Early the next morning, William was woken up by Annie.
The little girl, dressed in the wizarding robe William had bought her, was perched at the side of his bed, excitedly tearing into presents.
A mountain of gifts piled up beside his bed, with most of them being chocolates of various flavors—it looked more like Valentine's Day than Christmas.
It was clear that the Ravenclaw genius had his share of admirers.
What surprised William the most was that he had even received chocolates from several Slytherin girls, indicating that his reputation in Slytherin wasn't as bad as he thought.
Annie, thrilled, ran downstairs, eager to tattle to Roy and Leanna, gleefully informing them that William had received chocolates and love letters from many girls.
Leanna, busy making breakfast, took a few moments to glance at some of the Christmas cards Annie had shown her, nodding approvingly.
"Not bad, the girls at Hogwarts seem to have good taste. I was worried there wouldn't be any girls at that school," she remarked with a smile.
Roy, a grin tugging at his lips, chimed in, "Oh, it's nothing. Back in my day, I was even more popular than William. Girls would fill a whole room with chocolates for me. Some even fought over me—"
Roy quickly fell silent when he noticed the smiling Leanna holding a kitchen knife.
Once William had dressed and washed up, he sat down to open his own presents.
The largest gift was from Hagrid, neatly packaged in a wooden box.
Inside, William found a giant assortment of sweets, all his favorite flavors: Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, and Fizzing Whizzbees.
Everyone knew William didn't care for Chocolate Frogs, and Hagrid had remembered, kindly omitting them from his gift.
For Hagrid, William had sent a collection of photographs featuring various species of dragons. From the moment he met Hagrid, William had known about his love for dragons.
Since petting a dragon was out of the question, a set of photos was the next best thing, allowing Hagrid to enjoy them visually.
Cedric had sent William a complete collection of The Quibbler magazines, his favorite series, though William wasn't particularly interested in them.
William, on the other hand, had gifted Cedric something far more practical: a complete set of The Five Thousand Years of Chinese History, along with a Chinese dictionary from the bookstore.
William hoped that these books would help Cedric in learning Chinese, giving him more common ground with Cho.
Cho's gift to William was a pocket-sized sneakoscope, a small magical device that would spin and light up when someone untrustworthy was nearby.
Though Cho claimed it was imported from Egypt, William noticed a "Made in England" label on the packaging.
William's gift to Cho was a detailed Quidditch Techniques guidebook. He remembered seeing her reading a Quidditch book on the train and figured she would appreciate it.
George gave William a chess set, while Fred gifted him a compact pencil sharpener that also came with several small gadgets for unlocking doors and untangling knots.
For the twins, William had chosen something special: a Nintendo Entertainment System, loaded with last year's hit game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Of course, since electronics didn't work at Hogwarts, the twins would have to sneak off to Hogsmeade to play.
What surprised William most, however, was a gift from Dumbledore—a beautifully crafted wooden model of Hogwarts Castle.
The entire castle had been meticulously constructed without a single screw, held together entirely by magic. Even the staircases mirrored those of Hogwarts, shifting and rotating on their own.
William adored it—at least, until he saw Annie's gift.
Dumbledore had given her a set of two-way mirrors, a rare alchemical item. These mirrors, connected by magic, allowed two people to communicate instantly across long distances—essentially, magical video calling.
William was envious. He suggested trading all his chocolates in exchange for one of the mirrors, thinking it would come in handy for future romantic endeavors.
But Annie flatly refused.
Undeterred, William tried to settle for just one mirror, pleading his case: "I'm stuck at dangerous Hogwarts all the time, don't you want to keep in touch with your big brother?"
Annie still refused, opting to give the second mirror to Dumbledore via her owl, Drogon.
William, feeling left out, spent the rest of Christmas sulking in a haze of jealousy.
Annie's gift to William was a handmade doll for him to take back to school and keep by his pillow.
She had also sent Dumbledore a gift—a pair of thick woolen socks.
According to Dumbledore, even in the summer, his feet always felt cold. Despite it being Christmas, people rarely thought to send him socks. They usually sent books instead.
Feeling sorry for him, Annie had chosen a cozy pair of wool socks for her gift.
William realized that Dumbledore might just have what they called "old man's cold legs."
Initially, William had considered sending Dumbledore a book on civil engineering, but after hearing about his cold feet, he had toyed with the idea of sending a pair of special insoles from a dubious health brand.
Unfortunately, William couldn't find a shop in London that sold them, so he settled for a bottle of calcium supplements, hoping to help with Dumbledore's brittle bones and cold legs.
He was even planning to smuggle in a bottle of Brain Platinum from China to help Dumbledore boost his memory and prevent dementia.
William couldn't help but feel proud of himself for being so thoughtful.
With any luck, Dumbledore would reward his thoughtfulness with something even better next Christmas.
Boba Tea also received plenty of gifts—mostly dried fish treats and cat food.
At Boba Tea's insistence (meowed clearly, of course), William sent some of the treats to Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat.
William didn't forget Filch either, gifting him a set of mop care tools.
Even Snape wasn't overlooked—William had prepared a set of shampoo and conditioner for the professor.
Since Snape's whereabouts were still unknown, the gift was sent to Dumbledore for safekeeping and eventual delivery.
William could only imagine Snape's reaction when he finally received the shampoo—perhaps it would move him to tears.
As William descended the stairs, he found Roy sitting on the couch, sipping tea and reading The Daily Prophet.
Ever since William had enrolled at Hogwarts, Roy had taken an interest in magical world affairs, relying on The Daily Prophet as his primary source of information.
"Looks like your Professor Snape is going to be put on trial soon," Roy remarked, glancing at William over his cup.
William picked up the paper and skimmed the headlines. One article, titled The Dark History of Hogwarts' Defense Against the Dark Arts Professors, wasn't about Tywin, but about past professors who had held the cursed position.
According to the article, every Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was described as either corrupt, incompetent, or downright dangerous. The late Professor Robb was no exception.
The investigation revealed that Robb had been involved in the illegal hunting of magical creatures in the Forbidden Forest, selling their parts on the black market.
The report further stated that Robb had swindled valuable magical materials from Hagrid, including unicorn hair, centaur dung, mermaid scales, and acromantula venom—each worth a fortune.
In the article's conclusion, it noted that during the summer, Snape had been investigating Robb's background and had no involvement in the attack on the Ministry of Magic.
As for Snape's appearance at the Ministry, it was likely that someone had impersonated him.
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