*Anos's POV*
"What're the Big Woods?" Harriet asked, tilting her head.
"Oh, those are the Sasquatch and Big Foot woods. After the whole Civil War thing with Wizards, they were kinda confined to specific woods. I would feel sad if they weren't such assholes about it. Fuckers throw shit at people for laughs." Simon said, ranting.
'The hell.' Everyone cursed inside
*30 Minutes later*
" So you're telling us that the US wizarding community fought a Civil War against Sasquatch of all things. Almost lost. And then confined them and their Big Foot accomplices into the Big Woods which might I say sounds a bit too on the nose yet at the same time doesn't." I said and Simon nodded.
" Yeah, that's the gist of it. I wouldn't call it a Civil War, we changed the terms for Wizards pretty quick after that War that we won." Simon said, shrugging.
" Unexpected display of hubris but sure," Lan said with a tone of suspicion.
" Hey Sucker, back me up, man," Simon said, asking for help.
"As absurd as it sounds Belmont tells the truth. The Wizarding community in the US is quite.... Exotic compared to their European counterparts." Alucard said, sounding as disbelieving at his words as the rest of us were at hearing them.
" Fucking Sasquatch of all things. Why don't they teach this stuff in History class." I muttered.
" Don't ask me. Now do any of you want these Soapstone rings or not?" Simon said, putting up the box.
" Sure. Thanks." I said picking up the ring as Harriet followed.
" Come on Aluca-. Yeah, come on idiot you too, I worked myself to death on these things." Simon said, seeing Alucard hesitating.
" You have my thanks for this gift," Alucard replied awkwardly.
" Simon I hate to say this but... But it doesn't fit." I said chuckling.
"....."
"..."
"..... Mother of Dragons! I worked my ass off and couldn't do a resize spell!" Simon said, outraged.
" There." Alucard casted and the Ring fit perfectly on all of our fingers. 2 were left in the box for what I presume were for Hermione and Draco.
After a bit more of chattering and thanking, we got back to finishing up the rest of the gifts.
Harriet was the first one to find another one addressed to her.
I had been waiting for this one. Enriched with the highest amount of Cursed energy I had ever seen, this gift was certainly a powerful artifact and even more likely could be classified as a Cursed Object that I probably won't be able to make by myself. At least, with my current expertise, it would be like trying to break a Mountain with my bare hands.
"Your father left this in my possession when he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well." Harriet read the note aloud before looking at the Cloak of Invisibility.
"What is it?" Simon asked and became thunderstruck as Harriet put on the cloak.
"What?" She asked as all of us looked at her surprised.
"Ahem. Look below." Alucard said, being the first to regain composure.
"Wha- My legs are gone!" The disembodied head of Harriet looked quite surprised.
"Not exactly gone per se. They're Invisible." Alucard said and I nodded.
"An Invisibility Cloak?"
"A high grade one. A Very Very High grade one from what I can see." Alucard said, musing and scratching his ring.
Harriet immediately took off the cloak before carefully putting it back into the box.
" Nearly Headless Nick dreams he had something like that. That's cool as hell." Simon said, getting over his surprise.
" It isn't a normal item by any means. I've had a few of these that're made of Yokai hair and they're not even half as good or even comparable for that matter. They go opaque after a while and can still be detected by various means related to sight, this however seems to negate all of those weaknesses entirely, a powerful Artifact." Alucard said gently, putting his hands on the cloak before retreating away from it.
" I've had experiences with some of these. None were any good, in the long run." Lan joined.
Harriet looked at the Cloak for a long moment before speaking up.
"We can use this to find books in the Restricted Section of the Library! It'll be easy to find what was in the vault with those books." Harriet said in brilliance.
"..."
"What?"
Me and Simon burst out laughing and Alucard was examining Harriet as if it was the first time he was seeing a human.
"God. Hahaha, kill me. My stomach hurts, hahaha." Simon said, rolling on the floor.
"That was the first thing you thought of with that Artifact? Not why your Father had something like this? Not who was the man that held it for so long and gave it away freely? Not even stealing some toys or anything?" Alucard said examining Harriet who looked annoyed.
" I said what I said." She replied in annoyance though her cheeks did redden.
"Of course, you thought of the mystery first," I said, chuckling and patting her on the back.
"We'll be the Bookworm Bandits," I said laughing with the somber mood completely gone.
The next few minutes were spent poking and wondering at the Cloak of Invisibility.
"Hey, Harriet this is the last one," I said, handing her another gift. This one was a simple letter addressed to her and all of us looked over her shoulders to read with her.
"Ms. Potter
In my youth, I was fortunate enough to be an acquaintance of your mother. As I doubt your aunt kept any wizarding photographs of her, please find enclosed a picture of Lily in her first year at Hogwarts. The frame is unbreakable, but do not expect me to provide you with another one should you carelessly lose this.
Merry Christmas,
S. Snape."
With the letter was a picture of a girl our age in Gryffindor clothes, laughing at nothing in particular.
*Tap*
I heard the sound of tears falling and saw Harriet crying.
'Great way to flip the mood, Dad.'
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Author's Note: Still alive but gods know how, It's midnight as I am writing this after finishing editing and brushing up on prose for later chapters and I definitely need some water so I'm gonna go do that after I'm finished uploading, hope all of you are remaining better hydrated than my dumb self.
I adore writing chapters like this, for just the smallest details and mythology weaved in that I can add that half of the readers would notice at best. Snape gifting someone a picture of Lily is about the best godamm thing you can ask of him short of him gifting his own son lol, guess Anos's words got through to his dad just not exactly the way he wanted.
Welp I'm definitely parched, remember to drink water guys.
Here's a link to the Patreòn , if any of you wanna read ahead or support me, I'm working on getting some more Beastiaries of the mythological variety on there but well life's an opera and I'm tone deaf.
Hope everyone has a nice Day/Night, I'll finish uploading, drink water and then pass the fuck out on a bed with a mattress for the last time; only would have one available to me like a couple of weeks later.