Chinese Dishes and the Vanishing Cabinet (Please Keep Reading)

"Blind Box Lottery? A luck-based reward... Maybe I should drink some Felix Felicis before drawing?" Moriarty curled his lip. "System, are there any risk-free tasks or lotteries where every reward is guaranteed to be real?"

"Yes. The Host may pay 10,000 points to unlock the Sign-in Task."

"Tsk, ten thousand points! Fine."

Although Moriarty only had 100 points at the moment, now that he had a clear goal, he believed he would earn enough points.

Moriarty could finally sleep peacefully. When he woke from a full night's rest, dawn was just breaking.

The moment Moriarty opened his eyes, he heard the system prompt: "Today's random task: Please proceed to the Hogwarts kitchen and teach the House-elves any Chinese dish. Reward: 100 points."

Though the system's voice remained cold and mechanical, Moriarty found it exceptionally pleasant today.

One hundred points was not much, but the task was easy and carried no penalty. It was a matter of accumulating small gains, and making a Chinese dish would also be a nice change of taste.

So, instead of going to the Room of Requirement today, Moriarty went to the entrance of the Gryffindor Common Room, where the route to the Hogwarts kitchen began.

Little Lions generally did not have the habit of waking early. They usually liked wandering around at night, and were now sleeping soundly. The corridor was utterly silent.

Moriarty stood before the Fat Lady's portrait, walked back along the corridor, went down six flights of stairs, and entered the Entrance Hall by way of the marble staircase.

Then he turned left and entered a broad stone passageway, where he found a painting of a silver bowl brimming with fruit.

Moriarty tickled the large green pear in the silver bowl. The pear wriggled, gave a wheezy laugh, and transformed into a large green handle!

Moriarty grabbed it, pulled open the door, and entered a vast room with a high ceiling.

The room was as large as the Great Hall above it. Numerous gleaming copper pots and basins were piled against the stone walls, while a huge brick fireplace stood at the far end.

At least a hundred elves stood in the kitchen. All of them beamed, bowed, and curtsied. "Noble and great Heir of Slytherin, your name has spread throughout the Castle. House-elves have served Hogwarts for generation after generation. Whatever you command, we shall fulfill it for you."

"Get up. I'm going to teach you a Chinese breakfast. I'll talk, and you'll make it: Pan-fried Shrimp Slivers and Wontons, Mung Bean, Lily Bulb, and Lotus Seed Soup, hmm... and a Two-color Egg Roll! All right, look over here. Learn them as quickly as possible—I want to eat them for breakfast!"

These House-elves clearly possessed an extraordinary talent for cooking. They learned everything at once, and Moriarty did not even need to demonstrate a second time.

Having successfully obtained 100 points, Moriarty generously praised the elves a few times, and their eyes immediately filled with tears.

Moriarty did not want to comfort them, so he said, "Stop crying! I'll teach you a few more dishes: Imperial Roast Duck, Ants Climbing a Tree, Sesame Chestnut Chicken... I hope to smell roast duck on the dining tables by Friday night!"

Time flew by as the elves cooked. Before long, it was breakfast time, and the Great Hall gradually filled with people.

Moriarty pulled Tonks over to the Slytherin table. "Nymph, to repay you for arranging nutritious breakfasts for our team, I'm treating you to a uniquely flavored Chinese breakfast this morning."

Tonks had been annoyed because Moriarty had skipped the Room of Requirement for no reason. Hearing that, she sat beside him and looked at him expectantly.

"Pan-fried Shrimp Slivers and Wontons!" Moriarty clearly announced the name of the delicacy, and wontons and other food instantly appeared on the table.

Dumbledore at the professors' table understood what was happening. "What a high standard! Even I, the headmaster, have never received such treatment."

He praised Moriarty and nodded at him, though it was unclear whether it was because Moriarty could command House-elves or because the Chinese breakfast was delicious.

Moriarty stood and declared loudly, "At seven o'clock Friday evening, I invite every gentleman and every lady to come to the Great Hall. The House-elves will prepare the finest Chinese dinner for everyone."

The students began whispering excitedly. Dumbledore smiled. "That is wonderful indeed. Since I can enjoy the same treatment as young Mr. Moriarty, I suppose I needn't dock the House-elves' wages."

