This Christmas, Hogwarts seemed determined to leave a deep impression on its guests, showing the school at its very best. Every decoration throughout the castle reflected the hard work and care of the professors and students.
The entire castle was festooned with decorations. If not for the lack of big red lanterns, Eda would have thought she had returned to her previous life.
The Great Hall was filled with glittering Christmas trees and golden owls that hooted without pause. The marble staircases were draped with icicles that never melted. Fortunately, the ice did not lower the castle's temperature, and no foolish child tried to stick their tongue to one.
The old suits of armor had also been polished until they gleamed and enchanted so that whenever someone passed by, they would burst into Christmas carols.
Walking alone down a silent corridor, only to suddenly hear someone humming beside you, was unsettling no matter whether they were singing a Christmas carol or "Jingle Bells."
Eda really wanted to know which genius had come up with the brilliant idea of making the suits of armor sing. Couldn't they come up with fewer creepy ideas and more normal ones?
Right now, Eda had no desire to sing Christmas carols. She would much rather sing "Oh! Susanna," even though she wasn't from Alabama and couldn't play her beloved banjo.
The castle's decorating work over the past few days had exhausted Eda. On one hand, she had been leading the prefects all over the castle to help the professors. On the other, she had to keep an eye on Peeves to stop him from causing trouble.
Dumbledore still carried plenty of authority. Peeves had behaved himself for half the school year, only unable to restrain himself and returning to mischief just before Christmas.
Heavy snow blanketed the castle and grounds, dressing Hogwarts in silver white. The aroma of stew drifted through the halls, making everything feel warm and cozy as the festive atmosphere grew stronger.
If there was anyone in the castle who was unhappy at the moment, the first person Eda thought of was the picky Fleur Delacour.
Fleur, from France, was always complaining. She complained about Hogwarts' freezing weather, complained that the food was too greasy and that it kept her from fitting into her newly bought dress. If you could think of something, Fleur could complain about it.
Among Gryffindor's little lions, there was also someone who had been unhappy lately, Ginny Weasley.
Ginny wasn't upset because she was only a third year and couldn't officially attend the Christmas Ball. In fact, quite a few people had invited her. But Ginny turned every one of them down. She had been waiting for Harry, hoping he would notice her.
She had endured all the girls who took the initiative to invite Harry, and endured Harry inviting Cho Chang himself. Yet even now, with Harry still without a partner, he had never once thought of Ginny.
How could Ginny possibly be happy? She had deliberately lingered around Harry these past few days, but Harry treated her like thin air. He even discussed with Ron, right in front of her, how they should find dance partners.
After going through a long list of names, Harry and Ron finally remembered that Hermione was standing right beside them. Then Ron, with his complete lack of tact, asked Hermione to choose between him and Harry.
Ron immediately infuriated Hermione. Her fiery temper flared, and she snapped back at him. Then she turned around and accepted someone else's invitation. Compared to Hermione, Ginny had it even worse. At least Ron had asked Hermione. Harry had never even asked what Ginny thought.
After learning that Harry had become Parvati Patil's dance partner, Ginny completely gave up hope and accepted an invitation from Gryffindor's sword saint, Neville.
Harry and Ron were both complete idiots. Their perfect dance partners had been right beside them all along, yet they never noticed. If not for the overwhelming power of the protagonist's halo, it wouldn't have been surprising at all if Harry and Ron had ended up attending the ball together.
Amid all the excitement, Christmas Day of 1994 arrived as scheduled.
On the snowy white morning, Eda thought she had woken up early enough, only to find that Angelina, Alicia, and Katie had all risen before her. By the time she opened her eyes, they had already unwrapped half of their Christmas presents.
She rolled out of bed, opened the window, and had barely taken a breath of the freezing air before someone laughingly scolded, "Are you trying to kill us?" Eda promptly slammed the window shut.
Naturally, she wasn't about to let that go. Before long, Eda's icy little hand had slipped into Angelina's pajamas, and the four girls immediately dissolved into chaos, abandoning even their presents.
Eda was quickly defeated. No matter how cold her hands were, they couldn't compete with three people tickling her at once. Unable to endure such torture, Eda immediately surrendered and raised the white flag. Only then did the three girls let her go.
Panting and flushed, the four of them returned to their own beds and continued opening their presents, enjoying the surprises of Christmas morning.
The people who sent Eda Christmas gifts were still the same as always. There weren't any more than before, but there weren't any fewer either. She was easy to satisfy.
Perhaps because Eda had already turned seventeen, most of the gifts she received were jewelry and clothing. The only problem was that each outfit she received was more mature than the last, especially Angelina's gift.
Even if summer really came, Eda would never wear that outfit outside. The designer had been far too stingy with the fabric. It was every bit as revealing as the outfit she had given Angelina.
Mrs. Weasley's handmade sweater was especially creative this year. The V-neck sweater no longer had the recipient's initial on the front. Instead, it featured a cluster of blooming flowers.
After sharing the homemade meat pies Mrs. Weasley had sent, the four lazy girls finally remembered to clean up the wrapping paper scattered across the dormitory floor and remembered that people downstairs were waiting to have a meal with them.
Standing in the common room and looking at the lively scene before her, Eda suddenly felt that the once spacious room had become rather crowded. Nearly every student had chosen to remain at Hogwarts for the Christmas holidays this year, giving her that impression.
On Christmas morning, hardly anyone went outside. Everyone stayed in Gryffindor Tower, either fooling around or taking advantage of the last bit of time to practice dancing.
According to Ron, Neville could dance by himself for quite a long time even without a partner.
At noon, everyone enjoyed a lavish feast in the Great Hall, including at least a hundred turkeys, mountains of Christmas pudding, and huge piles of wizarding Cribbage crackers.
In the afternoon, many of the boys went outside for snowball fights, while most of the girls stayed inside the castle. Some of them had even started getting ready early.
Eda didn't know what it was like in the other Houses, but the Gryffindor girls' dormitory had become as noisy as a marketplace. Girls were shouting everywhere. Some were borrowing curling irons, others were borrowing Sleekeazy's Hair Potion. Several girls who were usually good with their hands had transformed into hairstylists, and there were even lines outside a few dormitory rooms.
Eda stayed obediently in the dormitory, lying on her bed flipping through a magazine. She had confiscated it from an older student just a few days earlier. It was a fashion magazine from the wizarding world, and Eda studied it with incredible seriousness. She wasn't even this serious when she studied.
Watching a model in the magazine skillfully twist her hair into an elegant bun, Eda's smooth forehead filled with question marks.
What did I just see? How did that strand of hair end up over there? And how did her completely flat hair suddenly become so full?
It's magic! It has to be magical magic!
She put down the magazine, grabbed a lock of her own hair to try it herself, then promptly threw the fashion magazine as far away as she could.
Fashion magazines really were full of lies!
Feeling dizzy and short of breath, Eda decided to simply lie flat. She gave up. Before long, she drifted off to sleep.
As evening gradually fell, Angelina, Alicia, and Katie did not return to the dormitory until nearly seven o'clock. They had just come back from having their hair done by an older student.
The moment they pushed open the door, they saw Eda sleeping soundly on her bed. With just over an hour left before the Christmas Ball began, the three of them couldn't waste any more time and immediately woke Eda in the roughest way possible.
"What time is it? Is it time for dinner already?" Eda mumbled drowsily, her eyes half open, clearly still not fully awake.
Without a word, Angelina pulled Eda straight out of bed, while Alicia simply smacked her on the back. Eda's drowsiness instantly vanished.
Looking at her beautifully dressed friends, then out at the night beyond the window, Eda finally became fully awake.
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