Chapter Seven
They sighed in mutual relief as they processed that it wasn't Professor McGonagall.
"What are you doing, Jack?" the Doctor asked, sounding irritated.
"I asked you a question first," he pointed out, smirking.
"It doesn't matter," the Doctor insisted.
"If it doesn't matter, just tell me."
The Doctor glared hard at Jack, leading Clara to laugh. At the sound of her laughing, the Doctor cleared his throat.
"We're going to the Shrieking Shack if you must know."
Jack sniggered. "Very nice. Romantic."
"We're not a-" the Doctor began instinctively. But that wasn't true anymore. He and Clara were a couple now. He smiled to himself at the thought, forgetting Jack could still see him.
"Oh!" Jack exclaimed, his face lighting up like a child on Christmas Day. "Ha! I knew you two would get together!" He turned over his shoulder, "Hey, Mickey Mouse!" he called. "I told you so! You owe me a butterbeer."
"Oh Merlin," Clara murmured, shielding her blushing face from view, laughing slightly.
Mickey came heading down through a path in the trees, it looked like he'd been in no rush to keep up with Jack. When he got there he was chuckling quietly to himself. "I should have known why you took off," he said to Jack.
Jack shrugged. "I have good eyesight when it comes to house colours and height differences."
The Doctor gave him a confused look, compelling him to elaborate.
"Your house scarves, genius," Jack said, tugging on the black and yellow scarf around the Doctor's neck. "I knew it would be you two."
"But why did you care that me and Clara were here?"
Clara rolled her eyes at how clueless he was sometimes. Jack didn't bother answering, laughing and leaving him to put the pieces together himself.
Realisation dawned on the Doctor's expression. "Oh you wanted me and-ah."
Jack patted him on the shoulder. "Well done."
The Doctor moodily pulled free of his grasp. "I knew that. I didn't know you were that obsessive about it."
"Look, I'm your friend. I just want you to be happy, John," Jack said with mock sincerity.
The Doctor ignored his obvious aim of annoying him with the use of his real name and turned around sulkily, facing the lake again.
"Aw," Clara said, rubbing his back sympathetically. She admitted that she found him quite funny when he was being childishly grumpy.
"Woah I think we better leave these two alone. Wow, get yourselves a room," Jack said sarcastically, pretending to be shocked by the sudden 'intimacy'.
The Doctor continued pretending he wasn't there and Clara looked up to Jack. "Don't," she mouthed, smirking.
Mickey rolled his eyes at Jack's wink. "Come on, Captain Cheesecake," Mickey said, shoving Jack in the arm. "Like you said, I think these two want to be alone," Mickey added, wiggling his eyebrow.
The two of them headed off and once they were far away enough that the Doctor was confident they wouldn't come back he called, "I think Jack is having a bad influence on you, Ricky!"
Clara rolled her eyes. "You're all so mature," she commented.
"I can so be mature," The Doctor said confidently.
She laughed. "I'm sure you can, but until then it's kind of cute."
The Doctor looked to her, his eyes bright. "It is?" he asked happily.
Before she could answer his expression changed to that of uncertainty. "Wait, do you mean cute as in 'yay I've got a cute boyfriend' or cute as in 'he's making such a fool of himself I feel sorry for him'?"
Clara laughed, not admitting that it was a little bit of both. "The first one," she told him, shifting to give him a hug.
He sighed in relief, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. "You know, that is fantastic news because I was starting to worry you just felt sorry for me."
"No, of course not," she insisted, turning her head to kiss his cheek with a smile on her face.
The Doctor grinned giddily. He liked this, just the two of them being all couple-y. He could get the hang of it eventually. He probably should get a manual or something to help him though, he thought. It wasn't as if he could ask anyone about this kind of thing. There was always Rory – him and Amy had been together for ages – but the Doctor couldn't imagine Rory wanting to give him manly dating advice.
Clara pulled away, leaving her hands rest on her lap. "So what do you want to do now?" she asked.
He shrugged. "I dunno. You hungry?" he asked.
Clara tilted her head. "I suppose."
He grinned. "Well, come on then," he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her to her feet. He made to start running but her feet resisted. "I'm hungry, not starving," she told him."
