"What are you thinking about?" Daphne couldn't help but ask when she saw Rhys lost in thought.
Rhys then shared his speculation with Daphne.
"Huh? But if that's the case, those young wizards who don't attend Hogwarts..."
"They wouldn't be under the Ministry of Magic's control in the first place, would they?" Rhys revealed the truth with one sentence.
There are only two ways for young wizards to learn magic: either they are taught at home by their parents or they attend a magic school. If neither is possible, a very grim future awaits them.
And on this land of Britain, no one can resist the allure of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry — it is one of the top magic schools in the world. As long as you have magical talent and are born on this land, you will receive an acceptance letter.
To compare with the Muggle world, it would be like saying that as long as you have a permanent residency card, you can attend Harvard — and for free, no less. With conditions like this, anyone who chooses to study at home would have to be out of their mind.
So for those living in Britain who don't go to Hogwarts, it's hard to say what their deal is.
They are most likely marginalized individuals of the magical community or even wandering wizards or dark wizards.
Expecting them to follow the rules would be very difficult, and the Ministry of Magic doesn't have any expectations of them either, only arresting them when they break the law.
"I see." After listening to Rhys's analysis, Daphne thought that what he said made a lot of sense.
However, she wasn't too concerned about the Trace, as it had little to do with her. She was more interested in whether Rhys would come to spend the holiday at Greengrass Manor.
After receiving a positive response, she could no longer suppress the upward curve of her lips. She took out a piece of parchment with writing on it and handed it to Rhys.
"This is the address of my family's summer villa. Remember it, and don't tell anyone else," Daphne said, winking at Rhys. "The estate is protected by—"
"The Fidelius Charm, right?" Rhys glanced at Daphne, feeling quite touched. He hadn't expected this little girl to be willing to share even this with him.
A building protected by the Fidelius Charm cannot be found by anyone other than the Secret Keeper. When the Secret Keeper dies, everyone who knew the secret becomes a Secret Keeper. So being willing to share the address of a house is akin to giving someone a copy of the key, an act that signifies immense trust.
"You know about the Fidelius Charm too?" Daphne's surprise lasted only a moment before she relaxed, thinking it was only natural for him to know such things.
"Of course, how could I not know this spell!" Rhys said with a smile. What he didn't mention was that this charm was something they had refined themselves.
Initially, when they were planning the defensive magic for Hogwarts Castle, the Fidelius Charm was among the spells they considered. However, after considering its extreme complexity and how easily it could be broken, they eventually abandoned the idea.
The Fidelius Charm hides the location of a building as a secret within the soul of a living person, generating a magical defense of tremendous strength. As long as the Secret Keeper does not reveal the address, outsiders will never be able to find the hidden building.
This charm has very strong yet simultaneously very fragile protective abilities because it becomes ineffective as soon as the secret is leaked. Thus, the fewer people who know the specific location, the better. For a bustling place like a school castle, adding the Fidelius Charm isn't really suitable.
"The Fidelius Charm is actually a combination of contract magic and spatial magic. When the spell is cast, it first cuts out the space around the house being protected and hides it within a spatial rift. At this point, the house is no longer in the same space as the outside world. The only bridge connecting the house to the external space is its 'address,' which we can also think of as a 'key' to the space. This key is sealed within a person's soul by contract magic," Rhys explained the principles of the Fidelius Charm to Daphne.
When Rhys and the others optimized the charm back then, they simplified the casting process and enhanced the confidentiality of the "key," making it impossible for ordinary spells or potions to force the address out of the Secret Keeper.
Daphne: "Sounds pretty impressive!"
Rhys glanced at Daphne, who seemed awestruck, and thought that only an ancient pure-blood family would have such heritage, capable of placing the Fidelius Charm on a large estate.
With this charm, the larger the area of the property, the higher the difficulty of casting it. For an ordinary wizarding family, placing the Fidelius Charm on a small cottage would be nearly impossible. But the Greengrass family went ahead and enchanted an entire estate.
The wizard they hired must have been quite powerful, and he wondered how much that must have cost—truly a testament to the wealth of the Greengrass family...
'Wait a minute!'
Rhys looked down at the address of Daphne's home and then couldn't help but laugh: he knew this address because he was the one who had cast the Fidelius Charm on this estate.
In fact, he had done it voluntarily, without charging anything.
{
"I believe this spell has reached a stable state and no further optimization is necessary," Rowena Ravenclaw said, handing a roll of parchment to Salazar Slytherin.
"But we've only tested it on a small cottage so far. If we expand it to cover the entire school, the situation might be different," Salazar frowned.
"Don't you have many students who own several estates? Why not have them test it out?" Ravenclaw suggested.
"Who should we ask?"
Knock! Knock!
"Professor, this is my written promise. I will never trespass into Gryffindor Tower again," Adrian limped in, holding a roll of parchment, and then noticed that both his professor and Professor Ravenclaw were staring intently at him.
Adrian immediately broke into a cold sweat. Could it be that they found out about him asking Helena to join him at the Astronomy Tower to watch the stars last night? That shouldn't be possible! He really just wanted to learn some astronomy this time. Where was the trust between people?
"Adrian! Would you like to add a Fidelius Charm to your family's estate?"
"Professor, I was really just... huh?" Adrian was momentarily stunned, then realized that his professor wanted to use his family's property for another experiment!
"Professor, this spell won't blow up my house, will it? Last time—"
"That was then, this is now. This spell was personally improved by Professor Ravenclaw. You have to trust her!" Salazar said earnestly, examining his student.
Adrian: "..."
'It's precisely because it was improved by her that I'm worried!'
Ravenclaw cleared her throat, "If Mr. Greengrass is unwilling, we won't force it. However, in that case..."
Before she could finish, Adrian agreed. His intuition told him it was best not to let Professor Ravenclaw finish her sentence. }
Rhys sighed and turned the note in his hand into ashes.
"I will keep this secret."
'Just as it had been for the previous thousand years.'
___________
Read 12 Chapters ahead of WN—
Patreon.com/HornyFBI