The Death Knell

As an academic who has taught herself a lot of knowledge in advance, Hermione couldn't remember what Hufflepuff's housekeeping curse was, because according to Professor Wilson, what this academy seems to be best at is studying food, or serving everyone. Grow herbs and magical animals.

After entering Hogwarts, she also confirmed it with her own eyes. For example, in physical education class, when she mentioned what could be eaten, all the little badgers' eyes lit up.

Among the four founders, Hufflepuff is not famous for her magic spells. She is better at being someone who can rely on others.

Hannah placed her plate between her and Hermione, took out her wand and pointed it at the edge of the plate: "Food appears!"

Then a roasted quail appeared on the plate, but unlike the fried chicken provided by the school in the past, this quail was a little burnt and exuded a subtle black smell.

Hermione's expression became strange. She couldn't understand what kind of curse this was. Was it a kind of flying curse? It seems to be pretty much the same as usual.

Hannah didn't notice her expression, but explained happily:

"This is the 'Food Curse', how about it? Isn't it magical? When we usually eat here, the food we eat is actually prepared by the house elves in the kitchen. This curse is specially used to transfer food. , but the casting distance is very limited.”

Hermione tilted her head and poked the quail's butt with a clean fork. As a result, a triangular cone-shaped piece of black charcoal fell and shattered on the white plate.

Food is one of the five exceptions to Gamp's law of transformation, which means that it cannot be transformed out of thin air, and it cannot be eaten if other items are turned into food.

If you turn a piece of wood into bread, not only will it taste like wood, but after the spell wears off, it will turn back into wood in your stomach, making you sick.

The copying spell is also ineffective on food. Although a piece of bread can be turned into many pieces, only the original piece has taste and nutrition. Although the other changed pieces can be eaten, they will turn into nothingness in the stomach, which will make people feel uncomfortable. More hungry.

"So, you roasted this quail?" Hermione put down her fork. This one looked inedible, too, as it was carbonized.

Seeing that the quail's butt was burnt, Hannah also looked a little ashamed, covered her face and said: "During the roasting process, I imitated Professor Slade and injected soul into it, but accidentally the tassel of my robe was set on fire. I went back to the bedroom next door to change my clothes and forgot to ask the elf to watch the fire for me, so it was overheated..."

"It's a pity to waste a little material, but the key is that we know this magic. From now on, we can summon our pre-prepared food anywhere in Hogwarts, and we can also deliver the food directly to your dormitory. It’s over!”

Susan emphasized the significance of the spell and offered to provide Hermione with a midnight snack alone.

The words she heard in the wand shop suddenly came to Hermione's mind. She didn't want to deceive others, so she shook her head quickly:

"No, I just come to the cafeteria to eat. It's fine. I don't need you to bring me food."

Hannah's mouth bent downwards, as if she was about to cry: "You think my cooking is not good, ugh..."

"That's not what I meant. You guys are the ones doing the roasting in gym class. What happened today was just an accident." Hermione quickly hugged her and explained while shaking her gently.

"Then why?" Hannah revealed an eye from between her fingers.

Hermione was still holding her and didn't see her little movements: "I just think it's unfair. Why should you share the food you worked so hard to make with me? I didn't do anything."

Susan, who was sitting on one side, had a serious expression on her round face, and she shook her head:

"No, Hermione, it wouldn't be fair to you if we stayed like we were in the past. The prizes you won from the professors were shared between the two of us. We were the ones who were always cheeky, and that's not the case with Hufflepuff. It’s inconsistent with our impartiality. If you don’t want to eat the food we cook, you’re looking down on us.”

"Yes, we are equal good friends. We don't need your unilateral contribution, and friendship must be fair." Hannah also hugged Hermione tightly, and rubbed their heads together.

"...As for that?" Hermione was speechless, sounding as if she couldn't accept it.

Hannah jumped out of her arms, and she arranged her braid: "Of course! You have only been in contact with the magic world for a short time, and you are far from aware that many of the prizes are treasures that are very difficult to obtain. , For example, the hand cream you gave me last time is said to be difficult to buy even if you have money."

Susan put her arms on the table and nodded in agreement: "Yes, not to mention you took us on a tractor. I have never taken a Muggle transport. It's so interesting."

