Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 468 Aries: I've behaved myself, please let me go.

Rice uttered a pointless remark: "Isn't Aries Arius?" But the woman standing in front of him widened her eyes.

She glanced around and noticed that everyone around her was staring at the teacher-student pair with curiosity. Not daring to say anything, she just mumbled a reply.

Yes, it was Arius. Ever since she relinquished control of her body, she had fallen into a deep sleep, only regaining consciousness this morning.

When she heard the legendary wizard Rowena Ravenclaw wish her a Merry Christmas, she was a little confused: it was still summer when she closed her eyes, how could it be Christmas so suddenly?

Then Rowena gave her a task: to attend the Christmas ball that night and become Les Lint's dance partner.

Before Aries could even react, Rowena went offline, and Aries gained relative complete freedom.

Faced with so much information, she took a moment to process it, and then she realized that her situation seemed to be quite bad.

She felt like she had become Ravenclaw's puppet! Her promises had not been kept at all; in nearly half a year, Ravenclaw had only allowed her to be lucid for this one day!

Aries is dissatisfied.

This discontent immediately transformed into a yearning for freedom when she discovered she could no longer contact the Ravenclaw within her, and she conceived the idea of ​​escaping from this cage.

In terms of personality, Aries is different from Rowena, who possesses her; she's more like Godric, a highly proactive and action-oriented person. After having the idea to escape, she walked straight out of Rowena's office and hurried towards the first floor of the castle.

Regardless, let's get out of Hogwarts first!

Her yearning for freedom overcame her fear of the secret order. Aries felt that the organization wasn't omnipotent, and if she hid in the wilderness, they might not be able to find her.

After all, I possess a divine realm, and I know quite a few spells that can be used for concealment...

Just as she was walking out with these thoughts in mind, she ran into a group of people.

They were a group of Gryffindor students, surrounding a tall man with red hair and a red beard, chatting and laughing as they walked towards the castle gate, seemingly wanting to have a snowball fight in the open space outside.

When Aries saw the red-haired man's back, she felt as if the air had frozen. One large hand gripped her heart, and the other hand choked her throat. She couldn't breathe, couldn't speak, and couldn't even react to anything.

This red-haired man has the aura of Polaris! She couldn't be mistaken; that person's physique also resembles Polaris!

It's an organization! It's an organization! They've found Hogwarts!

Fear overwhelmed her.

Just then, the red-haired man seemed to notice someone watching him. He turned around, saw Aries, gave him a bright and cheerful smile, and waved at Aries.

"Professor Ariane, how about we have a snowball fight?"

He spoke to himself! He spoke to himself! Yes, yes, that's the voice, it's Polaris!!!

Aries knew she should respond, but she couldn't utter a single word; she was simply too terrified.

She knew very well how powerful the man in front of her was, and that she was no match for him, not even able to hold out until the rescue arrived.

Aries felt like she was about to faint, but just then, the vanished Rowena reappeared and temporarily took over her body.

"I won't go; I need to prepare for the dance later."

Her voice was calm and gentle, but to an Aries, it was like heavenly music.

Ravenclaw, my savior!

Seeing that Arius refused, Godric did not press the matter. He waved to her and then left with the group of Gryffindor students.

After Godric left, Rowena returned control of the body to Aries, and the first thing Aries did after regaining control was to run to Rowena's office.

She rushed into the office like a gust of wind, locked the door tightly, and then slowly sat down against the wall, letting out a long sigh of relief.

Only then did she realize that her robe was soaked with sweat.

At this moment, she no longer had any desire for freedom. All she wanted now was to shrink into a corner of the office, where only this office could give her a sense of security.

Don't be nervous, he won't dare do anything to you; this is Hogwarts. Remember to attend the Christmas party tonight, you absolutely must go. Go without worry, and try your best not to let Rice know you're here.

Rowena's voice echoed in Aries's heart, quickly soothing her inner fears.

"Yes, this is Hogwarts, this is safe," Aries thought.

After offering some words of comfort to Aries, Rowena fell silent again, but Aries had long since given up on running away. If it weren't for Ms. Ravenclaw's firm order for her to attend the Christmas party, she wouldn't have wanted to step out of the office at all.

After the sun set, Aries quickly cleaned herself up, changed into the clothes prepared for her by Lady Ravenclaw, and went to the first floor of the castle, where she saw Les Lint.

Unfortunately, her acting skills seemed to be quite poor, and Les Lint immediately recognized that she was not Lady Ravenclaw. Fortunately, Lady Ravenclaw did not seem to have any objections.

Rice seemed to have a lot to say, but she didn't get angry at herself.

Aries stood beside Rice, silently waiting for the dance to begin. Her action caused a stir among the students; no one expected that a student would ask a professor from the school to be her dance partner.

At 8 p.m. sharp, the castle’s main gate opened.

Two large oak doors slowly opened, revealing the outside world. A lawn outside the castle had been transformed into a grotto, shimmering with ethereal light. The grotto's thick stone walls insulated against the winter chill, making the air inside as warm as spring.

Professor McGonagall's voice rang out: "Contestants, please come to the auditorium!"

Rice strode forward, with Aries trailing half a step behind him as they walked toward the auditorium.

After everyone else was seated in the auditorium, Professor McGonagall asked the contestants and their partners to line up and enter. The contestants filed in pairs towards a large round table at the front of the auditorium where the principals were seated. Upon seeing the contestants, the people in the auditorium erupted in enthusiastic applause.

Rice paid no attention to people's reactions; he was observing the changes in the auditorium.

For tonight's party, the auditorium walls were painted with shimmering silver frost, and the ceiling was set to reflect a starlit night sky. Hundreds of mistletoe twigs and ivy wreaths floated in mid-air. The long tables from the various colleges were gone, replaced by hundreds of small tables lit by lanterns, each seating about ten people.

Twelve tables were set up around the principals' round table, reserved specifically for the contestants and their dance partners. Once all the contestants were seated, the Christmas party officially began.

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.

Second update delivered, goodnight.

(End of this chapter)