behind him reacted differently. Some agreed, some were confident, while others frowned: if a student gave up, it would be equivalent to getting zero points, which would have a very negative impact on the school's final ranking.

"Alright, it's getting late, everyone should head back to their dorms to rest. For distinguished guests from other schools and organizations, Hogwarts has prepared comfortable dorms for you. Of course, if you wish to arrange your own accommodation, we have no objection."

Although Hogwarts had prepared dormitories, the other seven magic schools declined Hogwarts' offer and chose to stay in the dormitories provided by their own schools.

They are from a prestigious magic school, so it would be too embarrassing for them to mooch off Hogwarts' dormitories.

Those who chose to stay in the accommodations arranged by Hogwarts were all independent contestants.

After Dumbledore announced the dissolution of the Great Hall, chaos ensued. Headmasters stepped down from their seats, gathered their students, and lined up at the entrance to leave.

"Hogwarts has become much livelier," Gryffindor's voice rang in Dumbledore's ears.

"This is the result of the combined efforts of generations of teachers and students. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was Hogwarts." When mentioning Hogwarts, a rare hint of tenderness flashed in Dumbledore's eyes.

He devoted almost everything to this school.

Gryffindor remained silent for a few seconds before turning to Dumbledore and asking, "Where will we stay tonight?"

The other person's train of thought was so abrupt that Dumbledore almost didn't catch on.

"Huh? Can I live in the Gryffindor Tower?" Gryffindor asked with great interest.

"That won't do, you'll be kept awake by the children," Dumbledore replied quipped. "We really do have very nice dormitories, I'll have Minerva take you there."

"Alright." Gryffindor sighed, his expression one of genuine regret.

Dumbledore turned to Professor McGonagall, winked at her, and Professor McGonagall took a deep breath and said to the independent contestants still lingering in the Great Hall, "Please come with me."

Although she was addressing all the independent players, Professor McGonagall's gaze kept drifting towards Gryffindor.

That's Godric Gryffindor!

An excited Professor McGonagall led her team out of the side door of the Great Hall and into the right-hand corridor on the fourth floor of the castle.

After opening the door, the entire corridor had been renovated and was filled with cubicles for accommodation—better than the students at Hogwarts itself, because these cubicles were all single rooms, and some even had their own bathrooms and washrooms.

……

After Rice walked out of the auditorium with the crowd, he did not return to the common room, but went straight to Helga's office.

Upon arriving at the office door, Rice pushed it, only to find it wouldn't budge. Looking closer, he noticed the doorknob had been replaced with a badger's head.

Rice: ...

It seems that Helga has acquired a lot of new technologies from Reina.

He reached out and scratched the badger's head, causing the badger-headed doorknob to move and emit a gentle voice: "Which do you think is the best house at Hogwarts?"

Rice: ...

Slytherin House

"Incorrect answer. Hint: The students of this house are very united, so which is the best house at Hogwarts?"

Slytherin House

"Wrong answer." Several veins seemed to bulge on the badger's forehead. "I'll ask you one more time: which is the best house at Hogwarts? Just tell me its name and I'll let you in. Hint: the symbol of this house is—"

"Slytherin House," Rice answered decisively, drawing his wand.

"Oh? You want to fight me?" Badger Head was not afraid of Rice's threat at all, and even seemed a little eager to try.

"The best house at Hogwarts is Hufflepuff." Just as Rice was about to cast a spell to smash the annoying doorknob, Helga's voice rang out.

The doorknob cheered, loudly repeating Helga's words, and then spun the door open.

Rice: ...

He walked into Helga's office without a word, and after Helga closed the door, he said to her, "Helga, don't you think this question is childish?"

"No, not at all." Helga's smile never faded.

"Alright, enough chit-chat, it's time to get down to business." Rowena interrupted their conversation and casually pulled out the resurrection stone ring.

"Don't use that yet," Rice interrupted Rowena's next move.

"This is too dangerous; I can't predict what will happen."

"That makes sense." Rowena nodded and put the resurrection stone ring back into her pocket.

"Looks like the three of us are on the same page, huh?" she said casually, looking at her two old friends with amusement.

"Of course," Rice and Helga replied in unison.

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~

─=≡Σ(((つω)つ

(End of this chapter)