A/N: I had so much fun writing this! I initially wrote this with Sirius, then Remus and finally settled on Peter, which I personally think was just perfect for this situation! (I literally titled the document I was typing this on 'James and someone baking' xD).
THC - Round 9 - Slytherin
Class: Potions
Theme: Friendship
Prompt: [Action] Baking a cake
Optional Prompt: [Dialogue (multiline)] "Trust in your gut." / "What's your gut telling you?"
WC: 1,294
Betas: shy-n-great, VanillaAshes, Aya Diefair
~~ Slightly Burnt Chocolate Cake ~~
James groaned as yet another egg cracked on the floor. He'd already had to clean four up. They just kept rolling off the counter while he was getting everything else ready! He grabbed his wand and quickly murmured an incantation to wipe away the mess, all while ignoring the cringing elves around him.
The Hogwarts elves had very kindly been persuaded to let him use a corner of their gigantic kitchen, and also supplied what had, at first, seemed like far too many ingredients to bake a cake. However, it was now painfully clear that there was probably going to be some waste today, and that they had been right to supply too much.
Squinting at the cookery book, which he'd also borrowed from the elves, he tried to make out the next instruction. 200 grams of sugar, stir in gradually with the wet mixture. What the flippity-flip-flop was the wet mixture?
"Prongs! What are you doing here?"
James looked up from the cookery book to find Wormtail looking at him with a mixture of surprise and amusement, both quite understandable, because a) James had never set foot in a kitchen before and b) he was pretty sure he had flour in his hair.
"I could ask you the same thing," he retorted, a smile on his face.
Peter casually picked up an apple. "Just here for a snack, and you?"
James grimaced. "Well, you see, I may or may not have gotten into a fight with Lily-flower and—"
"Wait," Peter interrupted him. "You got into a fight with Lily?"
"I didn't tell you?"
Peter shook his head. Huh. Strange. James was convinced it was the only thing everyone in the Gryffindor Tower was talking about right now, so even if James hadn't told him specifically, he would probably have heard it anyway.
"My bad," James said. "So, anyway. She accused me of not being able to do anything with my two hands apart from brandishing my wand like a baboon."
Peter raised an eyebrow.
"I know!" James exclaimed. "Completely ludicrous. So, I asked Moony how I could possibly prove to her that it wasn't true, because he always has good ideas, and he told me 'Trust in your gut.'"
"What is your gut telling you?" Peter asked before biting into his apple.
James gestured helplessly at the mess all around him, as if it wasn't clear enough.
"Oh, you literally listened to your gut."
"I was hungry!" James protested and his friend simply laughed. "I still am. This whole cake business is a complete failure."
Peter walked over to his mess of a baking attempt and glanced over his ingredients, before picking up the cooking book, and reading down the list of instructions, all while nodding a little. Finally, he put the book and his apple back down and grinned at James.
"I'll help you," he declared.
"Help me?" James stuttered.
"I'm your friend, aren't I? And that's what friends do."
James watched his friend reorganise all of his utensils and ingredients, and wipe the counter down with a flick of his wand. Peter wasn't that good at Charms, so it wasn't completely clean, but he seemed to be perfectly in control of all he was doing, as if he knew what to do.
"You—You know how to bake?" James asked, surprised.
Peter shrugged. "I've watched my mum make apple pie enough to know a thing or two, and how different can it be from Potions?"
He grimaced. Potions definitely wasn't his strong suit, that was more Lily's ropes. He was so thankful when she finally agreed to become lab partners with him, as his grades had significantly improved (and also because he loved spending time with her). Even Slughorn had started to like him, and suddenly remembered some old famous Potter he used to go to school with, and had therefore offered James an opportunity to join the Slugclub.
Baking, while baring similarities with Potions, was actually much harder than it looked. No wonder Mother preferred to let the House-elves do it…
"Well, we need flour first," Peter said, peering down the list. "About 500 grams."
James grabbed the bag, almost spilling its contents on the floor once again, and carefully measured it out into a bowl. Next, Peter melted the butter, while James tried to charm the cooking whisk into beating the egg whites until firm. That wasn't entirely successful, as the whisk eventually revolted and attacked James' poor hair.
"Do we need to melt the chocolate too?" Peter asked once the butter was done.
James checked the recipe. "No—wait! Yes. Here you go."
Eventually, they had mixed all the ingredients in, with only very minimal spillage—or at least, they had successfully cleaned everything away. For two people who had never actually tried their hand at baking before, it was pretty good, and it turned out that James and Peter worked pretty well together.
James was quite surprised. It was true that out of all his friends, Peter was the one who he had probably felt the least close too, but this little baking session just reminded him of why they had become friends in the first place. Peter wasn't the most outspoken, but he was always ready to tag along, and give a more-or-less helping hand. James knew for a fact that if it had been Sirius that had walked in, he'd probably have had more fun, but the cake would've ended in a food fight. And if it had been Remus, his friend would've probably reminded him that the whole point of the exercise was to prove that he could actually do something, without anyone's help, and therefore have been wholly un-useful.
"Now to put it in the oven…" Peter murmured.
James nodded and showed him the oven that the elves had told him he could use. Both boys stared at the appliance as if it was one of the most intricate contraptions they'd ever seen. There was no instruction guide in sight, only this oven, and nothing else.
"Umm… Well, this is problematic," Peter commented. "I guess we could always use magic but…"
"I definitely think the oven is better," James agreed.
Thankfully, one of the elves noticed their distress and helped them get the oven going, though, not without a completely bored, slightly disapproving look towards the both of them. James wasn't sure whether or not to be offended by the fact that the elf had treated them like complete idiots, when in truth, they were.
Once the cake was securely in the oven, James turned to Peter.
"Thanks for your help, mate. I don't know how I could've done it without you."
Peter grinned at him. He had also retrieved his apple from the counter. "You're welcome, though, I don't know how much I really helped."
"Trust me, you did a lot."
There was a moment of silence during which they both simply watched the cake cook in the oven. James suddenly remembered that he had a pack of Exploding Snap in his bag. Retrieving it, he offered a game to Peter, and the two of them played until their cake was slightly over-cooked and the elves were so sick of them they were threatening to kick them out.
Lily had been more than delighted when presented with a slightly burnt chocolate cake.
"I can't believe you did this!" she exclaimed. "And all by yourself?"
"All by myself," he agreed and she hugged him, probably in disbelief that James could actually manage to do something other than 'brandishing his wand like a baboon', and without any help.
From behind her shoulder, James winked at Peter, who gave him a big thumbs-up.
James couldn't help but be grateful for his friend. Where would he be without him?
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)
House: Ravenclaw
Assignment #9: Culinary Arts: Task #6: Bread Knives - Write a Baker!AU or write a scene featuring a character baking something.