It was already night when Harry finally left his dormitory.
By now, Hogwarts was completely wrapped in a festive atmosphere.
Professor Flitwick had led the students in decorating the entire castle with ribbons, ornaments, and all kinds of decorations.
Even the usually fierce and stern statues and suits of armor in the hallways had been given Christmas hats, making them look much cuter.
Today was Christmas Eve.
On a happy day like this, even the petty Filch wouldn't keep a close eye on rule-breaking students, so everyone acted without restraint.
The younger students ran around the corridors playing and shouting. The older ones gathered in small groups, chatting and laughing, occasionally setting off a few Filibuster fireworks.
Although not many students and professors had chosen to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas, their laughter and joy still spread to every corner of the castle.
Yet amid all this happiness, Harry kept his head lowered.
An air of confusion and helplessness surrounded him, making him look lost.
The Space Anchor that the French wizard Gerard had given him was currently hidden inside his clothes.
He had spent the entire afternoon fighting against the whispers in his mind while thinking about whether he should follow Gerard's plan.
This intense thinking and mental struggle left him dazed. The only thing he clearly remembered was his appointment with Snape and the fact that he was supposed to attend Professor Slughorn's Slug Club Christmas dinner.
He staggered along the way.
Fortunately, the students around him still avoided him. They practically walked around him whenever they saw him.
That kept him from bumping into anyone and allowed him to reach the fifth floor of Hogwarts without any trouble.
This was the meeting place Slughorn had designated.
Harry couldn't quite understand why the Christmas dinner wasn't being held in the Potions classroom.
Slughorn had decorated that room beautifully. It was practically the best banquet venue he had ever seen besides the Great Hall.
Was there really somewhere on the fifth floor of Hogwarts that looked better than the Potions classroom?
With that question in mind, Harry pushed open the door to an abandoned classroom.
Then he was stunned by what he saw.
The classroom, which should have been covered in dust, had been completely transformed.
Two long tables covered with white cloth stood on either side of the room.
At the far end of the classroom, or rather, the banquet hall, stood a huge Christmas tree.
It was covered with ribbons, candy canes, ornaments, strings of lights, and all kinds of Christmas decorations.
Magic had also been cast around it. Every now and then, phantom snowflakes slowly drifted down.
The golden light shining from the Christmas tree connected with several enormous chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.
Together they illuminated the entire banquet hall in brilliant splendor.
Standing at the doorway, Harry was nearly dumbfounded.
"Harry! You've finally arrived! Come in already. Stop standing there staring!"
Slughorn's voice suddenly rang out, pulling Harry back to reality.
Only then did he realize that he wasn't the only guest in the huge banquet hall.
Besides himself, Professor Slughorn and several other Slug Club members were already there.
Among them was... Link.
The sight made Harry panic.
He hurriedly said to Slughorn, "Uh, Professor, sorry, I didn't notice you."
"That's perfectly fine. Completely understandable, really. This banquet hall is quite impressive, isn't it? I still remember the first time I attended a party at an older student's house."
"He was a member of the Bulstrode family. The Bulstrodes were still prosperous back then, so their parties were magnificent. The scene was incredible. Honestly, I was just like you are now, practically scared stiff!"
Hearing that, Harry finally relaxed a little.
Only a little.
The nervousness remained buried deep inside him.
Through the beating of his heart and the flow of his blood, it spread through every vein in his body, keeping his muscles tense.
The one thing he was grateful for was that Link and Emily were currently surrounded by other Slug Club members trying to flatter them.
Otherwise, if Link came over to greet him, Harry felt he might faint from nervousness.
Meanwhile, when Slughorn noticed Harry hadn't replied for quite some time, he said with some dissatisfaction,
"Hey, Harry, what's gotten into you today? That's rather rude. I was waiting for you to ask about the banquet hall! Can't you satisfy this old man's vanity a little?"
Harry jumped at the sound.
Almost instinctively, he followed along with Slughorn's words, "T-Then... where did this banquet hall come from?"
"It's very simple. All you need is a few connections."
A proud smile appeared on Slughorn's face.
"First, the venue itself. I obtained permission to use this abandoned classroom through Link's connections."
"You can probably understand that. Dumbledore is an absolute miser. Even for an abandoned classroom, asking him directly would never have worked."
"After that came the cleaning and renovation."
"Most of that work was handled by the house-elves. Those adorable little fellows were thrilled when they heard I had new work for them. Of course, I personally handled the Extension Charm setup here."
"But manpower alone wasn't enough."
"Most of the renovation materials were sponsored by other Slug Club members. For example, these chandeliers were sent by Buck Layton."
"He's a rather famous magical lighting merchant who's risen to prominence recently. He sent them through another Slug Club member and hopes to join the club himself. Then there are these tables and chairs..."
Like he was naming treasures from memory, Slughorn carefully introduced every single item in the banquet hall.
As Harry listened, his mouth gradually opened wider and wider.
By the end, he was practically staring with his mouth hanging open.
He didn't fully understand most of the sophisticated terms Slughorn used.
But he did understand one thing.
Aside from the Extension Charm, nearly every piece of furniture and all the labor in the hall had been obtained by Slughorn for free.
To Harry, that was simply unbelievable.
At the same time, he gained a new and complete understanding of the Slug Club's network.
The club itself didn't have many members.
But those members were spread throughout every industry in the wizarding world, and most held important positions.
