Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 529 An Extraordinary Applicant, Athena

In addition to the badge and two routine notices (a notice about the start date and a reading list), there was also a letter written by the principal to Rice.

As Rice unfolded the third parchment, he felt as if something was pricking his eyes. It was Godric's handwriting; his characters were sharp and, at first glance, could even sting the eyes.

In the letter, Godric mentioned that Rice had not earned enough credits in fifth grade and had not taken the OWLs exams, so he could not advance to sixth grade and had to repeat fifth grade. However, considering his previous excellent performance, Principal Godric still chose to award him the prefectural badge.

When Rice saw Godric's letter, he felt a wave of dizziness, but at the same time, he could also sense the meaning between the lines of Godric's words.

Don't want to be a class monitor? Don't want to take these childish exams? Then just reveal your identity and you can skip the student stage.

Rice wasn't about to fall for Godric's tricks. He knew exactly what would happen to him after revealing his identity; Godric would definitely make him the principal.

At that time, Hogwarts will be a structure of "two heads in the sky, jointly governed by two headmasters".

Rice would never do something so foolish.

It's just repeating a year and becoming a class monitor, right? I've done it before, I'll grit my teeth and get through it.

Rice put the letter away and then began purchasing the textbooks and supplies needed for the new school year.

Meanwhile, Godric is fretting about the school's personnel changes for the new school year.

In the midst of a once-in-a-millennium upheaval, many professors on campus have chosen to resign and venture out to contribute their talents elsewhere. Among them is Professor Lu Ping, who previously taught a course on the protection of magical creatures.

As a member of the Order of the Phoenix, he hopes to leave Hogwarts and join the Ministry of Magic to contribute to the peace of the region.

Fortunately, he submitted a report before leaving his job, stating that Rupert Hagrid, the hunting ground keeper, key manager, and teaching assistant, was capable of taking over his work. Godric approved his application, but at the same time, he was somewhat curious whether the burden on Hagrid's shoulders was too heavy.

Because he also has to oversee the forest ban!

In Godric's mind, the Forbidden Forest was no benevolent place, and controlling it would require a great deal of effort.

Godric felt he should have a heart-to-heart talk with Hagrid before the start of the semester to see if he was capable of handling all those positions.

The second and third personnel changes stemmed from two of his old friends. Helga was no longer keen to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. After breaking the legendary curse during her two-year term, she lost the will to continue teaching.

Rowena didn't want to be a professor anymore; she wanted to be a librarian, but that position was already taken—Godrick was a little worried about Mrs. Pince's safety.

He had to write a letter to warn Rowena to prevent her from messing around for the sake of her position.

Severus Snape wanted to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, but if he did, who would teach Potions? Salazar? Godric wanted to, but Salazar would definitely not accept.

Looking at the intricate web of interpersonal relationships and job charts on the table, Godric felt a headache coming on.

He had an urge to pick up his sword and shatter everything in front of him—fighting was far more comfortable than these jobs.

"How about I take on the role of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor myself?" A thought flashed through Godric's mind.

He didn't know if the current headmaster of Hogwarts still maintained the tradition of personally teaching, but back then, all four of them personally took on some teaching positions.

"Huh? Should we let Helga fill the hole left by Rowena for the alchemy professor?" Godric was inspired by his earlier thought and quickly arranged positions for his two old friends.

Helga becomes the alchemy professor, while Rowena becomes the librarian of the forbidden library!

"I'm a genius!" Godric thought, pleased with his own cleverness.

Of course, the principal's job involves much more than that; he has many other tasks to do. For example, he meets with the board of directors to obtain the budget for the following year.

Godric was delighted to learn that Hogwarts had a well-established Board of Governors, because it meant that Hogwarts had a mature economic system, stronger than it had been back then.

Back then, they even had to hunt in the forbidden forest themselves to find a source of meat!

Godric decided to meet with the school board members as soon as possible to secure next year's budget. As for how much money was needed, he figured it could be increased by about 10% based on the previous year's budget. This was Dumbledore's advice to him; before leaving, Dumbledore had responsibly left himself a Headmaster's Handbook to help answer some basic questions.

For more complex questions, Godric could ask about the portrait Dumbledore left on the wall of the Headmaster's office.

Just as Godric was preparing to convene a meeting of the board of trustees, an owl flew into his office and dropped a letter on his desk.

"Interview appointment?" After quickly reading the contents of the letter, Godric focused his attention on the signature at the end of the letter. The interviewer's name was Sofia Athena.

"An interesting name." Godric smiled and decided to meet with this Ms. Sophia.

He acted extremely quickly; he received the letter in the morning and met the legendary Lady Sophia at the Hog's Head Tavern in Hogsmeade that afternoon.

……

The moment Athena saw the Pig's Head Bar, she was already less inclined to go in for an interview—this place was just too filthy! Although she wasn't the kind of god with obsessive-compulsive disorder about cleanliness, the slovenly appearance of the place still instinctively aroused her disgust.

The reason is not that the place is unclean, but rather that choosing such a dilapidated place as an interview location clearly fails to convey respect for the interviewee.

But as the saying goes, "Since you're already here," and besides, she genuinely wanted a teaching position at Hogwarts, so she proactively extended an olive branch symbolizing friendship and peace, and tried to cultivate good relations with those four legendary wizards.

That's right, the woman named Sophia who submitted her resume to the headmaster of Hogwarts was none other than Athena, one of the Olympian gods. The name "Sophia Athena" literally translates to "Athena the Wise".

With a surge of divine power, Athena pushed open the door to the Pig's Head Bar without Athena needing to make physical contact.

She walked slowly into the bar, looked at the location written on the interview invitation, and then Athena's eyes narrowed: it was that man, she couldn't be wrong!

Godric Gryffindor, the true god of fire, the initiator of Ragnarok, and the founder of Hogwarts!

Despite having prepared herself mentally, she couldn't help but feel a little nervous when she actually faced Godric Gryffindor, whose strength was no less than that of her father Zeus.

Angering the Father God might at most result in a reprimand followed by a symbolic punishment. But offending the person before you might mean you won't leave this filthy little tavern alive.

We must be very careful.

This is the main purpose of Athena's trip.

The moment Athena entered, Godric's gaze was fixed on her.

His gaze was quite intimidating, making Athena feel a chill run down her spine. Fortunately, he only glanced at her before concealing his sharpness and instead greeting her.

"Is this Ms. Sophia? Please come over!"

Athena walked to the table in front of Godric and then, at his gesture, sat down opposite him.

"Sofia Athena, right?" A meaningful look flashed in Godric's eyes. "Why are all of you like this..."

Athena did not understand the meaning behind his words, and simply nodded silently.

She needs more information before she can formulate a response!

Godric didn't mean anything by it; he was just complaining about how these old fogies liked to use aliases after they woke up—Rice, White, Arius, and now Sophia!

That wretched Loki, he's made my life miserable!

"How should I address you? Should I use 'she' or 'He'?" Godric asked directly.

Athena's heart skipped a beat, and she immediately pointed out that Hogwarts was a "human" place, so naturally a pronoun symbolizing humans should be used.

"Okay, then I'll call you 'Sophia' from now on?"

"Of course." Athena nodded seriously, understanding that Gryffindor was implying that at Hogwarts, one should be mindful of one's place and stand on the side of humanity; spreading faith at Hogwarts was absolutely taboo.

Having clarified how to address the other person, Godric felt it was time to get down to business.

"Why do you want to be a teacher at Hogwarts? It's hard work."

Athena opened her mouth slightly, intending to utter the prepared remarks she had prepared: "to build a bridge of communication between wizards and gods," "to improve relations between the two sides," "to allow wizards to experience, understand, and learn about wizard culture," and "to let wizards truly understand the gods." But as the words reached her lips, she changed her mind.

