Compared to home, the Christmas atmosphere at the association headquarters is indeed stronger.
There is more fun when there are more people, that’s absolutely true.
But what's up with this Christmas tree
Looking at this strange-looking Christmas tree, Albert was speechless.
Some kind of performance art
Or did someone use a Transfiguration spell to create a Christmas tree and end up looking like this
Albert was right in his guess. This tree was indeed created by several association members who were good at transformation using transformation magic.
It's a pity that this was obviously their first time trying it, so they came up with such a weird Christmas tree.
What surprised Albert the most was the igloo that Fred, George and their men had cut out of ice and snow on the open space in the village. They also used the Traceless Extension Spell to expand the space inside the igloo countless times so that there would be enough room as a venue for the Christmas ball.
"It's a good idea, but the practical skills are a bit poor."
Albert took out his magic wand and waved it gently at the strange Christmas tree, making it normal. Then he seemed to feel that something was missing, so he took out a seamless stretch bag from his robe pocket and piled all the Christmas gifts prepared for the association members under the Christmas tree.
"Well, this looks much more comfortable."
Albert put away the seamless stretch bag, looked at the Christmas tree piled with gifts, and nodded with satisfaction.
"You actually prepared so many Christmas gifts?"
George appeared beside Albert at some point. He bent down, picked up a package and asked, "What's the gift?"
"Foreign desserts." Albert nodded towards the Christmas present and said, "Open them and have a look. One for each person, but I can't guarantee that you will all like them."
"Desserts? They're good. In fact, we've prepared some. It would be disappointing if we didn't receive any gifts on Christmas." George put the Christmas gift in his hand back into the pile of gifts, intending to share it with everyone later.
Albert was a little surprised and asked with a smile: "Are you ready for the school and the shelter?"
"We are ready." George explained, "Sannah is right. Only by treating everyone equally can we better enhance the cohesion of the association members."
"Very good." Albert felt very relieved. It seemed that they had grown a lot without realizing it.
"However, this will cost a lot of money, so we used some inspiration from random Easter eggs and made a batch of random Christmas gift boxes, which are filled with joke props we made!" George said as he took out a seamless stretch bag and prepared to hand it to Albert. Originally, he was going to put the Christmas gifts in the package under the tree, but he didn't expect Albert to get there first.
"Take it for yourself and distribute it to everyone along with the Christmas presents under the tree." Albert was leaving soon and didn't have time to distribute the presents to everyone.
"All right."
George was just about to put the seamless stretch bag back into his pocket when he seemed to remember something and reached into the bag to take out a Christmas gift and handed it to Albert.
"This is a Christmas gift that Fred and I picked out especially for you."
"Can I open it and take a look?"
Albert took the gift and was a little surprised to receive a gift at this time.
"certainly."
"I told you not to be lazy... Albert, when did you come? We were just discussing whether you would come over to celebrate Christmas with us." After greeting Albert, Sana urged George not to be lazy and to quickly level the floor of the igloo and lay the carpet.
As for the carpet, it was naturally created by magic.
“Is this a record?”
"I guess you haven't heard a lot of famous music. Those records are all here." George said proudly, "Fred and I spent a lot of time to get these records."
"You just give one gift." Shanna couldn't help but complain.
"As for gifts, it's good as long as they are sincere." George also felt that Albert would be missing something.
"I haven't heard many of the songs yet." Albert smiled and put the gift away.
"Well, go finish your business first, otherwise we may not be able to hold the Christmas ball tonight."
After sending George to work, Sana turned around and talked to Albert about the Christmas ball.
"I was going to tell you about this... You know, the last time you stole their prey, they were sad for a long time."
"I didn't steal their prey." Albert corrected: "I found the lair of the Inferi, so it's not called stealing. They just lost an opportunity to gain experience."
"Experience, okay!" Shanna didn't care too much and suddenly said, "I have also prepared your Christmas present and will give it to you later."
"Today is really full of surprises." Albert turned his eyes away from Shanna and changed the subject, asking, "How are the preparations for the ball going?"
"It should be ready by noon." Qiu Zhang and Angelina came over, looked Albert up and down and asked, "Will you stay for the Christmas dance later?"
"It depends on the situation, but I don't think I'll stay to dance."
"Why?"
"I don't really like dancing," Albert said, changing the subject. "But there are a few girls in the association."
"Yeah, girls are in great demand." Qiu Zhang looked at Shanna and teased with a smile.
"Why not invite the girls from the asylum to the dance?" Angelina suggested.
"We can't take any risks with underage wizards carrying traces, you know."
