After the commotion between Charle and the Sorting Hat subsided, Dumbledore, as if afraid of any further mishaps, quickly moved on to the next part of the ceremony.
Dishes of food appeared on the long tables of the four houses, and the already hungry students eagerly began to eat.
Charle also deliberately chose not to use Deep Blue to convert the food into deduction points, but instead tasted the Hogwarts food himself, nodding slightly.
It had to be said, the food at Hogwarts tasted quite good.
Among the British "cuisine" that consisted of little more than fried fish and chips, it was already at a level that stood out from the crowd.
After all, it was the work of house-elves, and the house-elves in the Hogwarts kitchen had passed down their skills for generations, cooking every day. They were probably comparable to the kitchen of the Shaolin Temple in the movies of his previous life, each one a culinary master.
What Charle found regrettable, however, was that the dishes served were made from ordinary ingredients, with no magical ingredients included.
Therefore, no matter how delicious they were, the deduction points they could provide to Charle were very meager.
But this was not surprising.
Magical ingredients were already expensive, and those that could be used for cooking and still taste good were even rarer.
If Hogwarts were to provide magical ingredients to so many students every day, the tuition fees collected would probably not even last a month.
It seems I'll have to bring my own ingredients if I want to eat well.
The Sorting Hat said that Hufflepuff House has its own small kitchen, and it even contains magical recipes passed down by Hufflepuff herself.
If I collect the corresponding ingredients, I can have the Hufflepuff house-elves make magical meals. Not only are they quite delicious, but some also have special effects, not even inferior to potions.
Thinking of this, Charle couldn't help but lick his lips.
The next batch of Dragon materials he ordered from Romania should arrive soon.
Previously, in order to minimize the loss of magical power from the Dragon materials, he had directly swallowed all the materials after killing the robbing wizards.
Thinking about it now, it was quite regrettable.
After all, whether Dragon materials were used to concoct potions or magical medicines, after being compounded with various materials and their magical powers stimulating each other, they could potentially unleash even more powerful magic.
Eating them in that way would yield more deduction points.
Charle didn't have the conditions before, but now that he was at Hogwarts, he could give it a try.
In addition to Dragon materials, there were also plenty of various magical ingredients at Hogwarts, some of which were even rare items that might not be found in the entire magical world.
For example, the thousand-year-old Basilisk, there wasn't a second one to be found in the magical world.
If he were to use Basilisk bones to make soup, and have a pot of Dragon and Tiger Soup, how fragrant would that be?
A look of anticipation appeared in Charle's eyes.
It was at this moment that the Welcome Feast gradually came to an end.
Dumbledore, just like in the original story, first had everyone sing the school song, then warned the new students not to go near the Forbidden Forest and the end of the corridor on the fourth floor, and only then did he have the prefects of each house lead the young wizards to their common rooms.
...
In the ancient castle, the stairs moved constantly as if they had a will of their own, crisscrossing and making the place like a maze.
Hufflepuff prefect Cedric Diggory, the most outstanding student in the original story who died at the hands of Voldemort in the Triwizard Tournament, was leading Charle and the other new students through it, explaining the patterns of these stairs.
The young Hufflepuffs listened attentively, not daring to be negligent in the slightest. Some even took out paper and pens, afraid of being late for class tomorrow because they remembered the stairs incorrectly.
This was also one of the characteristics of Hufflepuff House: diligent and down-to-earth. Although not too smart, diligence could make up for lack of intelligence.
In a sense, knowing that you are not smart and have a poor memory, and therefore needing to listen and remember carefully, wasn't that also a kind of intelligence?
Charle didn't need to be like these young wizards.
After his mind became stronger, not only did his reaction speed increase, but his memory also improved significantly.
While not photographic memory, it was far beyond ordinary people. He remembered what Cedric said after hearing it once, and he even figured out some of the patterns of the stairs' movement himself.
Under Cedric's continuous explanation, they finally arrived at the entrance of the Hufflepuff common room.
Cedric emphasized.
"You must listen carefully to what I say next."
"Each house's common room has a unique entry mechanism to prevent students from other houses from entering."
"Gryffindor's is a password, Ravenclaw's door knocker asks questions, I'm not sure about Slytherin's, but it's similar."
"Our Hufflepuff common room is entered by knocking on the door knocker with a specific rhythm."
"The rhythm for opening the door changes every week. It's taken from a few notes in a piece of music by the prefects and then announced to the whole house, so you'd better remember it."
Speaking of this, a hint of pride appeared on Cedric's face.
"The constantly changing password is simple and unpretentious, but it's also the most secure."
"Unlike the common rooms of other houses, our Hufflepuff common room is truly impossible for anyone to sneak into unless we actively invite them."
"Oh right, our common room also has a unique punishment mechanism for intruders, so you'd better write down the opening rhythm for each week in your notebook, otherwise this punishment mechanism is not pleasant."
Hearing Cedric mention the punishment mechanism, the young Hufflepuffs were clearly nervous.
"Will flying knives fly out of the door?"
"Or will it cast a curse on those who knock on the wrong door?"
"What should I do? I'm a little scared. I don't dare to knock on the door by myself."
Cedric said with a smile.
"This is Hogwarts. How could they use such a harmful punishment method?"
He blinked.
"As everyone knows, our house founder, Hufflepuff, loved food and therefore created many magical seasonings."
"Once, he accidentally created a magical vinegar that was unimaginably sour. If this vinegar gets into your mouth, you won't be able to taste anything but sourness for a whole week, and everything you eat will feel like it's going to make your teeth fall out."
"And as time goes on, the sourness of this magical vinegar will get stronger and stronger, so this has become our unique Hufflepuff defense mechanism."
He pointed to the nozzles on either side of the common room door.
"See? If you knock with the wrong rhythm to open the door, this magical vinegar will spray out."
"The first time you knock incorrectly is fine, it's diluted, and it will probably only make you sour for a day."
"Knock incorrectly a second time, and you'll be sour for three days."
"If you knock incorrectly a third time, then be prepared for the torment of having your mouth feel like it's holding ten lemons for a week."
Just then, Charle suddenly asked.
"What if the intruder still doesn't give up and keeps getting it wrong?"
Cedric was stunned for a moment, then revealed a sly smile.
"The magical vinegar will get older and older, and the magic power contained within it will get stronger and stronger."
"If the intruder has good teeth, he might be able to taste the finest vinegar from the time of the Hufflepuff founder. Tsk tsk, that taste, it might even make ghosts cry from the sourness!"
"As for many people breaking in together, trying to deplete our Hufflepuff magical vinegar reserves, that's also a pipe dream. It's said that the house used the Undetectable Extension Charm to store a lake's worth of vinegar!"
"Intruders can't possibly drink a whole lake's worth of vinegar, can they?"
Hearing this, the little Hufflepuffs all clapped with eyes full of reverence, and even Charle was no exception.
While clapping, Charle couldn't help but his eyes light up, with only one thought in his mind.
Hufflepuff House, I really came to the right place.
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