"I want to maintain a good relationship with you and your friends." She decided to be honest and speak her mind directly.

After all, her little schemes couldn't be hidden from the terrifying yet respectable being before her, so she might as well tell him herself to increase his favor.

Godric was somewhat taken aback upon hearing Athena's reply.

He never expected that the high and mighty gods would be willing to lower themselves to deal with them; perhaps this was a good thing.

Athena's frankness did indeed win Godric's favor. He felt that giving her the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts wouldn't be out of the question.

"Okay, that's an interesting reason. But I should remind you again that this job is really demanding, very hard, and doesn't pay much. More importantly, we need teachers to teach real knowledge."

Godric still wanted this pampered goddess to seriously consider the matter, after all, Helga had previously complained to him about the workload of the Hogwarts compulsory course professors, which was truly daunting. He didn't know if the goddess before him could endure such hardship.

In other words, the person applying for the job is Athena, the goddess of wisdom, war, and art, whose title sounds like she is very hardworking. If it were Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, Godric would have already gotten up to see her off.

Furthermore, he also wanted to ask Athena what exactly she was going to teach. Godric had heard the legends of old teachers like Quirrell and Lockhart, and had even personally experienced Umbridge's teaching; he couldn't accept that the new professor was a mediocre one.

Although Athena's divine status is very high, what if it's innate? She can't very well answer a student's question about how to defeat a fire dragon by telling them to go to her temple for a blessing, can she?

Athena, however, had a different interpretation. She believed that Godric was implying to her that the job might be thankless and difficult, and that she might not gain the understanding of other gods or build closer relationships with the wizards.

But none of this mattered to her; she was ready and confident that she could be a friend of the wizard—something very important to her.

With Athena's wisdom, she had already foreseen the wizards' transcendent status in the future world, so she decided to place her bet early and maintain a good relationship with the wizards.

This will help her weather the next major crisis.

Nothing in this world is immortal, not even gods. The Norse Aesir gods have already demonstrated the price to pay for clinging to the past.

A hero was born, bringing twilight to the immortal gods.

"Of course, no problem. I'm not a goddess like Aphrodite," Athena replied confidently.

Godric was overjoyed and immediately called the bartender to bring him drinks. After the bartender brought the drinks, he took out two glasses from his pocket and personally poured Athena a full glass of butterbeer.

Seeing the conspicuous layer of grime on the mouth of the glass bottle, Athena's brows twitched violently, but she had no room to refuse.

With a determined effort, she closed her eyes and drank the butterbeer in her glass. To her surprise, Athena found that the beer tasted quite good.

Next, the two had an in-depth discussion about the teaching plan.

Godric was quite satisfied with Athena's answer. He eventually signed a contract with Athena, and Athena naturally became the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts.

When the two walked out of Pighead Bar one after the other, it was already sunset.

Suddenly, the sound of horses' hooves echoed from the otherwise empty Hogsmeade Drive.

Godric looked in surprise toward the source of the sound, and then saw an incredible sight: a silver-haired female knight wearing a silver-green mask, riding a skeletal unicorn with flaming hooves, appeared at the end of the road.

The well-informed Godric recognized it; the female knight was riding a Nightmare. Hanging from the Nightmare's bridle were several blood-dripping monster heads.

The silver-haired witch noticed Godric's presence and immediately turned her horse around, charging towards him.

"Who is this person?" Godric felt that the figure looked familiar, and he also had a sense of déjà vu about the scene.

Athena glanced at him: How should I know?

Godric's doubts were quickly answered.

The nightmare abruptly stopped in front of the two. The female knight leaped off the nightmare's back, removed her mask, and revealed Daphne's face.

"Mr. Gryffindor, it's been a long time!"

"It's Daphne!" Godric realized where that sense of familiarity came from.

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 be at midnight tomorrow night~

(End of this chapter)