Through them, Slughorn could reach countless other people on the outskirts of that network and use them to accomplish his goals with incredible speed.
This web-like network of relationships was practically all-powerful.
Harry had never been particularly liked growing up.
Later, the person closest to him, Sirius, was also the type who preferred to act alone.
So this was the first time Harry had truly witnessed the power of human connections.
And he was deeply shocked by it.
Slughorn, meanwhile, was very satisfied with Harry's expression.
He could tell Harry was genuinely stunned.
That reaction pleased his vanity far more than any fake compliment could.
It made him burst into laughter.
Just then, the banquet hall doors opened again.
Harry's old acquaintance Ernie walked in confidently and headed straight toward Slughorn and Harry.
"Look at you two, Professor Slughorn and Harry! You're both looking absolutely wonderful today!", As he spoke, Ernie spread his arms and gave both Slughorn and Harry a huge hug.
"It's great to see you! Oh, right, Professor Slughorn, I brought you a gift. I hope you'll accept it!"
He pulled out a large gift box wrapped in Christmas paper.
It was, of course, a Christmas present.
But giving Christmas gifts from a younger person to an elder could be a little awkward, so presenting it on Christmas Eve was a reasonable solution.
"Really? This is for me?"
Slughorn looked pleasantly surprised.
While speaking, he accepted the box and immediately began unwrapping it.
What appeared before Harry and the others was a complete set of potion-making tools.
It included a small cauldron, a pair of dragon-hide gloves, and a full set of knives for processing ingredients.
"All of these are made from mithril alloy. No matter what potion you make with them, they suffer almost no wear or corrosion. Most importantly, this set once belonged to the potions master Quinris two hundred years ago!"
Ernie lifted his chin slightly as he introduced it proudly.
Slughorn played along perfectly and gasped.
"Quinris? I'm a huge admirer of his! Ernie, I absolutely love this gift. Thank you!"
"It's nothing. I'm just glad you like it."
The two continued chatting for a while before Ernie finally headed over to Link.
It was obvious he had wanted to join Link from the start and had only stayed out of respect for Professor Slughorn.
Fortunately, Slughorn understood that very well and didn't keep him any longer.
At that moment, however, Harry felt uncomfortable.
Ernie had brought a gift.
He hadn't.
It was incredibly awkward.
The situation made him want to find something, anything, to give Slughorn.
Unfortunately, he had spent the entire afternoon in a daze.
At the moment, aside from the Space Anchor Gerard had given him, he hadn't even brought his Extension Charm bag.
Slughorn seemed to notice Harry's embarrassment.
Smiling slightly, he said, "Harry, you don't need to worry about that. I've never cared much about gifts. These things aren't necessary, and you don't need to trouble yourself."
Harry curled his lips.
Slughorn's reputation for loving freebies had already spread throughout Hogwarts.
People said he would happily accept even a sack of durians as a gift.
And now he was claiming he didn't care about gifts?
Who would believe that?
Harry felt that Slughorn was simply dissatisfied because he hadn't brought anything.
Slughorn knew Harry didn't believe him.
Chuckling, he held up the potion-making set and said, "Do you think this is actually useful to me?"
This time Harry immediately shook his head.
After studying N.E.W.T.-level Potions under Slughorn for so long, he knew quite a bit about the subject.
He also knew that nearly every experienced potioneer had a set of tools they were most comfortable using.
Only with those tools could they fully display their abilities.
To an experienced potioneer, expensive tools weren't nearly as important as tools that suited them perfectly.
"Then you should understand. This doesn't hold much value for me. So why did I accept it?"
Slughorn answered his own question.
"Simple. Because it's Ernie's gesture of goodwill. If I refused it, Ernie wouldn't be happy. He'd become extremely nervous and start wondering whether he'd offended me somehow."
"But now that I've accepted it, one of his worries has been resolved."
"At the same time, I'll send him a gift in return, though it won't be anything particularly valuable."
"But that's how relationships work."
"You help me, I help you. You give me something, I give something back."
"Human relationships are built through exchanges like these."
"So perhaps all you saw was me accepting Ernie's gift."
"What you didn't see was that I was actually giving Ernie an opportunity to establish a personal connection with me."
"That's the art of dealing with people, Harry. You still have a lot to learn."
Harry nodded thoughtfully.
This was the first time he had received this kind of lesson.
It felt very new to him.
At the same time, it seemed like an extremely useful skill.
After all, Slughorn had only recently demonstrated how he used his network of connections to obtain an entire banquet hall for free.
Harry thought perhaps he should find something to give Slughorn as well.
Using Slughorn's words, it would create an opportunity for future exchanges.
That way, he could become part of Slughorn's personal network.
Just as he was thinking that, a cold voice suddenly spoke from behind him, "Professor Slughorn, you'd better stop misleading students, especially Harry. Your methods do nothing except turn people into scheming opportunists. They're completely useless."
Harry jumped and quickly turned around.
Only then did he realize that Snape had somehow appeared behind him.
Slughorn looked somewhat annoyed and shook his head.
"Being good at managing relationships is also a skill. Every Minister for Magic in the past was skilled at it as well. By your logic, are they all opportunists?"
"Twisted logic."
Snape sneered.
"But I can't be bothered arguing with you. Just stop filling my students' heads with that nonsense.
"Especially Potter. His brain is only about the size of a walnut. It can't handle being fooled by you like this."