Since I was a little distracted from my studies, I was able to look around. No, I crossed paths with some students in the libraries and was together in classes, but there was almost no normal socializing. Besides, if I could paint or make artifacts in my apartment, I had nowhere to do physical development.
And every time to run to the street takes too much time, and especially running around the castle is quite uncomfortable, I have already tried. There are many turns, small and narrow stairs and passages, many doors that do not always open in a human way, but require "special treatment". Even the simple movement around the castle creates a lot of complications. Anyway, I decided to take the matter up with my Dean.
Minerva McGonagall was busy as usual. The Dean was sitting at a large, solid table, piled high with various books, scrolls, and just single sheets of parchment, and was working. By the way, no one bothered me about using ordinary notebooks, pens and pencils for personal notes. Various essays were to be written exclusively on parchment, and only with quills... or fountain pens.
So the woman listened attentively, even nodding thoughtfully at times, agreeing with the old saying "a healthy body has a healthy mind. She thought about it. To speed up the process, I placed a rectangular case on the table in front of her, containing a very high quality and expensive fountain pen with three spare silver nibs. Beautiful and finely crafted.
Of course, it was just a gift, and of course out of pure respect for the Dean's work. Who, by the way, had never shown her face in her faculty lounge during these almost four weeks, unless you counted the first day.
A room, even a practice room, was set aside for me. On the fourth floor I found a large and spacious office, the size of a good gymnasium. I do not know what was done here before, now it is just dust and dirt, although there is some old furniture and a few piles of garbage.
Of course, we couldn't do this without conditions. First of all, the elves will not clean it, as this room is not part of the educational process, so either I have to clean it myself or make arrangements with the elves. Second, I can't prevent anyone else from practicing physical development here.
Thirdly, no potions or artifact experiments will be conducted here, nor will this place be turned into a place of debauchery. That's what she said. It seems like I missed a lot of things, and it should be fixed as soon as possible. Surprisingly, there are even showers in this hall, but they are in need of repair, as are the ugly window frames, doors, and floors. But these are minor details, the main thing is that I have the room and then we'll figure it out.
Then I went to make arrangements with the elves. It's not that hard to find a kitchen if you use your head. I mean, just talk to one of the Hufflepuffs. A friendly tone, a smile, a few unobtrusive compliments, some nice big chocolates, and a lonely blonde girl with two pigtails revealed a 'spooky secret'.
To cement the acquaintance, the girl was escorted into the living room and given a bag of lollipops in various flavors (regular, not crystal). The smiling Hannah offered to call back if there were any more questions or if there was nowhere to put the candy.
I won't repeat how much I dislike house elves, so as soon as the contract with them was finalized, I left the kitchen. The house elves will completely take care of the cleaning of the hall, as well as the repairs, it turns out there are such specialists among them, I provide building materials and pay for the work in gold, in the amount of thirty galleons.
I did not ask any unnecessary questions about the cheapness, and also where and for what they spent the money. I also arranged and hired a cook for two shekels a week, who served me separate dishes according to my order. I also paid for the food, but only if the right food was not available in the school kitchen. Is it worth telling about the shock of the children at the table when I was served classic dumplings with cheese, butter and sour cream the same evening that I drank compote with baked pies?
Wow, more than once I'd been asked about the 'attraction', the few, the Weasley trio, Potter, Granger and five other upperclassmen had even worked up the courage to treat themselves. Of course, I was amused by their suspicious grimaces, but I wouldn't let anyone go further than a few dumplings.
So I said, if they want to, let them solve the problem themselves, at least through the directorate to expand the menu. Luna and the Patil sisters were served without further ado. Oh, I also saw the Man in Black's face twisted in discontent.