Easy As Pie…or Maybe Treacle Tart
Harry loved going to visit his godson. Teddy was sweet, smart, and always made Harry laugh no matter how he was feeling before he saw him. Little Teddy just loved Harry exactly as he was. Not The-Boy-Who-Lived-Twice. Teddy was too little to know Harry as the rest of the wizarding world knew him, the one who stopped Voldemort. Teddy loved Harry just because he was fun and kind and played with him. It was one of the few places in Harry's life that was really truly just pure.
He reminded Harry of his mother and father every time he looked on the child. Those were good memories. Teddy's grandmother, Andromeda, was in the kitchen now cooking up another feast. As much as Harry loved Teddy he could honestly say he came here for the food as well. Andromeda's cooking skills rivaled Mrs. Weasley's and that was saying something.
"Ginny's finally done with school now, isn't she?" Andromeda asked.
Oh no, Harry should have known something was up when Andromeda asked him to come to dinner. Usually Harry just popped in and she voluntarily fed him. Planned meals were not so normal.
"Yeah, she was done with school two days ago. They are having a little party for her on Sunday."
Harry reflected on the last year or so of his life. He and Ginny had fought the Battle of Hogwarts together, even though she wasn't supposed to be anywhere near the fighting, and then the had resumed their relationship. It was rough at first. Both had different witnessed different horrors, both had different grief, and both had grown in different ways. In many ways everything was different but in so many ways everything was the same too. Harry was happy when he was with her. He felt free and young and as if he was right where he was supposed to be. She was his safe space and he did everything he could, even while she was at school, to be her safe place as well.
Now that she was done with school everything would change. He liked her being in school. There were rules to how much time they could spend together and when he could see her. It allowed them to reform their bonds with each other and rebuild their relationship to a good place. When she was in school and he was studying to be an Auror everything had boundaries and limits. Now he was going to have to take her out on dates, not just meet her in Hogsmead on the weekend. This was a new kind of relationship that he would have to change and adjust too.
He was a little stressed about the changes there.
Where would he take her? Muggle restaurants? The movies? What would he do to charm her? Should he buy her chocolates and flowers? All of his ideas just seemed to cheesy for Ginny. She deserved the best of the best. Everything he could think of just seemed so ordinary. He didn't know what the next steps should be to show her how much he cherished her.
He couldn't talk to Hermione about this problem. She would just quote him something out of a book or even worse tell him to buy her a book. That was a truly awful idea. Ron, well he couldn't ask Ron how to date his sister! Same with Bill and George, they were her brothers! Fleur was wonderful but, she had her hands full with little with a little baby right now. Maybe he would just ask Andromeda. Yeah, that would be a wonderful idea. She would know something romantic for him to tell Ginny all the things he couldn't say.
"Are you and Teddy going to the Weasley's this Sunday?" he asked her.
"Yes," she said, "We are going. I made Ginny a bed spread for her room to celebrate her becoming chaser on the Holyhead Harpies. Its dark green with golden talons on it! It came out really nice. I can't believe I know someone on such a good team! It's really excited. They were always Dora's favorite team."
Harry smiled. Andromeda had kind of adopted Ginny from the Weasley's after Tonks had died. Not the Ginny lived there or anything but Andromeda had just been sending her owls and care packages during her last year of school. Maybe Andromeda wasn't the best person to ask after all.
"So what was it you wanted to ask me Harry?"
Harry eyebrows shot up. How in the world did she know that?
"Umm… it was nothing. Nothing at all."
Andromeda rolled her eyes. "Oh come now! You forget I was married for years. I know that face. You decided I was the only person you could ask. I watched the whole process play out on your face."
Harry felt ashamed. What a great Auror he was going to be if he showed everything he was thinking on his face. It was all he could do to refrain from rolling his eyes.
"Umm..well…I want to talk to you about Ginny but I've change my mind." Harry told her feeling sort of embarrassed about the whole thing.
Andromeda was starting to look a little annoyed which was scaring Harry. Dark wizards were one thing but he had learned an angry witch was even more frightening. He would rather go toe to toe with Voldemort stark naked that deal with that.
"So there is nothing about this problem in that book Ron bought you for your birthday a couple years ago?" She asked with a wicked smile.
"How did you know about that?" Harry asked in a state of total shock!
"Hermione found it in Ron's things when she was helping him pack to move into Diagon Alley with George. He told her that he had given it to you and you both thought it was a wonderful book. What ever it is you can just ask me Harry." Andromeda decided not to mention that she, Hermione, and Ginny had a good laugh while reading though it right in this kitchen.
"Well…Iwantedtoknowhowtoaskginnyonadate." Harry spoke at speeds that would put his new Firebolt to shame. He could really talk fast when he was nervous.
"Well I don't know exactly what you just said, but I think it had to do something with taking Ginny on a date?"
Harry sighed. He felt so put on the spot.
"I want to take her out to celebrate everything that's happened. Graduating Hogwarts, making her favorite team, and we have been dating for a year on Tuesday. I just want to do something really special and romantic but everything I can think of just seems so stupid and well, not romantic."
Poor Harry, he seemed to deflate as he spoke. Poor boy! Dating was hard work and he didn't exactly have any role models as far as happy couples to look at. Those muggles who raised him, well she couldn't even think about them without her blood boiling.
