AU! EWE

Written for Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

House: Thunderbird

Class/Task Number: American Magical History. 1. [Travel] someone acquainting themselves with a new/foreign culture.

Bonus Prompts:

[taste] spicy

Word Count: 3904/4500

Discovering Muggle Things

Thorfinn learns about the Muggle world with the help of Hermione

"Uhh, Venus, what's this?"

Hermione swivelled around in her chair and looked at the item in Thorfinn's hand.

"That's a toaster. Can you put it down?"

"What does it do?" Finn poked the lever near the bottom of the bizarre appliance and dropped it when the lever popped back up.

Hermione pursed her lips to hide her grin. Why did she find his innocence so cute?

"How does this work?" Thorfinn inquired as he picked up the toaster and turned it over to inspect it carefully.

"It makes your toast. Here, I'll show you," Hermione offered and stood up from her chair. She ducked under Thorfinn's arm and turned the toaster upright.

"First, we plug it in. Be careful when you plug it — you know about electricity, yeah?" She asked him, as she glanced up at him.

Thorfinn leaned closer to her and murmured, "Yeah, it powers these things and the lights, yes?"

Hermione smiled. She loved teaching him new things, and he had a sponge-like mind he used to absorb every tidbit she offered him.

"Yes, now, we first slide one piece of bread into each slot. Then, we need to decide how dark we want our toast to be," she said after she'd added two slices of bread into the appliance. "I know you like yours a little crispy, so we'll turn this dial to number 3 or 4. If you want light toast, it'll be 1 or 2, or it can be 3 for medium."

Finn nodded, his eyes trained on her hands. He wanted to be able to make toast properly so he could feed her if she was tired.

"Now, this lever here is used to start the toasting process. We'll lower it down and wait for the toast to be done," she finished and turned to Thor.

"Any questions?" She asked.

"How do I know the toast is done? How does this machine work anyway?" Finn questioned.

"The toaster will make a loud sound that'll probably scare you the first few times you use it," she admitted with a grin, "but you'll get used to it. And how does this work? Well, it runs on electricity, so it uses electrical energy which runs through this wire. There are thin filaments connected inside the machine which heat up when the electric current runs to them. And when they get very hot, the bread in between them gets toasted."

Finn looked amazed at her simple explanation. "How do you know so much about these things? You went to Hogwarts!"

Hermione laughed and teased, "Do you really think I didn't try to keep up with the Muggle world even when I was at Hogwarts?"

Finn whispered, "You're brilliant!"

Thorfinn Rowle, former Death Eater, was one of the few convicts who'd been permitted to leave Azkaban on account of their good behaviour. But their wands had been confiscated for a year and they were all ordered to stay with a known Muggle-born or half-blood who would teach them the Muggle way to do things.

Hermione had been stunned when she'd been assigned as Thorfinn Rowle's probation officer — or more appropriately, housemate.

Hermione had met Thorfinn Rowle back in her first year at Hogwarts in the library. She'd been using a Muggle pen and the fifth-year Slytherin prefect had caught her.

Instead of confiscating it, he'd been confused when he'd laid eyes on the little blue pen she'd been using. In an incredulous tone, he'd asked her what it was.

She'd looked at him surprised and had gasped out, "You don't know what a pen is?"

Thorfinn had scowled, embarrassed, and grumbled, "I'm a pureblood, dollface."

She'd grabbed his hand in hers and had yanked him down onto the seat beside hers. He'd been too stunned at her touch that he'd stumbled and almost crashed into the table.

He'd stiffly sat beside her and watched as she showed him the pen and how easily she could use it to write — without refilling it with ink every few minutes.

He'd secretly been very interested in it — not that he had mentioned it to the little Gryffindor witch. He'd made fun of the pen and had confiscated it, but he'd used it in the confines of his dorm room to finish his homework one night. And he'd been amazed at the ingenuity of the Muggles.

