Mysterious Journey
Chapter 420: The Temptation of Dawn
One second to remember 【】 mobile phone users enter
Monday morning, the Weasley household.
As usual, before dawn, Mrs. Weasley was already bustling about in the kitchen.
Although her sons had either graduated and become adults or had already gone to Hogwarts to study, she still needed to prepare breakfast for her husband, Arthur Weasley, and her youngest daughter, Ginny Weasley.
"Molly, let me help you."
Halfway through her work, Mrs. Weasley felt a familiar, solid chest press against her back, a pair of large hands reaching around from behind to embrace her waist, and a slightly prickly sensation on her neck.
Without a doubt, it was the male head of the Weasley family, Arthur Weasley of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the Ministry of Magic.
"Oh, Arthur... I'd be grateful if you didn't just get in the way."
Mrs. Weasley gave a light swat to the restless hands that were wandering near her waist, looked up at the railing upstairs, and spoke softly with a hint of reproach.
"Don't fool around, Ginny's still at home. If you really have nothing better to do, go fetch the newspaper from the front door. And talk to the children more during meals, instead of always staring at the newspaper."
She instructed Mr. Weasley while deftly pointing her wand at the potatoes soaking in the sink, commanding them to rotate and begin peeling themselves automatically.
Meanwhile, in the brass cauldron on the other side, the cream sauce had gradually begun to bubble, emitting an enticing aroma of breakfast.
Next, Mrs. Weasley tapped the drawer containing the knives with her wand, and the drawer sprang open.
Several kitchen knives burst out of the drawer at once, flying across the kitchen and began chopping the potatoes with a rhythmic *chop-chop-chop*, while the basket that had contained the potatoes automatically jumped to the side, dumping the potato peels from "itself" into the trash.
Since she only needed to prepare breakfast for three people, the steps Mrs. Weasley needed to take weren't too complicated.
Although, deep down, Mrs. Weasley would have preferred to be a little more tired, and for this time to last a little longer… Once Ginny goes to school next year, she'll be the only one at home during the day.
"Don't be too discouraged, Molly."
Sensing his wife's emotions, Mr. Weasley shrugged as he returned from the door, trying to comfort her.
"It's an inevitable process; children will always grow up. You should be happy to see them achieve something. Speaking of which, I wonder how Ron is doing at school lately – oh, what's this?!"
Mr. Weasley stopped mid-sentence, frozen in place, staring in disbelief at the newspapers and letters he had just brought in from the door, his mouth agape, only strange gurgling sounds escaping his lips.
It was a very brief letter, the content written directly on the back of the paper.
[Dear Mr. Weasley, thank you and your family for your support of *The Quibbler*, here is the preliminary settlement of this month's payment, totaling thirty Galleons, please verify – by: *The Quibbler* Hogwarts Settlement Center]
Attached to the letter was a small cloth bag, and a gentle shake revealed the delightfully melodic clinking of coins inside.
"What's wrong, Arthur? Hmm… what's that in your hand?"
Mrs. Weasley wiped her hands on her apron, turned to look at her husband standing dumbfounded in the living room, and raised her eyebrows in confusion.
"Hogwarts sent a pile of gold coins, but I'm still a little confused about the specifics."
Mr. Weasley first opened the money bag and took a look, then instinctively looked at the magazine at the bottom of his pile—*The Quibbler*? He didn't remember subscribing to this magazine, let alone submitting anything to it.
Frowning, Arthur Weasley quickly opened the thick copy of *The Quibbler* in his hand and flipped through it, his expression gradually shifting from confusion to surprise, and finally to deep pride, waving the magazine in his hand forcefully.
"Molly, it seems like something big has happened. Our boys published articles in this magazine, and they're paying us – a full thirty Galleons! Let's take a look at the details together."
"Published articles? You mean George and Fred? Percy, maybe, but that would have to be after graduation, at the very least."
A comical expression appeared on Mrs. Weasley's face; she knew the nature of her children.
She'd already be thankful if those brothers could stay out of trouble at school. As for publishing articles to earn money to support the family, that was simply too hard to believe.
However, even though she was saying it was impossible, Mrs. Weasley quickly put down her wand and walked towards her husband, looking curiously at the thick publication that Arthur Weasley was holding in his hand, which she had never seen before.
"*The… Quibbler*, this publication is fully funded by Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…"
Mrs. Weasley glanced at the cover and frowned in confusion.
Compared to the simple and unadorned covers of other publications and books, this *The Quibbler* was more like a special publication somewhere between a newspaper and a booklet, and the cover was divided into four distinct sections.
