The Magical Food God of Hogwarts

Chapter 57 Commendation Ceremony

With a snap, a rope suddenly shot out and tied Pepper up, binding her tightly from head to toe, including her mouth. Then Pepper was hung upside down from the ceiling and swung violently like a windmill.

Lucas looked at the furious Tonks and wisely remained silent.

Pepper really needs to learn a lesson. Not all wizards are lenient with a bird. If it continues to spew profanities and vulgarities so recklessly, one day it might run into a tough guy who could just fry it into roasted bird with a single spell.

Let's return to Pepper's talent for connoisseurship.

For menu development, chefs greatly need an assistant with excellent tasting skills. A taster can accurately tell the chef which seasonings are in excess, which ingredients are not properly prepared, and even help the chef with precise proportions, making menu development much more efficient.

However, most of the time, chefs find it difficult to find such assistants and can only try to improve the dishes by tasting and experimenting on their own.

Today, I gave Pepper a little test and found that it is indeed very sensitive in terms of smell and taste, surpassing most humans and reaching the level of a professionally trained connoisseur!

What's particularly surprising is that it can even taste the added spice, galangal.

Galangal, a niche Southeast Asian spice, can give food a cool aftertaste, but Lucas added very little of it this time. Most people either won't be able to taste it or it will blend in with the coolness of lemon.

But Pepper identified it immediately!

Moreover, it has never received professional training!

However, it has only tasted a limited number of ingredients and cannot directly identify the source of the flavor it tastes. It can only describe it as "a clean aroma" or "a cool taste".

These shortcomings can be completely overcome with a period of study.

Lucas had no doubt that with dedicated instruction, Pepper could be of great help not only with these Muggle spices, but also with providing precise proportions for the various flavors needed to be blended in magical cuisine in the future!

It will be your most capable assistant and partner on your magical culinary journey!

Thinking about this, Lucas figured that Pepper had already been punished enough.

"Tonks, spare it. It's just a bird after all. It's been influenced by its surroundings and has picked up all sorts of foul language. I'll teach it properly from now on."

Tonks snorted, waved his wand, and put Pepper down.

Pepper thrashed around a few times, feeling dizzy and disoriented, before suddenly vomiting.

Lucas took the opportunity to teach it to cherish its life and not to always talk about "F" and genitals in front of strangers.

"Fine," Pepper said listlessly, "then let's change it to an idiot... bitch..."

Tonks' eyes widened, and he was about to raise his wand again when a voice rang out.

"Mr. McGregor?" A well-dressed, serious-looking, thin, middle-aged wizard stood in the doorway, watching the group in the bar. "I am Evan Blaise from the Minister of Magic's office."

An official from the Ministry of Magic? Lucas stood up, puzzled. "Good morning, Mr. Blaise. I am Lucas McGregor."

Bletch held a roll of parchment in one hand and extended the other to shake hands with Lucas.

"Good morning." He smiled in a formulaic way, his eyes quickly scanning the entire bar before shaking hands with Tom Abbott in greeting.

Then he turned to Lucas: "I am here on the orders of Secretary Cornelius Fudge to inform you that, in recognition of your exceptional courage in the Gringotts policing case, Secretary Fudge has decided to personally conduct a public ceremony for you at the Leaky Cauldron at 10:00 AM tomorrow."

"An awards ceremony?" Lucas was stunned.

“Yes,” Bletchley straightened his back, his tone carrying an unquestionable official authority, “The Daily Prophet, Wizarding Weekly, Wizarding Radio, and other major media outlets will be there. This is a significant event for the Ministry of Magic, and… well, for you personally.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than footsteps sounded outside the door. Several wizards, draped in dark cloaks and looking wary, entered, tapping their wands lightly in various corners of the bar while chanting incantations.

Tonks' eyes lit up: "Wow, it's an elite Auror squad!"

Tom retorted, "There are no curses or black magic in the Leaky Cauldron!"

"This is just a routine security check," Blaitch said. "Mr. Abbott, please understand. After all, the Minister is attending in person, and quite a few department heads from the ministry are also coming. The ministry has already signed an executive order that Leaky Cauldron must suspend operations from now until tomorrow morning."

Tom frowned, but finally gave in.

Blaitch added, "The most important person in this whole process is still you, Mr. McGregor."

"I?"

"Yes, to ensure the award ceremony goes absolutely smoothly, we need to have a rehearsal now."

The so-called "one" rehearsal lasted two hours.

Lucas felt like a puppet, performing according to Blake's demands.

"When the minister approaches you, you need to smile, with a hint of excitement and reverence... Oh, that's going too far. Come on, watch how I smile..."

"In this segment, your line is: 'Thanks to Minister Fudge's concern...'"

"At this point, you should say: 'It is my dream to contribute to the magical world. I believe that under Minister Fudge's wise leadership...'"

"When you receive the medal, place your right hand in front of your chest, like this..."

Tonks was initially engrossed, but then he started yawning incessantly and ran off in less than half an hour. Only Hannah remained as an audience member until the very end. Thankfully, Lucas had locked Pepper upstairs early on, otherwise Pepper would have already launched a personal attack on Blake.

After the entire rehearsal, Bletchley was amazed. He could sense that Lucas seemed very familiar with the process and showed no impatience, unlike an eleven-year-old child.

"Fantastic! Mr. McGregor, tomorrow's awards ceremony will be a great success, and you'll be a rising star," Blaitch exclaimed. "Believe me, as long as you proceed step by step, your future will be bright..."

Lucas could see the envy in Blake's face.

After he left, Tom snorted, "The Ministry of Magic's incompetent bureaucrats, Fudge who's always trying to show off... It's alright, Lucas, you don't need to memorize it so carefully. It doesn't matter if you say something wrong. Unless you plan to work for the Ministry of Magic in the future."

Lucas smiled and said, "It's alright. I've seen far more complicated things than this. What's this? Let's just play along. I can take this opportunity to make a small request to the minister."

Tom paused for a moment, then suddenly realized what was happening.

He stared intently at the red-haired boy, then glanced at Hannah beside him, whose face was full of question marks, and couldn't help but sigh.

It should be a good thing to let Hannah and Lucas become friends, right?