Helga's Christmas gift box was filled with all kinds of precious potion ingredients—ranging from rare animal and plant materials to valuable gemstones and minerals.
Among them were several items Rhys immediately recognized as part of Helga's personal collection, for these materials had long since vanished from the modern world. Only someone who had lived a thousand years ago, like Helga, could possibly possess them.
The most valuable among them were the samples of several plant species that had gone extinct in modern times.
Rhys's own stockpile had long since rotted away over the past millennium, but the materials directly brought from a thousand years ago by Helga still retained their usability.
To Rhys, this was practically a treasure beyond price.
As he looked at the materials inside the box, Rhys had to admit that Helga's gesture was remarkably sincere—she had succeeded in earning his forgiveness.
After putting the box away, Rhys suddenly had an idea: could he try planting some of these specimens to see if he could bring the species back to life?
He wasn't particularly knowledgeable about herbology, but there was someone at Hogwarts who was. He decided he could talk to Professor Sprout about it once the Christmas holidays were over.
Hufflepuff herself was quite skilled in this area of magic too, but at the moment, Rhys wasn't very eager to see his old friend—he had no desire to spend Christmas working overtime.
Rhys knew exactly how many orders Helga still had pending. If he agreed to help her now, he'd surely be working himself to exhaustion for the next ten days straight.
The wizarding world could be far more ruthless at exploiting people than Muggles ever were.
A Muggle factory owner might make workers labor up to fifteen hours a day at most, but if a wizard truly pushed himself—and with the aid of potions—working twenty-three hours a day wasn't a problem at all.
As for fatigue causing a drop in success rate? That was nothing in the face of a personal domain. If Rhys wanted, he could spend all 365 days of the year, twenty-four hours a day, crafting doll components without pause.
The problem was—he didn't want to.
So, he decided to enjoy his Christmas holiday properly and wait until it was over before going to "work" for Helga.
Rhys continued unwrapping the rest of his presents.
Rupert, from Diagon Alley, had sent him a large box filled with candies, pastries, cakes, and ice cream—something that pleased him greatly.
Hermione had given him a complete set of Muggle encyclopedias. After skimming through them, Rhys treated the books as priceless treasures—they would help him better understand the Muggle world.
He truly hadn't expected Muggles to have invented something so marvelous.
Daphne, on the other hand, had made him a "Serpent King Basilisk" pillow. However, to Rhys, it looked more like a limbless crocodile. Still, he could understand why Daphne's design was so abstract—after all, no normal person would ever dare stare closely at the Serpent King.
Astoria had given him a beautifully crafted golden potion-making set. From the feel of it, it was likely an alloy of gold and other metals—after all, pure gold was far too soft to be used for brewing potions.
All in all, the gifts from these little ones suited Rhys's tastes quite well.
...
Meanwhile, in the nearby girls' dormitory, Daphne was being dragged out of bed by her younger sister.
"Big sister, it's time to open presents!" Astoria exclaimed, using a Levitation Charm to float nearly a hundred parcels into the room. Unlike the solitary Rhys, the Greengrass sisters always received piles of Christmas gifts from relatives, friends, and other pure-blood families.
"Ugh…" Daphne, still half-asleep and wearing her pajamas, crawled over to her mountain of gifts, rubbing her eyes as she began opening them one by one.
"Malfoy family, Nott family, Flint family… ugh, so annoying. Are we really that close to them? Why do they always send such ridiculous gifts every Christmas?" Daphne grumbled, pulling six or seven extravagantly wrapped boxes out of the pile and tossing them aside.
"It's just pure-blood etiquette. Not sending gifts would be considered rude. Father sends things to their families every year too," Astoria explained. She understood perfectly well the motives behind those families—each one harbored thoughts of forming marriage alliances.
Their obsession with maintaining pure bloodlines had reached a near-mad level, and since most of the current generation of pure-blood heirs were boys, the Greengrass family—with two daughters—stood out more than ever.
Still, judging by the behavior of most of the Slytherin boys, Astoria found them all distasteful. She promptly tossed the gifts from those pure-blood families into a corner of the dormitory.
Those things would eventually be sent back home in bulk. The ones that could be sold would be sold, and the money earned would conveniently fund next year's round of return gifts.
In addition to the formal gifts from other pure-blood families, there were also many presents from relatives and her father's friends. The sisters would open those as well, though they ranked much lower in priority.
The gifts they most wanted to open were, in fact, buried at the very bottom of the pile.
The two quickly located the small silver-and-green packages in their respective gift mountains, pulled them out, and tore off the wrapping paper.
In front of Daphne were two small pouches, while Astoria had only one.
Astoria: ???
Daphne: (*￣︶￣)
"Maybe Rhys accidentally packed an extra one for me~" Daphne said cheerfully, delighted to see that she had one more gift than her sister.
Astoria took a deep breath, silently comforting herself: One of those must definitely be meant to help fix my sister's brain. If we wait any longer, it'll miss the best time for treatment.
Daphne opened the first pouch, and a necklace rolled out.
Her eyes lit up immediately—she recognized it at once. It was identical to the one Rhys had given her before, enchanted with both offensive and defensive spells, and capable of triggering a life-saving charm in times of danger.
Her previous necklace had been damaged in Egypt, and she'd thought it was gone for good—so she hadn't expected Rhys to send her another one.
Seeing the necklace her sister had received, Astoria suddenly felt a pang of regret. If only I'd challenged her to a duel while she didn't have that necklace!
When Daphne couldn't use the enchantments but she could, it would've been a guaranteed victory!
Happily slipping the necklace around her neck, Daphne then opened the second package. Inside was a brooch set with a teardrop-shaped amethyst.
Her brows furrowed slightly—the crystal gave off a distinctly dangerous aura.
Astoria noticed it too.
"Sister, that thing doesn't seem ordinary. Look closely—the mana fluctuations inside are terrifying. I feel like if you triggered what's within it, the entire Slytherin common room would be destroyed."
Daphne nodded, noticing that a small note had been included in the package. It warned her not to use the item recklessly inside the common room or anywhere else in the castle—she could only test it in the Chamber of Secrets.
Once the amethyst's droplet was catalyzed by magic, it would generate a vast ocean of water.
Daphne: !!!
_______
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