These people really did seem to be here for Christmas, no matter what Snape thought.
They ate the Christmas pudding together.
Everyone worked together to prepare a full table of dinner.
This time the adults did not let Harry interfere.
So he put on his fur hat and deerskin boots, and together he and Paddy built a white, woolen snowman with bells on it in the front yard.
His nose was red from the cold.
The older one laughed at him, his eyes twinkling with nostalgia. "The snow is different now."
"Isn't it all the same?" Harry asked stupidly. His brain was numb from the cold.
Paddy Fenlin smiled and shook his head.
There was a melancholy joy in his eyes again. "It's not the same," he said. "I've seen snow like that before. Like flocks of white bats flying in the sky.
Like torn clouds spitting out from the valley.
Strong winds carrying snow across the land. The snow is different now.
It's still cold, but not as white as it used to be. "
Harry reached out and caught a hexagonal piece of ice.
The snowflake melted into a drop of water in his palm.
He did not have time to tell if it was as white as it used to be.
Paddy took Harry by the hand and led him into the house.
"That's why it's good to live a little longer — at least I've seen that kind of heavy snow."
I've lived a lot of years too. Harry thought.
So has Carrie.
But we've never seen real snow.
"You're still a child," Paddy said suddenly.
Without warning.
The boy looked up at the smiling man beside him.
He found him so peaceful.
His silence and sadness were like that of one of Harry's friends.
They both had an otherworldly quality.
There was no doubt that they belonged to God and His creation. They belonged to those things from the ancient times. So they often had an air of innocence and age about them.
The dinner was held next to the Christmas tree that Paddy had brought from Lapland. The tree had been decorated with frothy snowflakes and all kinds of little flags, little bells, rubber dolls, and plastic candy sticks. There was mistletoe hanging from the gas lamp. The dining table was filled with Dumbledore's shiny silverware. Of course, more importantly, there were sherry wine, turkey, honey beer, and chocolate biscuits. Bonnie, who had recovered, was lying on the sofa and looking out of the window quietly. Hedwig was squatting on a high place, eyeing it covetously. The fire crackled in the hearth, waiting to roast chestnuts and tongs. In the distance, a band was singing Christmas carols in the village. The song and the smoky snow drifted to the window. Harry could not help but exclaim, "Christmas!"
"Ah, music!" Dumbledore, who had drunk two glasses of honey wine, sighed. "How can Christmas be without music?"
"I can play the accordion!" Inigo Ingmag, who was rarely sober, blushed.
"Sachs!" Nick Lemay was even more forthright.
But Dumbledore did not have these two instruments. In the end, it was Paddy Fenlin who played the violin. The sound of the violin seemed to have come from the ancient times, as if it had been played since before Christmas. After so many years, it drifted in through the window and into Harry's ears. After Paddy played, Nick Lemay took advantage of the alcohol and sang an old song. Ingmag hummed along. Harry did not understand the lyrics, but he vaguely knew that the song was about an era when nothing mattered. Even if you were killed, as long as you had a kind heart, someone would always use a magic wand to bring you back to life. If you were a prince who happened to look like your brother, you might sleep with his princess, and the result would be a small quarrel. Harry giggled as he listened. Then he realized that he had drunk two glasses of honey wine and was a little tipsy.
Perhaps it was because of the alcohol, or perhaps the atmosphere of the banquet was too lively, Harry could not fall asleep during the transition between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. He could only lie in bed and stare at the stars outside the window. His ears were sensitive to the sound of the wind and snow breaking branches.
Then he heard the sound of snow being pressed down. Sitting up and looking out the window, Harry saw an average-sized man walking through the front yard. The man was wearing a hat, so Harry could not see his face clearly. Then he saw Bonnie the rabbit following closely behind the man.
"Paddy?" Harry was shocked. Then he was wide awake. He quickly put on his coat and snow boots, opened the window, and jumped out with a Floating Spell. He landed quietly in the snow. Based on his previous experience, he did not want to wake up the Potions Professor.
Soon, Harry caught up with Paddy Fenlin. The latter did not seem surprised. He just smiled and pulled down the towel wrapped around his face. "You can't sleep either?"
Harry was stunned for a moment, then he nodded. And so the two of them and the rabbit walked side by side.
