Chapter 142
After solving Voldemort's problem and returning to a regular school life, the extremely bored Lord Vampire Count recently found a new pleasure——
That is to remotely observe the actions of house elf Dobby through the monitoring function of Hogwarts title deeds. Seeing him going around preaching the beauty of freedom to other elves, I guessed that he would be kicked out by his fellow house elves in a few minutes.
According to Dracula's observation, Dobby spent a relatively long time in the Hogwarts kitchen in comparison.
In order to work, this progressive house elf went to the Hogwarts School Infirmary, the Astronomy Tower, the Owl Tower, the Castle Dungeon, Professor Sprout's Greenhouse and other places to participate in the work of house elves, and for himself in the future. Hogwarts kind help.
But Dobby would often be kicked out by the house elf supervisor on duty after only one day of work.
Dobby's fastest expulsion record was achieved while cleaning the Slytherin common room - it only took him two minutes, and he was noticed by the conservative elves loyal to Slytherin House as soon as he opened his mouth. No, drive him out immediately...
There was a "bang" sound.
This is the iconic sound that represents Apparition.
Dracula looked up from the Hogwarts title deed on his desk and looked at Dobby, who looked lonely.
"Oscared by other house elves?" he asked with interest.
"Other house elves are unwilling to work with Dobby. They think Dobby is a fallen elf..." Dobby wiped his tears and said sadly, "They... they think a house elf without a master is a fallen elf..." Evil and unreasonable heresy."
"This is normal. After all, you are the first house elf to eat tomatoes." Dracula chuckled and peeled off a bloody lollipop and leaned on the soft back of the chair behind him. "The first one to try it. People who do new things will always be tabooed by their peers.”
"Mr. Dracula, but Dobby doesn't eat tomatoes..." Dobby wiped his eyes and said with some confusion, "And... why are elves who eat tomatoes tabooed by their own kind?"
What Dracula wanted to say was stuck in his throat, and he almost swallowed the lollipop in one gulp.
"Ahem...tomatoes are actually just a metaphor. It's not important." Dracula coughed out the lollipop and glanced at Dobby helplessly, "'The first person to eat tomatoes' is a An idiomatic expression used to describe the first person who dares to do something."
"But, are there still people who dare not eat such a normal thing as tomatoes? The first person who dared to eat tomatoes shouldn't be so amazing, right?" Dobby asked in surprise.
Then, the elf seemed to suddenly think of something and began to wipe away tears again, "Dobby knows. Mr. Dracula must also think that Dobby is a depraved and evil house elf, so he used things like tomatoes to Describe Dobby..."
"..."
Dracula's words stalled again.
"If you continue to think so much, I will give you a salary increase, Dobby!" He gritted his teeth and bit the candy bar into pieces with his sharp teeth, then glared at Dobby coldly, "I told you, this is just It’s an idiomatic expression that doesn’t mean anything!”
Dobby was so frightened that he stopped crying immediately.
He hurriedly wiped his hands on his big eyes a few times to wipe away the tears, and subconsciously wanted to dry his wet hands on his clothes.
However, he soon discovered that he was no longer wearing the dirty old pillowcase, but an exquisite small dress suit.
Dobby immediately took his wet hand back and clasped it behind his back helplessly.
"Mr. Dracula, you can scold me, but you must not give me a salary increase!" Dobby said pitifully, "A salary increase is too terrible!"
Dracula rubbed his brow and sighed.
"Forget it, I'm embarrassing you. After all, these sayings are not commonly used in the magical world." He explained, "Here in Europe, many Muggles and a small number of wizards often use tomatoes to describe the first person to make an action. warrior."
"In addition, as far as I know, unlike the term used here in Europe, the East prefers to use the term 'the first person to eat crabs' to describe it."
"Well, let me tell you the story about the first person to eat tomatoes——"
Dobby quickly moved a small stool and sat in front of Dracula's desk, and began to listen carefully.
"If I remember correctly, three or four hundred years ago, around the sixteenth century... a British knight traveled to South America. I forgot the name of that knight. Anyway, he was the one who saw tomatoes. plant."
While Dracula was recalling the interesting things he had experienced in the past thousand years, he told Dobby the story of "the first person to eat tomatoes."
Just three or four hundred years ago, Dracula once attended a meeting on a whim - it was the first time he attended a meeting of the nobility after receiving the title of earldom from the Grand Duke and Lord of this land of England. Joint meeting.
It was also at that meeting that he met the knight who saw the tomatoes.
In fact, tomatoes were originally a wild plant native to South America, and their original name was "wolf peach".
Wolf peach was an ornamental plant at that time, and humans did not discover its edible value.
Because people at that time learned lessons from fungi, they all knew that the brighter the color, the more toxic the plants, such as poisonous crops such as poisonous mushrooms and colorful poisonous spiders...
So there is a local saying——
Wolf peaches, also known as tomatoes, were considered poisonous by experts at the time.
According to locals, people who eat wolf peaches will soon develop pimples and tumors on their bodies, and in more serious cases, it will be life-threatening!
Although the wolf peach is bright red when ripe, with red fruits and green leaves, it is very beautiful and attractive, but just like the brightly colored mushroom, which is highly poisonous, people are still very afraid of it. No one has ever dared to try to take a bite, and they just take it. It is used as an ornamental plant.
"I seem to still have some memory of that knight." Dracula said to Dobby while putting the lollipop stick on his fangs to scrape out the last flavor. "I remember that he was not just a A nobleman, he is also a wizard who is quite good at using magic——"
"In that situation where there was no reasonable way to preserve them, that knight used magic to bring tomatoes into England."
