Chapter Ten: a Birthday Interlude
Harry got lucky; by the time he reached the kitchen, Remus had vanished into the Floo, sparing him the confrontation that had loomed. He was set to chopping carrots and settled into it peacefully; for all that the topic had been difficult to handle, in the library, he had gained a certain stability from the process of learning some of his history. It helped that he could concentrate on slicing the carrots to exactly eighths of an inch slices as practice for potions, too, and not think about much for a while.
"Mrs Weasley, do you think we should make Dobby a birthday cake? Would he like that?" He said as he swept the carrots to the side of the chopping board and got started on the potatoes. Tornado Molly looked up from her bit of counter, where she was sautéing leeks, peeling the last of the spuds and chopping tomatoes for the salad, all at once.
"Well, now... As an elf he can't eat dairy, milk in particular, but Victoria sponge would be fine as long as you use a jam filling. Do you have something particular in mind?" She said smiling and keeping an eagle eye on the leeks. "It's nearly ready for the potatoes, now dear..."
Harry nodded and hurried to get the last few, which flew over from Mrs Weasley's peeling spell, chopped up into cubes. "Yeah, I saw a rainbow cake on telly once; Dudley wanted me to make it," Harry said ruefully, missing the sad look that crossed Mrs Weasley's face, "I'd like to give it a go, he'd like all the colours."
"Of course he would, gosh, yes... I think it's a splendid idea. We can get to it while the soup is stewing." She gestured to the vegetables Harry had been cutting, "Throw those in now, and we'll put the stock on."
In went the vegetables, with a touch more oil and then the celery and beef stock was poured over the top. As he fished out the soup bones with a slotted spoon he was reminded of Buckbeak and wondered who was looking after him,
"Do you know who feeds Buckbeak? I'll do it for today if it's Dobby's job." He asked as he stepped back from the bubbling soup and wiped potato starch off his hands.
"Oh! I had quite forgotten, yes, Hagrid sends over ferret and mink for him... Here. He gets three a day." She said as she stepped away from the soup and leaned down to the cupboard under the sink to pull out a large crate. She popped the top to show large packages wrapped in grease paper and tied with string.
Harry thought they looked... pretty disgusting really. Each one held three skinned and gutted carcasses, about the length on Harry's forearm. At least the packages were sealed... He hefted one up and Mrs Weasley put the crate away again.
"You go on up, I'll finish off the soup and then we'll be ready for some baking." She said, washing her hands and going back to the hob.
"Right. I won't be long," He said as he pushed open the door with his elbow and headed up stairs. He stuck his head in the dining room on his way past, snorting at the smell of fresh varnish, and said hello to the Weasley's. The twins were having an aerial brush fight with the varnish brushes, pausing every now and then to spread the splattered varnish on the table. It was already looking glossy and new, and the whole room looked bright and clean. Kreacher was there, too, muttering and cleaning the skirting boards.
"Alright, you lot?" He said, over the sound of sloppy brush impacts,
"Wotcha, Harry!" Ron replied with, putting down his bucket of sugar soap which he'd been cleaning the wallpaper with; it actually looked green, instead of gray, in his wake.
"You've been spending too much time with Tonks, Ron, honestly." Ginny chipped in. "How's the history lesson? Mum can be a bit... yeah."
"Oi! Watch it, sister ours, that's"
"Our mother, you're talking about!" The twins chorused with mock insult before charming Ginny's hair into pigtails, making her look like a seven year old; Harry winced and tried not to laugh.
"It was great; Mrs Weasley knows what she's on about." He said, truthfully. Maybe the Weasley children had had their history hammered into them at a young age but Harry was old enough to appreciate it. "I was about to go see Buckbeak, anyone coming?"
There was a mixed reception; the twins declined immediately, but requested any shed feathers they might find, Ron was by his side in seconds, and Ginny followed him slowly, still getting her hair out of the pigtails. "Right then, you can take this." Harry said as he foisted off the meat on Ron. The red-head looked suitably disgusted at the cold, squelchy package but didn't complain.
"What... what exactly is in this?" Ginny asked, poking the grease paper with a wary look on her face.
