There were certainly no inedible mushrooms in Hufflepuff's stew.
She explained her reasons for wanting to establish a school of magic to her friends.
"I believe the current situation isn't right. Only through more exchanges can magic advance faster, like what we just did. If everyone keeps their magical knowledge locked up in their family vaults, how can we ever…"
She glanced northward as she spoke, leaving the rest unsaid, but her friends understood.
If all wizard families hoarded their knowledge, the gods would forever hang over them like a sword.
The gods had been growing more active in recent decades.
With the support of the Nordic gods, the Vikings had pushed southward, sweeping through England, France, Spain, and Italy, all the way to the Greek peninsula. They had also navigated rivers and estuaries into Russia and Eastern Europe, discovered Iceland and Greenland to the west, and ultimately reached North America. Eastward, they'd even made it to the Caspian Sea.
If this continued, it was only a matter of time before wizards became the servants of the Norse gods.
"And opening a school could encourage other families to share their magic too, which would benefit us as well," added Ravenclaw, reinforcing Hufflepuff's argument on the need for a magical school.
Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw's words began to sway Gryffindor, but Slytherin promptly threw a bucket of cold water on the idea: "Even if we tried, our school wouldn't last long before greedy wizards brought it down. They'd sneak in to steal our magic, or even capture our students to force us to reveal all the spells we know."
"To establish a magic school, we can't do it as we are now. We'd need each of us to have significant fame—enough to deter those greedy eyes."
The other three fell silent.
They had to admit that Slytherin's prediction was the most likely outcome.
"Then let's wait until we've become renowned wizards, and then start our magic school!" Hufflepuff didn't press her friends further, knowing it was unrealistic to start a school right now.
Gryffindor voiced his support for Hufflepuff's vision. He stated that fighting was his strength, and even single-handedly taking down a fire dragon was no issue. If anyone dared covet their school in the future, he'd nail them one by one to stakes.
Slytherin laughed and shook his head: becoming world-famous wizards? That could take decades. By then, how many of the four of them would still be alive?
"All right, the stew is ready—wild mushrooms with partridge, and an egg for each of you." Hufflepuff's words brought them back to reality.
They quickly grabbed their utensils and scooped the chicken and mushrooms from the pot into their bread bowls. The bread, serving as their rations, was as hard as stone. Experienced diners knew to carve out a hole in the bottom to hold the stew; that way, by the time they'd finished the stew, the bread had softened.
After they'd eaten their fill, Hufflepuff began practicing the wood transfiguration spell she'd just learned.
One lively little badger after another appeared from the wood she carved, filling the floor, as Slytherin watched them with drooping eyelids. Eventually, he drifted off to sleep.
…
Rhys pulled himself out of his memories, and the wooden badger from the past gradually overlapped with the badger on the handle of the copper cup.
Such a distinct personal style—despite weathering a thousand years, Rhys recognized the cup's maker at a glance.
He was certain this had to be Hufflepuff's handiwork.
Helga Hufflepuff, why is a cup you crafted here?
Rhys needed to date the cup, to determine which period of Hufflepuff's life it was from. If it was one of her later works, its value would be immeasurable.
Dating it was simple enough—Rhys just needed to examine the cup's background.
Thanks to Vigo, her systematic reforms had truly helped him. Inside the drawer below the cup lay a complete set of records for it, detailing everything from its acquisition to its functions and usage logs.
Taking out the documents and carefully reading them over, Rhys traced the cup's origin: the artifact had been unearthed by the Secret Order from a 12th-century wizard's tomb. Remarkably, the tomb owner had noted on his epitaph exactly how he'd acquired it!
The cup's earliest known owner was the grandfather of the tomb's occupant.
This man had met an elderly witch while traveling through Alexandria, a witch possessing godlike powers.
From a basket she carried, she could endlessly draw out cheese, bread, smoked meat, and fresh fish. Even more wondrously, she could alter their taste—she could transform the texture of bread into tender roast beef or make gourmet delicacies taste bland.
In other words, with just a piece of cheese and a loaf of bread, this old witch could experience the flavors of all the world's finest foods.
The witch also had a cup that could transform water into rich wine, which greatly intrigued the grandfather. After much persuasion, he finally managed to trade for this "Holy Grail" from the old witch, exchanging it for a piece of classified intelligence.
So, this was the origin of the copper cup with the badger emblem.
However, after obtaining the cup, the grandfather of the tomb's occupant drank himself to death, eventually passing away drunk in bed.
The tomb owner's father then inherited the cup, becoming equally obsessed with the wine it produced until he succumbed to liver disease.
Convinced the cup was cursed, the tomb owner chose to bury it with himself to prevent it from harming his descendants.
When the Order unearthed it, they discovered that, perhaps due to the passage of time, the enchantment on the cup had deteriorated. It could no longer produce fine wine, only a sour, vinegary liquid.
Thus, it was tucked away in the storage room's corner, in the hope that one day, someone might restore it.
The "turn water into wine" effect still had a certain allure.
After reading the account, Rhys was certain that the "elderly witch" mentioned on the epitaph was none other than Hufflepuff herself.
According to Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff had set off on her own travels after he and Godric left the school, never to return.
It now seemed that she had indeed reached Egypt and had significantly advanced her food-related magic. Rhys distinctly remembered that when he left Hogwarts, Helga was far from achieving the feats described in the epitaph.
But that wasn't the most important point—the real question was what kind of information the tomb owner's grandfather had traded.
That could give Rhys a new lead in tracing Hufflepuff's whereabouts.
Remarkably, the Order had done an analysis for him!
_________
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