The dark haired man let out a long sigh as he gazed at the strange instructions on the page in front of him. Scratching his head, he squinted through too-big glasses and brought the page closer to his face.
"'Preheat oven to 180 degrees and grease cake tin'," He murmured, casting a wary glance behind him towards the large and deceptively innocent - looking metal contraption tucked in between two cupboards.
Steeling himself, the man crept forward and tapped the door of the object. As if expecting it to explode, he flinched backwards but cautiously moved forward once again when all was silent. Rolling back his shoulders, he took a deep breath of air.
"You can do this, James," He encouraged, as he reached out and turned the oven on with jerky, frightened movements before running back towards the recipe book. Sighing in relief, he turned to look at the book.
James Potter busied himself with collecting the necessary ingredients to make a rich chocolate cake that, he hoped, would cheer up his wife. He smiled dreamily as he thought of her dark red locks and almond shaped eyes, coloured a green so brilliant that, in his opinion, put even the most brilliant spring leaves to shame. As he grabbed the flour, he could not stop himself from thinking that the pale powder could not even hold a light to her glowing skin, occasionally interrupted by small, tiny freckles, which she loathed but he loved. He loved her freckles, as he loved her hair, her eyes and her skin. James Potter loved every little thing about Lily Evans. He had since he first laid eyes on her and he would until he could see no more; until her hair of crimson, her eyes of emerald and her pearl skin would mean nothing to him as his mind ceased to exist in the realm of the Living.
Until that moment though, he would love her.
Having gathered all of the required ingredients, James once again looked over the Recipe book to gather his next move.
"'Using an electric mixer, place all ingredients into a large bowl and mix on high for four minutes," He read aloud slowly.
"An 'electric mixer'", He repeated quietly in confusion.
Running a hand through his untamed locks, he spared himself a small smile as he imagined his wife's reaction – 'honestly James, you just look like a porcupine when you do that!' He let out a chuckle as he opened the cupboard filled with Muggle appliances which Lily occasionally used, and which Lily definitely forbade him from using, after the cookie incident earlier that year.
Choosing not to think of the consequences if he destroyed another microwave oven (it's not his fault if he thought the wrapper was supposed to stay on – how was he supposed to know foil and electricity didn't mix?) he glanced around the small cupboard, feeling rather clueless. He reached a tanned arm and pulled out a small, strange handheld device with two metal devices sticking out from the bottom.
Twirling the metal sticks around, James shrugged and straightened up with the assumption that this gadget was the elusive 'Electric Mixer'.
He jammed the smaller pointy metal sticks into the holes in the wall, as he had seen Lily do countless times. Quickly measuring out the correct ingredients (this was the one thing James could proudly say he was quite adept at doing – it was the only task Lily trusted him with), he flicked the little switch on the wall. Twisting the button on the mixer, James shrieked and jumped in shock with the metal arms began spinning faster than a dodgy Sneakoscope.
Clutching his hand over his rapidly beating heart, he gathered his wits before picking up the still-spinning instrument once more. Holding it steady with both hands, he closed his eyes and plunged it into the mix of ingredients.
James soon realized that wasn't his smartest move.
A shower of flour, eggs, milk, sugar and who knows how many other substances splattered into his face, as he did nothing but stand there in shock.
"James Potter! What in the name of Merlin is going on in here?"
James felt his heart plummet. Switching off the Electric Mixer, he opened his eyes slowly to reveal an incredulous looking Lily Potter (he would never get sick of hearing that) standing in the doorway of the kitchen, gazing at the cake mixture coated walls and her cake mixture coated husband.
"Er, hey, Lil. Why aren't you at the McKinnon's?" He asked, giving her what he hoped was a charming smile (as charming as he could make it whilst covered in a rather large amount of cake mixture).
Lily eyed him suspiciously as she entered the room, setting her bag onto a clean patch on the kitchen counter. "Marlene's feeling a bit under the weather, so I said I'd come back tomorrow. Which reminds me, you told me this morning you were too sick to go to the McKinnon's today!" She said accusingly.
He grinned weakly. "Er, I'm feeling better now?"
Narrowing her eyes, she got rid of the cake mixture that was splattered on both him and the previously pristine walls with a wave of her wand.
"The truth, James." She demanded, crossing her arms.
"Might I just say you're looking extra beautiful to-"
"James."
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Okay, fine. Well, I stayed home to bake a cake."
She raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him. "Obviously."
"I stayed home to bake a cake for you."
Her suspicious demeanor quickly changed to one of flattered confusion. "Oh. Er, why?" She questioned, tucking a lock of long, dark red hair behind her ear.
James scratched the back of his neck. "You just seemed a bit sad yesterday. So I thought, well, maybe if I cooked a cake the Muggle way it would cheer you up a bit. I suppose that didn't really work out as planned, though." He trailed off, gazing at the floor. It just felt like a waste to him. Not only had he not succeeded in baking the cake, Lily even cleaned up his own disastrous mess for him. He felt pathetic and embarrassed.
Lily said nothing. A few seconds later a pair of small brown boots entered James' line of sight on the tiled floor.
"James. Look at me." She said softly, taking his hands into her own warm ones.
He looked up, meeting her bright eyes. She smiled, and leaned in to kiss his cheek softly.
"Thank you. I know it may not have worked out as planned, but it was very sweet of you all the same." She told him, still smiling kindly.
"Sorry, Lil." He apologised with a sigh. "It was meant to be special and instead it was anything but."
She laughed. "I wouldn't say that! I mean, here I was thinking you were going to be running a high fever or vomiting from nausea when I arrived home, but imagine my surprise when instead I come home to find both you and the majority of our kitchen covered in cake batter!"
He joined in with her loud laughter. After it died down, he wrapped her in a hug and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
"I love you, Lily."
"I love you too, James."
Disclaimer - I own nothing of Harry Potter
I saw a prompt for this on tumblr and i just couldn't resist writing it! I feel like James would definitely be so sweet and always trying to cheer up Lily whenever she's sad. Omg I just love them so much :)