Hogwarts Card System Chapter 151

Chapter 152: Ghost Tiger and Gifts

The beginning of this holiday was not good. For some unknown reason, perhaps due to the sudden and sharp drop in temperature, a fierce flu outbreak swept through the school.

Two-thirds of the students who stayed at school were infected, sneezing and running fevers.

However, the wizarding world had a special remedy. Madam Pomfrey’s special flu potion worked in minutes, and its minor side effect was negligible—it just made smoke come out of your orifices.

So, you could always see some young wizards with white smoke coming out of their heads, nostrils, and ears, like human chimneys.

Ted and Neville were not infected. They were healthy and felt nothing.

However, Neville had been in low spirits these past few days because of the Parseltongue incident.

And Ted, he was also quite down.

Ted: When I hear about colds and coughs, I get a little scared. Maybe it’s because after those few years, I developed PTSD.

Because there weren’t many students staying at school for the Christmas holiday, the house-elves in the kitchen were able to showcase their culinary skills more.

Various dishes were served, and some dishes that weren’t suitable for large-batch cooking were now available.

For example, spicy shredded chicken!

George was sweating profusely from the spice, but still eating with gusto.

Fred, next to him, quipped, “You’re huffing and puffing, I thought your Parseltongue had acted up!”

The young wizards nearby snickered.

You know, the twins’ comedic acts of making jokes about Parseltongue and the Heir these past few days were quite effective.

Now, students were not as wary and cautious about Neville’s Parseltongue and the Chamber of Secrets as they were initially.

Those two really had some ideas.

The next day was Christmas. In Neville’s dormitory, besides Neville and two others, there was also Dean, the dark-skinned boy.

Seamus went home for the holidays, but Dean stayed at school due to family reasons.

The boy was so nervous that he secretly called for his mom and only dared to sleep after Neville had fallen asleep at night.

As soon as Neville stood up or spoke, he would act like a mouse seeing a cat.

This infuriated Ron. Last year, the two had argued over football but had made up.

This year, however, Ron had another big argument with him because of Dean’s attitude towards Neville.

Neville advised, “Ron, you don’t have to be like this. It’s okay.”

Ron waved his hand, huffing, “It’s not entirely because of you. I just get angry when I see him like that. As if someone’s going to eat him!”

In the evening, Ron was writing something at his desk, scratching his head after every two sentences, looking like he had a headache and didn’t know how to proceed.

Jerry quietly leaned over: Doo doo doo doo doo~ It’s me!

“Ron, you’ve been quite diligent lately! What are you writing? Let me see!”

Ron quickly covered his notebook: “Jerry bro, no~”

But Jerry still saw it. He had already read it aloud: “Slug earned 6 Galleons and 12 Sickles, selling amulets earned 3 Galleons and 13 Sickles! George gave me 2 Galleons less, saying my contribution was small! I’ll remember him, I don’t have this brother anymore!”

“Good heavens, you earned a lot!”

Jerry was tempted—should I also spit out two buckets of slugs?!

…

The next day, Christmas, Merlin be praised, the weather was clear.

As soon as Ted opened his eyes, he received a task:

“Ding~ Task triggered:

[Shining Smile (Green)]

On this joyous day of universal celebration, you, of course, must also be cheerful. As Professor Lockhart’s favorite student, you have an obligation to promote his bright smile.

Goal: Display your shining smile to others 30 times while holding a toothpick in your mouth.

Reward: 250 experience points, Card [Wobbly Tiger (Green)].

Hey, good teeth mean a good appetite, eating well means a strong body!”

Oh! This card looks quite powerful!

This reward card is actually a Ghost Tiger?!

Ted sat up from bed. During the holidays, only he and Ansu were in the dormitory, making it a single room.

Ted saw gifts piled up on the floor at the foot of his bed. He suppressed his joy for now and went to wash up. Then he came back to unwrap the gifts.

The first gift he opened was Hagrid’s, a bundle of unicorn tail hair!

This was because Ted had shown great interest in unicorn hair during a previous conversation.

Hagrid had a messy mat at home made from unicorn hair. However, the best unicorn hair was from the tail.

For this bundle of unicorn tail hair, Hagrid had been going into the Forbidden Forest every day in the dead of winter to pluck unicorn hair.

Mrs. Weasley sent Ted a hand-knitted scarf this year, with a ‘T’ on it. There was also a large, very sweet raisin cake.

It seemed that by the time Ted finished seven years of schooling, he would be able to assemble a full “Aunt Molly’s Outfit.”

And the Christmas gift Ted gave to Aunt Molly was “ 101 Classic Knitting Patterns” bought from a Muggle bookstore. It was truly spot on.

