Chapter 644: Astoria’s celebration banquet

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"Ugh... I’m so full."

Inside the garden, Daphne lay sprawled across the grass, happily rubbing her slightly swollen stomach.

"Hermione, I ate so much beef today. How about ribs next time?"

"Ribs?" Hermione wasn’t in much better shape herself. She was curled up lazily in a lounge chair, too full to move.

"You’ll have to wait patiently for that. I haven’t figured out how to grill ribs yet."

Miss Know-It-All approached cooking the same way she approached exams.

Every single step needed detailed precision.

Earlier, while grilling meat, she had been holding a thermometer in one hand and a stopwatch in the other, bustling around nonstop.

"If only Mom cooked as seriously as you do, Hermione," Ginny sighed while leaning against Luna.

There were quite a few magical cooking spells in the wizarding world, but food made that way always lacked soul. The taste was decent enough, but blandly uniform. After eating it too often, people gradually started rejecting it.

It felt like eating mass-produced factory meals.

The more you ate, the more nauseating it became.

Almost no wizard actually liked magically prepared food.

The problem was that most of them had absolutely zero cooking talent, so they could only grit their teeth and force themselves to eat it anyway.

Molly Weasley was a classic example.

Tom had heard Ginny complain countless times about it. Mrs. Weasley owned piles of magical cookbooks and had learned all kinds of cooking spells, but everything she made tasted exactly the same.

The first meal was fine. The second was tolerable.

By the third or fourth, you were enduring it.

After that, just looking at the food made you want to throw up.

It was only then that Tom finally understood why Ron acted like he’d never eaten before every time he got to Hogwarts.

The problem started at home.

Unlike him. The moment he entered school, he’d already been picked up by a little rich girl who had house-elves from prestigious families serving him around the clock.

Thinking back to those early school days, Tom couldn’t help but smile. He reached out and rubbed Daphne’s head again.

Daphne, who was still groaning while trying to digest her food, had no idea what he was so happy about, but she instinctively felt it had to be something good. So she immediately brightened up and happily smiled along with him anyway.

The bizarre scene left everyone speechless.

But maybe this was exactly why only Daphne could use Tom’s Patronus.

She was carefree to the point of being almost silly, her whole heart centered completely around him, and somehow she always managed to sync perfectly with his mood and thoughts.

The tacit understanding between the two of them, along with that effortless ease they shared, was something the others simply couldn’t replicate.

Everyone suddenly gained a deeper understanding of the phrase "fools are blessed."

After laughing for a while, Daphne and the others gradually started feeling sleepy as well. The sky was slowly darkening, so the group left the Forbidden Forest together and prepared to head back to the castle for the night.

"Oh, right."

Astoria suddenly remembered something and tugged at Daphne, who was still discussing banquet menus with Tom. "Sis, have you figured out anything about the next round yet?"

The moment the question fell, the atmosphere around them abruptly quieted.

The girls all turned to look at Daphne and Fleur.

"Don’t look at me." Fleur waved her hands repeatedly. "I’ve already given up trying to guess. None of Tom’s challenges are ever easy anyway. Whatever happens, happens."

The half-Veela had fully embraced the "just wing it" mindset.

Everyone was clueless anyway. When the time came, they’d just rely on strength and luck.

Daphne wasn’t much different.

For the past few days, Astoria’s blood curse had occupied her mind completely. She hadn’t spared a second to think about the tournament.

But in front of her little sister, she didn’t want to lose her dignity as the older sibling.

Even if she never really had any to begin with.

Her eyes darted around before she forcibly came up with an idea. Puffing out her chest proudly, she declared. "Of course I have. Easy."

"Oh?" Astoria instantly became interested. "Then what do you think the next challenge will be?"

"That part’s not important!"

Daphne waved her hand grandly, looking incredibly smug. "Didn’t Bagman say those treasures from the lake would be useful in the next round? Inside there are magic cards, right? Tom gave me tons of magic cards before and I never even used them. When the time comes, I’ll just throw them all out. I can bury everyone under sheer quantity alone."

After saying that, she even raised an eyebrow at Fleur provocatively.

Fleur looked utterly speechless. "Daphne, if Tom gave them to you, why would you think he didn’t give me any too?"

Confusion immediately appeared in Daphne’s eyes.

...Right.

Good point.

At that moment, Tom waved a hand in front of her face to regain her attention before sighing helplessly. "What exactly are you thinking about? If outside magic cards were allowed, wouldn’t that just be cheating?"

"So in the next round, you’ll only be allowed to use the specially-made magic cards obtained from the Black Lake. Don’t even think about sneaking other ones in. I already marked them all."

"Hah?!"

