The Rune Mage Starting at Hogwarts

Rizz stood beside them, quietly watching the carriage ahead.

It wasn't empty there.

In his line of sight, a tall, thin, black creature was harnessed to the wooden pole of each carriage.

They have dragon-like heads, bat-like wings, and somewhat sinister pupils that are not visible in their eye sockets.

Because it is still winter, if you pay close attention, you will see a faint white breath coming out of their nostrils.

These are nocturnals; only those who have witnessed death can see them.

His death in his previous life, and the lives he witnessed dying on sickbeds in the orphanage in this life, allowed him to clearly see the appearances of these creatures.

“Riz, it’s time to get in the carriage. I know you’re interested in this carriage. We’ll have plenty of opportunities to study it later. I’ve been playing that Wizard Auto Chess all afternoon, and now I’m starving.”

Hearing Terry's call from inside the car, Ritz nodded without offering any further explanation.

Anyway, once the Night Riders start pulling the carriages forward, Anthony and the others will eventually realize that these carriages are being pulled by a horse they can't see yet.

As Rhett stepped into the carriage, Nightcrawler glanced at it and, seeing that no one else intended to board, snorted and strode off toward Hogwarts Castle.

Back at the castle, Rhett was pleased to find that, at his suggestion, the Hogwarts elves had indeed updated some of the recipes.

Among the roast chicken, fried fish, and fries on the long table, there were also some dumplings and steamed buns that were wrapped rather elegantly.

There are many kinds of fillings for pastries, and they can be made by steaming, boiling, frying, etc. Even when eating dumplings, Ritz can get a small dish of soy sauce, chili oil or aged vinegar as a dipping sauce according to his own preference.

Of course, you can also have ketchup and salad dressing if you want them.

Rizzi is aiming to have braised pork on the Hogwarts table this year.

He planned to use these sweeter dishes as a starting point to gradually win over the young wizard and Dumbledore in the castle.

However, Rhett's first meal back at Hogwarts was not peaceful.

Among them were friends that Ritz already knew, as well as some unfamiliar students that Ritz hadn't met much.

The former was fine, just a few words of congratulations; but the latter's attitude was a bit subtle, and the deliberate attempt to get close was completely unmistakable.

Obviously, the news that Sirius Black had been exonerated and returned to the Black family spread quickly, and the parents of these students probably hoped that their sons could get some connection with the Black family through Rhett Butler.

After all, Ryze did spend a lot of time in Sirius's hospital room during the holidays, and both the officials from the Ministry of Magic and the people sent by the pure-blood families to offer their condolences could see that the two cousins ​​had a very good relationship.

After dealing with another wave of students who came to get acquainted with him, Ryze turned around and complained in Chinese to Li Su, who was munching on a red bean bun across the table: "These guys seem to think I'm some kind of Tang Sanzang (the monk in Journey to the West)."

Listening to Ryze's complaints, Li Su picked up the pumpkin juice next to her and took a sip: "Yeah, I think they really want to bite a piece of 'Blake' off you and take it back. Who told you that your status has completely changed in just one winter break?"

People used to say that Ryze was a fallen prince who had fallen into poverty, but that was just a joke. Few people thought that a child who grew up in an orphanage could inherit the ancient Blake family.

But now the Black family has a leader again, and Raz has indeed become the heir to the Black family, so he has naturally become a hot commodity.

Some third-rate tabloids in the wizarding world are going crazy creating sensationalism just to generate buzz.

These days, they've been spending a lot of time in their newspapers promoting the "past glory" of the Blake family, almost portraying them as the oldest and most mysterious pure-blooded noble family.

“They should go after Malfoy instead. I’m sure Malfoy would be happy to share some meat with their underlings. Just look how strong Crabbe and Goyle are, thanks to how well their family has raised them,” Ryze shrugged and continued eating.

As dinner was drawing to a close, Harry finally found a chance to come over and greet Rhett.

"Riz, how's Sirius doing?"

Rhett nodded to Harry: “That’s wonderful. As I told you in my letter, another friend of your father’s from his student days has returned, Remus Rupin. He’s currently at St. Mungo’s looking after your godfather.”

"The doctors at St. Mungo's say that if Sirius can maintain this mindset, he can be discharged at least a month earlier. But anyway, you'll definitely see Sirius discharged by Easter."

Hearing this, Harry felt much more at ease.

“Lupin…I’ve heard Hagrid mention them too. I really want to see them soon.”

Ryze then looked at Ron. After a holiday break, Ron's mindset had almost completely adjusted.

“Actually, I have to apologize to you, Ron. I had already sensed something before this, but in order to avoid alerting them, I couldn’t tell you what I felt at that time.”

Ron quickly waved his hand: "Don't say that, Rhett, you've already done us a huge favor. My dad wrote that if we let that guy continue to lurk in our house, he might steal our wands one night and do something even worse."

