In the afternoon, Ryze found himself standing in the office next to the Ancient Runes classroom.
Professor Babling sat behind her desk, flipping through an ancient book whose pages had long since turned yellow with age. Strange symbols and runic diagrams covered nearly every inch of the parchment. Without looking up immediately, she spoke in a calm but curious tone.
"You say you had a dream last night," she said slowly, turning another page, "in which you saw Ravenclaw standing atop a tower, sighing?"
Ryze nodded.
"Yes. I could clearly feel her sadness. It was… strange." He paused briefly while trying to organize his thoughts. "Near the end of the dream, it felt as if we made eye contact. The entire dream felt extremely real. Even now, I can remember it clearly. It didn't feel like an ordinary dream at all. That's why I thought I should come and consult you, Professor."
Of course, that wasn't the only reason he had come.
And while I'm here… I might as well absorb some Curse Energy, Ryze thought to himself.
As the Professor of Ancient Runes, Professor Babling's office was filled with objects collected from ancient ruins and archaeological expeditions. The room looked more like a miniature museum than a professor's workplace.
Shelves lined the walls from floor to ceiling. Glass cabinets displayed strange artifacts—broken stone tablets etched with forgotten languages, twisted metal rings carved with runic patterns, fragments of magical statues, and small mysterious relics whose purpose could no longer be determined.
Naturally, many of these items carried traces of curse energy.
Of course, anything considered truly dangerous—or objects that had not yet been completely de-cursed—were stored elsewhere in secure magical vaults. The items kept in the office were relatively safe.
Still, faint remnants of cursed energy lingered within them.
Ryze casually stepped closer to one of the cabinets while pretending to admire the artifacts.
Good.
He could clearly sense it.
Small but steady traces of curse energy floated invisibly through the room.
The absorption speed here was roughly the same as when he had visited Hagrid's hut—his energy increased by about 0.1 points every ten minutes.
It wasn't fast, but it was steady.
Originally, Ryze had only planned to stop by and greet Professor Babling at the beginning of the term. Now, however, he decided there was no harm in staying a little longer.
If he could quietly absorb some extra curse energy while chatting, even better.
Thus, while sitting across from Professor Babling, he casually brought up the strange dream from the previous night.
He even suggested that he might have awakened a talent for Divination.
Sure enough, the professor reacted immediately.
"It does sound somewhat like a prophetic dream," Professor Babling said thoughtfully. "However, prophetic dreams typically involve visions of the future. Dreams that show events from the distant past are extremely rare."
She closed the book in her hands and rested her chin on one hand, deep in thought.
"Still," she continued slowly, "many ancient magical secrets have been discovered with the help of prophetic visions. In fact, I once tried to collaborate with Professor Sybill—our Divination teacher, Professor Trelawney—but unfortunately that attempt never succeeded."
She stood up suddenly and walked toward a nearby bookshelf.
After scanning several titles, she pulled out a thick volume and began flipping through it.
"Hm… let's see…"
After a moment she nodded to herself.
"The Complete Book of Prophecies actually records several similar cases."
She turned the book around so Ryze could see the page.
"Here's one example. A person once dreamed about their ancestor burying a treasure centuries ago. After waking up, they went to the location shown in the dream and dug there… and they actually found the treasure."
She flipped another page.
"And this one is even closer to your situation. Around the seventeenth century, two diviners—one from Northern Europe and another from Central Asia—met in a shared dream. They communicated with each other while dreaming."
Professor Babling tapped the page lightly.
"When they both woke up, they each wrote down what they had learned. Years later, historians gathered the two separate records and confirmed that the event had truly occurred."
She frowned slightly as she considered the implications.
"Ravenclaw herself," she continued, "was said to possess extremely powerful prophetic abilities. According to legend, Hogwarts was founded after she received guidance through dreams."
Her gaze shifted toward Ryze.
"But the Black family hasn't produced any notable diviners in several centuries."
She tapped her fingers thoughtfully against the desk.
"So perhaps the talent comes from your mother's side of the bloodline?"
Excellent reasoning, Professor, Ryze thought silently.
He also believed that blaming the mysterious side of his family was a very reasonable explanation.
After all, the truth about his mother remained completely hidden behind layers of unknown magic.
At least for the next few years—until the mystery surrounding Alphard's disappearance was fully revealed—no one would be able to verify anything.
Still, Ryze answered honestly.
"This is the first time something like this has happened to me," he said. "I've never experienced anything like it before."
Professor Babling waved her hand dismissively.
"That's not unusual. Diviners are mysterious by nature."
She leaned back slightly in her chair.
"Even Professor Trelawney herself has produced very few genuine prophecies in her lifetime. Most of the time she simply… improvises things during class."
She paused.