He'd actively searched for her after that, and always found her in the library. She had no friends to spend her time with, and Thorfinn had seen she was lonely.

He had asked her about the butterfly in her hair once. She'd grinned and said that it was a clip. She had instantly pulled out the butterfly clip from the end of her messy braid and had shown it to him. He'd cautiously touched it, in awe of the little details in the fake butterfly.

And then, she'd said, "It'll look great in your hair!"

He'd stared at her with disbelief. He didn't know if she was mocking him or not. But she'd taken the butterfly clip in her hand, stood up on her tiptoes and clipped it near his ear.

Her radiant smile had stopped Thorfinn from protesting.

They had slowly become friends — until he was initiated into the Dark Lord's army at his father's behest.

"Hey, Butterfly, what's that weird thing over there?"

"You have got to be kidding me! You can't tell me you haven't seen a kettle before!" Hermione cried, aghast.

"House-elves would manage our household, Buckwild," Finn muttered, as he ran his fingers through his Viking-gold hair that reached the tops of his shoulders.

"Buckwild, really, Finn?" Hermione chuckled as she took his hand and tugged him over to the electric kettle on the kitchen counter.

"Well, your hair is really wild and savage-like, isn't it?" He teased as he tugged on her curls and watched them spring back, with adoration in his eyes.

"Hey, don't mock the hair," she grumbled good-naturedly and turned to the kettle.

"So, this is even easier than the toaster. What you need to do is simply fill the kettle with water, plug it in, place it on this base here, listen to it click," she said as she placed the electric kettle on its base, "and then flip the switch on and wait for two to four minutes for the water to boil!"

"Wow, and how does this work?" Finn asked as he stared at the kettle with curiosity.

"Electricity. The base has a coil in it through which the current passes through, and the coil turns the current into heat to boil the water in the kettle," Hermione carefully explained.

"But how does the coil work?" Finn asked, bewildered.

"The coil is made of metal and when you heat metal up, it gets hot," Hermione said.

"I wish I'll be able to find something you don't know about!" Finn grumbled as he wrapped his arms around Hermione's waist suddenly. Hermione's laughter sounded like a siren's music to Finn's ears.

Hermione had been horrified when she'd seen Thorfinn with the group of Death Eaters at Hogwarts the day Dumbledore had died. She'd tripped over her feet and had fallen to her knees when she'd seen her friend — her dear friend — with the enemy.

He'd stopped in his tracks and had dragged her into an alcove nearby. No one had noticed their absence — they had been too busy fighting for their own lives.

"What is this, Finn?" Hermione had whispered, hurt at his obvious desertion.

"I swear to you, Hermione, I haven't done anything wrong! I know I am a Death Eater — but I haven't hurt anyone yet. Please believe me," he'd whispered, as he'd cupped her face in his hands gently.

It was the first and only time he'd ever used her real name. He'd refused to call her Granger or even Hermione — he had always called her by different nicknames he'd thought of. And he had rarely called her the same nickname twice. It had always warmed Hermione's heart.

"Then.. why are you here?"

"I needed to see you one last time," he admitted sadly.

"You and I are going to survive this war, Finn! Don't you dare give up on me now!" Hermione had snarled at him, as she'd shaken him furiously.

Finn hadn't replied, instead he'd stroked her cheek and had whispered, "If we ever get out of this alive, I'm going to marry you one day."

Hermione had burst into broken sobs at his defeated tone and had kissed him passionately. They'd stood there, lost in their embrace, as the others had continued to fight.

Extracting himself from her grasp had been excruciating but he'd done it. And he'd cast a soft Stupefy at her. He had placed her down on the ground, dropped a last kiss on the top of her head and whispered, "I'll miss you, my little Hobbit."

"I'm hungry, Pumpkin," Finn whined as he threw himself onto the couch beside Hermione. The couch lurched at his weight and Hermione almost flew up into the air at the sudden distraction.

The heavy tome in her lap fell to the ground as Finn slapped it away and dropped his head onto her lap.

