The Rune Mage Starting at Hogwarts

“But Professor Quirrell is innocent. He’s already pitiful enough, and he shouldn’t be dragged into this now. Ryze, what are your thoughts?”

Seeing the sympathy for Quirrell in Hermione's eyes, Ryze closed his eyes and pondered for a moment.

He gathered his thoughts and calmly addressed Hermione, saying, "Professor Quirrell's health is indeed a cause for concern, but I actually had a premonition about something beforehand."

Hermione immediately looked at Ryze with curiosity.

After returning from winter break, she heard from Harry about what Ritz had done during the holiday.

It was because of Ryze's performance that they wanted to hear the thoughts of this prophet.

Rizzi analyzed the situation for Hermione: "If Headmaster Dumbledore's carefully orchestrated game is against that mysterious person, then Snape alone, as an obvious bait, is clearly not enough."

"If you can think of this as bait, then a mysterious person could also think of it."

"So, in addition to this bait, in order to further ensure that the other party takes the bait, Principal Dumbledore may also prepare a few seemingly insignificant breakthroughs."

Hermione frowned, following Ryze's train of thought: "A breakthrough?"

“If all the professors were as tough as Professor McGonagall or Professor Flitwick, and only Snape was brought out, then the enemy lurking in the shadows might continue to watch,” Rhett looked into Hermione’s eyes. “But you should have noticed that some of the defenses surrounding the Philosopher’s Stone are not actually that secure.”

"One of them is Hagrid, whose kindness is beyond question, but we all know that Hagrid is too honest and straightforward, and may inadvertently reveal secrets when he is not honest."

Hermione recalled their experience of finding out Nicolas Flamel's name from Hagrid and couldn't help but show an embarrassed expression that said, "That's right."

But then she realized what Rizz meant, and her eyes widened immediately: "You mean... Professor Quirrell was also Dumbledore's doing?"

Ryze didn't confirm, but quickly continued, "We now know that Professor Quirrell did indeed play a part in the guardianship of the Philosopher's Stone, and some of the fear, stuttering, and even his seemingly collapsing physical condition that Professor Quirrell has shown over the past six months may be true, but the rest... may be something Professor Quirrell has shown after careful consideration."

“Perhaps it’s out of forbearance, or perhaps it’s out of willingness to cooperate, but I have a feeling that Professor Quirrell isn’t as weak as he appears,” Rizz said ambiguously. “Perhaps Professor Quirrell is the one who’s thinking the most. He’s willing to pretend to be a weakling who could collapse at any moment in order to find opportunities. These are probably things he decided before the start of this school year.”

“You can see Professor Quirrell’s weakness and the need for him to rest, and others can see it too, so I think this is probably the most crucial moment in this game.”

Hermione thought carefully about Professor Quirrell's current timid appearance, and then recalled how the older students described him as having been full of vigor and confidence.

Rizzi's explanation seems to better explain Professor Quirrell's personality change after experiencing a major upheaval.

“If that’s the case…then Professor Quirrell is under too much pressure,” Hermione’s voice carried a hint of respect. “He has to bear the harm from the curse himself, and he has to pretend to be weak in front of his students. That’s not his true nature.”

She took a deep breath. If Professor Quirrell was really as Rizzi said, his act of willingly ruining his reputation to uphold justice was indeed quite great.

Rizzi concluded, "So Hermione, give Professor Quirrell some more time. Perhaps we'll see what he really looks like when this is all over."

Hermione nodded somewhat somberly. "I understand. Thank you, Rhett... If you hadn't reminded us, we might have really disrupted the professors' plans. I'll remind Harry and Ron properly from now on."

After Hermione calmed down for a while, the two of them took the books and left the office together.

At this time, Harry and his friends were still practicing on the edge of the dueling arena.

Harry and Anthony seemed to be having a contest, both using laser charms and dodging each other.

Upon seeing Ryze, Terry loudly reminded the two that practice was over.

Anthony and Harry then stopped their intense sparring.

