284: The Agreement

Each house had its own stereotypes, and even the Founders themselves found it difficult to view the houses without some level of bias.

Helga's perception of Gryffindor was that its students were reckless—they preferred solving problems with fists and wands rather than through verbal argument.

They gathered in small, noisy groups, ready to duel at the slightest disagreement, and then went right back to messing around as if nothing had happened—that, in her eyes, was the typical Gryffindor student.

But the current headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, judging by his behavior, seemed more like a calculating Slytherin.

How could he allow the Ministry's dark creatures to appear so close to Hogwarts?! Even if it was for the purpose of catching a fugitive, this was going too far.

Hufflepuff felt that Dumbledore had likely failed to inherit the true spirit of Gryffindor.

"Maybe it's just age? Isn't it pretty normal for people to mellow out as they grow older?" Rhys offered a fair comment in Dumbledore's defense. Though he and Helga were from a thousand years ago, in terms of physical age, Dumbledore—well into his hundreds—still had them beat.

"I'm old too! And I don't think I've changed much at all!" Helga huffed, slamming her fist against the carriage wall, clearly annoyed.

Rhys: "…"

No, Helga had changed quite a bit with age—but that was not something he dared say out loud.

"But no matter what, Dumbledore is the current Headmaster of Hogwarts. You're not the legendary witch Helga Hufflepuff, and I'm not Salazar Slytherin. Right now, I'm just an ordinary student, and you're merely a teacher who hasn't officially started yet."

Rhys's words calmed Helga down.

It was true—Dumbledore was the current headmaster, and that was an undeniable fact. According to the agreement the four of them had made long ago, they were supposed to respect the decisions of the sitting headmaster.

They had, in fact, discussed this very topic in the past.

According to their original plan, once Hogwarts was running smoothly and their chosen successors had grown strong enough to take charge, they would step down and hand the school over to them.

The four of them—those old souls—would leave the school behind to enjoy the final chapter of their lives. It was meant to be a time of peace, freedom, and carefree happiness.

Although things hadn't turned out quite the way they had expected, that had indeed been the plan from the beginning. But such a plan came with a very real issue: the successors of Hogwarts were all their former students.

Would their continued presence put too much pressure on their successors, preventing them from truly stepping aside? Would it all end up as "retiring without really retiring"?

Because of this, the four of them had engaged in a long and serious debate…

"I certainly don't want to be receiving work-related letters while I'm trying to enjoy life," Godric was the first to express his opinion.

"Yes, maybe we could retain the right to give advice only, and let the children handle things on their own," Helga agreed right after.

"Absurd. The so-called 'right to advise' will inevitably turn the future headmasters into our puppets," Rowena rebutted sharply without mercy. "I believe we shouldn't even keep that—we should hand over the responsibilities completely and then vanish from the school without a trace."

"The children who can't find us will have to learn to handle things independently. That would be a good start."

Helga asked worriedly, "But what if the children make a decision that seriously harms the school? What do we do then?"

At her words, the other three founders fell into silence. In the end, it was Salazar Slytherin who broke it.

"Even so, we shouldn't interfere. Helga, our lives aren't eternal. Even if we stop one or two bad decisions, can we stop them forever? What happens when we're nothing but dust—do you think they'll stop making mistakes then? It's better to let them go through it and grow while we're still alive. That way, when we truly leave this world, they'll have become mature and dependable."

"If you ask me, if Hogwarts falls apart without us, it only means our education was a failure—like a malformed animal doomed to be eliminated."

Salazar's words plunged the room into an even longer silence.

In the end, all three of the others nodded, acknowledging the harsh but truthful reasoning he had laid out.

"Then it's settled. From now on, no matter what decisions the next headmasters make, we won't interfere—agreed?" Salazar looked around at the friends seated beside him.

"Alright, it's a deal!" Godric was the first to respond in agreement.

"I've no objections. Salazar is right," Rowena also expressed her stance.

Helga didn't say anything, but she nodded—her agreement was clear.

Just like that, a resolution was passed. And never in her wildest dreams did Helga think she'd actually live to see the day it was tested…

"But…" she still hesitated—these were dark creatures, after all. Just look at what they had done to that boy named Harry on the train! Should such things really be anywhere near Hogwarts?

"Come on, Helga," Rhys said, "just think of them as watchdogs the Ministry gave us.

Besides, you have to trust the children. Even without us, they've kept the school running for a thousand years—and they didn't just maintain it, they built it into the best wizarding school in the world. And don't underestimate Dumbledore either—he's a wizard who's grasped a Domain."

Helga raised her eyebrows slightly—comprehending a Domain without ever having studied mana flow? That was true innate genius.

Her impression of Dumbledore shifted just a little… though, of course, she wouldn't admit it out loud.

"Probably used something as a shortcut—otherwise, that's way too unbelievable," Helga muttered under her breath.

"He managed to obtain the corpse of a false god by chance, and through it, he grasped a Domain."

"No wonder. But then, where did he even get a god's corpse?"

"Ah, that's a whole other long story."

As they talked, the Thestral-drawn carriage passed through Hogwarts' wrought-iron gates. The two Dementors guarding the entrance caught a strong scent of humanity wafting from the passing carriage.

The aroma was so rich and tempting that they couldn't help but drift toward the inner side of the gates.

Yes, the Ministry had explicitly ordered them not to set foot inside Hogwarts—but surely stepping just inside the gate to catch their breath didn't count, right?

Feeling the sudden drop in temperature within the carriage, Rhys smiled. With a wave of his hand, the temperature instantly returned to normal.

As the carriage entered Hogwarts, the wrought-iron gates slowly closed behind it. Outside, the remains of the two Dementors gradually dissolved into black smoke and vanished.

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