Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 537 Rice's Divination Talent (with a Mini-Theater)

The next morning, Daphne, Astoria, and Rice arrived at the auditorium together for breakfast, just as they had for the past five years.

"Rice, I didn't realize you had such a talent for public speaking," Daphne said casually to Rice as she spread butter on her bread.

"A voice from the heart always resonates deeply." Rice told Daphne that almost every word in his speech was from the heart.

"I just didn't expect Malfoy to be so brave as to talk back to Rice in that state," Astoria said thoughtfully.

Rice glanced at her, a complex look flashing in his eyes.

Last night, when he cast the spell on Malfoy, he deliberately suppressed his magic power and carefully controlled its fluctuations. Now it seems that his control over magic power has improved, while Daphne and Astoria, who did not notice anything amiss, still need to practice more.

"That guy has always been like this; I've disliked him for a long time." Daphne's mouth was full of bread, fried eggs, and bacon, but she still tried to express her opinion on Malfoy.

She was thinking of finding an opportunity to beat Malfoy up.

The three did not delve deeper into the topic of Malfoy, but instead turned their attention to the course schedule for the semester.

"Preparing for the OWLs exams in fifth grade, won't that take up too much of our time?" Astoria complained as she looked at her timetable.

She felt that instead of wasting time on these boring courses, she would rather spend some time hunting evil spirits.

Lately, evil spirits have been sneaking out of the underworld more and more frequently. Without special countermeasures, these dark creatures will not truly die in the mortal world, but will return to the underworld to draw power. Once their power has recovered to a certain level, they will be resurrected in the underworld.

Then it was their turn to make a comeback.

"I got all excellent grades in my exams last year, so don't embarrass the Greengrass family," Daphne said proudly.

Astoria narrowed her eyes. "Sister, are you questioning my abilities?"

"The fact that I didn't get an 'Excellent' grade only means there was something wrong with the questions," Astoria said with extreme confidence.

Astoria, with her exceptional strength and domain-specific abilities, has the confidence to say such things.

Of course, it's a bit too abstract for two wizards to be comparing their OWL exam scores here.

"The exam format will change a bit this year. If you complete enough of those 'tasks,' some exam items will be exempt." Rice remembered that his old friends seemed extremely dissatisfied with the exam methods in the modern magical world, and guessed that they would take the opportunity this year to promote the new OWLs and NEWT exam formats.

At that point, the interview won't be as important. After all, candidates can prove their abilities by completing the tasks.

A warrior skilled at beheading evil spirits can make a pineapple tap dance across a long table, but the reverse is not necessarily true.

Rice's reassurance was effective; Astoria quickly stopped focusing on the exam and became more curious about something else.

"I went to a divination class with Rice. Do you have class this morning, sister?"

Daphne: ...

Oh no, how could she not have thought of that? By becoming Rice's "senior," she also lost the opportunity to attend classes with Rice!

"I--"

"No skipping class. I saw your schedule; you have Potions class this morning. You should learn more about Potions. Professor Snape has a very solid foundation; you should learn from him. Also, keep discipline for me." Seeing that Daphne seemed to be having some inappropriate thoughts, Rice quickly stopped her and forcibly took her to the underground Potions classroom.

The reason for doing this was twofold: firstly, Snape was indeed quite capable, and Rice believed that Daphne could truly learn valuable knowledge from him.

Now that Daphne is in sixth grade, the Potions class no longer features common potions like swelling potions, but rather high-end potions like love potions. Every single Potions class burns through Hogwarts' budget—the money spent on a single sixth-grade Potions class is enough to feed the entire school for a week.

The second reason is related to the curriculum. To reduce the teaching burden on professors, many courses are taught together by students from two houses, and after the fifth year, all four houses are taught together. This means that Slytherins have to share a room with Gryffindors for Potions class.

Rice gave a speech last night, naturally hoping that the students in the house could be true Slytherins, just as he said in his speech.

It's normal that a major change can't be achieved all at once, but Rice also hopes they can "grasp the spirit of the meeting" and stop causing trouble at school.

As for the person most likely to escalate the conflict with Gryffindor, is there even a question? It's definitely Malfoy. That's why Rice needs Daphne to help him control the situation.

He absolutely cannot allow anyone to stand up and openly contradict his principles at this time.

Those Slytherin students who didn't stop after the "Lounge Speech" will be severely punished!

With these two reasons in mind, how could Rice possibly allow Daphne to skip Potions class? So he warned Daphne in a stern tone that she had to attend Potions class obediently today.

However, Daphne was not discouraged, because Rice gave her a task!

She will definitely execute the supervisory tasks assigned by Rice perfectly.

Daphne left happily, while Astoria watched her sister's departing figure with a complicated expression, and couldn't help but sigh.

"Rice, my sister..."

"It's nothing, just atavism. Muggles have studied it, and the specific manifestations are..." Rice was extremely open-minded.

In his view, there wasn't anything wrong with Daphne resembling her ancestor. However, Rice had some reservations about Godric's succession.

Admittedly, I initially didn't want Daphne to become Godric's successor. It wasn't in accordance with the rules, and the child's talent was indeed astonishing.

But now his thinking has changed a little.

Godric seems to get along well with Daphne; she can learn more from him and progress faster. I can't let my own selfishness jeopardize my child's future.

As for the so-called "rules," Hogwarts is currently undergoing a period of change, and some outdated rules may not necessarily need to be followed.

Of course, besides these obvious and verifiable reasons, there was another reason why Rice thought Daphne could become the heir to Gryffindor.

The heir to Gryffindor comes from Slytherin, so isn't he already in a winning position?

