Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is not meant to infringe upon copyrights.
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The bottles were only the size of a thumb, containing a golden potion, its color like molten gold, dazzling and captivating.
After careful observation, Kyle was certain that the bottles contained Felix Felicis.
Felix Felicis, also known as Liquid Luck, is arguably one of the most complex potion in the magical world.
The precious potion ingredients are secondary; the most important thing is that it takes up to six months to brew, and even the slightest mistake requires starting over.
Each small bottle is incredibly expensive.
"Where did this come from?" Kyle turned and asked.
"It's a Christmas present from Potions Professor Snape," Kanna said suspiciously. "What's wrong? Don't you have one?"
Hearing this, Kyle immediately felt a pang of jealousy.
Forget Felix Felicis, Snape hadn't even given him an empty bottle.
"Um…" Kyle, fighting back the rising acid in his stomach, asked with a complicated expression, "Did you know Professor Snape before?"
Kanna shook her head first, then nodded. "I'd heard my mother mention the name before, but I'd never met him before coming to Hogwarts."
Kyle glanced at Kanna thoughtfully.
Prince?
When Snape first gave Kanna credit, Kyle felt something was off, but at the time he thought they were just acquaintances and didn't think much of it.
But now it seemed he was wrong.
If they were just acquaintances, even close friends, Snape wouldn't have given Kanna Felix Felicis as a gift.
Malfoy never received that treatment.
This showed that he definitely had a deep connection with the surname Prince.
Kyle pondered for a moment, and then suddenly felt he'd heard the surname somewhere before, it sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.
The only place he could think of was Princeton University.
But that had absolutely nothing to do with the wizarding world.
Kyle thought for a long time before finally deciding to give up. He held the glass bottle and asked, "Do you know what this is?"
"Cold medicine?" Kanna asked uncertainly.
Kyle shook his head and, without keeping her in suspense, said directly, "No, it's Felix Felicis."
"...Pfft... Kyle, are you still asleep?"
For some reason, Kanna suddenly laughed out loud. "This potion looks a lot like Felix Felicis, but I don't know Professor Snape. Why would he give me something so precious? It's impossible."
"Why not?" Kyle gently shook the bottle and said, "Is there any other potion like this liquid gold besides Felix Felicis?"
Kanna shook her head again. "Professor Snape is a master of potions. If it's just changing the color of a potion, it wouldn't be difficult for him.
Maybe this is a Christmas surprise he prepared for everyone, and what's inside is actually cold medicine."
Kyle explained a few more times, but Kanna always found a reason to refute him, and in the end, even Kyle became a little unsure.
Kyle could understand Kanna's reaction.
Honestly, if this bottle had appeared in his gift, he wouldn't have believed it was Felix Felicis either.
He would have just thought it was a special poison brewed by Snape, made to look like Felix Felicis to trick him into drinking it.
At that time, it was probably Kanna who firmly believed it was Felix Felicis and kept trying to come up with reasons to refute it.
Same principle applies.
So Kyle didn't say anything more.
Actually, confirming, or rather convincing Kanna that the bottle didn't contain Felix Felicis, would be simple; all he needed to do was figure out the connection between Snape and Prince's surnames.
But until then, it was better for him to keep the bottle safe.
Kanna often lost things, and who knew when this bottle might be her turn.
If it really did contain Felix Felicis, it would be too late to regret it then.
He glanced at Kanna and said, "Can I keep this bottle for now?"
Kanna clapped her hands nonchalantly and said, "I'll give it to you."
Kyle quickly refused, "No thanks, I'm afraid you'll regret it later."
He wasn't the kind of person to take advantage of someone's misfortune; he was just a little less principled than others.
"I won't cry…" Kanna seemed very dissatisfied with Kyle's wording, wrinkling her nose and saying decisively, "Since I said I'd give it to you, I definitely won't regret it. Even if you give it back to me, I won't take it."
Kyle shrugged noncommittally.
It was only because he didn't have anything to record the conversation or he definitely would have recorded Kanna's words.
Then, at some suitable time, he would play them on a loop in the common room all day.
After leaving the common room, Kyle went to the library and stayed there until noon.
The Christmas feast was very lavish: a hundred plump roast turkeys, mountains of roast meat and potatoes, large platters of sausages and peas with butter, and for some reason, Kyle even saw scones.
Every few steps along the tables, there were piles of wizard firecrackers, which, like Christmas trees, were indispensable for Christmas.
Kyle picked up a firecracker in front of him and yanked off the string.
With a deafening roar, a woman's hat adorned with lace and tassels slowly descended from mid-air and landed in front of Kyle.
Kyle glanced around, then discreetly slipped the hat into his shapeshifting lizard-skin pouch.
Professor Snape's Christmas present for next year—he'd have it!
Afterward, Kyle pulled out several more firecracker packets.
The explosive roar was like a firecracker version of a bang-bang, but without the risk of getting blown up—it was incredibly fun.
By the time the banquet began, the items next to Kyle were piled up almost like a small mountain.
There were six hats of various shapes and sizes, two sets of wizard's chess, three rubber wands, several strange gadgets… and a pile of cockroaches (?).
To be honest, Kyle wasn't sure if the thing was real, so he simply put it in a transparent box and kept it far away from him.
The house-elf's cooking skills were as reliable as ever. Kyle looked at the enormous turkey, cut off a piece of thigh meat, and then made a pizza with flatbread, meat sauce, and sausage.
After the turkey came the bright red Christmas pudding, which also held a little surprise—Kanna's pudding contained a Silver Sike.
Kyle eagerly cut into his own pudding, a hint of yellow peeking through…
then Kyle put down his knife.
He couldn't cut any more; the mango sauce would leak out.
[End of the chapter]