Having escaped famine, I was accepted into Hogwarts

"Wow, your holidays are really quite colorful." Ron didn't know whether to be amazed or embarrassed.

After all that trouble, it's just about digging up graves? That's a bit too abstract.

However, the moment he learned that digging up graves could yield gems, he suddenly no longer found it abstract.

"So, can I come with you next time you dig up a grave? I'm suddenly regretting not going with you guys." Ron said with a poor smile and a relieved expression.

"Next time, when there's another chance."

At night, Hogwarts is very welcoming, most of the time, as long as you don't encounter those abstract headmasters.

For example, right now, Dumbledore specifically instructed the kitchen to host a Christmas dinner for these young wizards who have homes they can't go back to, don't want to go back to, or simply don't have homes at all, just like most families.

Moreover, because there were few people staying on campus during the Christmas holidays, they didn't even separate the tables. The four colleges and professors were all at one table, and at first glance, it looked like a family.

However, even within a family, some people will be disliked, such as Kane, who was sitting opposite Snape.

The two faced each other awkwardly. Snape looked at the lasagna in front of him, then at Kane across from him, and for a moment some unpleasant memories came to mind.

The Christmas dinner ended with Snape feeling utterly disgusted.

Back in his dorm, Kane was finally able to get a good night's sleep. Heaven knows what he went through last night and all day... Oh, and by the way, try to shrink the flames of the campfire on your bedside table.

Don't let the campfire scare the Christmas tree. After doing all this, slowly fall asleep until the bell rings.

The next day, Kane sat up in bed.

He heard that "ding" sound last night; the Eternal Realm had sent a gift to its runaway child!

Chapter Sixty-One: The Scene in the Mirror

Harry and Ron also woke up very early, even earlier than Kane, since today was the day to receive Christmas presents.

"Wow, so early!"

Kane yawned, greeted Harry and Ron who were sitting around the Christmas tree, and walked over and sat down on the ground.

Of the three, Ron received the most gifts, almost a small mountain, comparable to the amount of gifts Dudley received.

Kane and Harry's gifts, on the other hand, were far inferior; the combined gifts of the two of them couldn't even compare to the little sprites on Ron's mountain of gifts.

"It's okay, we're all brothers. What's mine is yours. Take whatever you want." Ron shifted his position between Kane and Harry, patting them on the shoulder to comfort them.

"Ah, you're a pretty nice guy." Kane raised an eyebrow and exclaimed, then casually picked up a gift with his name on it. It looked like it was from Hagrid, and it was filled with cow hair. Hagrid must have remembered that Kane went to get cow hair early last morning.

“What a strange gift.” Ron scratched his head. If he didn’t know Hagrid’s character, he would have thought that Hagrid was deliberately provoking him.

"Hmm, although I don't need it now, Hagrid definitely put a lot of thought into it."

Kane set the cow hair aside, planning to find a tailor to make him a coat or scarf from it later.

Next came Dumbledore's gift. Knowing Kane was spending his Christmas holidays tomb raiding for gems, he contributed his share: a gold ring set with a sapphire, placed inside a wool sock...

...Kane noticed it when he felt his feet were hurting while putting on his socks.

He picked up the ring, wiped it on Harry's robe, and put it back on his finger. Hmm, it looks pretty good.

“I mean…didn’t you wash your feet last night?” Harry said quietly.

"Although it's clean, it's like you don't want to drink wine made by a pretty girl stepping on it with her feet. Everyone knows that theoretically that kind of wine won't have athlete's foot, but in the end, it still makes you feel uncomfortable."

After Kane finished speaking, he continued to unwrap the next gift, but suddenly he felt something was wrong; Harry did not agree with what Kane had said.

Only then did he and Ron look at Harry in shock, while Harry's eyes were slightly raised towards the ceiling, seemingly lost in thought.

"Not buddies?" Kane and Ron said in unison.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Harry asked after he realized what was happening.

"It's nothing. Next Christmas, I... I'll find a way to send you a bottle of wine."

Harry's face turned bright red the moment Kane finished speaking.

The little incident did not stop Kane from opening the gifts, and he soon opened another gift box.

