Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 510 The Ministry of Magic's intervention in Hogwarts requires our permission.

After leading the new students to Helga, Rice announced loudly, "Children, you will now follow this professor across the Black Lake by boat to Hogwarts. A thousand years ago, the four founders of Hogwarts set foot on this fertile land in the same way. Now, you are being brought to Hogwarts in the same manner so that you may inherit the spirit of the founders, their true spirit."

Upon hearing the phrase "true spirit," Helga's expression turned strange, as if she were forcibly suppressing a laugh.

After speaking with the new students, Rice gave Helga a look and then walked out of the station.

As an upperclassman, he would take a Thestral carriage into Hogwarts.

When Rice arrived at the open space where the carriages were parked, he found that he was not too late. Many students were still lingering there, calling out to their friends, wanting to ride in a carriage together.

Rice quickly looked around and spotted Daphne and Astoria. They got into the same car as Pansy, and Rice followed them, getting in after them.

At this moment, Crabbe and Goyle also came over, but the carriage was already full.

"Go find other cars," Rice said without any emotion.

Crabbe, Goyle: ...

Why does it feel like our friendship has faded so much after just one holiday?

The two silently retreated.

The carriage doors closed, and the carriage creaked and groaned as it moved, carrying them to the outside of Hogwarts Castle.

As usual, after arriving at the Great Hall and finding a seat at the Slytherin table, Rice noticed that Godric, who had arrived earlier, was giving him an inquiring look.

Rice shook his head slightly, indicating that Rowena was still missing. As for Helga, unless Godric was deaf, he should have heard Helga's name at the station.

After responding to Godric, Rice sat quietly in his seat, waiting for the Sorting Ceremony to begin.

As usual, the ghosts filed out shortly after the new students arrived. They seemed to relish the emotions the new students displayed when they saw them, and their timing also allowed them to take a look at the younger generation of their own academy.

This is a regular feature of the annual opening ceremony. Most of the senior students remained extremely calm, except for Rice and Godric, whose eyes widened because a very familiar face was mixed in with the ghost group.

Rowena Ravenclaw!

They will never admit their mistake!

Seeing Rowena's utterly dejected expression, Rice and Godric couldn't help but laugh.

No wonder we couldn't find Rowena on the train; she'd turned into a ghost!

Rowena didn't notice Rice and Godric mixed in with the crowd, but she spotted Helga leading the new students in immediately.

Her eyes immediately lit up.

Her ghostly form caused her many inconveniences; if Helga were present, the problem would be much simpler. Whether it was becoming her henchman or helping her find Salazar and Godric, Helga could be of assistance.

The first part of the opening ceremony was not the sorting ceremony, but the singing of the Sorting Hat.

When Professor McGonagall brought the Sorting Hat to the front of the faculty, Godric craned his neck, eager to see his hat in all its glory.

This feeling is similar to that of parents attending an open house who are eager to see how their children perform.

Then the Sorting Hat gave him a hard time.

At this year's opening ceremony, the Sorting Hat sang a new song. The first half of the lyrics celebrated the friendship between the four founders and reiterated their admissions philosophy.

Godric was initially quite pleased with the song, but when the Sorting Hat sang, "The founders turned against each other, constantly arguing and each wanting to seize power. For a time, the school seemed on the verge of dying," his smile vanished.

Hey, you rascal, what are you singing nonsense about?!

However, after a brief moment of anger, Godric narrowed his eyes and began to think.

The Sorting Hat wouldn't speak without reason. Since it issued a warning to all teachers and students on such an important occasion, calling for unity, it means that Hogwarts' current situation is not optimistic.

Godric recalled the information he had gleaned from listening to Harry and his friends chat on the train.

It seems a very powerful dark wizard has been resurrected?

Could this really become a major crisis for the school? Godric couldn't understand it.

When you encounter a dark wizard, shouldn't you just draw your wand or sword and kill him? Why are you so troubled?

However, since he had coincidentally stumbled upon this situation, he couldn't let that audacious dark wizard get away with it. If he were destined to meet Mr. Voldemort, he would take action to rid Hogwarts of this scourge.

After the Sorting Hat sang, there was the Sorting Ceremony and a sumptuous dinner.

When the various dishes appeared on the golden plates, Godric's eyes lit up immediately: Tonight's dinner is quite sumptuous!

Without the slightest hesitation, he forked several large pieces of beef onto his plate, then took a slice of lamb chop, a bunch of sausages, and a whole roasted chicken.

Ron stared in disbelief at the towering pile of dishes in front of Godric.

"Can you eat all of this?" he couldn't help but ask.

Although Hogwarts doesn't have a similar call to action like Operation Disc, leaving a lot of food on your plate is still a shameful thing, and the young wizards will try their best to avoid wasting too much food.

"No problem," Godric mumbled as he stuffed meat into his mouth.

In the next fifteen minutes, Ron witnessed what it meant to be swept away by a whirlwind.

Godric finished the mountain of food he had just taken in a very short time, and then took the same amount of food and put it on his plate.

He repeated this process three times, leading Ron to believe that Godric had cast a seamless expansion spell on his stomach.

After finishing the fourth plate of food, Godric wiped the grease from the corner of his mouth with satisfaction, indicating that he was quite pleased with his meal that evening.

Ron looked at him with awe.

"You have a good appetite today!" Ron said enviously. He wished he could have such a good appetite so he could eat more of his favorite chicken legs.

"It's alright, I'm saving room for dessert—I'm really looking forward to this part."

Ron: !

He was shocked by Godric's remarks.

Sure enough, when the desserts arrived, Godric devoured them in a flash, completely stunning Ron.

He couldn't understand why Longbottom had become such a big eater after just one summer vacation.

He asked the question in front of Godric.

Godric laughed heartily for a while, then told Ron that only by eating more could he have more strength and be more courageous in battle. Ron seemed to understand, and took another caramel pudding.

Ron made a decision: from this day forward, he would eat more.

After the last crumbs of cake had disappeared from the plate, Dumbledore stood up and began to introduce the personnel changes for the school year.

"This year, we have two changes to our teaching staff. Let's welcome Professor Glapland back, who will be temporarily teaching the Protection of Magical Creatures class. And then there's Professor Umbridge, the new teacher of Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Rice then realized that no one could break Voldemort's curse, and the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts was still being replaced every year.

He raised an eyebrow, expressing sympathy for the professor who had come to fill the gap, and hoping that she would back down and not harbor unrealistic fantasies such as continuing to teach year after year.

As for lifting the curse, Rice felt it wasn't urgent and could be left to Godric to handle in the future.

After introducing the two professors, a round of polite applause rang out in the auditorium. Dumbledore wanted to give some more instructions, but his speech was interrupted.

Umbridge stood up from the stool.

Because of her short stature, not many people noticed when she stood up from the stool. It wasn't until she cleared her throat with two coughs that they realized she was going to say something.

Many students chuckled to themselves, thinking that this woman didn't know the rules of Hogwarts, so how could she interrupt Dumbledore when he was speaking?

Rice frowned, a hint of displeasure rising in his heart.

Dumbledore is the current headmaster of Hogwarts, and everyone, including the four of them, should show him respect. How could Umbridge's behavior of interrupting Dumbledore's speech be allowed to happen?

Rice felt he should say something, but someone was faster than him.

Godric stood up abruptly from the long table and said loudly, "Professor Umbridge, Headmaster Dumbledore hasn't finished speaking yet. Let him finish before we hear your remarks! We won't fall asleep at the table in a little while."

Upon hearing Godric's bold and frank remarks, many Gryffindor students burst into laughter, while Umbridge's face instantly turned pale.

"Yes, Professor, that's always been the rule at Hogwarts. There's always a first-come, first-served order for speaking. If everyone just wanted to speak, wouldn't that be chaos?" Rice chimed in in support of Godric.

Then, after a moment's thought, he added, "Given that Godric and I both seem to have inadvertently interrupted, let's deduct five points from both Slytherin and Gryffindor!"

Although Rice immediately gave both sides equal blame, deducting five points from Slytherin, nobody cared at all: the new semester hadn't started yet, and the houses hadn't even begun scoring. Deducting five points, or even fifty or five hundred points, wouldn't have made a difference.

This is a small loophole in the school rules.

Everyone was shocked that Rice would actually speak up for a Gryffindor.

This is Rhys Lint! Why would he do something like this? Shouldn't he have just watched Longbottom get blown up by Professor Umbridge?

No one could fathom Rice's thoughts.

Professor Umbridge, sitting in the faculty section, was also stunned. She had intended to teach the troublemaker who had spoken up a lesson, but the addition of Les Lint put her in a difficult position.

This person has connections!

After a moment's thought, Umbridge decided to pretend she hadn't heard and avoid the limelight for the time being. She silently returned to her seat and let Dumbledore continue speaking.

After Dumbledore finished his usual remarks, Umbridge stood up.

"I must say, it's wonderful to have the chance to return to Hogwarts! Your happy little faces make me so happy!" Umbridge grinned, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth. Then her voice turned serious, and the smile on her face quickly faded.

"The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young wizards to be of paramount importance. Your innate talents, if not nurtured and honed under careful and meticulous guidance, may yield no results. The ancient arts unique to the magical world must be passed down through generations, or they will vanish. The precious treasure trove of magical knowledge accumulated by our ancestors must be protected, supplemented, and perfected by those fortunate enough to engage in the noble profession of education..."

Rice was extremely shocked when he heard the first part of the speech.

He once thought that Umbridge wanted to reintroduce the theory of magic flow at Hogwarts!

"Innate and precious talents", "ancient techniques of the magical world", "treasury of precious magical knowledge of our ancestors" - these all sound like they refer to the flow and domain of magic, right?

This astonished Rice: the Ministry of Magic actually had such a talented person, and he hadn't even noticed it before? This was truly a case of a fine bell being discarded and a pearl being covered in dust!

Thinking of this, Rice felt a surge of joy, because the art of magic flow hadn't truly been lost; it had been secretly passed down among a few individuals or families. It wasn't until Hogwarts faced internal and external troubles that the Ministry of Magic finally couldn't sit still any longer and decided to publicly reveal this unique secret!

Rice felt that his reasoning was completely correct, and even Umbridge's toad-like face looked much more pleasing to the eye now.

However, to be fair, her speech was really long and tedious, almost as long as Professor Binns's history of magic.

"...Old habits will be retained, which is perfectly reasonable, while some habits are outdated and must be discarded. Let us move forward into a new era that is enlightened, efficient, and reasonable, resolutely maintaining what should be maintained, improving what needs to be improved, and discarding what we should prohibit."

Umbridge's speech finally came to an end.

Rice was a little confused: Why didn't she mention the flow of magic at all? Wasn't that all a bunch of nonsense?

Of course, he also found a hidden meaning in these dry words: the Ministry of Magic had decided to intervene in Hogwarts.

This would normally be unacceptable to Rice, but if Umbridge wanted to promote the study of magic flow within Hogwarts, Rice wouldn't stop her—after all, she could only teach for a year, and it wouldn't be a bad thing for the children to take a year to experience truly cutting-edge magical knowledge.

In Rice's view, the Ministry of Magic's intervention in Hogwarts was not unacceptable, but it had to be done with the approval of the four founders.

Only when all four of them agree can something be implemented at Hogwarts.

No one can get this done without their approval.

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 should be tomorrow night.

(End of this chapter)