Helga had been assigned the task of persuading Dumbledore, while Rowena was to work with Rhys on designing the tournament's challenges.
That massive sandbox model she had created out of boredom earlier would come in handy now.
The more Rowena and Rhys discussed, the more engaged they became—Helga could barely get a word in.
"You two keep talking, I'm heading back up first," Helga said, unwilling to just sit around waiting. She understood that something like this couldn't be finalized in a short amount of time, so she decided to return to the surface and get something practical done—like finishing grading her students' homework.
That was just the kind of grounded person she was!
But as she gradually calmed down, a sudden realization struck Helga like lightning—those two old schemers, the old raven and the old snake, were so excited because they could send their own apprentice to fight for Hogwarts' honor. When their apprentice took first place, their Houses would bask in the glory as well.
But she couldn't send anyone—her recruitment plans were still stuck on paper!
Sure, everything was for Hogwarts, and making it the best magical school in the world was the top priority… But if possible, Helga also hoped it would be a Hufflepuff student who brought that glory home.
She couldn't actually go compete in that vague "professor tournament" herself, could she? Wouldn't that just give Salazar and Rowena something to laugh about until the end of time?
A sense of urgency surged in Helga's chest: She needed to take on a student—immediately, without delay!
Helga knew very well that ordinary students stood almost no chance against heirs who had been personally trained by the Founders. And what was worse—even if she started training a successor right now, by the time the tournament began next year, she would only have one year to prepare them.
And given the nature of the students in her House...
Helga couldn't help but let out a sigh.
Rowena's student had already been by her side for over a year, and Salazar had been rigorously training his apprentices since their very first year. Compared to them, she was truly falling behind.
After returning to her office, Helga didn't go to find Dumbledore right away—nor did she pay any attention to the stack of ungraded assignments. Instead, she began crafting a "Talent Screening Device."
This device would allow her to detect young witches and wizards who were naturally sensitive to the flow of magical energy, helping her directly identify the most gifted students.
Driven by immense pressure, Helga worked day and night for several days straight and finally completed the device just in time for Halloween.
And so, on the eve of Halloween, the Hufflepuff common room unexpectedly welcomed an uninvited guest.
"Professor White? What are you doing here?" a fifth-year Hufflepuff girl cried out in surprise as she saw Professor White standing inside the House common room.
"Is it that strange? I'm a Hufflepuff too," Helga replied, the sentence carrying a double meaning.
"I knew it! I've always thought so—only someone from Hufflepuff could get in here. I should've guessed it!" the girl said, her voice full of delight. A teacher like Professor White having graduated from Hufflepuff—what wonderful news!
At first, Helga was touched by the girl's happiness, but soon, she realized something in the girl's words had confused her.
"Wait… what do you mean only Hufflepuff students can enter here?"
"Exactly what it sounds like. No one from other Houses has ever set foot in the Hufflepuff common room. For a thousand years, this place has belonged only to Hufflepuff!" the girl said proudly.
Helga Hufflepuff: Ah… well…
"What about friends from other Houses? Don't you ever invite them to hang out here?" she couldn't help but ask.
The unnamed fifth-year girl: ???
"Of course not! This place is exclusively for us Hufflepuffs!" After saying that, she gave Professor White a suspicious look. "Professor… don't tell me back in your day, students from other Houses could come in here?"
Helga didn't answer the question directly.
From the girl's tone, Helga could clearly sense her strong sense of belonging to her House—but the problem was, that sense of belonging seemed a little too strong. So strong, in fact, that it hinted at some level of rejection toward the other three Houses.
"Professor," the girl said carefully, seeing that Professor White hadn't responded, "if you ask me… Hufflepuff students can only find true friends within our own House. People from other Houses… they don't really respect us. Some of them just show it on the surface, and others hide it deep down…"
Helga couldn't help but sigh.
Today, venturing deep into her House had truly revealed some details Helga hadn't noticed before. It was clear that after a thousand years of development, obvious rifts had formed between the Houses.
It wasn't just the Hufflepuff common room—each of the other three had their own barriers, though they didn't emphasize them quite as much. Gryffindor required a password, Ravenclaw demanded a riddle, and Slytherin… well, their attitude alone made others not even want to approach.
Back when Hogwarts had first been founded, such separation and alienation were hardly noticeable.
It was common for students to move freely between Houses—Hufflepuffs sleeping in Ravenclaw dorms, Slytherins getting drunk in Gryffindor common rooms, and so on. But now, everyone seemed to have grown more conservative. The Houses had become invisible borders, dividing them all.
For the first time, Helga began to question whether their decision to sort students into Houses had truly been the right one.
"—Though I'm not saying everyone is like that. The Gryffindor lot are actually pretty decent. But not bringing outsiders into the Hufflepuff common room has been a tradition upheld for nearly a thousand years. It's something every Hufflepuff stands by…" The voice of the female student beside her pulled Helga back to reality.
She did her best to suppress the emotional turmoil within and tried to comfort herself by thinking of the current state of Slytherin House. Compared to that, her own situation wasn't all that bad, was it? Salazar was probably the one truly on the brink of collapse.
After all, he had once sworn with absolute certainty: "The spirit of Slytherin may be forgotten, but it will never be corrupted."
"Come, child, take a look at this," Helga said, pulling a wooden box from inside her robes.
This box, of course, was the result of the painstaking effort she had poured into crafting the talent-detection device. She called it the Talent Magic Box.
The girl curiously took the box and examined it: it was made entirely of wood, with a layer of glass covering its surface. Beneath the glass, in each of the four corners of the box, there was a small wooden ball—one red, one yellow, one blue, and one green.
At the center of the box were four holes, each rimmed with one of those same four colors: red, yellow, blue, and green.
"The rules are simple," Helga said with a gentle, encouraging smile. "No wands allowed. Just get each of the four balls into the hole of the matching color. That's all it takes to succeed. Want to give it a try?"
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