Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 463 Dumbledore Enjoys It All and Fawkes the Phoenix is ​​Panicked

"I would like to hear the details."

Tell me about it.

Rice and Rowena both crowded around Helga, wanting to see what progress she had made.

"I had a brilliant idea a while ago, and now it's basically ready to be implemented." Helga's eyes sparkled, surrounded by a large pile of books and drafts.

She rummaged through it for a while before finally finding the dragon transformation magic steps that Salazar had written down.

"Look, this dragon transformation magic is quite similar to the wolf venom of werewolves." Helga poked around on the parchment scroll with her fingers, clearly very excited.

Rice thought back and realized it was indeed similar.

Werewolves infect normal people by injecting their own wolf venom into the body. The venom takes root and fuses with the flesh, making it impossible to remove. On the night of the full moon, stimulated by the moonlight, the wolf venom in the infected person's body will fully erupt, turning the perfectly healthy person into a wolf.

Jack's dragon transformation magic is similar. It involves first injecting a special substance called dragon essence into the human body to change the body, and then using external force to activate the transformation into a dragon.

"I originally planned to replicate this so-called 'Dragon Essence,' but the wizards might not be able to accept the cost of it," Rice said, expressing his dilemma.

In that memory of Jack's, Rice had already determined that the Dragon Transformation Magic was irreversible. Once injected into the body, one would carry this toxin for life, just like a werewolf. It was even contagious, like the werewolf's wolf venom.

"Of course, we won't copy it exactly." Helga gave a mysterious smile, took something out of his pocket, and handed it to Rice.

"Look what this is!"

"Cookies? No, they're the Weasley brothers' Canary Cookies!" Rice was taken aback at first, not understanding what Helga was trying to do, but upon closer inspection, she realized that the cookies she was handing over were the Weasley joke cookies from the Weasley joke series.

A sudden realization dawned on him, and he vaguely felt as if he had grasped some crucial clue.

"It's normal that you and Rowena aren't good at food magic and can't get any inspiration," Helga said, a smug look flashing across her face. "But don't underestimate food magic!"

"How could that be?"

"No, no!"

Rice and Rowena spoke at the same time, indicating that they had no intention of underestimating food magic.

"These cookies are really interesting. Those two Weasley boys are truly talented." Having not witnessed much of Fred and George's pranks, Hufflepuff had a fairly good impression of the two, and even vaguely felt that the two were somewhat compatible with Hufflepuff House.

"This is a replica of the canary cookies that I was inspired by. Would you two like to try some?" Helga took out a box of cookies and pushed it in front of Rice and Ravenclaw.

The two men probably understood their old friend's intentions, so they naturally had no reason to refuse.

Rice took the cookie box and noticed that the cookies inside were carved with various animal shapes. He took a cookie with a snake on it, while Rowena took one with an eagle on it.

After eating the biscuit, Rice felt a surge of magic spreading through his limbs. He could have interrupted the process, but there was no need.

As the magic flowed through his body, Rice transformed into a snake in an instant, while Rowena beside him turned into an eagle.

That's interesting!

Feeling the new serpentine body, a sudden realization flashed through Rice's mind. A thoughtful look also flickered in Ravenclaw's hawk-like eyes. However, when she caught sight of the large, silver-green serpent on the ground, a crack seemed to appear in the dam of reason in her mind.

This snake is so fat, it looks delicious!

Rice shuddered, suddenly sensing the murderous intent of a predator. He instinctively raised his head, only to meet those bright orange eagle eyes.

Rice: ? ? ?

Rowena: ...

Rice was shocked, while Rowena hurriedly looked away and began preening the feathers on her wings with her beak, making the atmosphere a little awkward.

Fortunately, this state did not last long; in less than a minute, the two of them came out of the transformed state.

After reverting to human form, Rowena stood obediently to one side, becoming extremely interested in her hair: Huh? Why can't I style this hair properly?

Rice glared angrily at Rowena.

"Ravenclaw, what do you mean?!"

