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·Chapter 42: Christmas7 MayShareHarry had always felt he knew enough about magic and wizards. From owls delivering mail, to Hagrid bursting into a seaside hut, and then to Diagon Alley, Platform 9¾, and Hogwarts... he had slowly grown more comfortable, believing he was becoming familiar with the wizarding world.
But now, he suddenly felt like he knew nothing at all—not even what a wand truly was.
"That was clearly a baseball bat, right?" Harry stared blankly at Ron after Robert left the common room.
Still in a daze, he recalled what Robert had said yesterday afternoon... "There's also a two-and-a-half-foot wand that's not finished, but you can place an order."
So that was it?
Harry didn't believe Robert would joke about something like that. He tried to reconcile the words "feet" and "wand," but they refused to make sense together.
"I bet Robert was just messing with us," Ron said casually.
Unlike Harry, Ron had grown up with magic. To him, many things were already fixed parts of everyday life—common sense. Wands should look like the ones they currently used, differing only slightly in length, and that was it. Everyone around him used such wands. There had never been an exception.
So, from the start, Ron refused to believe the oversized "wand" was anything but a joke. To him, Robert was just amusing himself.
"Want to play Wizard Chess?" Ron asked, finishing his last bite of grilled mushroom.
"Ah, okay," Harry agreed, eager to distract himself. His thoughts were a tangled mess.
"But Ron, I've never played Wizard Chess before."
"That's fine. I can teach you; it's simple," Ron said as he took out a battered old chessboard and began explaining the game.
It was like Muggle chess, but the pieces were alive and had their own tempers, making it feel like commanding an actual army.
Harry quickly got hooked, though his skill was sorely lacking. He lost to Ron every time.
Eventually, even his Queen couldn't stand it anymore. She raised her staff and smacked Harry's finger sharply.
"Ouch…"
His finger turned red immediately. The pain brought tears to his eyes, while the Queen continued yelling insults.
"Idiot! Fool! Empty-headed mountain troll!"
That, Harry realized, was the downside of Wizard Chess—the pieces had truly awful tempers.
Meanwhile, Robert had reached Hagrid's wooden cabin.
He knocked, but there was no sign of Hagrid's usual booming voice.
"No one home?" Robert waited a while longer, but there was still no response from inside.
At last, he confirmed Hagrid wasn't home.
Most likely, Hagrid had gone to Hogsmeade for a drink.
It was something he often did. On weekdays, many professors headed into the village for a few drinks. Today was the first day of the school holidays, snow was falling steadily, and it was a rare peaceful day—Hagrid surely wouldn't let it go to waste.
That meant Robert had made a trip for nothing, trudging through the snow just to walk back to the castle again.
He had planned to start making the wand today, but now he'd have to wait until tomorrow.
Though Robert could have used a simple unlocking charm to enter, and though Hagrid likely wouldn't have minded, he chose not to. It wasn't urgent.
The Christmas holiday had just begun. There was no rush.
By afternoon, however, someone else was in a rush.
"Of course I'm in a hurry!" Harry was pacing back and forth in Robert's dormitory, glancing anxiously out the window every few seconds.
"Tomorrow is 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 too," Robert said calmly.
"But where did you even get those beans? Did an older student bring them from Hogsmeade?"
"No, I bought them on the train," Harry replied.
"The train?" Robert raised his eyebrows. "The Hogwarts Express?"
"Yeah," Harry nodded.
"You haven't finished the sweets you bought at the start of term?"
"I didn't eat the ones that taste like shoe polish," Harry admitted. "They've just been sitting in the box since then."
"You're really kind to Ron, then," Robert smacked his lips.
"Of course… Oh, no," Harry stammered, then quickly corrected himself. "I didn't mean I wanted to give him Bertie Bott's Beans for Christmas. I wanted to get him a wand!"
"I know," Robert said with a wave of his hand. "No need to explain to me."
"But if Hedwig doesn't come back…" Harry said, voice rising in panic. "You know the wand shop's only busy the first few days of term. I can't expect your grandfather, Garrick Ollivander, to just sit in an empty shop all day, right?"
"No, that's not what I meant," Harry shook his head quickly. "I just… I'm anxious. Ron really wants a wand of his own."
"Don't worry," Robert reassured him. "Tomorrow is Christmas. There's still time. Trust Hedwig."
That was all Harry could do now—trust Hedwig.
He waited until very late, tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep.
All he wanted was for Hedwig to return before morning, bringing Ron a wonderful surprise. Then they could have a feast and enjoy the day.
But midnight came and went, and still Hedwig hadn't returned.
Exhausted, Harry's eyes finally closed, and he drifted into sleep.
The next morning, Christmas arrived as expected.
Robert didn't get up early.
It wasn't until nine o'clock that he finally climbed out of bed and began opening the pile of packages at the foot of it.
There were quite a few gifts.
He did a quick count—over a dozen, double what he had received last year.
His eyes were drawn to the largest package.
Thick brown paper, rough wrapping, and sprawling handwriting—it was obviously from Hagrid.
There were a lot of things packed inside, but the most eye-catching was a small bundle of long, silver unicorn tail hairs.
Each strand was over fifteen inches long, belonging to the highest quality grade of unicorn hair.
Robert estimated that even his grandfather, Garrick Ollivander, might not have seen so much top-tier material in one place.
He couldn't even guess how long Hagrid had wandered through the Forbidden Forest to gather such a bundle.
In addition to the unicorn hair, the package also contained two jet-black legs.
Robert recognized them instantly: Acromantula legs. Hagrid had given him some before, but these were significantly longer—at least ten feet each when fully extended.
No wonder the package was so enormous. Anything smaller wouldn't have held them.
It was terrifying to imagine how big the Acromantula must have been when alive.
Robert continued sifting through the rest of the package, but then—
He heard a loud, incoherent scream from the next room.
"Oh my god! A wand! Harry, you actually gave me a new wand… I'm so happy… Is this really for me… This is the best Christmas present I've ever received!"
Robert smiled quietly as he folded back the brown paper.
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