Christmas begins when snow falls on the emerald mistletoe garland.
Prior to this, the first-year freshmen had just suffered from the final exam of the Potions semester. Even walking out of the examination room and seeing the golden sun and gray-orange sky falling at the end of the white snow field outside, there is a feeling of the rest of your life. I don't know what's going on with this year's exam schedule. Herbology and Potions are tested side by side. This feeling of falling from heaven to hell makes many Hufflepuffs overwhelmed.
The night before, Aurora made a devout wish to the Dumbledore card that had been sitting on her desk for a long time, hoping that she could spend it safely. Dumbledore shaved his head and agreed to the little girl's request while slicing the apple in the card.
Then she went to bed like hypnosis, and kissed Tea Roll and Brett before going to bed.
Thanks to the fact that he often came to help Snape with some materials this semester, Aurora was still very comfortable in the first half of the exam. But once she got started, she could only rely on her own character and Dumbledore's blessing, as well as Hufflepuff's stable and excellent psychological quality.
After filling her finished potion into a glass bottle, Aurora wrote her initials on the cork with a quill pen, then queued up to Snape's speaking table, placed the bottle on the table, and pressed down. Live a stack of potions papers.
With the repressed and critical eyes of the young potions professor out of the examination room, Aurora breathed a long sigh of relief.
The opposite Gryffindor apparently finished the exam, and the little lions with red scarves filed out from the black lacquered gate. Vox, who was huddled with Bill Weasley, who was talking quickly and in a low voice, buried his head low, almost drifting out of the classroom, exiled himself towards the place with the fewest people, the crimson scarf almost Covering his eyes, the corner is about to disappear at the end of the corridor.
After the two passed by, Aurora's hand was still in the air, and it was a little inexplicable to see the boy walking away. She slowly lowered her hand, and then quickly followed in Vaux's footsteps.
When Bill looked back, he saw the familiar pale golden head, rising and falling in a group of browns and coppers. He bumped Vaux lightly with his elbow: "Hey, Aurora is here."
Vox took back his steps, turned back and stopped in place and cautiously waited for her to catch up. His clear and translucent eyes rolled from time to time, as if he was very wary of some monsters running around to eat him.
"What's the matter with you? You're walking so fast." Aurora stood still panting, and put the yellow-black scarf that was scattered down to her knees around her neck again, her smooth and supple long hair was messed up by the scarf. Caroline also squeezed out of the crowd at this time, panting on Aurora's shoulder: "I think I'm finished this time, I seem to have forgotten to add moonstone powder in the last potion, Merlin... …"
"It's okay, just pray that Professor Snape doesn't notice." Aurora comforted her, then pulled her to follow Vaux and Bill's footsteps, "Maybe he won't care about these details." "He really Are you not paying attention?" Caroline sounded suspicious.
"Unless he loses all five senses, he will definitely notice." Bill couldn't help joking.
Aurora winked at him lightly, and her playful tone sounded as cheerful as she was singing: "It's easy. My potion is right in front of Caroline, and I think it should be able to take on this glorious and difficult task. It shouldn't be difficult for Professor Snape to lose his sense of smell for five minutes, especially given his keen sense of smell."
"Then you can quickly get a bottle out to save Vaux. He's been annoyed to death by the group of little girls who have been following him." Bill said with a laugh, not forgetting to express his sympathy to his roommate. eyes.
"What's the matter, what happened?"
"Do you remember the last time you were suddenly snow blind and Vox was supposed to take you to the hospital, but was called away by Professor McGonagall?" Bill said, "This time there will be one the day before the Christmas break. Newborn Christmas party, Vaux is our Gryffindor violinist."
"Isn't that good?" Aurora didn't look surprised at all. After all, she had been the next door neighbor for five years since she was a child, and Vaux's violin was far ahead of her peers. But Vaux obviously didn't think so. He still didn't show his face from the scarf, and his words seemed to be very loud in the thick and soft fabric, only a little white mist floated out of the scarf: "It's not good at all. "Professor McGonagall never told me that a violinist would be hunted down like this, and I wouldn't have agreed if I had known."
