A sharp Hogwarts

Christmas Eve, Gryffindor girls dormitory.

After telling the story about the terrifying Ape erectus, Dalia returned to the girls' dormitory alone.

Compared with the carefree boys, most girls choose to go home and spend Christmas with their families.

Therefore, the girls' dormitory became particularly deserted after the holidays, with no more than five people in total.

Except for Dalia, the remaining sisters are suffering from what Fred calls "OWLs comprehensive anxiety disorder". Dalia is not going to knock on their doors with a pillow at this time - Griffin There are legendary dormitories for top students in Taoyuan, and the one Dalia and Hermione live in now is one of them.

However, she and Hermione are the only members of the four-person dormitory for the time being, and the remaining vacancies may not be filled until the lower grades enter next year.

"Christmas——"

Dalia returned to the empty dormitory, and the magic knife was dancing flexibly.

"Mapo tofu."

Warm flames lit up the table in the center of the room.

Strictly speaking, that place should be called the Magic Food Operation Station.

The students' after-school magic homework, magic decoctions, and herbal treatments are all completed and brewed here.

But Daria prefers to call it her private kitchen - she and Hermione often make late-night snacks secretly here.

The Dursleys actually wrote a letter, hoping that she could go back for Christmas... They even compromised and allowed Harry to come back with them.

But Dalia still has some small frustrations in her heart. As a time traveler who occupied the magpie's nest, she still cannot 100% accept the Dursleys in her heart, and the celebration and reunion of Christmas are not in her soul. There is not so much sense of ritual. At this special time, what Dalia remembers is the winter solstice dumplings and the steaming pot of mutton soup. This is the midnight snack she is preparing now, a pot of mutton and haggis soup, and several A somewhat crudely made pork dumpling.

Washed and cut into large pieces of lamb ribs and haggis are tumbling in the crucible, and ginger slices and white radish roll up from time to time with the boiling soup.

After the smell was gone, Dalia skillfully added Codonopsis pilosula, angelica root, red dates, white radish, ginger, onion, garlic, and Sichuan peppercorns in sequence.

This is the simplest way to make winter solstice mutton soup pot. Hogwarts does not originally have so many medicinal ingredients.

But this afternoon she went to the drug store in Diagon Alley to buy a lot - and at the same time, she discovered a gap in the magical food of Hogwarts.

European magic dishes seem to have no concept of "medicinal food" at all. Angelica sinensis and Codonopsis pilosula are more used as magic ritual materials.

Maybe you can try the medicinal diet when you have time later, maybe it will surprise Professor Snape.

Speaking of which, did Dumbledore see something?

The "Exotic Hunting Knife" thing can fool the Ministry of Magic and Percy and others, but it is still a bit unrealistic to hide it from Dumbledore.

As a wizard who is over 100 years old, Dumbledore's experience and knowledge can be said to be some of the top people in the wizarding world today. Dalia suspected that from the moment she came out of Ollivander's blacksmith shop, Dumbledore had He saw through the true identity of the straight-edged long knife behind her back, which may be why he didn't question the outrageous price.

Unlike those mass-produced war knives in the non-magical world, "hunting knives" aimed at humans are high-risk weapons in any world.

Fortunately, Dumbledore never pointed this out - he even accepted the concept of the terrifying Ape erectus.

"Forget it, after all, this was what those bandits stole from the Old Summer Palace... This can be regarded as returning it to its original owner."

Even though she now has standard blond hair and blue eyes, her soul is definitely an out-and-out Chinese soul, and her magic can explain everything.

This should...be considered...the property has been returned to its original owner, right?

Dalia shook her head and stared at the mutton soup that was gradually turning white, with various thoughts floating around in her mind.

The magical civilization of this world is based on delicious food. One can imagine the appeal of Eastern "magic" to European and American wizards.

There is no powerful United States in the magical world of the "Gourmet Plane". The Soviet Union dragged the "American Dream" to hell, but the land of China still did not escape the catastrophe a hundred years ago. After more than half a year of insinuations and investigations, Da Leia was almost certain that the "Eight-Nation Alliance" still happened, and it was also accompanied by a magical version of the "Multinational Wizards" war. Ollivander's ancestral heritage and the recipes that Dumbledore was trying to improve and learn were part of it. .

However, neither Dumbledore, Ollivander, nor the entire European wizarding community seems to truly understand the secrets of Chinese magic.

