During the week before Christmas, although the teachers' schedules were packed and they had not stopped assigning homework, the joy of the approaching holiday seemed to have driven all thought of studying from the students' minds. Since the school normally did not forbid students from going home on weekends, the excuse they gave themselves for slacking off had changed from the old "we'll get to go home and see our families" to simply "because it's the holidays."
In the Great Hall, hundreds upon thousands of candles floated in midair above the tables, lighting the porcelain dishes and silver knives and forks until they shone. The four long House tables were already packed with chattering students, while at the top of the Great Hall, the staff sat one by one along one side of the teachers' table, facing their students.
The previous international sanctions against the United Kingdom's Magical World now existed in name only. The economy of the United Kingdom's Magical World was recovering, and Immigrants from various countries had brought different food cultures to clash and mingle on this fertile ground. All kinds of imported ingredients were now able to circulate into the United Kingdom, and the teachers and students of Hogwarts were the ones who benefited.
At that moment, in the kitchens below beside the Hufflepuff common room, the House-elves were busier than ever preparing lunch. Today, they had specially made many different flavors of piping-hot stews and sweet Puddings, making the menu in front of everyone three times thicker than before.
After Hogwarts became Allen's private school, he had never been stingy when it came to food and had poured in a great deal of funding. Although it was indeed rather hard on the House-elves to master so many flavors in such a short time, the not-quite-authentic