"We need to reconstruct a physical body for him," Rowena was the first to voice her idea.
Rhys glanced at Rowena, thinking that she was surprisingly enthusiastic. Normally, getting Rowena to do anything was unbelievably difficult, but if the matter interested her as well, that was a different story.
"I can provide a puppet body for Godric to use," Helga said, expressing her support for the idea.
Seeing Salazar frown beside her, she hurriedly added, "It would only be temporary. Naturally, he would eventually return to a real body."
Rhys sighed.
That was not the problem at all.
From Helga's tone just now, how could Rhys, as her old friend, fail to understand what she meant? She had assumed he would object to temporarily housing Godric inside a puppet, which was why she had hurriedly tried to smooth things over.
But Helga had misunderstood him. Rhys did not mind letting Gryffindor spend some time inside a puppet body. In fact, it would be even more amusing, and there would be plenty of entertainment to enjoy.
The problem was that getting Gryffindor to possess a puppet would not be so easy.
His connection to the physical world was even weaker than that of an ordinary ghost, let alone someone like Rowena, who had deliberately left herself a means of resurrection in advance.
"I know of a remarkable resurrection spell that consists of two stages. The first is to give a wandering soul a weak vessel to inhabit. The second is to create a stronger physical body capable of containing the soul, thereby completing the resurrection."
Rowena explained the resurrection method she knew to Salazar and Helga.
The more Rhys and Helga listened, the brighter their eyes became.
The "formula" Rowena proposed was highly practical and extremely ingenious. They could indeed consider reviving Gryffindor through this method.
"The only problem is that this resurrection spell was designed for wizards who possess Horcruxes."
After briefly describing the resurrection process, Rowena also informed them of its flaw.
"Even Salazar never created a Horcrux, so there is even less chance that Godric did."
"Rowena!"
Rhys sprang from his chair as though he had been insulted, pointing at Rowena's nose while struggling to find the words to speak.
"Rowena, that was far too insulting!" Even Helga could no longer bear to listen. Those words really were excessively offensive.
No matter how far Salazar might have fallen, he would never have chosen such a path.
Throughout the long course of history, many wizards had possessed the ability to create Horcruxes, but very few had chosen to prolong their lives in that manner. Once they did so, there was no turning back. It was also a complete severing and rejection of their former selves.
Many people would rather die than use a Horcrux to extend their lives.
Becoming a ghost would be preferable to creating one!
"I was merely stating a fact," Rowena defended herself. "I meant that neither of you would ever create a Horcrux."
Rhys snorted and sat back down.
The moment he returned to his seat, he suddenly realised something.
How had Rowena come up with such an ingenious idea? Had it simply occurred to her in a flash of inspiration? After all, she also had a genuine need to return from a ghostly state.
"I didn't come up with it."
Rowena respected intellectual property and would never claim another wizard's work as her own.
"The person who devised this process was Voldemort."
"What?"
Rhys could not help exclaiming.
The answer was completely unexpected.
Could an idiot like Voldemort really conceive something so ingenious?
Rhys's opinion of Voldemort had already fallen so low that it could hardly sink any further. When he learned that Gryffindor's resurrection plan had actually been designed by Voldemort, his mind simply stopped working.
After a long silence, Rhys admitted that Voldemort had overturned his understanding of people twice.
He had once believed that everyone possessed at least one redeeming quality. After dealing with Voldemort several times, he had changed his mind.
Today, that belief had changed back again.
Even Voldemort had something worthy of recognition.
For providing the initial plan to resurrect Gryffindor, Rhys felt that his opinion of Voldemort could be raised to the level of mere "dislike."
"Come to think of it, Voldemort was apparently a Slytherin," Helga said softly from the side.
Rhys could not help slapping the table.
"That was a problem with Hogwarts' Sorting system! I... I..."
"But he truly was very 'Slytherin,' wasn't he?" Helga continued. "He was ambitious. He possessed a desire for power beyond that of ordinary people. He would even use any means necessary to obtain what he pursued. Aren't those all qualities you wanted your students to possess?"
Helga's questions came one after another, leaving Rhys somewhat speechless.
"I studied what modern wizards call the Wizarding Wars and looked deeply into Voldemort, the previous Dark Lord. I believe he merely treated pure-blood supremacy as a tool. At his core, he was extraordinarily selfish and placed himself at the centre of everything."
Rhys clicked his tongue.
He desperately wanted to argue with Helga, but did not know where to begin.
"If Voldemort had won the Wizarding War and replaced Dumbledore as Headmaster of Hogwarts, would your attitude towards him still be the same as it is now?"
Helga asked one final question.
It was exceptionally sharp, so sharp that even Rowena considered changing the subject before Salazar and Helga started fighting right there.
Faced with Helga's question, Rhys fell into prolonged thought.
If Voldemort had won the Wizarding War, driven Dumbledore away or even killed him, and become Headmaster of Hogwarts, how would Rhys have viewed him after awakening?
From Helga's perspective, Voldemort might even have accomplished the "great undertaking" Salazar had failed to achieve all those years ago: completely expelling Muggle-born students from Hogwarts.
Perhaps Rhys only hated Voldemort now because he had lost and ruined Slytherin House's reputation in the process.
"Judging by the goals and slogans he promoted, I might have supported him when I first awakened," Rhys said slowly after a while. "But after learning how the modern world has changed and what he has done, I would still despise him, because the times are different now."
Problems had to be viewed from a changing perspective. Relations between wizards and Muggles no longer seemed quite so tense, and young wizards from Muggle families had spent a thousand years proving their reliability. Rhys also felt that Voldemort's actions had been far too extreme.
More importantly, Voldemort had done all of it for himself. His purpose had been to consolidate his own power and ensure that he remained at the top of the pyramid forever.
Rhys believed that once he saw Voldemort's true nature, he would undoubtedly choose to overthrow him. Afterwards, he would also have to find a way to clean up Voldemort's mess and repair the divisions he had created within the wizarding world.
"Deliberately dividing wizardkind into two groups according to blood is foolish."
Rhys's voice echoed through the office.
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12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI