Finally, the Christmas holiday arrived amidst everyone's anticipation, and this winter was particularly lively.
"Are they... not cold?"
Watching from the window of the hall, at those Magic Institute students flying around the castle on brooms in their thin golden uniforms, despite the snowy weather, William couldn't help but remark while eating hot pot.
"But their residence is in the sky, there's probably no way around it."
Cedric mumbled as he stuffed a piece of meat wrapped in spicy oil into his mouth. He was seriously reading a book, Wizard Etiquette Dance. According to the boy, as the lead dancer for Christmas Eve, he definitely didn't want to stomp on Cho Chang's feet like a pig's trotter that night.
"At the very least, they could wear a bit more—well, anyway, those islanders value style over warmth."
As William bantered with Cedric, he declined a dance invitation from a Beauxbatons girl. Not far away, a group of young witches let out a schadenfreude-filled sound and welcomed this new "loser."
"You really are popular."
Cedric commented gloomily, having been drawn to look,.
"I'll make sure to tell Cho Chang exactly what you said, especially with that resentful yet jealous tone."
William nodded, calmly replying, and as he noticed people around seemingly lining up to ask him, especially when he even saw several boys, he finally couldn't sit still anymore—no, he really didn't plan on coming out!
"Senior William, can I be your dance partner?"
Yet another inquiry came, and as William impatiently turned around to refuse, he was met with the slyly smiling face of the girl.
"...Of course."
After a moment of surprise, William responded gently.
The crowd finally dispersed.
"Sigh, I heard a lot of hearts break, senior, you really are popular."
Hermione sat down slowly next to William, pouting. She had privately asked William beforehand, not expecting it to become so troublesome later.
Even when it's said there is a partner, they still come up and ask—and what was up with those guys?
"'You really are popular, senior.'"
Cedric's sarcastic voice came as he looked at William, a smile in his eyes, "I said it's jealousy, but she said it wasn't—"
"Nonsense, what are you barking about?"
William interrupted the boy's sarcastic tone, asking.
"...Uh, I'm so hurt."
Cedric pretended to rub his eyes with an air of having been deeply hurt, and then he actually started crying—not because of his excellent acting skills, but because he accidentally rubbed chili into his eyes, making his eyes red as he howled.
"You guys have such a good relationship."
Hermione took the bowl and chopsticks, eagerly eyeing the meatball that had just sunk into the spicy oil base.
"Squeak squeak—"
Kabuda popped out of William's pocket—William didn't even know when it had returned, realizing he hadn't made an appearance in a while, Niffler climbed onto the table, turning its plump bottom toward the hot pot behind, rubbing its eyes, and asserting itself for a moment.
"Back from scavenging?"
William pinched his pocket, then unsurprisingly pulled out two bottles of potions made by Snape. Even though he hadn't mentioned the command, this little guy really hadn't forgotten its roots.
"Hey, Hermione, suddenly noticed—your uh, teeth?"
After recovering his sight, Cedric pointed at his mouth, curiously asking.
"Ah, I've been filing them for a long time. Oh, I guess I never told you, my parents are dentists—in Muggle terms, they're doctors who specialize in teeth."
Hermione gestured, explaining. It's hard to make a Pure-Blood Wizard understand such things, but fortunately, Cedric's comprehension wasn't bad, "They always wanted me to wear braces for correction, but—to be honest, that's really slow, so I used a bit of magic—Senior, how do they look?" The girl grinned playfully, revealing a row of clean and neat teeth at William.
"Very nice, you asked me that during the summer." William nodded.
"Did I?" Hermione's face flushed a little.
"Alright, I think I get it."
Cedric nodded, not completely understanding, then he changed the topic, "Oh, Hermione, about the tablet, your research...uh, Senior, you know, we're doing this, it's not really cheating, right? It's called cooperation at the very least—"
"I didn't say anything, did I?"
William said with a puzzled look.
"Ahem, just asking, just asking."
Cedric blinked, seeing the smile at the bottom of William's eyes, he seemed to have suddenly realized, "By the way, isn't there any tip-off session this time?"
"Do you really want to know?"
William glanced at him.
"Of course! Of course!" Sensing an opportunity, Cedric nodded eagerly.
"Then I'll tell you—the contents of the tablet have nothing to do with the competition rules, just some methods to help you survive longer in the event."
