Christmas Day came. But, for someone, it was the worst day of their lives.

"My Lord, forgive me. Everything was according to the plan until that mudblood started using Merlin's ancient magic. He conjured tower-like spears in the sky and pierced our ranks to death." Rodolphus Lestrange was kneeling in front of Voldemort.

Voldemort seemed angry, but he was also trying to hold it back. He cracked his fist and made Rodolphus stand up. He was his number one loyal supporter after all.

"Get up, Rodolphus. It was I who trusted in you. None could have imagined for that boy to know the ancient magic.

"But the more time we give him, the stronger he gets. However, we can not do anything for the short time, you made a big ruckus in the muggle world this time. The Ministry will be after you like a hound. Hide away until my further orders." Voldemort instructed.

Nodding, Rodolphus left. But, soon he heard the angry shouts of Voldemort and knew he was walking on a thin line and his friendship with the dark lord might not be able to save him if he makes more mistakes.

"INCOMPETENCE..." Voldemort seethed.

...

Meanwhile, Magnus was calling his House Elfs to Camelot. They were going to bring the pets along with them.

Magnus had no idea if there was a spell for it. He just loudly called them. "Abe, George, come here with Duck, Chad and Summer."

In an instant, two pops came and with that arrived two elfs. But, their clothes looked dirty.

Magnus looked at the three little troublemakers. "Let me guess, they turned into satanic beasts as soon as I left?"

"Ah, forgive us, sir. But they fight a lot." George said.

Magnus stared at the three with big angry eyes, making them squeeze their necks in fright.

"Chad, your Grandma will straighten you out. Duck, Grandma Martha will also turn you into a well-disciplined dragon. And Summer, you were such a sweet girl. I guess I will have to send you to the Phoenixes. They will teach you to be good." He scolded them as if they could understand him. Though the three did get the gist that Magnus was angry.

"Now, follow me you all." He then took them inside his castle. Duck was going to stay here, and Magnus was not at all worried about him being lonely because the castle was filled with so many animals to make friends with. Chad and Summer were already best friends so he wasn't going to separate them.

It was early morning and everyone was gathered in the Grand Royal Hall, the biggest hall of the castle with a ceiling so high you could play real quidditch with multiple teams here.

In the middle of the hall was a giant Christmas tree, decorated to the brim. Around it sat the leaders of Centaurs, Goblins and Vella, with Magnus' parents, Ragnar and Martha.

"Mag, why don't you open your present?" Grace asked.

"I got presents? Cool." Magnus excitedly went to the tree and found 4 packages. From Grace, he got a handmade sweater with Chad's pattern on it.

"It must be very cold in Hogwarts, wear it," Grace said.

Magnus put it on happily. "I LOVE IT."

He didn't care about how expensive the gift was. It didn't matter as he had all the money he'd ever need. What he really cared about was feeling.

Then, he opened the package from Adam. It was a big one. In it, he found a Metal Gramophone. The weirdest thing was that it could play cassettes instead of vinyl records.

"I heard that magic and electronics don't work together. Hence, I modified this portable mechanical Gramophone to play cassette. It has the latest spring technology and with one round of winding it up it will run for 60 minutes." Adam explained.

Magnus gratefully looked at the present. Seriously, Hogwarts lacked recreational activities. There was no way of listening to music, now he could.

"Thanks, dad. This will help me when Ragnar snores at night." Magnus jokingly said.

"HEY... Don't badmouth me before even opening my gift." Ragnar protested.

"Okay, what's in this little box now?" Magnus took the gift from Ragnar. Inside it, he found a little vial.

"Hmm, water?" Magnus asked.

Ragnar smirked, "You sure about that?"

Magnus's mind worked quickly and he came upon a single possibility. "LIQUID LUCK?"

Ragnar proudly nodded, "That's right. I brewed it with the help of Grandma Martha."

"THAT'S AWESOME. I'M GONNA KEEP THIS FOREVER WITH ME." Magnus was excited about it.

After this, he opened the gift from Martha. It was a set of chocolates. Lots of them with different textures and flavours. Magnus picked one and ate, in an instant, he felt like melting on the floor along with the chocolate in his mouth.

"This is so good, grandma." He praised.

Martha chuckled, "Hehe... I'm happy that you enjoyed it. If you want more in the future you can ask grandma anytime."

They exchanged a few more gifts that morning. Then after breakfast, Grace and Adam decided to return to their home. Magnus also had some work so he decided to leave. But this time he had the elfs to take him.

Surprisingly, the castle also blocked elf teleportation. Due to this, even they could only teleport from the special room. Duck had already made new friends with the Nundu and Phoenixes. Magnus would come and visit him every once in a while. He would now need to find a way to keep him around even when he grows up, after all, what would be the point of having a dragon then.

The elfs held their clothes and teleported away.

Left behind, Martha started humming and headed to the royal kitchen, "Hehe... he likes my cooking. I should make something even better now."

...

Magnus came back to their 10 Privet Drive home. It was Christmas day, a holiday for Grace and Adam. But, as they had already eaten and now had nothing to do, they decided to do some office work. Grace was working on some personal projects and Adam was doing the same. He was working on a new car engine all by himself, his dream project.

Seeing this, Magnus said he wanted to meet Bobby and so he left with Ragnar.

As soon as he left, Adam came to Grace and asked, "Did he tell the truth?"

"No," Grace replied while reading a document.

"Why does he lie to us nowadays?" Adam wondered.

"Because he has headaches now and he does not want to pass them on to us. I can only imagine the pressure on him for being the next king." Grace worriedly said and sighed. But she had no idea how deep in problems Magnus really was.

To most people, being the next king or heir of Merlin was an amazing thing that only a supremely lucky person would get. But, in reality, all these bloodlines although made Magnus stronger and richer, also painted a big bullseye on his back.

"I hope he starts sharing things with us more," Adam muttered.

...

Magnus had called Ted to meet him in the same old coffee shop that day. The reason was business of course. He needed some cash money because even with all his gold, he couldn't just use it in the muggle world. Also, he didn't go to the Goblins as their exchange rate was not too amazing.

So, he had some other idea of making some big money.

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Special thanks to *Douglas Flower* *Umar Latif* *Julian Rocamora* *Darrien Steely* *Franklin Walley*

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