HP: I beat the otome game at Hogwarts

The first semester ended as everyone eagerly left the castle to go home for the holidays.

It started snowing heavily from the first day of the holiday, and the castle was covered in a thick blanket of snow, completely silent.

Leila didn't feel bored; instead, she felt a sense of peace.

There were no more classmates endlessly coming to give amulets, and the twins weren't overly nervous and clingy anymore. Everyone was enjoying the unique laziness and relaxation of the Christmas holidays.

Leila was having a wonderful time: she would spend her mornings reading or working on her manuscript in her dorm room; in the afternoons, she would either go outside to have a snowball fight with the twins or loudly play with popping explosions in the empty lounge; and in the evenings, she would sit lazily by the fireplace with everyone, chatting and warming herself. It was so comfortable.

On Christmas morning, Lyra was woken up very early by the owls. Owls kept flying to the windowsill of her dormitory and tapping on the window with their beaks, urging Lyra to collect her package.

These dutiful messengers eagerly handed Lyra the packages they carried, each wanting to be the first to complete their mission, which eventually escalated into a battle of owls—

The entire dormitory was in a mess from the birds' fluttering, with feathers of all colors scattered everywhere, making it look like it had been ransacked. If Aria, who has a cleanliness obsession, saw this, she would definitely scream.

Leila had to pull out more of her secret-recipe jerky to quell the unexpected conflict.

Fortunately, her own long-eared owl was out delivering gifts and hadn't returned yet. Otherwise, seeing Lyra taking out the jerky that should have been all hers and distributing it to the other owls would definitely have made her go on strike in anger.

Lyra had already received part of the royalties from her new book before the start of the school year, so she was quite well-off and prepared very generous Christmas gifts this year.

She gave George and Fred each a pair of dragon-skin gloves, which were custom-made to their individual sizes.

Lyra was mainly responsible for the creative and theoretical aspects of the three-person research and development team, while the twins took on most of the hands-on practical work.

Many experiments are fraught with danger and accidents, and injuries to twins are common. For one thing, the hands are the most vulnerable to injury from toxic or corrosive experimental materials.

With dragon skin protective gloves, at least most injuries can be blocked.

Leila knew the twins had been saving money, but they were always reluctant to buy this: their secret stash was either spent on developing joke products or on their family.

Not only that, Lyra also went to the extravagance of buying a toolbox with spatial magic, which she added to the shared property of the three-person research team.

This toolbox looks lightweight and compact, but it actually has ample space: it can not only hold various crucibles and bottles, but also conveniently store various experimental materials and samples.

The twins would no longer have to worry about Mrs. Weasley conducting surprise room inspections—once Mrs. Weasley was so angry about the twins' terrible report cards that she ransacked their room and threw away all their prank toys.

A true and heartbreaking case of someone who worked hard for several years only to fall back into abject poverty.

Because she had spent a long summer at the Bulge and received a lot of care, Lyra had prepared thoughtful gifts for Christmas this year: a bottle of perfume for Mrs. Weasley; a Muggle flashlight for Mr. Weasley; a star hair clip for Ginny, hoping that the little girl, who hadn't been very happy this semester, would be in a good mood after receiving the sparkly hair clip; and a set of practical stationery for Percy.

What Ron received was a set of wizard chess pieces, but this set was made of high-quality chocolate, specially ordered by Lyra from Honeydukes—she mischievously wanted to see how Ron, who loved both chess and snacks, would choose.

As for his roommates, including Lee, Harry, Hermione, and other familiar friends, they all received a Honeydukes snack gift pack, which was the most popular among Honeydukes.

This year, Lyra was definitely a big customer at Honey Duke; she bought many boxes of Christmas candy from the candy store as return gifts to all the classmates who gave her amulets.

There were also a few gifts that Leila had specially prepared.

She chose a diamond bracelet for her pen pal Lei, who was "far away." It looked very glamorous, but it was actually a magic bracelet. Whenever the giver was near the wearer, the bracelet would heat up, and the closer they were, the higher the temperature would be.

Compared to the vast Muggle population, the wizarding population in Britain is relatively small. And even at Hogwarts, Britain's best magic school, the total number of students and teachers doesn't exceed one thousand.

Lyra believed that she and her dear pen pal would have many opportunities to meet in this boarding house castle.

Despite being in the same school, Lei has been keeping in touch by letter but has never shown up, clearly indicating that he does not intend to reveal his true identity.

This magical bracelet, which heats up when people get close, is just her "kind" way of helping Ray experience the pre-exposure of his disguise—

The thrill of her identity being exposed at any moment was the real gift she gave to her pen pal.

To thank Dexter for the precious books, she carefully selected a wand cover embroidered with runes to protect the wand from being summoned by anyone other than its owner.

Lyra was indeed initially interested in Dexter Fosco.

When they first met, she was attracted by his handsome yet aloof and cold demeanor. Especially since she was used to being the center of attention for most boys, the fact that a boy who looked straight ahead and completely ignored her immediately aroused her curiosity.

So she seized the unexpected opportunity to approach him. But soon Leila discovered that this handsome brown-haired, blue-eyed boy couldn't hide his feelings at all—yes, ever since they became friends, Leila would often run into the blue-eyed boy in places she frequented, such as the library, empty classrooms, and the lakeside lawn.

This is no coincidence.

Leila never believed that her frequent encounters with a boy were just a coincidence.

Moreover, Dexter always thoughtfully provides Lyra with various forms of assistance, such as handing her reference books needed for today's homework, giving her precious family books after the petrification incident, and acting as her spell sparring partner to develop practice plans based on her free time.

Dexter Fusco's intentions were obvious.

Faced with a handsome, sincere, and considerate boy, although she felt apologetic, Leila had to admit that after he lost his cold demeanor, her interest in him gradually faded as well.

On the contrary, it was the Slytherin young master, who always held his head high, was both mean and awkward, and had a split personality—saying one thing to your face and another behind your back—that piqued her curiosity.

If this platinum young master, who grew up under the influence of the pure-blood nobility theory, were to encounter an "accident," would he still adhere to this outdated concept of bloodline discrimination?

In short, let's start by giving a Christmas gift.

Leila happily made the decision.