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Chapter 599: The School Kitchens

As for Hogwarts’ independence from the Board of Governors and its independent teaching activities, it was later the headmaster’s business.

But it must be said that the success of Hufflepuff and Hogwarts model was a major event, great enough to change the entire wizarding world over the course of the past millennium. Schools of Wizardry like Hogwarts had sprung up all over the world.

More and more Muggle wizards had been admitted to school. The traditional single family apprentice and secret way of magic inheritance had been completely changed. Universal magic education has become the standard of magic education.

Helga Hufflepuff herself was the Headmistress of Hogwarts until her death. She did not leave this place for life, and was even buried in Hogwarts after her death. She only passed on her favorite golden cup as a relic to her descendants.

Like Slytherin’s Chamber of Secrets, the location of Hufflepuff’s grave had always been a mystery. 

Because she had been eventually buried by a house-elf, no one knew exactly where Hufflepuff’s grave was.

For a thousand years, countless latecomers had tried to find her place of burial in the school, but no one had succeeded.

Evan had carefully analyzed all the historical facts available and believed that the key breakthrough lay in the hands of the house-elves.

While being the greatest wizard and educator in the history of magic, Hufflepuff was also the greatest cook, and the house-elves were her assistants.

Evan did not think that Hufflepuff’s secret treasure key would be taken to her coffin, but her closest friend for the rest of her life was undoubtedly a house-elf. Everything was in his custody, and even her own final burial was the responsibility of the house-elf.

At the time, Helga Hufflepuff gave shelter to all the elves who had lost their living places because of the war.

She made them part of Hogwarts, and the so-called ordinary friends in her tips should be the elves.

Hogwarts had been home to the largest number of house-elves in the wizarding world since Hufflepuff’s time.

For a thousand years, they had lived in the kitchens below the castle, where they built their own huge underground kingdom.

Not surprisingly, both the key to the treasure and the secret of Hufflepuff’s tomb were kept in the hands of the house-elves.

Last semester, Evan had asked Dobby and other house-elves about this matter too often, but they all said they did not know.

He speculated that the secrets kept by the ancestors of the house-elves might have been lost and no one had passed them down.

That was not surprising as the house-elves had been enslaved for too long.

They had lost their own cultural heritage and had completely become appendages of wizards.

If they had really kept such important clues, they might have told the headmaster rather than hiding them.

Although no one knew for sure, there must be some clues in the kitchens.

Not long ago, Evan found a plan for the early construction of the castle in the library area.

It had been mixed into a very unpopular book of magic that had not been borrowed for hundreds of years.

The basement above the map had been much larger than it was now, and the large area that disappeared later was near the kitchen.

That drawing verified Evan’s long-standing conjecture. In combination with the information he had received before, he thought it necessary to have a look at it.

Evan led Hermione into the basement, which was the only way to the Common Room of Slytherin and Hufflepuff Houses.

The two of them followed a narrow passage to the left and walked down a flight of stone steps. But instead of ending up in a gloomy underground passage like one that led to Snape’s dungeon, they found themselves in a broad stone corridor, brightly lit with torches, and decorated with cheerful paintings that were mainly of food.

They walked up to the painting showing a gigantic silver fruit bowl, and Evan stretched out his forefinger and gently tickled the huge green pear.

It began to squirm, chuckling, and suddenly turned into a large green door handle.

“This is the entrance to the school kitchens!” said Evan. He pulled the door open to reveal a low, dark, deep foyer.

“Let’s go in. Be ready!” said Evan.

He remembered the last time he came; he was surrounded by countless elves, who rushed showing a wry smile.

“Ready for what?!” asked Hermione, staring nervously at the hall.

“You’ll know right away!” Evan took Hermione’s little hand and walked in together.

In the next second, they walked into the picture. Inside, there was an enormous, high-ceilinged room, large as the Great Hall above it, with mounds of glittering brass pots and pans heaped around the stone walls, and a great brick fireplace at the other end.

They felt something, and before they could see more clearly, there were a lot of green things hurtling toward them from the middle of the room.

Hermione couldn’t help but step back, and then she saw that they were all house-elves.

There were over a hundred of them, which was incredible.

“Sir, Miss, do you want anything?” the elves asked aloud, crowding in.

Each of them had a smile on his face, waiting for Evan and Hermione’s order.

Before they could speak, another house-elf rushed over, squealing.

He hit Evan hard in the midriff, hugging him closely and tightly.

This was Dobby!

Although they had met just over a month ago, he was very excited about Evan coming to the kitchen to see him.

He hugged Evan strongly, and the latter hurried him down.

Hermione looked at both of them and the surrounding house-elves in surprise. It took her a while to adapt.

In fact, she had not seen Dobby for a long time. Dobby’s enormous, green, tennis-ball-shaped eyes were brimming with tears of happiness. He looked almost exactly the same as Hermione remembered him; the pencil-shaped nose, the bat-like ears, the long fingers and feet… all except the clothes, which were very different.

When Dobby had worked for the Malfoys, he had worn the same filthy old pillowcase all year round…

Now, he was wearing a strange assortment of garments. He had done an even worse job of dressing himself than the wizards at the World Cup.

He was wearing a tea cozy for a hat, on which he had pinned a number of bright badges; a tie patterned with horseshoes over a bare chest, a pair of what looked like children’s soccer shots, and odd socks. One of these was the black one Harry had removed from his own foot and tricked Mr. Malfoy into giving Dobby, thereby setting him free. The other was covered in pink and orange stripes…

This was a style Evan had never seen before. All the money he gave Dobby was used to buy socks, which were renewed almost every week.

In a sense, Dobby was probably the most fashionable house-elf!

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