Hermione covered her forehead, and it looked like both girls were serious.

Why is this happening? She had obviously never thought of doing this. Why would she need others to deliver food when she had the skills?

"Okay, just bring me a few cookies every once in a while."

She still accepted it, and in order to prevent her good friends from feeling that they owed her something, she still made concessions and shook her original principles.

Hannah and Susan happily high-fived, then put Hannah's failed work into a paper bag, and then Susan summoned the dinner she had prepared, and the three of them ate together.

This is also one of Hufflepuff's house advantages. As long as it does not exceed a certain obvious limit, they can freely use ingredients in the castle for cooking experiments. Failures can be thrown away. It is not a waste of food, and no points will be deducted for it.

Hermione felt that the conversation between the three of them just now was too provocative and the atmosphere was a bit awkward now, so while eating a slimming seaweed salad, she told her about the professor asking her to check out Nico Flamel to lighten the mood.

"Nicholas Flamel?" Hannah put down the knife and fork in her hand: "I know."

She dug into her robe and took out a pentagonal card that came with the chocolate frog, with Dumbledore's name written on it, but he was not there at the moment, and the frame was empty.

But her beautiful white hands turned the card over and pointed to the words written on the back:

"Professor Dumbledore is recognized as the greatest wizard in modern times. His well-known contributions include: defeating the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, discovering the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his achievements in alchemy with his partner Nicolas Flamel. .”

Susan looked up while eating. She touched her fat chin and pushed up the glasses on the bridge of her nose:

"Well, Alchemist? This course was removed from the Hogwarts curriculum by the Ministry of Magic before 1925. It is said that the reason was that someone created an incredible monster and students were not suitable for this subject. But I think you can find books about alchemy in the restricted section of the library, or ask Professor Snape. Potions and alchemy have a lot in common."

"No, you might as well kill me if you ask Snape." Hannah was allergic to the name.

Hermione nodded slightly. Sure enough, unity is strength. There is no doubt that she has knowledge deficiencies in some aspects, and her friends can make up for it.

If he had asked Hannah and the others earlier, he would have saved more time.

In the future, we must remember this lesson, inquire about information from multiple angles, and work together.

"I found this man's story in Ravenclaw's collection. He has countless wealth and invented the elixir of life. He has lived for more than six hundred years. I probably guessed that he can't go to the fourth floor. At the end of the corridor, what is the principal and the others keeping?"

"Is it the elixir?" Susan lowered her voice and looked around.

Hermione shook her head slowly. The elixir was indeed very tempting, but it was not enough for Dumbledore to go to great lengths to keep it. Now that he knew that the principal and Flamel were good friends in the past, he should be able to get the elixir at any time.

Since it was just a product of alchemy, the preparation process in the bark book seemed simple.

Then the answer is clear.

"There is something more precious than that, the treasure used to prepare the elixir, Nick Flamel's 'Red Stone', and that is what Professor Quirrell wants to steal."

Hermione finally connected all the clues into a clear line. For the first time, she felt the joy after solving the case. It was like the clouds in London had suddenly cleared up for three consecutive months. It was as smooth as the clouds clearing.

Hannah and Susan pricked up their ears and didn't even bother to finish their meal. They just cleaned up hastily and dragged Hermione to the basement, the Hufflepuff lounge behind the huge wine barrel.

There were still too many people here, and the final meeting location was changed to a potato storage warehouse, with an earthy smell permeating the darkness.

But that doesn't matter. They are curious about too many things. What alchemy? Why does Quirrell want to steal something? Professor Wilson knows everything? They also wanted to hear the full story.

Hermione felt that it was appropriate to tell them, at least to make her friends wary of Professor Quirrell, who was not a good person.

So they shared information, starting from the appearance of the troll, for more than half an hour.

I just don’t know who proposed it first. In the darkness, a plan gradually sprouted in the hearts of the three of them.

"How about everyone go to the fourth floor to see what the so-called 'red stone' looks like? Or make sure for the principal that it has not been stolen by Quirrell?"

Hannah and Susan said that this was Hermione's plan to discover and speak out first, so they should listen to her.

The three of them plan to turn out the lights tonight, Hermione will lend Ravenclaw's map crystal, and meet in the cellar to explore together...