On the morning of Christmas Eve, Kate had recovered enough to just barely manage on her own, free of the wheelchair.
So for the whole day, after instructing the pixies to decorate the castle with Christmas ornaments, she shut herself away in her room to sort through the Mana slowly returning to her body.
To her surprise, after all that, her Mana had actually risen naturally by two points, reaching 78, and every one of her other attributes had gone up by one as well.
For a moment it made her wonder whether she'd landed the script of some fantasy-novel protagonist who bursts into a power-up.
Run into danger, burst once, and your strength improves; run into danger again, burst again — an endless loop, until the protagonist becomes the strongest of all.
Uh... a lovely fantasy in theory, but if she ever ran into danger again, she'd still rather duck behind Dumbledore or the old butler first.
The protagonist template really wasn't for her.
Because her Wand Output Power had reached 2.65 times that of an ordinary wand, she had to readjust her Mana output to keep it at a normal level.
Only after gaining extraordinary ability could she truly appreciate the awkward plight of those exceptional beings who had to tread carefully even in everyday life.
On top of that, Katherine and the old butler had come back together.
Because of the holiday, their faces still weren't exactly cheerful, but they put on a full show of celebrating alongside her.
Kate could tell they wanted the memories leading up to her fifteenth birthday to be a little sweeter. After all, having lived through the avalanche at Hogsmeade, she already had a vague inkling of what lay ahead for her.
So across the two days of Christmas Eve and Christmas, she too put on the appearance of being fully caught up in it, celebrating and watching the fireworks with them.
As if she really had, for the sake of the present joy, forgotten all the troubles waiting for her in the future.
Probably the only two truly having fun over those two days were Hermione and Cho Chang.
Turning her head to glance at Hermione, still out on the lawn playing with a sparkler, Kate gave a soft laugh and took a sip of hot tea inside the makeshift tent.
"There are still plenty of fireworks left. Why don't you come play with us?"
Cho Chang walked over, a burnt-out sparkler in her hand, and leaned in with concern, reaching to feel Kate's forehead as she murmured, "Are you feeling unwell again?"
Startled by her closeness, Kate instinctively drew back, just dodging the hand about to reach her.
Cho Chang froze, her hand shrinking back in midair, and withdrew it a little awkwardly.
Realizing her reaction might give the wrong impression, Kate hurried to explain, "I was just worried your hands were too cold."
It was Christmas, after all, and the weather was this chilly; in her past life she'd fallen victim to plenty of sneak attacks by icy hands in this very season.
"Then what should we do?" Cho Chang's eyes flicked to the side, and she broke into a smug, everything-going-to-plan smile before leaning right in.
The two heads collided head-on, with a loud, ringing thunk.
From the sound alone, you could tell — this was some juicy gossip in the making.
"Ssss... what are you doing!" Caught off guard by the blow, Kate clutched her forehead in pain, her voice rising despite herself.
Then Cho Chang's slightly cool palm pressed against her forehead.
"See? Now it doesn't hurt anymore, does it?" Cho Chang bent down to look at her, her eyes startlingly bright.
For an instant Kate could only stare at her, dazed — and what surfaced in her mind was the image from the night before, when she'd nearly kissed Cho Chang.
"What are you two doing?"
Hermione, back from burning through a sparkler, happened to catch the scene at exactly that moment.
Kate came back to herself and sprang to her feet, a faint, barely detectable flush creeping up to the tips of her ears. "N-nothing!"
Why did this feel so much like getting caught cheating by her girlfriend?
Ssss... how could she possibly have that kind of déjà vu?
Just as she was startled by her own runaway imagination, her arm suddenly tightened. Coming to, she looked down and found that Hermione had already latched onto it.
"Stop spacing out — Professor Katherine bought us tons of fireworks, and we have to get through them before Christmas is over!"
Kate let herself be pulled forward a few steps before she belatedly stopped, glanced back at Cho Chang, hesitated, and held out her hand. "Come with us."
With three people, there was always one left out, and at times like that someone had to reach over and pull her along.
Perhaps even Cho Chang hadn't expected Kate to stop halfway and think of her; but faced with the hand Kate held out, she couldn't refuse.
"Okay." A smile touched her lips, and she stepped quickly over to take that hand.
As the three of them walked out onto the lawn together, laughing and setting off fireworks, the two elders — Katherine and the old butler — sat at ease inside the tent.
"You might not believe it, but before she turned eleven, the young lady never laughed this happily."
The old butler held his teacup, his gaze tender as he watched those figures flickering amid the light and shadow.
"...Is it because of that man?" Katherine's expression shifted slightly, her hand tightening around her cup.
She had never been part of Kate's life before the age of eleven, and had no idea what kind of life her niece had led back then.
Only from scraps of what others said did she know that this little niece of hers had once gone through a nearly withdrawn, shut-in stretch of her life.
"Yes, and no," the old butler said. At the mention of that man, a flicker of menace surfaced in his kindly eyes. "Even though the young lady has forgotten him, her behavior is still affected by it, quite a bit."
Memories could be forgotten, but some marks branded into the body couldn't be so easily erased.
Something crossed her mind — Katherine's eyes darkened. She drained her cup in one go, then rose and headed straight into the manor.
Before long, she came back out carrying a cake.
The girls were drawn to her at once, crowding around.
"Professor, you got a cake too!" Hermione exclaimed, eyeing the packaging with excitement.
Cho Chang looked at Kate with a teasing smile. "You'll be fifteen soon. Got any birthday wishes?"
"If I say it out loud, it won't come true." Kate planted her hands on her hips with mock solemnity.
If wishes really could come true, there was only one thing on her mind right now.
It concerned that secret.
"Half an hour to go until twelve," Katherine said with a slight smile, and used a Transfiguration Spell to conjure a Christmas tree. "Come now — Christmas wishes. Every one of you gets a turn!"
The little lion, little eagle, and little snake gave an obliging cheer and ran over to the foot of the Christmas tree, pressing their palms together to make their wishes.
Kate glanced at the two standing beside her, thought for a moment, and closed her eyes.
Whatever the future held for her, she only hoped the people she cherished could be happy.
Soon, as the stroke of midnight rang out, Kate — witnessed by family and friends — cheerfully blew out the candles marking her fifteenth year.
Kate Shafiq had officially crossed the threshold into fifteen!
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