Basil originally thought November at Hogwarts was cold enough.
But when he woke up one morning in December...
Hogwarts had completely transformed.
Outside the castle, everything was a vast expanse of white.
The snow on the ground was several feet thick, and the lake was frozen solid.
Inside the castle, only the common rooms and the Great Hall had roaring fires.
Everywhere else—whether it was the corridors with their bone-chilling drafts or the classrooms where windows rattled against the biting wind—was not exactly warm.
This led to a period where the castle was constantly filled with smoke.
The sudden drop in temperature had caused a wave of colds among the students.
Madam Pomfrey, the matron, had Pepperup Potion, which worked instantly on colds.
It was very effective; one second you were drippy-nosed and lethargic, and the next, after drinking it, you were full of energy.
The only side effect was that steam would pour out of your ears for several hours.
So, for a while, everyone obediently bundled up in fur cloaks and rarely left the common room unless necessary, or they just stayed in the Great Hall.
But there are exceptions to everything.
The adventurous Gryffindor students weren't afraid of a little cold.
Whenever they had time, they would have snowball fights outside the castle.
Fred and George were the champions of this.
They used magic to make snowballs, pranking passing students and chasing them around.
Unfortunately, Quirrell, whose teaching standards were no longer abysmal, didn't get chased around and pelted in the back of the head with magical snowballs by the twins this time.
Voldemort's face was spared.
But Basil, ever the timely helper, couldn't stand seeing Voldemort left out.
So, one time when Quirrell was passing by, a snowball mysteriously hit him in the back of the head.
Voldemort's face, which was smothered all day, finally got a taste of refreshing coolness.
That wasn't the only thing that made Basil happy.
Last week, while he was eating a bacon sandwich and humming a tune, Professor McGonagall had come over.
That was when he learned that Hogwarts also had semesters.
Just like the Sorting Ceremony was kept secret from new students, the holidays were also kept from first-years until the last minute.
The first semester usually ended the week before Christmas, and most students and teachers would "go back to their respective homes."
Which meant vacation!
In the second week of December, the Heads of House would collect a list of students staying at school for Christmas.
The break was quite long: starting Friday, December 20th, and lasting until early January 1992.
A whole 11 days!
The best part was, there was no extra homework assigned for this break!
For these 11 days, he could play however he wanted!
Basil happily signed his name on the list right then and there.
Hermione looked at Basil reluctantly but chose not to stay.
Interestingly, Ron wasn't staying either. Basil remembered that in the original story, Ron stayed for Christmas while Hermione went home.
It turned out that Ron and Percy were incredibly grateful, saying Basil's money-saving tips had saved their family a fortune.
Originally, only Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were going to Romania to visit Charlie, but now the whole family was going.
And they were even buying Ron a new wand.
Good lord, money burns a hole in their pocket, doesn't it!
This made Ron very happy, especially since his investigation into Lockhart had stalled because Hagrid was avoiding him, which had him feeling bummed out.
Last Friday after Potions, they were just about to leave the dungeons.
They found the corridor ahead completely blocked by a massive fir tree.
Seeing the two huge feet sticking out from under the tree and hearing the loud puffing, Ron instantly recognized Hagrid.
He couldn't wait to stick his head through the branches. "Hagrid, got a minute? I can lend a hand."
The result was that Hagrid, with sudden superhuman strength, immediately hoisted the fir tree and disappeared, puffing away.
It seemed that even Hagrid now knew about Ron's gossip habit.
Fortunately, because Ron had to go to Diagon Alley to buy a new wand, he left school early after Potions class that Friday morning.
Saving him from witnessing a scene that would have surely driven him mad with jealousy.
It was dinnertime, and the Great Hall looked magnificent.
The walls were festooned with streamers of holly and mistletoe, and twelve towering Christmas trees stood around the room. Some sparkled with tiny icicles, some flickered with hundreds of candles, and others had shimmering golden bubbles floating on them.
Compared to the lavish decorations, the number of people in the Great Hall was much smaller.
Although a large group of students chose to leave on the Saturday morning train.
Quite a few were eager to get home and had taken the train immediately after classes ended in the afternoon.
However, unlike the other three sparse tables, the Slytherin table was exceptionally lively.
A group of burly guys were huddled together, with golden glints flashing from the center.
When Basil walked into the Great Hall holding Hermione's hand, followed by Harry, the crowd parted.
Revealing Draco Malfoy.
He held a broomstick high, flashing a triumphant smile at Harry.
"Is that a Nimbus 2000?" Harry recognized the broom instantly; he had the same one.
Hermione huffed uninterestedly. "Boring boys."
Then she glued her eyes back onto Basil.
Leaving tomorrow morning, she didn't want to waste a single second she could spend with him.
"Ron would go crazy if he saw this," Basil remarked.
At the same time, he secretly regretted not being able to go to Diagon Alley with Ron.
Although he could have asked his House-elf, Lala, to take him.
But recently, both Voldemort and Dumbledore had their eyes on him.
Dumbledore because he thought Basil was a Grand Wizard, plus the feat of blowing up the Troll's head.
Voldemort also because of the latter; he thought Basil had obtained Slytherin's legacy—knowledge from the Chamber of Secrets—via Riddle. He was curious about the chemical reaction this knowledge was having on Basil, which even he didn't understand.
In short, Basil felt that leaving the 100% safe Hogwarts to go to Diagon Alley with just an elf, without the protection of someone like the Weasleys (whom neither the Dark nor Light side would target), was too dangerous.
And taking the Diary as a bodyguard would only increase the likelihood of something going wrong.
He didn't want to be in a situation he couldn't control.
At Hogwarts, he could find out Voldemort's tonic recipe or the color of Dumbledore's underwear if he wanted to.
"What are you planning to do this holiday?" Harry asked from the side.
"Basil isn't like you, only knowing how to play. He'll definitely be studying in the library," Hermione said sarcastically (referring to Harry, but praising Basil).
Basil, just snapping back to reality: "?"
Since when was he so noble in Hermione's mind?
He zoned out and slacked off in class too, you know?
He planned to just play this holiday.
He was even going to skip Riddle's lessons.
He'd worked so hard since transmigrating; couldn't he enjoy himself a little?