The Great Hall was still quiet in the early morning.
The high vaulted ceiling admitted the cold, gray-white light peculiar to an early autumn morning. Only a scattering of candles burned above the long tables, and the few students dotted around the hall were yawning incessantly.
The Hufflepuff table held the usual breakfast: sliced toast, butter, marmalade, and chilled Pumpkin Juice.
Classic Hogwarts white-people food.
In front of Gavin, however, sat an enormous bowl, steaming hot.
Silky rice noodles soaked in the wide white porcelain bowl. A thin sheen of oil floated on the clear bone broth, with just-cooked pork liver, intestines, and tender lean meat piled in the center. Finely chopped spring onions and freshly coarsely ground pepper scattered across the surface, their spicy fragrance rising with the hot white steam straight into his nostrils.
The Hufflepuff Common Room was underground, only a few steps from the kitchens, and Gavin had stopped to speak to a house-elf he knew on his way out that morning.
By the time he sat down in the Great Hall, the steaming noodles were already on the table, complete with an extra dish of pepper and his usual ebony chopsticks.
Gavin picked up two slices of pork liver, chewed, and swallowed. Just as he scooped up a spoonful of hot broth, heavy, shuffling footsteps came from the Entrance Hall.
Justin walked in rubbing his reddened eyes, so sleepy he seemed to be drifting.
Ernie had the thick, leather-bound Intermediate Guide to Transfiguration clamped tightly under his arm, his lips pressed together as he fought to suppress a yawn.
Rolf brought up the rear, a tuft of sleep-tousled hair sticking up at the back of his head. As usual, the top two buttons of his school robes were undone, and he trailed behind with his