When Hermione and Astoria returned carrying the puppet reduced to a pile of components, everyone present was completely dumbfounded.
Including Rhys, who had been secretly observing the situation from not far away with a spell.
Just moments ago the puppet had been vigorous and full of life. Everyone had expected a fierce battle, yet it had vanished in an instant. No one knew what had happened.
Rhys quickly rushed to the scene.
When he arrived at the battlefield, Daphne and Cedric were still in a state of confusion, but Rhys very quickly found the reason the puppet had been defeated.
His power still lingered on the puppet. In other words, it had been defeated by "him."
As the one who set the test and served as examiner, Rhys naturally could not help the candidates cheat in this trial. But the phantom Rhys summoned within Hermione's domain could.
Before the test began, Rhys had evaluated the phantom's combat ability. He had believed it would not cause too much interference for the puppet, because the phantom was unlikely to be able to summon his domain.
Yet he had not expected the children's thinking to be so flexible. They had actually come up with the tactic of activating the domain fragment within the brooch and letting the phantom control that small, incomplete domain.
Although the phantom's duration was limited and the domain within the brooch was only a fragment, it was still not something the puppet could contend with.
After all, the Secret Order mage who provided the raw material had been rather weak. If it had been someone of Capricorn's level, it might have held out. But strength at that level would likely have been too high.
Sigh. Being the one who set the test was truly difficult.
"I'm here—oh, it looks like you've already solved the problem." Rhys's acting was quite good. When he arrived, there were even fine beads of sweat on his forehead.
"Rhys, you're here!" Seeing him appear safe and sound, a genuinely happy smile spread across Daphne's face.
"You're alright? You're not hurt, are you?" She looked him over with concern.
"I'm fine. That spell just held me up for a while. You all moved pretty quickly," Rhys said, smoothly shifting the topic back to the puppet.
Everyone immediately turned to look at Hermione, who then explained what had just happened inside her domain.
"Come to think of it, we were able to deal with the puppet so cleanly thanks in large part to your help, Rhys," she said at the end, half serious and half joking.
The four young witches and wizards each had different thoughts upon hearing this.
Daphne and Astoria both felt it was only natural. In their view, if Rhys had not been trapped by the sand sphere, the puppet would have been dealt with long before it ran into the Forbidden Forest. His being trapped was not due to any lack of strength but because he had saved Daphne. It was Daphne who had held him back.
Cedric, on the other hand, was extremely shocked. He had originally thought Rhys was Daphne's follower, possibly also one of Slytherin's heirs. Although having three heirs appear at once was a bit excessive, there was no rule saying there could only be one, and Helga had not told him much about Rhys.
But now it seemed that he was actually the strongest among the three. Based on Miss Granger's description, Cedric was ninety percent certain that Rhys also possessed a complete elemental domain.
How was that even possible? He was only in third year. It couldn't be that he had brought over his knowledge from a previous life, could it?
Sometimes, the truth hides within the most absurd thoughts. For a fleeting moment, Cedric brushed against Slytherin's greatest secret—only to quickly dismiss the ridiculous notion.
Hermione, however, shot Rhys a strange glance. To her, something about the situation felt off.
Rhys's phantom, combined with the incomplete domain Astoria carried, had been able to deal with the puppet in nearly an instant. The real Rhys would only be stronger than the phantom. So why had he been trapped by that sand sphere for so long?
Could Rhys have been deliberately stalling for time? The thought flickered briefly through Hermione's mind.
But just as quickly, she dismissed it. Rhys had no motive.
Why would he do that? What benefit could he possibly gain? Without answers to those two questions, she felt she had no grounds to doubt him.
"That's really great. Even though I didn't make it in time, I still fought alongside you in another way." Rhys wore a sincere smile, as if he were genuinely pleased.
The young witches and wizards did not detect the true thoughts hidden beneath Rhys's calm exterior. They truly believed his words.
"Alright, it's time to head back to Professor White's office." Rhys's gaze swept over the puppet parts on the ground, a trace of faint frustration flashing in his eyes.
Did this final exam count as a success or a failure?
If one called it a failure, the phantom was still part of Hermione's strength. She had defeated the puppet through her own ability. But Rhys also found it hard to claim with a straight face that the trial had been a success.
The children had won a bit too easily. Daphne and Cedric had only fought at full strength for less than a quarter of an hour, while Astoria had practically been coasting the entire time, her contribution mainly in strategy. This was not what they had originally envisioned.
Still, everyone had performed commendably. Astoria's big-picture awareness in particular had truly impressed Rhys.
'Perhaps arranging separate trials in the future would be better?' Rhys began to summarize and reflect. He even felt the urge to send them out to hunt Secret Order mages.
The group quickly gathered up the puppet fragments from the ground and returned to Professor White's office.
"Why would Professor White keep something like this here?" Back in the office, Daphne finally voiced the doubts that had been building in her heart.
Everyone fell silent. Only Rhys glanced at her and suggested she ask Professor White directly.
"Uh…" Only then did Daphne belatedly realize that she might have messed up.
The sinister puppet in the wardrobe did count as the professor's secret, but it clearly was not the same secret Professor White had mentioned. If that was the case, she might very well be punished.
"What do I do, Rhys?! I don't want detention!" Daphne was starting to panic. She turned to Rhys for help, hoping he could bail her out.
"Not a big problem. You won't get detention." Rhys shook his head.
Daphne's reaction gave Rhys a bit of relief. The Gryffindor streak in this child was finally not quite so strong.
From his observations, Gryffindor students did not seem particularly afraid of detention. Although they frequently broke school rules, they tended to accept punishment rather openly.
Daphne's reaction, on the other hand, was the proper Slytherin approach: find ways through prior preparation to reduce or avoid punishment. Of course, a true Slytherin would not let themselves fall into such a situation in the first place.
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12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI