great-warnovel Chapter 40 Christmas Gifts
Chapter 40 Christmas Gifts
Neville's arrival turned the Gryphon team of three into a group of four. Because they were half a year behind, Neville received meticulous care from the other three. The professors would also deliberately slow down their lectures so that the freshmen could barely keep up.
But not all schools are as harmonious and loving as Gryphon. At least Daphne didn't immediately integrate into Slytherin. Her blank expression in class was just like Draco's in Potions class.
Because they missed the wand selection, they had to make do with learning hand gestures until the new students enrolled next year and participated in the wand selection together.
Just as the students had guessed, the professors' rescue operation indeed caused a sensation in wizarding communities like Malfoy Castle. Professor McGonagall also announced that she would invite the parents of the rescued children to the school at Christmas so that they could enjoy time with their children.
In addition to the children's parents, reporters who heard the news, as well as some well-known community leaders and dignitaries, will also be attending this grand event.
This also means that this Christmas will be much more lively than ever before.
Finally, as everyone had been waiting, Christmas arrived as scheduled. This was Hermione's first Christmas since she came into this world.
Although in her memory, her parents would give her gifts on this day, in the winter in the Muggle community, being able to eat a hot meal was already a blessing from Jesus, and their gifts were nothing more than a brightly colored handkerchief or something similar.
At Hogwarts, even though the owl mail service had long been discontinued, parents from faraway places would send gifts to Hogwarts in advance, and then the elves would deliver them to each child's bedside on Christmas Eve.
For Hermione, she would never receive a gift from her parents again. When she was brought back from her escape, she had nothing to hold onto as a token of her longing. Perhaps the next time they met, she would be a powerful wizard, capable of venturing out on her own, returning to that frozen wasteland filled with death, whispering softly before the mounds of earth where her parents lay buried in the snow.
Fortunately, she had close friends and a loving professor at the school.
Gifts from everyone were neatly piled up beside her bed.
First came Professor McGonagall, who brought a nearly brand-new third-year Transfiguration textbook, complete with numerous notes. Clearly, even as she was venturing into perilous territory and battling a dark wizard on the eve of Christmas, she still cared about the eager young lions in her own house.
During this time, Hermione had been busy with her dissertation while also studying the textbook she had borrowed from Cedric. She was almost finished with it, and Professor McGonagall's new book was a godsend. Along with the gift came a small note that read, "Sparkling incense works very well."
Professor Sprout's gift was three seeds of the White Phosphorus Flower, which delighted Hermione. The propagation of the White Phosphorus Flower was still in its exploratory stage, and Professor Sprout's willingness to spare three seeds for Hermione showed she had gone to great lengths. Of course, this didn't come without a price; a note accompanying the gift indicated that Hermione's cultivation of the White Phosphorus Flower must be done under the professor's guidance. Hermione, however, was happy to accept this; she simply needed more pollen to blend her Sparkling Perfume.
As for Professor Lily, besides giving Hermione a brand-new cauldron, she also gave her a soft, warm Gryffindor scarf. The little lion on it leaned on a silver scepter, surveying the surroundings like a queen, its eyes sparkling. Hermione immediately wrapped it around her neck, and a refreshing, faint floral fragrance wafted from the scarf. Clearly, it had been sprinkled with diluted euphoria, but what was even more precious was the scarf itself, which the professor had knitted by hand.
Professor Flitwick's gift was even more significant: an acceptance letter from the journal *Postwar Charms Studies*. These journals are known for their notoriously picky editors; even papers by renowned scholars are often scrutinized and sent for multiple revisions before publication. Hermione's paper, submitted to the professor only a week prior, received acceptance—clearly, the half-elf professor played a part in this. Enclosed were 200 Galleons, practically useless at Hogwarts, but could buy many things if she ever had the chance to visit Malfoy Castle.
Hermione, of course, did not forget to prepare Christmas gifts for the professors. She had already asked the elves to deliver them beforehand. Among them, for Professor McGonagall was a death vest that she had carefully sewn. It was the thing that impressed her the most when she first met the professor, so she asked the elves to collect materials and sew one according to the pattern in the book. She lined the inside with fine down, so that it would not only keep her warm but also prevent the mice and other things inside the vest from poking her.
What she gave to Professor Sprout was a small pot of Devil's Web mutant strain. She had continuously irradiated it with the pyroxene energy from her staff, constantly selecting the best, and finally cultivated this small mutant Devil's Web strain that could grow rapidly under high-concentration radiation and was extremely aggressive. She thought Professor Sprout would be very interested in it.
What was given to Professor Lily was a summary of her insights on the medicinal properties of spices. Potions masters in this world had not paid much attention to the medicinal value of spices before. During the process of making perfumes, Hermione had filed and analyzed various common spices in accordance with the habits of perfumers. Hermione estimated that with Harry's mother's level of expertise, it wouldn't be long before she could even independently develop new types of perfumes after receiving this analysis of the medicinal properties of spices.
Professor Flitwick, on the other hand, received an advanced version of Shining Stone magic—Shining Stone Swift Magic Shard. Most mages unable to don the Shining Stone Shield would stop here, ending their brief exploration. This was the end of the exploration path for most mediocre mages at the Realucalia Academy. Among the many Shining Stone techniques, its difficulty far surpassed even the most basic spells. Its rapid casting speed and imperceptible flight speed made it a very practical spell in combat, and a dueling champion would likely find it very appealing.
Hermione gave each of the other professors a small bottle of potion-inducing spray, which Lily had proven to be effective against most common potions, so Hermione gave it as a general Christmas gift. Of course, Malfoy didn't receive one.
Besides the professors, Hermione also received many gifts from her classmates. Harry gave her a bag of nougat, which was something you could never find at school, probably obtained through his mother. Ron gave her a handwritten greeting card and a pair of thick dragon-skin gloves, which he seemed to have gotten from his second brother Charlie, who kept dragons in the Lake of Fire under Vesuvius. Incidentally, Hogwarts had already left Romania to escape Voldemort's pent-up rage.
Hermione gave Harry a guide to using the flail. She had found several combat techniques that could be used with the flail in the memories of the Faded Ones, simplified them, and copied them onto parchment so that Harry could practice some close combat first.
What she gave Ron was a set of wizard chess that she had modified with shapeshifting magic. The pieces had all become characters on the borders, such as Rdagan as the King, the Full Moon Queen as the Queen, and the Golden Tree Guardian as the Knight. Although Ron didn't recognize them, the novel and cool designs were enough to win over the little boy's heart.
In addition, some classmates who were not so close to her also sent gifts, and Hermione returned the favor with gifts of her own. However, these were all children who could not go out from school, and the gifts were not very expensive, just a token of her goodwill.
Hermione also prepared a gift for Cedric, since they might need to borrow textbooks later. It was a detailed guide to the magic of the Radiant Stone, allowing Cedric to become one of the first wizards to master it once Radiant Stone magic became more widespread.
And for Neville, who had just joined Gryffindor, Hermione thoughtfully compiled her study notes from the first half of the semester and gave them to him in a complete package.
Surprisingly, she received a gift from Draco: a box of exquisite Malfoy pastries, clearly made by a master chef, with even the box wrapped in a preservation spell.
Hermione was surprised. She hadn't prepared any gifts for anyone in the Malfoy family. Was this little dragon trying to curry favor with them in advance because he was afraid of being beaten again in the future?