"Rhys, you're planning to go to Egypt for the summer, right?" On the Hogwarts Express back to London, Daphne asked this question very seriously.
Daphne was a little anxious—if she didn't ask now, Rhys would soon separate from them!
She still wanted to spend the long summer holiday with Rhys, and also take the opportunity to learn some new and fascinating magic from him. She was especially interested in the "Doll Creation Spell" he had mentioned earlier, and she felt a strong urge to study it.
Rhys thought for a moment, feeling a bit hesitant. Mainly because this expedition was closely tied to Hufflepuff, which meant a high degree of uncertainty. He couldn't say for sure what would be waiting for him in the ancient ruins of Egypt.
Maybe there would be nothing at all—or maybe it would be like the dungeons, with a mad Hufflepuff hidden inside.
Daphne pondered for a moment, then threw out what she thought would be an irresistible bait for Rhys: "Alright, forget the previous topic—Rhys, could you tell me what ways there are for humans to fly?"
Daphne's sudden shift in topic left Rhys a little confused, but it was clearly a simple question.
"Flying broomsticks, flying spells, flying carpets, Portkeys could count too, I suppose? And there are also various magical creatures that can fly—Hippogriffs, Thestrals, and dragons all count."
"Then do you know how Muggles fly?" Daphne's next question made Rhys fall silent for a few seconds.
If this question had been thrown at Rhys two years ago when he had just awakened, he would have been completely baffled—how could Muggles possibly fly? But after cramming a large amount of knowledge, Rhys now knew that those seemingly ordinary Muggles really did have ways to take to the skies!
"I've heard they have something called an 'airplane,' an alchemical creation that can carry over a hundred people at once during flight. It's truly hard to imagine such a sight."
A gleam of excitement flashed in Daphne's eyes—she felt the fish had taken the bait.
"It seems the British Muggle government has strong ties with Egypt's Muggle government, so there are quite a few direct flights from London to Cairo. What do you think about the idea of taking a plane to Egypt? It would be a great opportunity to study a Muggle flying creation up close. If you want, I can have my father get you a ticket!" said Daphne in a single breath.
Although she had grown up in a wizarding family and knew little about the Muggle world—only bits and pieces—she could still leverage her family's connections to arrange for someone to travel by plane.
Honestly, Rhys was quite tempted.
Daphne's meaning was very simple—she could help Rhys get a ticket for a Muggle airplane, without any conditions attached. Given what she knew about Rhys, she thought this was the most efficient way to persuade him.
"I'll brew a cup of tea first."In the end, Rhys decided to use tea leaf divination to foretell the fortune of this trip.
If the divination result turned out unfavorable, he would absolutely not take Daphne along, no matter how shameless it would be to accept the plane ticket she arranged—he had already decided to fly to Egypt by plane.
Although the field of divination was heavily influenced by innate talent, Rhys believed that the strength of one's soul also affected the accuracy of divination, especially the success rate of short-term predictions.
As for this hypothesis, Rhys had even designed a simple little experiment: he crafted a twelve-sided dice, divined the result before each throw, and then rolled it, finding that his prediction accuracy was noticeably higher than mathematical probability.
However, Ravenclaw had also criticized Rhys's experimental design. She believed that Rhys might have subconsciously influenced the dice through psychological suggestion, leading him to roll the number he wanted, and therefore she thought Rhys's hypothesis lacked sufficient evidence.
Even though he didn't get Ravenclaw's support, Rhys still trusted his own theory and believed that his divination results were at least somewhat reliable.
Taking out a small cauldron, Rhys quickly brewed a cup of tea, drained it in one gulp, and then, following the instructions from the book, swirled the cup a few times and began observing the patterns formed by the tea leaves.
The results of the tea leaf divination were fairly optimistic.
Rhys concluded that the trip would be, at most, a case of "startling but without danger."
"Book two tickets. You want to go to Egypt too?" he asked.
"Make it three!" Astoria immediately latched onto him as soon as she sensed Rhys loosening up.
"Will Mr. Greengrass agree to this?" Rhys frowned slightly. After all, on the surface, they were just a group of ten-year-old kids. Would Mr. Jamison Henry Greengrass really allow three children to travel abroad together?
"Of course he will," Daphne and Astoria answered in unison.
Mr. Greengrass had great trust in Rhys, and they were confident they could persuade him. Besides, they still had a major piece of news they hadn't yet revealed to their father...
Seeing this, Rhys agreed as well.
He comforted himself by thinking of it as taking some kids on a summer camp trip.
At the same time, he also silently warned himself not to take on any more apprentices for a while. Two kids were already enough to worry about. If he accepted any more students, he probably wouldn't have the energy to manage them.
The train arrived at the station, and the students poured out in a stream toward the platform.
A large splash of red in the corner of the platform caught Rhys's attention—it was the entire Weasley family.
Judging by their clothes, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, along with two of their already-graduated sons, had all come. Standing nearby were also two people who looked like reporters.
As soon as Ron, Fred, and the others got off the train, Mrs. Weasley called them over.
"Percy, Ginny, and you three, come here quickly!"
When the five of them, looking utterly confused, walked over, Mrs. Weasley immediately began "arranging the troops," lining the whole family up in a row. Then, a photographer from the Daily Prophet snapped a hurried family photo.
"We just gave an interview to the Daily Prophet—you know, your dad won the grand prize, and the newspaper wanted to do a follow-up interview, asking how we plan to use the prize money and such," Mrs. Weasley explained to the kids once the family photo was done and the interview wrapped up.
Ron, hugging his pet rat, immediately protested, "So that photo is going to be in the newspaper?! Why didn't you say so earlier?! If I had known, I would've put this guy away!"
The rat, Scabbers, didn't react to Ron's complaint; it simply lazily rolled over in his arms and curled its paws inward.
Off to the side, Percy frowned as well. "Isn't this a little too rushed? How can anyone tell from this photo that we're planning to go to Egypt?"
The reporter from the Daily Prophet just smiled and didn't bother replying to them.
Choosing to do the interview in London was obviously for convenience—what, were they supposed to follow them all the way to Egypt?
Just like that, the large group squeezed past Rhys and the others, and Ron accidentally stepped on Rhys's foot.
"Ah, Rhys, I didn't mean to!"
"It's fine... eh? Ron, wait a second."
Ron stopped, looking at Rhys in confusion.
"Sell me that pet rat of yours."
Rhys's words left him completely stunned.
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