Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 495 The End of the School Year and Dumbledore's Assurance

Astoria thought Rice would show up the next day, but she was wrong.

When the final resumed the next day, Rice was still nowhere to be seen. He wasn't the only one missing; Professors White and Arius were also gone.

Dumbledore was somewhat opposed when he learned that the two professors were going out to fight the remnants of the Secret Order.

It's hard to go from luxury to frugality. He had gotten used to having these few people guarding Hogwarts, and now that they were suddenly leaving, Dumbledore felt a real emptiness in his heart.

However, he quickly got into his stride, casually bid farewell to the two professors, and then headed to the Quidditch pitch to preside over the match.

Although yesterday's match was interrupted, the previous results were retained—Ekaterina was unwilling to fight Hermione again.

The match then continued.

Two of the five Hogwarts students have already advanced, with the remaining three being Daphne, Cedric, and Neville.

No one was surprised that the top two made it into the top sixteen, but it was quite surprising that Neville managed to fight his way here.

This gentle, forgetful, round-faced boy seemed to have undergone incredible training in the alchemical world, giving him a completely transformed appearance.

If Neville was a typical Hufflepuff student when school started in September, he became more like a Gryffindor after the Wrestling Championship.

His opponent is also quite interesting; he is the Black Pearl of Vagado.

The two fought back and forth, with Neville ultimately winning by a narrow margin. However, many people believe that Neville's superior strength was less due to his skill and more to his durability, allowing him to outlast his opponent.

After advancing to the next round, Hermione, watching from the stands, noticed some details Neville displayed during the battle; he seemed to have also learned the flow of magic.

This made Hermione genuinely happy for him.

She knew very well that in the current magical world, one could not become a top-tier wizard without understanding the flow of magic. The study of magic flow was like Muggle mathematics, but with an even higher status.

You can't become a scientist if you're bad at math, and you can't become a top wizard if you're not good at magic.

Neville wasn't even allowed a seat in the audience; he and Black Pearl were taken away by Madam Pomfrey to receive treatment.

After the next few matches, Hogwarts players were drawn again.

This time, it's Cedric versus the independent contestant who claims to be from Longhu Mountain.

He was one of only two contestants from a non-mainstream magic school to make it to the finals. The other was a monk from the Mahabodhi Temple, but he had already been eliminated in the round of 16 by a student of Iphamoni.

Cedric didn't rush to fight his opponent; he was quite interested in this opponent named "Qingyue Yang".

"You're from Longhu Mountain? This is the first time I've ever heard of this place. Is it in the East like the Magic Institute?" Cedric asked curiously.

"More or less." Yang Qingyue shrugged. After being asked questions like "Are the Mahabodhi Temple and the Magic Institute very close?", he had given up hope on the British wizards' geographical knowledge.

Cedric nodded, somewhat bewildered—he couldn't even pinpoint the exact location of the magic institute, only knowing it was in the far east.

Seeing that Cedric didn't intend to act immediately, Yang Qingyue simply started chatting with him.

"I'm not actually from Longhu Mountain. I just thought Longhu Mountain was a bit more famous, and you might have heard of it. Besides, if I'm unlucky and get eliminated in the first round, it won't bring shame to my sect."

"So you're not from Longhu Mountain?!" Cedric exclaimed in shock: There are actually people impersonating students from other schools to participate in competitions?!

"Yes and no." Yang Qingyue shrugged. "It's complicated and can't be explained in a short time. To put it simply, my ancestor came from Longhu Mountain, but he later went to develop in other places."

Cedric understood immediately.

Isn't this just an Eastern version of Hogwarts and Ilfamoni?

"It feels like we rarely hear from you guys in the magical world..." Cedric couldn't help but complain. If it weren't for this competition, he probably would never have met these mysterious visitors from the East in his entire life.

"We are indeed quite low-key and don't like to go out."

"Huh? I remember a friend of mine saying that the way you cast spells is a bit different from ours?" Halfway through the conversation, Cedric recalled his comments about Eastern magic when he was chatting with Rice earlier.

Yang Qingyue nodded.

During his six months at Hogwarts, he truly experienced the difference between magic and his own Taoist arts. Being able to cast spells simply by waving his wand was incredibly cool and gave him considerable inspiration.

He also made some practical talismans based on the wizards' spells, which he estimated would give Cedric a little "surprise" later.

"Anyway, you're welcome to visit us after the match!" Yang Qingyue was still very talkative, but considering that they were on the field, the two of them couldn't just chat like that. So he extended an invitation to Cedric and then subtly indicated that it was time to start the match.

"Definitely!" Cedric replied earnestly.

……

"So who won between the two of them?" Dumbledore asked during the graduation ceremony, while Rhys chatted with Daphne and Astoria in the audience.

On the last day of the school year, Ras Lint, who had been missing for almost half a semester, returned to Hogwarts and sat at the Slytherin table he had been away from for so long.

Daphne and Astoria were extremely surprised and delighted by his sudden appearance. However, after the initial surprise, they couldn't help but ask him what he had been doing all this time.

Rice answered truthfully that he really had gone to recuperate from his injury.

He was seriously injured in the alchemy world and had no choice but to recover and recuperate there.

Daphne believed it, but complained that Rice hadn't told them beforehand, while Astoria seemed thoughtful.

Injured in the alchemy world? Then the natural disaster they encountered before was probably really related to Rice. But since Rice was unwilling to reveal it, she didn't intend to pry.

It's good for everyone to respect each other's privacy.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the topic naturally shifted to the championship competition.

Daphne quickly recounted what she had seen and heard during the finals to Rice, with a particular focus on the mysterious visitor from the East.

"His spell is very...unique." After thinking for a moment, Astoria finally found the right adjective.

