Wizard Calf Ma

On Christmas Eve, some people were in love, some were watching the sea, some were having a blast, and some were miserably gnawing on cabbage in the laundry room.

Raw.

Eliana stretched her neck, swallowing the cabbage with difficulty like a goose. She felt even more pathetic than the Little Match Girl—surely the heads of matches would have had some oily flavor?

"Sister Eliana," Mary whispered, squatting at the laundry room door, nervously looking around. "Mrs. Brown won't let us bring you anything. She locked the kitchen door. We got this cabbage from our own dinner—tonight we're having stew, which is hard to sneak away."

That sounded even more pitiful, having to take even two pieces of cabbage from her siblings' mouths.

Eliana bit down fiercely on the cabbage leaf in her mouth and suddenly paused. "Our orphanage kitchen has a lock?"

Mary scratched her hair, looking confused. "This is the first time I've discovered our orphanage kitchen actually has a lock."

She suddenly fell silent, perking up her ears like a vigilant rabbit, and said flusteredly, "Sister Eliana, I have to go. Mrs. Brown seems to be doing room checks today."

She ran off, tumbling and scrambling.

Before Eliana could swallow the cabbage in her mouth, the person in front of her had already disappeared.

Only the empty laundry room and the full laundry tubs accompanied her—making her feel even more miserable.

Damn these velvet curtains. They didn't seem heavy, but once wet, they were so heavy they could practically send her away.

If the French flag were made of this material, they wouldn't be able to perform their traditional surrender ceremony on a rainy day.

Eliana, crying and whimpering, held up her two hands, which had been soaked by the curtain water and looked like pig trotters. She pouted her swollen backside and looked at the mountain of unwashed curtains in front of her, feeling like her life, like Louis XVI's, stretched endlessly before her.

Wuwuwu, why did she bring back so much fabric back then? She'd painstakingly carried it back, now she was coolly washing it, and afterward, she'd have to painstakingly carry it back again. What was she even doing this for?

It felt like going to steal a scratch-off lottery ticket, only to reveal a debt note, and then that debt note automatically became registered in your real name upon scratching.

Eliana felt like she was half-dead.

No, she really couldn't wash them all, this damned fabric was too heavy!

Eliana sneakily looked around, then quietly took out her wand.

It's a holiday... right... the Ministry of Magic probably isn't working overtime... right... even if they are, they probably won't notice a little wizard using a little spell... right...

Eliana finally couldn't hold back, pointed at the huge pile of curtains, and quickly chanted, "Scouring Charm! Scouring Charm! Scouring Charm!"

As long as she didn't stop talking, it was still one spell!

The dust and stains on the curtains vanished instantly—they became brand new in a flash—but there was no trace of them having been washed.

Eliana quickly threw them into the water bucket and poked them with the washboard to soak them, and then—

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

The curtains slowly unfurled in the air like marching banners. Eliana continued to hold the washboard and beat them with it.

The water quickly drained away. Now, the curtains looked as if they had undergone a thorough wash.

Eliana decided to go all the way and used her wand to direct them to hang on the clothesline in an orderly fashion.

It was done.

Magic benefits humanity!

Eliana, satisfied, was about to sit down and rest, but as soon as she touched the hard ground—

"Ouch!!!"

She screamed and jumped up, clutching her backside. "It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, ooooooh—"

She had forgotten she was still swollen.

Wuwuwu—

Seeing no one around, she twisted her body, unfastened her belt, and stretched her neck out long to look behind her—it was indeed swollen.

She twisted herself into a pretzel.

An owl suddenly swooped in through the window. Startled by the pretzel-like person, it hooted, dropped a letter, and flew away as if a monster were chasing it.

"What the heck, can't even deliver a letter properly. No professional ethics, no bird-like decency."

Eliana grumbled as she picked up the letter. There was no Christmas card inside.

Miss Richie:

We have received a report indicating that you used three cleaning charms and two levitation charms at your residence at 8:30 PM this evening.

We solemnly inform you that underage wizards are not permitted to use magic outside of school. If you engage in such behavior again, you may be expelled from your school.

Please remember that any magical act that could attract the attention of Muggles is illegal.

Merry Christmas.

Mafalda Hopkirk Ministry of Magic Improper Use of Magic Office

Eliana irritably shoved the paper into her pocket. Who could possibly feel happy receiving a notice like this on a holiday?

She was fuming. When the underage little wizard was almost worked to death like a little ox-horse, the Ministry of Magic was nowhere to be seen. But the moment the little ox-horse quietly stepped a foot on the edge of the field, this reprimand instantly arrived.

Why don't you come help her wash the curtains if you're so idle?

Eliana, with her swollen hands and backside, hated everything and everyone.

As for the threat in the letter—she hadn't taken a single word to heart.

Didn't it say, "further such behavior could result in expulsion"? What did that mean? It meant she was fine this time.

So, she just had to stop doing it in the future, right? She'd leave future worries for her future self to deal with. Her future self would live longer than her present self, be older, and should therefore be more forgiving of her younger, ignorant present self.

Eliana whimpered, limping toward detention.

When the car reaches the mountain, the road will naturally appear. She'd get through the current ordeal first.

If you can't find the book by its title, you can try searching for the author. Maybe they just changed the name!