Hogwarts' wealth exceeded Rice's imagination

Chapter 21 Hogwarts' wealth exceeded Rice's imagination

Behind the oak door stood a tall, dark-haired witch in a bright green robe. Her hair was tightly tied back, and she had a serious expression that made her look formidable.

"First-year student, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid said.

"Thank you, Hagrid. Leave it to me." After the handover was completed, Hagrid slipped away, while Professor McGonagall opened the door wide, revealing a foyer large enough to fit a three-story villa.

As the facade of the castle, the entrance hall is grand and imposing, resembling the main building of a cathedral. Facing the entrance is a magnificent marble staircase, and the ceiling is so high that it is almost invisible. Like Muggle castles, the walls of the entrance hall are made of huge stone blocks, and the walls are filled with blazing torches, illuminating the hall as if it were daytime.

After surveying the furnishings in the hall, Rice clicked his tongue, his eyes full of admiration: the successors had managed this castle very well, and judging from the decorations in the hall and the number of torches, the school should not be short of money, which put his mind at ease.

The thought of the number of torches made Rice blush. The young wizards around him, utterly inexperienced, could only utter vague exclamations like "Oh!" and "Ah!" as they gazed at the grand entrance hall. In reality, the most extravagant thing was the few unassuming torches stuck in the stone walls. Building the magnificent castle didn't cost much money, because it was all constructed by the four of them using magic—cutting boulders from the surrounding mountains with a slicing spell, then using teleportation magic to transport them to the hillside, and finally assembling them like building blocks. It didn't cost any money at all; all it took was a bit of hardship for Gryffindor.

You don't know the cost of firewood and rice until you're in charge of the household. These little guys have no idea how much fuel all those torches will burn in one night!

As one of the four who once controlled the school's finances, Rice said it was an astronomical figure, and even with the combined wealth of the four of them, they would have a headache looking at the monthly expense bills.

The cost of torch fuel, food and drink for teachers and students, heating costs for the castle, expenses for potion ingredients, and salaries for professors and staff...

Each expense emptied everyone's wallets at a visible rate. Rice even considered charging all students exorbitant tuition fees, but Hufflepuff stopped him from doing so.

"Helga, do you even have a concept of money? We spent enough last month to buy a dragon, and that's a continuous expense—we have to find a way to make money!"

"So you want to charge students tuition? Are you crazy or am I?" Helga's face flushed with unusual anger. She slammed her hand on Slytherin's desk, her voice sharp. "Many students simply can't afford it!"

"Then we can lend them money first, and they can pay it back slowly after they graduate."

"Ha, I didn't realize Salazar had fairy blood in him?"

"Hufflepuff, don't go too far!" Salazar bristled like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, after Hufflepuff insulted him like this.

"Isn't that right? Making kids take out loans to go to school, and then having them work for you for half their lives after graduation? Haha, even the most greedy fairy never thought of such a scheme."

Seeing that the two were about to fight, Rowena and Godric quickly stepped between them to separate them, and then offered a compromise: they would contact the wealthy parents of the students and ask them to donate money to the school. If they donated enough, their children could still come in to learn magic even if they weren't chosen by everyone else.

At the same time, they also decided to reduce school expenses through various means. For example, Hufflepuff would take students to grow vegetables while teaching herbalism; Gryffindor's combat classes would include hunting trips to the forest next to the castle, and students would remember to collect firewood afterward; Ravenclaw would make alchemy tools to sell while teaching alchemy; and Slytherin would find reliable sales channels for potions, ensuring that the potions made by students and themselves in potion class wouldn't go to waste…

To get through that difficult time, they came up with a lot of ideas; for a while, even the torches used for lighting at night were conjured up by Slytherin using magic.

It wasn't that the four founders were stingy, but rather that a lack of foresight inevitably leads to immediate problems. They could currently sustain the school with their savings, but what would happen to Hogwarts when the school grew larger, the number of students increased, and all four were gone?

