Everyday Life of a Top Student at Hogwarts

Chapter 84 Christmas Carols

Chapter 84 Christmas Carols (Part 2)

On Christmas Eve, when Karen came downstairs, Emily was already wearing an apron with Christmas patterns and was stirring a large bowl of dough.

"It's perfect timing to help make gingerbread men." Emily handed Karen a piping bag. "This year, you can be in charge of drawing the expressions."

Lily sat at the table, drawing buttons on the freshly baked cookies with red icing, a speck of white powdered sugar on the tip of her nose. Karen took the piping bag and drew various exaggerated expressions on the cookies: winking, sticking out her tongue, and even one wearing glasses imitating Professor Flitwick.

"Does this look like your roommate?" Lily giggled, pointing to a gingerbread man with frizzy hair.

"It's exactly the same." Karen nodded dramatically, dotting the last drop of icing on the cookie like the tip of a magic wand.

David brought a ladder from the garage and began hanging fairy lights from the eaves. Karen was responsible for passing tools and stabilizing the ladder from below. The two worked together seamlessly, and soon the entire house was surrounded by shimmering fairy lights.

"We went around a few more laps this year," David said, looking at their work with satisfaction. "It's definitely brighter than last year's!"

"Tonight is Christmas Eve," Emily announced at dinner. "As is customary, we're going to church for midnight mass. Karen,"

you...

"Of course I'll go," Karen said, knowing her mother's concerns. "Even though I'm a wizard, it's not the Middle Ages anymore, is it? And the whole family should go together."

David, cutting through the turkey, asked, "I've always been curious, what's the relationship between the magical world and religion? Do wizards have churches?"

"They don't believe in God, but they really like calling him Merlin," Karen explained, as she helped Lily scoop the peas to the edge of the plate. "Christmas is more of a traditional holiday in the wizarding world, but they also exchange gifts and decorate Christmas trees."

Lily, munching on a pea, suddenly asked, "Does God have magic?"

A hush fell over the dinner table, then the whole family burst into laughter. "That's a very profound question, little angel," David said, wiping away tears of laughter. "Perhaps you can ask the professors when you go to Hogwarts."

The church was solemn and dignified on Christmas Eve, the stained glass windows casting dreamlike shadows in the candlelight. Karen sat on a pew, listening to familiar hymns, a strange feeling welling up inside him. In his previous life, he was an atheist, but after experiencing time travel, he had to believe that God might indeed exist, yet he had always remained indifferent to religion.

After Mass, the family decided to take a walk to the beach, another family tradition. The beach was almost deserted on this winter night, with only a few streetlights illuminating the path. The waves gently lapped against the rocks, and the air was filled with the fresh scent of salt and fir trees.

"Look, the North Star!" Lily shouted, pointing to the sky, her new headband shimmering in the moonlight.

"Does Hogwarts have such a beautiful starry sky?" Lily asked, tilting her head back. She didn't look down and almost tripped over a piece of wood on the beach.

Fortunately, David grabbed her hand in time.

“Even more beautiful,” Karen recalled. “The stars were even visible on the ceiling of the school auditorium, so clear you could almost touch them. And the school’s astronomy tower was the best place to stargaze; we would go there every week.”

It was nearly midnight when they got home. Lily was so sleepy she could barely keep her eyes open, but she still insisted on hanging the Christmas stocking in front of the fireplace. "Santa Claus will give it to me," she mumbled sleepily, before Emily carried her upstairs.

Karen and David remained in the living room, quietly placing the prepared gift under the tree. David took out a small box: "This is for you."

I was planning to give it to you tomorrow morning, but it's fine now.

Inside the box was an exquisite watch, with Karen Hawthorne's name engraved on the back of the dial.

"This is·"

"It's a mechanical watch, waterproof, antimagnetic, and suitable for all kinds of extreme environments," David explained somewhat embarrassedly. "I thought you might find it useful in the magical world. I heard that electronic products can't be used in the magical world, so I had this custom-made for you."

Karen immediately put on the watch: "It's perfect, thank you, Dad!"

When Karen finally lay down in bed, he imagined Lily's expression when she saw the gift tomorrow, his mother trying new things, and his father seeing the weather forecaster—with these thoughts in mind, he drifted off to sleep.

"Karen! Karen! He's here! Santa Claus came!" Lily's screams and violent shaking woke Karen from his sleep. He groggily glanced at his new watch—6:15 a.m.

"Lily—it's too early—." Karen tried to cover his head with a pillow, but his sister jumped onto his bed.