The two men, panting heavily, high-fived each other, clearly feeling that their practice session had been very effective.

"You guys seem to be practicing well."

Ryze walked to the edge of the dueling arena and greeted the two who were still catching their breath.

“Yes, Harry is more difficult to deal with than I thought. I think his talent in dueling is no less than Quidditch's. It's a pity that Quidditch snatched him away first, otherwise our first-year dueling team would have had another key player.”

Anthony wiped his forehead, pointed at Harry who was waving modestly, and then turned to Rhett Butler to ask, "How's the discussion going over there? When those upperclassmen came out, they all looked radiant, like they'd found some treasure?"

“It is indeed a treasure.” Ryze nodded gently, his tone calm. “There may be some adjustments to the training schedule for the remaining two months. If all goes well, it might help you break through the first round of the dueling tournament.”

Anthony's eyes lit up immediately.

Rizzi turned to the curious Harry and said, "I've discussed what happened to you yesterday with Hermione. You can think about it when you get back."

Chapter 151: New Year's Eve

Harry and the others were clearly also concerned about Quirrell's situation.

So after hearing what Rhett said, Harry, without even wiping the sweat from his brow, said he wanted to go back with Hermione and have a proper discussion about it.

After watching the trio disappear from the arena, Terry, who had been standing to the side, couldn't help but come over.

"Why were they leaving in such a hurry?" Terry asked Rhett curiously. "Did they get into some trouble again?"

It wasn't unusual for Harry and his two friends to be searching through the Gryffindor Tower lately, but Anthony and the others didn't ask what the Gryffindor lions were up to.

Ryze turned around, gave Terry a scrutinizing look, and then looked at Anthony, who was wiping sweat as he approached.

"Do you really want to know?" Ryze asked softly.

Terry shrank back under that gaze.

He quickly waved his hand and chuckled dryly, "If this matter is still just a matter of debating with Dumbledore, then pretend I didn't ask."

Ryze chuckled softly, saying noncommittally, "Actually, it's mainly about Professor Quirrell. Hermione thinks Professor Quirrell's condition has been getting worse lately, and as a 'good student,' I think we should pay more attention to the professor's health."

“That’s all?” Michael raised an eyebrow, then realized that his words seemed a bit off, and quickly added, “I mean, Professor Quirrell does look like he’s about to fall apart, and we do need to take good care of him, but did they come here specifically to talk to you about this?”

“The rest is not something we can talk about now. Anyway, it’s only about four months from now, and you’ll know the situation then,” Rez said meaningfully. “Alright, Anthony, let’s take a good look at the tactics I just came up with.”

Upon hearing about the new tactics, Anthony stopped gossiping and immediately pulled Ryze aside to learn the new knowledge, while Terry and Michael, who remained behind, exchanged glances.

"Don't you think..." Terry scratched his head, then hesitated before speaking, "Ryze's tone just now seemed a little strange?"

“I feel that too,” Michael nodded, but he quickly shook his head. “Let’s not think about it. I have a feeling there’s something very dangerous here, the kind of super trouble that you can’t get out of once you get involved.”

The two young wizards reached a consensus at this point, and Michael quickly changed the subject.

"Instead of thinking about that, I should think about the 'Spring Festival' that Reese mentioned. Reese has managed to get a lot of good stuff from outside this time, and he's even letting each of us bring one or two friends. I bet there will be a lot of Eastern delicacies that we've never seen before... And Sue Lee and Qiu Zhang will definitely be coming too. I'm already thinking about whether I should bring any girls with me."

“Michael, how many girls do you want to chat with before you’re done?” Terry rolled his eyes at Michael’s words. “You were talking about that girl from Hufflepuff the other day, and now you’re eyeing our own classmates and upperclassmen?”

“Of course you should get to know more girls while you’re young. Are you planning to only date the books in the library from now on?” Michael said matter-of-factly. “If you dare to say that, don’t expect me to introduce you to girls in two years.”

