Chương 53: Christmas
After all four classes finished their exams, Christmas vacation came.
Anthony spent an afternoon tallying up the test results and filling the results into the report he had prepared long ago - he believed before the test that the students would give him a beautiful answer sheet, and they did live up to his trust.
Most of the students have gone home, leaving the castle empty, with Peeves wandering the corridors in despair, hoping to catch a victim. When Anthony passed by, Peeves' eyes lit up and he tried to splash ink on the report in his hand.
With a snap, his outstretched arm turned and inexplicably splashed ink on his face. Peeves screamed and disappeared.
Anthony looked in his direction apologetically.
He also did it on a whim. It seems that Peeves is indeed closer to the wraith.
Anthony took a deep breath and knocked on Professor McGonagall's office door helplessly. I hope she can forgive him for interrupting... He also doesn't want to talk about work with her on Christmas Eve.
"Ah, Henry." Professor McGonagall opened the office door. She looked very tired, "What can I do?"
"I'm here to apply for activity approval and teaching funding, Minerva." Anthony handed her a thick stack of documents. "I want to take the students to visit the Muggle world for a day at the end of this school year."
Professor McGonagall asked disapprovingly: "A day of shopping?"
"The students have basically mastered the theory." Anthony said, "Before they went home, all four classes took an O.W.Ls test, and the passing rate was above 90%. I have confidence in them. In the second half of the year, The level of mastery of the course should not be far different from this time."
Professor McGonagall took the report and flipped it over, her brows slightly relaxed: "You are well prepared, aren't you? How many people are there and where are you taking them?"
Anthony shook his head: "This has not been determined yet. I am going to list several alternatives and let students sign up on their own."
The Muggle cooking practice chosen by the students last time was a great success, and Anthony felt that it would be a good thing to give students some autonomy. The student's interest was particularly important when the goal of his teaching was to promote wizards' understanding of Muggles.
Professor McGonagall flipped through his plan: "Zoo, botanical garden, chocolate factory...pet rescue center?"
"I noticed a lot of students didn't have pets," he explained. "Midgan told me she wanted a cat, Toller wanted a dog—"
Professor McGonagall said almost immediately: "Dogs are not among the pets allowed at Hogwarts."
"——The Weasley brothers want owls. I know that pet rescue shelters usually don't have owls." Anthony said, "But in short, I hope to tell students that Muggles are actually the vast majority of people in this world. , they have a lot of resources...including a lot of pets. If some problems cannot be solved in the magical world, it is also a good choice to consider the Muggle world."
Professor McGonagall flipped through a few more pages of the plan and nodded: "Tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow at the latest, I will inform you of the results."
"You don't need to watch it now. Tonight is Christmas Eve, Minerva." Anthony said unexpectedly, "I just left it here, and I didn't plan for you to deal with it immediately. It's still on vacation, and I plan to go home the day after tomorrow."
He hasn't returned to his neighborhood for a long time. Even after living at Hogwarts for so long, he still missed the steady lights in his room, the modest bathtub in the bathroom, and the kitchen without dozens or hundreds of tennis ball-like eyes staring at him.
"Then I'll give you an answer tomorrow." Professor McGonagall said, "Don't forget there is still Christmas dinner."
…
When he woke up in the morning, there was already a small pile of gifts in front of his bed.
A Transfiguration notebook - from Professor McGonagall, who she knew had always struggled in this area - contained a decent Christmas card.
Professor Flitwick gave him a Honeydukes gift card, and Professor Sprout's gift was a small jar of herbal tea. Professor Burbage simply sent him a Christmas card, telling him that the gifts were on the way and asking him to be patient and wait a few more days.
There is also a very rare dark magic book that is not even in the library. This valuable gift from Professor Quirrell made Anthony decide to go to Diagon Alley immediately - he needed to make up for the gift in return.
Dumbledore gave him two pairs of socks.
"Very warm. Merry Christmas." The words on the card read in circles.
What surprised him most was Neville's gift.
Neville sent a very light package, which when opened revealed a set of dark blue wizard robes. It was as light as a cloud, as smooth as water, and seemed to be entirely woven from one piece of cloth, with no seams to be found. The envelope containing the Christmas card was carefully decorated with dripping wax and incense, and a long list of blessings and thanks were neatly and beautifully written on the card in burgundy ink.
Anthony put the clothes away in the cabinet and struggled to think of a suitable gift in return. He guessed that this was probably the work of Mrs. Longbottom again.
…
Nearly everyone's morning was spent opening gifts and making up return gifts of equal value. The whole castle was filled with a joyful atmosphere. Golden streamers hung from the ceiling to the floor, and holly and mistletoe hung everywhere. The owl flew again and again.
All the students who were staying in school came out. The Weasley brothers, wearing two visibly hand-knitted sweaters, sang "Happy Twins Take Care of Their Teeth" in the hallway while handing out boxes of fudge.
Their classmates warned everyone not to fall for the trick, but one of the younger Ravenclaws - out of sheer curiosity as to what would happen - took a piece and popped it into his mouth. Nothing happened.
"When you get scared thinking I'm going to pull some prank—" Fred said deeply.
"You'll miss out on the candy," George said.
Even though the school was mostly empty, the elves at Hogwarts still tried their best to prepare extraordinarily sumptuous lunches and dinners. The long table was covered with turkey and Christmas pudding, and mountains of roast meat and potatoes were placed on the baking tray. There were drinks on the golden tray and desserts on the silver one.
Anthony was reminded of his grandmother's famous saying: "A great meal is one without leafy greens."
As soon as he sat down at the teacher's desk, Professor Burbage handed him a wizard's lottery bag and firecracker. Anthony gave it a sharp tug, and in a cloud of smoke received a purple satin top hat decorated with silver stars and moons.
"It's like a magician's hat." Anthony said, reaching into the top hat and trying to pull out a rabbit.
Professor Bubaji smiled and put the hat on his head: "It suits you very well."
Her smile told Anthony she was lying.
But what does it matter? Dumbledore wore a bonnet decorated with flowers on his head, Professor Flitwick pinned a stuffed vixen on his shoulder, and even Filch put a sweater on Mrs. Norris - red and green. A matching Christmas sweater dangles from the scrawny cat in a hilarious way. Mrs. Norris was glaring in a bad mood at the students who were pointing at her.
"Merry Christmas, Henry!" said Professor McGonagall, who was wearing a black top hat. "Your activity expenses can be reimbursed. Also, I like the schedule book you gave me very much. It is very practical."
When Anthony was an undergraduate, he carefully selected the table design, paper quality, thickness and size of the schedule book. Later, when he was tutoring on various subjects in the Leaky Cauldron, he bought a few extra copies. At Christmas, he gave one to a man with many things to do. Vice Headmaster of Hogwarts.
"That's great, thank you for your notes. I happen to be at the bottleneck." Anthony said, using his knife to slice some roast turkey for himself, "But there is never a time when I am not at the bottleneck."
Professor Flitwick joked: "Your transfiguration may be a flask, Professor Anthony. But your spell must be a jar."
Dumbledore asked slyly: "Then what am I, Filius?"
"You are a basin," said Professor Flitwick.
Dumbledore accepted the compliment happily.
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