Return of Salazar Slytherin

After Rhys and Helga, stationed at the front and rear of the train respectively, finished dealing with the Dementors who had come to search the Hogwarts Express—as effortlessly as mowing grass—the train began moving again, and the lights in the compartments and corridors returned to normal.

Before visibility was fully restored, Rhys had already returned to his compartment.

"What exactly happened out there?"

"There was a huge explosion just now!"

As soon as he stepped back into the compartment, Rhys was surrounded by Daphne and a pale-faced Astoria, both of whom began chirping questions at him, eager to know what had happened outside.

Rhys didn't immediately answer them. Instead, he turned to look at Neville, whose face was completely drained of color, and asked how he was feeling.

"I think I'm okay… it's just that I suddenly couldn't stop remembering some really… awful things." Neville wiped the cold sweat from his face, his voice faint and weary.

Astoria glanced at Neville. She had felt something similar earlier, though her reaction hadn't been as severe. But if that cold aura had lasted any longer, she wasn't sure what might've happened.

She was absolutely certain it had been Rhys who dealt with the source of the cold. He was always so reliable.

"And you? Are you alright?" After checking on Neville, Rhys turned his gaze to Astoria.

"Mhm, I'm fine," Astoria nodded, pushing down the lingering discomfort in her heart and doing her best to appear full of energy.

"That's good," Rhys said, sitting back down in his seat.

"What about me? What about me? Don't I get asked how I'm doing too?" Seeing that the other two had been asked, Daphne immediately spoke up, unwilling to be left out.

"..."

Rhys glanced at her and said nothing—this girl was as healthy as a Hungarian Horntail. The Sorting Hat's system clearly had flaws—how did someone like Daphne end up in Slytherin!?

Silently, he pulled a piece of chocolate from his pocket and broke it into pieces to share with the three of them.

"Sweets can help shake off negative emotions—it's a preference carved into our souls."

"So what exactly was that thing outside just now?" Chocolate might lift the mood, but it couldn't silence Daphne's mouth, nor smother her curiosity.

"A creature called a Dementor. Don't worry, I've already taken care of them."

The moment they heard the word "Dementor," all three young wizards in the compartment looked up at once.

Rhys: ?

"You all look like you already know what that thing is?"

"They're the guards of Azkaban, the wizard prison," Rhys got the answer from Astoria.

Rhys thought for a moment—there was no doubt their appearance had something to do with Sirius Black.

Perhaps the Ministry of Magic had good intentions. If he were in their shoes, Rhys would also support using Dementors to search the Hogwarts Express—but only if it was under the supervision of Ministry officials, not like what had just happened.

Even a dog needs to be walked on a leash, and yet they dared to let dark creatures act unsupervised?! What were they thinking?

If they didn't want their brains anymore, they could at least sell them to potion makers.

Fifteen minutes after restarting, the train arrived at Hogsmeade Station.

As soon as the train came to a complete stop, chaos and chatter filled the corridor outside the compartment. The young wizards, in groups of twos and threes, headed toward the platform with their pets in tow.

The rain had caused the temperature outside to plummet, and a thin layer of ice had formed on the platform. Droplets splashed onto the students, quickly soaking their wizarding robes. As always, Hagrid was calling for the first-years. His voice was so loud it echoed across the entire platform without the aid of magic.

"You three go ahead—I've got something to take care of," Rhys said, seeing that the number of people in the corridor was thinning out. He told the three young students to leave first, deliberately staying behind.

He wanted to have a proper conversation with Hufflepuff on the way to the castle.

"I—" Daphne had just opened her mouth to say something when Astoria tugged on her sleeve and dragged her out of the compartment.

"Astoria, you—"

"Shh." Astoria shot Daphne a look, then pulled out two small copper discs from inside her robes, sticking one to Daphne's ear and placing the other on herself.

"What's this?" Seeing that Neville was busy trying to stuff his toad into his robes and hadn't noticed their little operation, Daphne lowered her voice and asked.

Astoria drew her wand and tapped the copper discs twice, activating them.

"A little gadget I came up with over the holidays. Just now, while Rhys wasn't paying attention, I slipped one into his hood. These three copper pieces are magically linked—so as long as he's talking, we'll be able to hear everything from here."

Rhys: "…"

Astoria's voice rang out clearly from inside his hood, and he heard every word perfectly.

He scratched his head and pulled the copper disc out of his hood.

Gotta admit—the girl's idea was pretty clever, definitely creative.

The only flaw was… the sound transmission worked both ways!

"Get off the train soon, or you'll miss the Thestral-drawn carriages."

Daphne, Astoria: ?!

The two of them froze in place.

"Astoria, this thing—you're telling me Rhys can hear us talking too?!" Daphne asked furiously.

"Yes~~~" Rhys's voice replied right in their ears.

"This wasn't supposed to happen in the design!" Astoria's brain shut down completely. She had no idea which part of the mechanism had gone wrong.

All she could do was hastily remove the copper disc and deactivate it, then flee from the train compartment like her life depended on it.

For the foreseeable future, she didn't have the courage to face Rhys again.

After all the students had gotten off, Rhys finally strolled out of the compartment at a leisurely pace. On the nearly empty platform, he spotted Hufflepuff leaning under an eave, avoiding the rain.

"Shall we go?"

Hufflepuff walked over, and when the raindrops fell on her, they slid off as if hitting an invisible oil film, not even dampening the hem of her robes.

Rhys glanced up at the sky and, with a touch of magic, formed a thin water membrane above their heads, shielding them completely from the rain.

Hufflepuff didn't rush to head to Hogwarts with Rhys. Instead, she stood still, carefully taking in the view around Hogsmeade Station.

"So much has changed. Of everything around here, only the outline of the mountains is still familiar," she said, sighing as she took in the scenery.

At this moment, perhaps only the man who watched the "Go" game under the rotten tree could understand her feeling.

Others had watched a single chess match and, without realizing it, decades had passed. She had taken one risk—and found herself a thousand years into the future.

Hufflepuff clenched her fists.

Rhys was completely unfazed: it was raining, after all—he had the upper hand!

"This village was founded by one of your students, right? Hengist, wasn't it? He opened a tavern here," Rhys recalled, and began to joke with her.

"Yes, and we used to have to sneak out of the castle in the middle of the night to catch students who slipped away to drink," Hufflepuff also recalled the years spent in wits-versus-wits with her students.

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