"Huh, really?"

"On the black market, the prices are almost four or five times higher than the original, even approaching the prices of some xxxx-level magical creatures."

Newt stared intently at Elena's eyes, and said in a deep voice.

"I remember the original intention of breeding Puffskeins was to explore the possibility of mass breeding and protect the survival environment of wild Puffskeins from danger, right? Where did the first batch of Puffskeins purchased by Gringotts go?"

"Oh, that's right, the first phase of the breeding program was very successful. Let me see..."

Elena casually opened her collar and rummaged in her personal storage space for a while.

Then, she took out a few documents and placed them on the little unicorn's neck, sliding her finger across them and reading softly.

"As of the beginning of November, a total of three Puffskein ranches have been established, covering an area of approximately 16,000 square meters, with an estimated annual output of about 20,000 heads from self-breeding. Well, we have learned some of the management experience of Muggle pig farms, so we got started quickly—if necessary, we can expand this value tenfold within half a year, forming a huge industrial chain that can radiate across England..."

"Ahem—just a slight interruption, I'm not interested in business operations."

Newt coughed and frowned, looking at Elena with a serious expression.

"It sounds like the Puffskein breeding project is quite successful, so why is there such a high purchase price on the market? Wild Puffskeins are even becoming popular. Not to mention the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures' Pest Sub-Division, many magizoologists are hunting them everywhere."

"The reason is that the Puffskein breeding project is running successfully. Isn't that obvious?"

Elena spread her hands triumphantly, explaining with a look of course, and smiling.

"We are now hoarding a large number of Puffskeins. The purpose of breeding these Puffskeins is to sell them—as a meat supplement. It's like the Magical Creature Companion Qualification competition we are going to launch in the school. In this case, we must first use the market to raise prices and attract enough attention. It’s best to turn it into a 'luxury item', so that demand will rise to a higher level..."

"Don't worry, this is just a very short promotional process and will not cause real damage."

She paused for a few seconds, looking at Newt meaningfully, and said softly.

"The Magical Creature Product Safety Regulatory Association should also do its job. Without endorsement from experts in related fields and credible research conclusions, Puffskeins can only be regarded as a kind of game, and cannot be reasonably circulated in the magical market on a large scale like pork and beef."

"Can't enter the market?!"

Newt's eyes lit up, and he subconsciously repeated in a low voice.

"Well, but in this way, the profits on the black market will obviously become higher—after all, people's pursuit of food will not stop. Whether it is the meat quality or the gimmick of magical creatures, Puffskeins will obviously hit wizards more easily than 'Muggle pork'. For example, the Horned Serpent became extinct in Europe in this way. As the number of Puffskeins becomes scarce, it may even become a status symbol for the 'upper class'."

"...Alas, I understand. So, the best thing to do is to promote the legalization of large-scale breeding."

Newt sighed, and reluctantly continued following Elena's words.

He should have anticipated this. As a witch who silently controls Gringotts Wizarding Bank and ascended to the throne of the Goblin Queen, how could she leave such an obvious flaw? These interlocking plans may have been formulated months ago?

"Well, it hasn't reached the large-scale stage yet."

Elena raised the corners of her mouth slightly, rotating the documents in her hand and handing them to Newt.

"The current reserves are almost at their limit. Large-scale breeding must be the consensus of the magical world. In order to reach this consensus as soon as possible, the finished pigs from the first batch of Puffskein ranches will be transported to Hogwarts for tasting starting this week."

"By the way, this is the Hogwarts kitchen menu for the next week. You can visit and guide the kitchen when you have time later."

Elena pointed to the handwritten parchment menu at the bottom of the pile of documents, and added another sentence.

"Don't worry, you don't need to consider the slaughter issue. All the ones transported to Hogwarts have been simply 'inactivated'. When you go to the kitchen, you mainly focus on judging whether there are any hidden dangers from a professional point of view, and update the Magical Creature Compendium information..."

"Why do I have to do this kind of thing?"

