Ron-Weasly book 1. V2 part 6-2

Chapter 6.2 a trip to the kitchen

The herbology lesson had just ended, and the students were pouring out of the greenhouses, shaking clods of earth from their robes. Noticing Hannah Abbott ahead, I quickened my pace and caught up with her on the path leading to the castle. I knew her well, because the Abbot farm was not far from the Burrow. Mom even bought vegetables and meat from them for cheap.

"Hannah! Wait a minute," I was a little out of breath from walking fast, but I didn't slow down, matching her pace.

Hannah turned around, eyebrows raised.

"Ron? Hi! How are your chickens?" She was referring to the Weasley farm, which was adjacent to her family's property in the wizarding world.

"Yes, it's fine, but... My baby rat needs fresh carrots. And I do not know where to get anything here. You're from Halfpuff, so you probably know where the kitchen is?"

Hannah nodded, smiling slightly.

"Yes, it's nearby. And what?"

I took the Brat out of my pocket, which immediately began sniffing the air, wiggling its whiskers.

"You see, he needs fresh carrots. And I do not know where that is.... Could you go to the kitchen and ask?"

Hannah laughed, but without mockery— rather, from the surprise of such a request.

"Do you want me to go to the kitchen and ask for carrots for your little rat?"

"Well, yes..." Ron blushed. "I know it sounds weird, but..."

"It's okay," Hannah waved her hand, holding back a smile. "But you know what? Let me just tell you how to get there. It's not far. Go down the main staircase to the bottom, then turn into the left corridor — there is a large still life with fruits. If you tickle a pear in a painting, it will giggle and turn into a pen. Then just open the door and go downstairs. Understood?"

"Uh... sort of," I frowned, trying to remember. "Still life, pear, tickle... won't the elves get mad if I come? However, students are not allowed into the school's utility rooms."

"On the contrary! They are very kind. Just don't be shy and ask politely — they'll be happy to give you anything."

"Thank you very much!" I beamed. "You're just... You're saving us both!"

Hannah went to the showers, and I went to the kitchen.

I was about to turn around and run to follow the instructions when Fred and George suddenly jumped out from around the corner.

"Hey, brother, where are you going in such a hurry?" Fred exclaimed cheerfully.

"I'm trying to find a kitchen," I said honestly. "I need to get a carrot for the Brat. Hannah said that we need to find a painting with fruits and tickle a pear. Does that sound okay at all?"

The twins looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"Oh, our little Ronnie is finally discovering the wonders of Hogwarts!" George clapped me on the shoulder. "Yes, that's right. Just make sure you don't mix it up — don't eat this pear, it's meant for something else!"

"And don't forget to say "please" to the elves," Fred added, grinning. "They like to be polite."

"Yeah, thanks..." I was a little taken aback by their amusement, but I nodded anyway. "Well, I'm off."

"Good luck, hero!" George called after them.

"If anything, we are always ready to help... for a small fee in the form of pies!"

I, no longer listening to their teasing, hurried to the main staircase, repeating to myself:

"Still life, pear, tickle..."

I went straight to the shower room and then to the kitchen. Repeating the instructions of the brothers and Hannah to himself, he went down the main staircase to the very bottom, turned into the left corridor and soon saw the painting.

"So, a still life... here she is,"

I thought, carefully examining the canvas. It was decorated with lush bunches of grapes, juicy apples and a single pear, which stood out with its pale green color.

I looked around — there was no one around, so there was no one to laugh if it was a joke. I reached out and gently tickled the pear. She giggled, wriggled, and in the blink of an eye turned into a shiny bronze pen. I didn't waste any time pulling on it, and a secret door opened in front of me, leading down a stone staircase. Downstairs, there was a commotion: house elves scurried between huge cauldrons and tables piled high with fruits and vegetables. The air was filled with delicious aromas.

"I'm sorry..." I began uncertainly, adjusting the rat on my shoulder, but I was immediately surrounded by a group of curious brownies.

"How can we help you, young master?" A short elf woman wearing a clean pillowcase with an embroidered yellow leaf asked.

"Uh... my name is Ron. I... I need some fresh carrots. For my little rat, the Brat," I blushed slightly, but tried to sound confident. "And maybe some more greenery?"

"Of course, of course!" The elf beamed. "My name is Leti. We will be happy to help Mr. Ron!"

She waved her hand, and a small pile of fresh carrots with green tails and a bunch of juicy lettuce immediately appeared on the table. And a couple of slices of ripe apple.

