The ten Galleons were from Harry, Adrian figured this out after thinking about it. His friend had always worried about Adrian's money problems. Since it was meant as a gift, Adrian gratefully accepted it as emergency funds.
The thick notebook had Hermione's name on it and contained all her carefully written class notes from the start of term. Adrian smiled as he flipped through the pages. The bookworm had thought the same way as him, just backwards.
The two round, mystery objects came from the Weasley twins with no explanation. To Adrian, they looked exactly like Dungbombs used for pranks.
Ron had given him a bag of cheap candy. Adrian looked at them carefully, trying to figure out what made them different from regular sweets, but couldn't find anything special.
"I didn't know you'd given me such cool stuff. I thought it was just candy," said Ron, who had been playing wizard chess with Harry. His freckled face suddenly turned red as he stammered an apology.
"It's fine, the candy is great, enough to last me several days," Adrian waved his hand quickly, showing he didn't mind. It was just that the other nice gifts had made him wonder if Ron's present might have some hidden trick too.
"Besides, the sweets you gave to Adrian taste good," Harry added supportively, taking one of the same candies from the table and putting it in his mouth. His expression changed slightly when he bit down, but he still smiled.
With his friends backing him up, Ron got over his embarrassment. The truth was, Mrs. Weasley had only given him two silver Sickles as spending money before term started, and no matter how carefully he'd saved, he'd almost spent it all.
After making Ron feel better, Adrian looked at the final gift, probably the most important one. This was a Christmas present from his mother, Irene.
It was a shiny crescent-shaped pendant with an envelope attached. The envelope looked different from the others, and it seemed to be moving by itself. Adrian already knew something was wrong.
This was a Howler.
Sure enough, the next second, the letter flew into the air and started screaming at the top of its voice.
"ADRIAN BLACKWOOD!"
"Who gave you permission to sign that staying-behind form without asking me first? Not even one letter before Christmas! I waited at King's Cross Station for five hours, FIVE HOURS! If I hadn't sent an owl to your damn headmaster, I would've thought you'd gone missing or died at Hogwarts!"
The sharp, magically loud voice echoed through the small dorm room. Even when Adrian covered his ears, it didn't help, the voice had its own magic that couldn't be blocked.
The screaming went on for what felt like half an hour before the letter finally finished yelling at him. As a final threat, it warned Adrian that he had to wear the crescent pendant at all times and was absolutely not allowed to take it off without her permission.
Harry and Ron sat frozen during the Howler's attack. When the screaming finally stopped, Ron rubbed his ears and wondered out loud if he'd gone deaf.
"Adrian, who sent you that Howler? That voice was so loud, almost like my mum when she's really mad," Ron asked.
"That was my mother," Adrian sighed helplessly. He'd felt like he was forgetting something important, and now he realized he'd completely forgotten to write to his previously unknown mother, Irene, about his Christmas plans.
But he couldn't totally blame himself. After all, his instinct was to avoid his inherited family, not reach out to them.
"Is your mother not very nice to you? Like my aunt and uncle?" Harry asked with sympathy. In his mind, anyone staying at school for Christmas, except for temporary family stuff like Ron's, must be in a situation like his own.
"It's just some family drama, not that bad," Adrian shook his head. He didn't fully understand it himself.
Actually, since mastering Occlumency, Adrian had been able to organize the leftover memories in his mind better. While the picture wasn't complete, he'd figured out quite a lot of useful information.
For example, his home was apparently a dark magic shop in Knockturn Alley, owned by his mother, Irene Blackwood. For a woman to survive in the crazy atmosphere of Knockturn Alley while raising a kid, and to do well there, said a lot about Aisia's abilities.
Besides her serious dark magic skills, Aisia made all kinds of powerful and weird dark magical items.
Yes, dark magical items, not regular magical stuff.
In Irene Blackwood's words, "Normal things don't sell in Knockturn Alley. You survive by dealing with deadly and cursed stuff."
Adrian now understood how he'd learned about magical item creation in the first place, simply by growing up around his mother's work.
As for his father, Irene had barely mentioned him once in Adrian's inherited memories. When pressed by childish questions, she'd only muttered something about "that reckless idiot getting himself killed through stupidity."
Adrian's memories of his mother's friends and business partners stayed frustratingly unclear.
The one thing Adrian felt thankful for was that in his memories, Irene's arms and wrists were pale and clean, no Dark Mark in sight. At least she wasn't one of Voldemort's followers.
Even so, her identity as a dark witch was undeniable.
Adrian stared nervously at the crescent pendant on the table, wondering if it contained some dark magic that might hurt him from far away or worse.
Then again, they were family, it shouldn't be anything too terrible, right?
Adrian swallowed hard, finally guessing it was probably some kind of tracking charm or location monitor.
With this thought, he picked up the pendant and checked his system's magical inventory, which had become his go-to authenticator since discovering how useful it was.
[Magical Item: Crescent Moon Pendant]
[Magic Level: Strong]
[Description: This magical item is made from many precious metals and magical components. It can absorb one lethal attack for the wearer, automatically destroying itself when its magical power runs out.]
[Note: Only high-intensity lethal attacks will trigger its protective effects. Contains more than just magical power...]
Adrian stood quietly for a long moment, then finally sighed and put the crescent pendant around his neck.
Strangely enough, part of him had been hoping it would contain dark magic instead.