"Rhys, um, Professor White? Is something wrong?"
The one urging them to go in was, of course, Daphne. She didn't quite understand why Rhys and Professor White had suddenly frozen at the entrance to the Great Hall.
"Oh, nothing.."
After she softly called their names, Rhys and Helga quickly pulled themselves out of their memories and walked briskly into the hall, which was filled with Christmas decorations.
Quite a few people were already seated. Rhys glanced around—each House had about four or five students present, and the missing numbers from Slytherin were made up by him and the Greengrass sisters.
Following an unspoken rule, the students were all seated as far away from the teachers as possible. Since the table was rectangular and the professors had taken one side, the students automatically chose seats on the opposite side or in the far diagonal.
Naturally, Rhys didn't intend to break this rule. He led Daphne and Astoria to sit at a spot as far from the faculty as possible.
As for Helga, she could only sit with her colleagues—haha! Rhys thought with malicious glee.
After roasting that "pretending-to-be-young old viper" countless times in her heart, Helga walked to the side of the table occupied by the professors staying at Hogwarts.
Perhaps due to the heavy workload, most of Hogwarts' professors lived solitary lives, so quite a few of them chose to remain at school during Christmas. McGonagall, Snape, Sprout, and Flitwick were all present, and of course Dumbledore as well.
Sprout noticed two empty seats next to Dumbledore and was about to choose one at random when Professor Trelawney suddenly appeared.
She was wearing a garment covered entirely in green sequins, making her look somewhat like a shiny green beetle.
"Sybill, it's truly wonderful to see you here!" Dumbledore sounded genuinely surprised. Trelawney usually secluded herself in her North Tower and almost never left it. He hadn't expected her to come to the Great Hall for the Christmas feast.
Dumbledore knew very well what motivated Trelawney, so he even stood up to welcome her.
He understood the state of Divination as a subject, so he never placed high expectations on her. All he hoped for was that she could get along well with her colleagues.
"Headmaster, I saw my future in the crystal ball," Trelawney replied in her most blurred and distant voice. "I saw myself sharing food and drink with everyone. How could I refuse the urging of fate? So I changed into new robes and came here immediately. Thankfully, I wasn't late."
The reason Trelawney had shown up was very simple: she wanted to coax some knowledge out of Professor White.
The ancient herb recipe used by the Seers of old!
She had coveted it for a long time.
Previously, Professor White had prepared it right in front of her. Although she had fallen asleep after smelling the herbs, rumor had it that she made a particularly successful prophecy afterward, even earning herself a raise from Dumbledore.
After that, obtaining the recipe for those herbs became her top priority. After all, if there were any other way, who would willingly remain a useless fraud?
She had tried to recreate the herbal mixture herself, but her only accomplishment was choking so hard that her eyes watered—no prophetic effects at all.
After several failed attempts, Trelawney finally understood that the only way to obtain the herb recipe was to target Professor White directly.
So she found an excuse to appear during the Christmas feast.
Once Trelawney finished delivering her vague and mystical explanation, Dumbledore nodded and invited her to sit.
Trelawney immediately chose the seat that was slightly farther away from Dumbledore. Since she made her choice first, Helga sat down in the seat right next to the Headmaster.
A few minutes later, Cedric poked his head into the Great Hall.
Sprout: ???
The other professors: ???
All of them were extremely surprised to see him, because Cedric had checked "celebrate Christmas at home" on his holiday form.
"A.. ehm.." With so many people suddenly staring at him, Cedric felt a bit embarrassed and didn't know what to say. He couldn't possibly say, "I'm here to do part-time work for Professor White," could he? That would instantly ruin her reputation.
Having a student come back from home during Christmas to do private tasks for a teacher—what kind of person would do that?
Helga was completely unaware that she was already on the verge of total ruin, but Dumbledore immediately understood the situation: Cedric was clearly the "little badger" Professor White had mentioned last night.
It was unexpected, yet perfectly reasonable. Yes—if he had to choose a student from Hufflepuff to personally cultivate, he might have made the same choice. Though his selection pool would have been a bit wider, since there was another possible candidate…
"Diggory? It seems your stomach refuses to forget Hogwarts' dining hall," Dumbledore said as he stood up with a smile, instantly easing the tense atmosphere in the hall. "Ahaha~ Come, let me get you a chair—"
He waved his wand, and a chair flew through the air, spun twice, and landed with a thump between two Hufflepuff students.
With Dumbledore offering such a smooth way out, Cedric took it and joined the feast without further awkwardness.
Some people, Sprout included, still harbored doubts in their hearts, but their attention was quickly diverted by the lavish banquet that had appeared out of thin air.
To liven up the celebration, Helga brought out a massive goblet that could pour endless amounts of port wine, and could be switched at will to Scotch whisky, tequila, or cognac.
Daphne and Astoria looked eager to try a few glasses, but under Rhys's stern supervision, they both abandoned the idea. For underage young witches and wizards, Professor White provided unlimited juice, tea, and fermented drinks with nearly unnoticeable alcohol content.
Hmm?
Suddenly, Rhys noticed Helga discreetly winking at him. He looked down and saw that a silver flask had appeared in front of him.
Oh?!
Rhys immediately understood that this was a "gift" from Helga, so he poured the liquid from the silver flask into his goblet.
The liquor had a deep amber color, rich with age. Seeing the liquid in his cup, Rhys raised an eyebrow.. his instincts told him this was no ordinary drink.
He brought the drink to his lips and downed it in one go. Instantly, an intense burning sensation spread from his throat all the way to his stomach, as if a venomous snake had slithered into him through his mouth.
_____
12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI