Harry Potter and the Candy Factory

At the long oak table, everyone was chatting amiably.

Narcissa and Aberforth were exchanging stories about Charlie's childhood. Even Draco and Ryan, who hadn't met before, were quietly conversing.

"So, you also graduated from Slytherin, and you were in the same year as Uncle Charlie!"

Draco looked up, his eyes sparkling with countless stars as if he had thought of something. He turned and looked expectantly at his great-uncle, whom he had never met before.

After the other nodded, he eagerly asked,

"Can you tell me about Uncle's time at school? Like what he usually ate, what he did, and where he usually went at night?"

Whenever his uncle was mentioned, Draco's mouth was like a machine gun, rattling off the things he wanted to know.

"I heard Nearly Headless Nick say that Uncle once broke into the Hufflepuff common room and single-handedly taught them all a lesson!"

"And also, were he and our Slytherin Head of House, Professor Snape, friends? I saw it in Uncle's notes once…"

"Why does Filch hate Uncle so much? Last time we went to Filch's office, we saw a dartboard with Uncle's picture on it, riddled with holes… And then there's…"

… … …

… … …

Clearly, Ryan hadn't anticipated that his seemingly quiet nephew would rattle off so many questions, all invariably about Charlie Black's heroic deeds at school…

[Seriously, I've been using this app for reading and switching sources lately, it has many voice options for reading aloud, and it's available on both Android and Apple.]

If it were before, he might have been baffled by his nephew's behavior, but after living in the Muggle community for over a decade, he understood that there was a type of person in this world called a "fanatic fan"…

Thinking this, Ryan couldn't help but glance sideways at Charlie, who was sitting one seat away, as if wondering what kind of enchantment he had cast on this poor child to make him so obsessed with Charlie Black…

But Charlie seemed not to have heard their conversation, still sitting upright in his seat, chest out, head held high, with a smile on his face.

As if to say,

"Keep praising, I don't mind…"

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

After a moment of wild thoughts, Lucius finally couldn't restrain himself.

He took a deep breath, stood up, walked around the long table, and came to Charlie, who was sitting at the head of the table.

Leaning in close, he whispered into the other's ear,

"Well… I'm very glad you invited Narcissa, Draco, and me to this Christmas dinner. Actually, I've prepared a gift for you."

Hearing this, Charlie's eyebrows habitually rose, and he subconsciously rubbed the ring on his finger. Then, with a normal expression, he replied with a smile,

"In fact, I've also prepared a gift for you… But in order not to affect your appetite, I think it's better to give it to you after dinner."

As he spoke, a hint of cunning flashed in Charlie's eyes.

"After all, today I've prepared a turkey weighing nearly fifty pounds, cooked by the best chef in the entire factory. If you don't eat it, I'm afraid you'll regret it."

Lucius's eyes flickered. He seemed to know what Charlie's gift was. Without saying anything else, he simply nodded and sat back down in his seat.

Just as the few people were chatting enthusiastically, a sudden knock on the door outside the dining hall caused the noise to stop involuntarily, and everyone looked towards the door.

"Ha, it seems the last one has arrived."

Charlie stood up, casually saying as he elegantly rolled up his sleeves.

"In that case, let's officially begin this dinner!"

With that, he raised his right hand and snapped his fingers in the air.

With a crisp "snap!", the originally dim environment suddenly seemed to be activated, and the lights lit up one by one, completely restoring the originally dim space to its original appearance under the light.

Everyone was caught off guard and subconsciously closed their eyes, blinded by the sudden light.

After a moment, looking around, they suddenly noticed that there were also long tables set with exquisite tableware and stools, extending straight from the door to the innermost part, densely packed with hundreds of them.

"This is, what…"

The crowd was startled by the sudden change. In a moment of confusion, they turned to Charlie and asked.

However, before they could finish speaking, the door reopened with a "rumbling" sound the next second.

"This… Charlie, you…"

Looking at the scene outside the door, even Lucius Malfoy was shocked into widening his eyes, opening his mouth, wanting to say something to Charlie, but he was incoherent and couldn't say anything.

Outside the door, Russell was standing at the forefront, dressed in a bizarre Santa Claus costume.

And behind him were swarms of "Santa's Little Helpers."

Each wearing a green pointed hat, a red jacket, and pointed wooden shoes, the uniformity was a sight that Draco had never seen even at Hogwarts.

"Merry Christmas, Master Charlie! Merry Christmas, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, and young master; Merry Christmas, Ryan; Merry Christmas, Aberforth!"

Russell first bowed, then greeted the people at the long table with a particularly cheerful tone.

After saying it to everyone, he looked back at his master.

"Master Charlie, according to your instructions, I have brought all the house-elves!"

Charlie nodded with a smile, pointed to the empty seat next to Lucius, and gestured,

"Alright, take a seat, everyone. Russell, come over quickly. Once everyone is seated, we'll officially start the meal."

Hearing this, the house-elves burst into a tsunami of cheers, then chattered and waddled into the dining hall, compressing the originally spacious space by more than half.

Looking again in the blink of an eye, the house-elves were already sitting neatly in their seats, picking up their cutlery and starting to laugh and play.

Then Russell also jumped onto his seat unhurriedly, even politely greeting Lucius next to him.

"Charlie… what, what is going on? Why are your… employees here too?"

Narcissa looked around, seemingly seeing so many house-elves for the first time. In a moment of confusion, she turned to Charlie with a bit of disbelief.

"Yes… just like I said, this is a dinner for all my loved ones!"