"You're favored by several Gryffindor girls right now, you call this a hunt?" Bill smiled wickedly and patted him on the shoulder, looking extremely gloating. Aurora intuition that the favorites might be a little sorry for the audience, so she casually asked how the girls were.
Sure enough, through Bill's few concise image summaries, Aurora almost sympathized with her friend. Vaux had a headache and almost rolled his eyes to the back of his head: "I'd rather have a tornado on the day of the show and sweep away the whole of Hogwarts." "
"With Professor Dumbledore here, a tornado can't save your fate, at most it can blow your eyes when they rush up to surround you, helping you reduce a little visual pain." Aurora calmly shattered Vaux's illusions, and then met the other party's wide golden brown eyes, pulled away a bright smile, showed a neat little white tooth, and learned the tone of a loving elder, "Child, life is like this." "
Bill and Caroline almost burst out laughing.
The next afternoon, Aurora went to the auditorium to watch the rehearsal of the new band, and suddenly understood why Vaux had been so sad that even receiving a Christmas gift from his father in the morning could not save him from falling into the Mariana Trench.
This new student Christmas performance was a mix of colleges, and a lot was drawn to determine who and who was in a group. Vaux was unfortunate to be assigned a slytherin flutist partner. I don't know if this tradition of the Lion House and the Snake House looking at each other is passed down from Salazar and Godric, in short, these two people cooperate very painfully.
One holds his head tilted so far as to poke the tip of his nose into the wall, while the other holds his head high with a flute, eager to poke his chin through the roof of the school's auditorium. In the end, the teacher had to reassign the two of them to a group of Vaux and Beverly.
Originally soloist, Beverly is an ancient knee piano from the East, with a plucked sound as crisp as a jade bead jumping off a crystal plate. Aurora was curious about this peculiar instrument and casually asked Beverly where she learned it, not expecting the other person to answer.
Beverly explained in a few words her relationship with the piano. She wandered since she was a child, and was regarded as an anomaly because of her wizard physique, until one day she was picked up by a Chinese luthier who wandered around Europe and followed her around to live in uncertainty. Until 1979, her master suddenly disappeared, leaving only a knee piano. With this piano, Beverly went into exile in London, where she lived as a tea boy in Chinatown.
The girl's voice was cold, and her tone was flat as if she was telling someone else's story. Aurora was stunned for a moment, and suddenly regretted why she asked someone else: "I'm sorry." "
"It's okay." Beverly shook her head.
"So what are you doing now? You are alone, young and young, how can you afford tuition? Aurora asked, looking at her.
Beverly's tone was even lighter: "The one for whom my master has always protected and gave his life. He is now my guardian. "
"Beverly, come here." The teacher beckoned to the brown-haired girl sitting on the sidelines.
Beverly obediently walked over, and just took a few steps, she suddenly turned her head again, looked at Aurora and said, "Your father is a good man, and you have a temperament similar to him." "
"You've seen my dad?" Aurora blurted out in surprise. The girl nodded slightly in reply, and then walked to the stage with the piano and sat down, waiting to play with Vox. The same combination of Slytherin and Gryffindor, these two people are much more harmonious, and sure enough, the house and everything is secondary, and the character of the person itself is the decisive factor.
