Hagrid said to them with an air of mystery:
"You'll never guess. This dish is called 'Covering the sky with one hand.'
It means covering the sky with a single hand; it describes abusing power and manipulating things to deceive the public.
He told me this dish was made especially for the Ministry of Magic..."
Douglas coughed softly. "Hagrid, don't go setting a bad example for the children!"
Actually, Douglas had originally wanted to dedicate this dish to Dumbledore.
Unfortunately, the man before him was Dumbledore's diehard supporter.
He believed that if he said the dish was dedicated to Dumbledore,
given his build back then, Hagrid would certainly have slapped him into the wall so hard he couldn't be pried off.
Then Hagrid continued:
"There's another dish whose name you'll never guess, either.
Here's a hint: it's Slytherin's favorite."
Ron took a great gulp of water to ease the burning in his mouth.
Panting, he said:
"I know this one. It's a kind of meatball. George told me it's called a big meatball.
Slytherin especially likes that dish because their brains are like one big meatball."
Harry frowned and said:
"I think it has another name over at Slytherin.
Last time I walked past their table, I think I heard them say it, but I didn't catch it."
Hagrid said resentfully:
"It certainly is a delicious big meatball.
But originally, that dish was called lion's head...
Gryffindor and Slytherin even got into a fight in the dining hall over that name.
Only after Professor McGonagall intervened was the dish renamed big meatball."
After finishing, Hagrid gave Douglas a reproachful look.
The three youngsters also looked at Douglas in surprise.
Ron asked tentatively:
"Professor, aren't you good friends with Bill? Why did you give it that name?"
Douglas shrugged and said helplessly:
"I'm just a cook. That dish really is called lion's head in the Muggle world.
Who could have imagined Slytherin would go so crazy over it?
Besides, I'm a Hufflepuff, not a Gryffindor."
Douglas was rather speechless about that, too. He really hadn't thought that much about it at the time.
At first, he had only made it in the kitchen, and only Hufflepuffs had been able to eat it.
But he hadn't guarded against the fact that one of the Hufflepuffs at the time was pursuing a Slytherin girl.
He had secretly taken the dish to curry favor with the girl of his dreams.
Ha. Then Douglas had become famous.
So had that lion's head dish.
Then Professor McGonagall had charged Douglas with undermining unity between the houses.
As punishment, he had had to cook exclusive dishes for the professors for a month.
That bootlicker hadn't won over his dream girl in the end, either.
After hearing the news, Gryffindors had also cornered him in the toilets, covered his head, and beaten him up.
When the Trio saw Douglas finish speaking and sit there staring into space with a cold chuckle,
they couldn't help feeling a chill. They had almost forgotten.
Sitting before them was their Defense Against Dark Magic teacher.
Only Hagrid blithely sucked his fingers.
Coming back to his senses, Douglas saw the looks on the youngsters' faces.
He immediately found it funny. They made him seem like some great dark lord.
"By the way, Ron, I haven't asked you yet.
Who were you trying to cast the Slug-Vomiting Charm on when it backfired?"
No sooner had Douglas asked than Ron's face turned bright red, and he clenched his teeth without speaking.
Harry wanted to laugh but didn't dare. With a chicken foot in his mouth, his face was just as red, whether from the spice or from holding back his laughter.
Hermione stuck out her tongue and said:
"Malfoy! He called me a 'Mudblood,' and Ron charged at him.
I mean, I don't know what it means, though of course I could tell it was very rude..."
Ron looked up and said breathlessly:
"It's a really vicious thing to say. Everyone was furious.
Mudblood is a slur for Muggle-born people.
Some wizards, like the Malfoys, always think they're better than everyone else because they're what they call pure-blood..."
Ron wiped the sweat from his forehead and continued:
"Mudblood is a really nasty name. It means dirty, inferior blood.
Besides, most wizards are half-blood these days.
We'd have died out long ago if we hadn't married Muggles...
What I mean is, Professor, you have to punish those Slytherins severely..."
Beside him, Harry leaned toward Ron's ear and said:
"Don't forget, Professor Holmes is Muggle-born too..."
Hagrid suddenly slapped the table, looking first at Hermione and then at Douglas.
"Now that Ron's mentioned it, that reminds me of something."
Douglas shrugged. He knew what Hagrid wanted to say.
Hagrid told the Trio:
"I remember something like what happened to you today happening years ago, too.
But as I remember it, Douglas and Bill took those little Slytherin brats who'd just got out of the Hospital Wing
and beat them straight back into it!
Ha ha!"
Then Hagrid said proudly to Hermione:
"So don't take it to heart. You know, they haven't invented a spell our Hermione can't cast yet.
And look at Douglas. He's Muggle-born too, but he's just as outstanding..."
Of course Douglas remembered that incident. He had nearly driven Professor Snape mad that time.
What had happened was actually very simple.
They had just been through a battle between the houses.
A few Slytherins whom Douglas had sent to the Hospital Wing refused to accept it.
As soon as they got out of the Hospital Wing, they had rushed to the orchard to find Douglas and challenge him to a private duel.
Douglas had just committed an offense. He didn't want to commit another and get expelled.
But those Slytherins had shown a remarkable lack of sense.
Standing nearby, they had hurled insults at Douglas, saying that he really was a Mudblood and only knew how to work with dirt.
Although Douglas had known then that Mudblood was an insult,
to someone who had grown up in the northern countryside in his previous life, their insults were utterly pathetic.
If he had cursed back in Chinese, he would definitely have insulted eighteen generations of those pure-blood families' ancestors so badly that they would have crawled back from the world of the dead in fury to beat him up.
Although he hadn't cared, Bill, who had been beside him, couldn't bear listening any longer.
He had fired off one green spell after another.
Seeing this, Douglas had also drawn his wand and teamed up with Bill.
They had sent those Slytherins who had just left the Hospital Wing straight back into it.
When Professor McGonagall, Professor Sprout, and Professor Snape had arrived after hearing the news and seen the scene before them,
for the sake of Hogwarts' unity, and because each wanted to protect their own students, they had handed out equal punishment to every house.
They had intended to smooth things over.
Although all the professors detested the word Mudblood, especially Snape,
Snape couldn't possibly truly offend those pure-blood families over that word.
After all, when he had attended Hogwarts, he had been Lucius Malfoy's little lackey.
He had also used Lucius's connections to work his way into the pure-blood families' social circle...
To everyone, punishing both sides equally had already been the best solution.
Those who had hurled insults were hospitalized and given detention, while those who had beaten them up also received detention. Seeing that the situation hadn't deteriorated further, the professors had been quite satisfied.
But Douglas had had no intention of letting those boys off.
Before you continue