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When Adam woke up the next morning, the first thing he saw was Stein writing furiously at the round table.
"What time did you get up?"
Adam stretched.
"Ahem, I didn't sleep last night and wrote all night," Stein coughed sheepishly.
They'd had so much fun the day before, but now it was the last day of break. Stein had been too restless in bed, so after tossing and turning, he got up, grabbed his homework, and began writing.
Adam was used to Stein's habit of procrastinating. He glanced under the Christmas tree:
"Have you opened your presents?"
"Not yet, I'm saving it as a reward for finishing my homework... ah haha~"
Stein yawned. It wasn't the first time he had stayed up all night to finish his assignments. Adam shook his head and let him be. He walked over to the Christmas tree and found his own gift.
"Open mine first!" Stein urged.
"Alright," Adam replied.
Adam found the gift from Stein and opened it, only to discover a pair of chopsticks inside!
"These are…?"
"They're chopsticks made from unicorn horns!" Stein said proudly. "The horn can detoxify. Since you're always eating strange things and experimenting with magical ingredients, these will protect you from poisoning!"
"Thank you, I really like them!"
Adam truly appreciated the gift. What foodie could resist a pair of chopsticks that could detoxify food? But… they must have cost a fortune.
"What did you get me?"
Before Adam could answer, Stein quickly shook his head. "Wait! Don't tell me yet! I'll open it myself after I finish my homework."
With that, Stein returned to his writing. Adam laughed quietly. Knowing Stein well, he'd anticipated that his gift would be valuable, so Adam had chosen something equally precious—a few feathers from Fox.
He had received the feathers from Fox one day by surprise. Initially, Adam thought he had pulled them out by accident. But after Professor Stein's explanation, he learned that Fox had gifted them because the phoenix liked him. Adam now had enough of these magical feathers that they had become a treasured collection.
He continued opening the other gifts.
Uther had given him a scarab-shaped amulet with a massive green gemstone. It looked quite valuable.
Robert's gift was a box of parts. Adam rummaged through it and found instructions—it was a disassembled Barrett rifle. Adam couldn't help but marvel at how inventive his dormmate was, even if he did have an unusual sense of gifting.
Mark's gift surprised Adam. It was a simple bottle of clear liquid, but Adam could feel an immense magical energy radiating from it.
"What is this… potion?"
Potions usually weren't transparent, but Adam cast a Scapin Revealing Charm just to be sure. The liquid wasn't a potion.
"That's a bottle of spring water," Mark's voice said from behind. Adam turned to see Mark sitting up in bed, just waking up.
"Spring water?"
"Yes, from the Fountain of Good Luck. You've heard of it, right?"
"The Fountain of Good Luck? Oh! Isn't that from the fairy tale in *The Tales of Beedle the Bard*? Bathing in its waters is supposed to bring lifelong good fortune, but it's just a story, isn't it?"
Stein's attention was piqued.
"You'd better finish your homework," Adam teased before turning back to Mark.
"Is this really water from the Fountain of Good Luck?" Adam asked.
"Honestly, I don't know," Mark admitted. "It's just a wizarding fairy tale. My parents spent their lives studying these myths. I barely saw them, but they'd send me things from time to time. This water was found in one of Gringotts' secret vaults. It could be something valuable."
Uther stirred in his bed. "What's this about a secret vault?"
"Nothing," Mark laughed. "I don't think anyone in our dorm is short on money."
Adam chuckled, though he couldn't help but look at Mark with concern.
"Are you sure it's okay to give us something your parents kept in a secret vault?"
Mark nodded. "I grew up with my grandma. I didn't have many friends. Before I came to Hogwarts, she gave me this bottle from the secret vault, hoping it would bring me good luck and help me make friends."
Mark looked around at Stein, Adam, Uther, and Robert, still fast asleep, and smiled. "But before I even used it, I found the best friends I could ever hope for. So, I've divided the bottle into four parts to give to all of you."
Adam clutched the bottle tightly. He didn't know if it truly contained the waters of the Fountain of Good Luck, but its emotional value far surpassed its magical worth.
"I'll treasure it," Adam said softly.
Mark grinned. "Don't be so serious about it. It could just be regular water. My parents' research was always a bit… questionable."
Despite his words, everyone kept their portion of the water close, uncertain but unwilling to dismiss its significance.
By the time they had finished opening their gifts, it was nearly noon. Adam's popularity meant he'd received presents from nearly everyone, but most were just small, polite gestures from classmates. He checked to make sure he'd given a gift in return for each and was satisfied.
The group planned to head to the Great Hall for lunch, but as soon as they entered the common room, Ernie stopped Adam.
"The Weasley twins are waiting for you outside."
"What?" Adam blinked in surprise.
"It's the twins who won the prize last night," Ernie clarified.
Adam remembered. The night before, he had asked every student who visited the North Tower to take a number. At dinner, Professor Dumbledore and the four Heads of House had drawn numbers to award prizes—one grand prize and four smaller ones. The elder twin, Fred, had been chosen by Professor dumbledore to win the grand prize: a replica of the Hogwarts gingerbread house.
By contrast, Professor Snape had drawn Harry's number, and Adam distinctly remembered how Snape had looked at the slip as if it were something foul.
"I wonder what they want… I'll go check it out. You guys go ahead to the hall without me."
"Alright," Stein replied. "We'll save you a good seat!"
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