"Ah, um..." Rowena felt unusually guilty. Mainly because her behavior of staring at her old friend and drooling was just too embarrassing.

However, being the quick-witted Ravenclaw, she came up with a brilliant way to defuse the awkward situation within two seconds.

"Helga, your transformation cookies have a downside!" Rowena said simply, turning the tables on Helga. She pointed out that Helga's cookies had tainted them with the bestial nature of transformed animals.

Helga raised an eyebrow.

"I'll optimize it again later, but you should understand what I mean, right?" Helga casually brushed off Rowena, then steered the conversation back to the transformation magic.

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

Helga probably wanted the students to transform into those powerful magical creatures by consuming certain foods.

It must be said that this idea is very bold, and it is extremely difficult to implement.

"So you're planning to make some dragon fruit cookies or something?" Rice asked.

"No, that's not it." To Rice's slight surprise, Helga shook his head, denying his guess, and instead took out a box from his sleeve.

After opening the box, she took out a small potted plant from the box, which had been enchanted with a seamless expansion spell.

Herga's bonsai is very similar to the potted kumquats sold in flower shops. A small sapling about two fingers thick has grown in soil fertilized with dragon manure, with some golden fruits the size of longans dotting the leaves.

Rice had seen Helga tinkering with this bonsai at Rowena’s mansion before, but he didn’t pay it any mind, because Helga liked to grow all sorts of strange and unusual plants, but this bonsai was clearly different.

"This is my latest research result. You can call it the Transformation Fruit Tree. Its fruit can make people transform like Canary Cookies. It's a product of combining the transformation magic on Canary Cookies with the results of my previous research on the Hundred Flavors Fruit Tree." Helga's tone was full of pride.

Rice and Rowena's eyes widened immediately.

They had heard Helga mention the concept of the Hundred Flavor Fruit Tree before. She wanted to cultivate a fruit tree that would produce fruit with a variety of flavors, such as orange, tangerine, apple, lemon, and even the flavors of fish, poultry, and meat.

She actually managed to create this bizarre "dark cuisine" fruit tree.

If you water the fruit trees with fruit juice or animal blood every now and then, the fruit on the trees will change. For example, if you water them with orange juice, some of the fruit will taste like oranges; if you water them with cow blood, some of the fruit will have the texture of beef.

The prerequisite is that there must be a sufficiently long interval, otherwise you are likely to get hybrid fruit.

If this technology were used in transformation magic...

Rice and Rowena looked at the sapling with a completely different expression.

Helga understood the look in her friends' eyes, and she was even happier.

"Yes, we only need to pour the blood of magical creatures into the roots of the tree to make the tree bear the corresponding fruit. Eating the fruit will introduce the corresponding animal element into the body, and when the opportunity comes, a single pull will complete the transformation." Helga explained her idea of ​​transformation magic to her friends.

"The advantage of doing this is that after completing a transformation, the special substances in the body are immediately consumed, preventing the wizard from turning into a monster like a dragon or a snake. The disadvantage is that you can't transform into whatever you want. Wizards who eat the fruit need to communicate with the fruit tree beforehand and choose fruits with a high compatibility with themselves. This way, the rejection reaction caused by the special substances after eating will be weaker. It's somewhat similar to the process of modern wizards choosing their wands."

Rowena glanced at Rice and said, "Salazar, I remember you kept a basilisk, didn't you?"

"Yes, I'll go find the Serpent King to collect his blood right away." Rice was a man of action; he acted immediately. At the same time, he asked Helga to go to Dumbledore to get phoenix blood, and Rowena to go outside and order dragon blood.

Of these three types of blood, dragon blood is the most common and is readily available in the market. Basilisk blood and phoenix blood, however, can only be obtained from specific wizards.

Fortunately, the few wizards in the world who can provide both types of blood are all at Hogwarts.

With the tasks assigned, Rowena led Rice and Helga out of the room.

After turning several corners in the winding and rugged corridor, she led the two to a staircase painting, through which they returned to the mansion's main hall.

