The tables and chairs throughout the common room were piled high with mountains of cakes and pastries, along with jugs of chilled fruit juice and butterbeer.
The moment Lee Jordan entered, he could not resist setting off a large quantity of Filibuster's Fireworks, filling the air above the common room with countless stars and sparks.
"These were all sponsored by Fred and George!" Lee Jordan added an advertisement for the Weasley twins. That had been one of the small conditions attached when they donated the fireworks.
"Where did they go?" Harry shouted at the top of his lungs.
Ever since seeing the brothers aboard the Hogwarts Express at the beginning of term, he had not caught another glimpse of them. Even Ron did not know where they had gone. He only knew that they had left to "pursue their dreams."
"It's a secret. You'll find out soon enough!" Jordan said mysteriously.
Dean Thomas, who was skilled at drawing, waved his wand and hung several enormous painted banners on the common room walls. Most depicted the finest moments of Gryffindor's contestants during the tournament, while a few showed Cedric controlling an earthen giant in battle against a dragon.
Cedric had been the only successor who chose to broadcast his battle. The spectacular fight had won him a great many new admirers.
Even the Gryffindor students had to admit that Cedric was extremely powerful.
Jordan then began distributing all sorts of joke products, giving Rhys quite an eye-opening experience.
There was nougat that made anyone who ate it suffer an endless rainbow-coloured nosebleed, biscuits that transformed someone into a canary with a single bite, syrup that made people roar like lions, and tiny chillies that allowed anyone holding them in their mouth to breathe fire.
Rhys discovered that quite a few people had slipped inside just as he had, though the Gryffindor students did not seem to care.
After properly immersing himself in the celebratory atmosphere, Rhys left the Gryffindor common room and went straight to Helga's office.
When he pushed open the door, he found the two women sitting together and enjoying afternoon tea.
"I told you he would come and find us," Rowena said in a tone that suggested everything had gone exactly as expected.
"I only went to join the celebrations. You two really should have gone as well instead of hiding in an office and drinking tea like a pair of old ladies every day."
Rhys pulled out a chair and dropped into it.
"Spend more time around young people and your hearts will become younger as well."
Helga rolled her eyes.
"But I am an old woman now!"
Rowena nodded too. She could hardly have been any older.
Rhys found himself unable to respond. Instead, he placed the various joke products he had casually taken from the Gryffindor common room onto the table and gestured for Rowena and Helga to examine them.
"Interesting little things."
Helga immediately became fascinated by them, while Rowena's expression seemed to say that she had never expected Salazar to be this sort of person.
Helga swallowed one of the fiery chillies, then suddenly breathed out a stream of flames.
"Brilliant!"
Once the sweet's effects wore off, Helga could not help praising it.
Rowena gave Rhys a meaningful look, signalling for him to ignore Helga for the moment and explain what he had gained inside the alchemical world.
At the mention of that, Rhys immediately became animated.
"Rowena, what exactly did you create? There were far more powerful beings inside that little world than I expected!"
Rhys told Rowena how he had slain all Four Dragon Kings, several powerful humans, and even a genuine god.
"It seems the loss of control was more severe than I anticipated."
Rowena's reaction was remarkably calm, perhaps because she had not been the one forced to clean up the mess.
"Your regular 'purges' weren't very effective."
Rhys explained how the alchemical lifeforms defined the world-ending Great Calamities.
Rowena frowned slightly.
"I told you that I had almost completely lost control over that world. That is also why you must destroy it. They know far too much."
Rhys resisted the urge to lecture Rowena and handed over the world's origin he had collected.
"This isn't quite enough."
"I know."
Rhys waved his hand impatiently.
"I'll kill a few more gods during the second stage."
After giving the world's origin to Rowena, Rhys finally brought up the true reason for his visit. Had it not been for this, he would not have bothered coming.
"I used the Resurrection Stone inside the alchemical world and summoned Godric. His attitude has softened, and he's willing to come back to life again."
"That's wonderful!"
Helga's face immediately lit up at the good news.
When she had heard that Godric did not want to return, she had felt deeply saddened. Fortunately, Salazar had proven capable enough to successfully persuade him.
Rowena's reaction was far calmer.
In her opinion, Godric's return had always been inevitable. It was merely a question of sooner or later, so there was nothing surprising about it.
However, the moment Rhys spoke his next sentence, her slender eyebrows rose.
"He'll be returning under his true identity!"
"Oh?"
A playful light gleamed in Rowena's eyes.
"You mean Godric will return as 'Godric Gryffindor'?"
"Yes!"
Rhys nodded excitedly.
At that moment, Helga also understood.
Gryffindor had actually agreed to return to Hogwarts under his own name?
That was wonderful!
"It can't be helped. There's already a 'Godric' at Hogwarts now. Godric wants to smash the impostor's head in."
Rowena and Helga exchanged a glance and instantly reached an agreement.
They would definitely have to help make this happen.
They could hardly wait to see Gryffindor return to Hogwarts as one of its founders.
As the school's founder, it was only reasonable to place a few more responsibilities on his shoulders, wasn't it?
They truly had to thank the kind soul who had impersonated him. Without that person's assistance, Godric might have realised what was happening before agreeing.
Rowena and Helga were already imagining what life would be like after Godric's return. Identical smiles appeared at the corners of their mouths.
"Our most urgent task now is to find a way to revive Godric while also uncovering the impostor's objective."
Rhys's voice shattered their fantasies and brought them back to reality.
Godric was still in a spiritual state, or perhaps he could not even properly be considered a soul.
He needed their help.
The three exchanged glances and swiftly reached a consensus.
As of today, the Godric Gryffindor Resurrection Project was officially established!
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12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI