Chapter 39: Gifts and Acceptance

Gathering up everything, Axel sat at a table as he looked at the pile of gifts in front of him.

This was quite a foreign experience, receiving gifts. Since he'd never received one before, of course, it never crossed his mind to buy gifts as well. So right now, he was quite confused as to what he was supposed to do. 

Is it ok to just accept them? Should he have sent them gifts as well? What if he doesn't want to send them gifts? What was he supposed to give them in return? What would be considered an ideal gift? If he got a great gift or an expensive gift, does his gift also have to be equally expensive or good, even when he is struggling with time and money? 

Seriously, why even exchange presents? It makes life so much more complicated! 

Sighing, he began opening the gifts at random. The first one happened to be from one Susan Bones. She had given him an expensive-looking box of Chocolates. Axel would have tried one if he wasn't on a strict diet. The most he can do is thank her for her gift. 

The next one he picked turned out to be from,

"Rose?" He frowned. Rose would be the last person to send him a Christmas present. They had sort of a verbal confrontation just before the Christmas holidays. Axel decided not to open it for now. 

The next few were from unknown senders, meaning he had never heard these people's names and most of them were girls. He didn't open them in case his Slytherin attackers might have sent him some kind of dangerous present. Then there were presents from Andromeda and Bellatrix as well. He didn't open them as well.

Axel finally looked at the present he was avoiding.

~From Daphne Greengrass

Yep, this was the one. He unwrapped it and open the box to find a big stack of notebooks inside. Other than that, there were a bunch of potions as well. 

Axel picked up the note that was on the top.

"Dear Axel,

Merry Christmas! I couldn't really find the gift I was looking for. So, I had to think of something else. 

Did you know that the teachers give the same homework every year? These notebooks contain the homework for the rest of the term and some of the second-term homework! And...this is without any favors or strings attached! How's that?

It took me a lot of time to do this, but I don't mind since it's for the time you helped me out in the woods. 

Now, you might be wondering why I am giving you all the homework in advance if I could have just done it over the rest of the term. That's because I am going to ask you something: 

Can we be friends? 

Honestly, I'm tired of pretending we're just acquaintances while in actuality, you might be my best friend at Hogwarts. 

So, I gave you the Homework already so that I know if you say yes, it's not because of that. 

I had always thought that only I wanted to be friends while you didn't give a damn. But I've begun to think my assumption was wrong. Otherwise, why did you even agree to my annoying demands? (You had the option to reject). Why did you cheer me up when I was crying hopelessly? (Your lame excuse can't be considered a plausible reason). Why did you also protect me from the spells when the danger suddenly came instead of only saving yourself? (I never asked you this one.) 

It's because we're friends, Axel and it's because you care. And I want you to accept that. I'll wait for your reply. 

Best Wishes

Daphne

P.S.: My mom also wanted to gift you something as well so I suggested the Power Nap Potion. It revitalizes you properly even if you sleep a little. I'm tired of seeing you yawning every day with bags under your eyes. You're not going to start sleeping more no matter how much I tell you, so you might as well take these. No side effects... Tastes like shit though... Not that I've ever tasted shit... I'm going to stop speaking now, it's gotten so lengthy...Self-writing quill has grown on me while doing your Homework. 

...

Axel put the letter down and laid down on the bed. He was supposed to read all this before going there. He recalled when he had gone to her house, Daphne had been looking expectantly at him and he couldn't figure out why. Well, guess the real reason was this. 

Until a few minutes ago, he had been feeling bad because he thought that he'll have to do his own homework due to Daphne being angry with him. But now that he already had the Homework, how come he's still not feeling better?

"Whatever," he muttered as he quickly got up. He might as well train. Right now, there are three things he's been focusing more on. 

Ward Breaking, Arcane Eyes, and Occlumency. 

Ward Breaking was the skill he had gained after getting the required SP (Stealing Points). And to say it was amazing would be an understatement. He quickly needs to master it.