A successful school must be able to break even; otherwise, it will run out of resources.

"Stop daydreaming, let's go." Hermione nudged Rice in the back, signaling him to follow Professor McGonagall—she was leading the first-year students into an empty room at the other end of the hall.

"Isn't it amazing?" Daphne said with a proud expression.

Rice nodded silently, a sense of pride welling up inside him, even making his face flush slightly.

Great, wonderful, excellent! This is the school I founded!

Seeing Hogwarts so thriving made Rice as happy as a fruit farmer seeing his trees laden with fruit.

He even went so far as to approach a torch and feel it up close, discovering that it was indeed fueled by grease, not by magical flames. This made him marvel at Hogwarts' wealth and power.

What Rice didn't know was that with the Industrial Revolution, productivity had greatly increased, and grease, a consumable, was no longer as precious as it had been in the Middle Ages. Lard, a material from which large quantities of oil could be extracted, was practically free; using grease to light torches was actually more economical.

The room that Professor McGonagall led everyone into wasn't very big. The freshmen rushed in and crowded together, shoulder to shoulder, with a tense atmosphere filling the air.

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and gave a short speech: "Welcome to Hogwarts. The opening banquet is about to begin, but before you take your seats, we will hold the Sorting Ceremony to determine which house you will be admitted to. This is the most important ceremony at Hogwarts, because for the seven years you spend at the school, your house will be your home. You will attend classes with your classmates, live in your dormitories, and spend your free time in the common rooms. After graduation, this symbol will stay with you for the rest of your lives."

The students' tension eased slightly, and some were even eager to try it out. Everyone was looking forward to the upcoming college sorting ceremony.

"Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin—each house has its own glorious history, producing outstanding wizards and witches. During your studies, excellent conduct will earn you points for your house, while any misconduct will deduct points. At the end of the year, the house with the highest score will receive the House Cup, a great honor. I hope that whichever house you are sorted into, you will bring glory to it. In a few minutes, the Sorting Ceremony will take place in front of the entire school. I suggest that you tidy yourselves up and look your best while you wait."

Her gaze swept over the faces of the students whose clothes were not so appropriate, causing a commotion. Everyone hurriedly straightened their clothes to avoid embarrassing themselves when they went on stage later.

Professor McGonagall emphasized a few points about discipline before leaving the small room. The young wizards breathed a sigh of relief after she left.

"How can they be so sure they'll put us in the right college?" Rice heard Potter ask his friend.

"Some kind of test, I guess? Fred said it hurt us a lot, but I think he was just joking." The red-haired boy looked a little strange. "By Merlin, I hope to go to Gryffindor. My mom, dad, and several of my brothers all go to that house. I wonder what they'll say if I don't get to Gryffindor."

Although the two were speaking in hushed tones, the people around them could still hear what they were saying.

Hermione muttered to herself, "I hope I get sorted into Gryffindor. They say it's the best. I heard Dumbledore graduated from there. But I don't think Ravenclaw is too bad either. It would be best if it wasn't Hufflepuff."

Rice: ?!

Vulgar language!

He forcibly suppressed his displeasure, turned to glare at Hermione, and squeezed out a sentence through gritted teeth: "There is no hierarchy among the four houses, so where does this claim that 'Gryffindor is the best' come from?"

As one of the founders of Hogwarts, he felt it necessary to convey to the new students the reasons behind their Sorting system. Their aim was to provide individualized instruction, ensuring each young wizard received the education best suited to them, rather than creating competition between the four houses to determine a superiority.

He suddenly realized that the College Cup that Professor McGonagall had just mentioned seemed to be one of the culprits behind the spread of this erroneous idea.

This thing caused students from the four colleges to start competing with each other, undermining the unity of the school, exacerbating the conflicts between the colleges, and various stereotypes are probably also related to it.

