Chapter 58
As the tail end of December approached, the festive atmosphere at Hogwarts grew thicker and thicker.
Lucian finally ended his training and walked out from the underground chamber. He took his two assistants and began wandering casually around the castle.
The Great Hall's walls were now draped with long garlands of holly and mistletoe; twelve towering Christmas trees stood evenly spaced throughout the room. Some were adorned with glittering icicles, others flickered with hundreds of tiny floating candles.
"Professor! Long time no see!"
Cedric greeted him together with Hermione and the other two—they had learned of Lucian's holiday plans from Jeffery quite early on and had deliberately refrained from disturbing him.
"Long time no see."
Lucian looked at them and felt the murky heaviness he'd carried from underground instantly swept away. An inexplicable sense of comfortable delight rose in his chest.
He waved at them, and a smile actually appeared on his face.
This caught Cedric and the others somewhat off guard. Even Jeffery and Camille looked at him in surprise.
Harry and Ron shrank their necks a little and stayed behind Hermione—they had always felt faintly intimidated by this Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
Soon after, the group began wandering together through the castle.
Cedric, acting as the natural mood-setter, started proactively describing what he had been learning in class.
For example, his character was a Squib who later gained the ability to cast spells through a miraculous wand—only to have his fiancée show up at his door to break off the engagement. The series of dramatic twists made Ron and Harry's eyes shine with excitement as they shouted how unfair it was—why were only fourth-years allowed to take such cool and interesting lessons?
At that moment, the psychological distance between them and Lucian actually shrank a little.
"Because your basics aren't yet up to standard, and I'm still considering whether this curriculum should be rolled out more widely."
"Why? A course this fun—why even need to think about it? It would definitely be hugely popular!"
Ron felt that fourth-years had mouths sealed tighter than Gringotts vaults—how could they keep something this exciting to themselves and not brag about it?
In truth, though, only the lower years were still completely in the dark. Most of the older students already knew, but all they could do was envy them.
"Because compared to entertainment, I value your foundations more." Lucian gave a brief explanation.
Hermione quickly followed up and expanded on his meaning "What the professor means is that we haven't even reached the first stage of truly mastering spells yet. Jumping straight to higher stages without that foundation would be meaningless."
Harry and Ron looked at Lucian with half-believing, half-doubting expressions.
When he nodded in confirmation, Ron's eyes widened and he let out a strange yelp "Hermione, since when did you become the tapeworm living in Professor Lucian's stomach?"
"Must you phrase it in such a disgusting way?" Hermione shot him a look of utter disdain.
Afterward, at Cedric's suggestion, the group moved outside to the snowy grounds to play Quidditch—he had already prepared all the necessary props in advance for this very moment.
Harry and Cedric acted as captains and took turns picking teammates.
As the older student, Cedric let Harry choose first.
"I'll pick…" On the surface, his eyes seemed to waver uncertainty between Ron and Hermione, but the corner of his vision kept drifting toward Camille—yet if he picked her right away, wouldn't it be too obvious?
After a moment's thought, Harry chose Ron first "Hey, Harry—let's crush them!" Ron let out a loud battle cry. Harry laughed along, though the smile looked a little forced.
"Cedric, your turn." His heart pounded wildly. In his mind he was screaming nonstop 'Don't pick Camille! Don't pick her'
"I'll take Jeffery." Cedric smiled at Jeffery.
Harry immediately brightened up, unable to hide his grin. He completely ignored the meaningful look Hermione was giving him and quickly said:
"Then I pick Camille."
Hearing this Hermione's face darkened as she hadn't expected to be left until last.
"Sorry, Hermione—we need at least one upper-year to anchor our side too."
"Hmph—" Hermione reluctantly accepted the explanation and went over to Cedric's team amid his warm smiling welcome.
With the Golden Snitch and Seeker roles removed, Ron and Cedric each served as goalkeeper for their respective sides. The remaining players acted as Beaters and Chasers. A small-scale game of Quidditch began.
Lucian waved his wand to transfigure a proper pitch for them, then sat quietly on the high platform he had conjured for himself, watching them play.
At first, both Jeffery and Camille were clearly not used to Quidditch. Their flight was hesitant and stiff; the wildly zooming Bludgers made them visibly nervous— Even Cedric's group, and Lucian himself, had rarely seen them act this way. It was unexpectedly amusing.
As a result, the first ten goals were basically an exchange of attacks between Hermione and Harry. Hermione was clearly no match for Harry offensively, but Cedric was an extremely reliable Keeper, so the two sides remained evenly matched.
But once the two assistants got used to it, the spotlight gradually shifted.
Especially Camille—after quickly getting the hang of it, her playing style became increasingly wild. Later she even took advantage of the snowy conditions: flying at high speed to whip up swirling gusts that turned into a miniature avalanche, burying her opponents before casually scoring.
Cedric and Jeffery flew out from the snow slide, snow still dripping from their hair. They exchanged a glance and both saw the same helpless resignation in each other's eyes.
Harry and Ron, on the other hand, cheered wildly and showered Camille with exaggerated praise. She was clearly very pleased with that move herself and flashed Harry a brilliant, dazzling smile—leaving him completely dazed.
The entire afternoon.
Beside the quiet winter castle, six young people soared up and down through the air, their happy laughter ringing out from time to time.
Lucian declined their invitations to rotate in and simply watched quietly from the side. The magic inside his body, in this peaceful and harmonious winter day, grew increasingly calm… deep and restrained, almost as though it were asleep.
For the first time, Lucian had a truly tangible realization; it seemed he could no longer ignore these people.
His two assistants went without saying—he had already recognized that they were the ones he treasured most, and Cedric? The student he had admired most over these three months. If they had met outside, Lucian would definitely have taken him as his own apprentice.
As for the main characters of this world—Harry, Hermione, Ron—
These were roles he had once deliberately chosen to overlook, roles whose deaths he had once believed would mean nothing to him; yet now they existed vividly right in front of him.
If one day they were to die…
The Lucian of before would certainly have remained unmoved. Everyone dies. James Potter, Lily Evans, even later Snape, Dumbledore; they were characters in a book, roles he had once loved—but before this, their deaths would never have caused him any sorrow. He had been certain of that.
But now, things seem to have changed; just after three months at Hogwarts, he found he could no longer remain as indifferent as before to certain events.
Lucian looked down at the children below him, then thoughtfully raised two fingers and placed them over his heart.
Through the time spent together, people turn intangible connections into something real. Originally solitary individuals become tightly bound to one another in the process, supporting each other.
At this moment, Lucian genuinely understood the meaning of that act.
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