"Prince! Come build a snowman with us!" George and Fred enthusiastically approached. Ever since they shared with Ian their nighttime encounter with something impersonating Ian a few days ago, they'd become quite chummy with him, to the point that Ian seemed completely unaware of his face turning the color of Michael's beside him.
"Is this what you call a snowman?"
Michael was stunned as he looked at the "snowman" the twin brothers had made.
"I feel like my spirit has been contaminated."
William also held his head with an indescribable expression.
"This is art! You just don't understand!"
One of the twins proudly announced.
The other immediately chimed in, "Yeah, it's avant-garde art. Just look at these five heads and more than ten legs, don't the lines they form look beautiful?"
What a spiritually contaminating introduction.
William and Michael shivered, definitely not just from the weather, but from sensing the mental state of the two upper-year Gryffindor brothers.
"Will we become like this after learning magic for a while?" The two of them exchanged worried glances.
Compared to his two roommates who couldn't appreciate art, Ian was different. Ian gave a thumbs-up, showing his approval of the snowman the two brothers had built.
"You're right! This truly is art! But I bet! It definitely isn't original!" Ian's tone was confident as he gazed at the familiar-looking snowman sculpture.
The two brothers were also taken aback by his words.
"What should we do? He's found out we're plagiarists; he must have seen that Centaur specimen in the Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts' office." George looked at Fred, his tone extravagant, and Fred immediately covered his cheeks and shouted loudly.
"Then let's add five more deformed heads to it! Twenty legs! And put twenty eyes on each leg!" George slapped his thigh and immediately got involved in his new creation.
"George! Since there are so many legs, why not add a few cattle to it?" Fred didn't forget to introduce it to Ian while modifying the snowman.
"The professor's collection is the consequence of a Centaur's failed attempt at Animagus transformation; ours is a legitimate ultimate centaur!"
He attempted to invite Ian to join this momentous project.
"..."
Ian realized where his piece ended up from the two brothers' words. Indeed, he was a forward-thinking person, but he found that the twins' thought process was far more progressive than his own.
"Such a great project has to be done by you personally! We're not worthy!" Ian realized that his mental state was much better than that of the twin brothers.
Could this be the price of being caught by Filch during a night stroll?
What Hogwarts horror stories!
He led his two roommates to slip away on the spot.
In fact, there were many little wizards building snowmen just like the twin brothers. Most of them were little witches, and their snowmen were much more pleasing to the eye than the grotesque creation of the twins.
They were mostly some fantastic beasts, like oversized Nifflers, giant round-faced Scottish chickens, and Ian even saw a big toad among the snowmen.
"Why don't we build a giant fire dragon!" William displayed his love for dragons again, and his eager appearance also tempted Michael.
"Weren't you guys going to join me in chopping down trees?"
Ian asked in surprise.
The two good roommates reluctantly looked away.
"Don't worry, Ian, we won't betray you." William pulled Michael, who was looking in the direction of the little black kids, and continued towards the woods with Ian.
This was a task sent by the Ravenclaw Headmaster, and if Ian managed to find suitable Christmas trees for the Great Hall, he would reward Ravenclaw College with twenty points and publicly praise Ian.
To be honest.
Ian wasn't particularly concerned with earning points, since, according to him, Ravenclaw's house points were already leading by a wide margin due to everyone's efforts this year.
Even losing in Quidditch wouldn't matter.
"I just love helping the professors!"
Ian and his two roommates passed by the Black Lake.
The heavy snowfall had covered the Black Lake with a thick layer of ice, and several Hufflepuff little wizards were gathered in front of the lake, admiring the natural spectacle of small fish jumping and being frozen in mid-air.
"Look, these fish's heads are all exposed and frozen outside!"
"Wow, what a spectacle, I bet this must be the inspiration for the Stargazy Pie!"
"You're making me crave to take a bite of these fish heads."
...
It's safe to say, amongst Hufflepuff little wizards, if they weren't discussing food, they were on the way to discussing food, while there were also quite a few students next to them having a snowball fight.
It was a real battle between Gryffindor and Slytherin students.
"Hiss~ They're putting rocks in the snowballs!?" Michael shivered from the cold. He snatched the droopy version heated knit hat from the red-cheeked William's head and put it on his own.
"Indeed, Gryffindor are the real champions." Ian's eyes were sharper than Michael's; he noticed that Slytherin students only knew to put rocks in the snowballs, while some Gryffindor students were smearing feces on theirs—fresh, steaming ammunition 'enchanted' on-site somewhere.