Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts.

Chapter 64 Christmas Gifts

During Christmas, there were far fewer students at school, making it much easier to snag the best seats by the fireplace. With his back to the fire, Rice prepared Christmas gifts for the young wizards he had met and become acquainted with over the past few months.

At Hogwarts, you simply leave your gift in the common room before going to bed at night, with the giver's name written on it, and the giver will receive the gift the next morning. It's much more convenient than in the Muggle world.

The next morning, when Rice woke up, she saw a small stack of gifts piled up outside the curtains.

"Gifts! It's been so long since I've received any. Let me see what's inside." Rice pulled back the bed curtains and sat on the edge of the bed to unpack the gifts.

Gift-giving is an art, and Rice put a lot of thought into preparing her gift.

First was Lupert. Rice had prepared a pot of sunflowers for this first wizard he encountered after his awakening. These flowers looked somewhat like sunflowers, but when they bloomed, they emitted a soft sunlight, perfect for nighttime lighting. More importantly, legend had it that sunflowers could reduce the pain werewolves experienced when they transformed on the night of the full moon. Although Lupert no longer bore this curse, having a pot of sunflowers in his bedroom was always a pleasant sight.

Daphne, of course, also received a gift; he prepared a sterling silver necklace for the girl. At the end of the necklace hung a snake-shaped pendant, the snake's body curved into a capital letter "G," representing the Greengrass family name, and two emeralds were set in the snake's eye sockets.

For the Greengrass children, wearing a pure silver necklace might seem beneath their dignity, but the necklace Rice gave them was more than just a necklace; it contained three spells he had carefully prepared for Daphne. Two were actively triggered spells that could be used multiple times, and one was passively triggered spell that could only be used once.

Actively triggered spells can unleash an attack or deploy a defensive barrier once a day. Passive spells are more technically demanding; upon activation, they deploy a shield that absorbs incoming spells and reflects them back. However, due to the necklace's mediocre quality, even a single use of such a high-level spell will cause the vessel to crumble. Rice will also receive the news.

This necklace was a kind of alchemical prop that Rice prepared for Daphne, to prevent her from dying unexpectedly during her growth. This was a tradition from the early days of Hogwarts, and the other founders would occasionally give similar gifts to their favorite disciples.

He compiled his notes and reading reflections from the past few months into a small booklet and gave it to Hermione. Rice believed the studious little witch would like it, and he also hoped Hermione could gain some insights from it.

In addition, Rice also prepared gifts for Neville, a young wizard with whom he didn't usually keep in touch but was still somewhat familiar, making sure to be thoughtful in every way.

Christmas morning is the time for opening presents.

After unwrapping the gifts in the corner and quickly counting them, Rice found he had received several greeting cards and packets of candy—gifts from friends he wasn't very close to. Neville's gift was simple, but interesting: a packet of herbs, supposedly to repel mosquitoes if hung by the bedside.

Hermione delivered a large box containing a manual water flosser to remove tartar. There was also a box of sugar-free lollipops, a new product Mr. Granger had gotten through his friend in America; they were supposedly good for preventing cavities.

Daphne's gift pleased Rice greatly; she gave him a palm-sized sterling silver snake sculpture! The sculpture was exquisitely crafted, appearing at first glance as if it were a live snake. Upon closer inspection, it was clear that it was hand-carved, not sculpted with magic. Rice liked it more and more the more he looked at it.

Lupert's package was bulging. When he opened it, he found a hand-woven scarf with a silver-green base and a wolf's head pattern woven on it, with a large snake emerging from the wolf's mouth.

As Rice walked out of the dormitory, he saw Daphne walking out wearing the necklace he had given her.

"Thank you for the necklace!"

"The snake you gave me is also very beautiful."

"By the way, your necklace has two special functions." Rice also told Daphne about the two spells that could be actively triggered attached to the necklace.

She covered her mouth in surprise: "This...this is too valuable, no, I can't—"

Rice waved his hand dismissively, not caring at all. The materials for this necklace weren't worth much; it was just a bit labor-intensive, but in his opinion, it was a trivial matter.

The set of armor Helga prepared for her favorite student was truly outrageous. Her alchemical artifacts granted the wearer astonishing levels of defense and escape ability, making it difficult even for the other founders to stop a wearer intent on fleeing. The equipment I gave her was nothing compared to that.

When the two arrived at the hall, the Christmas dinner was already laid out on the table.

Hundreds of plump roasted turkeys, mountains of roast meat and boiled potatoes, platters of delicious sausages, bowls of peas tossed in butter, and dishes of thick, rich meat sauce and jam. Besides the mountain of food, there were also huge piles of wizarding firecracker packets on the table. Rice and Daphne drew one together, and it exploded into a flower-adorned hat and a brand-new wizarding chess set.

The most students stayed at Gryffindor House: Harry, Ron, and Ron's three older brothers all stayed.

After dinner, Rice found a sheltered corner in the second-floor corridor of the castle and sat down, watching Harry and the others have a snowball fight on the playground. When he saw Ron's twin brother chasing Professor Quirrell with several snowballs, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Quirrell, you deserve this. People with ulterior motives deserve this fate. Even if you had taught us something worthwhile, you would have done it!

He made a solid snowball the size of a fist from the snow piled up by the window, then slammed it hard into Quirrell's headscarf, making him stumble.

"Good shot!" A cheer erupted from the playground, and Rice laughed happily.

"Pay some interest first, Quirrell."

Rice wouldn't go easy on someone who harbored ill will towards Hogwarts. He hadn't cleaned up the mess yet, mainly because he was still thinking about Dumbledore's training program.

He thought this teaching program was fantastic and that his students should participate—it was a cross-house collaboration between Gryffindor and Slytherin.

While Rice teased Quirrell, Daphne was preoccupied: he had given her such a precious necklace, and she had been accepting his kindness and owing him favors without giving anything back. This was not the right way to maintain a relationship.

Her desire to help Rice grew stronger, and finally she couldn't help but ask the question.

"Rice, is there anything I can do for you?"

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

When I'm writing, ideas flow like a spring, and I'll release the next chapter as soon as possible!

(End of this chapter)