A Feast Beneath the Castle

The location of the Hogwarts kitchen is not hard to find.

Amidst whispering laughter, Elena and Hermione followed Hannah down another stone staircase to the castle's basement.

Unlike the cold and dark scenes that most people imagine underground, this is a spacious and warm stone hallway. Torches illuminate the surroundings and are adorned with pleasant food-related images all over.

"Here is the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room."

Midway down the stone hallway, Hannah pointed toward the end of the corridor, stopped, turned around, and said slowly, "But...I recall, Elena, did you mention you were looking for a painting of fruit?"

"Well, what about it?" Elena temporarily let go of Hermione's hands and looked up in Hannah's direction. She spotted a painting hanging on the wall beside the hallway. The painting was of a huge silver bowl filled with fruits.

"Yes, this is it! Everyone, we're here!"

Elena nodded and replied, the second half of the sentence addressed to the group of young wizards behind her.

"So, how do we enter, do we need to say the password as well?"

Finally freed from the clutches of the little silver-haired loli, and her petite Hermione, slightly blushing, stepped back slightly, with curious eyes.

"How could the kitchen have a password?"

Elena's long silver hair waved proudly behind her. She took a confident step forward in front of the group of young wizards, extended her index finger, and gently scratched the large green pear in the painting.

As described in the "Familiar Guides" for Elena, the pears on the screen twisted rapidly, laughing, and suddenly turned into a large green doorknob.

"Alright, line up one by one, I can't get so much food by myself."

Elena turned and greeted the young wizards behind her, opened the door, and entered first.

This is a large room with a high ceiling, as big as the auditorium upstairs. There are many shiny copper pots and pans stacked around the stone wall. At the other end of the room is a large brick fireplace.

Inside the room, a group of busy house-elves temporarily stopped their work, and some glanced at the young wizards who had suddenly entered the kitchen.

Like Burley, who had welcomed Elena before, each of them has a nose as thin as a pencil, bat-like ears, and long fingers and toes, wearing the same uniform: a Hogwarts apron.

"House-elf? I have one at home. I didn't expect there to be so many underground in Hogwarts."

Before the other young wizards could ask, Draco Malfoy, who entered the kitchen behind Elena, looked around and said with some dismay, his voice full of surprise.

Just by rough estimation, there might be close to a hundred elves in sight. Most ancient pure-blood wizarding families usually have only one or two house-elves.

"Miss Caslana, may I assist you?"

An elf approached Elena and bowed with a smile on his face. The appearance and familiar voice made Elena effortlessly recognize his identity: the house-elf Burleigh.

"Oh, yes. But I think we can manage on our own."

Elena sniffed vigorously, and the air was filled with the tempting scent of fish sticks and a strong barbecue aroma.

Looking down from the source of the aroma, she saw four long wooden tables at the entrance. These tables were arranged exactly like the house tables in the upstairs auditorium.

At this point, the tables were already laden with steaming food. If no mishap occurred, she speculated that the food on this long table would soon be sent to the respective house tables through the ceiling.

Glancing over, Elena first noted the beautiful golden-roasted turkeys placed at the center of each long table.

As if just taken off the grill, the entire turkey still emitted a smell that made the index finger twitch. The ingredients in the roast turkey were very solid, coated with a thick sauce, with the fire flaming beneath the golden and red skin, a drop of fat seeping slowly, almost bursting with fragrance.

Alongside the roast turkey, there were small bone-in chops, with some grill marks on the beautiful charred exterior. To facilitate plating, the house-elves manipulated the knife to transfer the large pieces of meat. They cut slowly onto the plate, from Elena's position, the chopped section of the chop was visible, perfectly interpreting the definition of a crispy exterior and tender interior, and the sauce almost dribbled from the tender meat like sweat, causing the young wizards who were weary the whole morning unable to stop swallowing.

It must be said that the house-elves, restricted by geographical constraints, may have a slightly simple cooking method, but in the conventional category of European-style fried and roasted dishes, house-elves are undoubtedly the best they can do.

While thinking about it, some special ingredients that need to be baked are secretly taken to the kitchen and entrusted to enthusiastic house-elf chefs for processing, but it's not a good idea, Elena secretly licked her lips and thought.

Guru ~ Guru ~ Guru ~

At this moment, the young wizards who were wandering outside also entered one after the other, and a series of undisguised swallowing sounds rang from behind Elena.

Due to Dumbledore's announcement of the event details in the morning, most young wizards did not eat too much at breakfast. After a morning of physical training, they were already hungry, and now facing so much fragrant food, it's an extra act of restraint if they don't just dive in.

Even without turning around, Elena could feel the incandescent gazes behind her, obviously, everyone was eagerly waiting for her lead.

"Why are they still standing there? Are they still waiting for me to feed them one by one?"

Elena narrowed her eyes, satisfaction evident in her gaze. With a peculiar glint in her eyes, she turned around, opened her arms, her lips curled up, and she whispered like a demon.

"Tired all morning, are you hungry? Come, all of this is yours!"

In the voice of the little silver-haired witch, gazing at the delicate faces that couldn't help but be convinced, the last trace of concern in the hearts of the young wizards that couldn't have been contained collapsed completely in an instant. The children of a family like the Malfoy's couldn't resist and hurried to the table.

"Wait! Now this is not edible..."

The house-elf Burleigh, who was standing next to Elena, observed the first-year wizards ravenously devouring the food, and he stood blankly, hands shaking anxiously, not knowing what to do.

Elena bent down and gently caressed the elf's frail shoulder, comforting him softly, "It's alright. I suppose Professor Dumbledore also told them that to cooperate with the school's activities, the school food specifications and rules this week would be the same as before."

"However, this is not quite the same as before..." The elf Elli blinked helplessly with eyes as big as two ping pong balls, and his face was filled with worry and doubt.

The blue eyes of the little silver-haired girl blinked gently, trying to make herself look sincere and she smiled faintly.

"Relax, everything is under Professor Dumbledore's control. This is actually part of the activity. This is nothing but... Professor Dumbledore is giving special rewards only for those students who can break conventional thinking."

Nutritious...

It's so fragrant, Hogwarts is really great...

"Well, yes, the reward hidden beneath the rules of the egg."

Elena, intoxicated by the tempting aroma that wafted in the kitchen, nodded vigorously and emphasized again with seriousness.

.....

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