In Harry Potter as Neville Longbottom

Chapter 15: Christmas Gifts

Today, we have to catch a train in the afternoon and my elves are already busy transporting things from ROR. I was already feeling happy when I had an idea. I checked the Hogwarts map to confirm and 'Bingo' I hit the jackpot!

Professor Snape was not in the castle today. Where did he go? Maybe to buy potion supplies from the potions guild at a Christmas discount or collect free items from the forbidden forest - I didn't give a shit about it. My focus was only on one item. No. Not the potion supplies.

Yes, I am sort of money and everything but stealing his supplies is taking an unnecessary risk for the future. Besides, thanks to my cute new pets I don't think I will be poor for a long time and those pets won't ever go out of fashion.

I made my way towards his room and I had my wand out.

"Alohomora" I cast an unlocking spell on his door and thankfully, that was the only lock on this. No sign of any other magic here. Cool. I went inside the room and headed directly towards the teacher's desk.

For a moment, yes, I accept, I stopped to look at his potion materials but they had a heavy trace of magic and to undo it, it will require patience and time which just made me give up completely. Hence I directly checked his table.

There was no presence of any charm or any tracking items nearby. There were only four drawers on his table and I opened them one by one. They were not even locked or anything. The first drawer is filled with some parchments and most probably homework sheets. Second, had some broken quills and inks and other potion tools like a measuring scale or a spatula.

Finally, in the third drawer, I found old course books. Yes! I just picked them one by one until I found a sixth-year coursebook, Advanced Potion-Making Potions marked with the signature of one Half Bloof prince on the cover. Yes!

"Geminio", with the duplication spell, I got an exact copy of the book. I put his original at the same place and tried to erase any obvious mark I might have left. Frankly, I had hardly touched anything apart from the handles of the cupboard and that was it.

A short last-minute adventure to get my hands on the best Christmas gift for any potion student out there. I made my way back to my dorm quietly where all the students were busy packing their bags and getting ready to grab the best seats in the Hogwarts express.

Finally, I left this semester with a ton of things I never expected to get in my first year. Things like Grimoire and rune magic is something I never even thought about before I came to Hogwarts.

"Neville, what are you going to do this Christmas?" - Dean asked me as I was sharing my compartment with him and Seamus. Somehow I got my own trio of non-meddling powerful wizards.

"Well, nothing to be exact. I am planning to spend Christmas quietly with my grandmother. Also, if I find time, I might take a visit to US and European shops under my family. It has been a long time since I made a personal visit and there must be a ton of things waiting for me as the Lord of my house." I replied. This was my first-week plan exactly in reality. The rest of the time I must spend with Ms Rose to test my Occlumency or check my wand magic.

My wand has yet to follow my commands in a natural way and over the last six months even after daily practise, I miss the feeling when I first touched it.

"What are your plans guys? Don't tell me you are going to spend this holiday with some relatives," I asked them just to make sure I am not missing something important and yes, sometimes I do treat them as normal friends.

"Frankly going back is difficult for me. I mean what is the point. I can't even practise magic at home. It will be boring. I am already regretting not staying back in Hogwarts," Dean replied in a low voice.

"Me too. You know I was excited before sitting here but now, I am thinking I can't even use my wand and suddenly yeah, this Christmas doesn't feel exciting anymore. And what the hell is wrong with professors! So much homework! This is just 2 weeks leave not summer vacations!" Seamus was even more annoyed. Considering his talent in making things go boom, he must miss his wand more than dean.

"True. But I think you won't feel be worried about the homework, though. Anyway, I will invite your families to my manor for a two-day visit so yeah, do write to me and confirm the dates." I told them and give them a meaningful smile.

I had already packed the Christmas gifts for everyone and anyone I could think of. Even the not bitch face Pansy and bushy head Hermonie. All girls will get a pair of Pygmy Puffs. These are dressed in pretty dresses and come with additional pet grooming kits. Yeah, that is one of the future plans on making money on this but let's give these free to my batch mates before selling these in stores.

For all boys, I plan to give....nothing! Fuck! I only care about 6 boys in total in whole Hogwarts and the two sitting with me will get a set of a new magical quill and ink that was basically auto-answer, self-spelling and lastly spell- checking combined into one. This is one of the new inventions I came up with the twins before the holiday and frankly, it is a great business idea for kids to help solve their writing homework or skip it completely.

Priced at 1 galleon, twins get 10% of every sale for their idea. That is their gift.

For Ron, I decided to give him a flying wizard chess set since the one he has is clearly an old one. He only has one thing to do in the first year and that is play wizard chess with harry in their annual adventure. So yeah consider this my investment.

Harry will get a new copy of the 'Quidditch Through the Ages' book. Frankly, I only ever saw him once in the library in the whole semester and that was with this book. So yeah I think he will like it.

For Hermione, I also additionally added a set of Chocolate Frog Cards and I think she will find the information she is looking for this whole semester 'accidentally' in one of those.

The Hogwarts express was moving at a slow speed and I was chatting with the boys. When the train stopped at the station, I took time out to meet their parents and give them a personal invitation for a visit to my manor. I had prepared those in advance.

I know this will bring both the families closer to me and my family and it will help in the long game.

"C'mon boy, give your Nan a hug. Are you going to make me wait forever?" When I entered our manor, I saw my Nan waiting for me at the gate. This old woman! I tell you before I left for Hogwarts she was all about manners and peaking proper names and now she herself is using the word 'NAN'.

I hugged her tightly and felt the long lost feeling of love.

"I missed you, Nan. I missed everyone!" I told her in a low voice. Yeah going home from Hogwarts does seem like you are missing the whole adventure and magic thing but meeting family again after a long time is definitely better than any charm out there.

"Where are Winny and others?" She enquired.

"Well bringing some stuff from Hogwarts. They should be free in a short time I guess. Let's go." I took her hand and we moved peacefully in our manor. The holidays began I had time to sort out a few things before the new semester.