"Here, take this, Mr. Ron. Leti will bring you some every day in your living room or bedroom if you want."

"Really? That would be just wonderful!" I beamed, glad that I wouldn't have to come here every couple of days. "I'll leave the food bowl in the bedroom, on the bedside table."

"Okay, Mr. Ron, fly to find it."

I put the vegetables in a bowl and put them on the floor along with the Brat. While I was looking at the vegetables, my nose caught another delicious scent. Turning around, I saw a huge tray with pies that had just been taken out of the oven. Damn, the brothers love them, especially Fred.

"And these are... pies?" I couldn't resist and decided to ask for some while my little rat was gnawing on vegetables. He was crunching carrots so deliciously that my stomach rumbled.

"Yes, with cabbage and meat! The freshest ones!" Leti happily confirmed. "We'll feed you, Mr. Ron, you don't have to go hungry."

"Can... Can I have five pies? For myself and my brothers" Ron added hastily, so as not to look too gluttonous.

"Of course! As many as you want!" Leti immediately put a dozen pies in a small basket and handed it to me, covering it with a towel. "Take some more pies. We have apples from the eastern grove and wild mushrooms," elfiechka pointed to the dishes under the towels."

"Thank you so much, Lety! You're just... magical!" I blushed even more from embarrassment, but the smile did not leave my face. "We can have five more with mushrooms."

"Here, take Mr. Ron and treat the merry Fred and George, they are frequent guests here."

I love mushroom pies. I bit into the warm side of the pie, waiting for the Brat to have lunch.

"Mr. Ron can always come to us!" Leti bowed. "We love it when guests visit the kitchen."

"Can I bring a friend who likes to cook like you?"

"Yes, of course, Mr. Ron, bring the great Harry Potter. All the Hogwarts elves will be happy to see him."

And I, with a basket of cabbage and mushroom pies, separated by towels, in one hand and a bag of carrots in the other, hurried upstairs, feeling like a winner. "Fred and George will definitely appreciate the pies," I thought with a smile, while the Brat was sitting on his shoulder eating a salad.

Suddenly, as I passed the pantry next to the kitchen, I noticed a large gray cat with black stripes and bright green, glowing eyes step out of the shadows. She walked slowly around me, sniffed at the bag, from which came the faint smell of carrots, and made a soft, almost melodious "meow." Then she hissed at my rat, but she didn't rush. I noticed on Tuesday that the cats of Hogwarts were ignoring my little rat.

"Uh... hello, kitty," I cautiously stretched out my hand, and the cat, hesitating a little, rubbed against my robe.

A brownie in a pillowcase with a yellow leaf immediately jumped out from around the corner.

"Oh, Mr. Ron! Don't worry, it's Selena! She makes sure that there are no... unwanted guests here," He lowered his voice and looked around. "She's very smart, yes. If Selena is here, then everything is fine. Peeves sent a couple of rats into the pantry again yesterday. The cat proudly raised its tail and, after giving Ron another attentive look, slid back into the shadows."

* * *

Okay, stop dreaming, we have a lesson coming.

Professor Snape is already squinting with displeasure. Upset, Hermione proudly tossed her head and raised her hand. Snape graciously allowed her to answer three questions and went to interview the students further.

Snape graciously allowed her to answer three questions and went to interview the students further.

"Mr. Weasley, tell us how to properly slice the ingredients. Since you're not interested in this topic, do you know everything about preparing them for potions?"

"Oh, yes, sir, I've been making potions with my mom." I started talking about the preparation of ingredients and their proper cutting.

"Okay, two points for Gryffindor, but for the future, don't get your head in the clouds about my lessons anymore."

Then Snape divided the students into pairs and gave them the task of preparing a simple potion to cure boils. He circled the classroom, rustling his long black robe, and watched as we weighed dried nettle leaves and ground snake teeth in mortars. Snape criticized half of the class for being crooked-handed.

From time to time, he raised his head and looked around the classroom, suddenly he raised his hand with a wand and shouted.

"Longboat stop!" — Snape was shouting so loudly that Neville froze in fright and did not bring his hand with porcupine quills to the cauldron. Hermione gasped in horror, looking at the needles in Neville's hand. Draco, I, and several of the Slytherins turned very pale.

"Mr. Longbottom," Snape's voice cuts through the silence like glass, You almost turned my classroom into an infirmary just now. "Tell me -out loud, so that everyone can hear — what are the properties of so many crushed porcupine quills, at a high temperature of the potion? Especially when interacting with wolf poison?

