"Douglas?"
Hagrid keenly noticed the change in the atmosphere and asked cautiously.
"What... what are you trying to say?"
"Hagrid, do you know why I'm putting so much effort into improving these ingredients?"
Rather than answering directly, Douglas asked a question of his own.
"Because... because you're a foodie?"
Hagrid tentatively offered the simplest answer.
Douglas nearly choked on the wine he had just sipped.
He gave Hagrid a helpless look and smiled.
"All right, that is one of the main reasons. I won't deny it."
"But there's a deeper reason, too. One I can't talk about publicly yet, but can tell only you."
Douglas set down his glass and pointed toward the distant castle, then farther away, toward the Muggle world beyond their sight.
"Hagrid, look at this world."
"Wizards and Muggles live under the same sky, but it's as though we live in two different worlds."
"Wizards look down on Muggles, thinking they're weak and ignorant. Muggles fear wizards, thinking we're strange and dangerous."
"Even among wizards, pure-bloods look down on half-bloods, and humans look down on goblins and centaurs."
"Those divisions can all too easily lead to war."
Hagrid fell silent.
As a half-giant, he understood the sting of that discrimination better than anyone.
"But... what does that have to do with roast meat?" Hagrid asked, puzzled.
"Everything."
Douglas smiled faintly.
"Do you know what everyone in this world-whether they're a wizard or a Muggle, a pure-blood or a half-blood, even a giant or a goblin-finds impossible to resist, and can all connect over?"
Hagrid thought for a moment, then shook his head.
"Good food."
Douglas spoke with certainty.
"Politics makes people argue, religion makes people go to war, and self-interest makes people kill each other."
"Only good food is a bridge shared by the whole world."