Chapter 695: 695: Christmas Eve

The Hogwarts Christmas holidays had arrived.

At Silverhand Amusement Park's Quidditch stadium, where major matches were held, flying figures streaked rapidly past the stands.

"Draco Malfoy spotted the Golden Snitch first!" Ernie shouted excitedly as he sprang to his feet in the commentary booth, nearly punching the retired star beside him with his wildly swinging fist.

This was the final of the Premier Wizard League.

The score difference had reached thirty points, but in Quidditch, that was far from decisive.

Puddlemere United's opponents were the first-ranked Appleby Arrows, whose star player, Rob Marshall, specialised in the decapitation strategy.

That tactic allowed them to end matches quickly, but its weakness was that their heavy dependence on catching the Snitch meant they often failed to build a large lead through ordinary scoring.

That gave Puddlemere United a chance.

Astoria, now on holiday, was cheering for Malfoy from the stands.

Malfoy picked her out among the sea of spectators and smiled at her.

"Asto, watch me catch this Golden Snitch for you!"

Despite his words, Malfoy was under enormous pressure.

Rob Marshall was unquestionably one of the finest Seekers in the British and Irish Quidditch League. His speed was astonishing, and his reactions were practically inhuman.

It could even be said that he was on the same level as Viktor Krum at the World Cup.

To Malfoy, it felt as though he were flying against a stronger version of Potter.

It was a tremendous test.

"It's Rob Marshall! He's caught up!"

"Draco Malfoy accelerates, but Marshall clings to him like a ghost! They're flying side by side!"

"They've collided! Their brooms are out of control!"

"The referee has stopped the match, and the result is..."

"Appleby Arrows win!"

The roar of the crowd seemed to tear through the sky.

Malfoy sat on the grass and stared at his empty hand.

That familiar unwillingness to lose washed over him once again.

His fingers clenched, and he slammed a fist into the ground.

"You flew well."

Rob Marshall walked over and looked at Malfoy seriously.

"I originally thought Puddlemere United made the wrong decision by getting rid of Rush. Now I think they were right."

He held out his hand.

"Next year, I'll be waiting for you here again."

Malfoy looked up at Rob, took his hand, and stood.

The young members of the Constellation Society still had limitless possibilities ahead of them.

There was still so much in this world worth exploring and challenging.

Malfoy looked toward Astoria's seat.

She was gone.

"Draco!"

Malfoy suddenly felt something collide with him.

Astoria looked up from within his arms, her eyes filled with admiration.

"You flew amazingly, Draco."

That single sentence blasted Malfoy straight out of his disappointment.

So what if he had lost?

He would just win next time.

He looked toward Rob and said in the most arrogant tone possible,

"You can keep the championship for now. Next year, I'll put you beneath my feet."

Rob stared at him blankly.

Wait, did all recent graduates talk like this now?

Malfoy turned toward his teammates and saw the unwillingness on their faces.

"Good. If you can still smile after losing, then you're nothing but a bunch of useless trash!"

Even though he was not the captain, Malfoy still fiercely reprimanded his teammates.

"Don't hang your heads. This time next year, we'll be back on this pitch, and everything we lost today, we'll take back then!"

He reached out toward the distant trophy, then slowly withdrew his hand.

From this moment on, he was no longer Draco Malfoy of Hogwarts.

But the desire for victory would cling to every inch of a Slytherin's flesh and blood like a curse.

...

Christmas Eve.

There were still plenty of activities planned for Christmas this year.

"We plan to have this year's league champions play a match against the winners of the Christmas Quidditch tournament."

Tommy read through the plans.

Silverhand's businesses had grown increasingly large, and it was obviously no longer realistic for John to come up with every idea himself.

The managers of the various businesses would discuss among themselves how to organise events.

"The Inverted Garden will also open its snowy area. Christmas trees will be planted throughout the garden, and one of them will be designated the Christmas Tree King. It will scatter sweets, and everyone participating will need to bring a stocking to catch them."

"Silverhand Amusement Park will hold a Christmas Astral Spirit event. Astral Spirits will hide throughout the park, and anyone who finds one can write down a wish."

Tommy read out one activity after another.

John listened carefully, then nodded.

"Do it that way. But there's one condition."

John glanced at Tommy.

"Silverhand store managers are not allowed to participate in this event."

Having been seen through, Tommy awkwardly stuffed the wish paper he had prepared back into his pocket.