Neville turns pale, still clutching the needles. Seamus, sitting next to me, suddenly turns pale with fear. The Gryffindors freeze: someone is frantically flipping through a textbook, someone Hermione is looking at Neville in horror. Neville and Seamus would have been doused from head to toe with the potion when the cauldron exploded. Dean Thomas instinctively pushes his cauldron away, and Parvati groans softly and clings to Lavender.

"So, the cash register is not distracted from the boilers." We all remembered that we have our own potion boiling.

Slytherins react with restraint. Draco Malfoy only raises an eyebrow slightly, quickly writes something down in a notebook and whispers to his neighbor:

"Adding needles before neutralization is a gross mistake. Remember that." Zabini nods, also makes a note — for them this is not a reason to panic, but another point in the piggy bank of knowledge about what not to do.

"Uh... does it... enhance?" Neville mumbles uncertainly.

""It's amplifying"," Snape echoes, and there's a hint of icy mockery in his voice. "He walked over to Hermione's cauldron and said. "Leave Miss Granger to infuse, and help Longbottom." Then he turns to Neville. "How touching. Yes, Mr. Longbottom, it enhances the explosive power of the potion tenfold. Another ten seconds and your classmates would have been picking you up from the ceiling."

Hermione wasted no time in quickly applying a light stabilizing contour to Neville's cauldron with her wand — a barely noticeable silver film covers the container, calming the bubbling. Snape notices this, but only nods briefly, not in approval, but rather in recognition of the appropriateness of the action.

"Minus five points to Gryffindor for being inconsiderate," he says dryly. "And five more for making me waste my time trying to prevent a disaster."

Snape looks around the classroom.

"This applies to everyone. Potions is not a game of brave Gryffindors. Mistakes are not heroic here. They are deadly. Slytherins understand this. Hopefully Gryffindors will learn too someday."

Then, softening his tone a little, but without losing his severity, he adds:

"After the lesson, Mr. Longbottom, you will bring me a notebook with a description of three critical mistakes when working with wolf poison and ways to prevent them. On three sheets, legible, without abbreviations. And to make it clear that you really understood the material, and not copied it from Miss Granger."

Neville nods, still pale, but not so confused anymore.

"Yes, sir. I... I understand, sir."

I nudges him and whispers:

"Don't worry. I'll sketch out a plan for you, and you'll write it out beautifully. The main thing is that the boiler is intact, and the rest is fixable."

Hermione moves to Neville's cauldron, stirring his potion and explaining her actions.

Snape, already moving to another table, throws over his shoulder:

"And yes, Mr. Longbottom. I will not allow you to access the complex ingredients until you have completed your work. Today, limit yourself to stirring and temperature control. Miss Granger, help Mr. Longbottom adjust the recipe. You've already finished working with your potion, it just needs to brew.

Hermione nods and immediately begins to quietly dictate the necessary actions to Neville. Having gathered himself, he begins to gently stir the potion clockwise, carefully watching the color of the steam.

Slytherins continue to work quietly. Pansy Parkinson, without raising her head, speaks softly to her friend:

"Bydd yn rhaid i mi amlygu'r pwynt hwn mewn coch yn fy nodiadau. Bydd yn ddefnyddiol ar gyfer yr arholiad."

"Mr. Malfoy, ydych chi wedi gorffen eich gwaith eto?"

Draco nods gravely and says:

"Yes, sir, the potion needs to be infused."

"Help Mr. Goyle and Mr. Crab."

"And you, Mr. Knott, help Miss Parkinson and Miss Greengrass. And you, Potter, why didn't you stop Mr. Longbottom? Did you want to look better on his background? For that, I'll put a minus one point on your account."

An hour later, we left the dungeon and went up the stairs. Harry was really upset. Harry wanted to object to the professor, but kicked him under the table. And the friend remained silent.

"Cheer up," I encouraged him. "Fred and George are also having bad luck in Snape's classes. Do you know how many fines they got from him? Hey, can I come with you to Hagrid's? Maybe he has cereal seeds for the Brat. Otherwise, Percy fed his little rat with food from the table. Have you seen how fat the rat is?

— Yes, I saw it. But maybe it's because he's already old? He's already ten years old, right? Harry, he's a magical animal, he needs to move and be slimmer. And yet, since Hagrid is a forester, he knows everything about the plants in the forbidden forest and the animals that inhabit it. Charlie kept praising him.