Newt interrupted Elena's voice quickly, as if he had been pricked by a needle.

You know, he is a senior scholar of magizoology, not an expert in the field of magical creature cooking!

"Well, because your name is on the list of tasters for the first week. Aren't you concerned about what you're eating?"

Elena blinked in confusion, answering with a matter-of-fact expression, while counting with her fingers seriously.

"In the first week of tasting Puffskeins, there are currently seven people, me, my grandpa, you, Professor Lockhart, Professor Quirrell, Professor Alexei, um... and Miss Ivanovich, each person corresponds to an independent experimental group for comparative experiments."

"Independent... experimental group? Comparative experiment?"

Newt paused for half a second, repeating Elena's words in confusion.

With the exchange of muggle scholars during this period, he could understand what the girl wanted to express.

In non-magical academic research, repeatable experiments, the method of controlling variables... These are the most common scientific verification models, but Newt doesn't quite understand Elena's ultimate goal in doing this, and the basis for the division of independent experimental groups.

"Well, Puffskeins are magical creatures. This means that its tissues may have some residual magical power."

Elena said with a smile, but her eyes gradually became serious.

"This means that, after cooking, 'Puffskein cuisine' can be regarded as a special form of potion, or a semi-finished alchemy product, or a rough-processed magical herb... Whichever it is, I cannot ignore its uncertainty."

"As a qualified chef, I have a responsibility to ensure the safety of all dishes served from the kitchen."

"Mixed-blood magical creatures, elderly top wizards, young ordinary wizards, Squibs, Muggles, young wizards—in addition to the screening at the level of magical creatures, this is roughly the basic experimental group based on magical factors, and it is also the smallest single experimental group. If any of us have allergic reactions or discomfort, then the promotion of Puffskeins will be postponed indefinitely until the problem is resolved..."

"Uh, um... but you only mentioned six classification groups just now?"

Newt scratched his temples, reminding carefully, his eyes staying on Elena's ring finger and little finger that were lowered at once.

When it comes to problems involving magical creatures, Newt's attention can be said to be completely focused. Not to mention the loopholes in the words, even the grammatical errors that Elena accidentally made, he can pick them out one by one without missing a word.

"Well, considering that you and Grandpa are old, I specially set up a two-person experimental group to prevent one of you from dying suddenly and affecting the results—"

Elena glanced at Newt, whose expression became wonderful again, stuck out her tongue playfully, and made a face.

"Just kidding, just to liven up the atmosphere, don't take it seriously—the real reason is that in the event of an accident, you can judge the situation based on your rich outdoor survival and magical creature experience, and guide us to carry out first aid. Or capture that fleeting magical power..."

"Of course, you can also refuse—"

Elena shrugged, and the tone changed, and she said easily.

"This experiment is based on the principle of voluntary participation. You can safely watch from the sidelines and wait for us to give you feedback after the first round of tasting. If you are a little kind, you can also help with first aid or help call for help in the event of an accident?"

"This reverse psychology is too clumsy! Miss Kaslana, I can't—"

Newt raised his eyebrows, and after his lips trembled a few times, it finally turned into a long, helpless sigh.

"Okay, so if everything goes well and there are no problems with the first week of tasting, what are the follow-up arrangements?"

"If everything goes well, and the tasting results are above the positive level, then we will gradually supply all of Hogwarts by grade."

Elena took out her wand and tapped it lightly in the air.

In the air, the Hogwarts Castle silhouette was divided into eight equal parts, and eight grades were marked in turn.

"One month later, we will first expand the scope to 'Master of Magic students', because they are the most consistent with the portrait of young and middle-aged people in the magical world."

"Then, after half a year, we will expand it to the sixth and seventh grades, and from the next semester, we will expand the entire school except for the first and second grades, and start supplying it on a small scale to the entire magical world... Well, I admit that the pilot of the magical society may be a little earlier, but we will pay and explain in advance."

In places Newt Scamander couldn't see, the first three rounds of "human clinical table tests" of Puffskeins had already ended.

