As Christmas approached, Hogwarts was also draped in a layer of silver.
This made Link, who had always lived in the south in his previous life and had rarely seen snow, very happy.
From the first day it snowed, he plunged into the snowfield and started a snowball fight with the equally excited Weasley twins.
Not only them, every student at Hogwarts was very happy, because the Christmas holiday was also coming. Every young wizard who could go home would return to their families to reunite.
Of course, the reason the Weasley twins were happy was a little different from others, because they also chose to stay at school this time.
Link believed the reason they were so happy was completely because they didn't have to go home to face their parents' questioning.
(The incident where they used the Bladder Explosion Spell to attack Snape had blown up. It was said that Mrs. Weasley threatened to properly punish them when they got back home.)
As for Christmas gifts, Link had finally made a decision.
Cedric's gift goes without saying, of course it would be a Nimbus 2000.
After Link wrote a letter to Madam Flamel telling her the details, she not only didn't refuse, but also happily praised Link for finally learning to care for his classmates.
This made Link feel a little embarrassed. Because the praise in Madam Flamel's letter was really too childish, it was just like encouraging a kindergarten kid.
Then there was Snape's gift. After much thought, Link finally decided to give a bottle of Felix Felicis. Its effect was to increase the user's luck for ten hours after consumption.
According to descriptions from those who had used it, this effect was so strong it even gave the illusion that anything they did would succeed.
Without a doubt, this was a super high-level consumable magical potion.
Although giving it to a Potions Master as a gift might seem a bit inappropriate, Madam Flamel thought it was the best gift. Because the thing was very expensive, even if Snape didn't use it, he could sell it for money.
Link agreed with this and secretly stuffed a small bottle of Rosalie-brand hair conditioner into the gift box for Snape.
Link sincerely hoped Snape would give this product a try, he felt he was almost fed up with Snape's greasy hair.
As for Hermione, Link also gave her a bottle of Rosalie-brand hair conditioner, as well as a brand new copy of The Power of Language.
As for the other people's gifts, they were all arranged by Madam Flamel. Every Christmas was a big event for the Flamel family, they needed to distribute gifts to every acquaintance based on the value of the relationship, ranging from something as small as a greeting card to something as big as a bottle of Felix Felicis.
Therefore, handing this task to Madam Flamel made Link very at ease, she was already a veteran expert in this area.
And besides the people mentioned above, Link had one more friend he needed to give a gift to, that was the basilisk, Arkam.
Creatures like basilisks are called snakes, but they don't seem to have the habit of hibernation, or rather, they can control whether they hibernate. Recently, it had been urging Link to go out and run laps again. Up to now, Link already owed it five laps.
Link felt it necessary to clear this debt; otherwise, who knew what extreme thing the basilisk might do?
Of course, running laps was one thing, but proper safety measures still had to be taken. For this, Link specially prepared a bridle-style riding gear modified from a dragon-riding apparatus. With it, Link could basically ride the basilisk in a relatively safe environment.
Then, on the night the gear arrived, Link excitedly ran out of the Hufflepuff common room.
At this moment, Hogwarts had been newly decorated, a super large Christmas tree had been placed in the Great Hall, countless colorful lights hung on the walls of the corridors, and even the usually lifeless suits of armor and monster statues had been playfully fitted with red Christmas hats by the students.
Filch hated these things deeply, because both the professors and students were the kind who did the decorating but never the cleaning, he had to clean everything up in the end.
Matching the warmth of the decorations, the temperature inside Hogwarts had dropped sharply.
As soon as Link stepped out of the warm common room, he shivered.
This made Link hesitate a bit. He was wearing thick winter clothes, yet he still felt cold. Wouldn't he freeze to death later when riding Arkam, a creature that wasn't any slower than a Yamaha racing motorcycle?
But thinking about those expectant (fierce) big eyes of the basilisk, Link finally sighed, slowly pulled out his wand from his coat, and pointed it at himself.
"Warm and Dry."
A ball of orange-red light flashed across Link's body, finally making him feel much more bearable.
Rubbing his hands, Link continued walking into the darkness. Arriving at the girls' bathroom on the third floor, Link completed a set of actions smoothly, and Arkam immediately appeared before him.
It shot out of the pipe at a speed almost invisible to Link's naked eye, then coiled itself into a snake coil around Link.
"Link! You finally came! Did you bring me snacks?"
Arkam asked impatiently while affectionately rubbing its body against Link. But maybe because it was too excited this time, Arkam's coiling was a bit tight, making Link a bit uncomfortable.
"Brought them, brought them! Let me go first! I can't breathe!" Link's panicked voice suddenly rang out, and Arkam finally loosened a bit, though its eyes still searched Link's body.
Link rubbed his still faintly aching chest and finally took out a basket of now-cold sausages and a raw pumpkin from his magical pocket and threw them into the basilisk's mouth.
Watching Arkam devour everything with its head raised, Link couldn't help but laugh.
Lately, Link had been bringing food to feed Arkam almost every day, hoping to postpone the lap-running time.
Although Arkam was a little dissatisfied, the truth was that it hadn't eaten anything good before, being able to have some treats to improve its meals wasn't bad.
This time was the same. After finishing the food Link brought, Arkam squeezed its head into Link's arms again, rubbing as it spoke, "Alright, for the sake of this round of snacks, I'll give you another week. But remember, including this one, you now owe me six laps."
"I don't think I have to owe you anymore." Link said while stroking the basilisk's big head. Hearing this, the basilisk became displeased.
It suddenly tightened its body and raised its head, looking at Link in disbelief, "You want to cheat!?"
"No, I mean, we can go run the laps tonight." Link said with a smile, and the set of riding gear had already appeared in his hand.
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