Chapter 42: Christmas

Harry had always believed he understood magic and the wizarding world well enough.

From owls that delivered letters, to Hagrid appearing at the seaside cottage, to Diagon Alley, Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, Hogwarts… Harry grew increasingly calm, convinced he was gradually familiar with everything in the magical world.

But now he suddenly felt he knew nothing about magic—not even how to recognize a wand.

“That was clearly a bat, right?” Harry asked Ron, bewildered, after Silven left the common room.

In a daze, he recalled what Silven had told him yesterday afternoon… “I haven’t finished a two-and-a-half-foot wand yet, but I can take a pre-order.”

So this was it?

Harry felt Silven wouldn’t joke about something like this; he tried to connect the words “foot” and “wand,” but he couldn’t.

“I bet Silven was just teasing us,” Ron said.

Unlike Harry, he knew more about magic; many of his beliefs had long solidified into common sense.

To him, a wand should look exactly like the ones they used now—only differing in length. Everyone around him used them this way; there had never been an exception.

So Ron never believed that two-foot-long bat was a wand; he assumed Silven was just messing with them.

“Want to play wizard chess?” Ron asked after finishing his last bite of roasted mushroom.

“Ah, sure,” Harry said. His head was a mess—he needed something else to distract himself.

“But Ron, I’ve never played wizard chess before.”

“No problem, I’ll teach you. It’s simple,” Ron said, pulling out a worn, battered old chessboard and demonstrating how to make the pieces move.

Like Muggle chess, but the pieces were alive and had their own thoughts—fascinating, like commanding an army in battle.

Harry quickly became obsessed with the game, but he was terrible at it; he always lost to Ron, until even his own queen could no longer bear it, swung her staff, and delivered a sharp whack to Harry’s fingers.

“Ow…”

Harry’s finger instantly turned bright red; tears welled up from the pain, but the queen beside him kept screaming curses.

“Stupid, idiot, brainless mountain troll!”

This must be the flaw of wizard chess—the pieces had terrible tempers.

Meanwhile, Silven had arrived at Hagrid’s cabin.

He knocked, but heard no familiar booming voice.

“No one home?” Silven waited a while longer; still no movement inside. He finally confirmed Hagrid was not there.

Probably went to Hogsmeade for a drink.

Hagrid had a habit of visiting Hogsmeade for a drink; many professors did too. Today was the first day of school break, and it was snowing—a rare good day. Hagrid wouldn’t miss it.

Silven, however, had made the trip for nothing—coming through the snow, now returning through it to the castle.

He’d planned to finish the wand today; now he’d have to wait until tomorrow.

Silven didn’t choose to use a Locking Charm to enter, even though it was a trivial matter for him, even though Hagrid wouldn’t mind if he found out—he still didn’t do it.

The Christmas holiday had just begun; he wasn’t in a hurry.

By afternoon…

“Of course I’m in a hurry!” Harry paced back and forth in Silven’s dormitory, glancing out the window every few seconds.

“Tomorrow’s Christmas, and I haven’t prepared anything. If Hedwig doesn’t come back, I’ll have to give Ron a bag of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans.”

“That’s fine,” Silven said. “But where did you get Bertie Bott’s Beans? Did you ask an older student to bring them from Hogsmeade?”

“No, I bought them on the train,” Harry said.

“The train?” Silven blinked. “The Hogwarts Express?”

“Yes,” Harry nodded.

“You still haven’t finished the candy you bought at the start of term?”

“Because I don’t like the shoe polish flavor—I haven’t eaten any since.”

“You’re really generous to Ron,” Silven clicked his tongue.

“Of course… oh, no,” Harry nodded instinctively, then hastily corrected himself. “I didn’t mean to give Ron Bertie Bott’s Beans as a Christmas gift—I wanted to give him a wand!”

“I know. You don’t need to explain to me,” Silven waved his hand. “But if Hedwig doesn’t return, I can’t help it. You know the wand shop has little business except during the start of term.”

“You can’t expect my grandfather to sit all day in an empty shop doing nothing, can you?”

“No, of course not,” Harry quickly shook his head. “I’m just anxious. Ron really wants his own wand.”

“Relax,” Silven said. “Tomorrow’s Christmas—there’s still time. You should trust Hedwig.”

It seemed he could only trust Hedwig now.

Harry waited until very late, tossing and turning in bed unable to sleep. He only wanted Hedwig to return before morning, bringing Ron a surprise, then they’d feast and enjoy themselves.

Harry waited until dawn; Hedwig still hadn’t returned. He was too tired—his consciousness blurred, sinking into sleep.

The next day, Christmas arrived as scheduled.

Silven didn’t rise early; he got up at nine and began unwrapping the pile of packages beside his bed.

There were quite a few gifts. Silven counted roughly—over a dozen, twice as many as last year.

His eyes immediately went to the largest package.

Thick brown paper, rough wrapping, and wild, sprawling handwriting—he didn’t even need to read the name; it was clearly from Hagrid.

Inside were many things, but the most striking was a small bundle of long, silvery unicorn tail hairs, each over fifteen inches long—the highest grade available.

Silven guessed even his grandfather Garrick Ollivander might never have seen so many premium-quality hairs at once.

He wondered how long Hagrid had searched the Forbidden Forest to collect this bundle.

Besides that, the brown paper parcel contained two pitch-black legs.

Hagrid had brought these to Silven before—eight-legged spider legs—but these were clearly longer than before; fully extended, they were at least ten feet.

No wonder the wrapping was so large… it wouldn’t fit otherwise.

But a single leg ten feet long—hard to imagine how huge the creature must have been alive.

Silven continued rummaging through the rest when suddenly, from nearby, came Ron’s incoherent scream.

“Oh my god! A wand! Harry, you gave me a new wand… I’m so happy… is this really for me… this is the best Christmas gift I’ve ever received!”

(End of chapter)