He had originally planned to use inside information to ambush one of the Christmas Astral Spirits directly.

The Christmas events would take place simultaneously across Silverhand businesses around the world.

Naturally, some of these activities would make money while others would lose it, especially the Christmas Astral Spirit event.

If John wanted to, he could easily make the Astral Spirits impossible to catch.

But Silverhand had already made so much money.

How much could one event possibly cost?

"Hector, Hermes."

John called to the two Astral Spirits perched on Basil's stand.

The two Astral Spirits immediately jumped down.

No matter how many times Tommy saw them, he still found them astonishing.

They were magical creatures unlike anything he had ever encountered before, and each of them looked incredibly cute.

If he had not personally seen these two little creatures transform into ferocious Divine Guards, he might really have been fooled by their appearance.

John said, "Go with Tommy to Silverhand Amusement Park and be the stars of the Christmas Astral Spirit event."

Hector nodded, while Hermes jumped up excitedly.

"Right," John added after thinking for a moment. "For this Silverhand Amusement Park event, wizarding families and non-magical relatives can also be admitted."

"But, my Lord..." Tommy hesitated. "Is that really all right?"

"There's nothing wrong with it. They're relatives of Muggle-born wizards."

John waved a hand.

"Every year, Muggle-born wizards either go home for Christmas or end up spending it alone on this side."

"Your compassion is truly their good fortune," Tommy said respectfully.

"Can I get in for free?"

"..."

John was beginning to regret investing Tommy's next twenty years of salary.

He said helplessly, "Your whole family gets in for free."

Tommy immediately grinned and hurried off to tell Oz the good news.

John genuinely wondered what this man would be like once he became a father.

He used to be fairly composed.

Ever since losing his salary, he had become increasingly shameless.

Once the Christmas activities had been arranged, John stood by the window and listened to the Christmas choir performing outside.

The children, dressed in wizarding robes, each held a toad in their arms.

The longer John looked at one of them, the more familiar it seemed.

"Isn't that Trevor?"

Neville's toad had somehow become the lead singer of the toad accompaniment group.

Its croaking blended strangely well with the wizarding world's peculiar music.

In the Muggle world, hardly anyone would think of using toads as backup singers.

That could be considered one of the wizarding world's unique features.

John also saw someone leading a fierce-looking fat cat on a leash. Judging by its appearance, the cat's combat ability was probably not low.

The girl holding the leash did not look particularly heavy herself, yet even she seemed to be getting dragged along by it.

The brightly coloured scarves fluttering beneath the falling snow were another striking sight.

John immediately recognised one scarf in the crowd that looked like a snake.

Luna and Ginny were standing outside a shop selling African magical goods.

Without changing expression, Luna picked up something that looked like an internal organ, while Ginny instinctively kept her distance from it.

Luna, however, seemed delighted.

The two soon moved on to the next shop.

There was a fountain in the centre of the Inverted Garden.

Lockhart had once suggested erecting a statue of John there.

After John rejected the idea, Lockhart shamelessly asked whether he could put up a statue of himself instead.

Naturally, the answer was still no.

John could only say that Lockhart truly had extraordinarily thick skin.

At his base in France, he had already erected a statue of himself made entirely of gold.

And it stood right in the middle of the fountain.

Yes, the very same fountain where John had once hung up an unscrupulous Portkey dealer.

Lockhart had now more or less settled permanently in France.

He had secluded himself there, preparing to polish his next masterpiece.

Silverhand Publishing had urged him several times to hurry, but with Lockhart's current status, he could write entirely according to his own whims.

The Ancient Alliance also needed some private space, so John did not attend their reception.

Because this year had been a period of frantic expansion, although enormous amounts of Galleons had flowed in, the amount being spent was equally considerable.

The Ancient Fund had not earned much this year.

Of course, that was only by the standards of the great families who were accustomed to seeing enormous sums of money.

For the Weasleys, this year's profits exceeded what they had earned over the previous ten years combined.

The Weasley twins had quietly secured exclusive rights to sell the uniforms of several Quidditch teams.

That alone had allowed another branch of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes to open in Hogsmeade.

The Malfoys would begin making serious money next year, once national leagues became widespread.

Meanwhile, the Greengrass family had successfully become the highest-earning family of the year through the transport industry.

Strangely enough, however, someone claimed to have seen the famous Mr. Greengrass chasing a platinum-blond man down two entire streets.

As for who the man being chased might have been, John had absolutely no desire to know.

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