After settling into the manor, Rhys did not disturb the Greengrass family much. He simply asked the house-elf to prepare a late-night snack for him, then went straight into the guest room's bathroom for a bath.
Early the next morning, when Rhys appeared at the breakfast table, Daphne and Astoria both widened their eyes in surprise.
"Eh? Rhys, you—" Daphne's mouth opened slightly. Overwhelmed by the sudden delight, she did not even know what to say.
"I came out of the Gaunt house quite late yesterday, so I just came over to your place!" Rhys said while placing soft-yolk sunny-side-up eggs, lightly toasted white bread, crispy bacon, and sizzling sausages onto his plate, explaining to Daphne why he was there.
Even though the explanation did not stand up to scrutiny at all, Daphne and Astoria were still very happy.
"Nice! Do you have any plans?" After spreading a thin layer of jam on her bread, Astoria tentatively asked Rhys about his upcoming arrangements.
"Of course, heh~ enjoying the holiday," Rhys replied without the slightest hesitation.
Helga had worked him mercilessly this semester. He needed a proper break.
However, before relaxing and enjoying himself, he planned to visit Helga first.
Rhys intended to share his recent discoveries with her.
But at that moment, Rhys suddenly realized something with surprise: he seemed to have grown somewhat distant from his old friend Helga—he actually had no idea where she planned to stay during the holidays.
After calming down and thinking for two seconds, Rhys came up with three possible places where Helga might have gone.
First was Diagon Alley. She might rent a room at the Leaky Cauldron and stay there for the entire summer. That kind of life would be the most comfortable and relaxing, and she could stroll around Diagon Alley every day.
Helga might also rent a place in Hogsmeade. As far as Rhys knew, Professor McGonagall owned a house in Hogsmeade village, so it was not impossible that she had gone there to become McGonagall's roommate.
The final possibility was that she had remained at Hogwarts, continuing to work on her orders. Helga's business had been thriving recently, with more orders than she could possibly complete. It was entirely possible that she had decided to go nowhere during the holidays and simply stay in her office working nonstop.
Rhys felt that the last possibility was quite likely. In the past, the four of them had often lived in the castle for long periods…
Thinking about this, Rhys suddenly did not feel as eager to go see Helga anymore. He still wanted to enjoy his summer vacation properly.
After thinking it over carefully, Rhys decided to communicate with Helga by letter and also discuss plans for the next term with her.
In any case, he absolutely would not set foot in Hogwarts during the holidays. He was a student now. What kind of student went back to school during vacation?!
Having made up his mind, Rhys immediately began writing a letter to Helga. He even planned to send the Resurrection Stone ring along with it.
What Rhys did not know was that his good friend Helga Hufflepuff was currently caught in a bit of trouble.
...
Bang!
"Damn it, cough, cough…"
A loud explosion sounded from Helga's office, followed by a cloud of thick smoke drifting out of the window.
Helga, who was currently using the alias Smith White, pushed open the door, letting the suffocating smoke inside the office disperse more quickly.
"Haah.. Wait, I must have lost my mind…" Only after fresh air from outside poured in and formed a draft with the open door did the soot-covered Helga suddenly realize that she could have simply used a spell to disperse the smoke.
"Have I really become senile?" A trace of suspicion appeared on Helga's face.
She could not understand why, as a veteran witch with so many years of experience, she had not thought to solve the problem with magic this time. It could have been handled with a simple spell…
Helga hurriedly drew her wand. Just as she was about to disperse the smoke, she suddenly remembered a special feature built into Hogwarts Castle.
"Don't—" A flash of despair crossed Helga's face.
Before she could react, the thick smoke triggered the castle's built-in fire-prevention enchantment. The ceiling above the corridor instantly turned into a sky just like the one in the Great Hall, and a torrential downpour began to pour down.
Helga: "…"
And it was not just the corridor that was raining.
The fire-prevention enchantment they had created was quite intelligent. It traced the source of the smoke and extended the rain clouds into her office as well.
And so her office ended up looking as if a hundred Salazars had rampaged through it.
This fire-prevention enchantment had been set up by the four of them back then to guard against fires inside the castle. To prevent malicious interference, they had also reinforced it.
Once the enchantment was triggered, ordinary Finite spells were useless. Only someone like the headmaster, who possessed extremely high authority over the castle, could terminate its operation.
Of course, they had also considered the possibility of accidental activation, so the spell's sensitivity was quite low and difficult to trigger.
There was a little wizard in Gryffindor who seemed to have a natural talent for adding explosive effects to various spells, yet even after studying at Hogwarts for three years, he had never once triggered the castle's fire-prevention enchantment.
In fact, those capable of activating the spell were so rare that nowadays almost no one even knew the castle possessed such a remarkable feature.
Helga naturally had the authority to stop the weather spell in front of her, but after looking at the scene before her, she simply gave up resisting and did not feel like doing anything at all.
Let it all be destroyed already.
Helga felt that something had been off with her recently. Whatever she did seemed unlucky. Sometimes she would even choke on a sip of water.
The same thing had just happened. While she had been crafting parts for a puppet, she had no idea which spell or component had gone wrong, but the moment the puppet was assembled, it erupted in a violent explosion.
If Helga had not been so powerful, that explosion could have taken her life. Now she was merely covered in soot, but anyone else would likely have died on the spot.
"Something's wrong. Very wrong," Helga muttered to herself.
If it had only happened once or twice, she might have accepted it as simple bad luck. But these mishaps had been occurring far too frequently—it had reached an abnormal level.
Suddenly, Helga remembered a ridiculous rumor her old friend Salazar had once told her.
The curse of the Defence Against the Dark Arts position!
Anyone who held that position could only last one year. If they tried to renew their contract after that, they would have to pay a terrible price.
To this day, no one had managed to make it into a second year, and some professors had even lost their lives because of it. For example, a professor a few years ago had actually been killed by a wild boar charging into him, which was truly hard to believe.
____
12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI