"Come on, please take a seat... Now all the seats I prepared are full! This is really a happy thing... "
When Harry, Hermione and Ron also appeared at the door, Slughorn smiled and clapped softly. He looked around the table, as if he felt that being able to gather so many guests was a great harvest for his social circle.
Speaking of which, since Slughorn returned to Hogwarts, such private parties in the school have become more colorful.
Yes, led by the bald old man, the students also fell in love with this kind of small party - even if they couldn't get permission to borrow the hall from Professor McGonagall, they could hold a party in the common room that was only for There is still no problem with small activities in my own college.
Of course, as the leader in hosting private parties, Slughorn must be the one who puts in the most trouble.
But today, even Maka didn't expect that the old man would actually invite the little girl Sarah Hohenheim. I have to say that his hands and feet are fast enough.
"So… "
Maka was about to say something, but unexpectedly, Hermione and the other three were not the last to arrive. The last one to arrive was Lavender Brown, who had been entangled with Ron last semester.
"Oh... Dear Professor Slughorn," Lavender whispered in her slightly artificial tone, "I think I seem to be a little late - to express my apology, please be sure to accept it. Order this bottle of Ellis wine I ordered from Three Broomsticks.”
"Ms. Brown, you're taking so much trouble..." Slughorn waved his hands repeatedly, "You're not late, you're just in time, aren't you? Come on, please come in!"
As he spoke, he took the bottle from Lavender.
"This is indeed a red wine produced in Ellis Marsh Village. Although the price is not expensive, it is highly collectible for wizards who really like red wine! Thank you very much, it is a touching heart! "
Meanwhile, Slughorn waved his wand and added a chair to the table. Although his movements seemed casual, everyone immediately guessed that Lavender was probably uninvited.
But even so, Slughorn, who likes to make friends and is quite easy-going, will naturally not turn away the visitor. Besides, the visitor is also very "sensible" and brought a gift.
Instead, this uninvited guest sneaked in smoothly.
"So, Professor Slughorn—" Maka didn't care about these little things. After Lavender and Slughorn took their seats, he sat with everyone at the round table covered with a beautiful tablecloth. He shrugged and said with a smile, "As the host of today's party, are you ready for the opening speech?"
While he was speaking, Lavender first showed a smile to Hermione, and then his eyes swept across Ron's face intentionally or unintentionally.
Hermione and Lavender have been roommates for so many years. Of course, they can't be indifferent when they greet each other, although she actually doesn't like this girl at all - the relationship between little girls is also complicated!
After hearing Maka's rather cooperative joke, the old man touched his round belly, and the smile on his face obviously became thicker.
"Oh, come on! What I'm holding today is not a dance party or a dinner party. It's not that formal..." he said happily, "I can guarantee that this will be the purest dessert tasting party! Let those sweet and rich Before filling our bellies with delicious food, I don’t want to let nonsense take up most of the time—"
"Oh, that sounds great!"
Maka smiled and applauded as Slughorn had done before, showing his approval of this good idea. But I don’t know how many people were present, but this fat old man always talked the most nonsense.
However, most people wouldn't refuse desserts, and even Hermione, who didn't really want to come over to participate, couldn't help but look forward to it. It has to be said that this old man may not be reliable in other aspects, but he always pays special attention to the details of eating, drinking and enjoying.
"If you like it, then I will be even happier!"
Slughorn said, and he took out his wand and swiped it in a circle from left to right. Suddenly, cups of black tea appeared in front of everyone.
And then, when he finally pointed towards the middle of the round table, a brightly colored cake appeared.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the first dessert tonight," the old man put down his wand and clapped his hands with a satisfied expression, "I think you all probably know that Ambrosio Ambrosio, the owner of Honeydukes, Froome is my former student, and at tonight’s dessert tasting party, most of the desserts are new creations that I asked him to specially prepare! Really, you can’t find them anywhere!”
