Victor's Christmas Dinner Menu

Witch hunts were widespread and extensive throughout Europe. Although the Vatican's attitude towards them was somewhat ambiguous in the middle period, secretly using them as a means to absolve itself of responsibility for the Black Death, many high-ranking church officials openly questioned the legitimacy of the witch hunts in both the early and later periods.

Under these circumstances, it seems not incomprehensible that wizards celebrate Christmas.

However, Victor clearly couldn't understand why Christmas was a holiday.

From any perspective, he is a major heretic who firmly sits at the top of the Vatican's most wanted list. Just hearing that he would celebrate Christmas is probably enough to make many church members feel extremely uneasy and heartbroken.

But Victor didn't care.

Why not celebrate festivals?

Since we get a holiday and can eat, this is a festival worth celebrating.

With this attitude in mind, he happily began preparing for the Christmas feast. He had made an invitation to Dumbledore in advance to attend the dinner at Granny Jagar's cottage, but Dumbledore did not accept the latter's request, only saying that he would send Hagrid along.

Comparatively speaking, Victor still enjoyed a certain degree of trust from Dumbledore.

Unfortunately, this trust is not always placed on the right people.

Since it was a banquet in the home of their traditional wizards and witches, the dishes served at the Viktor's dinner were naturally not ordinary.

Thinking this, he took out the dinner menu he and Grandma Barbayaga had prepared together from his files. It was a parchment about four inches long, listing ten dishes, the first of which was—

Poison Apple Christmas Chocolate Mousse

A mousse shaped like a Christmas tree is made by combining a filling of poisonous green apples refined with a magic potion with a chocolate-like antidote. Upon taking a bite, the poison and antidote work simultaneously, providing a perfect experience of the joy of rebirth.

Note: A potent antidote must be prepared; otherwise, the user may experience adverse consequences such as apparent death, poisoning, or even death.

Well, this is a brand new version he created by combining his past knowledge with newly learned potion-making theories, and he thinks it will taste delicious.

.......

A few minutes later.

"Knock knock".

There was a knock on the door of the divination classroom.

"Come in."

As Victor's voice rang out, the trapdoor of the Divination Room was pushed open from underneath, and Harry's head appeared inside.

It took him some effort to fully push open the trapdoor and climb into the classroom.

"Good morning, Professor." He greeted Victor first, looking quite pleased. "I also called Ron, but he went to the owlhouse this morning to mail a gift and won't be here for a while."

"It's alright," Victor nodded and said.

Today he was dressed in a dark green wizard's robe, with a rainbow candy cane adorning his pointed hat, looking every bit the part of the holiday spirit. This attire even softened his somewhat sinister appearance.

As Harry approached, he handed him a cane—something he had asked the house-elf for earlier.

"Thanks."

Harry took the candy with great curiosity, experiencing the festive atmosphere for the first time.

That's right, he stayed at Hogwarts for the holidays not entirely because he couldn't go back to Privet Drive, but also because he didn't want to go back there for the holidays. He could picture the hypocritical atmosphere of Privet Drive every Christmas with his eyes closed. Aunt Maggie and the other Dursley relatives would come to visit, then lie about how Dudley had lost weight, and then they'd all eat three bowls of roast chicken together.

He was always the one who ended up in the background.

If he stays at Hogwarts, he'll definitely have a better Christmas than ever before.

Even now, Harry still thinks so firmly.

Moreover, the thought of spending Christmas at Grandma Barbara's cottage immediately brought back wonderful memories of the place—delicious beef stew, a cozy little bed, and all sorts of whimsical furniture. Even the whole day he had been forced to wander in the fog outside seemed beautiful now.

As he popped the candy into his mouth, he asked, his words muffled, "So...where are we going to do the pre-meal preparations?"

"I've already gotten the ingredients I need from Professor Sprout, and Hagrid will be bringing up the medicine later. You'll be here to take care of things for me for a while, and then you can go to my house," Victor calmly deciphered Harry's words.

"The dishes I'm making this time mainly involve some herbal processing, using herbs you haven't seen before, but it's quite simple. As long as you're wizards, you can definitely do it."

"The way to get there is with Floo Powder."

"Floo Powder?"

Harry, who had never lived in a wizarding family, asked curiously.

"This is the mobile network that connects to the fireplace. My house couldn't connect to the Floo network before, but after fiddling with Professor Dumbledore for a while, we finally got it connected. So this time when I go back, I don't have to go through the mirrors as much as I did. I can just sprinkle some Floo Powder."

Victor explained.

Harry nodded, seemingly understanding, then asked expectantly, "Professor, what dishes do we need to prepare?"

Victor then took out the parchment he had prepared beforehand, carefully examined the circled dish names, and said:

"Let me see... Hmm, there should only be Poison Apple Christmas Chocolate Mousse and Mist Flobber Caterpillar Stew. I'll take care of the Phoenix Flame Caramel Pudding myself."

Upon hearing the name of the dish, Harry initially doubted that he had misheard. He waited for a while, hoping that Victor would correct his mistake, but he waited for a long time without Victor appearing.

So, a dozen seconds later, a huge question mark appeared in his mind, trembling slightly.

"?"

Poisoned apples and Flobber caterpillars?

Is this something we can eat? Huh??

Are Floppy caterpillars poisonous? And the name "poison apple" sounds toxic, doesn't it?

He came with fond memories of Grandma Barbaya's cottage, but now, that dream bubble, filled with delicious beef and potatoes, burst with a "pop"—leaving only memories of the bubbling cauldron in Potions class.

Meanwhile, Ron, who had finally climbed to the top, and his brother, who happened to come with him, also heard the name of the dish and were both filled with a huge question mark in their minds.

"?"

……

"...Don't worry, some of the more novel dishes won't be what you'll be eating."

Victor finally said something that made Harry and Fred breathe a sigh of relief, feeling like they had escaped a disaster—Victor really didn't intend for them to eat.

He had no intention of actually poisoning any of them.

In fact, even the poisoned apple had been repeatedly processed, turning the poison into a sedative with a spicy taste. While this might make the food less appealing to Victor, at least it would prevent him from accidentally sending a student to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Arts.

"...But the Flobber Caterpillar, my new dish, will still be on the menu. Speaking of which, Fred and Mr. George, why don't you start working on the ingredients I've prepared over there? Harry and Ron were invited to the dinner party, while you're just here for solitary confinement."