After that, Wentworth had no time to dwell on it. He and Cedric hurried to fight over the meat in the cauldron. It wasn't that Wentworth was stingy; hot pot just tasted better when you raced to eat it!
Just as the two of them were chatting and feasting, the door to the Hufflepuff Common Room swung open, and someone hurried inside.
"My goodness, what's with all this smoke? Is there a fire?!"
Although Cedric occasionally used little spells to clear the smoke from the room, the steaming hot pot still filled the Hufflepuff Common Room with clouds of vapor. As a result, Wentworth and Cedric couldn't tell who had come in at first.
"You two, are you making Potions?!"
When the newcomer stepped closer and saw Wentworth and Cedric gathered around the cauldron, he was startled. It was full of ingredients and already boiling, and Cedric's face was bright red, with sweat pouring down his head.
Only then did Cedric and Wentworth realize that the newcomer was none other than Green, a fifth-year Hufflepuff Prefect.
"Cedric, are you all right? Are you feeling unwell? You two are being ridiculous! If you're not feeling well, you should go to Madam Pomfrey. You're still children—how can you brew Potions just like that?!"
Seeing Green get worked up, Cedric and Wentworth exchanged a glance and burst out laughing, leaving him completely bewildered.
"Prefect, why did you come back all of a sudden? Have you finished eating?"
Wentworth pulled over a chair while Cedric invited Green to sit down, and then Wentworth asked him the question.
By now, Green realized he'd probably misunderstood. After sitting down, he said:
"Don't ask. Those Weasley twins somehow got their hands on a prank Bludger, and it got my clothes dirty. I came back to change. What are you two doing?"
Green studied the two of them, occasionally twitching his nose, his face full of curiosity.
Wentworth quickly placed a portion of the dipping sauce he'd prepared in front of Green, while Cedric hastily fished out some slices of meat and greens from the cauldron and set them before him.
"Come on, Green! There's plenty to go around. Want to try some?"
Green stared at them in shock.
"You really are making Potions?!"
Cedric quickly explained:
"You've got it wrong, Prefect Green. We're just borrowing a cauldron for a little while. It's brand-new—Wentworth brought it at the start of term, and it's never been used before."
Wentworth chimed in:
"That's right, Prefect Green. I learned about this dish from the Muggle World. It's called hot pot, and it tastes wonderful."
After hearing their explanation, Green let out a long sigh of relief and said:
"You should've said so earlier! You gave me a fright. I thought you two had gone mad!"
As he spoke, Green picked up a slice of meat without hesitation, dipped it in the sauce Wentworth had prepared, and popped it into his mouth.
"Mm! Delicious! So good! Wentworth, you've done a fine job. The Sorting Hat made the right choice!"
Green ate heartily as he spoke, remembering every so often to add more ingredients to the cauldron.
Cedric watched him and remarked:
"Prefect Green, now I understand why you're our Hufflepuff Prefect. When I took my first bite, I had to work up a lot of courage to open my mouth. You didn't hesitate at all."
Green started to reply, but his mouth was stuffed with meat, and he almost choked. It took him a while to recover before he said:
"I'm not like those people who take pride in being Pure-bloods. My father's a Muggle, but I still love him very much. When I was little, my father often made all kinds of Muggle food for me. I loved it all. Those were my childhood memories."
"But this thing called hot pot is new to me. Wentworth, thank you for letting me try such delicious food. If you ever need help with anything, just come to me."
Wentworth quickly thanked him and said:
"You're too kind, Prefect Green. I'm glad you like it!"
"Like it? I love it! I've always thought it was wrong of the Wizarding World to reject everything from the Muggle World. At the very least, a lot of Muggle cuisine is worth trying, haha!"
"Exactly. I think so too. The Muggle World is developing far faster than the Wizarding World, isn't it?"
The three of them chatted more and more happily. Green even forgot that he'd come back to change his clothes. Meanwhile, at the Hufflepuff table in the Great Hall, the young Hufflepuffs who had originally been sitting beside Green were still waiting for him to return.
Hufflepuff was the largest of Hogwarts' Four Houses, but also the most united. When Green still hadn't returned to eat after such a long time, several of his classmates began to grow restless.
So two more students set down their food and headed to the Hufflepuff Common Room to see where Green had gone and whether he'd run into trouble.
But to the surprise of all the Hufflepuffs, those two students didn't come back either after returning to the Hufflepuff Common Room.
After all, the Hufflepuff Common Room was the closest of the four Houses' common rooms to the dining hall. There were no strange staircases along the way, and you didn't have to answer any odd questions to get through the door.
Before long, rumors began to spread along the Hufflepuff table. Soon, every student there knew that at noon that day, no one who returned to the Hufflepuff Common Room had come back out.
Now all the Hufflepuffs were starting to get restless.
Some wanted to report it to a professor, but others stopped them. The missing students might simply have been delayed by something, and if they reported it to a professor over that, the other three Houses would surely laugh at them.
So, after several upper-year students discussed it together, they decided to go back to the Hufflepuff Common Room as a group and investigate.
The students from the other three Houses in the Great Hall were astonished to see the usually honest, even a little dull-witted, Hufflepuffs all rise at once and head out.
Almost every Hufflepuff had drawn a wand, making the large group look rather menacing.
Seeing the Hufflepuffs moving in such force, students from the other three Houses hurriedly cleared a path for them.
They were all curious about what had happened to Hufflepuff, but no one dared follow them to find out. Some students had already run off, though, clearly to report it to a professor.
Soon, all the Hufflepuff students reached the entrance to the common room.
Before you continue