At this time, Sur Garcia, a senior student in Slytherin, didn't know when he sat next to Aurora, his long light brown hair hanging like waves on her chest, and the color of nail polish on her fingernails was different from the last time Aurora was working on materials in Snape's office. While rubbing the bright colors on her nails with her fingers, she looked at the two children on the stage and said, "You are also familiar with that Beverly?" "
"Sort of." Aurora smiled and looked at her slender fingers, "Senpai, the color is very beautiful." "
"Visionary!" Sur patted Aurora's head in satisfaction and continued, "But you pay attention. I knew that this Miss Greenberg seemed to have something to do with someone from the Black family, and that person seemed to be working for the mysterious man. "
"The Black family?" Aurora suddenly remembered Ciris, and couldn't help but ask, "Which Black?" "
Su Er looked at her in surprise: "Your focus is very strange, shouldn't normal people ask about the relationship with the mysterious person first?" "
Then, she continued: "I don't know the specifics, anyway, you know, the Black family is an ancient and noble and mysterious family, I can't afford to mess with it." I just saw that the person who sent her was a member of the Black family at the beginning of school. But this Miss Greenberg seemed to be very unappreciative. "
Is the Ciris's family so mysterious, she really doesn't know... But come to see off Beverly when school starts... Aurora sighed without a trace, then it wasn't Ciris. It should be some of his relatives.
After a while, she felt that something was wrong again: "Eh, but how do you know that he belongs to the Black family?" "
Su Er did not answer her directly this time, but looked at her with a proud face: "I am known as the underground intelligence collection station of Hogwarts, and there is no news that I don't know." What's more, the Black family was quite famous at Hogwarts, and it was difficult to hear their legends. Come to the Slytherin common room when you have time, I'll show you the pictures. "
Aurora heard the last sentence, and then thought about Ciris's impeccable face, and instantly understood why Sur could recognize it as someone from the Black family just by looking at the photo.
"Thank you, I will definitely go when I have time."
But seriously, badgers entering the snake's den is not a good story in any way. Aurora felt that it was better not to satisfy this curiosity, although the few Slytherins she had contacted so far were quite friendly, but the last thing Slytherin lacked was difficult people.
But Sul's words did wake her up, and Aurora was probably sure where she was going this Christmas — the library. She did know too little about her patrilineal family and this strange wizarding world.
It just so happens that his Christmas present to Remus has not been sent, and I wonder if he will know who the person who sent Beverly to the station is?
...
Before dinner, Aurora sneaks to Hagrid's cabin to find her giant friend. As if he knew she was coming, Hagrid brought the nightfall cub who had established a close connection with Aurora.
The little one grows up quickly under the natural environment of the Forbidden Forest and Hagrid's care, even if there is still no flesh on his body, Aurora touches the clear and dense bones under its bare/naked skin, and always feels very worried about its health. Although the appearance of eating small things makes people feel that this worry is superfluous.
A warm fire burned in Hagrid's cabin, and the Nightfish cub was half-lying in Aurora's arms, occasionally sticking out the tip of her tongue to lick the little girl's long pale blonde hair hanging down her chest. Those hairs glowed in the firelight with a warm glow like porcelain enamel, and the light hair color almost melted into such orange.
Tearoll hangs Aurora's ballhead with one paw, hanging himself down and looking at the magical creature curiously. Yeqi also leaned her neck slightly to look at it, and the tea roll simply slid the girl's hair down as a rope and sat firmly on the other's shoulders. After a while, Tea Roll found that the other party was neither a turtle nor a fairy egg, and it just so happened that Yeqi also found that Tea Roll looked very difficult and had no wings, so they both stopped paying attention to each other.
After exchanging Christmas gifts, Aurora drank the black tea in her cup and said goodbye to Yeqi, promising to come to see it every day during the holidays.
Snowflakes drifted slightly outside the door, and Aurora held the tea roll in her gloves, put on a hooded cotton hat, and rushed briskly into the snow.
The Christmas party after dinner was a warm and grand event, and the whole of Hogwarts was decorated with magical and holly branches and mistletoe garlands. Hundreds of crystal clear ice crystals and candles floated in mid-air, and the candlelight and ice reflections intertwined, illuminating the entire school of magic as if it were daylight. Large expanses of floating light hung overhead, and magically created snowflakes were warm and dry, falling on each child's shoulders and hair.
Professor Flitwick used his wand to create a series of golden bubbles, lazily sweeping every inch of the school with the air flowing. Professor Sprout decorated many Christmas tree decorations in the shape of food, cast a clever spell, and the whole Christmas tree was filled with a seductive fragrance.
