Preparing Ingredients

Wentworth gently tickled the pear in the painting of the fruit bowl, and the pear immediately transformed into a green doorknob. With a soft turn of the handle, the door to the Hogwarts kitchen swung open.

The moment he stepped into the Hogwarts kitchen, Wentworth was discovered by the house-elves, and a large number of them swarmed around him.

"Sir, is there anything we can do for you? Would you like some dessert first? How about a chocolate-filled cream puff!"

Wentworth took the chocolate-filled cream puff handed to him by an elf and took a gentle bite; the rich flavor of chocolate instantly exploded across his taste buds.

"This tastes truly delicious, thank you all!"

Wentworth said sincerely, feeling more than ever that his decision to insist on attending Hogwarts was the right one, and he was extremely satisfied with being sorted into Hufflepuff.

You see, Ravenclaw had been one of his backup options in his original plan, but clearly, compared to the persona of a top student, Wentworth preferred the persona of a foodie.

Hearing Wentworth's praise, the surrounding elves immediately began to dance with joy, appearing incredibly excited.

Afterward, Wentworth pulled a slip of paper from his robe, on which he had just written down a list of ingredients.

"Everyone, could you help me prepare these ingredients? I will need them tomorrow."

One elf took the note from Wentworth's hand, and the other house-elves instantly crowded around, scrambling to get a look at the paper, while Wentworth stood to the side, leisurely eating his chocolate-filled cream puff.

"Mr. Wentworth, the items on this list are not very difficult to find, but many of them require us to purchase them from the Muggle world, because in Hogwarts, very few people eat these things."

Having said this, the house-elf seemed to hesitate, before another elf added from the side:

"So, Mr. Wentworth, these materials might not be ready until tomorrow noon."

Following this, all the house-elves wore expressions of shame.

Hearing the house-elves' response, Wentworth didn't mind at all; in fact, he felt that the house-elves were being quite tactful.

Some of the ingredients Wentworth had written on the note were not just rarely eaten at Hogwarts, but were likely rarely tasted anywhere in the United Kingdom, so he was already surprised that they could be prepared by tomorrow noon.

"It doesn't matter. If some ingredients are truly hard to find, it's fine if one or two are missing, as long as everything is ready before lunch tomorrow."

Upon receiving Wentworth's reply, the house-elves clearly let out a sigh of relief, and the elf who had been feeling ashamed regained its enthusiasm.

"No problem, Mr. Wentworth, we will definitely have all the ingredients ready before tomorrow's lunch!"

"Are you planning to use these ingredients to make a few dishes? If you like, you can leave the recipes with us, and we will prepare them for you and deliver the food directly to you at tomorrow's lunch."

But this time, Wentworth cruelly rejected the house-elves' kind offer, replying:

"No need, this dish is more interesting to prepare myself. See you tomorrow at noon!"

Although the house-elves were a bit disappointed that Wentworth had declined their offer to help with the cooking, they still happily bid him farewell.

The next morning, as soon as Wentworth had finished getting ready and stepped out of his dormitory, he ran into Cedric, who had been waiting for him in the Hufflepuff common room.

"Hi, good morning Wentworth, shall we go get breakfast together? Afterward, I'll take you around to get to know Hogwarts."

Wentworth gladly accepted Cedric's invitation, and the two walked together toward the Great Hall where Hogwarts students ate.

"You know, when I wrote to my father last night to let him know I was safe, I told him you had been sorted into Hufflepuff. This morning, I received a reply from him via owl, and he was very happy about it, telling me I must take good care of you."

On the way to the Great Hall, Cedric said to Wentworth with a beaming smile.

"Is that so? Mr. Diggory is truly a kind man."

It was only then that Wentworth remembered he hadn't bought an owl, and Rosier hadn't reminded him either. It looks like I need to find a suitable time to buy myself a pet, Wentworth thought to himself.

After breakfast, Wentworth began to walk around the Hogwarts castle under Cedric's guidance.

Cedric took the lead in showing Wentworth the classrooms they would be using this semester, so that Wentworth wouldn't be flustered and unable to find his way when the time came.

But as they passed a narrow, windowless room with only a single oil lamp hanging lonely from the low ceiling in front of the door, Cedric suddenly lowered his voice and said:

"Remember, you must stay away from this room, don't go near it!"

Cedric's mysterious demeanor instantly piqued Wentworth's curiosity.

You see, a large part of the reason he had insisted on coming to Hogwarts was to experience the mysteries of the school.

Seeing Cedric act this way, Wentworth suppressed the excitement in his heart and asked in a low voice, feeling both nervous and curious:

"Cedric, what's inside? Is it where Hogwarts keeps Dark Magic artifacts?"

Cedric shook his head.

"Could it be that some magical creature is locked up in there?"

Cedric shook his head again.

At this point, Wentworth's curiosity was fully ignited.

"Or did something tragic happen in there?"

This time, Cedric nodded with extreme solemnity.

"How tragic?"

"Horrifyingly tragic!"

Wentworth hadn't expected that besides the second-floor girls' lavatory where the Myrtle incident occurred, there was another room in Hogwarts where a tragedy had taken place!

Looking back at the room, Wentworth felt an inexplicable chill wash over him, and he couldn't help but ask:

"What exactly is that room used for?"

Cedric replied with a solemn expression:

"That is the room of the Hogwarts caretaker—Filch!"

Wentworth: "..."

Seeing that Wentworth seemed somewhat uninterested, Cedric couldn't help but ask:

"Aren't you curious about what Filch does?"

"I think I can guess."

Wentworth replied.

Soon, the morning was coming to an end. Just as Cedric intended to head to the Great Hall with Wentworth for lunch, Wentworth suddenly grabbed him.

"Cedric, thank you for the steak last night. Today at noon, I have also prepared a delicacy I carefully crafted just for you!"

With that, Wentworth pulled Cedric toward the Hufflepuff common room.