Pomona planned to take Scamander to dine in the greenhouse—the very one Gilderoy Lockhart had visited last year.
Hufflepuff had not always loved food quite so much. Lockhart happened to be attending Hogwarts at the time, and when he returned to the school after becoming famous, he quickly noticed that the Hufflepuff students were much plumper than they had been in his day. With his clever Ravenclaw mind, he soon figured out why—Pomona Sprout was an enthusiast of culinary charms. The food she created while practicing food magic could not go to waste, so whenever the children went to the kitchen, they found it seemed to have delicacies prepared at all times.
Besides the food she made herself, there was also food made by House-elves. There had once been a Head of House who adored wizarding opera. Though he would naturally give Hufflepuff students priority, anyone who failed to watch their waistline still would not be chosen. During that period, Hufflepuff had many handsome boys and beautiful girls.
It was like how Flitwick loved organizing choirs and concerts, so Ravenclaw produced many singers and musicians; Minerva loved Quidditch, so Gryffindor had plenty of Quidditch fans; as for Slytherin, Snape particularly loved picking on Gryffindor, so the Slytherin students also loved provoking them.
Some might think there was nothing unusual about that. Slytherin and Gryffindor had been at odds for many years. But in Slughorn's era, Slytherin students began chasing fame and fortune early, striving to become "display pieces" on his shelves, so they had no time to "play around" with the Gryffindors in school.
Ah, summer. The sky should have been clear and cloudless, the meadow green and lush, making one want to bring along a few pints of chilled pumpkin juice, plop down on the grass, and enjoy the