Paddy seemed to be walking aimlessly, but soon Harry found that he was walking in the direction of the village. Tonight, the villagers in the valley went to bed even later than usual. They passed through a few streets decorated with colorful lights and balloons, and saw several drunkards supporting each other as they staggered to another bar. There were also a few naughty children who had not yet returned home. They were digging in the snow with their bare red hands, as if they were trying to roll a snowball. However, a strong gust of wind blew over, and one of the children lost his eyes and slipped into the icy tracks. He cried loudly as his companions pulled him home.
Harry laughed. Paddy asked him what he was laughing about. Harry replied, "I heard it was Jake's prank."
"I heard it was Jake's prank."
Paddy also laughed softly. "Do you believe in Jake's prank?"
Harry tilted his head and thought for a moment before answering seriously, "I'm willing to believe in his existence." Then he stopped and waited quietly for a while. But only snow swirled around the corner of the street. There was no white-haired naughty boy. Harry arched his eyebrows in disappointment.
Paddy laughed and took the boy's hand. He pulled him west out of the town and up the hill. Harry followed Paddy obediently. He felt like a lost traveler in the cold winter night, and Paddy Fenlin, or Beedu, was like a mythical guide. They did not stop until they were at a height where they could look back at the town.
Harry held his knees while Paddy looked back at the valley for a long time with a solemn expression on his face.
"Harry, you know, when I was a child, the world wasn't like this." Paddy did not look at Harry. Instead, he looked further away. "The people I knew back then weren't like this either. They were more … well, they were more accepting of mysticism. They made up many wild and imaginative stories. I have to say, some of them were actually quite close to the truth. But now, people are more willing to pursue the only truth. They don't need immortals to guide them when they walk in the wilderness. They don't believe in scattered will-o '-the-wisps dancing on the swamp. They don't need such stories anymore. "
Harry held his breath and stared at Paddy Fenlin's sad face. He seemed to have become younger.
"My companions, my companions from a distant era, used many methods to remind people of their existence, hoping that they would be remembered, but they were still forgotten. When people no longer believed in wholehearted love and hate, eternal kindness and beauty, and inexhaustible happiness and sorrow, my companions were overshadowed. " Paddy smiled sadly. "Harry, Harry, I've seen a time when magic was more glorious. Back then, the snowflakes were pure white, and every star was bright beyond compare."
He reminisced. "Later, I called it the Golden Age. There will never be such an age again! The people of that world were just as weak, poor, and threatened by misfortune everywhere. But at that time, things were more meaningful. They weaved the things they heard and saw into robes of faith and ancient dreams, and gained strength from them. So no one believed that light would disappear and life would be destroyed. But … when people no longer believed, my Golden Age was overshadowed. It was like a castle surrounded by a wall of roses. My companions lived there in seclusion, and the days we lived could not be recreated. I could often hear them sigh with the swaying reeds in the wind, the singing of birds, the moaning of waves, and the gentle sobbing of violins. They mourned our fallen world for a long time. "
As Paddy spoke, Harry seemed to hear the distant mourning. He could not help but hold Paddy's cold hand. The traveler from a distant time used his other hand to hold Harry's shoulder. He smiled and said, "Harry, this world is broken and clumsy. But it is such a world that has cultivated beautiful, intelligent, and meaningful things. We can't let it fall. We have to respond to its cry for help!"
"Cry for help?" Harry looked at Paddy, whose body was gradually becoming transparent, and started to panic. "What cry for help?"
Paddy's eyes turned sad. "Didn't you hear it? Harry, didn't you hear the world's cry for help? It's weakening rapidly. It doesn't have much time left … God, it's still a child! "
No! No! No!
How do you get rid of your own shadow? How do you rebel against fate?
How do you break free from your shackles? How do you get reborn?
Harry took a step back and subconsciously raised his hand to cover his ears. There were some things he should not hear, some things he did not want to hear, and some things he did not want to hear! But the voice in his mind gradually became clearer. He finally put his hand down. The wailing of the tsunami in his mind drowned out Paddy's voice. He finally cried unconsciously.
And Paddy Fenlin, the storyteller, finally smiled. His figure was blown away by the wind, and he disappeared into the winter night.
Harry swayed and knelt on the snow. He finally saw a line of footprints on the snow, and the nightmarish voice —
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