Knockturn Alley, Borgin and Burkes, backroom.
Borgin's Curse had long since burrowed deep into his soul, like thousands of fishing lines mixed with a few transparent, hard-to-spot strands of hair.
And they were all tangled together.
The difficulty of cleaning it was imaginable.
Of course, this difficulty, in fact, was from Borgin's perspective.
For Howl… well, he had plenty of time.
He also didn't bother tracing the origin of the Curse, nor clearing it from the Curse's operational logic.
Anyway, he had nothing to do, so he would come to Borgin's every now and then to do some 'manual labor' and 'borrow' some Dark Arts items he fancied.
Life was quite enjoyable.
As the last trace of the Curse node was extracted from Borgin's soul by Howl, the Curse that had been attached to him for decades finally became unsustainable and began to collapse.
"Alright," Howl shook his hand, and the dark blue threads connected to his fingertips dispersed into the air.
Borgin propped himself up, his old, cloudy eyes shining with a strange light, his voice trembling: "Captain, is it over?!"
Howl put on his hat: "It's over, the Curse's operational chain has been broken by me. Remember, from today onwards, you are no longer a living dead man who fears no pain and is immune to injury."
Borgin stood up and quickly bowed: "Thank you."
Howl nodded, put on his woolen overcoat, and walked straight towards the shop's main hall.
"Oh!" Borgin suddenly called out to Howl.
Turning his head, Howl saw two packages wrapped in colorful paper and ribbons appear in Borgin's hands.
"Captain, Merry Christmas in advance," Borgin said, "My original intention was to give you my blessings on Christmas Day, but after thinking about it, perhaps it wouldn't be convenient to disturb you."
Howl was stunned for a moment, then turned his head to glance at the snowflakes outside the window, and couldn't help but laugh: "I always feel like I've become insensitive to time."
Saying that, he took the two packages.
"The smaller one is your Christmas gift, and the larger box is for your child," Borgin said considerately.
Howl hadn't expected him to be so thoughtful; Borgin had only met Harry once during an explosion a few months ago.
"I will convey your blessings to him," Howl nodded, smiling, "Merry Christmas."
With that, he walked out the door.
Immediately, a blast of cold air hit him, and snowflakes drifted in the sky; there were no longer the scattered stars of a summer night.
"I didn't expect it to be almost Christmas already," Howl sighed, then Apparated away.
Moonlight Fortress, second-floor study.
Compared to a few months ago, this place had obviously changed its appearance: a desk, a Potion-making table, a bookshelf, a coat rack, and a small Potion ingredient shelf.
In front of the desk, Harry slowly took off his glasses and wiped his face.
Whew…
After a long sigh, he stood up again and went to the Potion-making table to check on the Potion's brewing.
After an entire autumn term, he had grown quite a bit taller and looked much sturdier.
Now, a subtle balance had formed between him and the Dursleys family. Especially after he was required to run to school every morning, he and the Dursleys family had even less connection in their daily lives.
However…
Just thinking about Christmas the day after tomorrow gave him a headache.
Aunt Marge would be visiting the Dursleys family.
Aunt Marge was Vernon's sister; although Harry and Marge had no blood relation whatsoever, people always forced Harry to call her aunt.
Just thinking of this person made Harry feel annoyed. If it were his old self, he might even feel panicked.
Simply because this person was Harry's former nightmare.
At Dudley's fifth birthday party, Aunt Marge had once painfully hit Harry's shin with her cane, simply because she didn't want Harry to win against Dudley in a musical game.
Two Christmases ago, she had also visited here. She gave Dudley a robot with a computer, and then gave Harry his first Christmas gift in his life—
A box of dog biscuits.
After checking that the Potion brewing was fine, Harry went to the desk and picked up a citrine pendant.
He calmed the distracting thoughts in his mind, then lifted the pendant.
"Aunt Marge's arrival is good news."
After silently reciting it seven times in a row, whether it was Harry's own trembling hand or some other reason like wind, the pendant began to sway.
Harry looked closely and found that the pendant swayed from side to side, gradually moving clockwise.
Which meant "correct."
He put down the crystal pendant, a bit helpless: "I really don't have a talent for Divination."
Walking downstairs, he first greeted Mr. Lucifer.
Meteor bounced over, rubbing his broom head against Harry.
Lucifer, not knowing what he was thinking, wasn't sleeping; instead, he stood rigidly in the fireplace.
"Meteor, it's too cold lately, let's wait until it gets warmer before we go flying," Harry comforted him.
"Harry," Lucifer suddenly said.
"Mr. Lucifer, I'm here," Harry turned around.
"Do you want to come and celebrate Christmas?" Lucifer suddenly asked.
"Really?" Harry could hardly believe his ears. Well, he had to admit he'd had the thought, but... those words shouldn't come from him.
He knew what was important.
Lucifer nodded: "Of course it's true. Actually, most of the time, it's just Howl and me in the Castle. It's good to have one more person for some liveliness.
A holiday should feel like a holiday, right?"
Harry nodded, a smile he couldn't suppress on his face, said goodbye to Lucifer, and returned to Number Four, Privet Drive.
Harry felt it was necessary to quickly share this good news with the Dursleys family.
He imagined they would be quite happy too…
Shortly after Harry left, Howl flashed, appearing in Moonlight Fortress.
After brushing the snowflakes off his shoulders, he took off his overcoat and hat, then lay down on the sofa, letting out a comfortable sigh of relief.
"It's snowing outside…" Howl said, "I've always felt that our house's layout is best suited for winter.
Outside, there's a deluge of snowflakes, and inside, there's only a warm fireplace, and a…"
"And a lazy dog who lazes on the sofa all day, no, a fat cat!" Lucifer immediately interjected.
"What are you talking about!" Howl propped himself up, pinching his stomach: "Look, my stomach has recovered a lot, okay!"
Lucifer looked and indeed, much of the excess fat that had appeared a while ago had disappeared.
"Then it seems what I said was correct," Lucifer said proudly.
Howl waved his hand, noncommittal to Lucifer's words.
"I invited Harry to celebrate Christmas," Lucifer suddenly said.
Howl was stunned for a moment, then reacted: "But we don't celebrate Christmas. Holidays… for me, it's just eating and drinking, and then taking a vacation.
But I'm on vacation every day, and I can eat whatever I want every day."
"I don't care, a holiday should feel like a holiday. You're always so ascetic, you deserve to be Cursed," Lucifer said to Howl, annoyed.
Howl picked his ear, very helpless: "Alright, alright, I'll listen to you."