Chapter 43: Garian and Lila (Please Follow)

Before this, Silven had never known Ron’s voice could be so piercing—he could hear it clearly even through several dormitories.

It seemed Hedwig had not disappointed Harry’s expectations, returning in time before Christmas.

This way, he could accept Harry’s seven Galleons without any guilt.

Technically speaking, this was Harry’s second wand purchase and didn’t qualify for a discount, but since Ron was using it, Silven didn’t care much—only mentioning it in a letter to his grandfather, asking him to credit the wand to Ron Weasley.

That would make it easier to claim a wand subsidy from the Ministry later.

After all, they weren’t losing anything.

Five minutes passed, and Ron was still shouting; Silven ignored him and kept unwrapping his gifts.

The second long, narrow box was from his grandfather, containing a piece of brown-and-yellow wood, its surface covered in a network of brown, scale-like hairs that looked exactly like snake scales.

Silven was startled as he held the branch—it was Suoluomu , also called snake wood; though it looked like a tree, it was actually a fern.

Because of this, it was nearly impossible to find a tree-keeper beetle on snake wood; only a handful of trees might, by sheer chance, earn their favor and become magical wood suitable for wand-making.

Notably, Salazar Slytherin’s wand was made of snake wood.

And the snake wood his grandfather sent as a Christmas gift was certainly no ordinary specimen.

Silven rubbed his chin—it seemed his grandfather had found another good thing during his time at school.

After the holidays, he’d have to find an excuse to visit the storage room again.

As he thought this, Silven unwrapped the third package…

It was a large bag of candy from Hermione—not from Honeydukes, but Muggle sweets, with five or six different flavors.

And five Galleons from Harry (a simple, earnest gift indeed).

Ron gave him a quill, Neville gave him Chocolate Frog cards, Seamus gave him pet dried fish, the packaging drawn with a cat (Silven suspected Tang Mu wouldn’t even eat this garbage).

Professor McGonagall also sent a gift: twenty full issues of *Today’s Transfiguration*.

Silven was puzzled—how had the professor managed such precise reciprocity?

He hadn’t warned her when he gave her a wand as a gift, yet she had returned one—and she was the only professor to give him anything.

House-elf? Or Name Magic?

Silven didn’t dwell on it; he pulled out one issue and walked out of the dorm.

Outside, Fred and George were teasing their younger brother into wearing a dark maroon sweater—both of them wore the same style, only in blue, with two letters on the chest.

George’s was a yellow “F,” Fred’s a yellow “G.”

Clearly, Mrs. Weasley had designed them to tell the twins apart.

But obviously, the design was useless—they’d deliberately turned their sweaters inside out.

Silven walked past them to the common room, planning to check if anyone was with Hagrid before heading to the Great Hall.

But as Silven stepped down the spiral staircase, he froze, staring in disbelief at the middle-aged man with glasses sitting in the armchair.

At that moment, Silven thought he hadn’t slept well and was seeing things—how could his father be sitting in Gryffindor’s common room?

This must be fake…

“Hey, Silven, what are you standing there for?” the man laughed, waving.

“No, it’s real!”

“What’s real?” Silven Ollivander smiled, adjusting his glasses. “Is it so strange to see me?”

“Very strange.” Silven said. “Wait—you’re here. Does that mean my mother is…?”

“She’s over by the girls’ dorms,” Silven Ollivander said with a smile.

“Alright…”

Silven took a deep breath, taking a long moment to accept that his Christmas gift was suddenly seeing his parents at school. Then he mentally reviewed everything he’d done recently—until he was certain he hadn’t done anything warranting a parental visit—and finally exhaled in relief.

“Why are you here?”

“It’s a kind of compensation,” Silven Ollivander said. “We weren’t around when you started school. Since we’re back in Britain for the first time in years, we had to come see you. And since you’re not going home for the holidays, coming to the school is just as good—oh, your mother came too.”

As he spoke, Silven’s mother, Lila Ollivander, walked over from the direction of the girls’ dorms and immediately hugged him.

“Dear, don’t mind your grandfather’s old-fashioned views,” Lila kissed his forehead. “I’ve checked—Gryffindor’s fine.”

She still remembered the letter Silven sent at the start of term.

“Saying it’s a reckless, foolhardy house—how many years ago was that? Not everyone is Godric Gryffindor. Does Millicent have no courage?”

“My grandfather isn’t really that bothered,” Silven offered weakly.

“But how did you even get in?” Silven couldn’t help asking the one thing he couldn’t understand. “I thought Hogwarts doesn’t allow parents to come and go freely?”

“It doesn’t—but we have other ways,” Silven Ollivander said. “We’ve been friends with Pomona Sprout for years. Visiting an old friend during Christmas—Dumbledore wouldn’t refuse.”

“And of course, we could also come see you,” Lila added, glancing around the common room, then whispering to Silven Ollivander: “You were right—this place is a billion times worse than Beauxbatons.”

“I heard that,” Silven said, twitching his lips.

Before he decided to attend Hogwarts, his schooling had been the family’s constant point of contention.

His grandfather supported Hogwarts; his mother Lila insisted Beauxbatons was the best, rallying Silven Ollivander and his grandmother into the largest faction, while his aunt backed Ilvermorny.

Every time they brought it up, they argued endlessly—until Silven himself chose Hogwarts, ending the quiet war.

“I’ve already started school—I can’t just transfer to Beauxbatons now,” Silven said, shrugging, unwilling to continue the topic.

Just then, several Weasley children and Harry arrived in the common room.

They, too, were astonished and confused by the sight of Silven’s parents there.

But the clever Weasleys asked nothing; Fred and George warmly greeted them and offered to act as guides.

The offer was declined by Silven Ollivander and Lila, who instead presented the gifts they had prepared in advance.

A dried bubble pod.

This item bounced and rolled uncontrollably when dropped, like a magical version of a bouncy ball—a fairly trendy toy among wizards.

Silven’s Christmas gift was also a bouncy ball—in this, they were perfectly fair.

Got a recommendation slot—want to run a few more rounds, please follow for more.



(End of Chapter)