Tie Game
Chapter 4- Cooking
The next fortnight passed in a blur of Quidditch practices, preparing for Christmas, lots of homework, and Head Boy and Girl duties. Lily and James had hardly anytime to spare for leisure, let alone their competition. They were both looking forward to the Christmas holidays, when they would both be going home to their families and get a break from school work.
On the last day of classes before the break, James and Lily exited the Potions dungeon. "Only one more class to go." James said in a relieved tone.
"Yeah, I can't wait to get to dinner, I'm starved." Groaned Lily, "All that Amortentia made me smell my mother's homemade apple pie."
"I know what you mean." empathized James, "Hey, here's an idea, " he said coking his head and raising his eyebrows in what most considered to be a charming fashion, "How about, we forget about Muggle Studies, go down to the kitchens and have our cooking part of our competition?"
Lily pursed her lips, "I've never missed a class before…" she said, unsure.
James gaped openly, then he realized he should have expected as much from Lily. "Well, it's something you definitely need to experience once in your life." He said, "And, it's not like you need the lesson you get perfect on every test, and Professor Quigley loves you, she won't mind you missing one class." He grinned at her cheekily, awaiting her response.
A sudden reckless urge seized Lily, "Alright, let's go. One class couldn't hurt." They changed directions and headed back to the first floor. They turned down a narrow corridor and stopped at the picture of a bowl of fruit. James tickled the pear and led the way into the kitchen.
The Hogwarts House Elves welcomed them into the kitchen and immediately began offering pastries and cakes to them. They obviously knew James for they greeted him warmly and asked if he would like his usual. When they explained to them that tonight, they wanted to cook for themselves, they were slightly taken aback, and possibly even a little bit offended at first, but they led them graciously into their magnificent kitchen.
It was the perfect place for a task like this; there were dozens of stoves, sinks, countertops, and cupboards and fridges laden with every type of food imaginable.
"Ok, the rules," said James, "Our meal will consist of an appetizer, an entrée, a drink, and a dessert, we have one hour to prepare the food. Three impartial judges will judge them on taste and on presentation. Other than that, no restrictions."
"Hang on." Lily said, "There is one more restriction; no magic."
"None?" asked James.
"None at all." She stated simply.
"Fine, I'm up to the challenge," alleged James, "On our marks, get set, go!"
They each hurried to separate side of the kitchen. Lily headed to the cupboard for flour and sugar for her dessert because she knew it would take the longest. James on the other hand started on his entrée. The worked in silence for a few minutes, each concentrating on the task at hand until Lily broke it, expressing her worry. "I can't believe I'm skiving off class for this." She said.
"Relax Evans, it's the last day before break, it's not like we're learning anything new. Besides it's Muggle Studies, you're Muggleborn, you know all the course material already. Replied James, "I don't even know why you took the class."
"We've been over this before James, I just wanted to see what it was like to study Muggles from a wizard's perspective!" said Lily exasperatedly. She had been asked this question many times before.
She began chopping various vegetables with slightly more vigour than was entirely necessary. "Why did you take the class then?" Lily asked, even though James who was a pureblood wizard was probably completely ignorant about Muggles and had every right to take the class.
"Actually, to tell you the truth, I had one option left and it was either Muggle Studies or Divination, so I went with Muggle Studies." He replied.
"I don't blame you." Said Lily as she peeked at something inside the oven.
Things went smoothly over the course of the remainder of the hour. Other than a small incident involving a flying bread knife and a rogue potato, things went rather better than expected.
James and Lily put the final touches on their dishes, assembled a panel of three impartial House Elf judges, and set a table for themselves. The Elves were to give each dish a mark out of ten on presentation and taste. The highest total amount of points wins.
They began with the appetizers. Lily brought out three House Elf size portions of "Potato Skins loaded with cheese, bacon bits, chives and sour cream to dip." Lily announced proudly, "It's a family favourite." She was awarded seven presentation points, and nine for taste.
James balanced three dishes on one arm, performed a complicated little pirouette and donned a fairly bad Italian accent, "Bruschetta bread." He informed the judges. He received eight points for both presentation and taste.
