Chapter 71 - Dumbledore: Am I now unemployed?

Dumbledore, unaware of what was unfolding, found himself unable to even defend at Hogwarts. Opening the window, he transformed into a phoenix and soared towards the northern tower.

As he glimpsed the northern tower, an intuitive sense guided him towards the Ravenclaw tower.

While Dumbledore flew towards the Ravenclaw tower, students from Ravenclaw house watched in disbelief as the Ravenclaw statue gradually transformed into a human...

When Rowena's head became fully human, the cry of ravens echoed throughout Hogwarts.

At that moment, Dumbledore flew into the Ravenclaw common room.

The phoenix settled in front of the semi-lifeless statue and transformed into a human.

Honestly, for the students of Hogwarts, today will be etched in their memories. Their headmaster, a bird; a statue of one of the school's founders coming to life— who knows what else is unfolding!

As the students tried to comprehend the unfolding events, Dumbledore gazed at the Rowena statue, now halfway transformed into a human.

After a few moments, the statue completed its transformation into a human.

A stunning woman, aged 35-40, emerged before everyone. Words cannot capture her dark brown eyes and inky black hair gracefully framing her sculpted facial features. Adorned in a silk blue gown and wielding a magical wand, Rowena took a step forward and began to speak.

"Greetings, Albus Dumbledore, child of the phoenix. You are one of the best headmasters Hogwarts has seen in many years."

"Good day, Lady Rowena. Hogwarts is delighted to welcome you again! Please don't consider it impolite, but now you...?"

"Want to ask if I'm dead or alive?"

"Yes."

"I am alive; I have never died. I simply reached enlightenment in magic and ascended to a new level of existence... That's where my downfall began. It turns out, to sustain existence at a higher level, you need an environment with a denser mana concentration... When I realized that if I didn't come up with a solution, I would perish, I sealed myself, waiting for the day when magic in the world would be sufficient to bring me back. Sadly, I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to Elena, my daughter..."

"Lady Ravenclaw, I feel that my authority as the school's headmaster has weakened after your appearance... Do you want to take control of the school?"

"Don't worry, Albus Dumbledore, we will become deans of the school, but not headmasters."

"We...?"

"Aha, the squid is coming ashore, run!!!"

At that moment, Dumbledore heard a student's cry outside the window and rushed to see.

From the black lake, a squid slowly emerged. As it crawled out, the squid's form began to contract until it became human.

"Godric Gryffindor..."

"Haha, Godric used an interesting technique to wait for us with Salazar. An Animagus + consciousness sealing + slowing aging + blood curse. Well, he's the only one among us who truly lived for 1000 years, though he was in the form of an Abyssinian giant squid..."

Dumbledore nearly fell out of the window upon hearing Rowena's voice behind him. He hadn't even noticed her approaching!

At that moment, Godric Gryffindor, who had regained consciousness after a long semi-conscious state, headed towards the entrance of Hogwarts.

Seeing this, Rowena turned to Dumbledore. "Let's go, let's greet Godric." She snapped her fingers, and they both appeared in front of Gryffindor.

"Well, hello, Godric."

"Hello, Rowena, long time no see…"

"You're weak, Godric. You never managed to break through to the next level. Why did you seal yourself then?"

"Haha, easy for you to say. You and Salazar were the last in our era to succeed. Neither Helga nor I could ascend to the next stage. Since we didn't want to merely wait for our deaths, Helga and I sealed ourselves. I became a squid using a modified blood curse and Animagus magic; you know, giant squids live a very long time. And Helga... well, her method is quite peculiar; she became a pear in some painting."

"Um, sorry to interrupt. Are you saying that all the founders of the school are still alive?"

"Oh, sorry, Albus, I forgot about you. I need to get used to fast human thinking after thinking in squid form... The answer to your question is yes. In fact, any wizard of our level should be able to preserve their life for at least 300 years, and such a state of sealing is not difficult to extend to 1000 years, otherwise life is too short."

"Um, so, I'll be out of a job?"

"Haha-haha, good one, too bad you're not in Ravenclaw."

"Um, I'm serious..."

"Huh? No, of course not. We came back to life because there's now enough mana in Hogwarts, and Salazar and I won't die from mana deficiency. We'll be teaching at Hogwarts, but the headmaster's chair will remain yours; we've lost interest in that for a long time."

"Rowena, so where is Salazar?"

"You don't talk to him, why do you need to know?"

"Cough, cough. So many years have passed... Anyway, where is he?"

"He turned himself into a statue like I did, but he wanted to show that he's the greatest among us and made this statue enormous. Remember that classroom where he taught private lessons?"

"The one in the basement?"

"Yes, exactly there."

"Well then, what are we waiting for?!"

This time Gryffindor snapped his fingers.

This time they appeared in the Chamber of Secrets.

As soon as they appeared, they noticed a basilisk lying quietly near the statue, as if waiting for someone.

Suddenly, the head of the Slytherin statue began to shrink until it reached a normal size.

Seeing this, Rowena waved her hand, and the statue seemed to fly forward. Yes, the statue! The head of Slytherin wasn't all; deeper within the walls was the concealed entire body!

After about five minutes, a bald middle-aged man with a pointed gray beard appeared before the group.

"Well, hello, Rowena. I knew you would be the first of us to wake up. Oh, and greetings to you, Godric."

"Long time no see, Salazar."

Rowena approached and warmly embraced Salazar.

"You know, when you told me that you broke through right before I fell asleep, I thought you were joking. But I feel now that you're no weaker than me!"

