The next day, Link was woken up by the noisy sounds of his roommates.
This was almost impossible on normal days, because it was the holidays now, and his roommates wouldn't wake up unless it was noon.
But today was different, because today was Christmas.
Every year on Christmas Eve, the house-elves would, according to tradition, quietly place the gifts delivered from all over the wizarding world at the foot of the young wizards' beds, creating an atmosphere of surprise.
So when Link opened his eyes, he saw the scene of his roommates laughing and unwrapping gifts, and also, a big pile of gift boxes at the foot of his own bed.
Taking a deep breath, Link sat up in bed.
Last night, he had carefully thought through his current situation and set a study plan for himself. Among them, spells like Expelliarmus, Bombarda, Incendio, and Protego were must-learns.
Although these spells didn't have much development potential anymore, as long as you mastered them, they could quickly be converted into combat power, which suited Link's current needs very well.
There was also the Super Sensory Charm and Occlumency.
Among these, Occlumency was the most critical. This ultra-high-difficulty skill technically wasn't a spell but a special kind of ability.
It could completely close off the user's mind, making mind-invading spells like Legilimency ineffective.
At the same time, Occlumency could allow the user to maintain absolute calm and rationality, which was what Link valued most, because it paired perfectly with the Super Sensory Charm.
Link figured that if he could master Occlumency, then using the Super Sensory Charm throughout an entire battle would be a piece of cake.
But the problem was, acquiring these spells was a bit too difficult.
Spells like Expelliarmus were okay, even if professors didn't have time or weren't willing to teach, he could still go ask Cedric to introduce some upperclassmen to teach him.
But Occlumency was a different matter.
In all of Hogwarts, only two people knew it. One was Dumbledore, the other was Snape. And neither of them were easy to talk to.
For a moment, Link felt a bit troubled.
Just then, John suddenly leaned over next to Link's bed.
"Link! Merry Christmas!"
Link, who had been deep in thought, was startled by the sudden voice. But once he realized what was going on, he saw that it wasn't just John, the rest of his roommates had all gathered around too.
At this moment, they were each holding out a gift box in front of Link.
"This is... for me?"
"Of course! Take it."
Link was a bit dazed, but John and the others didn't care at all. They shoved the gifts into his arms without hesitation.
"Link, we don't have much pocket money, so we hope you don't mind."
John scratched his head awkwardly. Link had given each of them a prank gift box from the Zonko's Joke Shop, which made their gifts to him feel kind of shabby in comparison.
But Link didn't mind at all. He opened their gifts right in front of them.
This was a custom in Britain and America, they liked opening gifts on the spot. Link knew this well.
And when John's gift box was opened, inside was a golden Snitch that hadn't yet been activated.
Link's mouth fell open in surprise. Because he recognized it.
This was a match-used Snitch from one of the rare Quidditch victories of the Hufflepuff team last year. John had nearly gotten beaten into a pig's head trying to grab it.
This was John's most treasured item, he wouldn't even let people look at it usually, but now he had given it to Link.
You couldn't say this gift wasn't meaningful.
Link solemnly put it away, then opened the gifts from the others.
Sure enough, the rest of the roommates' gifts were mostly similar, not very valuable, but deeply meaningful to them.
"Thank you! I really like your gifts!" Link laughed as he spoke, then warmly gave each of them a hug.
This made everyone breathe a sigh of relief, and the previously serious atmosphere in the dorm room became lively again.
"Link, quickly open the other gifts too!"
"Yeah, Link! Let us see what cool stuff you got!"
The roommates urged him one after another after the hugs. They knew Link's family was wealthy, so they were all curious about what kind of gifts he would receive.
Link didn't disappoint them, he smiled slightly and started unwrapping the gifts at the foot of his bed.
It was a heavy task, because he had a lot of gifts. But the process was very pleasant.
Aside from the cards sent by Harry, Ron, and the Weasley twins, the rest of the gifts all suited Link's taste very well.
Among them, the gift from his cheap relative, Mrs. Flamel, was without doubt the most expensive, a high-priced wand holster.
Once strapped to the wrist, with just a slight release of magical energy, the wand inside would shoot out like the hidden blades in Assassin's Creed.
And it had even been enchanted with a permanent Summoning Charm, even if Link's wand was knocked away, it could be quickly summoned back.
Professor Sprout gave Link a pot of pink silver butterfly flowers that she had cultivated herself.
These magical plants bloomed year-round without wilting, emitted a charming fragrance, and had the effect of calming the mind and aiding sleep.
Emily gave Link a whole box of premium pumpkin cakes.
That made Link incredibly happy, he had recently found himself falling more and more in love with the stuff.
Hermione's gift, on the other hand, was a book titled Standardized Potion-Making. On the title page, it read, [When brewing Confusing Concoction, the valve of the mini magic burner only needs to be turned three times. Don't believe me? Check this book!]
Receiving this gift left Link a little speechless.Of course, he still remembered that this was from their first meeting. He just didn't expect Hermione to still be hung up about it.
Shaking his head with a smile, Link finally turned his eyes to the last gift box.
It was a plain gray box. Just from the appearance, you wouldn't even think it was a gift. Link had left it for last because it looked so unappealing.
Though it wasn't signed, given all the other gifts he'd unwrapped, he had a good guess, this must be from Snape.
After all, Snape had promised to give him something. (Even if he hadn't explicitly said so.)
Taking a deep breath, Link carefully opened the gift box.
To be honest, this was the gift he looked forward to the most. After all, Snape had a lot of rare treasures, any random one would be a huge gain for Link.
However, when Link actually saw what was inside, he froze.
Because lying at the bottom of the gray box was a bottle of golden potion swirling with misty light.And on the bottle was clearly written, Felix Felicis.
Link's expression turned complicated.
"Is this what they call a bond between master and student?"
Link muttered inwardly. Both he and Snape had chosen Felix Felicis as a Christmas gift for each other, wasn't that just a little too coincidental?
But in fact, this was a good thing for Link. After all, the power of Felix Felicis was widely acknowledged. With its help, he now felt a bit more confident in his plan to hunt down Voldemort.
Thinking this, Link quietly attached the bottle of Felix Felicis to a chain and wore it around his neck.
At the same time, John and the others were completely stunned.
Don't underestimate them, even though they were Muggle-born young wizards, after spending a year at Hogwarts, they knew the basic value of things.
According to their estimates, just the gifts Link had received, excluding that obviously top-grade potion, already added up to over 1,200 Galleons.
That was an unimaginably huge amount of money to them.
"L-L-Link… are all pure-blood wizards this rich?" John stammered.
Hearing this, Link just smiled faintly and replied, "No, to be accurate, it's just that my family is rich."
"R-Really?" John felt like his whole worldview had been shaken.
Just then, a paper airplane drifted in through the dorm's not-quite-shut door and, under everyone's curious gaze, flew to Link and unfolded into a paper mouth.
"Link! Come to my office! Immediately! Right now!" Snape's voice came out of it, which surprised Link a bit, because Snape's tone didn't sound very friendly.
But out of the small bit of trust he had in Snape, Link still said goodbye to John and the others, and went alone to the office.
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