A/N: I wrote this one shot for the quidditch league fanfiction completion, for the Holyhead Harpies.
Disclaimer: I own nothing! All rights go to J.K. Rowling!
Cassiopeia Black was bored.
It was the summer holidays; all of her friends were out having fun. And she was cooped up inside the house. Just because of that stupid recipe.
Flashback
Cassiopeia Black was bored. She wanted to do something. She knew that she would be going out this evening with her friends. She was never usually allowed out of the house in the summer.
This opportunity was very rare.
She had decided to wait inside the house; the less trouble she got in, the better. She knew that her parents wouldn't let her out of their sight for a week if she got in trouble.
The most sensible thing to do was to wait in the house.
But she was still bored.
Suddenly, she heard a tap on the window. She looked up from the piece of parchment that she was playing with and saw an owl. Curious, she got up and wandered over to the window to let the owl in. she had never seen it before, it was a screech owl. She knew that her friends had barn owls.
She took the old and yellowing piece of parchment that the owl was offering, and, with trembling fingers, opened it.
It was a recipe.
She stared at the parchment blankly. Surely there was more? A mysterious owl had just flown into the room and given her… a recipe.
Maybe there's a hidden message she thought. She tried everything she knew, but to no avail.
Finally she looked at the recipe itself. It was a cake recipe. It had simple enough ingredients and looked quite fun, so she decided to make it.
Once she had assembled all of the ingredients, she got started. At first it was rather boring, but, after a while, she found it very fun to enchant whisks to see how fast they could mix. It messed the kitchen up and covered everything with flour, but it was all for the fun of it. She just hoped that she could clear everything up before her parents noticed.
Half an hour later, the kitchen looked like the inside of a snow globe, but it was worth it. The mixture was finally ready. She checked the list again to make sure that she hadn't missed anything, when she saw an ingredient that she had forgotten to put in. Powdered Rose.
She scooped up the rose and threw it into the mix as well.
Once everything had yet again been thoroughly mixed, and the kitchen had a fresh coat of flour, Cassiopeia put the mix into the oven. The recipe had instructed that she leave it for 4-5 hours, but Cassiopeia wasn't good at waiting.
I have magic. I'll just speed it up a bit. She thought. She waved her wand over the oven, muttering under her breath.
She sat down and relaxed. The cake should be ready in 30 minutes. She didn't know how she was going to entertain herself until then, but she figured that she'd come up with something or other.
For what felt like forever, Cassiopeia sat in a chair, staring at the oven, willing for it to speed up. It was odd, she thought, that when you were waiting, your senses become more alive. She could hear birds outside, chirping to one another. She could see the trees swaying gently in the wind. All around her was calm. It was peaceful. She slumped on the table and closed her eyes.
Unfortunately, the peacefulness was short lived.
A few minutes later, Cassiopeia heard a small rumbling. She sat up, looking around for the source of the noise, and saw to her great shock that the oven was shaking. As the noise got louder and louder, the oven was shaking harder and harder. Going with her better judgement, Cassiopeia dove under the table to shelter.
The rumbling was becoming so loud that it was deafening. It continued until…
BOOM
The explosion rang in Cassiopeia's ears as silence once again descended upon her. Shakily, she clambered out from under the table. As she surveyed her surroundings, she saw nothing but disaster, oven parts and cake mix. For some reason the small cake had blown the oven to pieces.
She made a lunge for the recipe and looked over it, checking to see if she had missed something. As she looked down, she saw a little note at the bottom of the parchment.
Warning: do not attempt to speed up cooking time. This may cause powdered rose to explode violently
"Cassiopeia Black!" Cassiopeia looked up from the parchment to see her father standing in the doorway. He was very tall and muscular, and he usually looked quite handsome.
But not at the moment.
His whole face had gone bright red, he was trembling with rage, his face showed utter madness and the was an evil glint in his right eye.
Quaking, Cassiopeia tried to laugh.
"Whoops."
End of flashback
Looking back, Cassiopeia should have known that there was nothing right about this. An owl had randomly turned up with a recipe and she hadn't questioned it?
I wonder what would have happened if I hadn't put the rose in? Cassiopeia wondered. Maybe she wouldn't be stuck here, cleaning the kitchen without magic, she thought bitterly to herself.
It's just not fair! She thought. It's not my fault that the cake exploded!
But she heard a little voice speaking in her head.
Actually it is.
Cassiopeia sighed, knowing that the guilty voice in her head was right. She got back to work, sweeping the floor.
It was very late that night when Cassiopeia finally finished cleaning. She was so tired, and she barely had the energy to go up the stairs. She finally made it to her room and lay down on her bed.
Now I know what being a house elf is like. She thought, as she drifted slowly off to sleep.