Halloween Approaches

With the help of several professors, Adam's life began to become regular and healthy.

Because there was only one professor for each subject, the coursework at Hogwarts was fairly easy: each of the eight courses was one long session, which meant two classes per week.

Even with extra tutoring in six subjects (except for Flying and History of Magic), Adam still felt it was easier than when he was in university in his previous life.

From his roommates' perspective, Adam was handling almost double their study load, often going to the library or elsewhere to do his own thing, yet still finding enough time to play Wizard's Chess with them, watch Quidditch practice, and even research recipes!

"Adam, are you really okay?"

Klon looked at Adam, who had just put down his book, and hesitated:

"If you feel tired, you don't have to go."

"Of course I'm not tired, I was just reading. It's a form of relaxation for me."

Klon glanced at the book's cover:

Advanced Potion Making

Well, how should he put it? It didn't exactly look like a book one would use for relaxation... But why did this book look so old? He remembered Adam being quite careful with his books.

Adam casually stuffed Kero and Suppi into his pockets, grabbed his messenger bag, walked to the dormitory door, and turned to look at Klon, who was still not moving:

"Let's go, didn't we agree to meet them? Don't keep them waiting..."

When Adam and the others arrived, most of the people were already there.

"Has it started?"

Adam sat down on the bench and looked at Cedric beside him.

The Hufflepuff Quidditch team was still made up of older students; Cedric wasn't the Seeker yet.

"Not yet, it's just about to start..."

Cedric said, his eyes looking at Adam's messenger bag. The students around them also gathered around when they saw Adam arrive.

Adam understood, taking out a stack of plastic boxes from his messenger bag:

"Don't rush, let me see—this is raspberry and nut cookies, this is chocolate cookies, this is caramel cookies, this is salted rose cookies..."

The stack of boxes was quickly divided up, replaced by a large handful of Silver Sickles in Adam's messenger bag.

"Anyone want a drink? Same as always, bring your own cup."

So a pile of cups appeared in front of Adam.

"Adam, what are you selling next time?"

"Hmm... popcorn, I guess. It's been a while since I made it."

Adam thought for a moment as he refilled a cup with cola.

"Yay! I like that white popcorn made from rice, can you make more of that?"

"I like caramel corn popcorn!"

"No problem~"

Adam himself wasn't quite sure how his snack shop had formed. At first, he just felt he should have some snacks when he came to watch Quidditch practice, then he brought some for his roommates, then he brought some for familiar classmates, and then...

Anyway, the ovens at Hogwarts were extra large, so no matter how much Adam made, it was just one oven's worth. Making a little more was no big deal, just a wave of his wand. Besides, the ingredients were all from the Hogwarts kitchen, so Adam didn't think about charging money.

Moreover, this was Hufflepuff. As long as these students didn't die in the next seven years, they would be an important part of the wizarding world. Building the reputation of Adam's brand of food would greatly help Adam open branches in the wizarding world in the future.

However, from the moment the first student felt a little bad and gave Adam two Silver Sickles, everyone seemed to start paying...

Then Adam went from only bringing a little when watching Quidditch practice to having fixed business hours, and then from bringing whatever he made to announcing what he would make next time, and then it seemed he even started selling drinks like cola...

In short, Adam's snack shop's customers had now spread throughout Hufflepuff, and even had a tendency to spread to other houses.

—To what extent can the impact of a single sentence like "What are you eating? Give me some" reach?

When Quidditch practice started, the badgers already each had a drink and a cookie, sitting in a row, looking forward to what exciting moments there would be today.

"Speaking of which, next week is Halloween."

Klon's cheeks were bulging, and it was a wonder he could speak so clearly.

"Is it? I don't really keep track of dates."

Adam broke a cookie into small pieces and fed them to Kero and Suppi, then paused, a bit surprised:

"When is Halloween... Oh, this year is almost over."

"Haven't you noticed it's getting colder lately?"

"I haven't really paid attention... but it does seem to be raining more often, and the wind is pretty strong."

Suddenly, a cheer erupted around them. Adam and Klon looked at the field together, and it turned out that the goalkeeper had blocked the Quaffle with a brilliant double "8" shaped loop-the-loop.

The increasingly enthusiastic atmosphere around them prevented the two from continuing their previous conversation, and instead they focused their attention on the practice on the field.

It proved that Adam really didn't keep track of dates. It wasn't until one day when Adam woke up to the strong scent of pumpkin that he realized Halloween had arrived.

"Should I prepare some candy..."

Adam sat on the small sofa, stroking his chin in thought.

"Great, great! The candy will definitely be popular today!"

Klon, who had just woken up, instantly perked up.

"I think you just want to eat it yourself…"

Bernard retorted speechlessly.

"Hmm? You don't have class this morning. Where are you going?"

Uther, who was applying eyeliner in front of the mirror, looked at Bernard, who was about to leave, with some confusion.

"Um… I'm going to the library to read."

Bernard said as he left the dorm room.

Watching the dorm door close again, Uther blinked.

"Something feels weird… Don't you guys think Bernard has been going to the library a lot lately?"

"Has he?"

"Yeah."

"But going to the library often doesn't seem that strange, does it? Eugene and Adam go there often too, don't they?"

Eugene, munching on Adam's brand of dried small fish, nodded.

"That's true…"

Uther stopped thinking about it and continued applying his eyeliner.

To celebrate Halloween night, Adam made a lot of candy. He couldn't use the kitchen tools for this, so he used Sweet Card's magic.

"Speaking of which, cookies and things like that are also sweets. Sweet Card can conjure them directly, so why does Adam still make them step by step himself?"

Kero reached out with his paw and pulled a transparent spherical candy in front of him. The candy had a pumpkin-shaped filling inside.

"Because every batch of cookies baked has subtle differences in taste and texture, which Sweet Card's magic can't replicate. I enjoy the process of making delicious food itself."

Adam twirled his index finger and thumb, sprinkling glittering powder, turning rows of candies conjured by the Transfiguration Charm into real candies. After saying that, he thought for a moment:

"Of course, most of the process can be done by magic. The fact that it's not very tiring even if I do it myself is probably also a very important reason. I'm too lazy to bother with this batch of candy… Do you guys prefer the ones conjured by Sweet Card or the ones made step by step?"

"Um…"

Kero was still pondering when he heard Suppi say:

"I like anything Adam makes~"

You?!

Kero's body stiffened, and he turned to look at Suppi.

He saw Suppi poking his head out of the pumpkin head that Adam was planning to use to hold the candy, looking at him with a sidelong smile.

Kero threw away the candy and "awooed" as he pounced into the pumpkin head. The lid of the pumpkin head closed with a snap. When Adam turned around, he only saw two tails shaking violently, sticking out from the eye sockets of the pumpkin head.

Looks like they're hyped up on sugar again… Oh well, even if they break the pumpkin head, I can fix it with Repair. Let them be~