Terry scoffed at this.

"Anyway, I don't need you to introduce me. You can worry about your own affairs. Just make sure those women don't cause a scene at Ryze's party."

As they spoke, the two of them headed toward Ryze and Anthony. Although they couldn't participate in the dueling tournament this year, they were curious about what new magic Ryze had developed.

Even after entering February, the temperature at Hogwarts remained low.

However, Reese's life has become much simpler than it had been in the previous two months.

With the completion of the development of the Ultimate Flash Charm and the participation of senior students in the Light Deflection Charm, Ryze's workload has been reduced significantly. Now, he mainly focuses on maintaining his daily practice and studying tactics.

As for the potions, everyone was still slowly honing their skills. Snape was also letting things run wild, and besides wanting to reduce his own workload, he deliberately set up a six-month-long assessment task.

As a result, Rizz has been able to set aside some time these past few days to document the growth of the Honey Fruit with Neville.

Of course, he was clearly not as concerned as Neville.

Neville takes great care of this plant; the first thing he does every morning after his exercise is to come to the greenhouse to observe its growth.

According to Professors Neville and Sprout, it should be about ten more days before the fruit ripens.

Ritz was very much looking forward to it and was prepared to come and witness the ripening of the honey fruit that day.

As for the New Year's Eve party, Ritz originally didn't plan to make it too lively.

He just wanted to get together with his friends on this day, and also show off his cooking skills, which would be a way to celebrate the Spring Festival.

But Hagrid showed surprising enthusiasm after hearing the story of New Year's Eve and the Nian beast.

He even asked Raz's brother-in-law, Ted, to go to London's Chinatown to inquire about things. In the end, Ted brought back a lot of strange and unusual things and suggestions for Hagrid.

On New Year's Eve, Hagrid's cabin was decorated anew.

When Reese arrived early after finishing his afternoon class to prepare, he saw two huge strings of red lanterns hanging on the beams, with a couplet from Chinatown hanging next to them.

Although Hagrid had reversed the positions of the couplet, at least he knew that it was supposed to be pasted on both sides of the door frame.

In addition to the Spring Festival couplets, a huge red-background gold "福" (Fu, meaning good fortune) character is pasted in the center of the door panel.

Hagrid clearly didn't know the significance of "good fortune upside down," and he pasted the character neatly and squarely.

However, Ritz thought it was fine this way. After all, although Hagrid didn't paste the "Fu" character upside down, at least he didn't paste the two long Spring Festival couplets upside down either.

“Although I don’t know what these square characters mean, I bet they’re all auspicious words!” Hagrid clapped his hands happily, then said cheerfully to Reese, “The shopkeeper in Chinatown told Ted that this thing can keep all the bad luck out for a whole year. Maybe this is magic from the East… Reese, how do you think my pasting is?”

"It's pasted very well, except the top and bottom lines are pasted upside down," Rizz said with a smile as he looked at the couplet and helped correct it. Fortunately, with the power of magic, this matter was resolved in just half a minute.

Hagrid scratched his head, looking at the red paper that Ryze had swapped with a spell. Although he couldn't see the difference at all, he still nodded seriously at Ryze: "It does look a bit better than before. Ryze, you know so much."

Chapter 152: Reiz really has a lot of influence.

In the clearing behind Hagrid's hut, several thick wooden stakes were driven deep into the snow, with sturdy cloth and planks draped over them, forming a simple shelter.

This was the result of Hagrid's morning's work. Although it didn't look very sturdy or warm, it was much larger than his hut, and Hagrid had cleaned the shed inside very well.

After all, a lot of people were coming today, and Ryze had told Hagrid in advance that his cabin might not be able to accommodate so many people.

"Raz, do you think this will work?" Hagrid asked somewhat embarrassedly, looking at the rather rudimentary shed.

"With this foundation, we can add some magic on top of it later."

Rizzi cast a Solidifying Charm around the shed to make it even stronger, and also added a Windproof Charm and a Warm Charm to ensure the warmth inside the shed.

