Despite the massive load of homework assigned to fourth-year students over the break, everyone still lacked the motivation to write any of it at the end of the term.
Of course, the papers Professor Snape assigned were an exception; his eccentricity was well-known throughout the school... oh, not the entire school, at least the students of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang had already witnessed what was undoubtedly Hogwarts' most intimidating professor ever.
For Snape, this was nothing to be ashamed of; in fact, he felt quite delighted that students from the other two magic schools feared him.
The people in Gryffindor Tower were almost the same as before the holiday, and the tower seemed smaller because the noise level inside was much higher than usual.
In the common room, everyone was busy burning off their excess holiday energy, not caring about observing what others were doing, let alone paying attention to anything else.
Ron was obsessed with his Exploding Snap cards, but after Hermione's reprimand, he didn't play anymore.
The venue for the Magical Creatures Protection Class was still covered in thick snow, and the windows of the greenhouse were condensed with fine droplets of water.
From time to time, explosions could be heard from the breeding ground, mixed with Hagrid's exclamations and Newt's praises—praises for the impressive growth of the Blast-Ended Skrewts.
Even in winter, when passing by, you could smell the strong and peculiar stench emitted by the Blast-Ended Skrewts.
Thus, Hogwarts students deemed the Magical Creatures Protection base as an absolute no-go zone, lest they be tempted to vomit up everything they'd eaten the day before—even if that food was already deep into their small intestines.
No one liked the Blast-Ended Skrewts because they were not only bad-tempered, their smell was unpleasant, and they were very ugly.
Although Cthulhu mythology wasn't particularly in vogue at Hogwarts now, people still liked to describe them using Cthulhu, which Hagrid took as a compliment.
"We've bred the Great Old Ones." He boasted to Mrs. Maxim after learning what Cthulhu was, though she didn't understand what it meant.
However, Hagrid exercised good judgment and refrained from taking Mrs. Maxim to see the Blast-Ended Skrewts.
Fred and George's Canary Creams sold well, even though Miss Malfoy monopolized all the supply, they were adept enough to restock the sold-out inventory.
In the first few days of the holiday, people would suddenly sprout feathers all over their bodies unexpectedly.
But soon, Gryffindor students learned their lesson and became very cautious about accepting food from others, lest there be a Canary Cream hidden in it.
George confided in Harry that he and Fred were developing another new product.
Harry warned himself never to accept anything from Fred and George in the future, not even a potato chip.
Fortunately, all this was confined to the Gryffindor common room, so the professors were unaware, and Gryffindor had not yet turned into Grassfindor.
Fred and George managed this bit rather well.
It wasn't just Gryffindor students playing with Canary Creams; Cassandra was also preparing her naughty little plan.
Of course, it wasn't really evil since she only planned to give Vivi a cookie.
"I still don't recommend you do this." Pabi whispered to Cassandra, "If Vivi eats it, she'll definitely be furious... when she chases you all over the castle, I won't stop her."
In fact, Cassandra hadn't really decided if she wanted Vivi to make such a spectacle.
But Pabi's advice had the opposite effect.
Hmph!
Grindelwald?
Am I supposed to avoid her wrath?!
Now that it's holiday time, meals aren't as fixed as usual, classmates can eat whenever they feel like it, very convenient.
But the English have the habit of afternoon tea, so Cassandra planned to make her move during afternoon tea.
She even spent a hefty sum to have the Weasley Twins research how to prevent Canary Creams from turning people into canaries, and the results were pretty good. At least George, after testing on himself, found that eating Canary Creams didn't cause him to transform anymore.
It was truly a cause for celebration, and Cassandra felt her chances of success had increased.
The so-called afternoon tea is a type of dining between lunch and dinner.
In the 17th century, tea was usually consumed after a main meal to aid digestion.
By the 18th century, as the main meal of the day was moved to between 7:30 and 8:00 p.m., tea became a refreshing agent between the long afternoons after a light lunch and before dinner.
It gradually evolved into the modern concept of afternoon tea. A popular story about the origin of English afternoon tea traces back to the Victorian era, with Duchess Anna of Bedford often credited as the inventor of traditional English afternoon tea, at first simply a personal habit of the duchess, which slowly became an important social occasion for the upper class.
By the mid-19th century, afternoon tea was no longer confined to the British upper class but became a nationwide trend.
"I've never really understood," Vivi said while sitting in the office—originally prepared for Newt, who didn't like the idea of sitting in an office, so it remained unused.