"Pay attention to the plating! This is the last time I'm emphasizing this, the soul of this dish lies mainly in the presentation!"

In the Hogwarts kitchen, after giving the house-elves a final reminder, Erina glanced at the few witches beside her who had strange expressions on their faces and seemed to want to say something but hesitated. She said in a light tone, "Let's go, we should head to the Great Hall."

Despite some unpleasant little incidents, the Hogwarts Great Hall was as magnificent as ever tonight.

Hundreds of magical candles floated above the tables, illuminating the golden plates and goblets.

The four long house tables were already filled with chattering students. Most of them had a mix of apprehension, confusion, and excitement on their faces. Many had already heard about what had happened this afternoon from their friends and classmates.

Whether it was the three-house joint vegetable theft or the Hufflepuffs' raid on the faculty vegetable garden, these were milestone-like events for the young wizards. When the scope and impact of something are large enough, the penalties for breaking the rules don't seem so scary.

The students discussed in whispers while curiously observing the expressions of the professors at the faculty table.

Slightly different from usual, there was an extra table at the end of the faculty table, but there were no seats behind it, as if no guests were expected.

Other than that, although the professors, especially the heads of houses, looked somewhat serious, they weren't as angry and furious as the students had imagined, which made the young wizards feel a little less nervous.

Professor Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster, sat in the center of the faculty table.

The old wizard's flowing silver hair and beard shone in the candlelight, and his magnificent dark green robes were embroidered with stars and moons. Dumbledore touched the tips of his long fingers together, rested his chin on his fingertips, and looked at the ceiling above the hall through his half-moon spectacles, as if lost in thought.

The ceiling was enchanted to look like the night sky outside, with countless stars dotted across the deep night sky. The twinkling starlight brought a dreamy and mysterious atmosphere to the entire hall—just like the name of the only dish on today's menu.

"Stargazy Pie, what an intoxicating name."

Sybill Trelawney, the divination professor at Hogwarts, glanced at the menu in her hand, looked up, and gazed dreamily at the starry sky above the hall, saying in a voice similar to an aria.

"What a rich combination of ingredients and what a poetic appearance it must be to be given this name?"

Enjoying a delicious dish called "Stargazy Pie" in a hall under the deep starry sky, what a romantic experience.

"Ahem."

Just as Professor Trelawney was lost in reverie, she heard Dumbledore's clear cough.

Professor Dumbledore suddenly stood up, and the buzzing chatter in the hall immediately stopped. Everyone stopped talking and turned to look at Dumbledore subconsciously.

"Well," Dumbledore glanced at the white-haired ball of fluff who had just entered the hall, raised his eyebrows, and said with a hint of seriousness, "I think you all know about the unfortunate group vegetable garden theft incident that happened this afternoon. Therefore, before we begin tonight's dinner, I have a few announcements to make."

"In view of the vegetable theft incidents that occurred in the four houses today, the Hogwarts kitchen will temporarily refuse to cook ingredients of unknown origin. In other words, tonight's vegetable and staple food cooking tasks will be completed by those of you present—for this, the Hogwarts kitchen has specially prepared cauldrons, frying pans, knives, and various common seasonings. You can flexibly adjust and choose according to your own tastes."

Following Dumbledore's voice, steaming cauldrons, various styles of kitchen utensils, and dozens of unlabeled seasoning jars appeared on the tables of the four houses.

Then, piles of "stolen goods" from the students' dormitories or vegetable gardens, still smelling of soil, appeared at the end of each house table, piled up in a scattered and disordered manner, looking particularly green and pollution-free.

Dumbledore's mouth twitched a few times—he seemed to have already foreseen the chaotic scene that would unfold in a few minutes.

After pausing for a few seconds, Dumbledore continued, "In addition, starting tomorrow, Hogwarts will implement a [Potato Exchange System]. Each house can determine the dishes that will appear on its table next week by paying a certain number of potatoes. The specific amount to be paid will be determined by the actual food reserves and cooking difficulty of each house."

"At the same time, a house market will be opened once a week, where you can sell/buy the ingredients and new menus you want to the kitchen or other houses. In particular, the scope will include all three meals, including meat and drinks..."

"Great!" George blinked and nudged his twin brother with his elbow.

"That's right, we can just keep planting potatoes from now on." Fred nodded with the same smile on his face.

