Turmeric Steam and the Sorting Hat's Sneeze (Part Two)
When Eileen's turn came, the Sorting Hat had barely touched her head before it let out a resounding sneeze, shaking the candleholders at the back of the Great Hall from side to side. "Achoo! Saffron... turmeric... and... is that Sichuan pepper? Are you running a spice shop in your head?"
Eileen's ears turned as red as tomatoes, and the gems on her butterfly hair clip flickered. "That's... an improved formula for the Invigoration Charm! Adding just a tiny bit of Sichuan pepper makes the fluctuations in magic more stable..."
"Hufflepuff!" the Sorting Hat announced decisively. "Only here can they accommodate a genius who treats a Potions cabinet like a spice rack! But next time you add nutmeg to a cauldron, remember to cast an Anti-Blasting Curse first-Professor Snape's wig can't take that kind of punishment!"
Amid laughter from the whole hall, Eileen ran toward Hailey, stepping on the hem of her skirt and scattering cumin seeds from her pockets all the way. Three House-elves came chasing after her with silver trays.
"I heard the Sorting Hat mention Sichuan pepper!" Hailey laughed softly, brushing the spices out of Eileen's hair. "Want to try using star anise with a Draught of Peace tomorrow?"
"I was thinking the same thing!" Eileen's eyes lit up, and she pulled a little paper packet from her pocket. "Look! I stole some of Mum's Madagascar vanilla pods—they'd be perfect for improving the Insomnia Charm!"
When the feast began, Hailey looked at the roast chicken that had suddenly appeared on the long table and remembered her father saying, "The Hogwarts Kitchens can understand your wishes." She quietly traced a miniature Heating Charm on the edge of her plate with the tip of her wand. The golden chicken skin immediately began to sizzle, and a faint scent of ginger mingled with the aroma rising from it—the minced ginger she had tucked into her cuff that morning was taking effect.
"To our friendship!" Eileen raised her drink. Hailey clinked her cup against Eileen's, then suddenly heard a whistle in the distance—not the Hogwarts Express, but a late-night train in the Muggle world.
She touched the gear bracelet on her wrist and felt a faint resonance from thousands of miles away. It was her father's gold pocket watch ticking softly.
Dumbledore's voice suddenly rang out. "Tonight's dessert is honey cake that sings 'Auld Lang Syne'!" As soon as he finished speaking, all the cakes floated into the air, their piped cream mouths opening and closing as they sang an off-key melody. Hailey watched Eileen scramble to catch the icing sliding off her cake with her wand, and suddenly remembered what her mother had said: "Magic is most beautiful when you're wasting time with someone you like."
When the last cake sang its final note, Hailey followed the Hufflepuffs to their dormitory. As she passed through a corridor, she glanced at the starry sky outside the window. One star suddenly blinked three times in succession—the "safety signal" she and her father had agreed on. Smiling, she touched her gear bracelet and silently thought, I'm fine. There are cakes that sing, a friend who understands spices, and... plenty of cauldrons for brewing ginger tea.
When Hailey pushed open the dormitory door, she caught the faint scent of lavender on her pillow—a Sleeping Charm her mother had secretly cast. When the new students were assigned rooms, whether by fate or something else, she and Eileen had been placed in the same dormitory, and it was the only one for two people.
She climbed into her four-poster bed and heard Eileen rustling through her spices in the next bed. Suddenly, she remembered what her father had said at the station that day: "Every predicament is a gear waiting to mesh."
Perhaps the shadow of the Prophecy would come eventually, but for now, with her head resting on the Star Hub Necklace and the sound of wind outside the window and pots and pans clattering in the distant kitchen in her ears, she felt like a freshly baked Rock Cake-crisp on the outside, warm inside, and speckled with magical icing.
Before lights-out, she pulled out parchment and a quill and wrote her first letter home to her parents: "Dear Mum and Dad, the starry ceiling at Hogwarts changes color according to its mood. Today I saw it turn turmeric yellow. The House-elves here like cinnamon-scented shoe polish, and Eileen has already made a deal with them to trade spices for Potions. Don't worry, I'll eat properly—I just roasted a chicken leg with a Heating Charm, and the skin was so crisp I could use it as a mirror. Oh, and the Prefect said we can borrow cauldrons from the kitchen next week. I'm planning to try making a steamer with a Transfiguration Spell..."
At that point, she suddenly heard an owl hooting outside the window. She looked up and saw a silver-spotted owl sweep across the starry sky, the letter in its talons glimmering in the moonlight.
Hailey thought of Harry and the secret base hidden behind the rockery, and wondered whether he was still laying out arithmetic problems with breadcrumbs at that moment. But she quickly shook her head and brought her thoughts back to the parchment. Her quill touched down: "P.S. Please have Nini send some more ginger powder. The black pepper sauce here is too spicy."
Before blowing out the candle, she whispered "Good night" to the Star Hub Necklace and the gear bracelet. Amid the resonance of the gears and the core, she seemed to hear her mother saying, "My little sweetheart, may your dreams be as warm as ginger tea."
Hailey smiled in the darkness. She knew that in this world where magic and science intertwined, she was not a lonely transmigrator. With the warmth of two worlds, she was slowly cooking up a future of her own at the Hufflepuff long table. After all, nothing was more fun than roasting chicken with a wand alongside a good friend, then sewing a gear pattern onto the Sorting Hat's patches. As for the Prophecy? She could just skim it away gently with a slotted spoon, like scum from a pot.