Rhys rubbed his chin, a trace of curiosity flashing through his mind.
Judging by Astoria's reaction, could it be that none of the later students knew that the ceiling of the common room was enchanted with a built-in weather charm?
He had thought everyone simply preferred a dim environment, which was why they didn't activate it…
So it turned out no one even knew about the ceiling's setting?!
"If you want natural daylight, you can use a weather charm." Rhys drew his wand and tapped the ceiling.
At once, the ceiling began to change.
The original stone bricks gradually faded away, replaced by a stretch of blue sky and white clouds.
Bright sunlight poured down, turning the Slytherin common room, which had previously relied on chandeliers and candlelight, into a brilliantly lit space.
Astoria: !!!
The ceiling of the House common room actually had a function like this?!
Although the sudden brightness made her a little uncomfortable, sunlight did lift one's spirits after all.
Seeing Astoria's expression, Rhys felt a moment of breathlessness. These people really didn't know the ceiling had this function!!!
Had Hogwarts gone through some kind of break in transmission? How had so many things been lost?
After a moment, Rhys calmed down.
He thought it over and felt it was very likely that at some point the weather charm above the ceiling had malfunctioned or been tampered with, switching into a storm mode that normally wouldn't appear.
Unfortunately, the upper-year students who knew how to shut down or adjust the weather charm weren't around, and the result was that the common room got flooded.
Tch…
Just imagining that scene made Rhys feel horrified.
After that, the students of Slytherin House probably shut down the ceiling's weather charm permanently, to the point that later generations of students didn't even know the ceiling could switch to a daylight mode.
Thinking this over, Rhys quietly deactivated the weather charm on the ceiling, letting the common room return to its usual dim appearance.
He really couldn't trust these Slytherin kids.
"Come on, let's sit down and talk," Rhys said, seeing that Hermione had finished looking around. He directly invited her to sit and discuss things properly.
"Um…" Hermione hesitated.
Was this really something she could say?
Rhys glanced at Astoria, who clearly looked completely in the dark, and decided to give Hermione the chance to give her a small shock.
"Go on. There are no outsiders here."
Astoria was still secretly pleased by the phrase "no outsiders" when Hermione's words made her freeze on the spot.
"Alright… Rhys, I just saw your phantom in my domain."
Astoria: Σ(っ°Д°;)っ
"What did you say? In your domain?!" she couldn't help interrupting Hermione, her voice filled with shock and disbelief.
"That's how it is. Miss Granger has awakened a rather interesting domain."
Astoria fell silent. So among the heirs, was she the only one who hadn't awakened a domain yet?
At that moment, a sense of crisis gradually washed over her.
They wouldn't revoke my status as an heir just because I haven't awakened a domain, would they? Such an absurd thought even flashed through her mind.
"Continue," Rhys said, ignoring Astoria's shocked expression, and had Hermione explain the matter of the phantom in detail.
After listening to Hermione's description, Rhys felt that this was likely a new ability of Hermione's domain that they had yet to develop.
"Open your domain again. This time, bring Astoria along as well," Rhys said. He felt that if they wanted to understand this ability properly, they needed to enter her domain again and take a closer look.
"Alright," Hermione said without hesitation. She directly opened her domain, enveloping both Rhys and Astoria within it.
After entering the domain once more, Hermione discovered that Rhys's previous phantom had disappeared.
"Could it be that this time's entry overwrote it?"
In response to Hermione's speculation, Rhys shook his head.
"It's too early to draw conclusions. Let's read here for a while first," Rhys said, bluntly revealing his "true purpose."
He found a seat and sat down, taking a volume of the Encyclopaedia Britannica from inside his robes.
Seeing how completely at home Rhys looked, Hermione was momentarily speechless. Fortunately, she also carried reading material with her, so she wouldn't be wasting any time either.
Astoria, on the other hand, was left utterly at a loss.
Why were the two of them carrying these things around with them? Her mood grew rather complicated.
"There are books on the shelves around us. You can pick a few to read," Rhys's voice sounded by Astoria's ear, "but I recommend you read these encyclopaedias with me."
Rhys very much hoped that Astoria would gain a deeper understanding of Muggles, because he placed greater expectations on her than on the others.
"Encyclopaedias?" Astoria asked in confusion.
She knew that Rhys had recently become quite engrossed in a set of books compiled by Muggles, but he had never asked her to read them before.
"Yes. Through them, you can better understand Muggles," Rhys said, taking out an index volume of the encyclopaedia and handing it to Astoria.
Astoria vaguely understood Rhys's intention, so she took the book and began flipping through it.
As she opened the book, Rhys lowered his voice and said by her ear, "Don't dwell too much on the matter of domains. It's not something you can force. When the time comes, the domain will awaken naturally. That's how it was for me, and I think it'll be the same for you."
Rhys's words eased Astoria's heart somewhat, but her longing for a domain showed no sign of diminishing in the slightest.
Time passed quickly.
This time, because Astoria had been brought along as well, and because Hermione had not rested long enough beforehand, the duration she could maintain the domain was even shorter.
Two hours later, the three of them returned to the Slytherin common room.
"Do you still have any strength left?" Rhys looked at Hermione. A bottle of Invigoration Draught was already set on the table.
"Yes." Hermione didn't stand on ceremony. She drank the potion in one go and, after resting briefly, opened her domain once more.
Upon entering the domain this time, she saw Rhys's phantom again. Appearing alongside Rhys's phantom was also Astoria's figure.
"So that's how it is."
Everything matched Hermione's expectations.
But just then, Rhys's phantom suddenly turned its head and gave Hermione a slight nod.
Hermione: !!!
What was that?!
Did that illusion just nod at her?
Yet immediately after, Rhys's phantom returned to its previous state, fully immersed in the world of his book, as though what had just happened were nothing more than Hermione's imagination.
With an extremely complicated mix of emotions, Hermione closed her domain.
Looking at Rhys reappearing before her, Hermione took a deep breath and recounted everything she had just seen and experienced in full detail.
After listening to Hermione, Rhys's eyes widened.
What is going on?! Was that possible too?
A bold conjecture took shape in his mind. If that was truly the case, then Hermione's domain would be the undisputed strongest.
"Hermione, next time you open your domain, remember to bring me along," Rhys said seriously.
"Of course." Even if Rhys hadn't said it, Hermione would have done so anyway.
Off to the side, Astoria blinked, clearly unable to keep up with the train of thought between the two of them.
____
12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI