The two of them made their way silently down to the basement, without encountering anyone or any ghosts along the way.
After passing the Hufflepuff common room, they stopped in front of the portrait.
Harley expertly tickled the pear, opening the door to the kitchen.
The kitchen was still brightly lit.
The house-elves had cloths wrapped over their noses and mouths as they carefully brewed several large cauldrons of an unidentified red liquid that smelled of blood.
When they saw two young witches enter, one of whom was Harley Potter, they immediately crowded around excitedly.
The house-elves were all wearing tea towels embroidered with the Hogwarts crest. The one at their head had even pinned a badge to its tea towel, marking its position as head chef.
"Miss Harley Potter, Miss Hermione Granger, is there anything Bitty can do for you?"
House-elf Bitty piped up.
"Sorry about the smell. We need to help Professor Snape process some dragon blood."
Harley glanced at the dragon blood in the cauldrons and couldn't help shaking her head.
She had clearly seen the house-elves add ingredients that had nothing to do with processing dragon blood.
Harley suspected that Professor Babbling would be the one using the dragon blood once it was ready.
Professor Dumbledore would never allow that Sanguine to feed on people at Hogwarts, so the only option was to buy her dragon blood, which was rich in magic, to provide her with three meals a day.
Besides, the School Governors were the ones footing the bill, and Professor Dumbledore didn't mind spending their money at all.
But blaming everything on Professor Snape... Harley felt sorry for him!
Of course, Harley wasn't bored enough to call them out. Instead, she showed them the image on her mirror.
"I'd like to ask you for