Days at Hogwarts

Chapter 76 Christmas Gifts

Some time ago, Loren was worried about what gifts to prepare. He wanted to give everyone something novel, unique, and that would show his sincerity.

I spent ages thinking about the meaning behind various gifts, but I still couldn't decide what to give. Then I overheard Ron saying that his most desired Christmas gift was a Christmas gift box from Honeydukes.

Loren then realized that there's no need to overthink gift-giving between friends; just be happy.

Honeydukes' Christmas gift box contains nine of the best-selling magical candies, including Jelly Slug, Candy Stick Quill, Mint Toad, Chocolate Frog, Bubblegum Super Bubble Gum, Bubblegum Bee Candy, Licorice Wand, Ice Mouse, and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean.

The absence of cockroach swarms on the list proves that the magical world still has more normal wizards.

But Loren wasn't a normal wizard; he added piles of cockroaches to all the gift boxes he ordered and sent one to each of his friends.

As Loren placed the order, he lamented that Uncle Ambrose, the candy store owner, was still too young and didn't know how to cater to his boss's preferences. If he had included cockroaches on the list, Dumbledore might have been pleased and allowed him to open a small branch in the castle—that would have been like having sacks full of Galleons!

For the gift box he gave to Dumbledore, Loren stuffed in several pairs of women's wool socks embroidered with butterfly patterns—Dumbledore would surely love them. Loren had initially considered putting cockroaches in the swarm, but ultimately abandoned the idea.

Hermione's Christmas gift was a collection of Potions notes compiled by Loren. The notes mainly outlined the theoretical system of potions, making it easier for Hermione to learn and believed to be of great help to her.

As for Grandpa Bates, Loren didn't prepare any gifts. The two of them had relied on each other for so many years, and every Christmas they would just have a more elaborate dinner, nothing else.

……

"Thank you, Loren!"

Turning around, Ron was holding a Honey Duke Christmas gift box that was even bigger than himself, and cheers came from behind the box.

Ron quickly opened the gift box, took out the Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and put them into the box; these were his chess pieces.

I opened a chocolate frog and popped it into my mouth. Just as I was about to open the other gifts, my eyes suddenly fell on the pile of cockroaches in the gift box.

Ron stared at the cockroach pattern on the wrapper, its legs constantly flailing, and pondered for a moment.

"You eat some too." He piled a whole box of cockroaches in front of Loren and quickly walked away to unpack the other gifts.

"Oh."

"Everyone understands this little scheme," Loren sneered. "Even Dumbledore liked to eat piles of cockroaches, don't you get it?"

"What do you know?" Ron's head popped out from behind a bulging paper package, looking confused.

"Dumbledore loves to eat cockroach piles, he's the most powerful wizard, I like to eat cockroach piles, I learn spells very quickly, Hermione also eats cockroach piles, she's the best at studying," Loren solemnly rattled off a series of examples.

Ron's eyes widened, his mouth agape in surprise. "Could it be?"

"That's right, a swarm of cockroaches can make you stronger." Loren looked into Ron's eyes, sincerely conveying a message of encouragement.

Ron's gaze fell on the box of cockroaches again, his eyes sometimes firm and sometimes hesitant, his brows furrowing and then relaxing. He wanted to become stronger, but he didn't want to eat the cockroaches.

Loren's voice became ethereal, "Give it a try, why not give it a try?"

He opened the package of cockroaches, took one out with one hand and put it in his mouth, then handed the rest to Ron. "The secret of magic lies within."

Following Loren's words, Ron instinctively grabbed one and put it in his mouth. The sensation of the arthropod's limbs moving around in his mouth was unbearable for Ron. His eyes widened in terror, and he wanted to spit it out.

Loren quickly covered Ron's mouth and pleaded, "You've already come this far, don't you want to become stronger?"

Ron felt that this was indeed the case. He chewed, the chocolate shell cracked open, and the aroma of cocoa beans filled the air. Before the bitterness could rise, the lemon syrup filling flowed out, coating his tongue with a sweet and sour taste.

"To be honest, this tastes better than I expected," Ron said, looking bewildered, as if something had been taken away from him.

"Do you remember that the first Minister of Magic was Eurick Gump?" Loren asked.

This is misleading. The question and the answer are both in this sentence. You didn't remember it before, but you remember it now.

Ron nodded, as if he had indeed heard of it.

"You can even recall such obscure knowledge of magical history; that's the purpose of the cockroach pile." Loren suppressed a laugh as he brainwashed Ron, and before Ron could think about it, he returned to his bedside and continued unwrapping his gifts.

Ron was eventually fooled, his eyes darting between the pile of cockroaches and the gift, and in the end he put the pile of cockroaches into the cabinet as well.

Loren kept his head down as he unwrapped the gifts, occasionally letting out a soft chuckle; he seemed quite pleased with the presents he had received.

Hermione gave Loren a summary of key points from the history of magic.

The Christmas card said she wasn't worried about Loren's other subjects, but since he always slept in his History of Magic class, he might get a big P on the final. The neat handwriting filled an entire page, admonishing Loren to study History of Magic seriously.

The last paragraph reads: We will always be best friends.

Loren looked at the greeting card and imagined Hermione nagging him to listen to the lesson and study hard. The little witch's pretty face tightened, and her eyes were fixed on him.

A smile involuntarily crept onto Loren's face.

The next gift was unexpected for Loren; it was from Snape, who gave him a standard-sized No. 2 copper crucible.

Compared to pewter crucibles, copper crucibles can effectively speed up the potion-making process, but they are not cheap. A standard-sized No. 2 copper pot at Patchi's Crucible Shop is priced at 25 Galleons.

Snape was indeed very rich.

The rest were gifts from various classmates, mostly things like candy and quill pens. Loren spent some time counting them.

Ron, holding a dark purple-red sweater, walked up to Loren's pile of gifts, looking at the bulging paper package on top. "I think I know what this gift is?"

Loren looked at the sweater in Ron's hand, and a thought struck him. He used both hands to open the paper package. Inside was a sky-blue hand-knitted sweater and a box of Mrs. Weasley's homemade fudge.

The sweater felt soft and warm to the touch, the yarn was very smooth, and it looked even better than Ron's. Loren thought it was a wonderful gift.

Ron blushed, feeling that his mother's gift was a bit old-fashioned. "If you don't like it, you don't have to wear it."

"How could that be?" Loren said, putting on the sweater. It was a little big, but that made it more comfortable.

The dormitory door suddenly opened, and George and Fred rushed in excitedly. They were both wearing the same dark blue sweaters, one with a big yellow letter "G" on it and the other with an "F".

"Merry Christmas!"

"Hey, look—Loren got a Weasley sweater too!"

The two looked at Loren's sweater, which was clearly more finely made, and laughed in a joking tone, saying:

"This is clearly better than Weasley's."

"My mother is actually more attentive to strangers."

(End of this chapter)