The Houses Competition
House: Hufflepuff
Class: Head of House
Category: Drabble
Prompt(s) Chosen: (setting) kitchen
Word Count: 942
Warning for an extremely fluffy slice of fic with a cliffhanger ending which will be answered in my Standard. I'd like to thank everyone who beta read this for me. It truly means a lot that you'd choose to help me out like this. So, thank you all very much. I hope you all enjoy Before the Big Breakfast Nerves.
Before the Big Breakfast Nerves
The scent of the brewing coffee sent a feeling of comfort into Susan's system on what was shaping up to be one of the most stressful days of her life. She'd been dating her partner Padma for about two years and the Indian girl had decided that it was about time that her partner finally met her parents and sister. Not that she didn't know Padma's sister Parvati already.
"You're doing it again, love," Padma said, taking her slightly shaking hand away from the tail end of her auburn plait.
"I can't help it," Susan said, looking at Padma in a slight panic. "What if your parents don't like me? What if your sister doesn't like me? What if I make a fool out of myself?"
"My parents and sister will love you," Padma said, gently touching the shy Hufflepuff's face.
"They will love you because I love you and they want me to be happy. And you won't make a fool out of yourself. You just need to calm down and relax, alright?"
"It's easy for you to say," the panicked girl said. The scent of the coffee wafted towards her promising delicious comfort. "You can make just about anyone love you. Unlike others who have to work harder at it. Like—"
"You don't have to try hard to make people like you, Sue," the dark-haired girl said, smiling and walking over to one of the kitchen cabinets. "Now come and help me with breakfast. They'll be here in about an hour's time."
Padma's optimism did nothing to help with Susan's nerves as she walked towards the fridge and got out the eggs and ingredients to make a traditional English breakfast. She brought them over to where Padma was already preparing the pans to cook the meal.
"Can you get me the butter too?" she asked, taking the ingredients from Susan's hands with a smile.
The kitchen was usually one of Susan's favorite places and one of the most calming rooms in the house. With its sunny yellow walls and polished oak floors and prefabricated cabinets painted to match the walls was a great way to lighten things up. But today, the sunny comfort of the kitchen did nothing to ease the tension that Susan was feeling as she shuffled to the fridge to retrieve the butter.
"Oh Sue," Padma said exasperatedly, "why don't you take the whisk and beat the eggs for breakfast while I go and cook the rest? Would you feel more comfortable with that?"
She nodded, but she doubted it would help in the least. But she wouldn't say that to Padma. Padma would just pull a face and tell her she was making a mountain out of a molehill.
"But what if—."
"Sue, everything is going to be fine," Padma said soothingly, pouring coffee into the mugs that were sat on the counter. "You're going to do great and everyone is going to love you."
"Are you sure?" Susan asked, accepting her favorite cat mug with pink hearts all over it.
"I'm positive about that," Padma said, taking a sip out of her own mug, which was covered in purple hearts.
"Okay," Susan replied, trying to keep her mind off her nerves and instead focus on the task at hand.
"Pads," Parvati's voice rang through the house from the living room while the fire returned to normal. "Are you here?"
"We're in the kitchen, Par," Padma called, smiling at Susan. "This is going to be easy. You remember my sister Parvati from school and Dumbledore's Army, right?"
Susan nodded.
"I'm sure she remembers you too. So it's going to be like old times." Padma took the bowl from Susan as Parvati entered the kitchen.
"What's on the menu for breakfast today, ladies?" she asked, watching as Padma flipped over one of the eggs. "Traditional English breakfast? You know I love that, Pads."
"Of course I do," she said, hugging her sister. She then turned Parvati towards Susan with a smile. "You remember my girlfriend Susan from Hogwarts, right?"
"Of course I do," Parvati said, rushing over and hugging Susan. "It's been a long time since we've seen each other."
"It has," Susan said nervously.
"You aren't nervous about meeting the rest of the family, are you?" Parvati asked concernedly.
"She is," Padma said, looking over her shoulder as she finished up the eggs using magic. "She's been nervously fretting all morning."
"You don't have to be nervous," Parvati told Susan, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Our parents are going to love you. After all, the person you should have been nervous about already likes you." She pointed at herself and smiled.
"Really?" Susan asked, feeling a little bit of the tension drain out of her.
Parvati nodded. "Our parents aren't really judgy about things like this," she said. "All they want is for their children to be happy."
"Are Mummy and Daddy flooing in like you did?" Padma asked, concern coloring her voice for the first time.
"They said they were going to Apparate over," Parvati said just as a knock sounded at the door.
Susan took a deep breath as the voice of an older-sounding version of Padma and Parvati rang through the house. "Padma, Parvati, we're here! We can't wait to meet Padma's girlfriend."
"We're in the kitchen, Mummy," Padma called while floating the plates to the table. "I hope you've prepared for a hearty English breakfast!"
The approaching footsteps put Susan's heart right back into her throat, but she never suspected the reaction she was about to get from the Patil parents as they walked through the kitchen doorway.
I hope you all enjoyed Before the Big Breakfast Nerves as much as I enjoyed writing it.