"Ah, this was made by my mother. I mentioned to her before that you're very sensitive to the cold... but she's still so biased. Why is yours so much prettier?" Ron said with a hint of sourness as he watched Kane hold up the long black velvet robe.

“Oh, from today onwards, Mrs. Weasley is the person I respect most.” Kane stood up and quickly put on his robe. “I love this nightgown.”

“Actually, this should be a coat,” Ron said quietly, trying to patch it up for him.

“Then this is the coat.” Kane took off the robe he was wearing, which he had bought from Diagon Alley, and put on the long velvet robe that Mrs. Weasley had painstakingly made.

"To be honest, this is much warmer than the previous robe." Kane said as he continued to unpack the other gifts, most of which were from his classmates. For example, Neville gave him an hourglass, and Hermione gave him a box of handmade chocolates with a note: "It's a small gift but a big sentiment, don't think it's cheap."

"Why would she think an orphan like me would complain about a cheap gift?" Kane asked, puzzled, after popping the chocolate into his mouth.

"Who knows? Our gifts didn't have that note."

Harry shrugged, and soon the three of them had opened all the gifts under the Christmas tree, leaving only one unsigned gift that Harry and Ron couldn't open no matter how hard they tried.

"Um, could this just be a decoration?" Ron said resentfully, looking at his fingernails, which were a little sore from picking at the gift box.

"If I'm not mistaken, this is mine." Kane naturally took the gift box and gently tugged off the ribbon.

Harry and Ron watched Kane unwrap his gift so smoothly, then looked at their own bright red fingers and fingernails.

"Didn't Dumbledore already send you a gift? Who sent you this?" Ron asked directly.

"Why do you say it was sent by Dumbledore?" Harry asked, puzzled.

"Because this kind of magic, which can only allow a specific person to open the gift, cannot be used by ordinary wizards. Although I don't know it, I know that the principle behind it is very complicated," Ron explained before looking back at the gift in Kane's hand.

After all, a gift that has been enchanted with anti-theft spells is bound to generate a lot of anticipation.

“Let me see what gift He has prepared for me.” Kane didn’t hesitate. He looked into the darkness and emptiness inside the gift box and reached inside.

He quickly took out a cane inlaid with white animal teeth, the edges of which were wrapped in gold.

"Ah, a mandrake and a walking stick." Kane picked up the stick and examined it. It was a pity that he was at Hogwarts now and was not in any great danger most of the time. The only use for this stick was probably to make it into a lazy man's cane in the future so that he could teleport at high speed.

Kane stood up and stuffed his walking cane under his bed. After all, the walking cane only increased movement speed by 25%, which was of little use at Hogwarts.

This school doesn't have physical education tests.

After unwrapping all the gifts early in the morning, it's time for an incredibly relaxing holiday.

It's worth mentioning that Kane didn't know so many people would be giving him gifts, so he didn't send any gifts in advance. He just sent Hagrid a walnut, and Harry and the other two a similar gift.

Besides, even Dumbledore didn't receive a gift from him. After all, he didn't know beforehand that so many people would give him gifts. If he gave a gift and they didn't, wouldn't he look like the clown?

So much so that the current situation was so urgent that he had to go out early in the morning to pack up the small toys he had dug up from the graveyard and give them back as a gift in the form of owls.

However, it should be enough time, since Neville and the others have all gone home for Christmas. I just need to have the owl deliver it to his dorm room, since I don't know where Neville lives.

It was just a gift from Dumbledore...

Kane rummaged through the box of toys under his bed for a long time. After all, Dumbledore had given him real money, and it would be too stingy to just take something dug out of a grave.

After thinking for a while, he still made a panpipe out of mandrake. Although Dumbledore would most likely not use such a thing to defeat his enemies, it would be nice as a decoration or collectible.

And so it went until evening. Everyone at Hogwarts was eating at one table. Kane only ate a few bites before leaving early, intending to go to Dumbledore's office to complete the gift-arranging task.

As Kane pushed open the headmaster's office door, secretly slipped the gift under Dumbledore's Christmas tree, and was about to leave, a mirror caught his eye.

He looked at his reflection in the mirror, muttering in shock, "This is impossible..."

Chapter Sixty-Two: The Magnificent Gate? Not a buddy?

