At 12:30, it is the busiest time of the day in the Hogwarts kitchen.
The young wizards who had completed the morning class gathered in the auditorium above the kitchen, enjoying the lunch they had been looking forward to since the morning. The lunchtime is only an hour. After half an hour, they would return to their dormitories to rest and then greet the afternoon class with renewed energy.
As always, the diligent house-elves prepared nutritious and sumptuous food for the students.
Slices of bread, buns, pancakes, mushrooms, grilled steaks, beef loin pudding, minced meat pasties, ground meat, bacon, grilled sausages, mashed potatoes, beef soup...
There is no doubt that just like Hogwarts Castle, which has been passed down for thousands of years, today's table continues to offer these timeless classic dishes: abundant starch in bread and potatoes, and plentiful protein in the meat, enough to satisfy all the nutritional needs of the young wizards in their developmental stages.
To ensure that nearly 1,000 students can have hot meals, the kitchen house-elves at Hogwarts are under considerable pressure every day. Not only do they need to ensure that before each meal is consumed, they fill the empty spaces on the plate with new food, but they also need to rearrange the serving order of various foods according to the schedule so that the entire eating process can proceed smoothly.
However, the Hogwarts kitchen seems to be experiencing some new problems today.
"It's truly disappointing."
Elena stood at the kitchen door, frowning and shaking her head.
She thought that after the changes in the morning, the house-elves would show surprising efforts in the next lunch. However, it seems that today's lunch has once again returned to the boring and monotonous way of cooking.
More importantly, Elena saw something in the kitchen that particularly infuriated her.
On the table in the corner of the kitchen, a large amount of food removed from the table had accumulated, most of which had only taken a few bites, or more than half remained untouched; there is no doubt that the wasteful tradition of buffets has restored Hogwarts' food specifications in the most vivid way.
Before Dumbledore could respond, Elena looked around the kitchen, waved her hand, and said coldly.
"Mr. Burley, extinguish the fire and have everyone stop their work."
"But... the mealtime is not over yet."
The house-elf Burleigh glanced at the elderly figure behind Elena and explained in a low voice.
"I say, extinguish the fire! Stop!"
Elena furrowed her brow, raised her voice, and repeated word for word.
The girl's blue eyes stared at the house-elf with a bitter face in front of her, and her wrists cut through the air as if they were sharp kitchen knives.
"Miss Caslana, if you disrupt the work of the kitchen again, I may need to ask you to leave the kitchen."
Dumbledore, finally realizing what was happening, coughed lightly, raised his eyebrows, and said solemnly.
"You know, this is not a place where you can cause trouble, and there are almost a thousand students waiting..."
According to Albus Dumbledore's original idea, at most, he would take a bit of food to the infirmary. The sudden situation in front of him really exceeded his expectations... fortunately, the Hogwarts' kitchen at least did not obey...
"That's enough, close the kitchen, I do not want to repeat for the fourth time!"
Ignoring Dumbledore's words, Elena looked at the elves in the kitchen, growling with a sigh of exasperation.
"..."
"Yes, chef."
"Understood, chef."
"Okay..."
In the face of the girl's anger, the house-elves looked at each other and stopped their work.
"Good."
Elena's face looked a little better, nodded, and glanced at Dumbledore behind her.
"So let me explain why I'm closing the kitchen now...".
As she spoke, Elena raised her hand and pointed to the leftovers that had accumulated in the kitchen corner. "Open your eyes wide and look at the wasted food. I have no doubt that even if the number of Hogwarts students doubled, it would be enough. It's simply unforgivable!"
To Elena, wasting food may be the most unforgivable sin in this world.
Not to mention the obsession from the depths of past lives. In recent years, in her pursuit and development of surrounding foods to find a way to feed the children of an orphanage, Elena's search and development of food has almost reached an extreme.
Whether it's a plump, round-faced chicken, or a strong fish from the lake; whether it's a slimy snail, or the internal organs of a pig abandoned by the slaughterhouse; whether it's mixed with bran and wheat germ in rough bread, or even wild boar to eat... If she can eat enough food, she and all the children in the orphanage will not refuse it.
Dumbledore's eyes turned to the pile of "leftovers" pointed out by Elena, and narrowed slightly.
"Are these... all the foods that the students haven't taken? Every day?"
The old wizard frowned and asked incredulously.
"Ha, Albus, you're done. This little one dislikes this scene even more."
Grindelwald whistled happily, leaning on the door frame.
Grindelwald had already seen Elena's utilization and obsession with ingredients before in Newmontgarde Castle. So much so that Grindelwald must eat exceptionally clean food every day, otherwise, she would scold him all day; of course, under the blessing of Elena's kitchen, wastage is actually more difficult to achieve.
However, at this moment Dumbledore was clearly not in the mood to ignore Grindelwald's mockery.
Dumbledore silently gazed at the jumble of "hills" accumulated in the corners, and his countenance began to gradually harden.
The wastage at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry far exceeded Dumbledore's expectations.
Bread crusts on the edge of plates, spitted-out morsels of steak, pasta eaten with its filling remaining, only half-eaten sausage, it appeared that only two or three spoonfuls of mashed potatoes were taken... This was the first time in his life that he intuitively felt how dreadful the wastage in this school of almost 1,000 people was on a daily basis.
After all, no one had ever visited the Hogwarts kitchen before mealtime. "Even Dumbledore, who has lived in this castle for the majority of his life, cannot become bored with knowing about the leftovers in the kitchen every day."
"Actually, today is slightly less than usual."
The house-elf Burberry lowered his head, and his fingers moved slightly in the air. "My young master seemed to have a quite hearty appetite at noontime today, so relatively speaking..."
As if sensing the tension in the air, a house-elf who was behind Burleigh stood up, twisting his napkin, gazing at the subdued Dumbledore, and added hesitantly.
"Mr. Deng, Mr. Dumbledore... And you can rest assured that these leftover foods will not go to waste completely, and everyone in the Hogwarts kitchen will make an effort to finish them as much as possible."
"I understand."
Dumbledore took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and rubbed his temples. "Elena, the kitchen is yours, I will take a break... wait for us to discuss the next matter."