Dumbledore's Letter

"Why do they all like sending me books so much?!"

The next morning, Xiwen stood by the Christmas tree. Looking at the piles of gifts under the tree, he silently complained.

Most of these gift wrappings are flat and rectangular, so you can usually tell what's inside without even opening them.

Now, Xiwen is holding two identical hardcover copies of "Magical Theory" in his hands, his face full of helplessness.

The two identical books were gifts from Abraxas and Mobley, it's unclear whether they planned it beforehand or were just too in sync. Gomez, on the other hand, gave him a copy of "Fundamentals and Advanced Alchemy," which was more in line with Xiwen's wishes.

He ignored the gifts from many classmates he didn't know very well and picked up Elshiona's gift box, one of the few gifts that didn't include a book.

The gift box is an elegant red and white Christmas-themed box, tied with a pink ribbon. Inside, you can see chocolates of various shapes.

Xiwen immediately popped one into his mouth and thought it tasted good.

Then he looked at Miranda's gift. Her gift was also a flat, rectangular bag, which secretly displeased Xiwen.

Xiwen thought to himself, "I carefully selected these exquisite glasses for her, only to have her treat me like a casually given book by a classmate I'm not particularly close to?"

He angrily tore open the packaging, saw the book inside, and then his eyes widened.

Rather than a book, it's more like a thick, heavy leather-bound notebook. The cover bears a title in elegant handwriting: <The Book of Spells>!

Xiwen's mood instantly changed from resentment to delight, and he took out the accompanying instruction manual and began to read it.

It turns out that Miranda had specially completed this "Spellbook" before Christmas, adding a lot of new content and revising some inaccuracies from the previous version. She named it after the name suggested by Xiwen – "The Book of Spells."

Furthermore, Miranda had specially placed a self-created spell on the title page of this notebook. As long as the incantation was recited and the desired spell was spoken, the page number containing that spell would automatically appear on the title page.

"Amazing, it even has a search function!" Xiwen exclaimed in amazement, repeatedly expressing his admiration.

Then, he closed the Book of Spells and gently snapped his the Snap with his right hand.

With a "bang," the House-Elf Millie appeared before Xiwen.

"Millie is at your service, Master Xiwen!" Millie bowed.

"Millie, I have a favor to ask of you." Xiwen smiled, handed Millie the Book of Spells, and said, "Take this notebook to the family bookstore in Diagon Alley and give it to Steward Stout."

After thinking for a moment, he took out a piece of parchment, wrote a few lines of notes on it, and tucked it into the book.

"Let Stout Stott see this note; he'll know what to do," Xiwen said.

After Millie Apparition away, Xiwen's brief excitement lasted a few minutes before turning into frustration. He listlessly began unwrapping his Christmas presents...

After countless books had been unpacked, quite abruptly, a parchment envelope slipped out from the pile of gifts.

The envelope caught Xiwen's attention. After all, a flimsy envelope couldn't hold much of a gift, unless it was something like the voucher he gave to Professor Slughorn.

Xiwen first picked up the envelope and saw the words written on it:

"A Christmas gift for Mr. Xiwen Rozier -- A. D."

'A. D.? Professor Albus Dumbledore?'

Curious, Xiwen opened the envelope and saw a gold card with an address written on it: 21 Montmorency Street, 3rd arrondissement France Paris.

'France? What does that mean?' Xiwen was a little confused, not knowing what Dumbledore was up to.

Fortunately, besides the card, the envelope also contained a piece of paper with two paragraphs of elegant and unrestrained handwriting.

"Mr. Rozier: After this period of study, and given your mastery of Ancient Runes, I believe I am no longer sufficient to teach you more advanced alchemical knowledge. Therefore, I will recommend someone to you, along with a letter of recommendation and this address as your Christmas gift. The owner of this address is none other than my friend, the alchemist master Nicholas Flamel."

"I will arrange for you to spend half of the Christmas holiday learning alchemy from Nick. Whether you win his favor is up to you. If you agree, you can place your wand on the bottom right corner of this letter, and I will ask another friend of mine to meet you at King's Cross Station on the third day after Christmas. -- Sincerely, Albus Dumbledore."

After reading the letter, Xiwen was so surprised he couldn't close his mouth, and a look of great joy appeared on his face.

Nicholas Flamel is undoubtedly the most famous alchemist in the world today, and may even be the greatest alchemist in history!

If he could get the chance to learn alchemy from him, Xiwen felt that he might actually be able to create the long-desired Sling Ring.

Although he was still a little puzzled as to why Dumbledore thought he was not qualified to teach him alchemy, Xiwen didn't care about that at the moment.

He even wanted to rush to Paris immediately to meet Nick Flamel!

The three-day wait passed in the blink of an eye, Xiwen couldn't wait to pack his luggage.

"Are you really going to France? You've only been home for a few days!" Sandrine complained as she straightened Xiwen's wrinkled clothes.

"Mom, this is a very important opportunity for me." Xiwen's tone was very firm. It was because he had been longing for the Sling Ring for far too long.

"If you ask me, that Albus Dumbledore is just up to no good." Sandrine was very dissatisfied with Dumbledore because Xiwen Dumbledore leave home for the Christmas holidays, and she said through gritted teeth, "I think he's still hung up on Grindelwald! He just stays holed up in Hogwarts Castle all day."

Xiwen shook his head helplessly. He truly didn't understand why Dumbledore, as the only wizard capable of confronting Grindelwald, didn't personally step forward to stop the Dark Lord.

However, after spending a semester together, he came to believe in Dumbledore's character and was willing to understand whether Dumbledore truly had some unspeakable difficulties.

"I have to go now, Mom," Xiwen said to Sandrine.

Seeing that Xiwen was determined to leave, Sandrine could only wave goodbye reluctantly and say, "Take care of yourself in France!"

Xiwen nodded and took Millie's hand.

With a "bang," they appeared in the alley outside King's Cross Station.

Then, following Dumbledore's instructions, he went to the station gate and put on the green scarf embroidered with the Slytherin crest around his neck.

After sending Millie back, Xiwen started to have all sorts of wild thoughts.

'What kind of people would Dumbledore's friends be? Would they be difficult to get along with?'

Just as he was lost in thought, a man with messy brown curly hair and a face covered in freckles walked over.

"Are you Xiwen Rozier?" he asked.