I walked closer to the desk and turned to look at the wall above the door and sure enough there were a few dozen portraits with little plaques naming them along with how long they served as headmaster. There was however a distinct lack of portraits from before Phyllida Spore who served as Headmistress of Hogwarts till 1408 A.D. Considering that Hogwarts was founded in the eleventh century there were several figures not present on the wall. Each headmaster was painted in a style popular during their times as Headmaster and most were asleep or pretending to be rather than bothering to possibly interact with a student.-
"Good evening Headmasters, Alexander Drake, aspiring merchant." I said politely as I bowed slightly to the portraits.
"Hmph! At least you have some manners even if your aspiration is a poor choice." the portrait of one Phineas Nigellus Black said snidely.
"Oh? Please enlighten me why you'd think that?" I asked curious what he'd say.
"You are a wizard boy. Our kind should aspire for greatness, not selling cabbages like some common muggle. If you were to sell magical items that might BARELY be acceptable, still wasteful though." the Black ancestor said with a disdainful expression.
"Oh I can assure you. What I have to sell will be no mere trinkets or cabbages. Why even now I happen to have a rather interesting creature on the way. A flaming bird that by description fits every pattern of a Phoenix and yet isn't one." I said knowing very well that would interest Dumbledore.
"Poached no doubt." the portrait scoffed.
"Not as such, tamed with fair and legal methods. No magical enslavement involved." I said seriously.
"I must admit you have me more and more curious about where you keep obtaining these things." Dumbledore cut in with a raised eyebrow at me.
"I will keep that secret to myself but when the bird arrives you can be the first to see it if you'd like. I'd offer the same to these esteemed Headmasters as well but the bird is of a scorching nature and might damage your portraits by mere proximity." I said calmly.
"I do believe I would in fact quite like to see this strange Phoenix like bird myself. When it does arrive please do send me word. For now though please have a seat so we can discus your idea about the school menu." the old man said as he waved his hand and a chair appeared in front of his desk.
I didn't miss the gleam in the mans eye as I sat down but that was to be expected. I was showing part of my hand by openly announcing my acquisition of the Ark Phoenix soon and his interest was piqued. This was both a spur of the moment decision and a calculated one at the same time. Right now in this world and in Hogwarts specifically I lack any credibility, legitimacy.-
If I wanted to start openly making trades in the school this old man in particular was my biggest obstacle. Basic things that could be found in this world would be easily explained away but everything else would cause trouble. I needed him to eventually just ignore me pulling out odd things as a concern. The Ark Phoenix was a double edged blade here. On one side it will increase his curiosity about where i'm getting this stuff from but on the other it will make it so he accepts anything else much easier.-
For this to work out though I had to go big right out the gate and for him specifically a Phoenix like creature was just high enough to work without being TOO dangerous. If I chose something like a devil fruit instead he'd probably immediately start playing hardball due to how damaging that could be in the wrong hands. The idea of something like a fruit that could give whoever ate it incredible power for almost no cost was the sort of thing that would shake society if discovered. I'm rather fond of not mysteriously disappearing "for the greater good" thank you.-
"Now then what did you have in mind exactly for the kitchens?" he asked with a kind smile.
"Well correct me if i'm wrong but the recipes followed have seen little change in a long time right?" I asked calmly.
"With a few special exceptions that is correct." he said nodding.
"My idea is simply introducing more recipes, a greater variety of dishes. It wouldn't even be particularly hard either. The house elves are already well versed in cooking so once they learn the new recipes they can be added to the feasts. Naturally you wouldn't do a full overhaul all at once but maybe swapping out one or two per meal until it gets full integrated shouldn't be a problem." I said seriously.
He looked thoughtful at the idea and nodded "It is a good plan. A sort of slow modernization of the menu. Do you have any particular dishes in mind to start off with?" he asked curiously.
"Fish and chips for one. Currently theres a distinct lack of seafood on the current menu. This is a mild enough dish that it wouldn't confuse anyone all that much while also enriching the palate." I said seriously.
"Ah, a muggle staple here in the isles. A solid first addition indeed. A notably familiar one as well for many of our muggleborn students." he said with a pleased look.
"Familiarity is our friend here. If you add a strange dish no one recognizes it might be entirely avoided rather than smoothly integrated. But if the someone sees a friend or classmate excitedly grab the dish and eat it with gusto the others might out of curiosity brave this unknown. " I said seriously.