Each section was labeled with a specific category name in text:
*A Bite of Hogwarts*, *Into Magic*, *Explore? Discover*, *Lovegood? See the World*
For example, the *A Bite of Hogwarts* section used a corner of the Hogwarts Potions classroom as its background, but a giant orange cauldron was placed in the center, giving it a strange feel. (Image.jpg)
Similarly, the images in the other sections were also brightly colored, making the content clear at a glance.
On either side of each cover image were rows of simple and direct category classifications, as well as a few lines of small print summarizing the main articles within. The top few featured articles even displayed the author's name on the cover.
Undoubtedly, what first caught Mrs. Weasley's eye was the "Must-Read Article" at the top of the *Explore? Discover* section below the main cover image – [Unveiling Hogwarts' Secret Passages You Didn't Know About] Author: George Weasley, Fred Weasley.
"Is today April Fool's Day, Arthur?" Mrs. Weasley turned her head to look at her husband and murmured.
"Of course not... No one would joke around with Galleons, would they?"
Mr. Weasley shook his head, pointed to the bag of gold coins on the table, and patted the publication in front of him with pride.
"Not only that, Molly, the academic section also has Percy's [Spellcasting Techniques for Transfiguration When Dealing with Invertebrates], and Ron and some older students co-authored [Analysis and Ranking of the Main Quidditch Teams This Season]..."
Without a doubt, today was a day worth celebrating for the Weasley family.
You should know that even in the wizarding world, showing off one's children is still the favorite thing for these middle-aged office workers to do.
Produced by Hogwarts, guaranteed to be good – although the wizarding world didn't have this slogan before.
But Arthur Weasley could be one hundred percent sure that there was no longer a publication in the current wizarding world that could compete with this magazine. The rich and impactful content alone was enough to sweep the entire wizarding world.
And at such a milestone moment, three of his children—no, it should be counted by the number of people, four children had published articles in it. This was simply unimaginable.
Frankly, Arthur Weasley couldn't help but want to take this magazine to the Ministry immediately, wait at the elevator entrance, and pat anyone who came in on the shoulder – "Hey, look, these are all written by my sons."
"Oh, and of course, there's the *A Bite of Hogwarts* section."
After a slight pause, Arthur Weasley gave his wife a knowing look.
"After reading this magazine, I realized that the current meal standards at Hogwarts are much higher than we imagined. If you don't want the children to be picky eaters when they come back for the holidays, I suggest you take a look at the dishes above – honestly, just glancing at it, I'm already a little hungry..."
"Hogwarts' three meals a day? What could be so different? I should know..."
Challenged in her area of expertise, Mrs. Weasley raised her eyebrows and curiously flipped through the magazine, turning to the *A Bite of Hogwarts* section at the front.
The next moment, a series of exquisite animated images of dishes appeared before her eyes, accompanied by the written descriptions next to them.
"At seven o'clock in the morning, the students of Hogwarts have just woken up from their beds, but the Hogwarts kitchen has already prepared all the dishes. The star of today's breakfast is a delicate dish called Eggs Benedict, no seasoning is needed, the golden egg yolk in the poached egg is the most delicious..."
"...The tender veal, after being roasted by the flames, has become slightly golden, exuding an enticing aroma. The fat on the veal melts under the high temperature and still sizzles on the skin..."
"...Cut open the golden fried cheese potato balls, and the thick cheese immediately flows out, like a sloping estuary, and flowing out with it are white mushrooms and diced smoked ham..."
"Gryffindor's special potato dish is not as simple as it looks. Even the most ordinary fries contain a different method from what people usually see..."
"...After biting into the crispy crust of the special fries, a refreshing fragrance fills the mouth, and the soft mashed potatoes flow out, because they are made from fresh potatoes, the butter also brings out the natural sweetness of the potatoes; the crispy crust is also sprinkled with freshly ground pepper, a little bit of sea salt, and some chopped basil..."
With the outline of the text and the tasting actions of those few good-looking little guys in the pictures, Mrs. Weasley couldn't help swallowing.
Damn... she actually wanted to apply to be an accompanying parent!
If that doesn't work, it would be good to go to the Hogwarts kitchen for further study! Otherwise, what would she do when the children came back for the holidays?!
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*Gu ya*, a big chapter of three thousand words, updated 8000 words today ⊙?⊙!, waist-akimbo smug.
Solemnly declare that this chapter involves poisoning late at night \\ early morning, please watch with food.
If there is nothing edible around you, then, *pu ha ha ha*, there is no way ah.
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