Then, Ritz began to make minor adjustments to the interior of the shed using deformation techniques.

He pointed to the rough wooden planks and made their surfaces smooth and even.

The canvas roof, which originally looked rather simple, was transformed into a thick, deep red fabric by magic.

After half an hour, the tent no longer looked as simple as it had before, and now it looked more like a large tent specifically used for banquets.

Hagrid then prepared to hang a few more lights on the outside of the shed, while Rizz turned and went into Hagrid's hut.

Inside, the table was piled high with all sorts of fresh ingredients: large chunks of beef, already prepared chicken and fish, and various washed vegetables and fruits.

Ryze rolled up his sleeves and began processing the ingredients with his wand in his left hand and a kitchen knife in his right.

Today, in addition to preparing to stir-fry a few dishes, he also plans to make a large hot pot. After all, he can also enjoy the enhancement of the juicer when making the hot pot soup base, which gives this seemingly ordinary hot pot soup base a touch of wonderful magic.

With the help of household magic and Ariel, Rizzo's work efficiency is astonishingly fast.

As evening approached, the people attending the gathering gradually arrived.

"My God, did Hagrid build a palace here?" Ryze heard Ron's exclamation from outside Hagrid's house from afar.

Rizz pushed open the door and saw Harry and the other two marveling at the exquisite shed behind Hagrid's hut.

Hermione, on the other hand, was carefully examining the magic that had been cast around the shed.

Upon seeing Reese arrive, they proactively asked if there was anything else they could help with.

Rizzi then asked them to help greet the arriving guests along with Anthony and the others.

Harry and his two companions readily agreed.

However, as time went on, the number of people who came exceeded their expectations.

There's no need to say more about Anthony and the other pretty Chinese girls.

Even though Harry isn't old enough to fall in love yet, he still feels a little nervous looking at Cho Chang's beautiful face.

Fortunately, Michael was indeed good at dealing with girls, and he took the initiative to entertain them, leading them to the shed at the back.

Then Ron was surprised to see George and Fred shoving each other as they ran over, carrying a lot of confetti cannons they had made: "Hey, our dear brother is here to greet the guests. Where is Rhett now? After hearing about tonight's party, we've gotten a lot of good stuff. It's definitely much more exciting than the fireworks outside!"

Ron looked at his twin brother with some concern: "Why did Ryze invite you guys... Are you sure you didn't mix any dung bombs in there?"

Ron couldn't even imagine how chaotic the party would become if a giant excrement bomb suddenly wandered in while the two of them were lighting fireworks.

“Relax, Ronnie,” Fred patted Ron on the shoulder and said with a grin, “It’s a big day, why would we ruin the mood with a poop bomb?”

“That’s right, Ryze is our big boss now, and we won’t spoil his fun,” George winked and added in a low voice, “And thanks to him, we’ve recently met some very respectable seniors. Compared to what they did back then, we’ve finally realized that tinkering with things like excrement bombs occasionally isn’t a big deal, but it’s certainly not something that’s respectable.”

Ron's eyes widened: "When did Ryze become your boss? When did you two meet? And what's with this 'senior' thing?"

George and Fred have been behaving themselves these days, and Ron doesn't usually seek out his brothers to chat unless there's something going on, so he really doesn't know anything about these things.

“It’s not for kids to pry into adult matters,” Fred chuckled, then bypassed Ron to find Reese. “We’ll go talk to Reese about the fireworks. You guys continue entertaining our guests.”

Ron watched his twin brother's retreating figure, then turned to Harry: "Did you hear that? They said Rhett is their boss."

Harry was also a little confused, but he did know that Rhett and Sirius were working on the Wizarding Auto Chess project. Sirius had mentioned in a recent letter that Rhett had brought in a few interesting employees, but he didn't expect that Sirius was referring to George and the others.

Before he could answer, another series of footsteps came from the path at the edge of the forbidden forest.

They looked up and recognized one of the people who had come over.