HP: It's a snake, not a badger.

Chapter 81 Christmas

Christmas has arrived once again, but Emeric can't stay this year. He's going back to his old house in Germany with his fathers to participate in the triennial rites.

"Severus, I won't be able to spend Christmas with you this year. Will you miss me?"

Severus put down his quill and turned to look at Emeric, who was still lingering in the cellar. He wondered if this troublemaker had lost his mind.

Why do you think I'm a troublemaker? Wasn't the trouble you caused last Christmas enough? Thanks to you, I didn't get a break for the entire Christmas holiday.

After being repeatedly jabbed at, Emeric didn't dare utter a single word. Clearly aware of the enormity of his mistake, he silently placed a four-leaf clover on Severus's table, hoping to quickly end this deadly topic.

Severus put the things away, but he had no intention of letting him off the hook. It was rare to see Emeric suffer a setback, and he planned to enjoy the spectacle a little longer.

"Thank you so much for letting me off the hook this year and allowing me to have a wonderful Christmas holiday."

"I was wrong, I shouldn't have acted so impulsively."

After apologizing, Emeric, fearing Severus would tease him again, transformed into a cat and climbed into the man's arms. Although he didn't know why Severus was willing to stay with a cat, who wouldn't want to be close to Severus by turning into a cat?

When Severus was about to conduct his experiment, he obediently followed behind, squatting on the small table next to the workbench, his little tail wrapped around his feet, making the whole cat look like a big ball of fluff.

After transforming into a kitten, Emeric couldn't quite control his actions. He saw Severus finish his experiment and then take out a placemat and place it on the table. This was his newly customized heat-insulating mat.

"Take it, I don't need it."

"Meow?" The cat didn't understand.

Severus grabbed Emeric by the neck, rolled up the placemat, and prepared to throw everything and the cat out, but the slippery little cat jumped to the ground, stood next to the cabinet, picked up a bottle of potion, and meant to exchange the placemat for the potion.

"If you have this need, then okay..."

?

The cat picked out the medicine without him noticing what it was. When he looked down, he realized it was anti-hair loss medication and meowed, wanting to change it.

"No, the transaction is complete, and I do not accept returns."

The cat turned away in a huff, not wanting to pay attention to the malicious man. After turning into a cat, Emeric's behavior became somewhat childish, which gave Severus a kind of childish joy.

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It wasn't until Christmas Day that Emeric finally figured out what gift to give Severus. Last year's gift wasn't returned, so this year's shouldn't be either, right?

Severus recognized the gift from Emeric at a glance; no one but him would send something so large to the cellar. After thinking for a moment, he decided to disassemble the other items to make room for this big thing.

McGonagall gave a set of wand maintenance tools; Flitwick gave a bottle of goblin wine, just like last year, but this time it was a different kind; Sprout gave a large portion of dried fruit, all of this year's newly cultivated varieties...

His return gifts were much simpler: different potions each year, all of which were of interest to the recipient. After sorting them out, Severus moved the giant gift box that had been leaning against the wall to the center of the living room.

The gift box was as tall as his waist, and it was a long, rectangular object. Judging from its shape, it looked like a table, and Severus was somewhat skeptical that Emeric had actually given him a table.

If he really did receive a table, he would snatch the Felix Felicis back. Severus was a little annoyed by this guess. After opening the gift box, he found that it really was a table, but it was a potions workbench.

It was custom-made entirely according to his usage habits, and like the set of medicine-brewing tools, it was very ornate and inlaid with many gemstones.

Severus looked at the workbench and felt a little itchy to try out the gift. After moving the item into the studio, he threw the original broken table out.

The new table is engraved with numerous heat-retaining spells, so even the corners are warm to the touch, and there are also many drawers along the sides.

He casually pulled out a drawer to put some medicinal herbs in, but was surprised by what was inside: three temperature control devices, even more sophisticated than the ones he had previously returned.

After pulling out the remaining three drawers, the entire studio was filled with things, from large items like sofas and cabinets to small items like ink bottles and quill pens. These were all his favorite colors and styles; Emeric was afraid he wouldn't accept them, so he sent them over as Christmas gifts.

It's obvious that Emeric did all this because he felt sorry for him and wanted to make him more comfortable.

"What am I going to do with you..."

Severus was once again overwhelmed by the boy's overwhelming love. He sat in his chair, stunned, unsure of how to interact with Emeric.

Distancing herself from him was risky, as she feared he might hurt her; accepting him, however, made Severus feel he deserved better.

"Severus, where are you? Huh? Where is he? Weren't you supposed to be at the banquet in the Great Hall?"

"Dumbledore, what should I do with him?"

Severus pushed open the studio door and let Dumbledore in; he needed some advice, even if it was from Dumbledore himself.

"Severus, all of these were from Airi? Good heavens, he practically repainted the walls for you."

"Why don't you just go along with him? Tsk, if only Gale were this considerate."

"I'm not kidding."

Severus's eyes were vacant. He had just used Occlumency several times, and he needed to seal all these memories away so that Voldemort wouldn't see them in the future and threaten Emeric's safety.

"Ugh."

"As someone who's been there, I can only give you one piece of advice: talk to Ellie, give him a chance, and don't let him and Gale miss out on so many years like we did."

"Oh, by the way, you and Ellie had a fight. I won't take sides. You're my student and colleague, and he's the one who repaired my relationship with Gail. It's wrong for me to side with either of them."

"Alright, asking you is useless, I know."

Severus was preparing to send Americus some more things, as his Felix Felicis probably couldn't compare to these. He rummaged through his collection and found that only his newly completed beast-transforming potion could be considered rare.

This potion can help with Animagus training. Although Emeric has Animagus, what does it have to do with him? He just wants to give it as a gift.

He didn't know how to handle this relationship, so he could only pretend not to know, as usual.

"Coo coo coo"

"Hmm? Young master has your owl."

"Here you are, thank you Semi."

It was another gift package. Emeric knew from the smell that it was from Severus. He guessed that Severus was afraid that the value of the gift was not commensurate and that he would owe him a favor, so he sent another one.