Back in the lobby on the first floor, the three of them immediately split up.

Rowena went to write a letter to purchase dragon's blood, Rhys went to the Chamber of Secrets to find his basilisk, and Helga went to the eighth floor of the castle, gave the password, and entered Dumbledore's headmaster's office.

The moment Helga pushed open the door to the headmaster's office, she vaguely felt as if there was something wrong with her eyes, but upon closer inspection, she realized she wasn't mistaken: Dumbledore was lying on a recliner, with a doll on each side of his body giving him a massage.

On Dumbledore's desk were several plates of pastries and a glass of black sparkling beverage with a lemon slice stuck in the rim, wisps of white steam rising from it.

Helga: ? ? ?

Before she went into "seclusion," she received several orders, including one for Dumbledore, with the doll's life module almost fully equipped. She felt something was off then, and today it's definitely true!

When Professor White entered, Dumbledore didn't even bother to open his eyes, but simply asked her to sit down.

"Professor White, would you like to try it too? The massage skills of the dolls you make are absolutely superb! You can even concoct magic ointments that make your blood flow smoothly all over your body after applying them."

Helga: ...

She was momentarily speechless, only noticing that Headmaster Dumbledore seemed to possess a very strong sense of relaxation.

"Professor Dumbledore, it's working hours now!" Helga felt that Dumbledore was going a bit too far—they had never enjoyed anything like this back in their day!

Don't even mention the past, I've never enjoyed anything like this before!

Shouldn't the headmaster of Hogwarts be doing the hardest work and enduring the most hardship? How come Albus is enjoying himself?

Thinking about how she had spent day and night researching transformation magic, even going so far as to use the Time-Turner, while Dumbledore was in his office eating desserts, drinking iced beverages, and even having a doll give him a massage, Helga felt mentally unbalanced.

Dumbledore's peaceful life is because someone is carrying the burden for him!

Dumbledore is from Gryffindor, right? Fine, I, Helga Hufflepuff, will remember this!

Dumbledore rolled over in his recliner, indicating that for a Hogwarts "high-level executive" like him, there was no difference between going to work and leaving get off work. He was on call 24/7, always at work.

Since there's no distinction between get off work hours and commuting hours, it's perfectly fine to enjoy yourself during work hours.

Helga took a deep breath, burying her complex emotions deep inside, and told Dumbledore why she had come.

Dumbledore's eyes sharpened instantly. With his experience, how could he not hear the extraordinary nature of this fruit?

But the gleam in his eyes vanished after a few seconds. He raised his hand and pointed behind the office door, indicating that Professor White could help himself.

Phoenix Fox was sleeping when someone entered the office. It merely shook its tail but didn't pull its head out of its wing. However, when it heard Professor White mention something about a "transformation fruit," it became alert.

When Helgatu finally saw the dagger, it immediately raised its head, and all the feathers on its body swelled up.

But this did not deter Helga's determination to obtain the Phoenix's blood.

She strode forward and cornered Fox against the wall.

Fawkes let out a restless cry, but Dumbledore remained unresponsive, as if asleep.

With his plea for help fruitless, Fox could only stare intently at Helga while tapping its beak repeatedly, hoping to dissuade the ill-intentioned wizard.

Helga didn't force the issue; instead, she pulled a dark, muddy lump from her bosom and held it out to Fox.

A hint of confusion flashed in Fox's watery eyes: You don't think you can bribe me with such an ordinary mud ball, do you?

But it soon smelled an unforgettable fragrance from the mud.

Fox: "This stuff looks delicious, but this wizard has ill intentions..."

While Fox was hesitating, Helga simply pushed the dumpling forward and placed it right in front of Fox's mouth.

Fox instinctively took a bite, and immediately lost all sense of caution.

What kind of bad intentions could a grandmother have that provides such delicious food?

Helga thus successfully obtained the Phoenix Blood.

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, I'm going to write the next chapter now, you guys go to sleep first.

(End of this chapter)