"A magnificent gate?" Kane looked in shock at the bizarre and ornate gate behind him in the mirror.

In the realm of eternity, death is never the end. What allows the dead to return is the magnificent gate in the mirror. No matter how tragic the death, as long as the soul returns to the magnificent gate, it can always be reborn.

Kane looked behind him in disbelief. If this magnificent door really appeared in Dumbledore's office, putting aside whether he could resurrect infinitely, the world would probably be...

What happened?

Kane frowned, glanced at the unremarkable bookshelf behind him, and then looked back at the marble pillar shrouded in shadow in the mirror, and the dark eye staring at him from above the door. Yes, this was the Magnificent Door, the Magnificent Door that could be seen in the mirror.

"What's with this mirror?" Kane murmured.

"Well, in fact, no one in the magical world has been able to explain the principle behind this mirror yet, but what it can do has been thoroughly studied." Dumbledore had returned to the headmaster's office at some point and was watching Kane's startled reaction to the mirror from a short distance away.

"You came back without making a sound." Kane was startled again by Dumbledore's sudden appearance, then pointed to the mirror in front of him: "This thing? What's going on with it?"

Dumbledore walked over and touched the mirror: "The Mirror of Erised reflects your desires and cravings. If a perfect person looks at it, he is just an ordinary mirror."

"But if an ordinary person like me looks at it, it will make me look ridiculous."

"Inner desires?" Kane raised an eyebrow, looking at the magnificent gate in the mirror. So what was it that he wanted?

The rules of the eternal realm, which I've figured out as clearly as if they were my own bedroom? Infinite rebirth, fearless of death? Or is it something else, a manifestation of something else in this mirror?

"That's right, my inner desires will make me look ridiculous." Dumbledore repeated that sentence once again.

"Yeah, I really made a fool of myself just now." Kane felt embarrassed as he thought about how he had just jumped around in a panic.

“No, Kane, what you just did wasn’t embarrassing. I don’t know what you saw in the mirror, but in just a moment, you were able to distinguish between reality and falsehood. That kind of performance is rare and admirable in front of the Mirror of Erised.” Dumbledore patted Kane on the shoulder and looked at the Mirror of Erised with admiration.

Perhaps in Dumbledore's mind, staring at the Mirror of Erised for a long time, just like he is now, is what he considers a truly shameful act.

"Hmm, it's clearly what you desire most, but your eyes are full of sadness. I think you don't need to smear yourself by calling yourself ugly. In my eyes, you... are more like pitiful... I'm speechless... I wanted to comfort you... I really don't know how to talk."

Kane genuinely wanted to comfort Dumbledore, but unfortunately, as he tried to comfort him, he realized that his words were somewhat inappropriate, even inaccurate, and that his attempt at comfort would likely have the opposite effect.

He was so angry he wanted to slap himself, and just as he was about to do so, Dumbledore patted him on the shoulder: "I appreciate it, Kane. Although your way of comforting people is not very good, but... thank you, I appreciate it."

"Well, anyway, stop being sad... Maybe you need a Christmas present?" Kane looked up at Dumbledore's eyes, which were filled with endless sadness, and decided not to keep his gift hidden any longer.

A shadowy tentacle extended from beneath his feet, retrieved a gift package from under the Christmas tree, and handed it to Dumbledore: "Hopefully this will cheer you up a little. It's a Christmas thank you gift."

"Can I open it now?" Dumbledore asked with a smile.

"Go ahead, I'll be going now." Kane said, preparing to leave. After all, he didn't think his panpipes would attract Dumbledore. It was much more dignified to leave early than to have Dumbledore pinch his nose and pretend to be delighted in front of him.

"Well, to be honest, Kane, this gift isn't very appropriate."

Dumbledore's voice rose behind Kane, causing him to turn around in surprise... well, not particularly surprised. He knew Dumbledore wasn't a conventional person... so...

"I'm still here, maybe I can get you a different gift?" Kane shrugged.

"Perhaps you could make me a little thing that can automatically play panpipes whenever I want to fall asleep. After all, when I'm digging mandrakes every day... those little creatures are so lively and adorable." Dumbledore gave an apologetic smile.

"Ah, but you still sleep soundly every day."