Hermione groaned, "We just had lunch, Finn! Merlin, where do you even keep all that food?!"

"Are you calling me fat, Squirrel?" Finn scowled up at her from his position.

"Ha! No! I just mean you eat.. a lot!" Hermione laughed as she lovingly ran her fingers through his God-goldened hair. Merlin, she was envious of his hair.

"Hmph! I don't like you," he grumbled and buried his face against her belly.

Hermione loved how comfortable he was with her. He was such a big teddy-bear — with work-hardened bulging muscles and suntanned skin.

"Aww, don't lie. I know you love me," she cooed, as she scratched his scalp.

"Merlin, I do. And I'll keep on loving you if you feed me, Whiskers," Finn moaned and shifted to wrap his arms around her body possessively.

"I love you, too, you silly goofball," she said, as she lowered her head to kiss his head.

Finn suddenly whipped his head to the side, pressed his tongue to the seam of her lips and, at her grant of access, delved inside her mouth. Their kiss was steeped in a passion that ignited them from within. It was a full on, open-mouthed kiss that almost seemed sexual in nature.

And Finn loved it. He loved the way she moaned into his mouth and the way she clutched onto his hair tighter and tighter with every stroke of his tongue. He loved the way her body melted against his like butter kept outside on a warm, sunny day. He loved the way their lips molded like two pieces of the same puzzle.

When their lips parted, Finn growled against her mouth, "I'm hungry for something else now."

Hermione blushed, as Finn scooped her up and carried her into the bedroom and locked the door behind him.

They'd seen each other at the Battle of Hogwarts.

Finn had seen the Death Eater hot on her trail from across the courtyard and had furiously cursed the man for daring to go after the love of Finn's life. In turn, she had distracted Arthur Weasley from hexing him a few minutes later.

They'd locked eyes and Finn had known she'd forgiven him for his lapse in judgement. He'd pulled her into an empty classroom and had run his hands all over her body to check for injuries.

"I'm okay, Finny," she'd sobbed as she'd tightened her hold on his black robes.

"I heard what happened in Malfoy Manor," he croaked, as he'd peppered soft kisses all over her face.

"I'm okay," she'd repeated and he'd pushed her up against the wall.

His breathing had quickened as had hers. He had begun to nuzzle her neck with delicate kisses. So faint, they had barely been whispers. She had urged herself to push him away — they were in the middle of a battle — but hadn't been able to. Her limp body had trembled uncontrollably at how close he seemed, yet so far at the same time. He had angled his head slightly to the right as his lips had inched closer and closer to hers. She hadn't been surprised to find her own lips parted. Their breaths had mingled. Her heart had thundered against her ribs.

At first, it had been a delicate butterfly of a kiss. Their lips had met softly, and warmth had infused them from head to toe. But when Hermione had stroked her tongue over his lower lip, he'd lost his composure. Their lips had hungrily parted and the kiss had become more firm, unyielding, more forceful. Their teeth had clashed horribly, yet neither had relented.

It was only when someone had entered the room and found the two snogging passionately in the darkness had they pulled away to breathe.

The student who'd come across them had gasped and almost dropped his wand at the astonishing sight. Finn had whirled around and quickly cast an Obliviate at him.

Before he'd darted from the room, he had kissed Hermione's temple and whispered, "Take care, Brown Eyes. I'll see you later."

"Hey, Peaches, apple of my eye, my little banana muffin, my little bonbon —"

"You're hungry, aren't you?" Hermione sighed as she rolled over in bed to face her boyfriend.

"Please," he begged her, his constellation-blue eyes wide with hope.

"Finn, it's 2 in the morning!" Hermione complained as she sat up.

"But I'm hungry," he whined, petulantly.

Hermione was silent for a few moments as she thought it over.

"Are you mad at me?" Finn asked, suddenly nervous.

"No, I'm not mad at you. I was just thinking which shop would be open right now. We could order something," Hermione replied.

