"So what are you trying to say?" Rowena already had a faint sense of unease.
"This staircase magic is flashy, but in my opinion, it's completely impractical and just gets in the way!" Aries drew her conclusion from her own analysis.
Rowena suddenly fell silent.
Aries followed the stairs to a platform.
"Senior, where do we go next?"
Rowena did not respond.
"Ow!" Aries suddenly felt a sharp, pricking pain at the back left side of her head.
Now she knew which way to go.
"Senior, please just give directions the normal way. This method hurts too much," Aries said with a pained expression.
Rowena ignored her, only giving guidance in her own way when a turn was needed. At the same time, she quietly observed Hogwarts a thousand years later.
Hmm, it had been maintained quite well. The castle walls had withstood a thousand years of wind and rain without decay, and the interior had undergone a complete upgrade and renewal. Aside from a few dirty suits of armor and paintings, everything else was in respectable condition.
Looking at the castle, which could even be called luxurious, Rowena's mood improved again.
Under her guidance, Aries turned a few corners and arrived outside the office of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
"Hey, Senior, it seems like someone is inside…" Aries glanced nervously at the tightly shut door, feeling uneasy.
Aries could tell at a glance that someone was inside the office, not because her perception was particularly sharp, but because the noise Helga was making inside was rather loud. Clattering sounds echoed out, and anyone with functioning ears would know someone was in there.
As for why Helga was still staying in the castle and "working overtime" during the summer holidays, it wasn't due to a surge in puppet orders. Although after the World Cup she had indeed received many orders from all over the world, she had postponed them all. Right now, her top priority was maintaining the Ministry of Magic's automated combat puppets.
In the battle against Voldemort, although Rhys had been the main force, the Ministry's puppets had also taken part. Many of them had suffered varying degrees of damage, and one had even been completely destroyed.
As the one who had promised lifetime maintenance, Helga naturally had to fulfill her contract now.
"Not a problem. You just need to lend me your tongue," Rowena directly made her request to Aries.
"Oh, alright." Aries froze for a moment, then obediently relinquished control of her body. Once Rowena took over, Aries felt her vision go dark and immediately fell into a dreamlike state.
Rowena respected Aries's choice and allowed her to remain ignorant of all the secrets.
After taking control of the body, Rowena knocked on the door of Helga's office.
"Who is it?" Helga's puzzled voice came from behind the door, and in the next moment, it opened.
Helga was sitting behind her desk, with a puppet placed on top of it. The floor was scattered with puppet parts. In one corner of the office, more than a dozen puppets were piled together, giving off an eerie atmosphere.
"You are… hmm? Who exactly are you?" Helga looked at Aries's face, showing a trace of confusion at first, but then alarm bells rang in her mind.
Helga could tell that something was wrong with the person before her, as if she were possessed by something unclean.
"It's me," Rowena said calmly, speaking through Aries's face.
At this moment, although she still bore Aries's appearance, there was an extraordinary aura about her from head to toe. Even her facial features had undergone subtle changes, becoming somewhat similar to Rowena's original appearance.
'Such a familiar feeling…' Helga was startled, and then suddenly thought of something.
"You… could it be—you are—" She stood up hesitantly, a bold guess already at the tip of her tongue, yet she did not dare to confirm it without decisive evidence.
A gentle breeze brushed past Helga's hair, as if countless whispers sounded in her ears. But when she focused to listen, those voices vanished without a trace.
"You don't look very well lately. Is the workload at the school that heavy?" Rowena continued.
Helga: "…"
It wasn't just the pressure from the school. There was also the stress from the puppet orders. The thing she regretted most was creating automated puppets and then promoting them for widespread sale.
But none of that mattered compared to what was happening now. This was the most important matter.
"Rowena, how did you get out— I mean, have you finally found a way to leave the seal?" Helga forced a smile.
"Thanks to Salazar. He brought me a rather suitable body," Rowena said, moving her joints and producing a few crisp cracking sounds. "It fits me very well."
Helga: "…"
"So it was that old snake's doing." Her smile did not change at all, but her voice seemed to be squeezed out through clenched teeth.
Once something like Rowena coming out of the dungeon's seal had happened, there was no undoing it. They couldn't very well stuff Ravenclaw back in, even though doing so would surely save a lot of trouble for their future selves.
This was also why Helga had always maintained strict neutrality, neither offering help nor obstructing anything.
But who could have expected that the old snake would be the first to lend a hand? This was completely beyond Helga's expectations. Why would Salazar do such a thing?
"I was surprised as well, though it's not the first time Salazar has brought me experimental material," Rowena's voice sounded by Helga's ear, making Hufflepuff involuntarily entertain a somewhat absurd thought. Could it be that the old snake felt guilty toward Rowena and was trying to make up for it? That didn't quite match his usual style, but considering that his personality had become much brighter after shedding his skin and being reborn, it wasn't entirely impossible.
"Even though I've already heard about it from you all, the current state of Hogwarts still surprises me. The later generations have managed this place very well." Rowena walked forward a few steps and came to Helga's desk.
She casually picked up a component of a puppet and, looking into Helga's eyes, asked, "As an old relic dredged up from the bottom of a river, can I still find a place on this little ship to shine and contribute?"
Helga understood that Rowena wanted to secure a position at Hogwarts again.
Of course, she was welcome, but there didn't seem to be any vacant positions at the moment. However, that wasn't important. Even if there were no vacancies, they could be created. Helga would not dare to let someone like Rowena Ravenclaw remain idle.
'Maybe I should persuade a certain professor to step down?'
Convince Professor Flitwick of Ravenclaw House to resign, then hand over the position of deputy headmistress to Rowena, keeping her occupied with endless administrative work!
Helga even had such a thought.
This was obviously unrealistic.
____
12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI