Hogwarts: Don't call me Wandmaker

Chapter 202 Chocolate Feast

“Felius, I still think you were too impulsive,” Professor Sprout said worriedly in the principal’s office. “You shouldn’t have killed the Dementors directly; you should have just driven them away.”

"I'm sorry, I was just so angry. Those guys actually sneaked into the common room through the outside window!" Professor Flitwick said, his eyes filled with lingering fear.

"When I rushed in after hearing the screams, the Dementors were already getting ready to eat, those damned..." Professor Flitwick began to curse, and the curses grew increasingly vulgar.

None of the other professors stopped him. To be fair, if they were in that situation, they might have made the same choice as Professor Flitwick.

After Professor Flitwick had vented his anger, Professor Sprout continued, "Although the Ministry of Magic hasn't said anything, we all know Fudge won't let this go. He's always treated Dementors as the Ministry of Magic's private property."

“You can put it more bluntly…his private property,” Snape said slowly from the side.

"Furthermore, I don't believe that the minister will become more friendly to Hogwarts simply because we treat Dementors kindly."

“He’s been very dissatisfied with Hogwarts for a long time. For example, last year when he asked us for the Basilisk’s body and was refused, and…” Snape glanced at Dumbledore, “that picture of Black appeared in the Daily Prophet.”

Black's appearance at Hogwarts Castle, heavily guarded by Dementors, caused a sensation no less than Black's escape from Azkaban.

Now everyone knows that the Dementors can no longer capture Black, and all the assurances the Ministry of Magic made in the newspapers have become a joke.

"This search of the castle by the Dementors is nothing short of a complete act of revenge," Snape sneered. "What nonsense about the Dementors being missing? It's laughable. Anyone who can come up with such an excuse probably doesn't even have the brain of Neville Longbottom."

“Severus!” Professor Sprout exclaimed. “How can you say that? Mr. Longbottom is a very intelligent and hardworking boy. Aren’t you being too prejudiced against him?”

“Longbottom, clever?” Snape’s voice changed, as if he had just heard that Hogwarts was canceling Christmas this year.

But the person who said this was Professor Sprout, and he couldn't refute it.

Because on Neville Longbottom's terrible report card, the only subject he consistently got was Herbalism.

“Alright, we should be discussing killing the Dementors, not Neville Longbottom’s grades,” Professor McGonagall said, thus putting the matter aside.

In any case, Neville was a Gryffindor student, and she, as the headmistress, didn't want Snape to always use him as a negative example.

“If it’s just this one thing, I don’t think we need to worry too much,” Dumbledore, who had been silent until now, suddenly said. “The Ministry of Magic isn’t Connery’s personal fiefdom. There are many reasonable people working with him. They will stop him when he makes a wrong decision.”

Dumbledore's words were quite clear; to put it bluntly, it meant... "I have people in the Ministry of Magic, and I have the ability to stop Cornelius Fudge if he tries to target Hogwarts."

The professors immediately relaxed. Professor Sprout stopped frowning, and Professor Flitwick also looked up, enthusiastically discussing with Professor Sinister whether they should go for a drink at the Three Broomsticks later.

Regardless of the circumstances, as long as Dumbledore says so, they will unconditionally choose to believe him.

“I’ll go and have the ghost call the students out,” Professor McGonagall said, turning to leave the principal’s office.

“And while you’re at it, Minerva,” Dumbledore called to her. “A good meal should ease the tension.”

“No problem, I’ll be there in a bit,” Professor McGonagall said.

……

Ten minutes later, Nick, who was almost headless, crawled into the Gryffindor common room and loudly told everyone the good news.

Everyone was excited to hear that the Dementors had been driven out of the castle by the professors ahead of schedule. The only problem was that it was Professor Flitwick who killed the Dementors; it would have been even better if it had been Professor McGonagall.

But that didn't stop everyone from wanting to celebrate, and cheers echoed all the way upstairs.

When Celen came out, Fred happened to see him.

“We were just wondering whether to call you,” he waved and shouted, “Good news, the Dementors are gone!”

“I heard you,” said Siren, coming down from upstairs.

"Is your wand finished?"

"Not even close."

“Let’s leave it for now,” George said. “Nick, who was almost headless just now, said there’s a banquet at school at noon!”

“More importantly, the Quidditch match this afternoon!” Oliver Wood rushed out excitedly. “I can’t believe the match time has just changed from morning to afternoon; I thought it would be next week!”

“I can’t believe it either,” Fred said softly. He glanced at the torrential rain outside the window and sighed softly. “Why couldn’t they postpone it until next week?”

Afterwards, everyone crowded out of the common room and onto the castle corridor outside.

There was no chill as I had expected. The castle was exactly the same as yesterday, and even much cleaner. The decorative armor was so shiny it could be used as a mirror. Only some portraits seemed to be quietly complaining...

"That dirt was something I used specifically to protect the picture frames, but it's all been wiped clean now!"

Lunch was a lavish affair, almost like an early Christmas feast.

Whole roasted chickens and large pieces of pan-fried beef steaks were piled up like small mountains.

I'd never tried chocolate syrup tarts before, and they were a huge hit today. There were also chocolate cookies, pudding... almost all the desserts were related to chocolate.

There are also non-dessert items.

"Is today a chocolate feast?" Ron picked up a sandwich and took a bite. As expected, it also had chocolate sauce inside.

“I guess it has something to do with Dementors,” Harry said. “Remember when I was on the train… after I fainted, Professor Lupin gave me a piece of chocolate and said it would do me good.”

"Later I told Madam Pomfrey about this, and she said that Hogwarts finally has a reliable Defense Against the Dark Arts professor this year."

"Really?" Ron asked. "Why didn't you mention this before?"

"I forgot." Harry scratched his head sheepishly.

Ron didn't say anything, but silently spread another thick layer of chocolate sauce on his sandwich, which made Celen frown.

A beef shank sandwich with chocolate sauce—is this stuff even edible?
……

(End of this chapter)