"At first, he didn't even use a wand. He pulled out a lot of yellow slips of paper from his pocket, and by throwing them out, he could summon some puppets or something. He could also use those things to create effects similar to the Ironclad Charm or the Disarming Charm. Later, he threw a few flags onto the field, and he and Cedric were both obscured by a thick fog."

However, Cedric maintained the upper hand throughout, as his area of ​​expertise is well-suited for defense and withstanding pressure.

Rice listened with a smile; he roughly knew what was going to happen next.

"When that guy got to the end and realized he couldn't break through Cedric's defense, he used his trump card. He summoned a dark cloud, and lightning and raindrops fell on the dueling platform, destroying half of it."

However, Cedric stubbornly refused to admit defeat, and in the end, for some reason, he simply dispersed the thunderclouds and surrendered. Astoria looked puzzled; she felt that Yang Qingyue hadn't even blushed or skipped a beat when he surrendered, as if he could have fought for a while longer.

"Cedric himself said it was luck; if that guy had persisted a little longer, he would have been the one to give up," Daphne added.

Rice shook his head.

"You can persist, but it's unnecessary."

"Could you elaborate?" The Greengrass sisters were immediately intrigued.

"The magic from the East is amazing. They seem to focus more on the background. For example..." Rice pointed to the necklace and brooch on Daphne's chest.

"The stronger their ancestor, the stronger their power. Through talismans, they can borrow power far exceeding their own strength, but this also consumes a lot of resources. That guy probably got tired of it towards the end and couldn't bear to continue using up his talismans."

"I see." Astoria finally understood why Yang Qingyue chose to concede halfway through the fight: if he continued, he would go bankrupt.

After discussing Yang Qingyue, Rice didn't want to continue the conversation because he felt that the outcome of the championship was basically a foregone conclusion.

However, unfortunately, there was a stubborn kid among those present.

"Rice, aren't you curious about who the final champion will be?" Daphne asked in a tone that Rice found hard to understand.

"You hit Hermione?! Really? No way!" Rice exclaimed in surprise.

Hermione can summon her own phantom within her domain; how could Daphne possibly defeat her? Could it be that this little girl has made significant progress while I was away?

Daphne's face froze immediately when Rice asked her such a blunt question.

"Um, this—"

"We didn't win," Astoria answered Rice's question for her sister.

Rice: ...

Look at you, why do you always bring up things that are best left unsaid?

Hermione naturally won the individual championship in the final stage of the tournament.

Her winning methods were truly legendary; she would simply stand in front of her opponents, and then both of them would vanish for a moment. When they returned, the outcome was already decided.

Apart from the contestants, no one knew what had happened.

This immediately shrouded Hermione in mystery.

It's not that no one tried to find out what happened, but Hermione only encountered "her own people" after the quarterfinals, and everyone kept quiet. Even Ekaterina, the vice principal of Cordosdorez, refused to reveal what happened, so it became a mystery that no one knew.

After a brief chat, Rice began to drift off into daydreams.

Dumbledore on the stage was spouting nonsense that didn't really make any sense, and the young wizards below weren't paying attention either; they were just thinking about where to go for their holidays.

Rice, however, set his sights on the visitor from the Far East.

As far as he knew, Eastern wizards had a deep understanding of the soul, and their ancestors might even be alive in another form, otherwise the principles of talismans would be inexplicable.

Since he knew so much about souls, Ras felt he should visit them to see if he could get some help from them to remove Loki's soul from Gryffindor's body as soon as possible.

While recuperating in the alchemy world, Rhys pondered how to save Godric, but so far he had made no breakthrough. Because Loki was no ordinary person, his possession of Gryffindor made the situation quite complicated.

Perfect timing! Didn't Yang Qingyue invite Cedric to visit him? Rice figured that since they had decided to entertain guests, having one more guest shouldn't be a problem, right?

As his thoughts drifted, Dumbledore's speech came to an end.

"My fellow students, you may have heard the news. During the final stages of the tournament, dark wizards from other schools attacked Hogwarts. Although we successfully thwarted their plot, the effects of the attack have not completely dissipated. The outside world has become even more dangerous, so I sincerely advise you not to travel abroad this summer." Dumbledore's gaze swept across the faces of the guests below the stage. "I also offer this advice to you: I can assure you that the UK is safe."

At the teachers' table, Karkaroff, sitting next to Snape, blinked.

This was the most comfortable period of Karkarov's life.

The mysterious man, his former master, has fallen! Could there be better news? When he woke up from his unconsciousness and heard this news, he almost fainted again from excessive excitement.

When he heard Dumbledore say that "the effects have not completely dissipated," his first thought was that Mystic was not quite dead, which made him nervous.

However, after hearing Dumbledore's assurance, he immediately felt relieved.

This is the first time Dumbledore has made such a statement!

As a legendary wizard who has defeated the Dark Lord multiple times, how many Dark Lords have come and gone? How many times has the Dark Lord returned? In Dumbledore's eyes, it's all the same old tricks, and his assurances are still reassuring.

What Karkaroff didn't know was that Dumbledore wasn't referring to Voldemort, and his confidence in making the guarantee wasn't based on himself, but on Professors White and Arius.

With the two of them around, safety within the UK can be guaranteed, no matter what else is involved.

Dumbledore's words sparked a heated discussion.

Many young wizards immediately decided to change their holiday plans, canceling their trips abroad with their families. Guests from other regions were skeptical; some decided to heed Dumbledore's advice, while many others disregarded his warnings.

In this atmosphere, the school year came to an end as usual.

Countless students stood up and headed towards their college's common room, and Cedric was no exception.

However, a familiar voice called out to him.

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!

The next update will probably have to wait until tomorrow night. If I finish writing it in advance, I will definitely post it as soon as possible.

(End of this chapter)