After that, Daphne seemed to regain her confidence and began cooking even more frequently.
"This..."
"It's called Dango Dumpling! A muggle-born 1st year told me it's what the manga protagonists like Goku and Naruto eat, whatever that means."
Goku? Naruto? Why does it sound familiar.. John looked at the dumpling skin he had bitten open. He understood the concept, but even in his previous life, he had never eaten dumplings stuffed with chocolate pearls.
"What is this?"
Malfoy came over after finishing his training, his stomach growling with hunger.
Seeing the food, he risked getting beaten and eagerly picked up a dumpling and stuffed it into his mouth.
He had thought Daphne would maintain her previous standards.
He was wrong.
Clutching his throat, Malfoy's face turned blue as he knocked over the clutter on the table.
"Water, give me water!"
Looking at the glass of water only a short distance away, Malfoy stretched out his hand with difficulty.
Just as he was about to touch it, Goyle happened to stumble while walking over, knocking the glass to the floor.
Malfoy stared blankly.
Had that been intentional or an accident?
In the end, Malfoy survived. Holding his stomach, he wore an expression as though his entire worldview had collapsed.
"This is the worst thing I've ever eaten. I'd rather eat raw potatoes than taste that again."
As he spoke, he failed to notice Daphne's expression growing increasingly strange.
"What is this? Some new torture device invented by Filch? If so, he wins. No one will dare break the rules again."
"Levicorpus!"
Malfoy was hoisted upside down, while Daphne wiped away her tears and ran out of the Great Hall.
John silently turned to look at Malfoy.
This was the first person to make Daphne cry.
Malfoy felt wronged too. He had only spoken the truth, and he had even been hung upside down for it. Was no one going to speak up for him?
Even Astoria said angrily, "Draco, you've gone too far!"
"Astoria!"
Malfoy reached out to stop her, but Astoria had already gone after her sister.
Sighing, John snapped his fingers and lowered Malfoy to the ground.
"You'll be in serious danger if you keep this up, Draco," he said earnestly.
The range of hatred had already spread to the Constellation Society. If this continued, there might not be anywhere left for Malfoy in the entire magical world.
"Fine, I admit I went a bit too far," Malfoy said awkwardly. "But Daphne is also partly to blame. This dish wasn't even close to the standard of the last one."
"Perhaps delicious cooking requires some kind of secret."
John could tell that the dumplings this time lacked the magical quality that had been present in the previous meal.
Could it be that there had been some difference between the two times they cooked?
"I suppose I won't be going home this Christmas either."
John looked toward the Gryffindor table, where Hannah handed her homemade lunchbox to Neville.
Neville was deeply grateful and quickly polished off the entire meal.
"No matter how much of this there is, I can eat it all."
After finishing, he felt something remarkable. All of his previous fatigue vanished.
Hannah happily said, "I'll prepare some more for you tomorrow. This time, I want to try a different dish."
"Sure," Neville casually asked, "What kind of dish?"
"It's a secret. Mystery makes food taste better."
Hannah smiled playfully and winked at Neville.
The previous day, to repay Hannah, Daphne had shared her treasured cookbook left by a wizard surnamed Chen.
The novel recipes inside had opened Hannah's eyes. She felt that, as a Gryffindor, Neville surely possessed the spirit to bravely try new things.
Little did she know that, if Neville found out, he would definitely regret agreeing so readily today.
With the noble ambition of filling the stomach of the person she liked, Hannah left the Great Hall.
In the kitchens, she encountered Daphne, who was crying.
"Daphne?"
Walking over, Hannah asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"
Daphne stubbornly continued chopping onions and said, "These onions are too irritating."
Hannah glanced at the mountain of diced onions and gently held Daphne's hand.
"We're friends, Daphne."
Stopping her assault on Hogwarts' onion supply, Daphne said sadly, "My cooking is terrible."
"It's just that your method is wrong." Hannah leaned close to Daphne's ear and whispered a few words.
Hearing this, Daphne hesitated.
"Really?"
"Of course. Tonight, I'll be waiting for you in the kitchens."
"Alright, I'll come."
Seeing Hannah so confident, Daphne also became a little more hopeful.