"Skinned mink, I think. Could be ferret though." Harry said, absently as they fell quiet to pass the entrance hall and make their way up stairs. Ron looked amused at the idea of feeding Buckbeak ferret, which made Harry slightly uncomfortable, understandably. Once they were out of hearing range of the portrait, Ron spoke up;
"Hey Harry, how come you never wrote back? 'Mione was right worried..." He said, looking down at the parcel and looking unhappy. Ginny patted him on the shoulder and looked at Harry expectantly.
"I... well, Hedwig was... um." He failed utterly at making the answer neither embarrassing nor insulting, and gave up, "I was really upset, and she helped out, ok? I couldn't stand to send her away." He knew he was blushing by the end of that, it was better to be embarrassed than to wrongly insult his friends.
"See, I told you it'd be something like that! Why'd you have to go and bring it up?" Ginny scolded her brother, clipping him around the back of the head.
"Oi! Ginny, stoppit..." Ron cringed away from her, hopping up a few steps to get out of reach and walking ahead of them.
"It's alright Ginny; I'll send 'Mione an owl after lunch." He gripped her shoulder briefly as they reached the third floor landing. "Now there're people around, it's not so bad." Ginny looked at him searchingly before nodding back.
"Um... could someone get the door, please?" Ron asked tentatively, still feeling like he might be in the doghouse, and Harry answered with a 'no hard feelings' smile, and a pat on the shoulder, before pulling the door open. Buckbeak was in the bathroom as they filed in but soon got himself turned around and rushed to greet them. They bowed together and the Hippogriff returned the gesture before investigating the grease paper package. Ron put it on the dresser and pulled the strings off, before Buckbeak could make an absolute mess of it. Ginny and Harry kept him somewhat distracted by grooming his feathers and drying off the water around his huge beak, until Ron had untangled the first mink.
The then backed off so that Ron could throw it to the Hippogriff and they wouldn't get trampled in the excitement. It turned out to be unnecessary; Buckbeak snatched it out of the air very precisely and began to tear strips of meat off the skeleton.
"It's good to see him again... The wards don't open for us, on our own, so we don't see him much." Ron said, putting the other two carcasses on the floor for Buckbeak to get at when he wanted.
Harry looked a little surprised, but then thought that it was probably the same as the House giving him the Master bedroom, it saw him as an adult, now. "I'm the Head of the House of Black. I don't think any wards in this place are allowed to keep me out. Wouldn't want to test Snape's ones though."
"Too right..." Ron gave a shiver, while Ginny just laughed at him; she would never be so silly as to try.
"I've got to get back down stairs and make cake. You can help out, if you want." He said as they left their fine, feathered friend to his food.
"Nah, mate. I'm as bad at cooking as I am at divination, I'll go keep an eye on the twins." Ron replied with a wince,
"I'll come!" Ginny said, veritably bouncing down stairs, "It's for Dobby, right?"
"SHHH!" Harry hissed; they weren't that far from the library, where Dobby was still ensconced with his birthday present, or the portrait. "It's supposed to be a surprise! Yeah, it is; we're making rainbow cake the muggle way." Ron and Ginny both grinned at that, being familiar with the elf's enjoyment of bright colours. "I've just got to pop in and see the twins for a second,"
They were done with the table by then; it was looking magnificent, though Harry would probably check it for tricks at some point, just to be sure. He could see why they didn't really mind cleaning though, it gave them a chance to practice; while they'd been upstairs, the chandelier had turned into a magnificent floating and sparkling... something, which may or may not have resembled a tree. Harry was impressed, as always, by their creativity.
"Hey guys, can I ask a favour?" Harry said, standing in the door way. Ron went back to his bit of the cleaning, grumbling about not having his wand and generally complaining about the entire process.
"Sure, mate. What,"
"Can we do for you?" They turned together and beamed at Harry, who quickly outlined his request. He wondered if he'd made a grave mistake when they turned to each other, smirked and Apparated out. He and Ginny helped Ron put the dining chairs back around the table while they waited for the terrible twosome to get back from their flat.
Harry and Ron were just hauling the massive gilt Head of House chair into place when the crack of Apparition sounded again and the pair reappeared. Ginny pushed the last chair into place and then all three went to have a look at what was in the box one of the twins was carrying. Harry grinned as he shuffled the ten little vials around,
"Thanks, these are perfect. No tricks, right?" He asked suspiciously,
"Nah, wouldn't do that,"
"to dear old Dobby."
"Not on his Birthday."
"All right I believe you," Harry said as he took the box and lifted a vial of food colour to the light, it shone jewel-green, much to his satisfaction.
