Until now, Harold had never realized just how piercing Ron's voice could be—you could hear it loud and clear several dorms away.
Looks like Hedwig had lived up to Harry's hopes and returned just in time for Christmas.
Which meant Harold could now accept those seven Galleons from Harry with a clear conscience.
Technically speaking, this was Harry's second wand purchase, which meant it wasn't eligible for a discount. But since it was going to Ron, Harold had decided not to nitpick. He even mentioned it in his letter to his grandfather, asking him to mark the wand under "Ron Weasley's name."
That way, they could still apply for the Ministry's wand subsidy. No one would lose out.
Five minutes passed, and Ron was still yelling his head off. Harold ignored it and kept unwrapping his own gifts.
The second long, narrow box came from his grandfather. Inside was a strip of yellowish-brown wood with a layer of grid-like brown scales on the surface—it looked almost like snake skin.
Harold picked up the branch with some surprise. Tree fern wood, also known as snakewood. Though it looked like a tree, it was actually a type of fern.
Because of this, it was nearly impossible to find Bowtruckles living on it. Only a rare few, by sheer chance, had earned their favor and could be crafted into magical wands.
Fun fact: Salazar Slytherin's wand was made from this very wood.
And if his grandfather was sending it as a Christmas gift, then there was no way it was just any old piece of snakewood.
Harold stroked his chin. Looks like his grandfather had found something interesting while he was away at school. Once the holidays rolled around, he'd definitely have to make another trip to the warehouse.
Lost in thought, Harold unwrapped his third parcel...
It was a big bag of sweets from Hermione—not the Honeydukes kind, but a bunch of Muggle candies, five or six different flavors.
From Harry: five Galleons (straightforward and thoughtful—very on-brand).
From Ron: a new quill.
From Neville: a chocolate frog card.
From Seamus: some dried fish snacks for pets, with a picture of a cat on the packaging (Harold highly doubted Tom would even look at such junk food).
Even Professor McGonagall had sent a gift—twenty issues of Today's Transfiguration magazine.
Harold was curious how the professor had managed to return the favor so precisely.
He hadn't given her any heads-up when he sent her a wand as a gift, but McGonagall had still managed to send something back. She was the only professor who had.
House-elves? A name-revealing spell?
Harold didn't dwell on it. He casually pulled one issue from the stack and stepped out of the dormitory.
Outside, Fred and George were goading their brother into wearing a dark purplish-red sweater. They were both wearing the same sweater in blue, with big yellow letters on the front.
George had an "F", Fred had a "G".
Clearly Mrs. Weasley had designed them that way to tell them apart.
Unfortunately, the plan failed. The twins had deliberately worn theirs backward.
Harold walked past the group and headed toward the common room. He planned to check in on Hagrid first, then head to the Great Hall.
But the moment Harold stepped off the spiral staircase, he froze—staring in disbelief at the bespectacled man sitting in an armchair.
For a second, he thought he was hallucinating from lack of sleep. There was no way his dad was here in the Gryffindor common room.
It had to be a hallucina—
"Hey, Harold! What are you doing standing there like that?" the man waved with a smile.
"What's real?" Garion Ollivander chuckled and adjusted his glasses. "What, surprised to see me?"
"Very surprised," Harold said. "Wait—if you're here, then Mom wouldn't happen to be..."
"She's over in the girls' dorms," Garion said, grinning.
Harold took a deep breath and slowly came to terms with the fact that his parents showing up at school was his Christmas gift. Then he mentally replayed everything he'd done recently, just to make sure there was no way this was a "parent-teacher" situation. Only after ruling that out did he start to relax.
"What are you guys doing here?"
"Call it making up for lost time," Garion said. "We missed your first day of school, and since we happened to be back in Britain, we figured we'd come see you. If you're not coming home for the holidays, then we'll come to you. Oh—and your mom's here too."
Right on cue, Lila Ollivander came walking in from the girls' side of the dorms and pulled Harold into a hug.
"Sweetheart, don't pay any mind to that old fossil of a grandfather," Lila said, kissing his forehead. "I looked into it—Gryffindor is a fine house."
She still remembered that letter Harold had written after the Sorting Ceremony.
"All that talk about hotheaded brutes and reckless heroics—come on. That was ages ago. It's not like everyone in Gryffindor is Godric Gryffindor himself. Is Minerva McGonagall reckless? I don't think so."
"Grandfather's really not that bothered," Harold said quickly, trying to smooth things over.
"But seriously, how did you even get in here?" he asked, clearly baffled. "I thought Hogwarts didn't usually let parents in?"
"They don't. But we've got our ways," Garion said. "We've been friends with Pomona Sprout for years. Came by to visit an old friend over the holidays—no way Dumbledore was going to say no."
"And we thought we'd drop by and see you too," Lila added, glancing around the common room. She leaned toward Garion and muttered, "You're right. This really is a bit of a downgrade from Beauxbatons."
"I heard that," Harold muttered, mouth twitching.
Honestly, choosing which school to attend had caused a bit of a war in his family.
His grandfather had obviously backed Hogwarts.
His mother Lila championed Beauxbatons as the superior choice—and roped in Garion and Harold's grandmother for backup.
Then there was his aunt, the lone supporter of Ilvermorny. Chapters fırst released on 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝⚫𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖⚫𝕟𝕖𝕥
Every time the topic came up, it turned into a three-way shouting match—until Harold made the decision himself to attend Hogwarts, finally putting the argument to rest.
"I've already started term. I'm not going to transfer to Beauxbatons now," Harold said, waving the idea away.
Just then, a group of Weasleys and Harry walked into the common room.
They were just as shocked and confused to see Harold's parents there as he had been.
But the clever Weasleys didn't ask questions. Fred and George even greeted Garion and Lila warmly and offered to be tour guides.
That offer was politely declined.
Instead, Garion and Lila handed out pre-prepared Christmas gifts to everyone:
A dried pop-bubble pod.
When dropped, it bounced and rolled uncontrollably—basically a magical bouncy ball. It was a trendy little toy among witches and wizards.
Harold got one too, so at least his parents were being consistent.