It not only has ways to detect a ward, but also ways on how to trespass it without tripping it. That's what a Thief's main goal is, and it's usually a very difficult feat to achieve. He had discovered that the System's information was usually much more advanced, to-the-point, and practical than what the Wizarding World had to offer. 

He had casually looked through the ward Breaking of the Wizarding World and realized that doing those things using their method of ward breaking included a fair amount of things he knew nothing about. So, there's no way he could have learned Ward Breaking at this stage without the system's information. 

To put it in simple words, if you want to solve a math problem, the Wizarding World's method will include lots of complicated equations and difficult calculations to solve it, but the system's method would let you solve it with one simple equation by Training you to formulate that unique equation.

But, he can't practice ward breaking right now since there are no wards present here. 

Arcane Eyes should be a better alternative to practice. It's an amazing skill that trains his eyes. Using this skill, his eyes can see things that are impossible to be seen. Its potential is huge, though it's equally difficult to level. 

But, it has stopped progressing since he needs a potion to make progress in this. He needs to fix that problem soon. 

This once again made him think back to the conversation he had with Evelyn. He had revealed to her that he had been given a diet and some recipes by an expert and he'd been unable to get the potions since he couldn't divulge the recipes to anyone else. 

Evelyn had volunteered to make the potions herself and even sign a contract to prevent her from using them or divulging their recipes to anyone. But he didn't feel comfortable making her sign a contract for even trying to help him. 

So she had suggested one of the potioneers who worked for the Greengrass Potions store.

"Having secret recipes isn't that uncommon," she had told him. Even the Greengrass family has more than a few secret recipes that they've been using the potioneers to them produce by using contracts to keep them secret. 

"System, will you be able to check and modify the clauses of the contract?" He asked. 

[Affirmative. That's doable.]

Then, it was decided. He'll contact Evelyn and hire a potioneer. He'll use someone old who wouldn't have much ambition and won't try to find out what the potions he was making might be for.

So, the potion's issue will be solved within the week but he can't practice the Arcane Eyes. The only thing on his priority list is now Occlumency. Who is he kidding? There are a lot of things he can practice but he's only going to Focus on Occlumency because... 

[Occlumency First stage

Progress: 85%]

Every time he sees that thing, he can't help but put all of his training efforts into Occlumency. He's so close! Just a few more days and he'll unlock the recipe that can heal him!

Almost all of his memories are now organized and he only needs the shields now. Memory organization is usually the most difficult task in Occlumency's first stage and talent can't help you much here since it's a time-consuming task. Most of the other Occlumens either skip this process or do it improperly so they don't know the benefits. 

But after doing it himself and using the system's methods at that, Axel definitely knows the benefits. Most of our memories are a jumbled mess that keep moving here and there in our mind, always making our mind a chaotic mess that is already focusing on many things at once. 

But, after he organized his memories, they are no longer overlapping with each other, nor are they moving around. This has made it possible for his mind to put more of its focus on other things. Now he's able to use more of his mind than in previous times and that is the reason why he was able to go so far with the Oppugno Totalis Spell without much practice aside from his mental talent.

Though some memories are still unclear and his memories aren't yet organized into a structure yet, so he can still surpass his current limits of the Oppugno Spell. But that'll only happen when he trains the Second Stage of Occlumency so it's none of his concern for now. What concerns him the most right now is:

"System, how long do you think the shields will take?"

[With your talent, they should be done by the end of the Christmas Holidays.]

"That's it?!" He asked in surprise.

He had passed the most difficult phase of Occlumency and he was now very close to reaching his goal. After he was injured, the urge to focus solely on Occlumency had been overwhelming, but he resisted. 

Because if he hadn't, sure he would have been able to achieve the first stage a little sooner, but he wouldn't have become so proficient in his stealth skills that he was able to evade being seen every day and hence evade all the troubles that came along with it. When no one sees you, they tend to forget about you. 

Aside from this, he wouldn't have been able to deal with a troll and wouldn't have been good at magic and his movements would have been still slow and stiff as before. So, when any trouble came, he wouldn't have been able to fight, nor evade, nor hide. 