Andromeda was going to help him.
"Well I was thinking maybe you should invite her to Godric's Hallow and just make her dinner. It would be a really thoughtful gesture and I think she would love it. Can you cook?"
"I can cook a little. Typically I would have Kreacher to help but he is on his honeymoon with Winky." Harry thought for a few minutes.
"Andromeda I think this is a wonderful idea. I have a few cookbooks that my mum had. I could do this. I mean I am almost an Auror! I can make dinner for my girlfriend! Thanks Andromeda! You are just the best."
With a parting kiss on the head to Teddy, Harry walked through the gate and apperated home. Andromeda hoped he choose something easy to make and told herself to talk to him about it at Ginny's party on Saturday.
Except, she forgot all about talking to Harry about it until it was too late.
Sunday, Harry pulled Ginny into the old broom shed.
"You look beautiful!" He told her.
"Thanks Harry. Why are we in the broom shed?" She asked as she smiled and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. "I think I have to be out and around at MY party."
Harry smiled at her. He loved her so much. She always knew what to say to him. It was wonderful.
"Come to my house for dinner on Tuesday night. Around 7. I really want you to be there."
Ginny smiled. She was a little surprised but she really wanted to go and just be with Harry, just the two of them. They hadn't really had much time like that before. They were always around other people, Ron and Hermione, Neville and Luna, Dean and Susan Bones, the entire village of Hogsmead, or just around her family. She had enough family to make a small village. It sounded like heaven to have Harry all to herself for a little while.
"I'd love too Harry but now we have to get back. As much as I would love to stay in here for a while and just hide there are far too many spiders to suite me."
She smiled as the walked off, hand in hand, back to the party.
Harry was on cloud nine, until Tuesday came and he started cooking.
Oh Gods!
He couldn't serve this to Ginny. If she did manage to eat this she would be in St. Mungo's for the rest of her life. That is if it didn't kill her upon ingestion. Based on the amount of smoke in the kitchen there was no guarantee that they weren't all about to die from his culinary attempts.
Harry had looked through his mother's old cookbooks, found the nicest picture of a meal and then attempted to cook it.
The key word here was attempted.
The gravy looked like Polyjuice potion, the meat was so hard it couldn't be cut, the potatoes resembled little gray rocks, and the vegetables were congealing. The desert hadn't even made it out of the over. It exploded and was now plastered to the roof of the little kitchen. There was smoke everywhere but he was relatively sure he had NOT seen any flames which meant that something was smoldering from the inside out.
Oh Gods!
Oh Crap!
Oh No!
He was a dead man. He was going to kill the woman he loved with his horrible cooking skills. Then Mrs. Weasley would kill him. It would probably be really slow too. The woman had killed the most insane witch in the last several hundred years.
Oh God!
Oh Crap!
Oh No!
Why had he listened to Andromeda!
Andromeda!
Why didn't he think of that? He bet she had made something edible for dinner. He could just switch what he made with what she did. He just couldn't let Ginny down. Andromeda probably wouldn't kill him tonight anyway. She really did like him too much. Plus it would probably take her a few minutes to understand exactly what was happening.
He packed up his disgusting mess and apperated to the Tonks house. He couldn't be seen but either Andromeda or Teddy. He climbed in the kitchen window and was bombarded with the savory smell of food.
Yes!
He was saved!
He quickly put his dishes on her stove and packed up her food, including his favorite dessert, treacle tart! He was sure she would wait to kill him tomorrow. That was okay as long as she waited until tomorrow.
He had just one problem; he couldn't make it back out the kitchen window. He really should have thought to bring Hermione's hideous beaded bag with him. He couldn't fit out the window with all this!
He checked the hallway and all way clear. He crept silently out of the kitchen, into the hallway, to the front door, he made it.
"HARRY JAMES POTTER! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH OUR DINNER?"
Oh God!
Oh Crap!
Oh No!
Harry turned around to see Teddy reaching for him wildly but Andromeda was looking just like a thunder cloud. He was done for.
He decided to just explain really quickly and then run for it.
"Look, I'm really sorry but what I made for dinner is rubbish and I can't feed it to Ginny because it will kill her and I'm really sorry but I have to feed her because I asked her to come over and its really important because she has never been to my house alone before and I'm really sorry but I have to take you food now but I hope you will forgive me or at least wait to kill me until tomorrow."
He said it all in one breath and then turn around and apperated on the spot.
She was going to kill him.
Andromeda went back into her kitchen with little Teddy on her hip and looked around. She saw the mess Harry had left behind. No magic in the world would fix that dinner. She decided to wait to kill him until tomorrow. She started cleaning his dishes for him smiling and hoping that everything went well.
Back in Godric's Hallow, Harry and Ginny were eating his favorite dessert in between snogging sessions on the coach. It had been the perfect evening. A real adult-type date and everything went perfectly. Harry smiled to himself; thank goodness he didn't have to tell Ginny that Andromeda made the meal. He would go to Diagon Alley first thing tomorrow and find something to make up for stealing her dinner, but first he would have one more kiss. Ginny had a little bit of tart left on her lips…