"I bloody don't... good luck, Harry!" Ron commented, prompting the twins to protest in mock outrage at their besmirched honour. Ginny and Harry made their escape while the three were distracted by the application of headlocks and colour changing curses.
They went quiet again as they emerged into the hall, two sets of very quiet feet going down the stairs to the kitchen.
Harry sought Ginny's opinion on the DA once they were most of the way down the stairs and out of range of the portrait;
"Hey, you know what I said yesterday, about the Patronus charm? Well... do you think I could make the DA into a normal club? Or should, even..." he asked. Ginny, being one step removed from Harry and in the year below, had an ear to the ground in a way he, Ron and Hermione couldn't manage, due to their notoriety. She looked thoughtful and pushed the kitchen door open to greet her mum; Harry followed on her heels and did the same.
"Hey Mrs Weasley," He kissed Mrs Weasley on the cheek when she offered it to him and noticed that she'd tidied up most of the lunch stuff, or put it on the table.
"I'll leave you to it, then, do you need a recipe?" Mrs Weasley said as she wiped her hands on her apron,
"Um, yes, just one for Victoria sponge. I can remember most of it but you know how it is." He replied, already elbow deep in bubbles as he washed his hands of any possible nasties Buckbeak's dinner might have had on it. He pulled a denim apron off the hook on the pantry door before putting it on and heading into the pantry proper for flour and eggs. He could hear Mrs Weasley calling from in the kitchen;
"It's on the counter, dear."
"Thanks, mum, we should be done by lunchtime." Ginny replied over the clattering of mixing bowls as Harry emerged with his arms full of ingredients.
"So?" He prompted as he flipped open the cookbook.
"You mean do away with the List and the secretive stuff, right?" She said, peering over his shoulder curiously.
"Yeah, there's not much point in keeping that up anymore, everyone knows about it anyway." Propping open the book with a spoon, he started measuring out sugar and margarine. "We're doubling everything, would you sort the eggs?"
"That's true; after Dumbledore had to leave the school it was pretty much out of the bag." She commented, handing him a fork to cream the fat and sugar together and putting one on the counter to whisk the eggs with. Harry nodded, that had been a gesture and a half; the Headmaster disappearing like that after declaring that he'd been training an army. The rumours had soon sorted it out though, DA members writing home to family spread the truth pretty effectively, as had casual conversations between Order members. Harry thought that Fudge though, the idiot, was probably still afraid of Dumbledore and the mere idea that he might have an army, led by one Harry Potter.
"You'd have to let the Slytherins join, you realize." She said it casually, unlike her brother, and Harry tensed slightly, unsure about her reaction. She was cracking eggs into another bowl delicately and didn't seem angry.
"Yeah, I think that'd be for the best... does that piss you off?" He said, glancing side long at her as she whisked the eggs.
"Language Harry!" Mrs Weasley called from the table, where she was knitting with her chair turned towards the fire.
"Sorry, Mrs Weasley!" he answered with a slight cringe.
"It doesn't, not really. Most of them aren't that bad and we'll have to watch everyone anyway. Was this what you and Ron were fighting over yesterday?" She inquired as she passed over the eggs, an eyebrow raised.
"Yeah, you can imagine what he thought." He put the whisked eggs in easy reach and wiped the scales pan clean of butter. "He apologised for blowing up, though."
"Ohh, lucky you! I usually just get brought one of mum's biscuits." Harry laughed as he brushed his hands off,
"Anyway, I'm going to be actually planning things in advance this year, you feel like helping out?" Ginny did that one-eyebrow-up thing again, as if Harry were dense.
"Are you asking me to join the DA's leaders?" Harry opened his mouth and then closed it again; not entirely sure what that meant.
"Leaders?" He asked, turning to weigh out the flour.
"You, Hermione, Ron? You mostly. You run the meetings; every one listens? Leading. " She said, putting the necessary weights on the far end of the scales while he poured the flour. She sounded distinctly amused, to Harry's irritation.
"Oh. Well... I suppose someone had to do it. Anyway, the group's going to be bigger next year, we might have to split it up too. I could probably use the help, particularly when the firsties want to join." He quirked a grin at her and they both imagined the chaotic groups that sometimes came to watch Quidditch practices.
