During the lunch break, Hermione sat in the Great Hall. Sunlight streaming down from the ceiling fell across her long brown hair, but she only stared blankly at her empty plate.
Even after PE and History of Magic, she still had no appetite. Just thinking about what they had done in PE made acid rise in her stomach.
That detestable professor had led her, pale-faced from all the running, and the little badgers into the Forbidden Forest. At first, everyone had curiously looked around as if they were on an outing, touching this tree and poking that patch of grass.
Principal Dumbledore had said this place was extremely dangerous, and no one understood why the professor had brought them here.
They found out soon enough. The so-called wilderness survival course was mainly about food and drink—how to eat and drink in the wild.
It sounded nice enough, but what they were supposed to eat was another matter entirely.
The professor caught a huge spider and said that once its head was removed, it could be eaten. Then he did exactly that, punching the spider's head apart before roasting it over a fire.
Hermione could still remember the smile on his face, smeared with green fluid, as well as the crackling sound of the spider's bristles popping in the flames.
He sprinkled the salt he carried with him over the roasted spider in a strange pose, claiming he was infusing the food with soul, then invited all the students to have a taste.
At first, everyone refused. Many people even vomited on the spot. It smelled like scorched protein, just like burnt hair.
But the professor said that Hufflepuff had always been the house that studied culinary arts. Over the past thousand years, their predecessors had already experimented with most common