"..."
Everyone exchanged looks and fell silent.
When had it started, exactly?
Probably with that Stinky Tofu Adam had made last time. From then on, Adam's dishes had begun charging full speed in a rather bizarre direction.
The fact that so many people still trusted Adam enough to try his new dishes could only mean that, bizarre as his cooking was, it did have its merits when it came to flavor.
Stinky Tofu, Silkworm Pupae, Tusun Jelly, Stinky Mandarin Fish...
Not everyone could accept them, but no one thought there was anything wrong with the dishes themselves. They simply did not like those flavors and hoped the next time they would encounter food more suited to their tastes.
Yet even Eugene, who had shown up every single time, fell silent at the sight of the Mandrake he had just picked up, which looked uncannily like a shriveled baby's head.
"...Ahem, Adam, is there only one dish this time?"
"This kind of art is still too avant-garde for us."
Even Fred and George, forcing themselves to be brave, could not bring themselves to reach for their chopsticks. In the end, they chose to give up.
"Yeah, yeah..."
"Hey, don't be fooled by the appearance of this pot of soup. It tastes great. How different are Mandrakes from ginseng, really? At most, they just look more like people, and the color of the soup is a little different."
Adam did not seem bothered in the slightest. He ladled himself a bowl and started eating.
"There's only this one dish! One bowl per person! Otherwise, there won't be any new dishes afterward!"
Seeing that Adam had eaten first, everyone finally tried it one by one, wearing expressions as though they were marching to their deaths... and then they were instantly won over.
What a joke. So what if the color was a bit strange and the Mandrakes were a little scary? How much better was stargazy pie? They used serving chopsticks to tear the Mandrakes apart, and the remaining issue of color was not worth mentioning before the taste.
Only then did Adam nod in satisfaction.
"I told you it was delicious!"
From that day onward, Adam's menu gradually gained many dishes mixed with magical creatures and magical plants. Along with the new-dish taste testers, Hogwarts students lived lives of both pain and joy.
Hogwarts students: So weird. Take a bite—so delicious! Look at it again—still so weird...
Professor Dumbledore, however, was supportive every time. He even accepted Durian Candy without hesitation. The students around him exclaimed that the old headmaster truly deserved to be called the greatest wizard of the century—terrifying indeed.
"Let's do this again next Friday."
Adam clapped his hands and set the date for the next new-dish tasting.
"No, Adam. There's a Quidditch match next Friday."
Klon rubbed his slightly bulging stomach. This time, Adam had actually shown mercy and made a delicious dish that was completely normal in both appearance and taste!
"Hm? Another Quidditch match...?"
Adam thought back and realized he genuinely did not remember.
"That's right! And it's Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff!"
Cedric nodded.
"What a pity Professor Snape is the referee..."
"He definitely won't let slip a single..."
"Chance to deduct points from Gryffindor!" x2
The Weasley twins said in a slightly off-key operatic tone.
Recently, Wood had been drilling them specifically for this match, telling them not to foul and not to give Professor Snape any opportunity.
They had not even had time to do business lately. They had only managed to squeeze out time for the new-dish tasting with great difficulty.
"Is Professor Snape really that scary?"
Adam was a little confused. Come to think of it, he seemed never to have seen Professor Snape being particularly scary.
"Oh, Adam! My Adam! That's because you aren't in Gryffindor!"
Fred rolled his eyes so hard they nearly reached the sky.
"If your hands aren't broken, why aren't you writing down the points I just explained, hmm?"
George lowered his voice and imitated him. Though the voice was not very convincing, the rising "hmm?" at the end perfectly captured the essence, drawing a round of applause.
"Thank you! Thank you, everyone!"
George stood and bowed to those around him.
"I have to clarify that Adam's opinion has nothing to do with whether he's in Gryffindor. Professor Snape treats Hufflepuff about the same way."
Uther complained while clapping.
"Exactly. It feels like in all of Hufflepuff—no, I suspect in all of Hogwarts—only Adam has never been scolded by Professor Snape."
Klon added immediately.
"It's not that exaggerated..."
Adam thought back.
"Professor Snape doesn't seem to scold Slytherin much, either."
"Is that the point?!"
Adam shrugged.
Was Professor Snape really that scary? At most, his tongue was a little sharp. If someone did badly, they would get verbally chewed out a few times. At worst, he might press their head down and kill them. What was so serious about that? It did not even count as corporal punishment.
"Come to think of it, Adam, how do you manage not to get scolded by Professor Snape?"
"Ah, that? Isn't it enough to just do what the professor says?"
"That's true."
Bernard remarked, "Ninety-eight percent of the time Professor Snape scolds people, it's because students make mistakes during their work."
"What about the other two percent?"
Cedric looked at him with interest.
"Because he's in a bad mood."
"..."
They never reached a consensus regarding Professor Snape. Time flew by, and the day of the Quidditch match soon arrived.
On match day, the Gryffindor team was visibly under enormous pressure. The only thing that comforted them slightly was that Professor Dumbledore was in the stands this time as well.
Surely Professor Snape would not dare be so blatant with Professor Dumbledore watching?
But in reality, Professor Snape proved through his actions that he was even more excessive than Gryffindor had imagined.
"Tweet-tweet—"
Madam Hooch's silver whistle sounded, marking halftime.
"This is too much! This is absolutely too much!"
Even over on the Hufflepuff side, they could hear Gryffindor's furious roars.
"Um..."
Adam and the others exchanged glances. Under these circumstances, even if Hufflepuff won, it did not seem like there would be much to celebrate.
"Look on the bright side. This is probably the cleanest match of the entire season."
Adam tried to comfort them.
Hufflepuff would not foul on purpose, and Gryffindor was unexpectedly well-behaved as well. Such a situation was indeed rare and perfectly suited Hufflepuff's aesthetic.
However, no one was comforted by his words.
"There's still hope."
Klon leaned over the railing, watching the two teams below with concern.
"Merlin, let them catch the Golden Snitch quickly—whoever it is."
Before the score gap reached 150 points, whichever team caught the Golden Snitch would win. No matter how much Professor Snape targeted Gryffindor, he could not change that. It was also the fairest part of the game.
It seemed old Merlin had heard Klon's prayer, but unfortunately, Hufflepuff's Seeker did not possess Harry's talent and skill. Not long after the second half began, Harry caught the Golden Snitch.
Everyone was heatedly discussing Harry's breathtaking dive just now, while Klon, whose wish had come true, fell into a dilemma.
Although the match had ended fairly, just as he had hoped, Hufflepuff had lost. Should he be happy or sad?
Before you continue