Then his expression became excited: "And the Christmas present you gave me was absolutely amazing, that little guy is even better than Ban... In short, it's the best Christmas present I've ever received in my life!"

Chapter 130: Ravenclaw's Dream

Rhett gave Ron an owl for Christmas.

That was the owl that Rhett had chosen for Ron using divination at the owl shop in Diagon Alley, a owl that perfectly matched his personality.

Looking back now, it's clear that Ron really liked the little guy.

After all, even Scabbers was something Percy had discarded, so the owl that Rhett gave him was much better than the Weasleys' old and confused owl. Not to mention, this owl really suited Rhett's own aesthetic.

Even Harry said that Ron had been secretly chatting with his owl in private these past few days, which made Ron's face burn with embarrassment.

As Ron thanked him, Rhett waved his hand, then looked at Harry and asked how his preparations were going for the rest of the winter break.

After all, before leaving the hospital, Harry had confidently told him and Sirius that he would scout out Felch's office to see if he could sneak the Marauder's Map during the holidays.

Hearing this, Harry felt a little embarrassed and ashamed.

“I…I did try to scout the place at first,” Harry said somewhat hesitantly. “I also went to Felch’s office a few times to see if I could find any opportunity to sneak in beforehand, but I didn’t find any opportunities. Felch and his cat hardly ever leave his office during the holidays.”

"And then some unexpected things happened that caught my attention."

Seeing Harry's expression, Rhett knew that Harry was still following the original plot.

According to Harry, he accidentally entered an abandoned classroom while trying to avoid Felch's cat.

Then he discovered a magical mirror in the classroom and became fascinated by it.

Rizz knew it was the Mirror of Eris, which could reveal the deepest and most intense desires in a person's heart.

Harry originally saw his parents in the mirror, but now, because of Sirius's release, he sees Sirius and Rhett Butler in the mirror as well as his parents.

Even though Harry realized the next day that the things in the mirrors were fake, he still went to peek at them every night so that he could see his parents a few more times.

It wasn't until a few days before the holiday ended that Dumbledore reminded Harry, revealing the true nature of the magic mirror.

“I’ve said before that the mirror gives off a weird vibe,” Ron couldn’t help but complain. “To be honest, when I saw myself in it as the male student leader and winning the Quidditch Cup, I knew that what was being shown in the mirror was definitely fake.”

It's clear that Ron is very self-aware.

Ryze waved his hand and said, "Actually, it can be useful to occasionally use it to understand your inner desires and see if you have deviated from your original ideas."

He actually wanted to see what kind of reflection he would get in the magic mirror.

I suppose he won't end up looking like that blue-skinned, bald guy in the mirror.

“Anyway,” Rizz stopped thinking about it and patted Harry on the shoulder, “you have an invisibility cloak, and your movement is so fast that only you can do this. Since there’s no chance during the holidays, we can wait and find an opportunity later. I’ll also keep an eye on Felch.”

Harry's eyes brightened considerably upon hearing Rizz's words.

He nodded vigorously: "Don't worry, I will definitely find a way to get that Marauder's Map before this month."

After chatting with Harry and his friends, the dinner party quickly came to an end.

After washing up, they lay on Ravenclaw's large bed, chatting about tomorrow's classes and what they would be learning.

As the chatter in the bedroom gradually subsided, a premonition drove Ryze to put on the ring Ravenclaw had given him while he was half asleep, and he soon drifted off to sleep.

It's still on the rooftop of Ravenclaw.

However, as night fell, the starry sky was dazzling, giving it a dreamlike quality.

Ryze saw the beautiful yet sorrowful woman here for the second time.

Rowena Ravenclaw.

However, unlike last time, in the last dream, Ravenclaw didn't realize his existence until the very end.

This time, Ms. Ravenclaw had already set up a rustic little wooden table on the rooftop, with two cups of steaming black tea on it.

She sat on the other side of the table, gazing at the distant Black Lake, as if she had been waiting there for some time.

“I apologize for keeping you waiting, Ms. Ravenclaw,” Rez said, walking to the table and bowing politely.

“Time doesn’t mean much in dreams. Please have a seat, Mr. Reiz,” Ravenclaw said, looking at Reiz. Her voice was gentle and not at all distant.

After Ryze sat down, he first expressed his gratitude to the other party, pointing to the ring on his hand: "This ring has helped me a lot, thank you very much for your gift."

Ravenclaw nodded slightly: "This is a gift from me to the outstanding young wizard. The fact that you were able to find it after passing those tests shows that you do indeed possess the wisdom to bear it."

Ritz picked up his teacup, savoring the black tea in his dream, before continuing, "The power of divination is truly incredible; it actually allowed me to meet the great founder from a thousand years ago in a dream."

