On Christmas morning, Felix heard a knock on the door, and it was Dobby.
“Merry Christmas, Generous and Mighty Mr. Hap!” Dobby the house-elf said enthusiastically as he stood at the door, wearing a brown vest with a dull yellow sock peeking out of its pocket, and he also held a purple knitted jumper in his hand.
Felix sobered up at once.
And asked tentatively, “This isn’t a Christmas present from you, is it, Dobby? Actually, you don’t need …”
“Oh, no, Mr. Hap,” Dobby said formally, “It’s a gift from Mr. Harry Potter and his friends, Dobby went over there first … you asked Dobby not to come too early or too late to find you without something urgent, sir. ”
“I did say that.” Felix said with a wink, gauging the time from the dim daylight outside the window, it would barely be six or seven o’clock, and Dobby would have arrived only earlier to visit Harry’s dormitory.
“So … uh, come on in.”
He moved out of the way and Dobby’s body disappeared from the entrance door for a moment and then when he reappeared he had an additional large brown bag in his hand.
“This is a gift brought by Dobby and the rest of the house-elves, all for Mr. Hap!”
In the room, Dobby said so. Then he fumbled through the large bag and grabbed a small gift box wrapped in blue wrapping paper, which he handed to Felix.
“What’s this? Oh, a pair of socks, very nice.” Felix looked at the socks in the package, which Dobby seemed to have chosen the blue colour he liked, and they were embroidered with black lightning bolts and silver orbs of light, corresponding to two of his well-recognized ancient magics.
“Dobby hand-knit them,” said the house-elf with wide, round eyes, “Dobby went to several stores and always felt that the things there were not to his liking, so Dobby consulted with his other fellows and made the decision together.”
“So all these are … socks?” Felix asked, somewhat at a loss.
“That’s right!” Dobby said happily, “All kinds of socks! We each picked our favourite colour, and Dobby took advantage because Dobby knows Mr. Hap likes blue!”
“Yes, you’re right, I do like blue. Thank you so much, Dobby.” Felix said, ” Have you thought about how you’re going to spend this year? I remember Remus said he was going to give you guys a week off-”
“Yes! Mr. Lupin is also a generous man, he gives the same holiday to house-elves.” Dobby wept with excitement, “Dobby going to spend the holiday with Dobby’s friends – all of them!”
“Good idea, I remember there are magic cameras in the company, remember to take some pictures then, and I wish you a Merry Christmas, Dobby.”
…
Felix stayed in the office all day, he got a frightening amount of gifts and a considerably alarming amount of correspondence to answer.
In the occasional spare moment, he stood at the window and gazed out over the snow-covered Forbidden Forest in the distance.
Beauxbatons’s carriage and Hagrid’s hut were like different-sized pastries covered with crystallized sugar sprinkles. Only a pointy roof of Ilvermorny’s quarters was visible as it poked out of snow, and Durmstrang’s black sailing ship finally escaped the fierce breeze, locked firmly on the ice in the frozen Black Lake. The remaining Uagadou’s delegation, who revered nature, chose the spot closest to the forbidden forest and built a row of huts out of wood – very much in the style of Hagrid’s hut.
Felix stood on high ground where he could barely see the tracks left by people from other schools as they travelled to and from Hogwarts Castle, other than large expanses of white colour.
By the time the afternoon approached, there were more people, with far more people than in the previous two years added together.
Felix recalled how at Last year’s Christmas, even after adding all the professors and students who stayed on campus, only one table was filled, while this year’s Christmas barely changed from the normal school day.
It is due to the Yule Ball, as almost all the fourth year and above students chose to stay at school for the holiday, which made the Castle look like it was crowded.
But Felix knew that this was purely psychological.
He watched the students having a snowball fight for a while, and as the sky grew dark, Felix changed into his formal robe and looked at the time to walk out of the office.
At the door of the great hall, he saw Harry and Ron, who were looking eagerly at the large oak doors.
“Are you waiting for Miss Granger?” He asked.