But now, after training, he has mastered some things he wouldn't have with a fit body and he was even going to get the recipe soon!

Axel's trembling hands started trembling even more. Though this time, it was due to excitement and anticipation.

...

As the two-week break of Christmas ended, the unwilling students returned to Hogwarts riding the train on the new year. 

For Britain, this year was supposed to be similar to any other year of the past decade: Progressive. And it was. But... there was one cause for concern emerging after so many years of peace. 

The crime rates this year had increased and lots of wizards were reported to have used powerful magic they shouldn't normally be able to wield. But of course, on a broad scale, it was being ignored or gone unnoticed by the lower levels of Ministery, not even reaching the upper echelons. 

Gradually, a Change was coming. And up to now, only one person had noticed it and tried to make his voice known. And the name of that person was Xenophillius Lovegood, the editor, and director of Quibbler. But of course, his voice had gone unheard, ignored and mocked by those who read his conspiracy theories. 

People were too busy with their own life's issues to pay attention to such absurd possibilities. It was the same with Axel, who alighted the train at Hogsmeade station with bloodshot eyes as he made his way to the carriages along with the other students. 

He had failed. 

[Progress: 98%]

He couldn't do it by the end of the Christmas Holidays like the system had estimated despite putting in more time in it than the system had anticipated he would. He had even foregone his revenges on other people and small Gangs who had given him a hard time during the previous years including the family of the young master boy who'd gotten him kicked out from the muggle school. All in favor of making his shields. 

Then why?

'System, why was I not able to do something that I should have been able to do a few days early?' He asked the system after giving up thinking about it.

[The reason is that your mental state is not in perfect order.]

Axel frowned, 

"Why?"

[You already know the reason.]

Axel cursed as he kicked a stone on his way. Of course, he knew. He just refused to accept it. It was Daphne.

As far as he knew, she didn't befriend him to gain something and had tried her utmost to be his friend. He, on the other hand, had refused to accept it since he thought it was too much of a bother. 

Only after she had stopped being his friend and after not talking to her for a week did he realize that whether he believed it or not, he had come to value the one friendship he had secured in his lifetime. And he didn't want it to change. So yes, he finally accepted the fact that they were friends. Though the key word here is "were".

It wouldn't have bothered him at all if she was the one at fault or if he was the one at fault. He'd have embraced the change as a part of life and moved on without thinking much. What bothered him was the fact that no one was at fault here and it was all just a stupid misunderstanding that was difficult to clear. 

Axel kicked yet another stone as he walked and he stopped walking when he saw the stone stop near the hoof of a creature. His gaze climbed up to see a bizarre winged horse-like creature standing there, attached to a carriage. 

"Cute," he muttered. 

'System, tell me.' he ordered.

[That is a Thestral. They are a species that originated from NetherWorld. They can only be seen by those who have seen death.]

"You'd be the only person who'd call it cute," said a voice from behind him.

???

Axel turned around to see Martina standing there. Axel was still happy about the knife she had given him as a Christmas gift so he tolerated being seen with her in public without showing his annoyance. 

"Why am I not surprised that you can see them?" She muttered, looking at him empathetically. She had seen of his bad memories and witnessing death wouldn't seem too far-fetched considering his circumstances. 

"I do find them cute. And why am I not surprised that YOU can see them too?" He countered, referring to her family's reputation.

Martina winced at the jab. She hadn't actually witnessed any death here. Her father and brother were extreme in their overprotectiveness. But she had witnessed her own death, along with many of her patient's death in her previous life so...

Axel just remembered that he had some business with Martina.

"Hey, I have—" he began but paused when he saw Daphne pass by them, not even giving him a glance. A vein popped up on Axel's forehead. 

This was more annoying than he had thought. It was even affecting his training. 

"Alright, you won," he muttered finally as he made up his mind. He had had it now. He was going to clear this misunderstanding. She won. They were officially friends now.

He shelved his business with Martina later and as he went after Daphne. 

***

A.N.: So, the next chapter title is: 'A Friend and A Recipe.'

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