Hogwarts' Golden Glory

When Ron took the wizard chess set out of its packaging, the first thing he noticed was its weight.

It was heavier than the one he usually used. It didn't look like ordinary wood; it was more like some kind of dark wood with a higher density. The surface was finely sanded and unpainted, and you could see the wood grain extending naturally along the outline of the chess pieces.

He picked up a soldier; the piece was smaller than he had expected, but the base was more stable, and it felt heavy in his hand as if it had been held many times before.

He turned it over to look at the bottom; there were no markings, only the natural grain of the wood, which displayed fine lines of varying shades under the light. He then picked up a knight; the horse's head was carved more delicately than the common versions, and the lines of the mane were very clean, as if the sculptor knew exactly where each cut should land.

He put the knight back in the box, turned the chessboard over to look at the inner edge, where a line of words was engraved. The handwriting was messy, as if it had been written in a hurry, with uneven spacing between the letters. "Don't always lose to Harry" was followed by no signature or date, just that line of words engraved there all alone.

He recognized the handwriting; it was Ginny's. She would curl the last letter upwards when she did her homework, and although the writing was messy, the last stroke of the character "利" (li) still curled slightly upwards.

He looked at it for a while, then turned the chessboard over and placed it on the bedside table rather than putting it deep inside the cabinet.

The book Neville received had a picture of a plant he had never seen before on its cover.

The leaves are dark green with spiraled edges, and shimmer with a faint silvery sheen under light.

The plant had no flowers, only layers upon layers of leaves intertwined together, as if their angles had been artificially adjusted during its natural growth. He turned to the title page, where a line of words was written in pencil: "This plant can survive winter. You can give it a try."

He turned to the main text, where he saw a detailed description of the plant's growth habits. It didn't need much sunlight, had a wide range of temperature tolerance, and could survive in winter simply by being placed on a windowsill. Watering frequency only needed to be synchronized with the season. It didn't require frequent pruning and wasn't prone to attracting pests. He closed the book and placed it next to the Mibumibao plant on the windowsill, spine facing outwards.

When Kane reached the windowsill in the Slytherin common room, the three items were already laid out side by side, as if placed there in some order. He stood there and first looked at the old book. The cover had no title, and the back cover had some fine wear marks, as if the spine had been repeatedly opened and closed. He turned the pages, and inside was a dried moongrass leaf, its veins clearly visible. In the candlelight, the fine cracks along the edge of the leaf were visible, indicating that it had been there for quite some time.

Between the veins of the leaf was an old note about the art of stabilizing the soul. Next to it, someone had drawn an extremely thin line pointing to a passage in the book that discussed a feasible path for establishing a connection between the soul and its vessel.

There were no annotations next to that text, only a line, as if the person who drew the line was still hesitating whether to write a few more sentences.

He closed the book and placed it not elsewhere, but on the left side of the windowsill.

The second item was wrapped in dark cloth, which was not knotted but simply folded in half with neatly folded edges. He opened the cloth to reveal a round pendant. The silver-white metal surface was unmarked, and the edges were polished to a slightly brighter shine than the center, as if the central part had been deliberately left with a softer texture.

He opened the pendant's lid; it was empty, with nothing inside and no note explaining its purpose. Only the smooth metal surface of the inner wall reflected the sunlight from the window.

He closed the lid, made sure it wasn't enchanted, and then put it in his inner bag.

The third item was a light-colored envelope, unsigned, unaddressed, and without a wax seal; it was simply closed. He felt the paper through his finger; inside was only one sheet of paper, with no extra padding.

He opened the seal and found a folded piece of thin paper inside. There were no words on the paper, except for a tiny circular mark in the lower left corner, as if dried ink had been pressed onto the paper, leaving a layer of color, but the edges did not bleed and the outline was not complete.

He held the paper up to the light for a while to make sure there were no hidden writing marks, then folded it and put it inside the cover of the book.

Iger crouched on the windowsill, turning his head to the side, his gaze never leaving the direction of the letter in his hand. Kane didn't turn to look at it: "It was sent by Grindelwald." Iger didn't move, but continued to maintain that angle, as if confirming the direction of the letter.

Kane carefully put the letter away without looking at it again. He stood for a moment, as if making sure nothing was left out in the remaining space on the windowsill, before sitting back down in his seat.

After it was fully light, all the festive decorations in the auditorium were revealed.

The thin golden threads hanging from the roof swayed gently in the candlelight, and the silver bells hanging along the wall vibrated slightly as people passed by, making a barely audible sound.

There were more scattered packages and envelopes on the four-person table than usual. Some had already been opened. Someone was putting on a new scarf, someone was examining a box of new badges, and someone was opening and closing a book, as if to make sure it was still in its original state.

When Kane entered the Great Hall, Hermione was already seated at the Gryffindor table.

The old book lay before her, with a piece of parchment spread out beside it, as if something had just been written on and hadn't been put away yet.

She looked up, and their eyes met briefly across several rows of seats. Then she looked down, folded the parchment, and put it in her pocket. Kane didn't stop, but he slowed down slightly.

As he walked to the Slytherin table and sat down, he passed by Fleur's area, where she had already tied on her light gray scarf, the end of which hung just below the collar of her coat, its color blending perfectly with the light-colored area of ​​her coat.

Kane placed a book on the edge of the table on her side as she passed by.

The book wasn't thick, the cover was dark gray, and the corners were already curled up a bit. Furong was looking up and talking to the person next to her, unaware of his actions.

The book lay on the table, without any extra packaging or string, as if it had always been there.

But he placed it right on the side where she was sitting, so she could reach out and touch it.

She didn't open it immediately, but simply moved the book a little closer to herself, placing it next to her plate, and continued talking to the person next to her, as if the arrival of the book was something she had expected.

When Harry entered the Great Hall, the crimson scarf was already wrapped around his neck. As he sat down at the Gryffindor table, Ron was engrossed in studying the patterns on the new chess set.

Ron didn't look up: "Who gave you that scarf?"

"It was probably sent by Qiu Zhang; it's unsigned, but..."

"That's what she gave me. It wasn't signed, but you know it was from her, so there's no need to write her name on it."

Harry didn't argue, he just lowered his head and pulled the edge of his scarf down a little.

The fireplace in the auditorium was still burning, its light falling on the unopened packages on the tables. Some students were taking their newly received gifts to a brighter spot to examine them closely.

Fred and George paced back and forth between the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw areas, occasionally stopping to glance at a seat before moving on.

It was still snowing outside the window, not heavily, the snow falling on the windowsill and covering the already icy outer edge of the window.