"Why don't we let our students make the automaton components?!"
Rhys's declaration boomed through the office—so loud and sudden that Helga was genuinely stunned.
How could one man be this lazy?
She immediately prepared to scold him, already drawing breath to admonish the indolent Salazar and remind him that students were not free labor.
"Helga, I know you have a lot to say, but hold on—don't be hasty," Rhys quickly cut her off with a spell as soon as he saw she was about to lecture him. "Just hear me out first!"
"Think about it. These automatons of yours—Hogwarts will be the one responsible for maintaining them in the future, right? And what does maintenance require?"
Rhys's tone became patient, persuasive, almost scholarly—skillfully steering Helga's thoughts onto a completely different track.
"They'll need people who understand the automatons, who can craft components, and eventually develop updated or stronger models. And who could be more suited for that task than those who participated in the earliest stages of construction? Besides, they're our students—more reliable than outsiders, wouldn't you say?"
Helga frowned. Something felt off… but she couldn't find a proper argument to counter him.
Sure, Rhys's reasoning sounded smooth, even sensible—but in the end, wasn't he just trying to make their students do the work for them?
When did this old snake become so good at spouting nonsense? What on earth was happening here?
"Salazar… have you been reading some strange Muggle books lately?" Helga asked suspiciously. She wanted to know exactly what he'd been reading.
"What nonsense!" Rhys rejected the accusation with righteous indignation.
"Think carefully—we would be teaching our students new skills, valuable skills they could use to earn a living. We would be covering their training costs—including the materials they break while practicing—and we wouldn't charge them a single Knut. Isn't that the purest form of a teacher's love for their students?"
Helga: "…"
In the end, only after Rhys promised that he would "work alongside the students" did Helga reluctantly agree to his proposal.
"Haah. Since you've agreed, let's call Daphne and Astoria over. And your Cedric, too. We'll make components together here!"
Helga gave Salazar a complicated look—her expression clearly saying she had wanted Cedric to enjoy a peaceful Christmas holiday.
"Alright, alright, you're right," Rhys said, giving in. "But once the Christmas break ends, Daphne and Astoria will probably already be proficient in crafting automaton components. Considering we're all heirs of the Founders, they can teach Cedric afterwards."
That single offhand remark made Helga almost jump out of her seat.
Let two little girls teach her student?
How could she accept that?!
She verbally responded with a quick "Yes, yes, yes," but internally she had already made up her mind...
She was going to write to Cedric immediately and ask whether he had time during the holidays to come learn something new.
Seeing Helga's reaction, Rhys's mood brightened. He knew her far too well—the four Founders had always been good at manipulating each other.
If Helga could exploit his loopholes to drag him into holiday overtime, he could just as easily maneuver her into handing over her disciple to help lighten his workload, all while letting his students learn her automaton techniques.
Daphne and Astoria might look pitiful having to work during Christmas, but the truth was they were gaining incredibly precious knowledge about automaton construction. Without Rhys's smooth-talking just now, this knowledge would have remained one of Hufflepuff's absolute, top-secret inheritances—passed only from one heir to the next.
But now, his own students could take a share.
A thousand years ago, even if you kneeled outside a family's door until the stone steps crumbled under you, no one would have taught you something of this level.
Daphne and Astoria were making an enormous profit.
Rhys couldn't help feeling delighted—sincerely believing that he was the best teacher in the world.
He almost wanted to reconnect the Floo Network instantly to summon the girls over right away.
What he didn't know was that the two sisters were already changing clothes—they had independently decided to come to the office on their own.
...
Meanwhile, in the Gryffindor common room—
Harry had already opened all his packages, leaving only a single letter unopened.
He found it strange.
Who would send him a personal letter during Christmas?
And if it wasn't a letter… then this would be the poorest Christmas gift possible.
He'd already opened the gifts from the Dursleys, and they were exactly what he expected—so it definitely wasn't from them.
Harry picked up the envelope and saw the handwriting clearly.
It was a letter from Sirius Black.
This only confused him further. As far as Harry knew, he'd never had any real interaction with Sirius before.
All he knew was that Sirius was a tragic man wrongly accused by the Ministry—someone who'd caused a huge commotion over the summer and even triggered the incident where Dementors surrounded Hogwarts.
Driven by curiosity, Harry opened the letter. After reading just two lines, his eyes flew wide open!!!
Sirius said he was Harry's godfather, and if Harry didn't believe it, he could ask Lupin to confirm!
After dropping that bombshell right at the start, Sirius spent a long section describing his and James Potter's happy school days.
He wrote in great detail about the pranks they played on Snape—enough to make Harry feel extremely delighted, and also to make him understand exactly why Snape always made things difficult for him.
Honestly, Harry realized that if he ever met Draco Malfoy's future son, he doubted he'd be able to treat the kid neutrally either—especially if the boy resembled Draco and acted the same way.
Harry's emotions rose and fell along with Sirius's words.
He felt joy reading about the harmless mischief Sirius and his father used to cause, and then anger and sorrow when Sirius described Peter Pettigrew's betrayal.
By the time he reached the end of the long letter, Harry was left with nothing but deep emotion and a strange warmth in his chest.
He had a godfather!
"By the way, I realized the Ministry's compensation was just enough to buy a really good broom. And since I heard you're as good at flying as your father, I took the liberty of buying a Firebolt as your Christmas gift.
Unfortunately, the delivery arrived a day earlier than I expected. I hope you don't mind—and I hope you like it."
Harry's breathing grew a little uneven.. So the Firebolt had been a gift from Sirius!
After the brief rush of excitement, Harry immediately began worrying on Sirius's behalf.
In his mind, Sirius had been wrongfully imprisoned for over ten years with absolutely no income, and now that he had finally cleared his name, he had used all the compensation money to buy Harry a broom…
Wouldn't that affect his own living conditions?
Harry hurried to his desk and began writing a reply to Sirius.
_______
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