"Don't worry, ma'am. I was careful. Those Biting Cabbages never got a chance to sink their teeth into me." As Cedric spoke, he glanced at the shelf where the Biting Cabbages had been. It was empty.
"Ma'am, where are the Biting Cabbages? How come they're gone?"
He had wanted to take a few more home and work out how best to cook them. His cook's instinct told him his roasted Biting Cabbage was nowhere near as good as the ingredient could be, and he couldn't experiment without any.
"You want more? If I remember right, you only just took three." The old woman gave him a suspicious once-over. "Don't tell me you actually ate those things?"
"With the right skill, you can make something wonderful out of even the trickiest ingredient." Cedric grinned, keeping his teeth hidden.
"Well said." The old woman patted his head. "Unfortunately, you're too late."
"Too... late?" Cedric's eyes widened. "You mean..."
"Not one left. Sold out, every last one. I'm terribly sorry, child." The old woman looked genuinely apologetic. "Last night, a whole crowd of drunkards came barging in out of nowhere, demanding Biting Cabbages. They bought out my entire stock. Honestly, in all my years of business, I've never seen customers that mad."
The old woman shuddered at the memory.
Gone?
Cedric froze. The image of Tom enthusiastically serving roasted Biting Cabbage last night flashed through his mind, along with the looks on the faces of the wizards watching him.
Damn it, those ravenous bastards came here to fight a cook for his ingredients!
Did they think their little bit of Kitchen magic would make Biting Cabbage taste good?
The old woman watched Cedric's expression shift back and forth and felt rather bad for him. But she had no stock to offer, so all she could do was say, "If you need them urgently, child, come back in a couple of days. I'll use magic to hurry along this batch of Biting Cabbage seedlings..."
Cedric had been ready to accept it when he heard the first part. At the word "seedlings," his eyes lit up.
"Ma'am." Cedric tugged at the old woman's sleeve. "Did you say Biting Cabbage seedlings?"
"That's right. I bought a batch to keep in reserve, in case I ever ran out of stock. I just never imagined so many people would come in at once, all after Biting Cabbages. They didn't give me any time to grow them..." As the old woman explained, Cedric had already stopped listening. His mind was busy turning over the possibilities of Biting Cabbage seedlings.
There's no getting rid of that bitterness in a grown Biting Cabbage. But if the seedlings haven't fully grown, maybe their flavor will be different from the start!
Once he had an idea, Cedric couldn't wait. He looked up and asked, "Ma'am, how much are the Biting Cabbage seedlings?"
"Huh?" The sound that escaped the old woman held three parts confusion, three parts bewilderment, three parts bafflement, and one part sheer inability to catch up.
"I'd like to buy the Biting Cabbage seedlings," Cedric repeated.
"I've never sold them before. If you really want them... you can have this little bag for fifteen Sickles." The old woman took out a small cloth bag.
Cedric opened it and peered inside. It was packed with round little things that looked like Muggle Brussels sprouts. Each was about the size of a pigeon egg, and they were strangely endearing.
Just the right size to eat in one bite. No choking, no overstuffing.
Still, Cedric didn't dare underestimate how dangerous they were. The mouths of these tiny, adorable-looking creatures were lined with sharp teeth. They were only a little shorter than those of full-grown Biting Cabbages, and a bite could tear a chunk of flesh off someone with ease.
Xuanling, perched on Cedric's shoulder, spotted the squirming little things too. He stretched out his neck to stare into the bag, his claws itching to reach in.
These are ingredients. I'm not letting you ruin them.
Cedric pulled the bag shut, tapped Xuanling on the forehead, and handed the old woman a Galleon. After receiving two Silver Sickles in change, he turned his attention to another item in the shop.
A small lump of pink biological tissue floated in a glass jar of medicinal liquid.
A label beneath the jar read: Dragon Liver—16 Sickles per ounce.
Sixteen Sickles an ounce sounded reasonable at first, but the unit of weight was playing tricks on his mind. Cedric did a quick conversion in his head, and his face went stiff.
Damn it, a pound of Dragon Liver costs a whole seventeen Galleons! Seventeen Galleons!
A Fire-Dragon is enormous, and you want that much for a tiny bit of its liver? You might as well rob me outright.
By that calculation, everything Cedric currently had in Professor McGonagall's vault wouldn't be enough to buy a whole Fire-Dragon liver.
Cedric stared at the price on the label, his face twisted up like a wrung-out rag. After a long pause, he pointed at the Dragon Liver and asked, "Ma'am, could you sell this... a little cheaper?"
"Of course. One jar is only three Galleons. There are four ounces in each, so it's quite a bargain." The old woman bent down and spoke to him with a kindly smile.
Four ounces a jar, three Galleons. That works out to about thirteen Sickles an ounce.
Cedric ran through the numbers, gritted his teeth, and made up his mind. "I'll take a jar."
It stung to spend the money, but when he thought of everything a Fire-Dragon could do, he knew he had to taste it.
Before you continue