"Order something? What do you mean?" Finn's ears pricked up at her suggestion.

"Come on, I'll teach you how to use the telephone," Hermione stated, before she got out of bed.

"Ooh, that weird thing you talk to your parents on?" Finn asked excitedly, as he quickly jumped out of bed.

Hermione watched in amusement as he pulled on the fluffy pink slippers Hermione's dad had gifted to Finn as a gag gift on Christmas. To Dr Granger's astonishment, Finn had loved it! He even refused to let Hermione wear them.

"Yeah, that's called a telephone. It —"

"- also runs on electricity. Yeah, Mr Weasley told me," Finn said, happily.

If anyone had ever told Hermione Thorfinn Rowle would be friends with Arthur Weasley, she would have sent them to St Mungo's for evaluation.

But now, it was commonplace to see Mr Weasley and Finn discussing Muggle items.

Just the other day, Arthur had gone to the science exhibition held in Victoire's elementary school, with Finn in tow.

The little kids had been so excited to teach Arthur and Finn what they'd learned in class.

In the middle of the night, Finn had snuck out to the supermarket and bought dish soap, vinegar and baking soda — ingredients the kids in class had informed him would make a little volcano.

Hermione had heard a loud blast and had hurried into the kitchen, her hair piled on top of her head. The scene in front of her had been both disastrous as well as amusing.

Finn lay on the ground, covered in the liquid that had erupted from the bottle, his eyes wide with abject fear.

Hermione had taken one look at the fizzing liquid bubbling out of the bottle and his horrified expression, and she'd burst into loud guffaws.

She was brought out of her reminiscing when Finn waved his hand in front of her face.

"Hey, Claws, where's your mind at?"

"Oh, sorry, I was just thinking about the time you made that volcano without adult supervision."

Finn rolled his eyes and muttered, "How was I to know it would burst like that? Merlin, it almost gave me a heart attack!"

Hermione chuckled and said, "If you had just waited for me to wake up, I would have helped you. But no, you wanted to do it all yourself."

"It was terrifying!" Finn laughed at his own foolishness. Hermione laughed as well.

"Anyway, look. All you have to do is dial in the number of the restaurant and wait for them to pick up. And when they do, you tell them what you want. Do you want to try?"

"Uhh.. they wont be able to see me, right?" he asked her, nervously.

Hermione shook her head gently, and replied, "No, they'll be able to listen to your voice, so you won't have to scream either. It'll be just like when you send me a Patronus at work."

Finn nervously nibbled on his lip, but nodded. "I'll try," he choked out, despite the terror that rose in his chest at the thought of talking to a stranger.

Hermione picked up a catalogue from the side table and looked at it. "What would you like to order?"

Finn inspected the list and asked, "Tailor Made, what's chicken curry?"

"Oh, it's an Indian food made with chicken, tomato, lemon juice and a lot of spices," Hermione answered as she glanced at Finn.

"Is it… spicy?" Finn asked, hopefully.

"The usual ones aren't even the real deal. One of the Gryffindors was Indian, you know. She invited us to her house after fourth year, and her mum made the curry one day. It was amazing, Finn! I got her mum to give me the recipe, but I rarely make it because it's so spicy," Hermione said.

"Could we make it now?" Finn gave her the puppy dog eyes as he pleaded with her.

"Really? You want to eat it now?" Hermione looked at him surprised.

"Yes, please," Finn begged her again.

"I won't be able to make it now because we don't have all the spices —"

"We can go to the supermarket!" Finn exclaimed as he quickly shot to his feet, an excited grin on his face.

Hermione didn't have the heart to refuse him. He looked so much like an overgrown golden retriever in that moment. Her heart melted at his insistence, and she agreed. The two slipped out of Hermione's flat in Muggle London and reached a supermarket.

Hermione laughed when Finn picked her up by her waist and tossed her into the trolley.

With a smirk on his face, he said, "Firefly, I like to go hard and fast."