For example, Hufflepuff, a house that is laid-back and dislikes competition, would find it difficult to win the House Cup, and would inevitably be seen by some narrow-minded people as a bunch of good-for-nothings. On the other hand, Slytherin, a house whose students are quite ambitious, might be too eager for the House Cup and overemphasize the competition process, damaging the relationship with other houses.

The Academy Cup is no good, and Rice decided to find an opportunity to abolish it.

"But Dumbledore..."

"Every house has produced some very talented wizards," Rice countered, anticipating Hermione's statement.

"Listen to me, don't look at what famous people the house has produced. It's meaningless. The best house is the one that suits you best. Brave and fearless students can go to Gryffindor; honest, loyal, and unassuming students can go to Hufflepuff; intelligent people can go to Ravenclaw; ambitious people can go to Slytherin. Each house has its own strengths and weaknesses."

"Hufflepuff, for example, is the warmest place, with harmonious relationships among classmates, and their common room is very close to the kitchen. Ravenclaw is suitable for children who decide to pursue academics, as the learning atmosphere there is very strong. If you want to work in the Ministry of Magic in the future, Slytherin is definitely the best stage, where your classmates and upperclassmen will be your best helpers, but such a life is destined to be very tiring."

Think carefully about what kind of college you want to attend and what kind of life you want to live.

Rice's voice was a little loud, and many people heard his words, their eyes flashing with thoughtful light.

The red-haired boy who had just been chatting with Potter blinked: he had vaguely heard that Hufflepuff's common room was close to the kitchen? But if he had a choice, he would still prefer to go to Gryffindor.

Neville, having overheard Hufflepuff's friendly conversation, couldn't help but feel a little tempted...

Suddenly, a scream came from the back of the line. Rice looked up and saw about twenty translucent, pearly white ghosts suddenly darting out from the wall behind the freshmen.

They were arguing about something, barely noticing the newborn inside.

"I said, we should give it another chance—"

"My good monk, haven't we given Mischief enough chances? And what was the result?"

Rice's eyes widened suddenly, for he saw someone familiar in the ghost—his student, Barrow.

He was a remarkably talented young man from a privileged background, his only flaw being his somewhat impetuous nature. After graduating from Hogwarts, he turned down lucrative jobs to stay on as a faculty member, and almost everyone considered him Slytherin's successor. After Slytherin's departure, he even took over the administration of Slytherin House.

Who would have thought that the two would meet again in this way? Old and young, life and death, the two who were once closely related are now completely opposite sides of each other, a truly unexpected reunion.

He looked almost exactly as I remembered him; he was still thin and frail, but now he was emaciated and no longer had the spirited air he had in life.

He had wide-open black eyes and his body was covered in silver bloodstains. Rice noticed that the other ghosts kept their distance from him, as if they were afraid of him.

The ghosts filed out, disappeared through the opposite wall, and Professor McGonagall returned. She instructed the students to line up in a single file and proceed to the Sorting Ceremony.

The branching ceremony was held inside the restaurant.

Upon entering the restaurant, not only were the new students astonished, but even one of the founders of Hogwarts was taken aback.

How could there be such a magical, beautiful, and magnificent place in the world?

Students from other grades were already at four long, solid wood tables. On the tables were rows of gold platters and goblets, gleaming under the light of thousands of candles floating in the air—all made of gold, according to Rice's discerning eye. At the head of the dining room, another long table was set for the teachers, also furnished with gold cutlery.

Rice's breathing became rapid.

The school's financial situation was truly exceptional, far beyond what the founders could have imagined. In their time, only the four of them used gold cutlery, ordinary professors used silver plates, and students used bronze plates. Even the wealthy Slytherin never imagined that one day nearly a thousand teachers and students at Hogwarts would be able to eat with gold cutlery!

He couldn't help but look up and saw twinkling stars on the velvety black ceiling. This starry dome was exactly the same as it was a thousand years ago.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

There will be another chapter early this morning. If you can't wait, you can go to sleep first and you'll see it when you wake up.

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(End of this chapter)