"Miss Granger, welcome, it's so good to see you again…"
Diana hadn't even taken her seat yet. She stood by the dining table with a warm smile, clearly pleased to see Hermione and Anne enter the dining room together.
"It's been a long time since we had guests at Roland Manor. Please make yourself completely at home. If you need anything, just ask Anne, I'm sure she'll take good care of you."
"With great pleasure," Anne said with a sideways glance and a smile at Hermione.
Once all three of them were seated, Gooka snapped his fingers gently, and food appeared in the ceramic dishes set before them.
Lunch had a rich French flair. The starters were a bowl of onion soup and a crisp garden salad. The main course was a perfectly grilled steak, tender and juicy, seasoned with pepper and fragrant Italian herbs. With each bite, the flavor burst in the mouth. After two bites, Anne couldn't resist cutting off another piece. Lekko's cooking has improved again… she thought. Looks like those recipe books I gave him were worth it.
Gooka stepped forward with a decanter and poured Diana a glass of white wine from Burgundy. She took a small sip, then placed her glass down and asked:
"I assume Miss Granger's already had a chance to get acquainted with Gooka and the others?"
"I introduced her right after we arrived," Anne said quickly, pausing her knife and fork mid-motion. "All six of them. I figured it was best to get the introductions out of the way early on."
Both Diana and Hermione turned to look at Anne, but their expressions were different.
Hermione's eyes showed a hint of nervousness. Anne had noticed it right away, which is why she had answered before Hermione could speak. Diana, on the other hand, just seemed puzzled by Anne's eagerness to respond. But when she noticed Anne looking straight at Hermione in that instant, her knowing smile deepened just slightly.
"Mmm, Lekko's steak really is better than before," Anne said quickly, steering the conversation.
Diana followed her lead. "It is. Did you buy another recipe book, Anne?"
"Recipe book?" Hermione asked curiously.
Anne chuckled. "I passed by a shop that looked like a café from the outside. Couldn't help myself and went in for a cup of coffee and some cake… turned out it was a cookbook store. The desserts were good, the atmosphere was cozy, and I walked out with a few books. Pretty smart business model, really, get food lovers to come in for a treat, then surround them with recipes."
Diana took another sip of wine and gave a light laugh. "Careful, Anne, you're going to make me sound like someone who never leaves the office. I hope Miss Granger doesn't get the wrong impression."
She swirled her glass and turned to Hermione with a smile. "Now that you're familiar with Gooka and the others, feel free to ask any of them for help, not just Anne. They'll be happy to assist with anything you need."
Hermione nodded politely. "Thank you, Ms. Roland."
Diana waved her hand dismissively. "Please, no need for formalities. I've lived in France too long to get used to all these British manners, especially at home. Why don't you call me Diana, just like Anne does? And I'll call you Hermione."
Hermione glanced at Anne out of the corner of her eye. Anne's eyes lit up instantly, and that was all the encouragement Hermione needed. She agreed with a nod and a smile.
From that point on, the atmosphere became much more relaxed.
Anne took the lead in conversation, knowing Hermione shared her curiosity about foreign magical communities. She eagerly brought up questions about how wizarding societies differed across Europe.
"I never realized the German wizarding world was so different from Britain or France…" Hermione said as they climbed the stairs to the fourth-floor lab. After lunch, she had asked if she could see the lab, and Anne was more than happy to accompany her; she'd go anywhere, as long as it was with Hermione.
The southwest tower was more than twice the size of the northeast tower. The fourth-floor lab was reinforced with strong magical protections. When they pushed open the heavy oak door, a large square worktable stood at the center, already equipped with various magical instruments. Two wide glass windows flanked the room, letting in a refreshing cross-breeze when opened.
Surrounding the main table were several curved wooden shelves stocked with well-organized potion ingredients and books on potion-making.
Anne walked over to the nearest shelf and pointed to a row of uniform, pale-gray leather notebooks. "These shelves hold all our material logs. Since there's not enough space here for everything, most of the ingredients are stored in the castle's underground vault. What you see here are just the common, frequently used ones."
"If you need something that's not on the shelf, you can check these logs," she said, pulling out a sheet of parchment from a small box nailed to the shelf. She also grabbed a quill from the drawer of the worktable.