"Right," he said, trying not to sound disappointed. He always liked running. "That's okay I can walk. To the great huge Hogwarts kitchen with it's ovens and ingredients…free to use if the house elves like you…which they do…"
Clara shook her head. She'd told him she liked making soufflés ages ago and he'd always said that they should go to the kitchen sometime, but with Clara not knowing where it was that wasn't as easy to organise so they never got around to actually going.
"Glad to hear it," she said, ignoring his attempted persuasion. They made their way through the grounds to back to the castle, albeit slowly in the Doctor's opinion. Not that he minded holding Clara's hand. That was when they bumped into Hagrid.
"Ah hello!" he greeted them. He must have noticed their intertwined hands because he laughed and said, "You's best be tellin' Harkness to put him out of his misery."
"He knows," they said simultaneously, laughter echoing after.
"Well I 'spect he's having a great day then," Hagrid guffawed, letting his coat shift to reveal small glass bottles in his pockets.
"What're those?" the Doctor asked, nodding to them.
Hagrid's face turned serious. "Nothing," he said, tightening his coat. "Well I best be letting yer off. I'll be seein' ya in class then. G'bye, Clara. G'bye, Doctor."
Hagrid moved around them quickly, walking almost nervously to his hut.
"What was that about?" Clara asked.
The Doctor kept looking after him even once he was home. "I don't know," he answered. "And I really don't like not knowing."
"It's probably nothing though, right?" Clara asked in an attempt to comfort him. She didn't like seeing the worried look on his face. She knew he had a good bond with Hagrid but she hadn't wondered why until now. She didn't ask.
"Yeah probably," the Doctor said, though he didn't believe it. He shook his head as if to shake the memory from his head. "Anyway, we were off to the kitchen," he said, putting his wide smile back on.
Clara gave a small smile. "Yeah."
They headed to the kitchen, their spirits rising higher as they forgot about Hagrid.
"I just tickle the pear yeah?" Clara asked.
He nodded, letting his arm out as if to say 'you first.' Clara giggled, feeling more than a little bit ridiculous as she put her fingers to the painting. She tickled it, the Doctor laughing at her stiffness.
It transfigured into a green door knob and Clara twisted it, peaking in to see an enormous room with a tall ceiling. There were pots and pans and food everywhere. Seemingly scattered but in the right place at the same time.
She giddily grabbed the Doctor's hand and pulled him in. "Oh um hello," she said, waving at the house elves that she hadn't noticed upon first glance through the doorway.
"Hello," the Doctor greeted happily, clearly accustomed to this. House elves approached excitedly; glad to see their friend again. The house elves took their coats and The Doctor made casual chat with them until the crowd of tiny tennis ball-like eyes finally dispersed.
"So, come here often?" Clara asked teasingly.
He leaned his arm against the wall - this was a cool thing, yeah? Must be, he thought. It required strength and steadiness and balance – all impressive things! "Yeah I do. The house elves are really fon-" The Doctor suddenly remembered that he did not have much strength, steadiness or balance at all when his arm slid from the wall and he fell to the floor, instinctively grabbing Clara to keep him upright but just dragging her down with him instead.
They landed on the floor with a loud thud with none of the house elves seeming to care. Luckily for Clara, her fall was cushioned by the Doctor. For a moment they stared at each other in stunned silence before they both burst into laughter, feeling each other laugh against one another.
"Well that was smooth of me," he said sarcastically. "But," he added, "I think right about now Jack would congratulate me." Clara mouth dropped open in surprise at what he was suggesting. "Wow," she said through a soft giggle. "I think he's been a bad influence on you too."
He smiled. "I think you're probably right. I'll go tell him that."
Clara laughed before giving him a soft kiss, her lips barely brushing his when his hand went to her face, deepening it. When she finally pulled away she raised an eyebrow. "You really know what you're doing."
He shrugged nonchalantly. "It's a gift."
She laughed before she blushed bright crimson as she noticed the tennis ball-like eyes on her. "The house elves are watching us," she whispered before bolting to her feet. His eyes widened, he'd forgotten where they were and more importantly, who they were with. He quickly but carefully got to his feet, straightening his bowtie and avoiding eye contact with everybody as he made his way to the cupboards. Clara followed after, careful not to look any elf in the eye. It was unlike her to be that careless, she thought. But given the circumstances of the day she felt that it made enough sense that she would be a little more care-free than she usually would.
