Dealing with the reporters took some effort. Will and Sylvia didn't get away until noon.
"How does it feel to have an Order of Merlin, future 'Grand Wizard Behrens'?" Sylvia teased. She held a packet of Fizzing Whizzbees Neville had given them, popping one into her mouth now and then.
"Doesn't feel like much." Will smiled, glancing at the shops along the street, icicles hanging from their eaves. "Honestly, the biggest use I'll get out of a Third Class Order of Merlin is probably less trouble at places that require a 'guarantee of good standing.'"
"You still need someone to vouch for you? I'd have thought being a member of the Society for the Promotion of Alchemical Excellence would be enough," Sylvia said, slipping a sweet into his mouth.
"More or less." Will frowned as he chewed the overly sweet candy. Passing the window of a shop that specialized in magical telescopes, he remembered something and glanced at a brass telescope on display, its barrel engraved with constellations.
Sylvia followed his gaze. "Want to buy a telescope? One for Astronomy?"
"No." Will shook his head. "Just looking. To be honest, sometimes I wonder whether the stars Muggles see are the same ones we do."
The light Santa Claus had brought, for instance, seemed invisible to Muggles.
"A philosophical question. Not one for a day out in Hogsmeade." Sylvia tugged him onward. "Come on. I heard Zonko's Joke Shop has a new batch of 'self-inking Quills' that turn whatever you write into moving cartoons. I want to get one for Luna. I think she'd like it."
They turned into a quieter alley, where the snow had yet to be trampled down and crunched underfoot. Beside them stood Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop, its lace-curtained windows glowing with warm yellow light.
"Want to