Chapter 24: Enthusiastic House Elves

Near the entrance hall on the ground floor of the castle, there was a door that led to the Hufflepuff common room and kitchen.

Albert took some time to wander around the entrance hall and found two doors near the marble staircase, as well as Filch's office. Filch's cat stared at him with its eyes fixed on him.

"What's its name?" Albert asked.

Filch didn't answer and carried his cat into his office.

"It must be jealous!" Albert muttered to himself. If he remembered correctly, Filch was a squib. Albert believed that since Filch was a squib, he should leave the magical world behind and integrate into the Muggle world without causing trouble or unpleasantness.

Well, the annoying guy is gone. Which door should he choose now?

"Where could the kitchen be?" Albert took a coin out of his pocket and tossed it on the ground. It landed heads up, so he chose to go left towards the stairs.

Behind the door was another flight of stairs. It led to a wide stone corridor, and as Albert walked past, torches on the walls ignited automatically, illuminating the surroundings. Albert noticed various food drawings decorating the walls.

"Lucky me." Albert found a large painting of a silver bowl filled with fruit, rumored to hide the entrance to the kitchen.

The secret to entering the kitchen was in a pear.

Albert gently touched the emerald green pear, and it started wriggling, giggling. Suddenly, it transformed into a large green doorknob.

"Indeed, it's here. Looks like I'm lucky." Albert was in a pleasant mood. After finding the Room of Requirement, he had now successfully found the kitchen.

He reached out and grabbed the doorknob, pulling it open. The kitchen was as spacious as the Great Hall above. There were many cabinets displaying various utensils. Just like in the hall, there were four long wooden tables, positioned exactly like the tables for the four houses.

Some food was already laid out on the tables, likely breakfast for the students. When it was mealtime, the house elves would use magic to transport the food to the corresponding tables.

"Sir, do you need anything?" One of the house elves noticed Albert and hurriedly ran towards him.

"The dining hall isn't serving food yet, so I came to the kitchen to have a look," Albert replied with a polite smile.

"Please follow me, sir." The house elf grabbed Albert's hand and led him to a seat at the table. Six house elves hurried over, carrying a large silver tray with a jug of milk, ham, fried eggs, toast, salad, and pumpkin porridge.

"Thank you, little ones." Albert poured himself half a glass of milk. Although he didn't have the habit of drinking milk in his previous life, he had developed it over the years. Thanks to that, he became much stronger than in his past life.

"It's our pleasure, sir." Perhaps someone thanked him, as each house elf was beaming with a smile and bowing to him.

Albert ate the ham, fried eggs, and two slices of toast, and then had a small bowl of pumpkin porridge. His stomach was quickly filled with food.

As he finished the last bit of fruit salad, he observed the house elves. They were all wrapped in tea towels embroidered with the Hogwarts crest, or rather, they were dressed in them.

"I think I should go. Thank you for breakfast," Albert noticed that his exploration progress had reached 7.3%.

"It's our pleasure, sir," the house-elves said in their sharp voices. Before leaving, many house-elves gathered around him, offering him various pastries to take back and enjoy.

"That's enough, goodbye little ones," Albert said as he packed four pastries into a parchment bag and tucked it into his robe. These were for George and the other two.

The house-elves crowded near the door, bidding farewell as they watched Albert leave. They appreciated the gratitude and respect Albert showed towards them.

Following the path he took yesterday, Albert returned to the common room within a few minutes.

However, there was still no one inside, and the ghost lady had already left.

When Albert returned to the room, the twins were still sleeping, but Lee Jordan was awake. He looked surprised at Albert, who appeared at the door, and couldn't help but ask, "Where did you go?"

"For a walk and breakfast!" Albert grinned and said, "I brought gifts for you guys."

"What gifts?" Fred, on the right side, crawled out of bed, rubbed his head with his right hand, looking like he hadn't fully woken up yet.

"Pies." Albert took out a parchment bag from his pocket, took a bite of one pie, and handed the bag to Lee Jordan, saying, "One for each of you."

"Where did you get them?" Fred asked curiously.

"In the kitchen."

"Wow, you actually found the kitchen."

"By the way, you sneaked out on your own without even calling us," Fred also fully woke up. If it weren't for their beds, Albert couldn't tell the twins apart.

"Didn't brush my teeth first."

"Oh, almost forgot about that." George put the pie he was holding down and asked curiously, "How did you find the kitchen?"

"Just wandered around and stumbled upon it." Albert mentioned his encounter with Filius and his cat, "His cat is quite smart and would notify him. But I suppose Filius was probably coming to bother me."

"I bet he must be feeling so frustrated!" Fred couldn't help but laugh as he got out of bed, ready to go out and explore. Hogwarts Castle was truly fascinating.

The three of them got dressed, freshened up, and arrived at the Gryffindor common room. No one was there yet. Albert lit the fireplace and sat on the nearby couch. The rain had stopped outside.

"Bill and Charlie said there are many secret passageways in the castle," Fred said while eating his pie, addressing the others.

"But they never tell us where the passageways are," George complained about his older brothers.

"Perhaps they want you to explore the castle's secrets on your own. It's more fun that way," Albert suggested, recalling Nick's words, trying to comfort the two.

"I think so too," Lee Jordan chimed in.

"Oh, almost forgot about this." Albert walked to the entrance and took a few photos while the common room was empty. He also took a picture of the Fat Lady.

"You're taking pictures again?"

"I'm planning to send some letters home. For Muggles, everything in the wizarding world is fascinating," Albert checked the photos and realized he had gained another skill related to photography.

"I heard from Charlie that Filch likes to trouble students. He's always trying to catch students who make mistakes and hang them up, whipping them," George continued after finishing his pie. "Filch also knows a lot of secret passages in the school and always appears out of nowhere."

"Most students who wander at night are caught by Filch," Fred added, "and then they receive harsh deductions and detention."

(End of this chapter)