Of course, times were different now, and Rhys hadn't found a suitable excuse to take the exam at a different time from Daphne.
Poisoned by a potion last year, poisoned by a potion again this year?
That would be way too suspicious and would definitely arouse the professors' doubts!
So Rhys chose instead to directly borrow Daphne's written answers.
After all, a thousand years had passed, and his theoretical knowledge was somewhat outdated. Taking time to relearn everything wasn't worth it, so he simply had his student handle it—Rhys was definitely not the type to sit obediently in the library memorizing principles.
The process of borrowing didn't even require Daphne's cooperation. The main reason he created a "bet" was because he had decided to inform Daphne in advance.
If she truly refused, Rhys naturally had other means.
Of course, teasing this little girl a bit and watching her reactions was genuinely a lot of fun!
Daphne fell into a dilemma: even though she had lost the bet, she still wanted Rhys to take the exam on his own.
It wasn't because she was some model student who strictly obeyed school rules—it was simply because she wanted to see how well Rhys would score on the final exam.
If—just hypothetically—she managed to beat Rhys in grades...
Well, that would count as a small victory for her, wouldn't it?
Just as she was thinking about how to cleverly "weasel" her way out of this debt, a figure rushed to their table like the wind. Without even looking, Daphne knew it was Astoria.
"Rhys?! That's great, you're back!" Astoria's excited voice rang out beside them.
Rhys smiled and nodded, saying nothing about what had happened the night before.
After a while, once her excitement had passed, Astoria noticed something.
"Big sister, you didn't even tell me! You just sat here chatting!" The fact that Daphne hadn't immediately told her about Rhys's return made the young girl rather upset.
"We barely said a few words. It's not like a few minutes would make a difference!" Daphne shot an annoyed glance at Astoria.
"What were you two talking about that made you forget all about your little sister?" Astoria pulled out a chair at the table and plopped down, her eyes gleaming as she looked at them.
Rhys explained the bet between him and Daphne. A thoughtful light flashed across Astoria's eyes.
"I think—" Daphne was organizing her words, ready to argue with Rhys properly, but Astoria cut in.
"Why don't you let me try instead? We could figure out the exam schedule and see if I can also take a few of the tests." Astoria looked eager, her face full of excitement.
She wanted to try the harder exams from a higher year! Plus, it would be fun to compete alongside her sister, wouldn't it?
"And what about your own exams?!" Daphne couldn't sit still. "And classes like History of Magic—that has nothing to do with your spellcasting skills!"
"For subjects that are just rote memorization, I can start reviewing early. There's still a whole month anyway!" Astoria responded confidently. "As for my own exams..."
She looked at Rhys and blinked her eyes.
"Rhys, since I'll have to drink Polyjuice Potion to take the exams for you, why don't you also drink one with my hair in it and take my finals for me?"
Rhys rubbed his chin, feeling that half of Astoria's proposal was quite workable, but there was one point that needed correcting.
"No need for Polyjuice Potion. I can use Transfiguration to create a lifelike fake body to sit your exams. I guarantee no one would notice. But I do think you could try taking the second-year exams yourself."
After hearing Rhys's words, both Daphne and Astoria showed a flash of bewilderment in their eyes: Is that even allowed?!
The corners of Rhys's mouth lifted slightly. "Daphne, you should still remember that fake body from before, right?"
Daphne instantly recalled a not-so-distant memory. That fake body really had been indistinguishable from the real thing.
"That's a very advanced magic," Rhys said, smiling as he began explaining the origin of the spell to them. It was a charm developed by Helga Hufflepuff herself. She had given it a very plain name—"The Doll Creation Spell."
And the origin of this spell could be traced back to an exhausting adventure...
...
"Now we fucking rest!" Godric, after walking into the cave, immediately collapsed onto the ground without any concern for appearances, almost falling asleep on the spot.
His three close friends were no exception. The ground seemed to pull them down like a magnet attracting iron, as if there was nothing more blissful than simply lying down.
But there was still much to be done—starting a fire to cook, cleaning the cave, setting up guards. Yet in their current state, who had the energy to do any of it?
"Rowena..."
"You can consider me already dead."
"Godric?"
"I think I dropped my sword sheath out in the forest. Be a good brother and bring it back for me."
Salazar: "…"
Just as he was forcing himself to get up and tidy the cave, the always-quiet Helga moved into action.
"Let me do it." Compared to her three friends, Helga was still in relatively good condition—she had only suffered some minor external injuries and was mainly exhausted.
She pulled out her wand from her robes and pointed it at the corner of the cave. There, the stones in the corner gathered together, combined with a pile of dirt, and formed a three-foot-tall little figure.
After the little figure was formed, it wobbled out of the cave, and after a while, returned carrying a bundle of firewood and a dirty sword sheath—it was already moving quite nimbly by then.
"Helga, you actually know this kind of spell?!" Salazar was astonished. Before, Helga couldn't even manage to transfigure wood into a wooden carving, and now she could cast such an incredible spell?
"Mm, the Transfiguration magic you taught me before—I spent some time studying it and had some new insights. Today was just the right chance to use them. Also, the soil here is very suitable... maybe if we were somewhere else, I wouldn't have been able to manage it," Helga said, her face pale. She fell silent after speaking and focused almost all her energy on controlling the little clay figure she had created.
The clay figure busied itself around the cave—it started a fire, then cleaned up the filth inside the cave, and finally even set up a pot to cook a soup for everyone.
Salazar added some herbs into the soup, which would help them heal.
He sharply noticed that the clay figure could actually use magic! The layers of dust, dirt, cobwebs, and droppings on the ground were all cleared away by magic.
"Incredible. Helga, how did you do it?" Salazar's look of astonishment was practically tangible.
"I just really, really wanted to do it—and then, combined with a sudden flash of insight from earlier, it happened," Helga confessed.
Salazar: "…"
"Really, I just really, really wanted to—and with that bit of inspiration, it came about," Helga added, as if afraid her friends would misunderstand her.
"..."
Salazar fell even more silent.
_______
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