Hermione gave him a pair of wool gloves, which she had knitted herself! You could tell from the craftsmanship that many stitches were wrong, and one glove was even bigger than the other.

But a gift from afar, no matter how small, carries great meaning, so there was nothing to say.

Harry sent a copy of “Black’s Alchemical Recipes,” a book on alchemy, from the Black family’s collection~

…

At breakfast, Ted waited early in the Great Hall for his friends.

With a toothpick in his mouth, a scarf wrapped around his neck, and Ansu perched on his shoulder, feathers gleaming, he swaggered like a cool guy, flashing a blinding smile at every student he met.

“Damn it, how many more? Gotta finish this task while there are few people around!”

Ted seized the opportunity to show off his white teeth, hoping to finish quickly before more people found out.

Then his friends arrived, first Hermione.

“Ted, thank you for the gift, I love it. Ansu, Merry Christmas~”

Hermione looked at Ted and asked curiously, “Ted, what’s wrong?”

“N-nothing, I just remembered something happy.” Ted quickly put away his smile. Just a few more to go, keep it up!

For the Ghost Tiger card, I absolutely cannot give up halfway.

Fortunately, Hermione didn’t press further and excitedly talked to Ted about Christmas gifts.

“The magic comb you gave me is very useful.” She shook her head from side to side, showing Ted her hair. “It’s very smooth and saves time.”

The straight-A student’s time was precious, and she didn’t spend too much time combing her hair, so it always looked fluffy and messy.

But with Ted’s invented smoothing shampoo and Christmas gift—the automatic hair-combing magic wooden comb—she could get it done in minutes, and it was much better now.

It was a comb carved from ebony, and Ted had specially carved a cartoon-style beaver girl with a flower on it. He put a lot of effort into it~

Hermione, however, didn’t notice Ted’s “sinister intentions” and laughed, “Do you know my first reaction when I got the magic comb? It reminded me of the story of Snow White! I thought, ‘What if I faint as soon as I comb my hair with it?’”

In the story of Snow White, there were scenes where the queen tried to harm her with a comb.

First the belt, then the comb, and finally the poisoned apple.

But speaking of Snow White, Ted had an idea—should he tell his friends some dark fairy tales?

Just then, the four Gryffindors arrived. Ted gritted his teeth and with a determined heart, picked up the toothpick and flashed a brilliant smile at the four.

Jerry quickly covered his eyes: What is that? So blinding!

The four were baffled: Is this some strange Christmas ritual?

Ron’s face was serious as he whispered, “Oh no, Ted seems to be possessed by Lockhart!”

Hermione, on the other hand, asked curiously, “Ron, what happened to you?”

Jerry shrugged, “Ron’s old owl really can’t work anymore. It sheds badly. This morning, it came to deliver a package and crashed into Ron’s bed, almost dying.”

Hermione cast a Scourgify, cleaning the messy feathers off Ron.

In any case, Ted breathed a sigh of relief. He had finally completed this task!

If he kept smiling, his classmates would surely drag him to the hospital wing.

Friends wished each other Merry Christmas and thanked each other for their gifts.

Ted’s gift to Neville was still a book—“The Alchemist,” a Muggle book published in 1988.

It was a book about dreams, destiny, and choices. Like a fairy tale, yet also like a motivational speech.

Ted wrote a sentence on the flyleaf of the book: “When you really want something, the entire universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

He gave Ron an amulet made of Rowan wood and unicorn hair “borrowed” from Hagrid.

Rowan is a magical tree that protects anyone who touches its trunk from dark creatures. Unicorn hair, when guided, can also suppress dark forces.

Ted had cast a calming psychic ability on the amulet to prevent nightmares.

Ted heard from Jerry that Ron had been having nightmares recently—some hurts take a long time to heal.

There were also prank toys for Harry. When the box was opened, a boxing glove would pop out and punch you. Harry had already pranked several people that morning.

And Muggle-made Nike sneakers for Jerry.

Besides his friends, Ted also gave Luna a copy of “One Thousand and One Nights.”

He gave Professor McGonagall a Quidditch Seeker figurine—a chibi Professor McGonagall riding a broom chasing a Golden Snitch.

He also anonymously sent Snape a large bottle of his self-developed smoothing shampoo, hoping he would pay attention to personal hygiene~

Ted also spent pounds at a Muggle fur shop to buy a bearskin coat for Hagrid.

At that moment, in the hunter’s cabin, Hagrid had just opened Ted’s gift and pulled out the specially made large bearskin coat.

He was overjoyed: “Fang, look! How smooth it is, much better than my own mole-skin coat.”

(End of this chapter)