"There are so many gifts under the tree! So many for you! Get up!" Lily grabbed his arm; at that moment, she was surprisingly strong.

Karen was dragged to her feet and stumbled downstairs, finding her parents already sitting in the living room with a row of gifts in front of them. The space under the Christmas tree was almost entirely filled with various wrappings, several of which were clearly magical: ribbons that seemed to twist on their own, and wrapping paper that twinkled with starlight.

There was also a small box that was making a pleasant ringing sound.

"These are—" Karen looked at the pile of gifts in surprise.

"Most of them were delivered by owls this morning," Emily said with a smile, holding her coffee. "They must have been from your friends and professors. Lily couldn't wait to open her gifts, and there were even some from Wesley and the others. Wesley sent a set of talking wizard chess (I wonder if Lily can even play wizard chess now), Fabian sent a magical animated storybook with stories that are like an animation, and Ernesto sent a toy flying broom care kit."

"This is for you." Karen took a flat package from the parcel and handed it to Lily. "I made it myself."

Lily tore open the packaging and found it was a book. Curious, she turned to the first page, and the entire castle immediately unfolded in three dimensions, with towers, bridges, and courtyards clearly defined. When Lily touched the Great Hall, the miniature candles inside lit up automatically; the little unicorn in the Forbidden Forest page would shyly hide behind a tree after being touched; there was also a Quidditch pitch, with a thief hovering above her fingertips; and even a Black Lake, where a giant squid lay.

Lily hugged the pop-up book tightly, instantly falling in love with it. Her eyes lit up like stars: "I want to sleep with it every day!"

David opened his gift; it was a bronze weather forecaster, different from the ones Karen had made before, resembling a vintage nautical instrument. "This is—?"

"It can predict the weather," Karen demonstrated, rotating the pointer on it. "It's more accurate than a weather forecast, especially useful when going out to sea. I made some improvements; the original was a bit like a crystal ball, but this one is based on the shape of a compass."

Emily unwrapped her gift, which was a gleaming set of gardening tools. "These shears, along with clips and a watering can." She picked up the main shears, the blade flashing a blue light.

"The scissors are enchanted with sharpness, and the handles automatically adjust to the shape of your hand. They also have insect traps inside that can repel some pests," Karen explained. Seeing his mother's delighted expression, he added, "I consulted Professor Sprout, the herbalist at school, and finally chose this set."

Karen knelt in front of the Christmas tree; now it was finally Karen's turn to unwrap the presents.

"This is for you." Emily took a rectangular package from the pile of gifts and handed it to Karen. Gold stars danced on the wrapping paper. "It says 'From Wesley, Fabian, and Ernesto.'"

Karen carefully unpacked the package; inside was an exquisite oak box. Upon opening the lid, a melodious tune immediately began to play.

It's the Ravenclaw house song.

The box is divided into three layers: the top layer contains a book called "The Muggle Gadget Modification Guide"; the middle layer contains a book called "Advanced Spell Creation Theory"; and the bottom layer contains a small celestial globe that projects the starry sky of the current season with a light touch.

"If I'm not mistaken, the bottom one must be from Ernesto, the middle one should be from Fabian, and the rest should be from Wesley. This modification guide is quite interesting, though," Karen muttered to herself. She then found another note with the signatures and messages of three people on it.

Merry Christmas! Guess who gave you the gifts? — Your roommates!

"There's another small package here." David picked up a box wrapped in purple paper from the tree roots. It was tied with a ribbon that would pop out small fireworks. "The label looks like it's for Happy Engineers?"

Karen took the box and immediately smelled a medicinal odor. Inside, neatly arranged, were brightly colored vials, each with an exaggerated label: Sneeze Powder - Improved Version, Automatic Inkjet Quill Pen, Color-Changing Ink - Christmas Special Edition. At the bottom was a hastily written note:

Dear test subjects:

Congratulations on becoming our honorary product tester! These are some newly developed gadgets, and we hope to receive your feedback.

P.S.: Never get the color-changing ink on your robe, unless you want to become a walking rainbow.

One—G&F

Emily looked at the bottles with some concern: "Are these—safe?"

"These are relatively mild compared to other Weasley products," Karen said, suppressing a laugh as she closed the box. "I'll test them in a safe place when I get back to school."

Just then, a long, thin package suddenly sprang out from the pile of gifts, rolling half a circle on the ground. Karen picked it up and recognized Cedric's elegant handwriting: "To a future Quidditch master." Inside was a gleaming broom care set, each tool engraved with the Ravenclaw eagle emblem.