Then quickly coughed.
"Don't repeat that," she added hurriedly. "It wouldn't be good for her reputation."
Ryze nodded obediently.
"Now then," she continued, regaining her academic tone, "there are actually several types of prophecy."
She raised one finger.
"The first type involves common divination methods—Tarot cards, crystal balls, tea leaves, astrology, and so on. These techniques allow people to attempt simple predictions."
She shrugged slightly.
"However, the results are usually vague and unreliable. Their accuracy cannot be guaranteed."
Then she raised a second finger.
"The second type is True Prophecy."
Her expression became more serious.
"This type of prophecy relies on natural talent and bloodline inheritance. When it occurs, the accuracy is extremely high."
"In fact," she added, "many such prophecies are sealed and stored within the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic."
Ryze raised his eyebrows slightly.
True prophecies sounded far more serious than ordinary divination tricks.
"The important thing," Professor Babling continued, "is that true prophecies usually cannot be performed deliberately. They occur suddenly when triggered by some kind of stimulus."
She leaned forward.
"So tell me—what exactly happened last night?"
She watched him carefully.
"Besides being sorted into Ravenclaw, did you come into contact with anything connected to Ravenclaw herself? Try to recall carefully. Something must have triggered the dream."
Ryze thought for a moment.
Then he remembered the Sorting Hat's long hesitation during the ceremony.
"The Sorting Hat spent about six minutes deciding where to place me," he said.
Professor Babling nodded slowly.
"Ah… I see."
She studied Ryze with a thoughtful expression.
During the month she had known him, both she and the Tonks family had formed the same impression of the boy.
Despite his young age, Ryze behaved with remarkable maturity.
Growing up in an orphanage had forced him to become independent and composed far earlier than most children.
Because of this, no one ever worried that he might recklessly place himself in danger.
Yet apparently, hidden deep within him was a strong sense of heroism.
It simply never showed on the surface.
Perhaps that was the price of growing up too early.
A child who longed for heroes had been forced to become realistic instead.
"Still," Professor Babling said with a faint smile, "I never expected the Sorting Hat to make such an evaluation about Ravenclaw."
She sighed quietly.
"It's a pity that the era of the Four Founders lies so far in the past. Even though Hogwarts itself still exists, many historical records about them have been lost over the centuries."
Wars, accidents, magical disasters…
History had erased countless details.
She folded her arms thoughtfully.
"So perhaps," she said slowly, "because the Sorting Hat gave you such a strong evaluation connected to Ravenclaw… you somehow encountered her in a dream."
She shrugged.
"It's not impossible."
Then she suddenly patted Ryze lightly on the shoulder.
"Well, we can't confirm yet that the woman you saw was truly Rowena Ravenclaw from a thousand years ago."
Her eyes brightened slightly.
"But if you continue to have similar dreams in the future, you could try asking her some questions."
"Ailey?" Ryze asked.
"Oh yes," she said quickly. "You could ask about Ailey as well."
Then she opened a desk drawer and began rummaging through it enthusiastically.
"But besides that," she continued, "I also have a few questions I'd love to ask."
Moments later she pulled out a stack of yellowed parchment scrolls.
Ryze leaned closer.
The moment he looked at the symbols written across the parchment, he immediately realized something unfortunate.
He recognized less than ten percent of the writing.
"This," Professor Babling explained proudly, "is a piece of ancient magical research that began with my teacher's teacher."
She gently unrolled the parchment.
"Unfortunately, even in my generation, the full meaning has not yet been deciphered."
She flipped to a specific page and pointed to a complicated cluster of runic diagrams.
"You don't need to memorize everything," she said reassuringly. "Just this section."
"If you encounter Ravenclaw again in a dream, ask her about it."
She carefully copied the symbols onto a fresh piece of parchment and handed it to Ryze with a solemn expression.
"If the dream happens again, remember these symbols and inform me immediately."
Ryze accepted the parchment.
So she's using me as a research assistant, he thought with amusement.
Still, it was actually a very practical method of verification.
After all, if the mysterious woman in his dream truly was Ravenclaw, she would certainly understand this ancient magic far better than anyone alive today.
As for Ailey…
Ryze knew better than anyone that Ailey was not an artifact of ancient magic at all, but a magical creature from another world.
Even the real Ravenclaw would probably need time to study something like that.
But the diagrams and texts provided by Professor Babling?
Those would almost certainly be trivial for someone as brilliant as Rowena Ravenclaw.
In fact, Ravenclaw likely possessed even deeper knowledge of ancient magic.
Even if Ryze could learn just a small fraction of that knowledge from her, it would probably be enough to keep him studying for many years to come.
And if that happened…
Then this strange dream might turn out to be far more valuable than anyone realized.
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