“What? Uh, not really … we haven’t seen her either,” Harry said, “we’re waiting for Ron’s brother.”
“Percy Weasley?” Felix looked a little surprised.
“Yes,” Harry said, gesturing at the awful robe Ron is wearing, “Mrs. Weasley bought Ron a new formal robe and asked Percy to bring it over because she heard Percy would attend on behalf of his boss, Mr. Barty Crouch.”
Ron whispered from the side, “Mum should have put it in a Christmas parcel instead of asking Percy to bring it over. If she didn’t think Piggy (Ron’s owl) could bring that much stuff, she could have left that purple jumper at home instead… I mean, just in case Percy would forget it! His big brain wouldn’t remember anything other than work …”
At that moment, a loud voice came clearly to their ears from outside the oak door. “Is this your brother, Percy? He’s certainly saying some interesting stuff.” The man who spoke was Ludo Bagman, who tonight wore a bright purple robe with large yellow stars on it.
Percy Weasley walked alongside him, dressed in a brand-new navy blue robe, with a beaming smile. As soon as he saw the three men standing in the doorway, he walked over quickly, with a big smile on his face, as he shook Felix’s hand vigorously.
“I really didn’t expect the first person I would meet back on campus would be you, Professor Hap, and thanks for taking care of Penelope, I’ve been wanting to take the time to visit you. But I’ve been too busy lately, and as you may or may not know, I’ve been promoted from one of the multiple assistants to the most prominent one, and I’m substituting for Mr. Crouch today …”
As he spoke, he elbowed Ron aside as if he hadn’t seen him.
Harry grinned, he felt tempted to ask Percy if Mr. Crouch no longer calls him “Weatherby”, but he resisted the temptation.
Ron stared at his body without saying a word, looking for a possible place where he could have hidden his robe. After a few seconds, he shouted angrily at Percy, “Where’s my robe?”
“What?” Percy looked startled.
“The robe! The formal robe Mom bought for me!” Ron exclaimed. By the way, he looked, if Harry hadn’t stopped him, he would have rushed over and strangled Percy.
The expression on Percy’s face froze for a few seconds, then he magically pulled out a robe of the same colour as the one he is wearing, and Ron, who had been held back by Harry, froze in place.
“This is mine?” Ron asked incredulously.
“You have to thank Penelope for this, I did forget it when I came here, she was the one who reminded me.” Percy said with a scowl.
Ron snatched up the brand new formal robe as he tenderly caressed the navy fabric on it, as he blurted without any thought, “You’re living with her now?”
“Uh, not yet.” Percy replied awkwardly.
“Then how did she remind you of that before you left the house?” Ron gave him a sceptical look.
“Don’t ask questions you shouldn’t ask!” Percy growled in a low voice, his face turning red, “If you still want your dress.”
“Do you want me to put in a good word for her? It actually doesn’t have to be that troublesome, Mom and Dad both like her.” Ron said.
Percy’s face seemed to have a tendency to turn purple while Ludo Bagman and Felix watched in silence, fortunately at that moment Harry pulled Ron, “Parvati and Padma are waiting for us.” So they hurried in the direction of the lavatory.
“I remember you pulled out a small heart-shaped mirror before you left the house, it seems like some kind of sound transmission mirror? Why didn’t you tell your brother that you hurried back to the office afterward? He seems to have misunderstood the situation.” Ludo Bagman said.
Percy’s face stiffened, and his expression grew wooden as he said, “Penelope accused me of having no sense of humor.”
Bagman’s eyes widened, “That’s how you show humor?”
“What’s wrong with that?” Percy glanced at him strangely.
“Ahem!” Felix interrupted their conversation, “Let’s just get in early, about the sense of humour, Percy, I know a book title, I’ll tell you later.”
“Really?” Percy’s eyes lit up, “That couldn’t be any better.” As they walked into the great hall, he still babbled in his defense, “I don’t think I lack a sense of humour, in fact, we all have different definitions of humour …”
Felix and Bagman accelerated their pace in unison.
————
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