A Lavish Feast

Inside the box was a bat specimen submerged in pale green preservative. A greeting card lay at the bottom, its message pressed so hard into the cardstock it had nearly gone through.

The message, however, put a damper on an otherwise lovely morning.

Giant Gray-Ridged Flying Squirrel: its wing membranes contain Magic, allowing it to fly for seven days and nights without food or water. Upright ears... Submit a five-thousand-word observation and research report on the Gray Bat when the holidays end. — Severus Snape!

Well, only he would give someone homework for Christmas!

Luo Bin held up the Glass Bottle and stared at the Gray Bat for a while. Then he sighed, set it aside, took several deep breaths, and pulled himself together to open the second gift.

The second gift was a bulging paper parcel containing a hand-knitted, pure-white sweater. Its stitches were fine and close, and the wool felt soft rather than scratchy. It was signed by Argus Filch.

It was hard to picture the tall old man with his hunched back and thinning hair sitting by orange candlelight, long knitting needles crossing in his hands.

Luo Bin stood and held the sweater against himself. The hem was a little long, and the sleeves reached three centimeters past his wrists. He figured Filch had made it that way on purpose. A boy his age was still growing fast; he could wear it next winter, too.

The third gift was a leather pouch about the size of two sandwiches. Red string was tied around its clasp, with a greeting card attached to the end. Written across it in sweeping handwriting were the words:

I believe you'll have a use for these before long. — Albus Dumbledore!

Luo Bin shook the pouch, and something inside clinked. He untied the string and poured out the contents. Just as he had guessed, it was money. Lots and lots of money.

Fifteen Galleons, twenty Silver Sickles, and forty Knuts. Enough to cover one person's expenses in London for half a year. Luo Bin silently thanked the Headmaster for his generosity, then moved on to the fourth gift...

Fifteen minutes later, Luo Bin picked up the final gift: a student handbook from Professor Minerva McGonagall. He was sure everyone had received this "surprise," whether they were staying at school for the holidays or going home to their families!

Knock, knock! Knock, knock!

"Robin Sear, the feast is about to start. Are you ready?"

It was his classmate Blaise calling from outside the door.

"Almost, Blaise. Don't wait for me—go on ahead!"

"Okay!"

Luo Bin put all his gifts in his private cabinet, tidied away the wrapping paper, washed up quickly, and changed into clean clothes. Then he strode toward the Great Hall.

He caught the enticing smell of roast meat before he even reached the Entrance Hall. When he stepped into the Great Hall, the sight stopped him in his tracks.

The long tables were covered with plump roast turkeys—two or three hundred of them, by his estimate. Mashed potatoes were heaped over hills of roast meat, their mingled aromas making his mouth water. The little sausages, red and crisp-skinned, were as delicate as winter plum blossoms waiting to be picked...

Every few steps Luo Bin took toward the Slytherin table, a Wizard on either side eagerly offered him a brightly wrapped cracker. They looked ready to stare at him until he took one, so he finally did.

It went off with a bang, and a cloud of thick blue smoke swallowed him. Luo Bin heard snickers all around, but he did not mind. He waved his Wand and cast a mist-dispersing spell. When the smoke cleared, a clown mask floated before him.

"Oh my, Robin Sear is lucky! That's a Bamber Mask. Put it on and you can imitate anyone's voice."

"Those masks are expensive. Whenever we go to Diagon Alley, my parents won't buy me one, no matter how long I linger in the toy shop."

Hearing them, Luo Bin realized it was an enchanted mask. He thanked the Wizard who had given him the cracker, continued on, and sat down beside Blaise.

At the High Table, Dumbledore had traded his usual look for a ladies' hat adorned with flowers, making him seem even more approachable. Professor Flitwick, dressed in a suit, leaned over to speak to him and soon had him chuckling.

Once the feast began, Luo Bin set to work with knife and fork, eating quickly but elegantly. The roast turkey was crisp outside and tender within. Several layers of honey had been brushed over its skin, so even after plenty of it, he never tired of the taste. The roast meat was rich with cumin; he cut himself a thick slice and spread pale yellow mashed potatoes over it. Soft with a little bite, it was a delight.

Luo Bin ran into a small problem while eating his pudding.

Crunch!

Something hard nearly cracked a tooth. He spat it out and found a Galleon.

"Luo Bin, I envy your luck! There were only three coins hidden in the pudding across all four houses, and you found one on your first try—a Galleon, no less!" Blaise said.

"You weren't unlucky yourself. I heard you got a sailor's cap with a gold chain from a cracker!"

That got Blaise going. He launched into a long account of how handsome, valuable, and collectible the cap was, while Luo Bin listened and sampled the food on the table.

Meanwhile, at the High Table, Hagrid had downed dozens of glasses of strong liquor. His rough face was unnaturally red as he swayed over to Professor Minerva McGonagall.

Perhaps the candlelight had gone to his head, or perhaps he had left his sense back in his stone hut. Either way, his thick lips made close contact with her thin, wrinkled cheek.

The professors and students who saw it burst into laughter, teasing Hagrid and calling for him to do it again.

As for Minerva McGonagall, she blushed. After straightening her crooked hat, she covered her mouth and giggled at Hagrid. Clearly, she had not taken his forwardness to heart.

The little episode amused everyone but caused no further stir. An hour later, the feast ended. Luo Bin declined Harry's invitation to a snowball fight and left the Great Hall with an armful of cracker prizes.

Besides the Bamber clown mask, he had a Simulated Peeping Mechanical Mouse, a glowing glass ball, and Chocolate Frogs that hopped and leaped...

Back in his Dormitory, he lay on his bed for a while. Once his stomach felt less full, he got up to study the "extremely stinky" perfume. To keep the smell from escaping and causing trouble, he stuffed strips of cloth into every gap around the window and door.

He drew the double curtains, switched on two large desk lamps, and laid out slender bottles, droppers, a glass cover, pollen, honey, and the rest of his equipment on the desk.

The moment he pulled the stopper from the slender bottle, a stench surged out so fiercely that his eyes stung. It smelled as though a century-old latrine had exploded, helpful citizens had scooped up every last bit, and someone had added a hundred pounds of ghost peppers before boiling it all in a giant pot.

The stink made his head spin, and the sting brought tears to his eyes!

Holding his breath, Luo Bin drew his Wand. He wanted to cast a spell to block his sense of smell, but after half a minute of inner debate, he put the Wand back in his pocket. This was the crucial moment for testing the experiment. He could not sacrifice the result for a little comfort.

He took a deep breath and squeezed the rubber bulb of a dropper. Concentrating, he drew up one drop of liquid from the slender bottle and released it into a beaker. Then he added 50 ml of purified water, a spoonful of jasmine pollen, a pinch of Fire Dragon Bone Ash, and one Thousand Elm Spirit Leaf, stirring the mixture with a Glass Rod.

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