Page 5 | Issue 88

Who Should go on the next Quibbler Quest?

Quibbler Quest

"Brownie Points"

It was a sunny afternoon, and I was with a group of Ravenclaws stumbling up several flights of stairs to our Common Room after an intense game of Quidditch. We were exhausted and still in our Quidditch robes, visibly jealous of the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins whose Common Rooms were more easily accessible for stair-haters. At least Gryffindors were in the same boat as us. Once at the Common Room entrance, we were met with the most puzzling riddle, which took us Codenames logic to solve. Needless to say, I was exasperated, and a mysterious note found underneath the eagle door knocker was just about to turn my day around.

It was written in familiar, neat handwriting, but I still couldn’t quite place my finger on its author. The letter read:

“Dear Lottie,
Meet me at the Greenhouses at 8 pm. Bring brownies.
Kind wishes,
mH’s Brownie Expert”

Straight to the point and sensible, but did that mean I had been caught red-handed? Admittedly, the previous weekend I had snuck into the kitchens to bake some brownies and forgot to clean up after myself. It was inconsiderate, so I wasn’t surprised if the person who did that for me wanted some brownies too. I totally understood and made a mental note to never make the same mistake again. My next task seemed obvious: Head to the kitchens and get cracking (literally).

Even if it required overcoming several flights of stairs again, brownies were worth it. I took out a crumpled piece of parchment with my grandma’s brownie recipe, which I always keep on hand in case of emergencies and squinted at the ingredient list. To my surprise, everything was easily available: 200g of butter, baking powder, 480g of sugar, four eggs, 200g of dark chocolate, 200g of flour and even 125g of marzipan (the secret to the brownies’ extra fudginess).

Grandma Geraldine always used to say “Baking is Muggles’ Potions class”, but I didn’t understand what she had meant up until then. After fiddling around with my brass scales, it was time for the real fun to begin. With 480g (16 oz) of sugar poured into a bowl, I proceeded to melt 200g (7 oz) of butter with a weak Fire-Making Spell and mixed the two together the Muggle way. Manual labour makes everything more satisfying. Next, once the mixture had cooled, I cracked four eggs into the bowl. However, melting the dark chocolate was a more painstaking process, as it had to be done in a glass bowl over boiling water for the heat to spread evenly, which also took longer. Impatient again, I poured the melted chocolate into the brownie batter and stirred angrily. Afterwards, all that was left was to add one teaspoon of baking powder, 200g (7 oz) of sifted flour and marzipan. Marzipan is a must-have, as its moisture gives the brownies their delicious fudginess. Having left the sweet treats to bake for 50 minutes at 180°C (350°F), I made sure to carefully clean my workstation with the Scouring Charm. After all, mistakes are made so that we can learn from them.

Nonetheless, with baking brownies crossed off my to-do list, 8 pm couldn’t come quickly enough. For the remainder of that day, my mind was preoccupied with who I’d encounter at the Greenhouses. I tried to keep myself distracted, as I didn’t want to make unfair assumptions. It really could have been anyone and they could have also been keeping an eye on me, which is why I didn’t dare to touch the brownies first. When the clock finally sounded eight times, I turned into ninja Lottie, sneaking off all the way to the Greenhouses from my dorm, hiding in alcoves upon hearing Filch’s footsteps (they sounded grumpy and were followed by a cat’s).

Having arrived at my destination, an eerie chill came over me. It was pitch black and all I could see were faint silhouettes of various magical plants in the moonlight filtering through the glass. All was silent bar the growling of a Venomous Tentacula. I immediately thought to myself: “Am I early? Or had my efforts been in vain? Perhaps my blackmailer was Peeves? How dare he!”. With my fists clenched, I dumped the plate of brownies on the ground in outrage and turned to leave. However, at that moment, I felt someone’s gaze burning into the back of my head. The clinking of the plate came next, but when I peeked, there was nobody there. Where I left the brownies, only brown fur remained… To this day, a mysterious brownie-loving Animagus roams the halls of Hogwarts unpunished and who knows? You might be their next target...