Aurora and Caroline huddled in a corner, barely finishing Vaux and Beverly's ensemble on stools. This combination of things made everyone feel fresh, and in the last short section of the music near the end, Headmaster Dumbledore, dressed in a gorgeous brown and red wizard robe, used his wand as a baton to finish the final beat for them, and then took the lead in applauding.
After that, the activities were very weird, and all the children who were lucky enough to be selected had to go up and have an improvisation. After hearing the announcement of their eccentric and kind headmaster, Aurora decisively made the decision to escape.
She is very petite, and it is not difficult to sneak out quietly in the crowd. It's a little daunting to leave the warm interior and face the frost outside, but it's better than performing on stage anyway. Having made up her mind, Aurora slipped out easily.
After all, at that time, most people's attention was on the happy party, and such a freshman who usually did not have a strong sense of existence left, and no one would notice it at all.
She came to the well-lit corridor, and the snow outside was hazy and shining in such a bright and warm light. Aurora sat on the low railing of the hallway, her eyes cast far away, where there was nothing but the blurred boundaries of darkness and snow.
She suddenly thought of Marianne, of Siris, and of her theoretical father, whom she had never met. Aurora shook her head, it must have been because the festive atmosphere had made her start to think cranky, or because most of her classmates at school were discussing going home for Christmas these days, which made her a little emotional.
She jumped off the railing and stepped into the snow, pulled out her slender cypress wand and wrote unpleasant words and sentences on the ground little by little, the delicate white snow particles stained with the tip of the pale yellow wand.
When Severus Snape finally couldn't stand the excessive noise inside and came out to breathe, he saw a scene like this:
The little girl crouching in the snow clutched her gloves in her hands, her hands were cold red, and her long scarf dragged to the ground covered with snow. The light blonde hair was spread out behind him like satin, moist and shiny.
The little one wrote "Merry Christmas" on the ground with his wand, and then stared at the phrase in a daze, the corners of his eyes glowing sickly and gorgeous red due to the long-term erosion of low temperatures, and his brown eyes were as clear and transparent as ripples with candlelight reflected from the snow.
Snape lifted his chin slightly and skimmed the girl, remembering the same little thing a few days ago, red and tearful by the strong reflection of the snow, unable to even walk, but now he was squatting here stupidly staring at the snow on the ground.
That's why it is said that everything that is not painful is found by yourself, and the brain of the little monster is like this, and the scars will always heal and forget the pain.
"I assume you think that the atmosphere of the evening party inside is not as lively and warm as in the hospital hospital, so you come here again and try to find the perfect excuse to lie in the hospital bed that Madam Pomfrey has prepared for you and spend the whole holiday peacefully." Snape spoke coldly, expressionless, and his slow, prickly tone floating in the lonely corridor, irritatingly pleasant, "Then you can continue to enjoy the snow until you burst into tears."
Aurora was alerted and hurriedly retreated into the corridor, wiping her eyes with her sleeve, which caused a slight tingling and itching, but fortunately it was still within the range she could bear. Tearoll Biorolla noticed Snape's arrival first, and had long since shrunk into a scarf and wrapped herself in a tight air.
"Thank you, Professor." She put her hat up and pulled it down, loosened her scarf to make the tea roll have a gap to gasp, and a large shadow fell on her small face, greatly weakening the stimulation of the light source to her eyes, "How did you come out?" "
"This question looks like I should have asked you first. If I'm not mistaken, now the freshmen should be inside waiting to perform on stage. Snape raised his eyebrows slightly, and the dark figure contrasted strongly with the white snow behind him. For the first time, Aurora had time to observe their potions master, and found that although the other party was tall, his body was a little thin, and his face was as pale and haggard as ever.
She bet the young Slytherin headmaster must not know what a regular routine is.
