The Little Goblin That Ground Its Teeth

"My respected Young Master Fox! Spoon answered your summons—"

With a sharp crack, a house-elf appeared before Gemini. The moment it appeared, it immediately bowed humbly to him.

"Hello, Mr. Spoon." Gemini crouched down with a smile. "Could you do me a favor?"

"As you wish. Even if it means dying for you, Spoon will not hesitate." Spoon lowered his head, his tone brimming with conviction and fervor. "Young Master Fox is powerful and beautiful. It is Spoon's honor to give everything for you!"

"Uh..." Gemini blinked awkwardly. This was a house-elf with very firm beliefs...

"I just wanted to ask whether you house-elves have any means of detecting curses..." Gemini smiled gently. "Actually, I received a few too many Christmas presents, and I've had conflicts with some of the people who gave them to me. I'm not sure whether they might have cursed me..."

"Please rest assured, Young Master Fox." Spoon remained humbly bowed. "Every Christmas gift received by Hogwarts students is sorted by us, and we inspect them during the process. Last night, Spoon and Lolo inspected Young Master Gemini's gifts three times. None of them contained curses. If you are dissatisfied with Spoon's work in any way, Spoon is willing to cut off his head and offer it to you."

"No, no, no. What would I want your head for?" Gemini hurriedly waved his hands.

He felt that house-elves being too fanatical was not necessarily a good thing. It was a little frightening.

"You have to inspect every student's gifts three times. That must be hard work for you." Gemini spoke gently.

"No, only Young Master Fox's gifts were inspected three times." Spoon raised his head, his gaze at Gemini filled with fervor. "Spoon knew that Young Master Fox had offended many people, so Spoon and Lolo paid special attention to the gifts sent by those people."

Gemini: "..."

Has my reputation really become this bad?

"Anyway, thank you both." Gemini smiled and conjured two large boxes of candy with a wave of his hand. "Perfect. I'd originally planned to bring these to you tonight, but since you're here, just take them back with you."

"Young Master Fox?" Spoon looked up in confusion. "Are these ingredients?"

"They're Christmas presents." Gemini said gently. "You're always going out of your way late at night to make food for me, so consider this a small token of my appreciation. I originally wanted to pack them in socks, but I thought you might not be able to accept that, so I used colorful wrapping paper instead. There are two hundred and thirty-seven gifts in total."

Hogwarts had fewer than a thousand students and teachers combined, yet it had more than two hundred house-elves.

In the beginning, Hogwarts had not had so many house-elves. Legend said that kind-hearted little badgers had taken in house-elves abused and driven away by wizards, and they had multiplied at Hogwarts generation after generation ever since.

Although they were called slave creatures, the house-elves of Hogwarts could be said to have the best living conditions among their kind—for example, the pillowcases they wore were all clean, and they even had dormitories of their own.

So, in a sense, Hogwarts was not only the students' home. It was also theirs.

"Wah... waaah—"

Spoon's tears fell almost instantly.

"The kind and benevolent Young... Young Master Fox is willing to give Spoon a Christmas present... wah—"

Gemini: "..."

This was precisely what made communicating with house-elves difficult.

They lived too humbly. Even the most ordinary courtesy would make them endlessly grateful.

The slave mentality deeply branded into their minds had continued from generation to generation. Although Gemini would not rescue them from a life of misery, neither could he take their service for granted. He was not that shameless. So even a verbal expression of gratitude was a form of respect.

More precisely, Gemini was not only respecting them. He was also respecting himself.

By respecting the fruits of the house-elves' labor, he was also respecting his own manners and upbringing.

After expressing his gratitude to Gemini once more, Spoon left with the two large boxes. For house-elves, the most praiseworthy thing was serving their masters flawlessly while ensuring their masters barely noticed their existence, so house-elves actually disliked appearing before people.

After Spoon left, Gemini beamed at the mountain-like pile of gifts beside him, his eyes seeming to shine with golden light.

A while later, Gemini fell silent as he stared at the heaps of snacks.

"Why is there so much food?" He casually picked up a box of Chocolate Frogs and sighed. "And it's all sweets..."

Hermione had given him an entire box of Chocolate Frogs. Dumbledore had given him a small pack of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, saying that based on his many years of experience, there would definitely be one that tasted like foot skin inside and strongly recommending that Gemini try it...

Snape had given him a bottle of enhancer. It was good stuff and could increase the effects of other potions. For example, Liquid Luck lasted twelve hours, but with this bottle of enhancer, its effects could even be extended beyond fifteen hours.

This stuff was not cheap. A tiny bottle like this could sell for at least fifteen Galleons.

In fact, Gemini was already surprised that Snape had given him a present at all. After all, he had just tricked him out of a Nimbus 2000 not long ago...

But then he remembered that Snape was, after all, a Potions Master and undoubtedly a hidden rich man, so Gemini accepted it.

Neville had given Gemini a pot of Drought Demon Succulent. It seemed that his talent for Herbology was already beginning to show. This kind of Drought Demon Succulent grew in the Taklamakan Desert of northwestern China and in Egypt. It looked little different from an ordinary succulent, shaped like a lotus, except that it had a mouth full of sharp teeth in the middle and would bite people...

This plant's greatest feature was that it could appropriately absorb excess moisture from the air, keeping a room's humidity at a moderate level. It basically did not need watering. Even in the desert, a light drizzle every six months was enough to keep it stubbornly alive. In rainy Britain, it would thrive splendidly.

Its only flaw was that it sometimes ground its teeth...

What a little goblin that ground its teeth~

Draco gave Gemini a Top Hat, the kind worn by Kaito Kid, except it was black. Gemini said he liked it very much and put it on immediately.

He looked in the mirror. He was still as handsome as ever.

The remaining gifts were merely thoughtful little presents: snacks, stationery, decorations, and the like. Gemini wrote down the names of everyone who had given him gifts, planning to return each of their favors the following year.

Half an hour later, Gemini was leisurely eating breakfast in the Great Hall.

There were still quite a few students staying at school for Christmas. Around several dozen people were scattered sparsely throughout the Great Hall's four long tables.

Yet at that moment, everyone's eyes were fixed on the table before Gemini.

In front of Gemini stood a tower of colorful delicacies. On a large brass platter, five or six roasted potatoes formed a circle around two roasted squabs in the center, brushed with sweet chili sauce and smelling incredibly tempting.

There was a small pillar in the middle of the brass platter, supporting a small tray above it. On the tray was a Beef Wellington, with a small piece of foie gras beside it, separated by several large cherries used as decoration.

Beside this two-tiered tower of food sat a jug of Elderflower Cordial Soda.

There was no need to think about it. This was definitely the house-elves' handiwork...

"Why is his breakfast different from ours?"

At the Gryffindor table, Ron looked at the huge platter before Gemini and swallowed audibly. The croissant on his own plate suddenly did not seem appealing at all...

Waaah... Someone in the author group is showing off the Silver League they received. I want a League Leader too. Even an ordinary League Leader would do! Please, kind readers, show some mercy and spare one for me. I'm just a humble novel writer, sob sob hic...