268- Hufflepuff Reemployment

"They must be quite talented, right?" Helga's curiosity had been fully sparked by Rhys.

"Of course—"

At the mention of this, Rhys immediately lit up, eagerly boasting to his old friend about the talents of his two students.

"That's wonderful…" A hint of envy flickered in Helga's eyes. When it came to taking on apprentices, she truly did envy her friends. They always seemed able to find the most gifted students.

And it was perfectly understandable.

The differences between the four Houses' student pools meant it was always hard for Helga to find genuine prodigies—

The gifted pure-bloods were swept up by Salazar, while the outstanding Muggle-borns either ended up in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. What was left to her were, more often than not, the ordinary ones.

After that twinge of envy passed, Helga's eyes shifted slightly as another thought occurred to her. "They must be a lot like Adrian, right? I mean, they're his descendants, after all."

Rhys's expression changed immediately.

"No, they—"

"In the future, they'll definitely be two little Adrians—how lucky you are, Salazar!"

Rhys's face had already gone from pale to green.

Seeing her old friend's expression twist like that, Helga finally felt satisfied—she'd done it on purpose, after all. Who told that old snake to keep flaunting his students' talents right in front of her?

The two ancient friends chatted as they walked up the sand dune, with Helga casually casting a translation charm on herself—just in case she ran into any trouble communicating with the younger generation.

By the time they reached the top, Daphne had already stepped forward and placed herself in front of her younger sister. She greeted Rhys with a seemingly calm expression, but her eyes kept darting toward Helga.

"This is Miss White," Rhys said, introducing Helga to the two clearly nervous girls. "She was trapped inside the ruins for quite a while. I just helped her out."

Hearing that, Helga had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. She waved at the two little witches, offering a greeting.

"Trapped in the ruins? What did you eat?" Daphne asked, full of curiosity about this mysterious woman, eager to know everything about her.

At the mention of food, Helga immediately perked up. With a flick of her hand, she pulled a basket and several cups from her robes like a magician performing a trick—clearly intending to show off a little.

Seeing his old friend getting into the spirit, Rhys also gave a wave of his wand, conjuring a picnic blanket and a sunshade umbrella.

"I brought food with me—would you girls like to try some?" Helga said cheerfully, her face full of warmth and kindness, like a grandmother basking in the sun on a rocking chair.

"Uh, sure," Daphne replied. She hesitated at first, but when she saw that Rhys wasn't giving any warning signs—and was even helping set up the umbrella—she accepted with ease.

However, what Miss White pulled out was quite disappointing to Daphne: just a few pieces of dry-looking bread and a chunk of cheese wrapped in linen.

That feeling of disappointment lasted only a moment, because Daphne quickly realized—this might be all the supplies this poor old woman had left.

"Let's eat what we brought instead. We just restocked a few days ago," Daphne offered, pulling out her own lunchbox.

But Helga firmly refused the suggestion, insisting that Daphne try her "delicacies."

Unable to dissuade her, Daphne reluctantly accepted the bread and cheese—and the moment she took a bite, her expression changed completely: despite its dry appearance, the bread was astonishingly soft and rich with buttery aroma.

If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she would've thought she was biting into a freshly baked French croissant. The cheese was even more magical—every bite brought a different flavor. It was like a savory version of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.

Over on Astoria's side, something equally magical was happening. Helga had handed her a cup, then filled it using a Aguamenti charm with what seemed to be just plain spring water.

"Here, drink up!" Helga gestured encouragingly.

Astoria was puzzled: she'd heard of people urging others to drink alcohol—but water?

But the moment her lips touched the cup, she understood why.

The water inside had mysteriously turned into chilled fruit juice—

And it was ice-cold!

"Amazing!" Daphne and Astoria exclaimed in unison. "How did you do that?"

"I'm quite skilled with food-related magic," Helga responded candidly when the two young witches pressed for answers. She explained that it was simply magic that had altered the taste and texture—the juice Astoria drank was actually just magically enhanced water, and what Daphne ate was still just ordinary bread and cheese.

"When you get older, little pleasures like these are the only way to satisfy your appetite," Helga sighed, a bit wistfully, lamenting how time shows no mercy.

After enjoying a simple yet wonderfully flavorful meal, the group set off on their journey back.

Before they left, Rhys exchanged a glance with Helga. She immediately understood, gave a wave of her hand, and a cascade of sand fell from above—swiftly burying the palace ruins beneath the desert once again.

By the time they returned to the town, Rhys noticed Daphne and Astoria were clearly worn out. He arranged for them to rest at a small local inn. After using magic to quickly clean the sand from their bodies, the two girls collapsed fully clothed onto the beds of the modest room and fell asleep almost instantly.

Rhys, meanwhile, stepped outside. With a pot of coffee in hand, he sat down to chat with Helga.

"So, what now?" he asked. "Got any plans? Want to see what the world looks like a thousand years later? The Muggle world has changed completely—it's unrecognizable."

Helga shook her head gently. What she cared about most was still the Hogwarts of the future… and the children in Hufflepuff House.

"As I thought, you're just like me," Rhys nodded. "But given your situation… I don't think you can enroll as a student anymore."

Helga Hufflepuff: …

"Is the school still hiring teachers?"

Though something about it felt a little off, she figured slipping in under the identity of a professor shouldn't be a problem—after all, she did have plenty of experience teaching students.

Rhys stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I don't think Hogwarts is in short supply of teachers right now…"

It was said that Hogwarts used to get a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor every year. But this year—well, technically this year was no exception. Lupin had replaced Lockhart as the new DADA professor. So by that pattern… maybe Lupin wouldn't resign until next year? Since this year's "slot" had already been used up by Lockhart?

If that was the case, then the school really didn't have any open teaching positions at the moment.

Seeing Rhys say so, Helga looked a little disappointed. Still, she decided she'd try writing a letter to the current Headmaster. Who knows? Maybe there's a chance?

She firmly believed that as long as she could meet with the Headmaster in person, she'd be able to convince him.

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