great-warnovel Chapter 134 A Gift for Second Graders
Chapter 134 A Gift for Second Graders
Chapter 134 A Gift for Second Graders
Overnight, Christmas quietly arrived.
Hogwarts has reached the southernmost tip of Spain, on the shore of the Strait of Gibraltar, where the castle sits atop a hill overlooking the African continent.
Clusters of magical fireworks exploded in the sky, which might be seen by Muggles outside, but that didn't matter; it was a rare festival.
Perhaps it is the only festival that has been preserved even in the apocalypse, except in the East, of course.
Wizards and Muggles in Europe and North America celebrate this day as a rare moment of hope in their daily lives of hardship.
Hermione slept in late, a rare occurrence. When she opened her eyes again, she saw a mountain of boxes piled up beside her bed. Just as she had quietly prepared gifts for everyone, the others had also quietly prepared their own.
Harry gave him a book called "The Golden Snitch Care Manual," which he probably bought together with his book "The Noble Sport of Wizards."
Ron, on the other hand, had a set of Goblin toys, but Hermione suspected he wanted to use them to inspire his creativity and make him a set of Goblin toys in the style of the Borderlands.
Neville gave her a pot of white daisies, which he had grown himself on his windowsill. Hermione had just casually mentioned that there wasn't much greenery in the dorm room, but he had taken it to heart.
In this era with little sunshine, Hogwarts' lawns were maintained entirely by magic, so Neville's ability to grow such exquisite little flowers on his windowsill clearly showed that he had put in a lot of effort.
Fleur also prepared a gift for her: an intricately woven hair bracelet made from her grandmother's hair. Veelas valued their hair highly, and some people hunted Veelas to use their hair to make wands.
This small bunch was specially cut by the old man and entrusted to Furong to give to Hermione.
Just like when it was used as a wand core, this bracelet is quite sensitive, enhancing the wearer's sensitivity to magic, which may be helpful for Hermione's third eye.
Thankfully, Draco didn't give Hermione a gift this year, otherwise she would have had to bite the bullet and give him a gift again next year.
Professor Lily's outfit was similar to last year's, but this year it was a handmade sweater with a red background and a silver lion on the chest, holding a scepter and radiating light in all directions. These light lines were also moving, making it look like a lion releasing a pyroxene meteor.
Professor Flitwick sent me a book titled "The Spells Mastered by Dueling Champions Throughout History," along with a copy of "Post-War Spell Studies." Her paper had indeed been published; the small bag underneath contained her payment for the manuscript.
She roughly counted them and found there were more than 200, clearly indicating that her net worth had increased.
Professor Sprout was more direct; her box contained a small key and a note: "You can come directly to the greenhouse to pick herbs, but don't use the unlocking charm again."
Hermione was embarrassed; her unlocking spell wasn't actually very effective at opening the doors the professor had locked, so she had to modify the spell a bit, making "unlocking spell" a more appropriate name for it.
Hagrid gave Hermione a blanket, which appeared to be the fur of some kind of mutated magical creature. He left a note saying that he didn't know what it was either. It looked like a combination of a cat-like creature and a fox, but the giant spiders brought it back when it was already dead, so they had to make it into a blanket.
This blanket is entirely silver-white with smooth fibers, and it can help you get a good night's sleep whether you cover yourself with it or place it under your body.
Lockhart's gift was also a blanket, but a flying carpet. He felt that since Hermione didn't have much talent for flying brooms, perhaps a flying carpet would be more suitable for her. Hermione herself also felt that flying on a carpet was much more reasonable than riding a broom. She planned to try it when she had time, but she reminded herself again that she had to visit the professor at the school hospital after dinner.
As for Dumbledore, Hermione found it a bit hard to understand the old man's thought process. After the daily restocking of the candy box last year, his gift this year was a pair of wool socks that clean themselves every day. Although they were very practical, to come up with such a steep gift idea, one would say that he truly deserves to be called the strongest white wizard.
However, what shocked Hermione the most was Professor McGonagall's gift: a Hogwarts Board of Trustees contract. After Hermione's Perfumery partnered with Hogwarts, she could indeed be considered one of the Board members. But with her current size, she didn't even receive one percent of the aid from Malfoy Castle. Even if she grew bigger and stronger in the future, she would probably still find it difficult to compare with the world's largest wizarding city.
However, Professor McGonagall defied all objections and appointed Hermione as one of the Hogwarts Board of Governors. Although this position was actually not very useful, even Lucius was beaten up at school, at least Hermione could call on the house-elf anytime at night to give her extra help, and she would also attend the annual meeting at the school every summer as a member of the Board of Governors.
Back then, she would have to sit at a table with Barty Crouch and others, listening to the professor read out the details of how the annual aid supplies were used each year. But it was really just a formality. Those nobles no longer had the right to criticize Hogwarts. Giving them aid was only out of consideration for past relationships. There were plenty of people lining up to give Hogwarts money.
The biggest advantage of being a school board member is that after Hermione comes of age, as long as she remains in the wizarding world, the name of Hogwarts will be very useful. Students all over the world would love to give their alma mater face.
Shaking her head, Hermione snapped out of her daze at the rather overwhelming gift, sorted through everyone's presents, and went to the Great Hall. Harry had already arrived ahead of time, and sure enough, he was wearing the same Lily handmade sweater. This time, his mother had listened to his suggestion and given him a sweater with a lively little lion chain on it.
Hermione also saw Professor McGonagall, who was sitting in the faculty seat with an exquisitely crafted notebook floating beside her; she had clearly already used her gift.
However, she looked very impatient. Barty Crouch Jr. had come to Hogwarts again during the holiday and was now chattering incessantly beside her.
"How boring. Ron and Neville have both gone home. I don't even want to go for a night out tonight." Harry rested his chin on his hand. His mother had gone to pick up Mr. James for school, and he seemed to have nothing to do.
"With the Weasleys gone, Gryffindor seems to have lost its vitality." Hermione looked around. Ginny was missing in the first year, Ron was missing in the second year, the twins were missing in the fourth year, and Percy was missing in the sixth year. It felt like half of the lions' energy came from these redheads, except for Percy, of course.
"I have to go to school tonight to celebrate the holiday with my parents. What are your plans?" Harry asked. Mr. James was also at school for the holiday.
"After dinner, I'll visit Professor Lockhart, and then go back to my dorm to study, but I need to eat first!" Her attention was already on the upcoming feast.