"Hmm. Only that idiot Godric and the unambitious Helga didn't want to break through."

"Who's the idiot here? You two just found the way to the breakthrough first!"

"Then why are you still a great wizard and not a magister? If breaking through is so easy, why are you so weak now?" Salazar said sarcastically.

"I... Oh, forget it. I'm going to find Helga, are you coming?"

"Oh, Salazar, enough insulting Godric, but yes, I'm with you."

"Fine, whatever."

"..."

Dumbledore already understands that nobody asked for his opinion.

Again, with a snap of the fingers, they found themselves at the entrance to the Hogwarts kitchen.

Arriving here, Dumbledore saw a still life familiar to all Hufflepuff students. At the moment, the pear on the painting began to gradually detach from the canvas. Suddenly, as if breaking free from a trap, the pear fell to the floor and rolled. The pear stopped right in front of the group of four.

When the pear stopped moving, it began to laugh sincerely and cheerfully. In the midst of this laughter, the pear gradually took on the form of a person. The laughter continued until the place of the pear was replaced by a human.

Rowena approached and embraced Helga, who looked visibly older than Rowena and Salazar.

"Hello, my friend, it's been a while."

"I'm glad to see you too, Rowena! And you, Salazar, Godric!"

"Long time no see, Helga."

"Yes, it's been a while... Oh well, sorry for not informing you about my departure."

"Oh, it's okay, Salazar. You always competed with Rowena; I understand you."

"Hmm, you could have warned your best friend in advance!"

"We had a falling out, and you weren't talking to me..."

"That's because you wanted to expel most Muggle-born students!"

"They were spies for the church!"

"How could you be sure of that!?"

"I suggested giving them Veritaserum!"

"To kids! What if you accidentally added too much!? You would have left them disabled!"

"Hmm, it's a sacrifice to protect Hogwarts!"

"You...!"

"Okay, boys, calm down. I think the current headmaster has many questions for us, am I right, Albus Dumbledore?"

"Um, yes, Miss Hufflepuff... Only in the current situation, it feels strange to call myself the headmaster."

"Oh, no worries - you'll get used to it."

"So, what? Shall we go to the headmaster's office?"

"As you wish..."

"Then let's go. I'm curious to see what it looks like now."

"Oh, yes, when we took turns, there was always a mess there."

"Yeah, I hope at least the current headmaster is tidier than Godric."

"Why blame me immediately? After Salazar, there were always cauldrons and unfinished potions left! Once I almost got poisoned!"

"Who told you to use an unfinished potion?"

"Well, don't leave the cauldron uncovered!"

So the group gradually made their way to the headmaster's office at Hogwarts. The most surprised during this journey were the students who had just finished their History of Magic class. First-years looked at the picture in the book and then back at the group of people. A picture in the book and then real people. Someone stood rubbing their eyes, someone drank a hallucination potion, someone asked their neighbor if they were hallucinating. In short, by the time the group of founders entered the office, rumors had already spread across Hogwarts that the four founders had returned to life.

While students at Hogwarts were trying various methods to confirm the news of the founders' return, Dumbledore sat at his desk and watched as the group wandered around his office. Rowena examined Fawkes, Helena fed him, Salazar went to Dumbledore's personal library, and Godric conversed with his hat.

"Cough..."

"Oh, sorry. We got distracted. Ask any question, and we'll answer as best we can. Then you can answer our questions. Sound good?"

"Um, sure. First, can I write letters to someone?"

"Yes, we'll wait. Write to whomever you want."

"Alright. Fawkes, summon Asmodeus, Nicolas, Gellert, and Valchar. I think they'll be surprised..."

"Chirp, chirp!" With a cry, Fawkes disappeared in flames.

"Who are those you've summoned?"

Asked Gryffindor.

"Um... This is related to my question to you. Why do you know who I am but not about these people? I mean, what do you know about the world in general...?"

Rowena volunteered to answer and said, "In our time, our knowledge was limited to the magical realm. We were not aware of the changes and developments in the broader world. Our focus was on Hogwarts and the magical community."

"Well, it's straightforward to explain. Firstly, at any moment, we can connect to Hogwarts and get the basic information about the castle, like who the current headmaster is, who the house deans are, etc. Secondly, our methods of life preservation involved entering a specific type of sleep. We ignore all external information, focusing on the sensations we already have. This prevents us from going insane and becoming mad. By the way, I'm saying this about myself, Salazar, and Helga. Godric, on the other hand, chose... let's say, a peculiar method."

"Hmm, but I can say that I've lived longer than all of you, and I'm no longer the youngest among us!"

"You were a squid that could barely think. If you had one thought per year, I'd be surprised!"

"Well, so what? Everyone has their methods."

"...."

"Cough, in short, we roughly know about the main events at Hogwarts, but as for the outside world... practically nothing."

"So, as soon as you 'came back to life,' you reclaimed the headmaster's privileges to get information from the castle?"

"Yes, by the way, you reminded me of the headmaster's privileges."

Rowena froze for a second, and during that time, Dumbledore felt part of his headmaster authority restored. At least now he could use Apparition.

"Guys, give him back his privileges. The old man was the headmaster longer than us; there's no need to mistreat him."

"Yeah, Rowena is right."

Helga also returned her portion of privileges to Dumbledore.

"Hmm, I don't like that the headmaster is a Gryffindor, but so be it."

Although Salazar spoke with dissatisfaction, he still handed back his part of privileges to Dumbledore.

Godric followed their actions.

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