"Just write down what you need," she said, scribbling 'Chestnut Powder – 15g' onto the parchment. Then, tapping the Roland family crest at the corner with her wand, a shimmering ripple spread across the paper, and the words disappeared.
A few seconds later, a small glass vial appeared on a nearby shelf, filled with a soft green powder.
"See? Just like that. But if you need something from the greenhouse, like magical plants, you can't use this method. You'll have to go fetch it yourself. Or you can ask Gooka or one of the house-elves. This spell only works between the lab and the storage vault."
She handed the parchment to Hermione, inviting her to try.
Hermione's eyes widened in amazement. She'd never seen anything like this at Hogwarts, nor had she read about it in any book.
When she used the parchment to request 10ml of Mandrake Juice, a brown bottle appeared moments later. She picked it up and stared at it in awe.
"But… how does the magic know what 10ml means? What if the storage vault runs out?" she asked.
"Great question," Anne said, pulling one of the gray notebooks off the shelf and flipping it open. "This log tracks the inventory. As for the measurement, "
She chuckled. "It's not a super complicated spell, really. The parchment uses a text-transfer charm, sending the request to a blank wall in the vault. Sico, the storage vault's manager, handles everything from there. Most of the ingredients are stored in standard base ratios. If you request a non-standard amount, Sico just measures and prepares a bottle for you."
"I see…" Hermione set the bottle down. "Still, whoever came up with this method was really clever."
"It was my grandmother's idea," Anne said proudly. "She was a Ravenclaw."
"There's another reason it works. The walls of Roland Castle aren't made from ordinary stone, they're protection bricks. The walls in this lab are even coated with Ward Clay."
"Ward Clay?" Hermione echoed. "As in Magical world's Twenty Rare Materials? That Ward Clay? But the book says it was made by ancient wizards, incredibly hard to produce, and nearly extinct. Roland Castle has only been around for a hundred years, how could it have enough to coat an entire lab?"
Anne gave her a knowing smile and leaned in to whisper, "Give it time… One day, you won't be asking that question anymore."
Once you become part of the Roland family, a lot of things start to make sense.
Hermione seemed to catch her meaning. Her breath hitched slightly, and her ears flushed pink.
The wind blowing in through the open window stirred the room. Some glassware hanging from hooks gently knocked together with a soft, tinkling sound. The scent of lush greenery from the forest drifted in on the summer breeze, swirling gently around them.
"Oh! I nearly forgot something…" Anne said suddenly, glancing out the window toward the trees.
"What is it?" Hermione asked, following her gaze. The trees outside swayed in the breeze, tall and full of life.
Anne shook her head mysteriously. "You'll see tonight. It's a good surprise, one I know you'll love."
The rest of the afternoon was spent in the library. The windows were thrown open to the warm southern wind. Anne even dozed off on a lounge chair for a while, a book resting over her face.
That night, at exactly nine o'clock, Anne dashed up the stairs to the fourth floor in her pajamas, shorts and a shirt printed with cartoon pandas. She'd already bathed and changed, and during dinner, she'd given Hermione a heads-up.
A knock on the door.
Hermione opened it and found Anne standing there, grinning like a kid about to go on an adventure.
Anne eagerly grabbed Hermione's hand and tugged her out. "Perfect timing, let's go."
"Shouldn't we bring something else besides our wands?" Hermione asked.
Anne waved her wand. "Nope, wand's all we need."
Hand in hand, they went down to the ground floor and stepped outside. The summer night air was cool and refreshing, the boat-shaped moon casting a soft, gentle glow. The breeze from the mountains carried away the heat of the day.
By moonlight, Anne and Hermione followed a small path behind the castle into the forest. Anne led confidently, clearly familiar with the trail. Whenever the terrain got tricky, she warned Hermione in advance.
Eventually, the thick canopy blocked out the moonlight completely.
"Lumos."
Both of their wands lit up with a pale white glow. Anne squeezed Hermione's hand.
"Almost there."
The forest around them grew darker and more ominous. The rustle of leaves no longer felt comforting, it was eerie now, even chilling. Only their wandlight illuminated the narrow path ahead.
But Hermione wasn't afraid. Anne's face, half-lit by wandlight, was beaming with excitement.
"We're here!" Anne said, turning around with a wide grin. "Turn off your wand, and don't be too surprised!"
They stepped around a few trees and through a patch of bushes, and Hermione gasped.
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