"Okay." Ron quickly followed behind Howl, carrying the large and small bags into the office.
"I'll only need a moment with you; you can leave them outside. No one will steal your things." Howl said.
"No, Professor. This is… this is for you, a Christmas present." Ron said somewhat awkwardly, "I had a chance to shop when I went to buy a wand, and then I had some money left over from buying the wand, and then…"
Thinking about it, he couldn't even finish the rest of his sentence. He bought something with money given by others, and then said it was a Christmas present…
Ron felt it was too stupid.
Howl turned his head, looking at Ron's seemingly embarrassed expression.
He didn't understand why the child would inexplicably show such an expression, when he clearly hadn't done anything wrong.
Then, he showed a helpless smile, "Thank you, but I hope you didn't buy anything from a pet shop. It's not too late for me to say Merry Christmas, is it?"
"No, not at all." Ron looked relieved, smiling somewhat foolishly.
Howl nodded, then asked, "How does being Cursed feel?"
Immediately, the smile on the boy's face fell again, and he looked like he was about to cry, "Not good at all. I could only drool watching all the delicious food at the Christmas party."
"I thought it would take you longer to realize how bad it feels." Howl nodded. It seemed that not being able to enjoy big chicken legs was unusually serious for Ron.
"Don't worry, that's what I'm looking for you about."
Hearing this, a look of joy appeared on Ron's face, and then he saw a golden pendant appear in Howl's hand.
No, it wasn't a pendant, but a shiny brass pocket watch.
"This is…" Ron looked at the pocket watch hesitantly.
Howl flicked open the watch cover, revealing its true nature.
On the watch face, there was no division of time, but it was divided into two parts, one above and one below.
Anyone who had been to Moonlight Castle would immediately recognize that it was exactly like the rotating dial for the exit on the Moonlight Castle gate.
And this divided watch face was half verdant green and half inky black.
"This watch will automatically absorb and store some life essence, and then consume that energy to suppress the Curse on you."
As he spoke, Howl handed the brass watch to Ron and reached out to touch his forehead.
In an instant, a surge of life energy poured into his body.
Thump… thump-thump
Ron had never thought he would one day be able to feel his heartbeat so clearly.
"I… I'm back to normal." He said with a trembling voice.
The next moment, a sudden prickling pain came from his fingertip, and bright red blood beads were inexplicably squeezed out, then fell into the watch face.
The pointer suddenly twitched, shaking continuously, then with a sudden jerk, the pointer jumped into the black dial.
The next moment, the vitality on Ron's body was quickly drained again, returning him to his Cursed state.
"Press the knob on the side of the watch." Howl guided his actions. Ron quickly found the knob and pressed it down.
The next moment, the pointer bounced to the green side, and soon, that feeling of vitality once again filled his body.
"The life dial can only store enough energy to barely suppress your Curse for two hours each time. You can arrange this time yourself." Howl said.
"Life dial and death dial…" Ron murmured, "Thank you, Professor!"
"It's not a big deal, just something I did on a whim." Howl said.
This little trinket could only deal with a newly planted Curse like Ron's. If it were facing a Curse like Bogin's, which had been decades old and deeply rooted in the soul, it would be completely useless.
Afterward, Howl performed the first Curse removal for him. The effect was decent; it would probably only take two months to completely remove the Curse from him.
"Go." Howl said. The boy was probably stifled and wanted to eat a big meal or something.
Ron nodded, quickly said goodbye to Howl, and walked out of the office. As he reached the office door, he suddenly realized something.
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