Snowy Days and Quidditch

"Rozier, you'll change your mind!" Claude Lore stared at Xiwen in the crowd, a smirk playing on his lips.

"Lord Grindelwald will be the ultimate victor, and all our actions are for For the Greater Good." His voice was quite seductive. "The Rosier family has helped you greatly in the past. As the heir of the Rosier family, if you sincerely pledge your allegiance, Lord Grindelwald will surely forgive and forget..."

"Enough!" Minister Fawley, his face extremely grim, stopped Professor Lore and shouted angrily. "Take them away!"

He then hastily announced the end of the Judgement.

After the Judgement concluded, Minister Fawley approached Xiwen and Sandrine, tipped his hat, and said, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Rozier and Mr. Rozier. It was our negligence that allowed the prisoner to bump into you."

"You really should reflect on your actions, Minister Fawley!" Sandrine said bluntly, not one to tolerate him. She then pulled Xiwen away from the Courtroom.

Xiwen noticed that Minister Fawley's face was very gloomy.

On their way back, after walking up the stairs behind the courthouse, the two passed by the black door of the Department of Mysteries once again.

Xiwen deliberately slowed his pace and squinted to sense the energy inside the door.

The door was highly insulating; only faint energy fluctuations could be sensed seeping out. It was these faint energy fluctuations that made Xiwen feel incredibly at home.

That is the power of time.

Xiwen a relieved laugh, he relaxed. Then he followed Sandrine into the elevator on the ninth floor and left the Department of Mysteries.

The trial lasted for more than an hour. The peak time for Ministry of Magic employees to arrive at work had long passed, and the Ministry Atrium was now quite empty.

The two walked on the smooth floor, their footsteps echoing crisply in the long, narrow hall.

"This time we'll be separated for over a month!" Sandrine's tone was a little resentful as she grumbled, "Don't stay at school for Christmas on your own. Remember to come home on time; I'll pick you up at the station!"

"I understand, Mom," Xiwen replied reluctantly. He secretly regretted that his plan to stay at school and improve his Combined Spellcasting was likely ruined...

The two hugged and said goodbye.

Then, under Sandrine's reluctant gaze, Xiwen stepped into the fireplace on the other side of the main hall and returned to Hogwarts.

After that, his time at Hogwarts became quite ordinary, consisting of the usual classes, meals, and sleep, practicing combination spells at night, and learning alchemy from Dumbledore on weekends.

Ghost Xiwen, unaffected by day and night, would occasionally stroll around the castle with Helena, but most of the time he was reading, openly reading first-year course materials right under Helena's nose.

Looking back now, how inconvenient would life have been What If...? I had continued to hide my true identity from Helena?

In Helena's presence, it was difficult to find a suitable reason simply to look up information for the Young Wizard Xiwen. Not to mention that, since they were essentially the same person, Ghost Xiwen and Young Wizard Xiwen shared many extremely similar habits.

With Helena's intelligence, the relationship between her Soul Body and body would be exposed sooner or later. By then, if it's been kept secret for too long and there are too many lies, misunderstandings and estrangement might really arise between them!

And this is good enough; the two of them have opened their hearts to each other, understanding and comforting one another.

In the mundane yet fulfilling campus life, time flies by. Before you know it, snowflakes begin to fall, draping Hogwarts Castle in a silvery-white veil.

The weather was cold, so the young wizards all changed into their winter fleece-lined school robes, added thick sweaters, and wrapped Hogwarts' classic striped scarves around their necks.

At this moment, Xiwen and his three roommates, each wearing a green striped scarf representing Slytherin, were walking unsteadily in the open space north of the castle.

The open space was covered in snow, and their footsteps crunched on it, leaving a trail of footprints that stretched from the castle to the Quidditch Pitch. There were many such footprints, showing that even the snow couldn't dampen the young wizards' love for Quidditch.

"So why should we brave the cold wind and heavy snow to watch a Quidditch Match that we can't even see clearly?" Mobley had absolutely no talent for flying and no interest in Quidditch, complained to Abu the whole way.

"I think so too. Why can't the Quidditch Match be postponed?" Xiwen nodded in agreement.

This snowy weekend would have been perfect for staying in my luxurious basement room researching Combined Spellcasting, or perhaps studying alchemy in Dumbledore's Transfiguration Professor's Office. Dumbledore would have warmly entertained me with all sorts of sweets and steaming honey tea in that cozy office – how comfortable!

However, he now has to brave the cold wind to watch a game, a game where failing to catch the Golden Snitch could last all day, or even days and nights. No wonder he agrees with Mobley's idea.

"You don't understand," Abraxas said mysteriously. "Quidditch in the snow is the real romance for players; snowy days and the pitch go perfectly together!"

Xiwen: "..."

Quidditch Pitch is a huge oval field, originally covered with grass, but now it is covered with a thick layer of snow, turning it into a snow-white color.

Several towering stands stand around the stadium. These stands are so high that it often takes quite a while to climb metal steps to reach the upper seats.

Of course, most of those seats were reserved for referees, commentators, and professors; the young wizards mainly watched Quidditch matches from the circular seating area around the field.

"Tergeo" (meaning "Tergeo")

"Impervius" (meaning "Impervius").

In his Slytherin seat, Xiwen first cast a spell to clear the snow from the seat in front of him, then cast an Impervius Charm on himself to prevent the snow from falling on him. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief, wrap his scarf and school robe tighter, and sit down.

He turned his head and saw his three roommates looking at him with hopeful eyes.

So Xiwen also cast Impervius Charm on Gomez and Mobley, but left Abu alone to the side.

"Hey! Why didn't you add this snow-proof spell for me?" Abu asked, disgruntled.

"Quidditch in the snow is the real romance for players!" Xiwen teased. "Weren't you aspiring to be Seeker in Slytherin? You can't be a player in your first year, but experiencing the romance of being a player early on isn't bad!"

Gomez and Mobley couldn't help but laugh gleefully.

Abu angrily made an international friendship gesture to Xiwen, and then bravely rejected the Impervius Charm, braving the wind and snow to watch the game.