Harry Potter always belongs to J.K Rowling!

It should be posted at Harry's birthday -uh- around 2 weeks ago lol

But whatever, better late than never Shiro said *wink*

Thanks to Wish for beta-ing this!

Let's join Harry/Daphne discord server and have fun together!

discord . gg / pKSdvJQvhU

Enjoy!

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Daphne always knew that despite being really good at potion brewing, she never understood how to cook.

It was really infuriating for her And she realized that something needed to be done about it . He was a wonderful young man that everyone desired, always giving Daphne all the best for her happiness. He always knew and understood her. She knew the fact that Harry always asked her in a veiled way and sometimes surveyed her friends about her, but has she ever done the same? Daphne certainly wasn't really close to Ron or even Neville but she sometimes asked them, like what the most Harry wanted recently. Hermione? They were in a good relationship for sure, but not that close either. Hermione was still reluctant with why Harry chose Daphne despite the fact that she made him happy. So she never asked her. Daphne knew the reason, but she didn't want it to become a big problem and ruin their relationship. Daphne was sure Harry knew too, he just didn't bother to say anything.

Today was 31 July. So, today was a big day! Daphne wanted to make something different this year. With all her power she finally decided to try the most thing she never did, even though she was good at brewing potion. Cooking.

In the minimalist kitchen of her flat, she stood in front of a pot with spatula in hand, stirring the ingredients she put in it. After she thought the smell was good enough, she wasn't sure to taste it, but she knew she needed to do that. It was cooking after all, not brewing potion. She tasted it a little but then suddenly her body shuddered with surprise and immediately spat everything in the faucet. She even washed her tongue with water. The taste was horrible, so salty and bitter at the same time. It was definitely wrong, really wrong!

She took candy from the nearest tin. She liked to keep candy everywhere in her flat or her workshop. She was feeling a bit stupid for not remembering that. The grape-flavored candy dominating her mouth right now. After turning off the stove, she tried to remember what had she done before that made her cooking fail.

"I thought I followed the right steps, but why is it salty and bitter? What's wrong?" Daphne scratches her head while walking to the dining table and takes the recipe book. She looked at it with a sour look and then opened it page by page until find what she's looking for. She read it again lazily.

"three teaspoons of salt, then marinate it a few minutes until the spice seeps in..." she stops reading when she realizes what's wrong with her half cooked food earlier.

"Shit!" Daphne cursed. She remembered that she added it with three tablespoons instead of three teaspoons. Daphne rubbed her face in frustration and then threw the book away.

"Why is it harder than making a potion?! it's not that different!" she muttered frustration, her hair is a mess. Daphne sits in the loveseat and lies down to refresh her mind. Her eyes are watching the ceiling but her mind wanders everywhere, thinking what she should do right now. She didn't want to make Harry upset because she wasn't doing her best for his birthday. Dinner in fancy restaurants was too mainstream, Daphne just wants to spend her time with him, two of them, that's why Daphne insists since a week ago that Harry must be coming to her flat on his birthday, to wear the most comfortable clothes he has. She didn't think her plan to cook for him ended with disaster. Her eyes then look at the kitchen, it looks like the condition after the war, very messy. Daphne breathes heavily and forces herself to clean up the mess. "Come on Daphne, you can do it! Cleaned it before Harry came!" Daphne said, encouraging herself.

Daphne with all of her energy left, cleaned the mess with her wand. "scourgify" she said repeatedly and also using a vanishing charm for the blasted food, she didn't want Harry to know what she had done today before he came. Then suddenly her eyes were stuck to the clock in the wall. The small arrow points to 3 pm. Her eyes widened and she panicked.

"Shit!" she cursed. "what should I do? what should I do? what should I do?" she said repeatedly while walking in a circle, panicking. Suddenly she stopped, walked to the cabinet and took her phone, also the food delivery phone book.

"Right, it's the right thing to do, Daphne, screw trying to cook to impress him!" she said to herself reluctantly while clicking a restaurant's phone number , and ordering food for two of them. Relieved the main problem was solved, Daphne continued to clean her house again, this time she was doing it faster than before. But then suddenly the doorbell rang.

'The courier came so fast' she thought, 'it's not been 10 minutes yet', Daphne went straight to open the door. What she saw was not the courier, but the man she had been waiting all day. His emerald green eyes gleamed brilliantly and his wide smile made Daphne's heart flutter.

Daphne's appearance when she greeted Harry looked so disheveled, wrinkled and dull, thanks to her pretentious cooking action earlier. Harry giggled at Daphne's far from proper appearance and Daphne felt her cheeks blushed heard his voice.

"Hi Daph... can I come in?" He said still with his wide smile. Daphne nods a few times and steps aside to let him in.

"I... I don't know if you will come this early, I thought we agreed you will come at 5? It's still at 3.30 you know" Daphne was too nervous to talk. Her fiance came earlier! Harry made a face like he was thinking so hard, he often did that to tease her.

"Harry!" She scolded and Harry just giggled again and kissed her lips.

"What can I say, can't wait for my party tonight, and you look so cute" He winked at her before walking to the kitchen. Daphne blushed when he called her cute. The thing she remembered after she was sober from his praise was to follow him and try to stop him going to the kitchen.

"Harry—Please don't go to the kitchen, I can— I can bring the bag you brought—" Daphne lost her words when saw his face, "it's not like what you think," she said nervously.

"I bring the food for both of us, you know, I cook it myself" while swinging the food bag he was carrying. He smiled widely at her.

"Yeah— I can see it and I ordered something too," Daphne grinned at him then looking down to her toes. She feels so embarrassed.

"Because— certainly my attempt to cook failed," she said with a small voice.

"Daph— you know you don't have to do that for me, do you?" He said as he approached Daphne who looked nervous from being caught.

"But I want to do something for you, it's your birthday... you always do it for me" she replied, still looking down at her toes. She wanted to cry, her eyes were almost teary. Harry grabbed her chin and lifted it slowly so she could look at him. The two stared at each other.

"Thank you Daph, I appreciate all your efforts today for me— but just seeing you, being with you and you always being there for me makes me happy" Daphne felt her vision blur and immediately hugged Harry tightly.

"Oooh Daph... it's my birthday today, why are you the one who is crying? and where is the cake?" he teased and immediately received a soft smack from Daphne, "prat!" she said.

"Happy birthday, Harry!" She smiled brightly and then kissed him. Hugged him again tightly.

-FIN-