William slowly stunned Kabuda, then continued rummaging Niffler's pocket, "As for the others... hmm, the competition venue is the Forbidden Forest, at that time, we'll do some simple clearing to ensure that there are no dangerous creatures like Acromantulas or Fire Dragons in the venue. As for the competition content, it's a battle royale—"
"Battle royale?"
Upon hearing this, the two of them unconsciously repeated it.
"Yes, a battle royale—" William nodded, "You guys run, I hunt."
"?"
...
"You mean, we have to find the treasure in the Forbidden Forest while being hunted by Senior William?"
In the Gryffindor Common Room, Harry widened his eyes, looking incredulously at Hermione, who was speaking so confidently. He couldn't help but swallow hard, "That's not true, right?" He pleaded, as if hoping this could change the inevitable reality.
Unfortunately, the only response he got in reality was Hermione shaking her head indifferently.
"We're doomed."
Harry's expression shifted from fear to blankness as he gazed at the red and gold ceiling above, speaking in a calm tone.
"Is it really that frightening?"
Seeing Neville, Hermione—and even Ginny looking concerned after hearing the news, Ron finally couldn't help but ask—he was probably the only one around without a clear impression of William's prowess, even Ginny had sparred with William in the last Duel Club session.
If that counted as sparring, Ginny didn't even see William's movements clearly the first time. It was only in the subsequent sessions, when he slowed down, that she realized the gap in skill.
She didn't feel any suppression in magic power; William merely practiced the most basic Disarming Spell with her. She even felt that the power of his Disarming Spell wasn't as strong as hers—yet the outcome was evidently her loss. Even with a weak Disarming Spell, she couldn't contend with him at all.
However, this time, William didn't implement a suppressive style of teaching and instead allowed the freshmen to feel their own progress—
But this infuriated the older students, led by Cedric, who lamented about how hard their days had been before.
"You don't understand, Ron. Think of it as if the next task has Harry being hunted by You-Know-Who—"
Ginny sighed helplessly as she said this.
"!"
This finally made Ron understand; for children who grew up in the past decade, the name Voldemort had a decidedly chilling effect.
"What should we do?"
Harry asked instinctively.
"It's actually not that serious. Senior won't leave a deadlock for you guys, and he promises not to favor or target anyone—"
Hermione mused, taking out the slate she had, "He said, as long as you can unlock the secret on this slate, any normal-thinking person can achieve a good result—and although the next task is an individual battle, alliances are actually allowed, and you can even team up with all the Champions to counterattack Senior—"
"..."
"Alright, pretend I never brought that up."
Catching Harry's gaze, Hermione shook her head helplessly and continued to focus on the slate in her hands, trying to decipher the meaning from the light blue lines.
"Maybe, we really could—"
Neville took out a few beans from his pocket, but the suggestion was vetoed almost immediately by the others.
"This thing definitely can't handle Senior, at most it might distract the Niffler—"
"Squeak?"
Kabuda lifted his head from Ginny's arms, the tip of his pink snout slightly reddening with irritation.
"..."
"...Maybe, we could discuss Harry's demise after Christmas?"
Finally, the silence was broken, and Ron couldn't help but propose a highly constructive suggestion.
"Great idea!"
So everyone nodded in agreement.
...
The time soon arrived at Christmas day.
William was woken up by Dobby's sudden and startling voice.
Then he saw, under the Christmas tree in the corner, piles upon piles of presents. William sat up, tossing Norbert, who had been sleeping on his chest, aside. No wonder he had felt slightly out of breath all night; the "little rascal" had regained a good portion of its size…
"Sir, did I wake you?"
Dobby turned around, asking softly and cautiously.
"Of course not, ah, I was just about to wake up."
William shook his head, not wanting to add to the young elf's emotional burden and stress. "Looks like you received quite a few gifts this year?"
"Yes, Dobby received many gifts from friends!"
Mentioning this visibly brought joy to the elf's face, and it shook its ears, "Especially—thank you, Mr. Richard. I really like this knitted sweater, it's a perfect fit! So warm!"
"Warmth is good."
William yawned, fully waking up. He looked down at the Christmas presents piled to the edge of his bed, then picked up the unique letter from among them, the only one without an attachment.
His eyes immediately caught the sender's name—
"What kind of mischief is this?" William frowned as he tore open the envelope.