"Kael, come and build snowmen with us!"
Fred and George greeted warmly and invited him to join.
But Kael refused without hesitation.
Their art was too avant-garde, with an abstract style and free-flowing lines that exuded an intriguing and mysterious aura.
Kael was just an ordinary person with limited abilities and skills; how could he dare to participate in such a magnificent project?
He wasn't worthy.
...
Not far ahead, some young Hufflepuffs were gathered by the Black Lake.
The heavy snow had formed a thick layer of ice on the Black Lake, and they were debating whether to cut a hole in it to catch some fish to make a delicious Stargazy Pie.
Nearby, a few students were having a snowball fight. Kael saw with his own eyes an older Gryffindor student sneakily stuffing a rock into a snowball and aiming it at a Slytherin.
He just missed the target a bit; the specially made snowball arced through the air and nearly hit Professor Oren, who was passing by.
"Young man, be more mindful when having a snowball fight, and don't mix in stones again."
Professor Oren used his wand to flick the snowball away. "Consider it an accident this time, so I won't dock any points from you, but don't let it happen again."
The Gryffindor student nodded repeatedly.
Everyone was having fun, except Filch, who looked very annoyed.
Because the young wizards didn't have the habit of wiping their shoes, and when they returned to the castle after the snowball fight, they left a trail of dirty footprints.
This undoubtedly increased Filch's workload significantly.
Eventually, he simply brought a chair and sat down at the castle's entrance, only allowing the young wizards to enter after they had cleaned their shoes.
In Magic History class, Kael fell asleep in just thirty seconds, and his sleep quality was even better than in the dormitory.
If Conna hadn't nudged him at the end of class, Kael might have slept until noon.
"Both houses' students are sleeping..."
Conna rubbed her slightly red eyes, clearly having just woken up herself. "Why can't the school hire a new Magic History professor?"
"Probably because Professor Binns doesn't need a salary," Kael shrugged.
For that reason alone, Professor Binns' position was irreplaceable.
Let alone the fact that he worked all year round, had no personal affairs like other professors, and maintained a 100% attendance rate, providing remarkable stability.
Moreover, the Magic History exam questions were extremely simple; as long as you reviewed the textbook before the exam, getting an "E" wasn't a problem.
So not only the board of governors, even Headmaster Dumbledore wouldn't agree to replace this chosen worker.
"That stingy old bee."
Kael curled his lip, expressing disdain for Dumbledore's ruthless exploitation of older professors.
...
As December arrived, the weather grew colder, but the young wizards, in stark contrast to last month's slump, were full of excitement every day.
After all, the Christmas holidays were almost here...
This meant they were about to enjoy a full two weeks off.
In such an atmosphere, it was hard for students to focus in class, frequently daydreaming during lessons.
Initially, the professors deducted a few points, hoping to keep them a bit tense, but it had little effect.
Maybe it only worked for a few minutes; after that, they reverted to their previous absent-minded and unlucky selves.
Upon realizing this, the professors decided not to care much.
Every year was like this, and they had long been used to it. Besides, no new content was covered before the holidays; as long as it wasn't too excessive, they just turned a blind eye.
Of course, there were two exceptions.
Professor Binns couldn't care less about Christmas; in the Magic History class, he still lectured in a requiem-like tone about the invention of the Automatic Stirring Cauldron.
"The Automatic Stirring Cauldron is a cauldron enchanted with magic to automatically stir magic potions, invented by Gaspard Shingleton in the late 20th century, and he therefore..."
The other exception was Professor Snape.
He didn't care why students lost focus and wouldn't be lenient like other professors; if anyone besides Slytherins was caught, it'd cost them three points each time.
Thanks to his relentless efforts, by the day before Christmas, Slytherin was far in the lead in house points, even beating second-place Ravenclaw by nearly a hundred points.
Professor Snape was very pleased with this result.
It looked like Slytherin's six consecutive championships were secured this year!
The evening before leaving school, Kael ran into a slightly flustered Hagrid in the auditorium.
Since their night tour of the Forbidden Forest, it was the first time Kael had seen Hagrid.
Mostly because of guilt, for the past month, all five of them had been avoiding Hagrid.
But now that they'd run into him, they couldn't just pretend not to see him.
Kael walked up and waved, "Hi, Hagrid, how've you been lately?"
"Oh, Kael." Hagrid lowered his head. "Sorry, I don't have time to chat right now; there's still a lot I haven't prepared.
By Merlin's beard, I can't believe Hogwarts is off for the holidays tomorrow; I thought Halloween was just a few days ago."
As he spoke, Hagrid didn't stop walking, striding swiftly out of the castle.
Kael had to jog to barely keep up with him.
"Need any help?" Kael asked.
"If you're not busy..." Hagrid thought for a moment, "Could you help me bring some mistletoe decorations? The banquet is starting soon, and I'm worried about running out of time."
"Of course, no problem."
Kael and Hagrid came to a cabin by the Forbidden Forest.
Not far away lay two fir trees, each about sixty to seventy centimeters in diameter, along with a small pile of holly and mistletoe.
"Just grab those decorative plants; leave the rest to me."
Having said that, Hagrid bent down and struggled to pick up the two fir trees.
When Hagrid stood up, his face flushed red, clearly indicating that carrying the two trees at once was challenging even for him.
Just then, Hagrid suddenly heard a voice behind him.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
The next second, he felt a sudden lightness, as if the two fir trees didn't exist.
Hagrid turned around in surprise to look at Kael.
"A levitation charm... amazing!"
"You're exaggerating, Hagrid," Kael shook his head. "Anyone can do this."
"Really...?"
Hagrid blinked in confusion, recalling that when he was in school, it wasn't like that at all.
In just a few years, have Hogwarts freshmen already become so excellent?