Dalia is not surprised by this. After all, Chinese cuisine spans mountains and rivers, which is almost a "civilized" level of breadth and depth.

If we only understand and summarize it according to the traditional "national regions" of the European continent, there will be many deviations from the starting point.

"The Chinese Magical World..."

Dalia said softly, with a trace of yearning and curiosity in her eyes.

Whether it's the story in the original book or this world, the magic of that world has always been blank.

I don’t know what the situation is like over there. Maybe only when she becomes stronger can she have the opportunity to find out for herself?

The most important thing for her now is to find a way to pass the trial 100% and successfully stay at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The commitments of Dumbledore, Greengrass, and Fudge were on the one hand, but Dalia felt that it was best to take the initiative in her own hands - this was the most appropriate way to truly have certain magical talents and attainments, after all. At that time, there will be a joint rating by four professors and the entire school board, and there will still be many variables.

"The mutton and haggis are cooked... sprinkle with a little coriander... add some chili powder..."

Dalia hummed a strange song softly, eating a pot of mutton soup, and thinking about how to deal with the trial a few days later.

In fact, she had a final alternative.

If something unexpected happened during that assessment, she planned to draw out the big knife and chop it on Quirrell's head.

At a critical moment of life and death, the matter between Quirrell and Voldemort cannot be hidden. The shock of exposing Voldemort's conspiracy in public is enough to disrupt everything.

"Speaking of which...if Potter and I were attacked at the same time, who would Professor Snape save first?"

The thoughts in Dalia's mind became more and more divergent, and she whispered curiously.

"The different-colored version of Lily, this should be the highest priority..."

"Ah-"

Meanwhile, the Potions Master's office.

Snape couldn't help but sneeze and frowned.

Some kind of uncomfortable premonition——

Dumbledore?Is that old guy planning another conspiracy?

…………

As time goes by, Christmas arrives as scheduled.

The early morning of the day may be the busiest and most stressful time for house elves.

The owl messenger will pile the packages to the door in advance, and the elves will distribute them to each person's bedside by name.

Phantom movement and higher intelligence are enough to ensure that the gift delivery process is accurate and secretive: the only drawback may be that the elves cannot stuff the gifts into Christmas stockings, but in the magical world, wizards seem to be more inclined Yu hides presents in a magic hat instead of a long red Christmas stocking.

When Dalia opened her eyes, her Christmas gifts were piled at the foot of the bed.

Well, not really - Dalia didn't have too many friends at school.

Hermione sent her a large box of horseshoe-shaped chocolates, and the Dursleys sent her a large doll and a small money bag.

There was twenty galleons in the small cowhide pouch, and there was a letter on it. Vernon Dursley told Dalia to reply if she received a gift.

It was obvious that Vernon didn't really trust the logistics of the wizarding world...especially the owl delivering gold coins.

"Okay, now there's only one last gift left..."

Dalia rubbed the stuffed rabbit and looked at the last paper package.

Dalia turned it over in her hands. It looked like a book, but more like a pamphlet.

"Uh. No one sends exercise books at Christmas, right? Well, probably not..."

Dalia opened the paper package and found a thin booklet inside.

It doesn't look magical at all.

Well……

Dalia stared at what looked like a diary and thought warily for a few seconds.

This seems to have a vague sense of déjà vu. Could it be that Dumbledore sent Tom's diary as a gift?

But the next second, Dalia quickly gave up this idea:

There is a note on the side of the booklet.

"I hope you will use this Castle Index properly and not spread it to anyone else! - Argus Filch."

"Castle Index? Mr. Filch?!"

Dalia glanced at the signature in surprise. She didn't expect Filch to give her a gift.

She picked up the booklet and flipped through it. It was filled with various secret passages in the castle and the triggering rules of magic facilities.

It may be much clumsier than the legendary Marauder's Map, but the content on it will definitely not be inferior to that of the Marauder's Map.

"...Really, Mr. Filch, I am actually not a squib——"

Dalia's eyes flickered and she breathed a sigh of relief.

This gift may be the rarest and most precious gift she has ever received.

Before Dalia could continue to be moved, a loud and fighting sound suddenly came from the lounge outside the dormitory.

Dalia put down the gift, knocked deftly on the railing at the door of the girls' dormitory, and slid down the stairs that turned into a slide.