The Destiny Group, some Muggles in the former Soviet Union, and Gringotts goblins had already tasted the taste of Puffskeins.

If there is really some strange hidden danger in the future, then Elena's side also has a certain amount of reaction time as a buffer.

In fact, according to the risk assessment given by Gringotts Wizarding Bank, the possibility of "eating Puffskeins" leading to extreme situations is extremely low.

After all, from the anatomical structure and the absolute value of magic power, it is difficult to pose a threat to wizards and advanced magical creatures... Even if there is pathogenicity, in the face of the magical world's causal reversal treatment, it is difficult for "Puffskeins" alone to cause much turmoil.

This series of cumbersome and systematic "edible" attempts was not established solely for "Puffskeins."

However, it is obviously a very good decision to start with "North American long-legged mutant pigs" to try out and familiarize yourself with and improve the process.

"In short, that's pretty much it."

Elena patted the neck of the little unicorn in her arms lightly, stood up, and patted the grass seeds on her skirt.

"You can now consider the subsequent dishes and the reshaping plan of magizoology. Professor Dumbledore seems to be here too. You can find the headmaster directly for matters about teaching and scheduling. It is much more useful than me. As for me, I may be a little busy later..."

As she spoke, she turned around and looked behind Newt.

Not far away, Hannah was waving at her, her chubby little round face full of excitement.

"The dried tofu and beef are all grilled. Can you eat this round, Elena?!"

"Of course! Then excuse me, Professor Scamander..."

Elena twitched her nose, took a deep breath of the delicious aroma permeating the air, and walked towards Hannah and the others.

If she hadn't been delayed by Newt Scamander, she would have eaten at least four or five pieces of grilled dried tofu by now. That is a super rare ingredient that can almost only be found at Hogwarts in the entire UK, not to mention the grilled beef strips cut into small strips.

(The small chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content behind!)

With the seal released, the little unicorn first raised its head carefully and glanced at Elena, then happily ran away.

There, Luna was holding a thick Magical Creature Compendium and looking at it seriously.

The pure golden little unicorn mischievously arched out from her arms, knocking off the thick book in Luna's hand.

"Oh, wait, this is a book borrowed from the library—I'll be scolded if it's damaged."

Luna exclaimed, somewhat helplessly closed the book pages properly, and gently rubbed the little guy that suddenly appeared in her arms.

And next to her, Danilova's eyes seemed to be twinkling with starlight, holding a large handful of tender grass in her hand, expectantly handing it to the pure golden little unicorn's mouth, quietly touching its back with her left hand while it ate the tender grass one by one.

On the other side, Hermione was still carefully grilling other barbecue.

A little further away, Ginny was directing Cho Chang and Cedric to cut vegetables, and the Weasley twins were fighting with reinforced cucumbers. Noticing Elena coming over, the two instantly put down the cucumbers obediently and began to take out their wands and direct the cucumbers to automatically peel and slice.

Harry was helping Cho Chang wash vegetables, and Draco and Ron were watching the grilled fish.

The effect of the Hogwarts Hospital Wing's strong stimulant seemed to have not completely passed, and thin mist was still floating on Draco's head. From a distance, the white smoke was mixed with the bonfire smoke, as if Draco was also a dish being grilled by the bonfire.

Percy and Penelope sat on a high haystack, telling stories to the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor little wizards sitting below.

Irina was taking pictures, and "Miss Peach" was waving her wand to paint next to her.

And on the descending walkway on the distant "horizon", Amos Diggory was explaining to Dumbledore and others who had rushed over after hearing the news, but judging from the professors' expressions, he didn't seem to have the need to explain and explain—no one tried to make a discordant note in this party.

Newt looked around, dazed for a while, and walked towards Dumbledore and others with a wry smile.

Perhaps just as his grandfather's Muggle pen pal wrote back then:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,

it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,

it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,

it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,

it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,

we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,

we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.

————

————

Hooray!