"Yeah, that'll be interesting..." She eyeballed the scales and told him to stop once they were level, "Ok, I'm in. You should think about giving Neville some responsibility, too, it'd be good for him."
Harry nodded thoughtfully, "Yeah, I think you're right with that one... He's better than he thinks, stronger."
"I've never heard of defensive Herbology, though." Ginny commented sieving the flour onto the sugar and butter.
"Well, the Devil's Snare we had to pass to get to the Stone in first year was pretty evil, we were lucky we had 'Mione's bluebell flames." He replied, adding the egg.
"Good point, and Venomous Tentacular is plain mean." They grinned at each other over the bowl; Neville would love talking about his plants.
They took turns folding in the flour and split the mixture up into seven bowls, adding a different colour to each one.
"What about Luna?" Harry asked quietly; the strange, eerie Witch had shown her skills at the Department, but he wasn't sure how people would take it if he put her in charge of something.
"She's tough, Luna, much tougher than you'd think." Ginny said with a thoughtful frown, "She's probably the best duellist in my year... no-one admits it but everyone knows, and she's nifty with healing charms."
"Alright then, that settles it. I've been thinking that the younger ones should prioritise healing, since we don't do any until fourth year, and the Patronus, along with the usual Defence stuff, I'll see if she'll help out with that." He said, as if making a decision while adding extra blue to a bowl. His voice and face fell slightly then; "I want to give them a reason to keep out of any fighting, I mean most of them will be scared, but when we were first years, that sure as hell didn't stop us going after the stone, or the Basilisk in second."
Ginny gripped his elbow gently, making him pause in his mixing. He looked up, conflicting emotions written all over his face;
"You're doing the right thing, Harry. This war is coming, whether we're ready or not." She looked and sounded like her mother; stern and resolute. "The more prepared everyone is; the better."
"You're right, you're right, it's just... I'm starting to think about them like soldiers, medics... there's something not right about that." He dumped the cake tin on the counter angrily, shrugging off her hand.
"That's not your fault, Harry. Blame the bloody Ministry and Snake Face." She replied, the anger in her voice obvious, as she turned back to the counter, picking up the red mix and shoving it at Harry.
"Right. Stupid, bloody, idiotic, psychotic, melodramatic, thrice-damne-" He rattled off, venting, only to be interrupted by Mrs Weasley's Scary Voice. The one where you could tell she was smiling too sweetly to be safe;
"I understand the sentiment, however, I would appreciate it if you stopped swearing, right this minute." She was standing right behind him and he very nearly dropped the mixing bowl.
"Right! Yes, of course! Sorry Mrs Weasley!" He hurried to apologise and was rewarded with a pat on the shoulder.
"Finish your cake, there's a good boy." She bustled off to get the bread out of the oven and both Harry and Ginny relaxed from their rigid-backed postures.
"Wow."
"Yeah..." They finished the cake, largely in silence.
Dobby, Ron and the twins drifted in just as the cake, cooked, cooled and iced, was put in the pantry out of sight, twenty minutes later. Harry thought that the boys-Weasley had probably been attracted by the scent; the entire room smelled like fluffy, warm, vanilla sponge and jam and Harry'd bet that it'd travelled through the house.
Mrs Weasley put away her knitting and began getting the lunch on the table, truly in her element. All five of them were pressed into service while Dobby put the finishing touches on the Crest.
Since everyone except Snape was already there, Harry was sent to fetch him when he had finished laying the table. He was nervous about interrupting the man, but not as much as he would have been a week ago. He pulled his apron off and tried not to look like a child who'd been helping in the kitchen as he knocked. It was pretty hopeless.
XX*XX*XX*XX*XX*
As Severus opened the door with a wave of his wand, he looked up from his lesson plans; the man-child was standing in the door way, flour in his hair and ... was that white icing on his cheek? The open door let in a wave of air from the kitchen, bringing with it the strong smell of baking and vanilla. While he would never admit it, his mouth decided to start watering and he had to swallow, suddenly hungry.
"Yes, Mr Potter? Spit it out." He muttered acerbically; while the promise of good food had improved his mood, his anger with Lupin had yet to fade completely.
"Lunch's ready, Sir. Mrs Weasley told me to fetch you." He looked nervous, Severus realised as he sat back and dropped his quill on the blotter; he found it... irritating. Perhaps he thought that here, in Severus' lab, that he would suddenly be the target of Severus' traditional ridicule. Understandable, logical even, and yet, Severus found it grating on his patience, particularly so soon after he had berated the wolf for his thoughtlessness in that area.