Next was the entrée. Lily's dish of steak and mixed vegetables earning her seven points for presentation and taste could not compete with James's Grilled Chicken Breast on a bed of Fettuccine Alfredo which received eight for presentation and nine for taste.
For drinks, Lily had made an interesting combination of pumpkin juice and Butterbeer topped with whipped cream which got excellent reviews from the Elves, eight for presentation and ten for taste. James drink was simple elf made wine but with a touch of Gillywater and a cherry on top. He got eight for both presentation and taste.
Last came the dessert, Lily had prepared the wonderful apple pie she had been craving since potions class topped with whipped cream and vanilla ice cream, which earned her eight for presentation and nine for taste. For a grand finale, James produced a marvelous chocolate brownie with chocolate truffles ice cream, topped with whipped cream and drizzled in chocolate liquor. The judges were astounded and awarded him perfect marks. The final score was Lily-65 points, James-70 points. James refrained from doing a victory dance but with difficulty, though he did remind her that it was a tie game once again. The House Elves congratulated James, then left them to enjoy their meal.
Lily and James sat down to the feast that lay before them. They were both extremely hungry. They helped themselves to large portions of everything. "Wow, this is amazing!" said Lily, indicating the Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo with her fork, "Everything is. Where did you learn to cook like that?" she asked.
"My mom's into all that gourmet stuff," James replied after swallowing a mouthful of steak, "I guess I kind of picked it up over the summer holidays. I actually really enjoy it now."
"Well you really do learn something new every day; James Potter is a very accomplished cook." She said impressed against her own will, "My parents don't really cook much, and when they do, it's more comfort food than gourmet, as you can see."
"It's still very good, just in a different way." Said James sincerely, "Besides, I can't wait to get started on that apple pie, it looks delicious." They cleared their plates and began on dessert.
James was having a lot of fun and did not want to ruin it, but at he same time he wanted to get closer to Lily, "It's a little chilly over here, let's go sit by the fire." He suggested tentatively.
"Ok, sure." Agreed Lily. They brought their drinks and the two dessert plates over to the hearth rug and sat down. They hadn't bothered to separate the dessert onto separate plates so they were sharing a dish. James was enjoying this. He was also enjoying watching Lily. She was sitting on the floor with her legs tucked under her to one side; she was leaning on one hand for support, and eating with the other. While she was cooking, she had taken off her cumbersome robe; she had rolled up the sleeves and even unbuttoned the first few buttons of her blouse. Her long red hair fell around her shoulders nicely and her bright green eyes gleamed in the firelight.
Lily was surprised to be having such a good time. She and James had not had a single argument and they were actually able to carry out not only civil, but enjoyable conversation. Perhaps she had had too much wine and Butterbeer, but she found herself being very giggly and flirtatious.
They did not know how much time had gone by, but they must have been there talking for hours, because a House Elf interrupted them at 10:00 pm, piping, "The kitchens is closing now Sir and Madam."
They got up and hurried out the door. It was past curfew and they would be in trouble if they were caught out late, considering they were Head Boy and Girl. They heard the caretaker's wheezy breath coming from around the corner. "We're done for." Whispered Lily.
"Quick, this way." He said. He grabbed her hand and led her a short way down the hallway, shook hands with a suit of armour which opened up a hole in the wall and led them into a narrow passageway.
"Wow." Said Lily, impressed once again. "How did you know this was here?"
"I have my ways." He said smoothly. Lily chose not to ask. The passage led them almost directly to the portrait of the Fat Lady. They entered the common room to find it completely deserted except for a few fifth years sitting in a corner doing homework.
"Well tonight was fun, I had a really good time." Said Lily, "Maybe we should, er, do it again sometime."
James's face lit up, "Yeah, for sure!"
"Goodnight James." Said Lily, then she did the thing she had been debating with herself whether or not to do all night: she kissed him swiftly on the cheek.
"Night." He said touching the place where she had kissed him, and he retreated up the boys' staircase in a euphoric daze.