Seeing Daphne’s stunned, disbelieving expression, the others finally lost it.

The moment her earth-shattering master plan was effortlessly dismantled by Tom, Daphne immediately wilted.

She looked completely drained, shoulders slumped, even the little ahoge on top of her head drooping sadly.

Seeing that... Ginny was the first to burst out laughing, and soon a chain of bright, cheerful laughter echoed through the evening air, drifting far into the distance on the night wind.

...

..

Draco Malfoy, after receiving Tom’s assignment, truly gave it his best.

And because etiquette and proper procedure had been drilled into him since childhood, he knew that formal banquets required invitation letters rather than casual verbal invites.

So on Tuesday morning, Hogwarts witnessed a rare sight: a massive flock of owls descending upon the castle.

Ever since the Codex had become widespread, scenes involving nearly a hundred owls appearing in the Great Hall at once had become increasingly rare.

The owls swooped down, dropped thin envelopes onto their designated targets, and immediately flew off again.

Some had terrible aim and tossed letters directly into bowls of milk and soup, instantly creating chaos throughout the hall.

As students hurriedly picked up the soaked envelopes and opened them, they discovered exquisitely crafted invitations inside.

They were being invited to a celebration banquet this weekend for the second daughter of the Greengrass family, commemorating Astoria’s full recovery.

And the location of the banquet... was the place that had existed for so long only in newspapers, rumors, and legends passed from person to person—

—The City of Magic, Dalaran.

That entire morning, invitations, the banquet, Dalaran, and most importantly the Greengrass family became the center of discussion across all of Hogwarts.

The young witches, in particular, were so jealous they could barely contain themselves whenever Astoria was mentioned.

The girl had already won the lottery in life from the moment she was born.

A wealthy and prestigious Greengrass daughter, spoiled by her family from childhood. Then after entering Hogwarts, she somehow ended up with Tom Riddle, a once-in-a-millennium monster of a genius, as her brother-in-law.

Her family adored her. Her brother-in-law spoiled her too.

She was basically the princess of the wizarding world.

Even the location chosen for her celebration banquet was outrageously eye-catching.

The mystery surrounding the City of Magic had fascinated students for ages. Just the bits of information revealed in newspapers and reports already sounded dreamlike to countless people.

If they could attend this banquet, they would finally have a chance to see Dalaran with their own eyes.

And more importantly... Receiving an invitation was proof that either they or their family had gained the acknowledgment of the Greengrass family. Which was practically the same thing as being acknowledged by Tom himself.

The little wizards who received invitations walked around with their heads held high, clutching the cards in their hands like treasured relics, utterly unwilling to put them away while basking in the jealous stares of everyone around them.

A child’s pride was often more frightening and more fragile than an adult’s.

Adults usually got beaten down by reality eventually and learned their place in society.

Students were different.

Inside a school, social hierarchy felt far weaker. Once they graduated, many of them might never cross paths again for the rest of their lives, but while they were here, it was easy to believe everyone was equal.

And then suddenly, under this so-called equality, you received an invitation while I didn’t.

How were they supposed to feel about that?

When people learned that Tom had handed the entire matter over to Malfoy to organize, plenty of students immediately started grinding their teeth in hatred toward him.

Meanwhile, after the invited students finished celebrating, they began desperately trying to figure out what gifts to prepare.

After all, you couldn’t exactly attend someone else’s banquet empty-handed.

For several days straight, the atmosphere throughout Hogwarts became strangely tense.

Some students from Hogwarts tried finding ways to obtain invitations.

Others busied themselves preparing gifts.

Even students from the other schools started getting restless, hoping to join the excitement somehow.

At first, Malfoy was incredibly pleased with himself.

He thought he’d handled everything perfectly. The event had caused an enormous sensation.

But very quickly, he realized something was wrong.

Sure, it caused a sensation... But why were all the students who hadn’t been invited staring at him like they wanted to murder him?

Unable to figure it out, Malfoy ran to ask his father for help. After getting viciously scolded, he finally realized he’d unintentionally offended half the school.

With a miserable expression, he hurried off to seek Tom’s help.

"You can’t even handle something this minor properly." Tom shot him a look of complete disdain as Malfoy stood there looking like his parents had died.

"Next weekend, don’t bother going anywhere. Stay at school and spend some quality time bonding with Ron instead."

"Please no!" Malfoy’s face instantly turned pale with horror.

"Alright, I will give you a chance." Tom waved a hand dismissively. "Go make an announcement. Anyone who wants to attend can register in advance. No limit on numbers, and no restrictions on which school they’re from."

It was Astoria’s celebration banquet. If more people came, the only downside was spending a bit more money.

At least it would make the place livelier. So be it.

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