The Hogwarts Emerald

Chapter 406 Christmas

This Christmas, Hogwarts seems to want to impress its guests and show the school's best side. The decorations in the castle reflect the teachers' and students' good intentions everywhere.

The whole castle was decorated with lights and if it weren't for the big red lanterns, Ada would have thought she had returned to her past life.

The hall was decorated with a glittering Christmas tree and a golden owl that kept hooting. The handrails of the marble staircase were covered with icicles that never melted, but fortunately the ice did not lower the temperature of the castle, and no stupid children stuck their tongues out to lick the icicles.

The old suits of armor were polished and bewitched so that they would sing Christmas carols whenever anyone passed by.

When you are alone in the corridor, in silence, and suddenly someone starts humming a song next to you, whether it is a Christmas carol or Jingle Bells, it is quite scary.

Ida wanted to ask, which genius came up with the brilliant idea of ​​making the armor sing? Couldn't they come up with less underworld ideas and more earthly work?

Now, Ida didn't want to sing a Christmas carol at all, but she really wanted to sing "Oh, Susannah," even though she wasn't from Alabama and couldn't play her beloved banjo.

The castle decoration work these days has exhausted Ada. On the one hand, she has to lead the prefects to run around to help the professor, and on the other hand, she has to be on guard against Peeves to prevent him from causing trouble for everyone.

Dumbledore still had a lot of face, and Peeves behaved well for half a school year. It was not until before Christmas that he could no longer hold back and came out again to play pranks and make trouble.

Heavy snow fell on the castle and the grounds, and Hogwarts was decorated in silver and white. The aroma of stew rose from the castle, making people feel warm, and the festive atmosphere became stronger and stronger.

If there was anyone in the castle who was unhappy right now, the first person Ada thought of was the fastidious Fleur Delacour.

Fleur from France is always complaining, complaining about the cold weather at Hogwarts, complaining about the greasy food here, and complaining about how she can't wear her new dress. There is nothing Fleur can't complain about, except what you can't think of.

Among the little lions of Gryffindor, there is one who is very unhappy recently, and that is Ginny, the little sister of the Weasley family.

Ginny was not unhappy because she was only in the third grade and could not attend the Christmas dance. In fact, many people invited her. But Ginny did not accept anyone's invitation. She was always waiting for Harry, hoping that Harry would notice her.

After enduring a group of girls who took the initiative to invite Harry, and enduring Qiu Zhang who was invited by Harry, even though Harry still hasn't found a dance partner, he doesn't think of Ginny.

How could Ginny be happy about this? She had been hanging around Harry a lot these days, but Harry just ignored her and even discussed with Ron how to find a dance partner in front of her.

After clicking on a circle of names, Harry and Ron finally remembered that Hermione was around, so the unemotional Ron came online again and asked Hermione to choose between him and Harry.

Ron's behavior really pissed off Hermione, who couldn't help but scold Ron. Turning around, Hermione accepted the invitations of others. Compared to Hermione, Ginny was even worse off. Ron at least asked about it, but Harry didn't even ask Ginny's idea.

After learning that Harry and Parvati Patil had become dance partners, Ginny felt even more disheartened and accepted the invitation of Gryffindor Swordmaster Neville.

Harry and Ron are two big fools. They have ready-made dance partners right beside them, but they ignore them. If the protagonist's halo is not so dazzling, it is not surprising that Harry and Ron are a pair to attend the dance.

Amidst the chaos, Christmas of 1994 arrived as scheduled.

In the white morning, Ada thought she had woken up early enough, but she didn't expect that Angelina, Alia and Katie woke up earlier than her. When she opened her eyes, they had already opened half of their Christmas presents.

I got out of bed, opened the window, and just took a breath of cold air, Ada closed the window tightly with a laugh and scolding, "You're going to die." How could I be willing to be scolded? Soon Ada's cold little hand reached into Angelina's pajamas, and the four people in the dormitory immediately became a mess, and they didn't even open the gifts.

Ada was quickly defeated. No matter how cold her hands were, they were no match for the three men tickling her. The torture was unbearable, and Ada immediately surrendered and raised the white flag. Only then did the three men let her go.

The four people, panting and blushing, sat back on their beds and continued to open their presents, enjoying the surprise of Christmas morning.

The people who could send gifts to Ada at Christmas were still the same people. Although the number did not increase, it did not decrease either. She was easy to satisfy.

Maybe because Ada was already 17 years old, the gifts she received were mainly jewelry and clothes. However, the clothes Ada received were more mature than the last, especially the gifts from Angelina.

Even if summer really came, Ada would definitely not wear this dress out. The designer really saved too much fabric, and the dress was almost as good as the one she gave to Angelina.

Mrs. Weasley's handmade sweater is quite unique this year. The initials of her name are no longer printed on the chest of the sweetheart-neck sweater, but are replaced by a bunch of blooming flowers.

After sharing the homemade mince pies sent by Mrs. Weasley, the four lazy girls remembered to clean the wrapping paper on the floor of the dormitory and remembered that there were people waiting for them downstairs to eat together.

Standing in the common room, looking at the lively scene in front of her, Ada suddenly felt that the spacious common room had become a little crowded. During this year's Christmas holiday, almost all students chose to stay in school, which gave Ada this illusion.

On Christmas morning, almost no one went out. Everyone stayed in the Gryffindor Tower, either playing or seizing the last moment to practice dancing.

According to Ron, Neville could dance for a long time even without a partner.

At noon, everyone enjoyed a sumptuous lunch in the Great Hall, which included at least a hundred turkeys, a large pile of Christmas pudding, and a mountain of Cribbage Wizard Shortbread cookies.

In the afternoon, many boys went outside to play snowball fights, while most of the girls stayed in the castle, and some even started dressing up early.

Ida didn't know about other colleges, but the Gryffindor girls' dormitory became as noisy as a vegetable market, with girls shouting and yelling everywhere. Some wanted to borrow curling irons, some wanted to borrow hair smoothener, and some girls who were usually clever and skillful also turned into Teacher Tony, and there were long queues at the door of some dormitories.

Ada stayed in the dormitory, lying on the bed, flipping through a magazine that she had confiscated from a senior student two days ago. It was a fashion magazine for the wizarding world, but Ada was reading it very seriously, even if she was studying hard.

Watching the models on the magazines quickly and beautifully tie up their hair into a bun, Ada's smooth forehead was full of question marks. What did I just see? How did this strand of hair get twisted? How did her head, which was so flat just now, suddenly become thicker?
It's magic! It must be magic!
Putting down the magazine, Ada pulled a strand of her hair and tried it, then she threw the fashion magazine far away. The things in fashion magazines are really all lies!
Ada, who was dizzy, short of breath, chose to lie down. She gave up. After a while, Ada fell into a dream.

It was getting dark. Angelina, Alia and Katie didn't return to the dormitory until almost seven o'clock. They had just returned from getting their hair done by a senior student.

When they opened the door, they saw Ada sleeping soundly on the bed. There was only an hour left before the dance started, so the three of them didn't care about much else and immediately woke Ada up roughly.

"What time is it? Is it time for dinner?" Ada asked drowsily, her eyes half open and half closed, obviously still not awake.

Angelina pulled Ada out of bed without saying a word, and Alia simply slapped her on the back, and Ada's sleepiness immediately disappeared.

Looking at her friends dressed up in their best clothes, and then at the night outside the window, Ada finally regained consciousness.

(End of this chapter)