According to the new regulations issued by Dumbledore, the large potato field planted by Gryffindor House instantly transformed from the worst choice that no one cared about into a treasure trove for growing "gold"—just imagine, they could buy back whatever they wanted with endless potatoes in the future.

"Why, I always feel like something is wrong."

Hermione frowned in confusion and turned to look at Erina, who was sitting next to her, and asked softly, "Erina, why does it sound like Gryffindor is being rewarded instead? Logically speaking, after violating school rules several times in a row, we should be the most likely to be punished..."

Without a doubt, if there was anyone in Hogwarts who could better understand the meaning of the new rules, it was Erina Kaslana, who was directly involved in the formulation.

"This is already a punishment..."

Erina looked at the Gryffindor boys who were in a state of ecstasy with a slightly sympathetic gaze, shook her head, and said softly, "Don't forget, the right to set prices is in the hands of the Hogwarts kitchen and other houses. Potatoes as the benchmark monetary standard means that the unit value of the crops grown in the Gryffindor House is at the very bottom of the entire system—simply put, they may need to use more than a dozen potatoes to exchange for an apple in the future."

Although the Hogwarts "Potato Standard" sounds somewhat similar to the "Gold Standard," there is actually a very essential difference, that is, in this system, potatoes are also used as a basic monetary unit.

On the other hand, Slytherin House, whose "commodities" have extremely high irreplaceability, theoretically has the highest trade pricing ceiling, but scarcity does not mean expensive. Only when "Slytherin specialty dishes" are in widespread demand will the crops they grow slowly begin to rise in price.

Of course, there is even more complex logic in this.

Although the entire [Potato Trading System] looks fair and open at first glance, the Hogwarts kitchen, as the black hand of the market, can actually intervene in the "asset value" of all houses at any time by adjusting pricing power.

This kind of dimensionality reduction attack in economics is something that even experienced professors like Dumbledore and McGonagall, let alone these children who are generally no more than eighteen years old, can hardly understand all the twists and turns in a short period of time.

"...The specific rules will be posted on the bulletin boards of each house later."

Dumbledore looked at the many students in front of him with a smile and said—the students were like a hornet's nest that had been stirred up, so that he had to raise his voice to ensure that his words could be heard by everyone.

Undoubtedly, most of the children's attention was clearly attracted by the subsequent "potato trading market."

Everyone was excitedly calculating what they would eat next week and how they should sell the crops grown by their house to other houses.

Helplessly, Dumbledore had to clear his throat again.

"Oh—you all have a whole week to learn about and discuss this... No need to rush..." Dumbledore said, "Now let's turn our attention back to tonight's dinner. As a punishment, all the remaining cooking tonight, except for the [Stargazy Pie] fish dish provided by the kitchen, needs to be done by you yourselves."

With Dumbledore's reminder, the young wizards' attention finally slowly returned and refocused on the table in front of them.

"Stargazy Pie? Do you know what that is?"

"I don't know, but it sounds wonderful, definitely a dreamy dish like the starry sky above."

"I didn't expect that after causing such a big trouble, we can still eat delicious food, how lucky!"

"It looks like the faculty table is the same as us, no need to worry this time."

"I wonder what kind of dish it is, authentic Scottish flavor, it's really nostalgic."

"Tsk, what a bunch of naive guys, when that little girl left, she was obviously angry..."

All the teachers and students curiously looked at the empty plates in front of them, anticipating the appearance of [Stargazy Pie], while thinking about how to cook a delicious dish full of creativity and imagination later.

No one realized what would happen next.

"If there are no problems, let's start?"

Dumbledore smiled and looked around the hall, raising his hands and clapping lightly.

The next moment, countless plates of the famous British dish [Stargazy Pie] appeared in front of everyone in the hall. (Picture)

Inside the golden-brown traditional pie, fish heads and tails stuck out stiffly. Under Erina's repeated instructions, the house-elves adjusted the plating of each [Stargazy Pie] particularly carefully, ensuring that each fish head faced the sky and each pair of dead fish eyes shone with a strange light.

"..."

Slowly lowering his head, staring blankly at the dozen or so pairs of protruding fish eyes staring at him, unclosed in death, Albus Dumbledore's cheeks twitched—was this, the legendary authentic Scottish fish cooking technique?!

At the same time...

The entire hall seemed to have been released with a silencing charm. Everyone silently stared at the fish eyes in front of them, sinking into a long and complex reflection on life. Many people were destined to have nightmares this night...