Rhys's eyes gradually dimmed, and with a faint smile at the corner of his lips, he gently settled back onto the ground.
"Thank you," he said as he looked at Helga, his eyes seeming to sparkle like stars.
Hufflepuff: "…"
Stop talking already. I'm going to sour to death.
She glanced at the two sisters sitting in the corner, clearly just watching the excitement, and couldn't help letting out a heavy sigh. These two girls were truly lucky.
"You're quite fortunate. You witnessed a second awakening of a domain with your own eyes. His domain has become even stronger," she said, turning to explain to the Greengrass sisters what a second awakening of a domain actually meant.
Rhys listened quietly at the side, occasionally adding a sentence based on his own insights. This, in turn, benefited Helga greatly—after all, Rhys was the only person she knew who had undergone a second awakening of a domain and was willing to communicate with her.
However, as Rhys went further into his explanation, Helga also noticed a problem. Since Rhys's domain focus had shifted from "water" to "liquid," did that mean his suppressive power over subdomains like "cloud" and "mist" no longer existed?
"You could say that. However, since those things originate from water, I still have very strong control over them. I can suppress those domains by preventing water from turning into vapor. Also, I should remind you that mist is composed of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in near-ground air. That still falls within the scope of liquid control. You really should brush up on Muggle physics. I'm sure Miss Hermione Granger of Ravenclaw would be more than willing to help."
Helga felt that she was starting to lose control of her body temperature. Salazar's words made her blood pressure spike.
"Alright, that's enough parts crafting for today," she said decisively, issuing a clear dismissal.
You don't fear your best mate living a hard life; you fear him suddenly driving a luxury car.
This kind of situation existed in the magical world as well. Salazar was now clearly the first among the four to "drive a luxury car," and Helga was so jealous she nearly ground her teeth to dust. She simply couldn't imagine what it would feel like to stay in the same room with Salazar for an entire day. It would be unbearable. Every single second would be torture.
Rhys didn't argue with her and directly led Daphne and Astoria out of Helga's office.
"So, Rhys, how did you suddenly undergo a second awakening?" Daphne asked curiously.
Rhys only smiled without answering.
This second awakening of his domain owed at least thirty percent of the credit to Daphne.
"Since there's a second awakening, could there be a third or fourth awakening?" Astoria asked from the side. She had been holding this question in for a long time. She had wanted to ask it back in the office, but White's expression hadn't looked very good, so she hadn't brought it up.
That question left even Rhys silent, because he didn't know the answer either.
In theory, it was possible. A so-called domain was essentially a collection of concepts or powerful effects. For example, having dominion over "mist" within a certain area would be the Domain of Mist.
After such a domain underwent a second awakening, it might transform into a Domain of Water, or into something else entirely. Rhys had already proven that the Domain of Water could continue to awaken further—that would be a third awakening.
But whether the domain could continue awakening beyond that, even Rhys wasn't sure. It should be theoretically possible, but no one had ever reached that point.
"Hard to say, but it should be possible. Alright, don't overthink it. The important thing for you two is to hurry up and awaken your own domains," Rhys said, half joking and half serious, as he reminded them.
"Okay!"
"Alright…"
The three of them walked together toward the Slytherin common room, leaving Helga alone in her office to "calm down."
After Salazar and the others left, Helga's mood gradually settled.
No matter what, she was happy for a friend's progress—even if that person was Salazar.
Taking inspiration from Salazar's line of thinking, she also began to contemplate the possible directions for a second awakening of her own domain.
It took her quite a while before she suddenly realized that after leaving Cedric in the common room last night, she hadn't checked on him at all.
With that thought, she no longer cared about continuing her research into domains and immediately ran straight toward the Hufflepuff common room.
Helga didn't arrive too late. She reached him just as Cedric had regained consciousness.
"Have some of this to replenish your strength." Helga strode into the common room and took a piece of chocolate from inside her robe.
Cedric was still in a dazed state, clearly not yet recovered from last night's intense battle.