So this was the kind of headmaster you were!

Moriarty gave him an odd look. Professor McGonagall, Severus Snape, and several other professors familiar with Dumbledore also glanced at Old Dumbledore without changing their expressions. But since the old man went mad from time to time anyway, everyone was used to it.

Tonks imitated Moriarty and said, "Mung Bean, Lily Bulb, and Lotus Seed Soup!"

A bowl of porridge immediately appeared, carrying a faint, refreshing fragrance. Tonks began gulping it down.

Leon and several other old-fashioned pure-bloods could not stand Tonks's table manners, but when they saw William beside her nearly burying his head in his bowl, they could only shake their heads helplessly.

To avoid an awkward silence, Leon started a conversation. "Mr. Moriarty, are you treating everyone to Chinese dinner on Friday night because we'll defeat the Hufflepuff team on Friday morning and win the Quidditch Cup?"

"Obviously." Moriarty swallowed a wonton and looked toward the Gryffindor table. "Unless Charlie defeats third-place Ravenclaw by more than three hundred points, we'll be champions once Friday is over."

"Yeah!"

"Nice!"

The players high-fived one another. Since the Slytherin team had shut out their opponents in every match, they were over three hundred points ahead of second-place Gryffindor!

Could Gryffindor open a gap of more than three hundred points against Ravenclaw? No! So Slytherin had the fourth Quidditch Cup in the bag!

"When you say that, it's as if I don't exist!" Tonks said coldly.

The little snakes smiled awkwardly but politely. After all, Hufflepuff's Seeker was still sitting at their table.

After finishing breakfast happily, Moriarty parted ways with Tonks. The little snakes had Potions class that morning, and they had already begun learning to brew the Draught of Living Death.

It was worth mentioning that whether it was Boil-curing Potion or the Draught of Living Death, Lilith, who aspired to surpass Moriarty, was still outdone by him, while Percy continued to hold his eternal position in third place.

At noon, since he had no classes that afternoon or evening, Moriarty collected several flying beetles and headed to the Room of Requirement.

I need a room where I can store miscellaneous items.

Moriarty thought silently. The Room of Requirement, originally used for practicing Spells, transformed into a storage room filled with battered junk and thick with dust.

Moriarty had come here to find the damaged Vanishing Cabinet. The other Vanishing Cabinet was in Borgin and Burkes. Through the two cabinets, he could travel to Knockturn Alley and hunt Dark Wizards.

"Vanishing Cabinet, come here!" Moriarty drew his Snow Fir Wand. To conceal his identity, he had put away the Slytherin staff.

With a bang, a black cabinet adorned with elaborate openwork carvings flew out from a pile of old books!

It was about two meters tall and one meter wide. Moriarty had no intention of letting the Vanishing Cabinet fall on top of him, so he hurriedly used the Levitation Charm to lower it to the ground.

"Reparo! Reparo! Reparo!"

Moriarty remembered that Draco Malfoy had spent half a term repairing the Vanishing Cabinet in his sixth year, but he clearly did not need that long. Using twenty years' worth of Magic Power, he cast three Repairing Charms and fixed the Vanishing Cabinet in mere moments.

To be safe, Moriarty opened the cabinet door and put the beetles he had collected inside. He shut the door, waited for a minute, then opened it again.

Two beetles were missing, but they were all alive. At the same time, two horned little insects appeared inside Borgin and Burkes. Hopefully, they would not touch any of the Dark Magic merchandise there.

Moriarty knew the Vanishing Cabinet had been repaired. He took out the Polyjuice Potion he had brewed during Christmas break from the System Space and drank a mouthful. Countless faces flashed through his mind, all belonging to people he had seen before.

Moriarty chose an utterly ordinary-looking man—a commoner he had seen at the station. To the Dark Wizards of Knockturn Alley, he would be an unfamiliar face and would definitely not arouse suspicion.

A moment later, Moriarty transformed into a middle-aged man with a somewhat haggard face. He took out a black cloak from his bag, draped it over himself, pulled up the hood, stepped into the Vanishing Cabinet, and shut the door from within.