"I'm sorry, I..."
"It seems that things have been going so smoothly recently that you have all let down your guard." Albert narrowed his eyes and said, "This is not a good thing. Don't fall before you succeed."
"You're too harsh, Albert." Lee Jordan put his hand on Albert's shoulder. "If you have time, please help reinforce the igloo. I'm a little worried that this broken thing will suddenly collapse."
"It's not that bad, as long as you don't mess around."
Albert finally used magic to help reinforce the igloo a little so that it could last until the end of the winter.
With Albert's help, preparations for the ball were sped up a lot.
Under Albert's spell, the igloo was gradually frozen into thick ice, and beautiful icicles were produced, with a cold blue flame burning on it, which reminded many people of the Christmas ball during the Triwizard Tournament.
No, it should be said that they were imitating the Christmas party at Hogwarts that year.
"See, I'll just ask Albert for help and it will be done quickly!" Lee Jordan said to the people around him.
"You're treating me like a laborer." Albert said unhappily.
"It's called "the more capable the more work", and it's an easy task for you anyway." Fred looked at the much more refined ballroom and nodded with satisfaction. "If we rely on them, I guess they may not be able to hold the ball tonight even if they are busy."
This is actually true, everyone's efficiency is really not high.
"I can only say that your tacit understanding needs to be improved and you need more practice." Albert reminded, "When it comes to using magic to solve problems in life, the students in the shelter are much better than you."
Having said that, Albert still waved his magic wand and helped them take care of the rest. For him, it was just a matter of waving a magic wand.
Although letting them do it on their own can get them some exercise, considering that today is Christmas, let's just forget about it and let them have a happy Christmas.
Half an hour before the ball started, both men and women dressed up a little and put on rare suits and dresses.
Albert looked at Sana who was changing into a dress, frowned and asked, "Where did you get these things?"
"A few days ago, after we decided to hold the ball, we secretly got it from home at night. We used the Flying Spell. You know, it's not difficult." Shanna pulled at the dress and muttered, "It's just that the dress doesn't fit me well."
"That means you've grown taller."
"Are you really not going to stay and dance?" Sana noticed that Albert had not changed his clothes.
"No, you know, I don't really like dancing."
Albert watched Dobby holding his wand and placing food and drinks on the table, then he stood up and went to help.
Nearly half an hour later, there was a sudden commotion outside the igloo, and people came in in twos and threes, as if everyone had made an appointment in advance.
After people sat down, the atmosphere gradually quieted down because Albert stood up and everyone turned their heads to look at him.
"You should have noticed that I have prepared Christmas presents for you." Albert pointed to the pile of packages on the Christmas tree, "One for each of you, and George has also prepared one for you."
"I know you can't wait, Merry Christmas!"
As he spoke, Albert raised his glass.
"Merry Christmas!"
Everyone raised their glasses.
The banquet began with soft and soothing music.
The food on the table was not very rich, and some of it was even bought directly from Muggle shops.
This was Shanna's idea.
After all, they prepared in a hurry and there were not enough people to cook the food. Dobby alone would definitely not be able to handle it.
Moreover, the Muggle food was also well received.
Looking at the couples dancing to the music, Shanna told Albert that Cedric and Qiu Zhang planned to get married after the wizard war was over.
"This..." Albert was speechless.
This flag has been set up. Do you think you are not dying fast enough
"What's wrong?"
Noticing Albert's frown, Shanna asked in confusion.
“It’s not a good flag to set.”
Set a flag
Shanna looked stunned.
"There was once a soldier who went to the front line and told his fiancée that he would come back and marry her, but he died on the battlefield." Albert cited an example.
"I didn't expect you would care about this kind of thing."
"That's really not good."
"Okay, I'll mention this to them." Sana nodded and continued the previous topic, pointing out to Albert several couples who appeared in the association.
Many girls found a boyfriend for themselves.
After noticing Albert's gaze, Shanna shrugged and said, "Lee Jordan, actually... we are not suitable. Many wizard families are actually concerned about this. I also think it is not appropriate to fall in love at this time. At least we have to wait until the war is over..."
"If marriage is not the goal, it is difficult for many couples to stay together until the end."
Albert thought of Neville and Luna.
Many readers thought they would end up together, but...
"Is it the same with you and Yin Zebeier? I mean marriage."
“I guess so.”
"How enviable." Sana said softly as she looked at the couples dancing on the stage.
"It depends on what you want." Albert shook his head. "Who can tell the truth about love?"
"By the way, I'll go somewhere else later, so I'll leave this place to you."