Chapter 68: Christmas gift

　　The situation seems to have become more complicated.
　　 That night, after they finished their dinner, an unexpected guest suddenly appeared in the Slytherin common room!
　　 is Mr. Pringle and his dog, Mr. Tang.
　　As the administrator of the castle, he rarely breaks into the common rooms of various colleges under normal circumstances.
　　 "Matthew Wickfield, and Agnes Lestrange, are you here?" he shouted.
　　 Matthew and Lestrange raised their hands one after another.
　　 Mr. Pringle just walked over, looked at them one after another, and after recording something on the parchment in his hand, he hurriedly left with the golden retriever.
　　 "What's the matter?" Matthew glanced at Lestrange in a puzzled way.
　　 Lestrange shrugged, indicating that she didn't know.
　　 Matthew didn't care much, lowered his head, and continued to look at the "Merlin Legend" in his hand.
　　 This history book, or historical novel, was borrowed from the library before Christmas.
　　……
　　 Early the next morning, thick snowflakes were flying in the sky. They covered almost every window of the castle; this also made the castle darker than ever.
　　 When Matthew passed the door of the auditorium, something strange happened—
　　 Justin Finley, Hufflepuff's first grade, is accepting the blame from his dean, Professor Pomona Sprout.
　　Professor Sprout’s expression was very excited, while Mr. Finley was bowing his head in shame.
　　 This is indeed quite weird, because Professor Sprout has always been a good-tempered professor, and she rarely blames people, let alone a student at Hufflepuff College.
　　 Matthew walked into the auditorium and saw Hermione Granger eating breakfast at the only long table, so he walked over and sat beside her.
　　 "Huh?" Glancing at Matthew, Hermione snorted softly.
　　 Ever since Hermione took Professor Flitwick and broke through the door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom; Matthew has not had much contact with her.
　　 And Hermione seemed to have some opinions on this, because in her opinion, she was a big help to Matthew...whatever Matthew said, she should be thankful to her.
　　 But she's a little girl after all, she doesn't hold grudges.
　　 "What's the matter?" She asked flatly.
　　 "Professor Sprout at the door, and Justin Finley...what's the matter?" Matthew asked curiously: "The first time I saw Professor Sprout so angry!"
"That Justin Finley..." Hermione's face showed a slightly contemptuous expression: "When he went to Hogsmeade yesterday, he ate too many candies at the Honey Duke Candy Store, and then he went to The two broomsticks fell asleep at the bar and stayed asleep until the night when the two broomsticks closed, the barkeeper woke him up..."
　　 "Asleep?" Matthew was stunned.
"Yes." Hermione nodded. "He didn't show up until dark yesterday. When his college classmates went to report to Mr. Pringer, Mr. Pringer was terrified! Pringle was so anxious at the time. Mr. Ge went to look for it from college to college, for fear that there would still be someone who has not returned from Hogsmeade..."
　　 Matthew suddenly remembered that Mr. Pringle appeared in the Slytherin common room on a rare occasion last night, and then looked for him and Lestrange.
　　 "So, then what?"
"At that time, it shocked the whole school. Just when Headmaster Rozier was going to Hogsmeade to find him, he suddenly came back..." Hermione replied, "So this morning, along with Professor Sprout, were all Principal Rozier gave it a severe training!"
　　 "That's it!" Matthew nodded thoughtfully.
　　 "What else?" Hermione said dryly, "If you don't mind, I've finished breakfast!"
　　 "It's okay, thank you very much, Miss Granger!" Matthew smiled flatteringly.
　　 As Hermione left, Matthew started to think again while eating breakfast.
　　……
　　 For the next few days, Matthew Wickfield was peaceful.
　　 The blizzard outside the castle was always big at first, and the road was almost blocked by heavy snow.
　　Most of the Hogwarts students have no interest in going to Hogsmeade; as for Matthew, he has not even thought of going to Hogsmeade for a long time.
　　Most of the time, Matthew reads books in the common room, and occasionally goes to the library.
　　 When he was really bored, he and Lestrange played Gobs and Wizard chess.
The gameplay of 　　 Gobstone is similar to that of Muggle marbles. A standard high bush stone game contains thirty small round stones. At the beginning of the game, everyone has fifteen. If one party collects all the opponent's stones, then he is the winner of the game.
　　 The main difference is that when one team loses a point, those stones will spray an unpleasant liquid on the face of the loser.
　　 is a very simple little game. Although Matthew loses more and loses less, most of the time he is not an opponent of Lestrange.
　　 As for wizard chess, the rules are basically the same as Muggle chess; the pieces will move to the target square on their own according to the player's command. But when the chess piece is taken, it will be knocked over by the opponent's chess piece and then dragged out of the board.
　　 This Matthew is a bit better, with more wins than losses, and he easily gained the trust of the set of chess pieces left by Draco Malfoy.
　　……
　　 On Christmas morning, Matthew was at the foot of the bed and saw a small pile of packages and his Christmas presents.
　　 There is a bottle of mead in exquisite packaging, which was given by Professor Slughorn...and Matthew gave his dean a box of candied pineapple yesterday.
　　 He commissioned the seventh-grade Slytherin girl in the common room to buy it from Duke Honey two days ago.
　　 a box of brand new wizard chess;
　　 A "Compendium of Modern History of Magic";
　　……
and also--
　　 Matthew shifted his gaze to the last package, a very beautiful Christmas gift box, but there was no signature on it.
　　 Matthew couldn't help blinking. Who would give himself a Christmas present anonymously?
　　 He gently tied the gift string and opened this Christmas gift box...
　　 "Huh?" Matthew snorted and looked at the contents.
　　 The expression on his face gradually became serious.
　　 But then, he suddenly smiled.
　　 Because this last Christmas gift is a simple, familiar, and mysterious book.