"Divination is indeed a wonderful and helpless power, but the fact that we can chat here across thousands of years is actually more due to the power of the castle beneath our feet."

Ravenclaw put down his teacup and gazed intently at the surrounding castle.

"When the four of us chose to build Hogwarts here, it was partly because I was guided by a prophecy in my dream, but also because this land inherently possesses extremely strong magic... an ancient and primal power that existed long before the castle was built..."

Ravenclaw looked at Rizz: "We were just going with the flow back then. We used this magic to build the castle's defenses and set up classrooms, but I have no doubt that we never really mastered it. It was just that it was willing to be used by us."

“Even as the founders, we cannot know all the secrets of this castle. Just as I could not have predicted that a young wizard who had just entered school a thousand years later would be able to activate this magic on the very first day he signed the contract with the castle and be guided by it into my dream.”

Chapter 131: Fate's Enigma

“That sounds like an honor,” Rizz said softly.

But he didn't show any flattery or surprise; instead, he became even calmer.

Having lived in the magical world for half a year, he now understands one thing very clearly: the more incredible the miracle, the greater the price that must be paid behind it.

This kind of "favor" that spans a thousand years probably also means that he has been drawn into another, more troublesome destiny.

“You possess a clarity beyond your years, Mr. Rez,” Ravenclaw said, looking at Rez with a serious expression on his face. “But this is also the tragedy of a diviner.”

"People always yearn to glimpse the future, thinking that as long as they see the end in advance, they can avoid the thorns on the road. But they don't understand that when you truly see the path of fate, you will find that the interweaving of every thread has its meaning."

"Fate is wonderful and intoxicating, but after personally experiencing those unshakeable destinies, it can also make one feel more desperate."

Ryze listened in silence, gently stroking the ring on her hand.

He asked Ravenclaw, "So, by giving me this ring, are you trying to warn me not to change the future that is already set?"

“You are a variable, Rhett, and only a variable like you could draw upon the magic within the castle to perform this miracle and come before me,” Ravenclaw stared at Rhett. “I tried to look into your future, but there was nothing there.”

"Your appearance has created cracks in the otherwise perfectly seamless web of fate. But similarly, fate, having discovered your existence, will not allow a crack that is completely out of its control to appear in the perfect web it has woven. It will try every means to correct you, to reintegrate you, this variable, into the web it has woven."

"Perhaps it's an accident, perhaps it's a relationship, or maybe it's some kind of temptation you can't resist... It will give you everything you want; that's destiny itself!"

Ravenclaw sighed.

“I truly look forward to the day when that net is completely torn apart, even if it's just that someone is able to cut one of the tiny threads.”

“But I can’t make a decision for you, even though you’re the most promising person I’ve ever met,” she said, lowering her eyes to look at the ring in Ryze’s hand.

"What you want to do in the future is your own business. This ring can help you resist some of the temptations that fate brings, but it cannot help you reject those temptations that fate brings... Even if you give up in the end, this ring can at least help you avoid the worst possible endings."

"In a sense, I personally believe it is the best prop I have ever made. Everyone thinks the crown is a symbol of wisdom, but they don't know that it is also a curse... I was once deeply trapped by it, thinking that I had grasped the truth, but I never realized that I was walking step by step into the trap of fate, which led to Helena's tragedy... This ring is the result of my efforts to make up for my mistakes, but this is all I can do, and I realized it too late."

Rizzi hadn't realized how important the ring was to Ravenclaw.

"So, how can I ensure I don't fall into a trap?"

Although his conversation with Ravenclaw gave him a clearer understanding of the twists and turns of fate, he did not want the tragedies of his past life to be repeated before his eyes.

Upon hearing Ryze's words, Ravenclaw smiled faintly; this was the first time Ryze had ever seen him smile.

The next moment, the surrounding starry sky began to slowly flow, transforming into countless complex ancient magical runes.

"Now that you're here, I can teach you something in this dream..."

......

Before dawn, Ryze suddenly opened his eyes.

Although she did take a nap, Ryze felt her brain was still a little swollen and painful.

This is a symptom that occurs when the brain receives a large amount of knowledge in a short period of time.

As Ravenclaw said, time in dreams is fleeting.

Before the dream ended, Ryze felt like she had been studying non-stop in the dream for almost a week.

Ravenclaw truly lived up to her reputation as the wisest witch of her time. In her dreams, she could effortlessly generate the books she had ever read and explain them to Rhett in the simplest way possible.

Divination, arithmetic divination, ancient runes, shapeshifting, alchemy... including ancient magic, Ravenclaw possesses unimaginable power and wisdom in every aspect.

Ryze felt that his intense curiosity about magic had been excessively satisfied in this dream.

The insights he gained from his dreams that night were equivalent to a month or even longer of his usual hard work.

"Phew..." Ryze let out a long breath, rubbed his throbbing temples, and immediately rolled over and got out of bed.