Hermione guffawed at his innuendo and squealed when he raced down the aisles with her inside the trolley.

They returned home with more than just the spices. Finn wanted to buy more cocoa powder and marshmallows. He also found a cute little mug with a witch on it — he thought it was hilarious and wanted to buy that too. He also came across a shocking pink beanie with little lightning bolts embroidered in it that he decided to buy for Harry as a gag gift.

In the kitchen, Hermione taught him how to make the chicken curry.

Gleefully, Finn added the spices into the hot oil and cried out when the oil crackled and hissed.

"Be careful, Finn," Hermione called out as she marinated the chicken with salt, turmeric and lemon juice.

Finn started to chop the onions. He knew Hermione hated that part — so he gladly did it for her. Hermione had taught him how to use the blender a few days ago. He added the onions and water to the grinder and waited for it to reach a thick consistency.

"Is it done now?" Finn asked her over his shoulder.

Hermione glanced up from the red chillies she had been chopping, and said, "Yeah, now pour it into a bowl. Add some water to the blender and add these chillies."

Finn followed her instructions carefully. "Now what?"

"Now, we'll cook the onion puree with a little bit of ginger and garlic paste, then add the tomato puree, then the chilli paste and salt," she instructed.

"What about the chicken?" Finn questioned.

"That goes in after the gravy turns a bit thick," she explained.

"Then, it'll be done?" he asked.

"No, then we'll check if the chicken's done. If it's done, we'll add the rest of the spices."

"Then, it'll be done?"

"Yeah, then we can eat it with the leftover rice," she said happily.

"What leftover rice?" Finn frowned.

"The one in the fridge," Hermione said, a slight frown on her face.

"Uh, you mean the one in the bowl you left last night?" Finn hesitantly inquired.

"Yes…" Hermione trailed off pointedly.

"I'm sorry. I was hungry and I —"

"You finished it? Finn! Fine, we'll boil some more rice," Hermione said as she shook her head amused at Finn's large appetite.

"You're not mad at me, are you?"

"No, Merlin, no! Why would I be mad at you?" Hermione pulled him into her arms and pressed her head against his chest. She could feel his heart thumping steadily in his chest, and she loved the feeling of it. It always made her feel safe and sound.

The day she had testified for Finn had been one of the most terrifying moments in her life. She had feared he would still be sentenced to Azkaban for being a Death Eater, and she had been right.

He had been sent to Azkaban for a year, though he hadn't really participated in Muggle-baiting or any sort of torture. In fact, the only man he had ever killed was a fellow Death Eater during the scuffle outside Hagrid's hut.

As he had been dragged away by the Aurors, he'd glanced back at her and had given her a weak smile. But Hermione had seen the hope that shone through his eyes — and she had known she would see him again. One day soon.

After the curry was done, Hermione poured it over their rice and handed Finn his plate.

"Eat up." She smirked as she watched him take the first bite.

The first bite hadn't done anything to Finn's taste buds. But the second had caused tears to form in his eyes.

"Oh, Merlin, that is spicy!" Finn sobbed as he grabbed a glass of water and chugged it all down.

"Are you okay?" Hermione worried her lower lip as she watched him pour more water into his glass.

"Yeah, brilliant!" Finn gasped as he took a third bite of his food.

"You don't really have to eat it all, you know that, Finny?" Hermione gently placed her hand on his to comfort him.

"No, I love it!" Finn choked out as he shovelled more curry-infused rice into his mouth. Hermione pursed her lips to muffle her laughter as Finn continued to eat.

"I love you," she suddenly blurted out, her eyes fixed on the tears that streaked down his face.

"I — love — you — too," Finn croaked out as he wheezed for breath.

Hermione shot out of her seat and said, "Hold on, I'll get you some milk." She poured some for him into his glass and stood by as he chugged it down.

"Okay, now I'm better," he whispered as he tugged her down into his lap.

Hermione laughed and swivelled around to kiss him sweetly.

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