Even after returning to the Slytherin common room, the goosebumps on Rhys's skin still hadn't faded.
Helga's half-smiling, half-mocking expression seemed etched into his mind, haunting him.
Every time Rhys closed his eyes, the image of Hufflepuff would resurface, bringing with it a powerful sense of shame that made him shudder uncontrollably.
When this happened repeatedly, Rhys quickly realized—Helga had secretly cast something on him. It was obvious she cared a lot about the identity of the inventor of the Human Restoration Charm.
Once he figured out what was going on, Rhys started laughing. Did she really think I was some kid like Malfoy? He had his own ways of handling this.
Without hesitation, Rhys pulled out his wand, pointed it at his own head, and cast an Obliviate. Under the effects of a strong and precisely targeted Memory Charm, he immediately forgot everything that had happened during the dinner. His mood became perfectly calm in an instant.
Although he noticed, in just a blink, that he had completely forgotten the contents of Helga's dinner, Rhys felt no confusion at all—he knew very well that he must have used the Memory Charm on himself for a reason.
No need to overthink it. Just carry on as usual.
He headed straight to the washroom, planning to clean up and then go to bed.
But once Rhys lay down and drifted into sweet dreams… something suddenly started to go very, very wrong.
["Come on, eat up!"]
["As for this… these are the legs of a hairy, terrestrial, shell-less ...crab."]
Rhys dreamed that he was back in Professor Hufflepuff's office with the Greengrass sisters, attending the dinner she had prepared. Everything seemed normal at first—except, of course, for the ingredients used in the meal. But as the dinner was coming to an end, Helga suddenly stood up.
["The great Salazar… the Restoration to Human Form Charm… truly magnificent!"]
["Let us toast—to the great Slytherin!" Helga raised her goblet high, tilting her head slightly as she glanced at Rhys. "To the great Slytherin Bastard !"]
Rhys: ?!
[Daphne and Astoria, sitting right beside him, immediately stood up and joined in chorus, "To the great Slytherin Bastard !"]
Suddenly, the office doors burst open. A massive crowd of Slytherin students poured in, all shouting together, "To the great Slytherin Bastard !"
After everyone drained their goblets, they all turned in unison to look at Rhys. At that moment, Helga, wearing a gentle, grandmotherly smile, spoke:
"Mr. Lint, why didn't you toast to the great Slytherin? Could it be… you have something against him?"
Instantly, every single Slytherin student in the room turned hostile, their eyes narrowing as they stared Rhys down.
Seeing this, Rhys had no choice but to helplessly raise his goblet and grit his teeth as he said, "To the… great… Slytherin... Bastard!"
"Your tone should be more reverent. Don't sound so reluctant," Helga said, clearly dissatisfied with his half-hearted toast.
Rhys: "To… the great Slytherin ..Bastard …"
"More passion!" Helga refused to let him off so easily.
With his cheeks flushed bright red, Rhys simply gave up on resisting. He raised his goblet high and shouted at the top of his lungs, "TO! THE GREAT! SLYTHERIN!! BASTARD!!!"
The dream shattered like broken glass. Rhys jolted awake in bed, realizing his hand was still frozen in mid-air as though holding a goblet.
Well then. Thanks to Helga, he had just been forced to relive the entire dinner experience.
Wiped the memory? No problem. Just experience it again anyway!
Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, Rhys reached under his bed and pulled out a small box from his trunk. Lifting the lid, he revealed a row of neatly arranged crystal vials.
These were various potions he had prepared for himself in advance—carefully stored away just in case. It had been a habit born of caution… and it turned out, it was finally coming in handy.
He immediately grabbed a vial of Calming Draught and gulped it down in one go. As the potion settled in his stomach, drowsiness surged over him like a rising tide. Rhys collapsed back onto his bed, quickly slipping into sleep—at least in theory, thanks to the potion, it should have been a dreamless night.
But the ordeal in his dreams had made him overlook one small detail: the soundproofing charms he'd placed around his bed were starting to show signs of instability.
When Rhys opened his eyes again, he instantly realized something was very, very wrong—because he was once more standing inside Helga Hufflepuff's office!
Going through the same sequence yet again, Rhys was already numb to it.
So when the dinner reached the point where Helga excitedly began proposing a toast to "Slytherin Bastard," he simply stood up alongside the Greengrass sisters and shouted with exaggerated enthusiasm, "TO THE GREAT SLYTHERIN BASTARD!"
Dream-Helga narrowed her eyes slightly, seemingly surprised by how proactive Rhys was this time. After a brief pause, the office door still burst open as usual, with a crowd of Slytherin students rushing in to join the celebration.
Rhys, having completely given up on resisting, simply went with the flow—blending into the crowd, raising his goblet, and toasting right along with everyone else.
But then, dream-Helga suddenly took things a step further. She pushed her way through the cheering students, walked straight up to Rhys, and asked, "Mr. Lint, tell me—why exactly do you think Salazar is so… great?"
Rhys had already been suspicious of this version of Helga from the start. Now, faced with this unexpected twist, he immediately realized—something was seriously off.
Rhys stared straight at the fake-smiling face of "Hufflepuff" — this thing has its own consciousness!
Helga Hufflepuff… was this really necessary?! Was she seriously going this far? Just for the ownership of a spell, she actually stuffed a Baku into his dream?
A Baku was a creature that, if not eliminated in time, would take root within a dream, feeding on the dream's essence and growing stronger.
Once fully developed, it would become an inescapable nightmare parasite, turning every sleep into a torment of endless bad dreams. The fact that he had only noticed its presence on the second time entering the dream meant he was already at a disadvantage.
Rhys immediately drew his wand.
With a casual wave, the entire dream-castle trembled—and half of it, the section where the "Hufflepuff" figure had been standing, collapsed into ashes.
As expected, that massive spell didn't destroy the Baku.
The figure of "Hufflepuff" reappeared outside the ruins of the castle, floating midair, wearing a faint, serene smile.
It opened its mouth and spoke: "You cannot kill me by day, nor can you kill me by night. I cannot die indoors, nor can I die outdoors."
A shudder went through Rhys. A strange sensation crept over him.
He understood clearly—this Baku was using the power it had stolen from his own dream to strengthen itself, gradually pushing itself toward an invincible state.
Fortunately, he'd noticed it in time. It hadn't managed to steal much of his power, so its enhancements were still very limited.
"Can't be killed indoors or outdoors, by day or by night, huh?" Rhys's lips curled into a cold smile.
In a flash, his figure flickered—dragging the Baku along with him—to the threshold of Hogwarts' great oak doors. In this dream, Rhys held absolute control, which was exactly why the Baku needed to steal his power to compensate.
He looked up at the sky, and the heavens immediately shifted—becoming the dim glow of dawn.
"Now it's neither day nor night, but dawn. You are neither indoors nor outdoors, but standing exactly at the boundary between them… which means—you can be killed."
A flash of terror appeared on the Baku's face, but before it could utter a single word, Rhys tore it into shreds.
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