Chapter 412: Reply

Over the next few days, the young wizards were very keen on discussing the endless fancy film plots, and in the process, they commented on the professors in the school. The first and second years often looked at their seniors with envious expressions, sourly stating that the charms class Professor Flitwick, also had been very nice, and had allowed them to play games in their last class. "That's really nice, especially when compared to the other professors ..." Seamus said with indignation as he worked on his Potions class assignment, both of his eyes looked red as if he hadn't gotten a good sleep.

The young wizards, even if they remained a little expectant about the serious Professor McGonagall, but they wouldn't be that unrealistic enough to think that Snape would allow his students to be noisy in his classroom. In fact, he had simply scheduled the antidote testing step to the last day before the holidays, making the young wizards tremble and not dare to slack off.

Sitting in the empty chair next to Seamus, Neville told him some secret tips.

"Pay particular attention to the number of mistletoe berries, or... your toad will never come back ..."

"I don't keep toads, you know, Neville."

Dean Thomas snickered from the side, "He's just voicing out his fears." He handed Seamus a small cookie, which he chomped off half of in one bite, and chewed fiercely before continuing to write his essay. Just then, all of a sudden, a flurry of feathers sprouted on him.

Dean snickered, "Fred and George's canary cookies can be bought for seven Silver-Sickles." He then stuffed the remaining half into his own mouth, so Neville found himself sitting between two huge canaries, and he glanced left and right, feeling overwhelmed by the stares.

The people in the common room looked at them, making Neville uncomfortable, so he grabbed a cookie in embarrassment and stuffed it into his mouth -

Everyone pointed at the three canaries and laughed, "Haha~" Angelina laughed so hard that tears came out of her eyes.

...

On the day before Christmas, Hogwarts finally welcomed the Christmas holiday.

It had been snowing heavily outside, so Felix and Niffler Valen were nestled on the sofa playing Exploding Snap cards, and Valen insisted on using a different style of play, so he watched as she used her short little hands to build up a deck of cards, "Are you building a nest for yourself?" He asked curiously.

Niffler's hand shook, and the cards lit up as if they had been ordered to do so.

Felix grabbed her with one hand and sat back down on the couch with her, then a " bang" was heard as one person and Niffler looked at the mushroom-like black smoke rising up.

"Looks like you've learned a lot." He said to Valen.

Felix opened the window and seven or eight owls of all sizes and colours flew in, all carrying packages and letters.

"It's Christmas tomorrow." Felix said to himself, "I guess there will be many greetings from readers will come soon, I have to write back quickly." He looked at the corner, where a small mountain of prepared gifts was piled up.

Valen watched as Felix unpacked the packages and letters from the owls and provided food and water for those long-distance visitors for a short rest, after which the owls flew off in succession, leaving only a few behind to rest.

When she turned back again, Felix was already sitting in a high-backed armchair behind the desk and began to write a reply.

"Let me see ..."

He opened a letter and after reading it, he took out a quill and parchment to reply quickly -

"Mr. Cyrus, I am glad to receive your letter. I have studied the scales of the Runespoor Snake you sent me and have been greatly intrigued by the hidden pattern on them, it is still difficult to say whether this pattern is related to their unique magic-like abilities or not, as it still needs to be studied ... I wish you all the best in your expedition to the Iranian plateau."

Felix put the letter into an envelope, and a brown owl jumped onto the table and extended its leg for him to tie his reply on. Valen handed her one last owl cookie, which it carried in its beak, and flew off into the blizzard with a flutter of wings.

This was followed by a second reply.

"Merry Christmas, Ms. Meg ... No, I have no plans for a new book at the moment; I will probably publish a small manual about ancient runes, which I am not exactly sure about ... Also, I don't think it would be a good idea to print my picture on the cover, but thank you for the suggestion."

The third letter wasn't so friendly, but Felix spotted the trap in advance and easily lifted the curse on it. Along with it, he kept the large red-brown bird that delivered the letter when it tried to leave, which now stood with its legs together in resignation. Felix then wrote the replay.

"Mr. Nameless, your pranks are as lame as your handwriting, also I don't want to waste my breath discussing any muggle issues with you; And I hope your messenger will deliver my return gift on time by Christmas Day."

Felix applied a nasty hex on the parchment, then hooked the letter on the large reddish-brown bird. "Go on, return to your master." He said with a smirk.

For the rest of the day after that, he became busy -

"Ms. Jane, thank you for your continued support. I'm not sure if you'll get this letter, the owls have never found you and returned them all back. Perhaps there is something concerning your identity that needs to be kept secret, and I understand that perfectly. The black market has been in a state of disarray lately, as far as I know, the Ministry of Magic is cracking down on illegal potions, and it may have something to do with a batch of wolfsbane potions that have been divulged ..."

"Mr. Vera, your granddaughter is doing very well, I'm prepared to raise her salary, so you should give up the idea of bringing her into the Ancient Runes Association. I believe that in less than two or three years, Clammy's income will surpass yours, and if you give it a little thought, you will find that what she is doing now is more rewarding, Mr. Vice President."

...

During the time he's writing the replay, Juria Edmund, Bethany Bach and Byers Bach came over for a visit, with Byers walking at the end with three large boxes in his clutch, as he huffed, and puffed.

"Professor Hap, this is a Christmas present for you ..."

Juria explained with a smile, " Byers insisted on carrying them all by himself, Bethany tried to help him carry them, but he refused."

Byers looked at him with some shyness, then he stammered, "Professor Hap, how many words have Valen learned?"

"Very few as of yet ... shouldn't be able to communicate with you - But you guys can play Exploding Snap cards, she's very good at classical play." Felix said.

Byers stared at the scattered exploding cards on the table in disbelief, "That's, uh ... Valen is pretty smart."

Felix sat on the couch with Juria and Bethany, and he brought out honey tea to serve the two: "Juria, you don't want to talk about some magic vs. non-magic debate in front of Bethany today, do you?"

"Of course not, it's mainly that Bethany wanted to visit you and bring a gift along with her." Juria said, he visited quite a few times recently, especially on the bright side he lost his wand, so he couldn't participate in the matter of champions' training, and because of that, he was relatively free on weekdays.

With nothing to do, he would come to Felix's office to discuss some of his views on the magical and non-magical worlds, and both of them had something to offer on that subject.

As they talked, Juria mentioned Byers, as he pointed his chin in Byers' direction and said, "He's now the captain of the champions."

"Then Graves ..."

Juria shook his head, "He doesn't have the right mentality to be a captain." He spoke of what had just happened, "We did catch an interesting scene when we arrived, the champion of Beauxbatons - the one whose last name is Delacour - wanted to invite your champion, but he already had a date for the ball."

"Was it Cedric Diggory?" Felix asked thoughtfully.

"That's right," Juria smiled, "she does have a lot of charms, but it doesn't always work ..."

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