He won twice, the classmates won once kind of situation. Compared to Hagrid's giant bucket of pricey gifts, the other little wizards' presents were pretty much light on the wallet but heavy on heartfelt intentions.
Ian was having a blast opening them.
The twins gifted him a box filled with candies—Ian didn't dare eat them. That and the "elder sister's original underwear" sent by a little wizard from the late-night class were both placed in the Room of Requirement's storage room. Maybe one day some lucky soul will discover that room and stumble upon his "forgotten" treasures.
"It's not that I'm picky—it's just that my crisis awareness is top-notch."
Ian kept unwrapping gifts, and compared to those two potentially dangerous ones, the full set of collector cards from the Chocolate Frog boy made him think: yep, this kid's totally the prince of a magical dynasty.
Seems dreary on the daily, even had to pay for late-night classes with Chocolate Frogs, but when it comes to rare card sets, he just gives them away, like it's nothing. Magic's spicy prince vibes right there.
"The Ravenclaw little wizards mostly gave books, which I love." By now Ian had reached his seventh book, and the enthusiastic Senior Sister Penelope gifted him a copy of .
His two roommates also gave books. One was , the other was —both solid finds you couldn't get in Knockturn Alley.
Hard-to-find gems, for sure.
Not sure if the heavens are sending Ian a subtle reminder, but the next gift box he opened was from Qiu Zhang: .
"..."
Ian felt like his friends from his own house might have some misunderstandings about him. Luckily, the professors didn't. Those excellent social skills even earned him gifts from all four house heads.
Professor McGonagall gave him a delicate brooch, marked with the Transformation Technique emblem from the magic field—maybe also her hopes for Ian's future in transformation magic.
Professor Flitwick also gave Ian a magic curse notebook full of hope—his own notes and experiences, never published but absolutely loaded with practical knowledge. Professor Sprout's gift was a care-tool kit, and Ian's helpful attitude towards Hufflepuff students definitely won her favor.
"My good uncle actually didn't give me Magic Potion." As Ian opened the last Hogwarts house head's gift, he found an alchemy prop enchanted with Iron Armor Spell.
Definitely store-bought.
Ian figured Snape was worried the current Hogwarts threats would reach Ian too. Clearly, Snape had no idea Ian was still scheming to toast Voldemort one more time. His worry was kind of like Ian's concern that Snape's greasy hair would trigger early baldness.
"Hope my good uncle likes the shampoo I gave him." Ian sure didn't just buy some Porter Shampoo and slap a label on it—he personally brewed a bunch of magic-variant herbal shampoos for Snape, packed with precious ingredients pilfered from Snape's private stash.
No idea if Snape will freak out and rush to check his cabinets once he gets his gift.
"Now let's see what my best friend sent me!" Ian had finished everyone else's presents, and put the last gift box front and center before himself.
This was Aurora's gift.
As his first—and closest—friend, Ian gifted Aurora a and a piece crafted from the raw Resurrection Stone.
It couldn't help Aurora commune with other souls in the Misty Illusion Realm, but the would definitely deepen her bond with her Patronus.
After all—
The Patronus's very existence is closely linked with the Misty Illusion Realm. And Ian remembered Aurora struggled for ages to cast the Patronus Charm and build a real connection with her Patronus.
This gift was way more time-consuming and effort-intensive than the gifts he sent Dumbledore and Grindelwald—those two selfless mentors got a custom-designed Wizard Chess set from him.
He gave all the pieces skins way cooler than any 2,000-coin League of Legends Hall of Fame skin, even the pawns morphed into World of Warcraft green-skinned beastmen and tall elves.
The modding didn't stop there.
The knights' rides were swapped with Nightmares and Unicorns—one team wielded Frost's Sorrow, the other Fire Joy. Red king was Dumbledore brandishing the Elder Wand, and black king was Grindelwald. Even the battles had special effects added by Ian. Seriously, a super thoughtful gift.
Naturally,
The was still more time-consuming and effort-packed.
"Resurrection Stone is made from that kind of rock, and my ring uses the same material, so by that math, I basically gifted my best friend a Deathly Hallow!"
Feeling excited, Ian opened Aurora's gift box.
He remembered when the two of them were picking eggs in the Forbidden Forest, Aurora had said she'd already prepared a Christmas gift for Ian—and claimed it was a treasure nicked from Grindelwald.
"Let's see what the treasure is!"
Ian tore open the box with brute force.
But—
Thinking he'd find some brutal Dark Arts prop inside, all he saw was a tiny, exquisite, metallic glimmering object in the box.