"What are you doing?" she asked quietly when she finally had the bravery to speak at all. "Making you one of the best dishes known to… well known to anyone. And by anyone, I mean me. Honestly, I'm surprised this hasn't caught on yet," he replied, pulling a bowl out. He was still flabbergasted that Amy and Rory were the only ones willing to eat it.
"What is it?" Clara asked, intrigued. "Are you gonna make a soufflé?"
"No, they don't have enough spare milk. I checked. It's a surprise what I'm making instead. Wait over there and sit down," he said, pointing to a couch tilted away from the main cooking area. She sighed and obediently went to sit down. She had a great time talking to two house elves. Both of whom were wearing cute little dresses and seemed to love Clara's too.
"We house elves used to be treated terribly," one of them (Molly) said. "Thank goodness for SPEW. Did you know the witch who organised it used to go here? She was always very kind to Molly, Beatrice and the other elves."
Thankfully for the Doctor, the elves had gone to clean some portraits just before they had finished cooking. He left the carefully organised bowl on the counter as he went over to Clara. He rubbed his hands together excitedly. "Okay, you're gonna need to take that off," he said, pointing to her scarf.
Her eyes widened. "I'm sorr-oh my scarf!" She did it first and put it beside her before asking, "Why?"
"I want you to guess what it is," he explained, picking it up and wrapping it around her eyes. "Can you see anything?" he asked.
"No," she answered honestly. Well, she could kind of see blue and bronze stripes but not for long as it was uncomfortable opening her eyes when the fabric was so close. She just kept them shut and awaited the surprise.
The Doctor quickly returned to the couch, bowl in hand. He picked up one and handed it to her carefully, not wanting to make a mess. The texture felt odd but familiar. She put it in her mouth, not expecting the first flavour that hit her tongue. She ate it anyway, her mind ticking away at what it could be.
"Well, I'm pretty sure it's custard," she guessed.
"Correct. You're never gonna get the other. If you do I'll give you a week supply of Jammie Dodgers."
"What are Jammie Dodgers?"
"You'll find out if you guess!"
She sighed, trying to remember. He gave her another to refresh her memory. It wasn't a very normal dish but it was kind of tasty. "Why am I thinking fish?" she asked. Fish definitely did not feel like that. Was it the smell? With her sight cut off she felt her senses were being muffled.
"Ding ding ding!"
"Wait did I get it right?" she asked, shocked.
"As close as you could get most likely if you don't take Muggle Studies. Which you don't."
Clara took off the scarf, blinking to adjust to the brightness. "That looks so ugly," she commented, looking at the bowl of fish and custard. "It doesn't look like fish."
"That's the thing – muggles don't have magic but that doesn't stop them from doing extraordinary things! I think they're fascinating. This," he said, holding up one of the treats, "is a fish finger."
"A fish . . . finger?" Clara asked slowly. She was pretty sure fish didn't have fingers.
"Yes. They cook the fish do a little muggle whizam and pow – fish fingers," he explained, seeming mystified and excited.
"That is fantastic," Clara said, acting more interested than she actually was. "You really think muggles are fascinating?" she asked curiously.
"Of course. They can't just say 'lumos' and have light so they found a way to have light efficiently and without fire. They invented light bulbs! Electricity, etcetera, etcetera. Almost everything they could ever possibly need or want, they found a way to make."
Clara smiled. She never thought of it that way. She'd felt sorry for muggles and certainly admitted that it was impressive how well they managed without depending on magic but the Doctor seemed so genuinely admiring of them.
"Yeah, that's pretty cool," she agreed.
"Oi you're stealing my word, Oswald!" he complained, pretending to be offended.
She shoved him jokingly, careful not to let the custard spill all over him. They finished the small bowl of fish fingers and stayed in the kitchen for two hours or so before dinner, sometimes talking to the house elves, sometimes talking to each other and for a while, playing pirates with giant spoons and out of use pots (Clara was convinced he cheated).
"So, are we still on for after?" he asked quietly before they entered the Great Hall.
"Fine," Clara answered plainly.
"Fine? Well alright. See you then, Soufflé Girl."
"I'll see you, Chin Boy."
*A/N: Thank you for reading, I hope you liked it. Please let me know your thoughts because it encourages me to write more which I should really be doing rather than browsing Amazon for things I can't afford.