Ethan returned to the Forbidden Forest without much trouble.
Well—
Mostly without trouble.
He got lost once while flying through the thick winter clouds because everything looked exactly the same in complete darkness.
Still, by dawn he finally descended into the familiar forest.
As usual, the Forbidden Forest remained strangely peaceful.
Ethan stopped briefly to check on the Acromantulas.
Unfortunately, there were almost no traces of spiders remaining near the surface anymore. After months of brutal hunting and systematic extermination, Aragog had apparently led his surviving children deep underground into hidden caverns.
Honestly, Ethan did not blame them.
Even he felt his previous behaviour toward the spiders might have been slightly excessive.
Not that it mattered much anymore.
The younger Acromantulas no longer provided meaningful nourishment anyway.
Now that Ethan's soul completeness had reached 27.2%, souls worth only ten or twelve points barely affected him at all.
Even devouring large groups together failed to increase his progress noticeably.
At this stage, only fully mature Acromantulas with soul strengths above fifteen possessed any value.
Or Aragog himself.
The old spider's soul strength exceeded twenty points.
Still—
There was no rush.
Ethan estimated the spiders needed several more months to reproduce and mature properly.
He only knew Acromantula eggs required roughly nine weeks to hatch.
The growth rate afterward remained uncertain.
"Let them develop a little longer," Ethan muttered. "I'll harvest them again at the end of term."
Nearby, several centaurs watched him cautiously from the trees.
Interestingly, none approached anymore.
Apparently the herd had finally realised Ethan belonged firmly within the category of Things We Absolutely Do Not Provoke.
After all, the centaurs had spent years desperately trying to suppress the Acromantula population themselves.
Ethan solved the problem in three months.
By committing genocide.
Leaving the forest behind, Ethan passed Hagrid's cabin and immediately smelled lingering Christmas food drifting through the cold air.
Hagrid had clearly brought leftovers from Hogwarts.
"…Damn it."
Ethan suddenly felt deeply cheated.
He spent Christmas eating rabbit stew.
Carefully avoiding Filch's patrol routes, Ethan slipped back into Hogwarts Castle smoothly.
After being caught once already earlier in the year, he had significantly improved his stealth techniques.
Now, whenever he needed to avoid detection, he activated his soul vision in advance.
Since souls remained visible through walls, Ethan could easily identify nearby people before they noticed him.
Filch no longer posed any threat whatsoever.
At Christmas, Hogwarts looked unusually warm and beautiful.
The corridors were decorated with enormous wreaths of holly and mistletoe.
As Ethan walked past the Great Hall entrance, however, he noticed countless tiny souls floating invisibly near the decorations.
"…Nymph hooks?"
He vaguely remembered reading about magical creatures invisible to most wizards.
Tiny fairy-like parasites.
Harmless.
Also completely useless.
Their souls barely even registered on the system.
Most showed a soul strength value of one.
Technically alive.
Barely.
Ethan climbed the staircase toward the eighth floor but did not immediately return to Gryffindor Tower.
Instead, he entered the Room of Requirement first.
Ali still needed somewhere safe to live.
Fortunately, the Room of Requirement proved absurdly useful once again.
When Ethan requested a secure outdoor environment suitable for housing dangerous magical creatures, the room immediately expanded.
A second doorway appeared within the chamber.
Behind it stretched a false outdoor landscape beneath an artificial night sky.
Grass swayed softly.
A stream flowed nearby.
Tall trees surrounded an open clearing.
Even a crescent moon hung overhead.
Though the illusion failed slightly because the stars remained too visible despite the moonlight.
Real skies did not work that way.
When Ethan entered, he immediately found the Count collapsed dramatically across a massive owl-shaped cushion bed.
The owl looked utterly exhausted.
"Your entire family should pay extra shipping fees," the Count groaned the moment he saw Ethan. "Your father sent enough gifts to crush a horse."
Then he lowered his voice dramatically.
"I think he secretly mailed you a bomb."
"Don't be ridiculous," Ethan replied while examining the pile calmly. "If bombs could kill me, I would've died at age one."
Besides, Edward Norton might be strange.
But he was not incompetent.
The pile of gifts inside the room was surprisingly large.
Rose had sent several enormous boxes of sweets.
Hagrid contributed another terrifying sack of rock cakes.
Ethan immediately regretted pretending to enjoy those earlier in the year.
There was also a hand-knitted jumper from Mrs Weasley alongside an entire box of homemade fudge.
Apparently Ron really had written home about him.
Or perhaps the Weasleys and Nortons already knew each other from the previous war.
Both families belonged firmly to Dumbledore's side during those years.
The jumper itself was white with a large blue C stitched into the front.
For a brief moment, Ethan simply stared quietly at the growing pile.
Receiving Christmas presents really did make people strangely happy.
No wonder children loved the holiday so much.
"Now then…"
He turned toward Edward's gigantic package suspiciously.
"Let's see what sort of madness he sent this time."
The massive rectangular box measured nearly two metres tall.
Inside—
"…What?"
Ethan blinked.
It was a transparent display case.
At first glance, it resembled some kind of elaborate model landscape.
Then he noticed movement.
Tiny clay adventurers marched across miniature roads toward a mountain.
Deep beneath the mountain waited a fire-breathing dragon guarding glittering treasure.
Small villages.
Forests.
Swamps.
Castles.
Every figure inside moved independently.
"…Edward built me a living Dungeons & Dragons board."
Honestly, this was probably the least surprising outcome possible.
The wizarding world did not even play tabletop games like this.
Which meant Edward almost certainly invented the entire thing himself.
And judging from the craftsmanship, he had spent enormous amounts of time creating it.
Ethan's expression softened slightly.
He would definitely praise it heavily in his next letter.
Maintaining family relationships required proper emotional management.
Meanwhile, the plan for housing Ali succeeded smoothly.
The Room of Requirement provided her with the artificial outdoor environment exactly as requested.
Once released from the bag, the black unicorn immediately collapsed onto the grass looking completely exhausted.
Ethan frowned thoughtfully.
Apparently the combat curses earlier had drained her severely.
"Friendly reminder," the Count said lazily from his cushion nest, "magical creatures are not inflatable dolls powered by batteries."
[I feel sick.]
Ali's psychic voice sounded weak inside Ethan's mind.
[Your flying was terrible.]
Then she immediately fell asleep beneath the fake moonlight.
"…Right."
Ethan originally intended to study what racial abilities he inherited from the Nightmare bloodline.
Clearly that would need to wait.
After organising the stolen books from Burke Manor onto the room's shelves, Ethan finally left the Room of Requirement and headed back toward Gryffindor Tower.
Now came the important question.
Had Harry Potter already discovered the Mirror of Erised yet?
Honestly, Ethan considered that highly likely.
Dumbledore would absolutely arrange things carefully to ensure Harry encountered the mirror eventually.
Partly to teach him about obsession and memory.
And partly to prepare him psychologically for the future Philosopher's Stone protection plan.
Ethan climbed through the portrait hole behind the Fat Lady.
The moment he emerged into the common room, he immediately spotted Harry sitting near the fire.
The boy looked terrible.
Dark circles hung beneath his eyes.
Clearly he had not slept at all.
And yet—
Harry also looked unbelievably excited.
"Ethan?!"
Harry jumped to his feet immediately.
"You're already back? It's only the second day of holidays!"
Then he grabbed Ethan's sleeve excitedly.
"No—you have to come see something. You'll never guess what I found…"
....
Join my P@treon FOR FREE and get 5 advanced chapters.
Paid members can get upto 60+ chapters ahead of the public release.
Link : [email protected]/thebookaddict