"Because the tomatoes were very bright and shiny, the knight gave the tomatoes to the queen who was reigning at the time... Well, it seems that the queen at the time was little Elizabeth."
"In short, that knight used tomatoes as a gift of love to express his love to little Elizabeth... Since then, tomatoes have been called 'love fruit' and 'lover fruit' by people at that time."
"It's just that even though the popularity of this fruit has been established in one fell swoop, no one wants to eat tomatoes. They just continue to plant tomatoes in the manor as ornamental plants only, or give them as gifts symbolizing love. To a lover.”
"As for treating it as a kind of food? Sorry, no one has ever dared to eat it..."
Listening to Dracula's narration, Dobby was so amused that his tears turned into laughter.
"They don't even dare to eat tomatoes. Those people are even stupider than Dobby!" Dobby's energy recovered and he shouted happily, "So did they eat tomatoes in the end?"
"Well...tomatoes should have really become food nearly two to three hundred years ago." Dracula said thoughtfully, "One person thought that tomatoes were so beautiful, bright, and fresh that they looked delicious. He looked like he couldn't control his desire to eat..."
"So the man tasted the world's first tomato." Dracula shrugged.
The first person to eat tomatoes was a French painter. He had painted tomatoes many times. Faced with such a beautiful and lovely but "poisonous" fruit, he really couldn't resist its temptation, so he came up with the idea of tasting it himself. The thought of what it smells like.
It can only be said that the painter from France is a typical foodie who wants to eat to the death.
He risked his life and ate the first tomato, but after eating it, he only tasted the sour and sweet taste without any discomfort.
But he still firmly believed in the toxicity of tomatoes. After eating the tomatoes, he lay in bed and waited for death.
What happened next is easy to guess. The painter lay quietly on the bed. He did not die after a long time, until he was too greedy to stand it and ate another tomato...
Facts have proved that tomatoes, a bright red plant, are non-toxic and harmless, and can be eaten as a very delicious fruit or vegetable.
The French painter recalled the delicious feeling when chewing tomatoes, and told his friends the news that "tomatoes are not poisonous and can be eaten" with a cheerful face. Soon after, the news that tomatoes were non-toxic shocked many places and quickly spread throughout the world...
"Since then, hundreds of millions of people around the world have been able to enjoy the delicious food brought by this warrior who "dare to be the first to eat tomatoes" risking his own life."
Dracula slowly finished telling the story, his expression slightly dazed.
He told Dobby the story of "the first person to eat tomatoes", originally just to comfort Dobby's injured little heart and cheer up Dobby so that he could continue to maintain the title of progressive free elf.
But when Dracula was halfway through his story, he mentioned the knight who brought tomatoes from South America, and the French painter who was the first to taste tomatoes... He suddenly thought of all the friends he had known hundreds of years ago. Everything has returned to dust and dust to dust.
Now, only Dracula himself and Nico Flamel, who possesses the elixir of life, are still living boredly in this boring world.
From beginning to end, Dracula has no real enemy.
Even though there were so many brilliant wizards, magical creatures who regarded him as their mortal enemies, and the light of justice that wanted to sweep away the darkness... Dracula never really cared.
Because he knows that these figures who lead an era will eventually disappear in the long river of history as time goes by.
Even wizards as powerful as the four founders of Hogwarts have gradually turned into pale symbols after a thousand years, and no one else can remember their former voices, faces, and faces. .
When it comes to Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin, wizards will only think of the four houses of Hogwarts, but not the four amazing geniuses. Gorgeous wizard.
Dracula's enemy is only time from beginning to end.
"...Mr...Mr. Dracula!"
Dobby's voice interrupted Dracula's thoughts.
Dracula's eyes regained focus and saw Dobby's big green eyeballs unblinkingly blocking his face, looking inexplicably scary...
"What are you doing here, Dobby?" Dracula angrily put his index finger on Dobby's forehead and pushed him away from him.
"Mr. Dracula, you just scared me!" Dobby was pushed aside by Dracula's fingers, but his mood became happier. "Mr. Dracula, your expression just now was so cold, I almost thought you He will turn into a devil in the next second!"
Dobby shuddered as he spoke.
"Mr. Dracula, are you really okay?" Even though he was still a little scared, Dobby still said with concern, "Why don't you go see Madam Pomfrey in the school infirmary, I'm helping in the infirmary. She took good care of me when I was..."
"I'm fine, don't worry about me." Dracula shook his head, shaking off the indifference in his heart.
He stood up from the office chair and walked to the window of this office.
Now, Dobby has placed very exquisite and beautiful black porcelain pieces on this window sill. The smooth porcelain pieces reflect the silent moonlight outside the window, adding a sense of tranquility to the office.
On the edge of the window sill close to the side, there is a pot of bright red flowers blooming in the moonlight, which is particularly charming.
Looking at the bright flowers in front of him, Dracula suddenly thought of another guy in his long life who could be called a friend besides Flamel.
"If it's that guy, he should still be alive."
Dracula stared thoughtfully at the flowers in front of him, and then suddenly turned to look at Dobby, who looked concerned.
"Dobby, I'm going out for a few days, stay here by yourself." Dracula said, "Go and tell Riddle later and let him teach the Defense Against the Dark Arts class for me."
"This...isn't this not good..." Dobby hesitated.
"I remember that Riddle has been looking forward to this for a long time, and he also wrote the teachings, no problem." Dracula chuckled, "If Dumbledore asks, you can just say that I continue to be boring like this." Might blow up Hogwarts. He'll understand me."
As he spoke, he stepped on the porcelain piece on the window sill, leaped out, spread his wings, and disappeared into the silent night.
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