He first showed off his students as usual, and then introduced: "This is called 'Red Velvet Cake'. I heard Ambrosio tell me that this kind of cake seems to be very famous in the Muggle world... But I want to say that Muggles will never think that this red velvet cake was only popular among a group of vampires in the United States!"
As Slughorn said, Muggle-born wizards are relatively familiar with this kind of cake. Of course, not even Maca is quite sure of its origins. Hearing Slughorn say that he appeared from the vampire tribe, he suddenly nodded.
The contrast between the snow-white cream and the fiery red body of the embryo is so sharp that people can't help but feel that even if someone were told that it was dripped with blood, they wouldn't be surprised at all.
"Of course, we wizards can't get used to vampire desserts!" The old man continued, "So, this time Ambrosio and I spent a lot of effort to replace the real blood with the juice of the blood tentacles. I believe it. I, the taste is sour and sweet, once you eat it you will never forget it!”
"I think..." Maka smiled and said, "It will also make us more sensitive to all the good things. That's why you chose to make it the first dessert tonight, right?"
"Oh, tell me about this little surprise I've hidden!" Slughorn said helplessly, "Yes, it's true - the formula of the love potion contains the juice of blood tentacles. Regarding this material, Its characteristics, those who are taking my NEWTs course can take note of them!"
After saying that, he divided a piece of cake for everyone and each of them tasted it.
I have to say, this red velvet cake with some new tricks is indeed particularly delicious.
Since it contains a large amount of blood tentacle juice, the scarlet cake with smooth cream is put into the mouth, and the sweet and slightly sour taste soon becomes more and more clear. With the addition of black tea at a suitable temperature, the aroma is fragrant and unforgettable.
But after all, everyone has come after dinner. Even if there seems to be a tempting saying in this world that "desserts are in the second stomach", overeating is always bad. Therefore, everyone only gets a small piece.
However, this outstanding delicacy has once again aroused everyone's appetite, and soon everyone began to look forward to the second dessert tonight.
So after that, as Slughorn conjured up various kinds of desserts again and again, and again and again were swept away by everyone present, everyone's satisfaction continued to rise.
When the party was halfway over, at Lavender's suggestion, a particularly happy Slughorn opened the bottle of red wine she sent and tasted it.
Of course, no one wanted to share it with him except him. Because Ellis red wine is actually very famous - people who like it can buy it by the barrel, but people who don't like it will never take a second sip after one sip.
I don’t know how Lavender knew about Slughorn’s little-known hobby.
The dessert tasting session lasted until a few minutes before lights out. In the second half of the time, everyone enjoyed the delicious food and chatted casually. Most of the time, it was quite comfortable - at least it was much more enjoyable than the previous parties held by the old man.
Well, except for the fact that Lavender turned to look at Ron a little too often, everything was fine.
At the end, Slughorn, whose cheeks turned red from drinking, stood up and announced with a smile that the dessert tasting was successfully concluded. Everyone left their seats one by one, and the students hurried back to their dormitories to prepare for bed.
"Fortunately, tomorrow is a day off, otherwise I would have had to catch up on homework until early in the morning..." Ron whispered as he walked in the corridor at the door.
"Yes!" Harry couldn't help but agree, "After reaching sixth grade, the difficulty of homework has obviously become much more difficult, and it also takes more time..."
Maka followed them and smiled casually.
"Even if you have a day off tomorrow, you'd better speed up a bit," he reminded kindly, "Tonight is Snape's night patrol, and he also knows that Slughorn is going to hold a private party - I don't need to say more. Right? Hurry up! If he gets caught, don’t blame me for not notifying you in advance!"
"Oh, Merlin's stinky boots!"
After Ron's low cry, the students who heard this, no matter which college they were from, immediately started running. Maka watched from behind as they disappeared around the corner in front of them one by one, and couldn't help but shook her head slightly.
"Let me have a good sleep today! I have to go to the greenhouse early tomorrow morning to repot those baby bumps. I can't bother Professor Sprout all the time..."
With this thought in mind, he immediately quickened his pace and soon turned to another corridor. But this time no one noticed that there seemed to be one person who did not leave with everyone.