This effectively merged the two houses into one, with Slytherin absorbing Gryffindor. From then on, Slytherin and Gryffindor were nominally two houses, but in reality, they were one family in terms of succession!

Rice gets incredibly excited just thinking about it.

This means they hold the "right to interpret" the Gryffindor doctrine. To put it bluntly, once these four old guys have all kicked the bucket or left Hogwarts, what exactly the Gryffindor doctrine is will be up to Daphne and her successor to decide.

If one were ruthless enough, one could even directly conflate the Gryffindor spirit with the chivalric spirit, and then inject the traditional Western European aristocratic spirit, making Gryffindor a school that reveres bloodlines—although Rice wouldn't allow Daphne to do that.

Only a carefree guy like Godric would make such a "mistake".

Putting aside her dark motives, Daphne can truly be considered an excellent heir to Gryffindor, a fact that Rice knows all too well.

Astoria was unaware that her sister's fate had already subtly changed at this moment; she was completely absorbed by the "atavism" that Rice mentioned. After figuring out what it was, she couldn't help but chuckle.

The two chatted and laughed, and soon arrived at the divination classroom.

Quite a few people were already waiting downstairs in the classroom. Rice overheard someone complaining about Sybil Trelawney, the divination teacher.

"Professor Trelawney must be very disappointed, because last year she kept telling us that she had foreseen Rice's death."

"I wonder how she's going to make up for her prophecy this year?"

"Pretend you never said anything?"

Listening to the conversation between the two, Rice almost burst out laughing.

Surprised? Professor Trelawney's prediction was actually correct. He did experience death two years ago, but he actively embraced it and was reborn, just like the phoenix's rebirth.

I wonder if Professor Trelawney saw herself being resurrected when she peered into the future? If she could, she'd be a god.

Astoria whispered in Rice's ear that Daphne was furious after hearing Trelawney's prophecy about Rice's death.

If she and Cedric hadn't arrived in time, Hogwarts Castle might have lost a tower forever.

"Oh? Tell me more about it?" Rice's curiosity was piqued, and he asked Astoria to tell him what had happened.

"It's like this..." Astoria told Rice the whole story.

Rice laughed so hard he couldn't straighten up after hearing that.

"Fortune telling is risky!" he said with a laugh. The Trelawney family is really unfortunate; very few people believe their prophecies, even if they are correct.

However, Daphne's actions also touched Rice quite a bit: although this child seemed to be missing a screw most of the time, she was still a very good person.

Huh? Isn't this exactly Godric's character design?

As the group chatted and laughed, the trapdoor of the divination classroom was opened, and the young wizards entered the round classroom one by one.

The moment Rice stepped inside, he looked around and surveyed the classroom.

Sure enough, the walls, floors, and ceiling were brand new. The windowpanes had all been replaced. Although there were still some shelves along the wall, the divination containers on them were much fewer, clearly indicating they had been purchased recently.

As for Professor Trelawney, when she appeared, she had her head wrapped in a thick headscarf that smelled of medicine, just like Professor Quirrell.

She was also hiding something.

Professor Quirrell did it to cover up Voldemort's mark on the back of his head, while Professor Trelawney did it to cover up her bald head—Daphne's magical flames not only burned away her hair but also restricted the growth of new hair, so that no matter what hair growth potion she used, Professor Trelawney's head remained bald.

To regain beautiful hair, one might need to awaken their inner potential, or patiently wait for more than a decade.

Upon seeing the large headscarf, Rice's expression immediately went out of control.

"Welcome." Although she had lost her hair, Professor Trelawney's voice was still ethereal.

"Especially you, my dear child." To Rice's surprise, Professor Trelawney walked straight up to him and gave him a seemingly inscrutable smile.

"I foresaw your death in the crystal ball..." Professor Trelawney's ethereal voice echoed in the somewhat empty classroom.

Astoria, standing behind Rice, lowered her eyes.

She never expected Professor Trelawney to be so "stubborn" as to dare to predict her death in front of everyone.

Rice was standing right here, perfectly fine! How dare she do that? Shouldn't we just let it go and pretend nothing happened? Students are forgetful; it won't even take half a semester for anyone to remember this.

She couldn't figure it out.

"I tried every method of divination, and it was verified time and time again, but the result never changed..." Trelawney continued, "until later, I saw your rebirth in the divination. You will embrace death and be bathed in new life—congratulations, my child, you have succeeded."

Astoria's eyes widened; she hadn't expected Trelawney to be able to make something out of something like this. Those students who still believed in divination were ecstatic.

Rice looked at Professor Trelawney, who was smiling, with mixed feelings.

On the surface, this seems like a con artist's excuse after her scam has been exposed, but in reality, what she said was actually true, which made Rice a little uncertain.

Did she actually see her resurrection? Rice felt that this question could not be answered without truth serum or legicination.

However, he didn't want to use these methods on a descendant of a prophet, because one should maintain a certain degree of respect for fate.

After a brief reminiscing with Rice, Trelawney began her divination lesson for the day with a satisfied heart.

When it came to the practical part, Rice followed the instructions, lighting each herb and tossing it into the small charcoal stove in front of him. He was to burn the femur of the chicken-snake beast inside, crack it, and then perform divination based on the cracks.

Flames rose, enveloping the animal bones, and smoke billowed up.

Rice's eyes widened suddenly: he sensed an unusual rhythm. He knew it all too well; it was the fluctuation of fate he had felt in parallel worlds.

The wisp of smoke before me seemed to truly be drawing upon the power of fate!

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~

The next chapter will be at midnight tonight.

(I wrote a little extra chapter in the author's notes, it's free, hehehe)

(End of this chapter)