Ian's situation can only be described as a one-of-a-kind anomaly.
"I can no longer see any glimpses of your future." Aurora fixed her heterochromatic eyes on Ian—clearly, this was also proof of the difference she now perceived between the two of them.
"You've seen my future before?" Ian looked a little surprised. This was the first time he'd heard of it, but the German girl didn't give a clear response.
"I suppose that's all in the past now." Aurora's gaze lingered on Ian, and her mismatched eyes flickered as if confirming some things she shouldn't have known.
"Are you cheating right in front of me?????"
Ian covered Aurora's eyes with his hand.
And right at that moment—
A group of little wizards chattered as they passed by the two of them, casting a few curious looks their way. But as they walked off into the distance, their topic of conversation definitely wasn't Ian and Aurora.
The little wizards had a far juicier subject to discuss.
"Snape actually washed his hair! I saw him today and his hair wasn't greasy at all!"
"Right?! And that shampoo smells amazing, too!"
"Could it be that after all these years, the Potter family finally released a new shampoo?"
"I have to ask Professor Snape about it when term starts!"
...
A few Slytherin students hurried down the corridor. Ian didn't even have time to save the last kid who spoke—before long, they'd sped up and vanished around the corner—well, that's Slytherin for you: just seeing Ian was enough to make them break into a run.
"May Merlin bless your House's poor souls."
Ian sighed helplessly.
"You gave Snape the shampoo, didn't you?"
Aurora had clearly pieced together the mystery behind Snape's clean hair.
"Of course. Want some? I've got hundreds of bottles left. Originally, I was planning to switch up the scent a bit, add just a teensy bit of water, pour them into Potter family shampoo bottles, and flood Knockturn Alley with them."
Ian shoved seven or eight undiluted shampoo bottles into Aurora's hands. It was only after making them himself that he realized why the Potter family vault always seemed to have an endless supply of Galleons.
Put it this way—
That's just what a monopoly looks like. It may seem all fancy as a "magic potion shampoo," but its profits must blow those viral internet products out of the water. If there were more wizards out there, the place where the Potter family stores their money would probably have to expand every year just to fit all the profits.
"I gave Snape a Christmas present, too." Aurora put the shampoo bottles into her robes, the pockets of which clearly bore traces of an Enlargement Charm.
"Weren't you on bad terms with him?"
Ian looked quite surprised.
He still remembered all those stunts Aurora had pulled just to spite Snape.
"He's still our Head of House, and he's been picking on me a bit lately. So I figured I ought to mend things a little and gave him a pair of undetectable safety pants."
Aurora's choice of gift left Ian full of question marks.
"He's a bloke!"
Ian thought Aurora really didn't seem like she was actually trying to give a proper present.
"I put a lot of thought into it." Aurora noticed the expression on Ian's face and quickly explained, clearly being quite serious.
"All the other students say Snape's mean and sour, but only I figured out why—he was bullied as a child and it left him with some deep psychological scars."
"Apparently, it's all because of a spell called Levicorpus. That's why my gift should be just the thing to heal his childhood trauma." Aurora's tone was totally earnest.
Ian stared at her for quite a while before realizing that this German girl seriously wasn't joking.
"You really get what 'healing' means." As a good friend, what more could Ian say? He could only give a thumbs-up and silently pray for Aurora's next six years at Hogwarts.
Only Aurora would dare try something like this. If another student pulled that, Snape would probably gift them something like "You'll need childhood healing in the future too."
Ian wouldn't dare.
"So, where are we going?" Aurora had been following Ian the whole way, and now she noticed he had led her to the fourth floor of Hogwarts Castle.
"Obviously to enjoy Christmas to the fullest!"
Holidays were as comfortable and cozy as could be.
At least, that's how most little wizards felt. Ian, on the other hand, just couldn't sit still; as soon as he opened the fourth-floor mirror, he dragged Aurora with him into the secret passage to Hogwarts Village.
It's the holidays, after all—a time to indulge! Those special sweets and drinks sold for a limited time in the shops at Hogwarts Village are what truly make Christmas magical.
The damp tunnel was chilly and moist and smelled like it was sealed for ages. Ian lit his wand, instantly warming up the air around them to a comfortable temperature.
"Compound magic?"
Aurora watched Ian's wand, as if dissecting its magical structure. She raised her own wand; after it emitted a glow from the Lighting Spell, a few tongues of flame also shot out from the tip.
Orange-red flames even jumped to the top of the passage, bursting like little fireworks and scattering embers everywhere—good thing she hadn't mixed in Fiery Fire!
"Not overlaying the Fire-Making Spell, but rather the Greenhouse Curse." Ian dodged the falling sparks and corrected Aurora's misunderstanding about his spellcasting.