Aurora blinked weakly, reached out and grabbed her bangs, and Chen earnestly positioned herself: "I'm still more suitable for sitting next to applaud others." "
"This is your idea?" Snape looked at her with a slight contempt for it. He understood why the Sorting Hat had not hesitated to assign the little girl in front of him to Hufflepuff.
Sensing the other party's sarcasm, Aurora shrugged indifferently: "There must be someone to be those inconspicuous spectators, otherwise what is the point of those who come on stage?" They need such people, applause and praise, don't they? "
The professor raised his chin, and his eyes were a little more scrutinized, perhaps because he found that the little girl's thoughts were very different from what she showed and what he understood: "So, you give these alms to be an inconspicuous audience to satisfy your high moral heart?" "
Aurora tugged at the corners of her mouth, she knew why most people in Slytherin liked to take their chin and poke someone on the top of the head when they spoke, it turned out to be a haughty habit formed by their dean's ears. However, she is not a straightforward and impulsive Gryffindor, and she will not unceremoniously bump back because the other party's sentence is prickly. She remembers that her goal was not to have the academy lose points for her sake.
Therefore, the little girl still held the initial modesty and answered Snape's question seriously: "In fact, this is not the case, Professor, I don't have such a high moral consciousness. I just don't feel that I have the kind of ability to please the audience, but the audience is sometimes embarrassed, especially when the performers on stage are not so satisfying. So, I'd better not torture audiences like me. "
The little golden retriever's non-soft and hard-hitting attitude and well-forwarded wording made Snape raise his eyebrows, but there was still no expression on his face: "It seems that you are quite happy with this glorious profession that does not have to be hard to think about." "
"Yes professor, I think I'm still a person who can measure my ability." The little golden retriever smiled gently, curtsied slightly and lifted the plaid cotton skirt that drooped under the caramel-colored coat, and performed a non-standard salute.
Snape didn't speak, his eyes fell behind Aurora, no emotion visible.
At this time, Headmaster Dumbledore's voice suddenly sounded from behind Aurora: "Then I think you must know how to avoid danger best like your father." "
"Professor Dumbledore." Aurora quickly turned around and saw that the headmaster, who had gray hair but still had shining deep eyes, was standing not far behind her.
His gaze paused at Aurora's scarf, and Aurora subconsciously wanted to cover the place where the tea roll was hiding, but felt that this was too obvious, so she had to stand like this.
"Merry Christmas, Severus, Aurora." Dumbledore retracted his gaze without a trace, and smiled kindly, "Want some licorice magic wands?" Professor Sprout recently improved its taste, which is close to that of cockroach candy. "
"No thanks."
Snape and Aurora refused at the same time without thinking, and then Aurora was stunned for a moment, and when he looked back, the other party just looked away expressionlessly.
Dumbledore's eyes were misty with a thin smile, as if he knew the reaction of these two people early on: "In fact, I think Mrs. Sprout has a successful effect this time."
"I still have a lot of test papers to process, so I'll go back first." Snape said, reaching for the heavy cloak that had been dragged to the ground and hurrying out of the hallway. As he passed by Aurora, a cold wind with a faint smell of potions burrowed into her neck, freezing her so cold that she couldn't help but shrink. The tea roll also buried itself deeper.
It's a pity that Professor Snape doesn't like to wander around the castle often, otherwise his cloak would sweep all the way through and clean the floor without a cleaning charm. Aurora thought so, feeling a little sorry for the floor tiles at Hogwarts.
After seeing the dark-haired man disappear around the corner, Dumbledore looked down at the little girl whose chin was almost inched into a scarf, "Want to go back to the party?" I just saw Vaux they seem to be looking for you. "
Aurora looked back at the brightly lit auditorium, listened to what game they started to play, and hesitated: "Forget it, I'm not suitable for that kind of game."
"Then go for a walk?" The old headmaster said, "You, like your father, don't like lively places very much. Young people, when you are old, you will realize that in fact, the taste of a person is not so good. "
"Do you know a lot about my father? Yes... Tell me? "
"If you're willing to listen."