Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 61, Dumbledore's puzzle game, is well done.

The atmosphere in the faculty seating area was somewhat heavy. Professor McGonagall wore a stern face, radiating an aura that kept strangers at bay. The other heads of the department were well aware of this: Gryffindor's loss to Slytherin due to off-field factors had greatly displeased her.

Upon opening it, Flitwick's expression instantly changed.

He handed the parchment to Professor McGonagall, then cleared his throat: "Severus, Minerva, I think you two need to see what's written on this."

Professor McGonagall took the parchment, glanced at it, narrowed her eyes, and threw it directly in front of Snape.

"Severus, shouldn't you explain this?"

"Yes, I did cast a spell on Potter's broom." To all the professors' surprise, Snape readily admitted it after reading what was written on the paper.

In reality, as long as he stubbornly denies it, the other deans can't do anything to him, but if he admits it...

Professor McGonagall coldly stated that Snape had to give him an explanation.

"I was using magic to protect Potter from falling from the sky. Another person and I have been fighting against the person who cast the curse. You can check the remaining magical traces on the broom; it will testify to my point." Snape's expression was calm. The professors at Hogwarts were different from those little wizards whose heads were filled with dung; they could communicate with him and understand him.

The truth will come to light if you examine the magical traces left on the broom.

"There's another person?" Flitwick's focus was slightly different.

"Isn't that you? That's Pomona?"

Professor Sprout, the dean of Hufflepuff, also shook his head.

"That's a bit strange." Snape frowned: Who is this person who saved Harry? Is this person connected to the one who killed the troll on Halloween night?

With a random excuse, Rice sent Hermione away. He only gave her a few pointers out of respect for her hard work and intelligence, hoping to correct her preconceived notions about Slytherin House.

After this little incident, Rice went up to the fourth floor of the castle alone. After pressing his ear to the door and listening intently for a few seconds, Rice was certain that there were several large creatures behind the door.

For guards like these, Godric would have undoubtedly opened the gates and fought them to the death, but Rice saw no need for that. The noise of a battle could alert those inside the castle, revealing his presence. Therefore, Rice chose to outsmart them.

He pulled a small crystal bottle from his pocket, uncorked it, and a wisp of smoke, shimmering with a dreamlike, hazy light, escaped from it, drifting through the crack in the door at Rice's direction. After about a minute, the breathing behind the door became heavy and even—the big guys inside had fallen asleep, and would be immersed in sweet dreams for the next few hours.

This is a calming potion made from lustful demons. Rice is very confident in it; it can even charm a fire dragon.

Rhys took out his wand and knocked on the lock of the door. With a click, the door opened. The torches in the corridor illuminated the space behind the door, and after seeing what lay there, Rhys couldn't help but raise an eyebrow: Dumbledore is really something, managing to find such a rare magical creature!

Behind the wooden door was a huge three-headed dog!

Even a thousand years ago, this magical animal was very rare.

Judging from its massive size and glossy fur, this three-headed dog is very well cared for, which is rare. Like the necromancer snake, the three-headed dog is difficult to raise because its three heads possess independent consciousness and sometimes even attack each other. Its owner must have put in a great deal of effort to raise this three-headed dog to its current state.

Rice admitted that his judgment was slightly wrong. He sensed three breaths and three independent magical forces through the door. He thought there were several magical creatures guarding the door, but it turned out to be several magical creatures with several heads.

After stepping inside, Rice closed the door behind him, waved his wand to lock it automatically, and then instead of going any further, he circled the three-headed dog once.

"Hmm, it's a bit degraded, not as powerful as the old Cerberus, but it's still pretty good for guarding the gate." Rice admitted that if he hadn't known beforehand, even a wizard of the Dean of the Academy's level wouldn't have been able to escape unscathed if suddenly attacked by Cerberus in such a confined space.

Dumbledore was right; anyone who does not wish to suffer an accident or die a painful death should not enter this place.

Rice easily found a trapdoor under the three-headed dog's paws. When he opened the trapdoor, he couldn't help but sigh: It's too easy. It should have been hidden. At least put a Disillusionment Charm on the door or something, so that the trapdoor wouldn't be so easy to find.

After casting a flight spell on himself, Rice slowly floated towards the trapdoor.

"Tsk." Looking at the huge clump of tangled vines on the ground, Rice couldn't help but click his tongue: Putting Devil's Net here, is it really not for shock absorption? How was this defensive mechanism designed?

The deeper they went, the more Rice frowned.

He initially thought Cerberus was just the beginning, but it turned out to be the pinnacle of all their defensive measures. The final level, with its distinctly Snape-esque style, even amused and exasperated Rice.

You're using fire-retardant potion as an antidote and diarrhea-relieving medicine as poison???

Only young wizards and those who have lost their sense of smell would be stumped by your puzzles, Severus Snape!!!

Rice said he couldn't bear to look at these levels.

Then, as he stepped through the fire door, a sudden realization dawned on him: with such rudimentary security measures, were these checkpoints really meant to prevent theft?

Beyond the fire door lay the last room. Rhys conducted an extremely thorough search, expending considerable effort, and concluded that it was empty—no mechanisms, magic, or secret doors. It was, in a literal sense, "empty." Dumbledore hadn't placed any traps or hidden anything here.

This concludes our exploration of Rice's corridors.

Regarding the guard mechanism behind the door, Rice commented: "Dumbledore's puzzle game is pretty good."

Yes, in his view, aside from the three-headed dog guarding the gate, the later levels were just puzzle games. Even an ordinary first-year wizard could reach the final level safely as long as he followed the rules.

This is very unusual.

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! I'm going to continue writing the next chapter, which will most likely be out around midnight. You can check it out tomorrow morning!

Thanks to Babium for the donation!

(End of this chapter)