Ethan didn't waste much thought on Draco Malfoy after that.
The only thing he needed to do was continue accepting benefits from the Malfoy family.
As for repayment?
That was an adult problem.
Ethan was only eleven years old, and eleven-year-olds were famously unreliable creatures.
Without another thought, he tossed Lucius's gemstone into a cabinet inside the Room of Requirement. Over time, the cabinet had gradually become packed with all sorts of bizarre possessions.
There was the animated Dungeons & Dragons display set Edward had given him for Christmas.
There was the snow globe Rose had gifted him on his birthday, though the fading magic meant the tiny clay figures inside no longer chirped or moved.
There were mountains of Honeydukes sweets, a large frozen bag of Ashwinder eggs, and an entire shelf occupied by a test tube of Acromantula venom.
Thanks to the protective runes the Room of Requirement had formed along the walls for him, Ethan wasn't remotely worried about Lucius trying anything suspicious.
If Lucius Malfoy was idiotic enough to use his very first gift as a spying device, then the Malfoy family's legendary cunning had clearly been exaggerated.
After leaving the Room of Requirement, Ethan returned to the Gryffindor common room.
Fred and George were currently dressing a round-headed garden gnome in a miniature Father Christmas outfit.
"Ethan!" Fred called excitedly the moment he saw him. "What do you think about putting this little Father Christmas in the Great Hall tomorrow?"
"I personally think Professor Dumbledore might take him home as a pet," George added. "Assuming we dress him properly enough."
"Or Snape might steal him first," Fred suggested.
"Then they'd probably fight over ownership!" the twins finished together.
Even though they were wearing different sweaters labelled with giant knitted "F" and "G" letters, Ethan strongly suspected they had switched clothes on purpose again.
There was absolutely no reliable way to distinguish them.
"Do you think he still looks suspicious?" Fred asked while proudly holding up the gnome.
"We shaved the calluses off his hands and feet," George explained. "Then we used Hair-Gro Potion on his beard. He's basically a perfect Father Christmas now."
Ethan slowly circled the miserable-looking gnome.
At first glance, it really was disturbingly convincing.
"If Dumbledore takes his glasses off," Ethan admitted thoughtfully, "I probably won't be able to tell the difference either."
The fake Father Christmas angrily tugged at the heavy red clothing wrapped around its body. Clearly, the outfit made it deeply uncomfortable.
"The only issue," Ethan continued, "is preventing him from stripping naked on the teachers' table halfway through breakfast. He doesn't seem particularly fond of your fashion choices."
If consequences weren't a concern, Ethan would've simply used the Imperius Curse.
Unfortunately, anything involving Dumbledore required slightly less illegal methods.
That problem would have to rely entirely on Fred and George's creativity.
"That's easy," Fred replied confidently.
He reached underneath an armchair and pulled out a book titled Goblin Language for Beginners. After flipping through several pages, he leaned toward the gnome and awkwardly spat out a series of mangled syllables.
The effect was immediate.
The gnome froze completely.
It suddenly looked like a defeated old dog.
"Goblin language?" Ethan asked curiously after glancing at the book title. "What did you even say to him?"
"We told him we captured the rest of his family," George translated perfectly despite clearly not understanding a word of Gobbledegook himself.
"That's right!" Fred laughed while high-fiving his brother.
Ethan stared at them silently for several seconds.
Honestly, compared to the twins, his own approach of simply killing things suddenly felt strangely unimaginative.
Maybe those Acromantulas could be used for something more creative in the future.
"Well," Ethan said eventually, "hopefully tomorrow I'll get to witness Dumbledore carrying Father Christmas around like a treasured pet."
Then he glanced toward the dormitory stairs.
"Have either of you seen Harry or Ron?"
"Nope," Fred replied while buttoning the gnome's coat again. "Little Ronnie went upstairs earlier carrying an entire mountain of food."
"Looks suspiciously like a secret party," George added seriously. "Take a deep breath before entering. Any strange situation is probably normal."
"Even if you see two naked—"
"He means Nearly Headless Nick," Fred interrupted immediately before George could finish the sentence. "Ghosts love holidays too. Especially meals they can't eat."
Ethan's mouth twitched slightly.
After saying goodbye to the twins, he headed upstairs toward the dormitory.
The room was empty.
Neither Harry nor Ron had returned yet.
It seemed Harry had finally brought Ron to the Mirror of Erised.
Dumbledore would almost certainly intervene sooner or later, so Ethan didn't bother worrying about it.
Which meant—
He could finally enjoy a peaceful night's sleep.
Unfortunately, the peace didn't last very long.
Harry and Ron eventually stumbled back into the dormitory.
"You're back pretty early," Ethan muttered sleepily as he poked his messy head out from beneath the blankets. "I figured you two wouldn't return until morning."
"We…" Harry awkwardly hesitated.
"We ran into Dumbledore," Ron admitted while his ears turned red. "He told us not to get lost in fake dreams and stuff. But this was only my first visit…"
"I think he was mostly talking about me," Harry said guiltily. "I shouldn't have dragged Ron out at night. And I probably shouldn't have obsessed over the mirror so much either."
He looked toward Ethan.
"You were right. I need to focus on reality. We've still got Quidditch after the holidays."
"At least he didn't take points from Gryffindor," Ron said while shuddering. "If he had, Percy definitely would've written to Mum immediately."
The dormitory gradually quieted after that.
Harry still tossed and turned in bed for a long time, unable to sleep.
Ethan, meanwhile, slept wonderfully.
And dreamed.
In the dream, a massive snake covered in dark green scales lay sleeping inside a cave beneath tangled bushes.
It looked peaceful.
Coiled tightly together in deep hibernation.
By the time Ethan woke the next morning, most of the dream had already faded away. All he could remember was the vague image of a cave and the strange sensation of curling into a tight ball.
For the remainder of Christmas break, Harry stopped obsessing over the Mirror of Erised entirely. Instead, he spent most of his time playing wizard chess with Ron.
Fred and George's Father Christmas gnome plan also succeeded perfectly.
Dumbledore accepted the disguised gnome with a cheerful smile and carried it away personally.
The gnome itself looked absolutely miserable.
Ethan, however, had hardly been idle either.
The very next day after receiving the dragon egg, Hagrid sent him an incredibly frantic letter demanding he come to the hut immediately to see his "rare treasure."
Judging by the state of the parchment, Hagrid had been so excited while writing that he'd nearly torn holes through the paper. Several sentences were barely readable.
When Ethan finally arrived outside Hagrid's hut and knocked on the door, Hagrid immediately acted suspiciously mysterious.
"Cover yer eyes first!"
After carefully locking the door behind him, Hagrid guided Ethan toward the fireplace.
The hut was unbearably hot.
"Ta-da!"
Hagrid proudly removed Ethan's hand from his eyes with the excitement of a child showing off a new toy.
Resting near the fire was a large black dragon egg.
"A dragon egg!" Hagrid boomed happily. "Won it off a card player! Bet yeh've never seen one before. We can raise it together!"
His enormous beard twitched with excitement.
"Merlin's beard… first a black unicorn, now a dragon egg. I can't believe how lucky this year's been!"
....
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