He instinctively took the chocolate from the professor's hand, but the movement was a bit too large and pulled at the injury on his shoulder, causing him to bare his teeth in pain.
The pain quickly snapped Cedric fully awake. He immediately turned his head toward Helga, muttering, "Professor, I was surrounded by—"
"Eat it first," Helga interrupted him.
Cedric was a well-behaved child. Seeing the professor say this, he didn't say anything more and instead focused on finishing the chocolate Helga had handed him.
He bit into the chocolate, chewed, and swallowed it. Cedric felt a warm current rise from his stomach, traveling upward all the way to the top of his head, sweeping away the fatigue from his entire body.
After finishing the entire piece of chocolate, Cedric felt as if he had completely recovered. Even the wound on his shoulder no longer seemed to hurt as much.
"Professor, can this chocolate be handed out to the Quidditch team? It feels perfect for replenishing stamina during matches!" Cedric's first thought was actually Quidditch, which left Helga feeling both amused and helpless.
"I'm afraid not. This chocolate has an energy potion added to it. Eating it would violate Quidditch regulations," Helga replied. Having lived in the modern magical world for quite some time, she was already thoroughly familiar with all kinds of common knowledge and rules—she even knew the complicated clauses of Quidditch regulations inside and out.
Cedric let out a rather regretful sigh, but a few seconds later he reacted and asked whether the professor could provide this chocolate to the team during training.
Taking it during training shouldn't violate the rules, right?
Helga was speechless. But after thinking about it carefully, she realized that it actually might be allowed. Perhaps she could make a few more later. The only problem was that the Hufflepuff Quidditch team would be in for a rough time.
She didn't even need to think to know what Diggory would do once he got his hands on energy chocolate. Among the four Houses, the title of the most insanely trained team was probably about to change hands.
"Professor, about last night—"
"The people who attacked you were from the Secret Society. There's no need to worry; I've already dealt with them," Hufflepuff said, briefly explaining the Society, that hidden organization, to Cedric.
Cedric's expression grew increasingly solemn.
Seeing her student looking so worried, Helga quickly offered some reassurance, telling him not to be overly concerned. After all, if the sky fell, she would be the one holding it up.
"It would be great if I could awaken a domain…" After learning of the Secret Society, Cedric felt a growing longing for a domain of his own.
"A domain will come," Helga said. At this point, she remembered that Cedric still had an injury on his shoulder, so she repeated to him what Salazar had told her about his condition.
"Do your best to use the power of your earth domain to erase the residual domain effects at the wound. I think this will be very helpful for your mastery of the domain," Helga instructed seriously. Cedric nodded repeatedly.
After giving Cedric a few more instructions and handing him a new string of bracelets along with a small jar of soil, Helga left the warm common room.
The bracelet was meant to keep Diggory alive, compensating for the losses he had suffered before. The soil was for healing—if Cedric couldn't hold on, he was to sprinkle the soil from the jar onto the wound. The earth infused with Helga's power would neutralize the lingering light and dark domain effects within the injury, speeding up its healing.
She trusted that Cedric would make proper use of them.
Although not many students stayed at Hogwarts during Christmas, the school still prepared an extremely lavish Christmas feast.
However, since there weren't many people, Dumbledore didn't continue the tradition of seating the four Houses at separate tables. With so few people, splitting into five tables would have been far too desolate and would cause severe waste.
Given the current situation, with fewer than ten students remaining in each House, how much could they really eat at each meal? Yet every table would still need a full spread of dishes prepared. And if a certain dish appeared on Gryffindor's table but not on Slytherin's, who knew what kind of trouble that might cause.
The four House tables were gone, replaced by the staff table, which had been moved to the center of the Great Hall for the use of the faculty and the students who remained at school.
Rhys and Helga entered the Great Hall one after the other.
Seeing that table, as well as students from various Houses mingling together around it, both of them froze for a moment. If they had chosen this way of dining back then…
A jumble of thoughts collided in their minds, until the person behind them gently nudged the two of them.
_____
12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI