Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts.

Chapter 85 Rice's Short Stories

Hearing that Rice was going to tell a story, Daphne immediately perked up and couldn't help but tease, "Is it the story mentioned in those old letters?"

"No, it's a little snake I met yesterday that told me—the snake said it's a story passed down from generation to generation," Rice said, making up a story with a straight face. Before Daphne could say anything, he began to tell the story.

"A long, long time ago, before Hogwarts was even established, there was a swamp in the western moors of Britain, and in the swamp was a small wizarding village made up of a few wizarding families..."

This was such an old story that even her father rarely told it. Daphne was immediately captivated and listened intently with a chocolate in her mouth.

Life in the swamp was tough, but worse still, deep within it lurked a wicked dragon. A group of goblins, who considered it their master, willingly served as its henchmen, stirring up trouble and committing evil deeds under its banner. The villagers both hated and feared the dragon and its goblins, yet were utterly powerless against them. Perhaps because the number of wizards was gradually increasing, the goblins feared that one day they would unite, kill the dragon, and punish those who had acted as accomplices.

So they found the dragon and offered him a wicked suggestion—that the village hand over one person each year to be eaten by the dragon, otherwise the dragon would sweep over the village, drying up their fishponds with its breath and slaughtering all their livestock with its sharp claws. The fairies believed that this would control the number of wizards and keep them forever slaves under their exploitation.

However, the wizards had their own methods; they chose to capture passing travelers and send them as sacrifices to the dragon.

That day, a robust young man with red hair passed through the swamp. The day for offering sacrifices was approaching, so the villagers warmly welcomed him, got him completely drunk, and then secretly locked him in the village chief's cellar. If all went well, he would become the dragon's lunch. However, his conversation at the meal impressed the village chief's son, who felt that such a man shouldn't perish in the dragon's belly. So, while bringing him his meal, he released the red-haired youth.

His actions were exposed, and the angry villagers wrapped him in a cowhide bag and sent him to the dragon's lair—he would serve as a sacrifice in place of the red-haired boy.

The fairies carried him, bag and all, to the dragon. Just as the dragon was about to devour him alive, a spell struck the dragon's right eye precisely, blinding it. It was the red-haired boy who had been released; he had secretly sneaked into the lair and ambushed the careless dragon.

While the dragon roared and struggled, the boy crawled out of the bag and used a prepared dagger to blind the dragon's other eye.

The dragon went berserk, engulfing its entire lair in flames. All the fairies were burned to ashes, but two boys managed to escape. After their escape, they gathered and decided to return to the dragon's lair to eradicate the evil. After much difficulty, they finally killed the blind dragon in its lair.

After slaying the dragon, the two boys did not return to the village, but instead set off on an adventure together.

"The red-haired boy in the story is named Godric Gryffindor, and the village chief's child is named Salazar Slytherin."

After Rice finished telling her story, Daphne's eyes widened, and she remained deeply moved.

"Do what you believe is right without hesitation—if Slytherin hadn't released Gryffindor from the cellar that night, he might have remained in that small village for the rest of his life, living in obscurity like most ordinary wizards in the Middle Ages, spending the rest of his life in regret."

Daphne nodded, the gloom in her heart vanishing.

A few days later, Daphne's detention sentence came down. She, Harry, and Ron received three identical notes while having breakfast. The notes told them that at 11 p.m. tonight, in the foyer, the doorman Filch would take them to their detention location.

Daphne frowned: she really didn't want to go, but she had no choice; if she made a mistake and got caught, she would have to pay the price.

At eleven o'clock at night, Daphne arrived at the foyer, where Filch was already waiting. A few minutes later, Harry and Ron also came down.

Looking at the three young wizards gathered before him, Filch's face twisted into a sinister grin—he loved moments like this most. No matter their background or social standing, they all had to bow their heads obediently before him and accept punishment. Punishing these little rascals brought him a pleasure that went straight to his soul.

Filch lit a lamp, signaling the three to follow.

However, when he led the three to their destination, Harry and Ron both had genuine smiles on their faces: Hagrid was the one in charge of putting them in solitary confinement tonight!

This was truly a miraculous turn of events, and all three of them were invigorated.

Filch seemed to see through the three's little scheme, so he warned them a few more times and tried to give Hagrid a talking-to, but Hagrid shut him down with a single sentence.

"I'm in charge here."

Filch left dejectedly.

Looking at the three small figures standing in front of him, Hagrid's face showed a hint of guilt.

"I'm sorry, I've dragged you into this." He scratched his head sheepishly. The three of them ended up like this because of him, how could Hagrid not feel guilty?

Even though Hagrid is the executor of the confinement, Daphne and the other two's punishment won't be lessened in the slightest. This is somewhat darkly humorous, because Professor McGonagall actually appointed Hagrid to carry out the punishment for Daphne and the others…

After offering a brief apology to the three, Hagrid explained the background of the detention.

Because Hagrid had been preoccupied with Norbert in recent days, he had become somewhat lax in his patrols of the Forbidden Forest, which resulted in trouble: he discovered a dead unicorn in the Forbidden Forest.

The fact that a rare and magical unicorn was hunted down by an unknown creature in the Forbidden Forest was an extremely serious incident. Hagrid, having sent Norbert away, dared not let his guard down any longer and immediately began searching the Forbidden Forest for the culprit who killed the unicorn. However, instead of finding the killer, they discovered the wounded remains of another unicorn.

Their confinement this time was to enter the Forbidden Forest, find the injured unicorn, and help it.

This is undoubtedly a very challenging confinement. The Forbidden Forest is already fraught with danger, and now there is a monster that preys on unicorns roaming inside, which adds even more to the danger of this journey.

Professor McGonagall's intentions were quite clear: You three like to go out for a stroll at night, right? Well then I'll grant your wish and let you go for a walk in the Forbidden Forest! Hopefully, this confinement will cure your habit of wandering around at night.

After explaining the details of the "mission," Hagrid led the three young wizards into the Forbidden Forest.

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.

Second update delivered, goodnight everyone! The next update will be tonight. I stayed up a bit late last night, so I'll take a rest today.

(End of this chapter)