The busy state lasted until Christmas Eve. The staff of the Wizarding Examination Authority finally had their holidays, and Joel breathed a sigh of relief.
It wasn't until 11 o'clock in the evening that Joel finished processing the backlog of letters in his hand. He saw the stars outside the window, and the fire in the common room was burning tirelessly, warming everyone's body.
And Hailis didn't know when she had fallen asleep on the sofa, her silky black hair hanging down on the sky blue carpet, revealing half of her white and tender face.
Joel hadn't noticed that this girl had been lying on the sofa all the time. He was curious why Haylis didn't go back to the dormitory to rest at such a late hour.
"Hailes?" Joel ran to her side and woke her up.
Hailis woke up and rubbed her sleepy eyes with her hands, "What time is it?"
Her voice was soft and soft, sounding a bit delicate.
"It's past 11 o'clock, you should go back to bed quickly." Joel urged.
Hailis rolled around on the sofa for a while and then climbed up. When she landed, her steps were sloppy and messy, and she swayed left and right like a penguin. She was obviously not awake.
"Good night Joel." Joel heard a soft farewell just as Hailes' figure was about to disappear into the shadows.
"Sleep well." Joel stretched.
Joel rarely had a good night's sleep, and he didn't wake up until about three o'clock in the morning the next day.
The dazzling sunlight penetrated the curtains and hit the thick quilt. Joel huddled in the quilt and didn't want to move. He yawned and turned over, wanting to continue sleeping.
His foot accidentally kicked something hard, and a burst of pain dispelled most of his sleepiness.
Joel cursed softly, and then dug his head into the quilt, trying to find the culprit who disturbed his sleep.
It is a flat box with two sky blue ribbons tied together as decoration.
Joel didn't feel sleepy anymore when he saw this thing.
Christmas gift!
He lifted the quilt and got out of bed with bare feet, and saw a pile of gift boxes piled beside his bed.
Sit cross-legged on a chair and open all these boxes.
Naturally, the three roommates gave gifts. Sergey sent a book called "Forgotten Ancient Magic and Spells". The words in the book were very small and arranged so closely that they couldn't be seen clearly without looking closely; Eddie
He sent two large boxes of apple pies. His wizard father used a warming spell, which kept the perfect taste when the pies were delivered to Joel. Alan sent two boxes of limited edition candies from Bibi's multi-flavor beans.
.
The rest were gifts from some classmates with whom they were not close, including Qiu, Caitlin, the Weasley brothers... and a purple pocket box, signed by Haylis.
For no reason, Joel put Haylis's box to the end to open. He saw that the gifts given by Qiu and other classmates were cheap and the same, no different from what Joel imagined.
He also went to Honeydukes before Christmas and bought a lot of candies, especially for those classmates with whom he was not close but couldn't help but give gifts.
He opened the pocket box sent by Haylis and found a silver brooch lying inside, with a sapphire inlaid on it, which looked luxurious and beautiful.
What's going on?
Isn't this... too expensive?
His first reaction when he saw the brooch was uneasiness. You must know that what he gave to Haylis was only a complete set of magic courses and a box of Honeydukes candies (this box of candies was made by Joel because he had spent the past two days with Haylis.
I added it because of our good relationship).
There is no comparison in terms of price with this brooch set with sapphires.
Joel never expected that Haylis would give such an expensive gift.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt restless. He put on his clothes and left the dormitory with the box.
In the common room, Haylis was reading in the study area, her head still very close to the book, her long black hair combed into a single ponytail, looking neat and tidy.
"Hailes..." Joel walked over quickly and placed the pocket box in front of her, "This is too expensive, I can't accept it."
"Ah?" Haylis raised her head and looked at Joel, looking at a loss.
"This is a Christmas gift," Haylis said, "and it's not expensive either."
Joel was choked by these words. He opened the box and revealed the brooch inside, "Hailes, I hope you understand that this is more than I can bear for Christmas gifts. I can't give you a gift of equal value now."
.”
"I've accepted the gift. You'd better take the gift back." He pushed the box to Hailis.
Haylis panicked immediately, stood up and waved her hands repeatedly, with a bit of uneasiness on her face, "Don't, don't do this."
"I sincerely regard you as a friend, and this is the gift I gave you to Qiu. I really have no other intentions." Haylis sobbed, tears almost overflowing from her eyes. The family environment in which she grew up made her unlike any other her peers.
Friends, it wasn't until she came to Hogwarts that she made two friends, Qiu and Joel.
What's more, this brooch is not particularly expensive for Haylis. In her eyes, this brooch is just a decoration, more beautiful at most.
After all, her family was rich and powerful, but she had no idea about money and was not interested in it since she was a child.
Joel sighed, knowing that this girl was from an "ordinary family" similar to Allen, and money was just a number in her eyes.
"Have you opened the gift I gave you?"
Hailis nodded like a chicken pecking at rice, tears flashing in her eyes, "What a coincidence, the chocolate is quite delicious."
She sniffed.
"I didn't ask about Chocolate. Have you read that set of books?" Joel asked.
Haylis nodded.
"Bring me the book." Joel breathed out, feeling that the girl in front of him was weak and weak, like a snow dumpling.
"Oh." She walked back to the dormitory with small steps, and soon came out holding the complete set of CLBT magic courses.
Joel took the book from her hands, opened the title page and signed his name on it.
"..." Hailis was dumbfounded. Didn't Joel give her this set of books?
Why write your name in a book?
Joel knew what she was thinking, "My three roommates and I are the authors of this set of books."
"Huh?" Haylis was stunned.
"Eddie Carmichael - C, Sergey Lowe - L, Alan Bote - B, Joel Taylor - T," Joel explained to her, "This book
It’s still very popular and will be sold to the United States next year.”
"Wow!" Haylis looked at Joel with admiration.
"I'll sign your name on every book." Joel signed the last book with Hayley's quill pen, and then picked up the whole set of books. "It's not just me. When the vacation is over, the other three people
I will also sign this set of books and treat it as a souvenir.”
"I know it won't be worth a lot of money even if I sign my name, but I always feel uneasy if I don't make up for it," Joel sighed, "Wait for me here, I still have a lot of candies in the dormitory.