"Wow!" Lily looked up from the pop-up book. "This is even cooler than the one Ernesto gave me!"

"This is a professional-grade one." Karen picked up the gleaming silver cleaning knife, somewhat amused and exasperated. "Cedric is urging me to keep practicing my flying broomstick."

Next, we opened the professors' gifts. Professor Sprout's package smelled faintly of herbs and contained several packets of magical seeds and a book titled "The Home Cultivation Guide to Magical Plants," with the inscription on the title page: "These are suitable for planting in ordinary gardens."

Professor McGonagall's gift amazed the whole family: a silver cat paperweight. When Karen placed it on the table, the cat immediately stretched and transformed into a lifelike little tabby cat, pacing around the table before finally curling up next to a stack of parchment and reverting back to being a paperweight.

Professor Flitwick's gift package was the largest, tied with a singing ribbon. Inside was a precious collection of ancient spellbooks, twelve volumes in total. But at the bottom of the box, Karen found an extra small velvet pouch.

"What is this?" Lily asked curiously as she leaned closer.

Karen untied the bag and poured out a small, crystal-clear vial, inside which floated a wisp of silver light. A small note was tied to the vial:

Dear Karen:

You forgot to come see me before the holidays, so I'm sending this to you with my Christmas present. It's a "duel memory," a collection of my memories from a duel in 1978. Professor Victor told me you have a memory builder to access it.

Merry Christmas!

FF

Karen held the crystal bottle up to the sunlight, and the golden light inside seemed to flow like a living thing.

"A gift from Dumbledore, Cullen, he's your headmaster, isn't he?" Lily suddenly shrieked, holding up a long, thin blue package.

Karen took the box and opened it. Inside was a beautifully packaged box of candies, labeled "Butterfly Flavor Beans Christmas Special Edition," but unlike others, each bean was shaped like a translucent snowflake. There was also a card inside the box.

Don't you think the snow at Hogwarts is always a bit sweeter than anywhere else? Try these, but beware of lemon sorbets—they're especially sour this year.

Merry Christmas!

—AD

"Can I have one?" Lily asked, her eyes fixed on the box of sparkling candies.

Karen picked out a pink one and handed it to her: "It should be strawberry flavored."

Lily put the bean in her mouth, her eyes immediately lighting up: "It tastes like hot chocolate! And marshmallows too!"

Just as the family was enjoying their multi-flavored beans, a small package that had been previously overlooked suddenly floated out from behind the Christmas tree and hovered in front of Karen. The package was unsigned, with only an elegant italicized inscription: "To the owner of the Eye of Truth."

Karen's heart raced. He took the package, feeling a faint pulse of magic emanating from it. Inside was a seemingly ordinary leather-bound notebook, but when he opened the first page, a line of words suddenly appeared on the blank paper:

Observation is the highest form of magic, and recording is the most precious practice. —NF

"Nico Flamel," Karen almost held his breath. He gently stroked the paper, and more writing began to emerge, all scattered notes and sketches about alchemy, some pages even showing three-dimensional models of alchemical devices.

Finally, Karen picked up the most mysterious black gift box. The box was entirely black, without any decoration, but it felt surprisingly warm to the touch. Upon opening it, a black crystal lay quietly inside, and Karen recognized it at a glance.

Beneath the gemstone lay a simple card:

As you suspected, it is indeed 'Hermes' Touch,' and I think you will like it. —KG

Karen carefully picked up the crystal and immediately felt a warm magical energy flow through her fingertips. After observing it briefly, Karen put it back in the box and put it away safely.

After all the presents were unwrapped, Lily was already asleep on the carpet, clutching the pop-up book tightly in her arms. Emily gently picked her up. "I suspect she didn't sleep at all last night, just waiting to unwrap the presents. I'll take her back to bed first. Karen, could you help tidy up these wrapping papers?"

"No problem, Mom." Karen began to clean up the wrapping paper and ribbons scattered on the floor.

Snow began to fall again outside the window, gently covering the garden. Inside, the lights from the Christmas tree illuminated the wrapped gifts neatly arranged to the side, and the fire in the fireplace crackled softly. Karen stared at everything in a daze.

"Would you like to try my special Christmas pudding?" Emily poked her head out from the kitchen. "It has a little brandy in it, just a tiny bit."

"Of course!" Karen got up from the sofa and walked towards the kitchen.