Percy was bundled up in a brown sweater, and Fred and George were trying to push him towards the door of the lounge.

Harry and Ron stood in the back watching the show, and all the boys were wearing Mrs. Weasley's knitted sweaters.

"Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas - Dalia, can I really keep this?!"

Ron quickly turned his head, waved enthusiastically to Dalia, and asked a little excitedly.

In his hand, he held a small ball of fur that was chirping and jumping up and down - it was a lively little owl.

"Of course, the name 'Zhu Qiongwei' you prepared can be used."

Dalia smiled and replied that she made a special trip to the Dora Owl store in Diagon Alley yesterday.

Due to her influence, Ron lost his mouse early, and depending on the situation, Sirius probably wouldn't compensate him with an owl.

Dalia wasn't sure where Ron bought the little owl in the original book, but she went to the store to pick out the most lively and active little guy.

"Merry Christmas! Cousin - I received the crystal wizard chess from you..."

Harry said cheerfully, but his voice suddenly became quieter.

He noticed that Dalia was clutching several unwrapped presents - no more than four.

Compared to the gift packages he and Ron had, the wrapping paper in Dahlia's hands was pitiful.

Harry suddenly remembered that neither he nor Ron seemed to have prepared a Christmas gift for Dalia...

"Hey Dalia - Merry Christmas!"

"Awesome, where did you get all those magic toys!"

George and Fred also came over quickly, looking like they wanted to hold her and kiss her for a few times.

Dalia prepared a lot of magical Zuko props for them, and what surprised them most was that many of them came with detailed drawings.

Although most of the drawings and explanations are basic props, George and Fred can crack it with a little more fiddling, but with ready-made disassembly drawings, it is definitely better than trying to figure it out on their own - the Weasleys never They would be given too much money to buy these, and the two brothers had been envious of the others for a long time.

"Diagon Alley - I did a little favor for Professor Dumbledore, and he is willing to reimburse me for the purchase expenses."

Dalia said frankly, looking at Percy who looked at her gratefully and confusedly, and said with a slight smile.

"Well, so are your 'those' things, Percy. You sent them right—"

"You can do whatever you want with them..."

Dalia moved her mouth and said silently to Percy, "Penello."

"How did you-" Percy hesitated, looking a little embarrassed.

Percy's gifts were richer than those of the other Weasley boys. In addition to several expensive magic books, there were also some girls' skin care potions.

In her gift message, Dalia also told Percy to speed up the date and capture the Ravenclaw prefects as soon as possible.

"Professor Dumbledore?"

At this time, Harry noticed what Dalia just said.

He looked at Dalia with some confusion, but Dalia obviously didn't intend to explain in depth to him.

"You know who I am—"

Dalia smiled and blinked, and said mysteriously.

"My dear little cousin, a gentleman should not pry into a lady's secrets...it is not a good thing to be too curious."

As she spoke, she threw the wrappers into the trash can in the lounge.

"Come on, I'm so hungry - has the Christmas party started yet?"

"Well, of course, it's time for us to go down..."

Percy glanced at the meager gift wrapping paper, and his expression froze slightly.

He clapped his hands and called everyone down, and when Daria and Harry crawled out of the lounge, he poked the twins who were lagging behind.

"Gift--"

Percy pouted at Fred and George.

The three of them looked at each other and raised their hands to scratch their hair.

This time...

Receiving a gift at Christmas and not receiving a gift in return is probably the most embarrassing situation.

However, it's not just the three of them who are now worrying about "making up" for the return gift.

…………

Malfoy Manor.

"Dalia Dursley...the Mudblood?"

Lucius put down the envelope in his hand and looked at Draco, who was holding a broomstick not far away.

Draco Malfoy nodded in confusion and nervousness, subconsciously hugging his new broom tightly.

He didn't know why that violent woman sent him such an expensive gift.

but……

This is Nimbus 2000!

The best broomstick on the market right now!

"Lucius—"

Before Draco could speak, Mrs. Malfoy suddenly said.

She pressed her right hand on her husband's shoulder, looked at him and shook his head gently.

"That's Draco's friend. At least today, let's not discuss pureblood glory-"

There may be some tacit understanding between pure-blood families, but most of them don't have deep friendships.

Draco Malfoy received just three holiday gifts today:

Two Christmas gifts from her and her husband.

as well as……

That expensive broomstick.