Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 76 Hagrid's Little Secret

Daphne felt like she was in a dream. She had just asked casually, and who would have thought that Rice would actually take her there!

If only I could get that magic wand… Daphne couldn’t help but start fantasizing.

"But don't get your hopes up too high. A wand is just a wand after all. In the end, it all depends on the wizard who wields it." Rice felt that Daphne seemed to be overestimating the power of wands. In her mind, it wasn't a wand, but a wish-granting machine.

"Now that the small talk is over, it's time for you to get back to your preparations!" Rice's two sentences brought Daphne back to reality from her fantasy.

She continued preparing the compound decoction.

While Daphne was struggling with the two-horned beast, Rice narrowed his eyes, pondering the Three Deadly Holy Relics Daphne had just mentioned. He hadn't seen the Elder Wand or the Resurrection Stone, but the Invisibility Cloak…

Isn't there one right here?

"Daphne, do you know anything about Potter's background?" He planned to ask Daphne before checking the files.

Daphne recalled her father's introduction of Harry's family.

"The Potter family had been living in Godric's Hollow before that incident, and then... you know, Harry was raised by his Muggle aunt until he was eleven."

"Godric Hollow..." Upon hearing the familiar name, Rice felt a faint sadness. That was where Godric was born. Whether Godric Hollow was named after Gryffindor, or Gryffindor was named Godric after the valley, even he didn't know; it was an unverifiable history.

I wonder if that Potter is a descendant of Gryffindor, maybe? It's perfectly normal for long-established magical families to have some kind of kinship.

"Why are we suddenly talking about him?" Daphne was a little surprised by the abrupt change in the topic.

"Don't you think Harry's invisibility cloak perfectly matches the description of the invisibility cloak in the Deathly Hallows?"

"Is it really that bad?"

"But his invisibility cloak is certainly unusual, isn't it?"

"But the story of the three brothers is just a legend."

"Legends always have a prototype, don't they?" Rice had decided to investigate Harry's background thoroughly.

……

As the Christmas holidays drew to a close, Fred and George were finally released and regained their freedom. Professor McGonagall was very "generous" in giving them a day to "get some fresh air."

The twins were furious that their Christmas holiday had been ruined by solitary confinement. They went to great lengths to find out the real reason for their confinement—Snape's storeroom had been robbed, and many precious potions had been stolen.

Upon hearing this news, the twins, who had been furious, suddenly calmed down. In their own words, "If two weeks of confinement can cause Snape to lose a third of his potion ingredients, then please confine me for two months instead. It's really unsettling that such a good thing can happen in just a month and a half."

Although the young Gryffindor wizards were overjoyed to hear about Snape's ordeal, they still made ample preparations for their first Potions class after the start of the school year.

If Snape didn't take his anger out on the Gryffindor students, would he still be Snape?

Surprisingly, Snape didn't really make things difficult for the Gryffindor students, as if his potions storeroom hadn't been stolen.

This left Fred and George completely bewildered: Had Snape lost his mind from anger?

Daphne's plan to make the compound potion was progressing smoothly. Even if something went wrong, Rice's presence could help salvage the situation, so the overall progress was relatively successful. During the potion-making process, she even had time to learn the Disillusionment Charm from Rice.

On the twenty-first day, Daphne's compound decoction was finally ready.

Looking at the thick, muddy soup, Rice nodded in satisfaction. He took out a small glass, poured out a cup of the compound soup, and added a strand of his own hair into it.

The decoction made a loud sizzling sound, like a pot of boiling water, and vigorously foamed. A second later, it turned into a glass of silvery liquid with a metallic sheen.

"Please." Rice handed the cup to Daphne.

Daphne took the cup and drank the compound decoction in one gulp, then shivered.

She thought the soup in the cup tasted like a glass of chilled mint water.

The compound decoction took effect very quickly; bubbles began to appear on Daphne's fair skin, like hot wax, and her hair grew shorter while its color changed...

Soon, two Rices appeared in the secret room.

"Congratulations, you've successfully concocted your potion." Rice clapped lightly to encourage him. A young wizard who could concoct a polysaccharide at this age was someone to be proud of, even with Rice's guidance.

Daphne's changes also show that her body has truly returned to the state it was in when she was a teenager.

Daphne, now in the form of Rice, looked at her hands and then stood on tiptoe to look at her heels, seemingly extremely curious about everything that was happening to her, which was indeed a novel experience for her.

After wandering around the secret room for half an hour, Daphne returned to her original form.

"The dosage of the medicine will affect your transformation time, so you really need to pay attention to that. Also, here's your compound decoction, take it." Rice poured the remaining compound decoction into a large jar and handed it to Daphne.

"Huh? Can I keep it?!" Daphne was quite surprised, as she knew very well that it contained extremely precious magical ingredients. Frankly speaking, if this potion were sold on the market, the money it would fetch would definitely fill this jar.

"Of course, keep it safe."

After leaving the secret room, Rice went straight to the library, where he needed to investigate the legends of the Potter family and the Three Holy Relics.

While researching, he brushed past Rupert Hagrid, the school's gamekeeper. Rice noticed that the gamekeeper was carrying several books.

Noticing Rice's gaze, Hagrid covered the book in his arms with his mole-skin coat.

Ok?

This suspicious action piqued Rice's interest. He remembered glimpsing the outermost book, titled "The Dragon Raising Guide," and it was pretty obvious what the hunting ground guard was up to.

Keeping dragons might seem illegal now, but Rice didn't care because in his time it was legal, and some young Hogwarts wizards would even bring their pet dragons to school. This is why the school later stipulated that only owls, cats, and toads were allowed to come to school.

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.

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(End of this chapter)