"Very well, I will be there imminently." He tried to reduce the bite in his voice and was largely successful, as evidenced by Potter's relieved expression. He stood and shuffled his lesson plans into and ordered pile for review and followed him down the short hall to the kitchen.
"Mr Potter, are you aware that there is flour in your hair? It is somewhat... undignified." He commented, restraining himself to a small sneer. Potter laughed; a rather pleasant, soft sound, much to Severus' surprise.
"It's icing sugar, actually; I'll have to have another shower to get it out. Not that I'm complaining though." He rubbed his cheek; Severus imagined that having icing drying on one's face could be itchy, not that he would have any experience, of course. He itched, himself, to cast a cleaning charm over the imp and drew his wand;
"If I may...?" Potter glanced at him and nodded, Severus was stuck with the fact that Harry didn't mind not knowing what he was about to do, with his wand pointed at his head. Foolish, idiotic and absolute trust. Severus gave himself a mental shake and cast the charm, directing it over face, hair and glasses. Oh how he wished he could destroy the blasted things... they made him look wholly too much like his father.
"Oh, thanks Professor." Potter went almost cross eyed, looking up at his fringe. He looked a little surprised, confirming that he hadn't realised what Severus was about to do. He sheathed his wand with a little flourish and swept past Harry with his head held high and a faint sneer, not deigning to reply.
The Weasley's were... civil, over lunch, much to Severus' satisfaction. Had he known sooner that facilitating the Paired Monsters would give him their respect; he would have done so in first year, and damn the rest of the school. Severus even found it within himself to approve of the plainly iced cake that Potter brought out in celebration of the elf's birthday; white with the requisite words painted on top in silver. The creature babbled and blubbered and Severus thought it a far more fitting monument to elf-Wizarding relations than the gaudy, overly oppressive Fountain of Brethren. He had to admit to being immensely pleased that the damn thing had been blasted into smithereens during the battle, even more so due to the damning revelation that the solid gold had long since been replaced by plaster and gilt by an ever-greedy ministry.
He smirked to himself, hiding the action from Potter to his left and Mrs Weasley across the table by taking a spoonful of soup, his poor mood effectively defeated.
As they finished the meal, a much-changed Kreacher arrived to clear plates and bowls. Layers of grime had been removed and revealed the pinkish gray of his skin. His... rags... Severus thought with a shudder of sneering disgust, had been exchanged for a clean pillowcase in the forest green that filled the house. Severus found himself begrudgingly pleased with Potter, to have made such an improvement in the elf's wellbeing, in just two days.
Severus could feel Potter's excitement, glee almost, after the candles were extinguished and a knife was passed to Dobby. Immediately suspicious, Severus glared at Potter, then at the cake, but uncovered no secret magic or tricks that could engender this anticipation. When the elf had cut the first piece, Severus groaned quietly and dropped his head into his hands so he could rub his temples. The sponge within the innocuous casing was in the brilliant colours of the rainbow, progressing from bright crimson at the bottom to purple at the top.
To his utter mortification, a soft, deep laugh came from his left;
"Sorry Professor, feel free to spell yourself colour blind..." He glanced up at an amused Potter, surprised to find him smirking, rather than jeering at him, and watching the distribution of cake.
"That will not be necessary, however if that monstrosity of a confection gives me a migraine, I will be sharing it." He growled, glaring at Harry, but it would seem that the damage was already done; his comment caused Potter to smile quirkily rather than retreat. His ... self-assurance, Severus decided to call it, was part of what generated the mature, adult impression he was giving off. Had Severus not seen him not an hour before with sugar in his hair and glace icing on his cheek, worried about Severus' reaction to his presence, he would have mistaken him for someone very old indeed.
"You'll be having some, then?" Harry, Potter, Severus corrected himself, shot him a pleased look, in response to which he gave a put-upon sigh and waved his hand in an 'as you please' gesture. Pleased graduated to smug before Potter settled down to his cake and Severus turned to his.
It was undoubtedly the source of the enticing vanilla scent he had detected earlier and Severus found it pleasing enough. He was equally pleased to note that the jam filling was raspberry and that the colours had no unpleasant flavourings associated with them, such as the sickly sweet tang of Tongue Changer solution.