The two agreed to meet in the kitchens that evening.
...
That night, after curfew.
John closed his book and rubbed his forehead, but the furrow in his brow did not relax.
"Preventing the second stage of the curse. Astoria isn't Daphne. Her condition is more serious, and there's no way to tell whether a third or fourth stage exists."
He tapped the desk, and all the scattered parchment around the dormitory gathered together into a single book.
John got up and walked out.
In the common room, he spotted Daphne sneaking out.
"Where's she going?"
John was taken aback. Daphne didn't even pay attention to Malfoy, who was chatting and laughing with Astoria nearby.
That was truly unusual.
Malfoy had just upset Daphne today. Under normal circumstances, wouldn't she have greeted him with a barrage of jinxes?
Watching Daphne leave the Slytherin common room, John thought for a moment and followed.
"Just as well, I haven't eaten today. Hopefully the house-elves haven't all gone to sleep."
After leaving the common room, John realised that Daphne was heading in the same direction.
He followed behind her. Thanks to the enhancement from Night Stalker, his presence was extremely faint.
Daphne was preoccupied and didn't notice him at all.
The two entered the kitchens one after another.
"Daphne, over here."
Hannah waved happily, and Daphne hurried over.
"Look." Hannah pointed toward the storeroom.
Daphne had been there before, but things were different now.
The door swayed back and forth, opening and closing on its own.
Even the word "Storeroom" written above it was gradually changing.
"What is this?" Daphne asked nervously as she watched the transformation.
"I call it the Midnight Kitchen. It only appears at night. I discovered it once when I came out to find something to eat."
Hannah explained, "Everything inside seems magical. The same dishes become much more delicious."
"What a magical place."
The words above the storeroom changed into a symbol consisting of a fork, a knife, and a wand intertwined together.
At the bottom was a cooking pot.
"Let's go in."
Hannah headed toward the Midnight Kitchen and pushed open the closed door.
What greeted them was a kitchen completely different from the one outside. It contained the freshest ingredients and every kind of cooking utensil, all of which looked brand new.
"Filling your stomach is life's greatest joy."
On a table inside was a sentence bearing the marks of a long history.
Daphne ran her fingers over it and found it rather magical.
Then the table gave a contented shudder and, as though coming to life, suddenly cried out loudly.
"Teapot, teapot, you need to serve tea to our guests."
A neatly arranged teapot hopped over and opened and closed its lid as it said, "Chair, chair, you should let the guests sit down."
Daphne covered her mouth and said, "How amazing."
Turning her head, she saw that Hannah was making the exact same expression and gesture.
The two looked at each other and saw surprise in each other's eyes.
Daphne was puzzled. She was surprised because it was her first time seeing this, but Hannah had entered here before, so why was she surprised?
Hannah said, "This is my first time seeing this too. They never behaved like this before."
Then they watched as a chair ran toward the entrance on four legs and announced,
"Honoured guest, welcome to the place where delicious food is born."
The two looked over and saw John examining the talking chair in front of him.
"John?" Daphne suddenly felt strangely guilty, as though she had been caught cheating.
"I had no idea Hogwarts' kitchens contained such a magical place."
John walked in and sat at the long table, with the chair automatically moving over for him to sit on.
The teapot and cups came before him and poured a perfectly heated cup of tea.
The cupboard in the middle of the kitchen flew into a rage and rumbled loudly.
"What are you standing around for? Prepare food for our guest!"
As it spoke, the cupboard slammed its doors, urging the two chefs to get moving.
At that moment, the teapot said, "This is the Delicious Kitchen, built by Helga Hufflepuff, founder of Hufflepuff, and an important department responsible for food at Hogwarts."
"The Delicious Kitchen entertains honoured wizards. Long ago, the four founders drank and laughed here together, establishing the great Hogwarts."
John said with interest, "So you've been here all this time?"
"Of course!" the teapot declared proudly. "Hufflepuff once used me to pour tea for the other three founders. I dislike Gryffindor because he broke my handle."
The teapot was not merely the result of Transfiguration. It possessed intelligence similar to that of the Sorting Hat, making it a fascinating sight.
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