Author's Note: This was fun to write, as someone whose thesis has slowly become their personality. Also, hey. Mermaids! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.
Hogwarts: Assignment #4, Public Services, Task #3 Write about a hands-on learning experience.
Warnings: Alludes to loss of spouse and partner
Currying Four
"You're well, love?" Euphemia Potter asked without even turning around. Lily froze. She'd crawled back into the house to use the restroom and had felt quite proud of herself for getting in unnoticed, her steps presumably covered up by the jazzy music pouring out of the radio. Of course, she wasn't able to get back out nearly as subtly.
"Yes, ma'am," Lily said. Anxiety bubbled just under the surface of her skin, and she was more than ready to retreat back to the backyard where she and James had been sitting in a hammock under the oak tree, with Peter and Remus and Sirius scattered in other shadowy spots across the yard.
"Not ma'am, call me mama," Euphemia said. She waved her wand and the knife chopping the carrots on the counter stopped.
"Yes," Lily said, blushing. The Marauders all called James' mum Mama Potter but Lily still felt new around this big and bustling house—though she'd been there every day this week, and had every reason to believe that she'd spend the rest of the summer doing the same.
"Are you staying for dinner tonight, Lily dear?" Euphemia asked. She looked over her shoulder and looked at Lily with a warm smile. Her hair was tucked into a flowery headscarf, which drew focus to her ears and the golden loops dangling from them.
"I—I think so," Lily said. James had convinced her to stay as long as she could that morning, when she'd arrived upset about Petunia's latest wedding-planning antics. She needed time away from home right now, which didn't quite feel like home without Mum playing as the mediator between her and her sister or her father's usual bounce.
"Perfect," Euphemia said. "This is going to be a good one… James told me you have some allergies."
"Right," Lily said, tugging on her hair. "I can't have peanuts or tree nuts—or sesame seeds."
She chewed her lip, wondering if she'd just ruined Mrs. Potter's dinner plans or flagged herself as an annoying house guest.
"That's what I thought," Euphemia nodded with contentment. "Well, none of that in here—and this is one of the boys' favourites of mine. I'm sure you'll like it too.."
"It smells incredible," Lily said. It was unlike anything she'd ever smelled. The entire Potter estate was like that—there were citrus trees growing in the background that had no business thriving in an English climate, and the entire house always smelled like cardamom and cloves and jerk spice.
"What are you making?" Lily asked shyly, hoping this wasn't a stupid question.
"Goat curry," Euphemia said. "The meat's just there on the counter, I had it marinate overnight. Those boys could easily go through a goat a day if I let them… have you ever had my goat curry before, love?"
"No, but I'm sure it will be delicious," Lily said. Truth be told, other than the sweets that Mrs. Potter mailed to Hogwarts over the holidays—rum cake, Easter loaves, gizzada, coconut drops, bulla cakes, and tamarind balls—Lily didn't know much about Jamaican food. Her curiosity won over her nerves.
"How do you make it?" she asked.
"With minimal magic and lots and lots of love," Euphemia winked. "Would you like to help, love?"
Her stomach tightened at the invitation. James was such a complete and total mama's boy that Lily had been heads over heels nervous about meeting Mrs. Potter. The idea that Euphemia wanted to spend time with her and show her something and make her part of her day more than she strictly had to… well, it was lovely and exciting.
"Of course," Lily said perhaps too eagerly. She reached for the spare elastic around her wrist and gathered up her hair into a ponytail. "Can I wash my hands here?"
"Of course," Euphemia said.
When Lily turned back from the sink with clean hands, Euphemia was lifting the marinated meat out of the bowl of marinade.
"What's in the marinade?" Lily asked.
"A little bit of this, a little bit of that," Euphemia said. "Let's see, there's… curry powder, chili pepper, garlic, salt, and pepper. We'll keep the marinade for later, help make a nice sauce, yeah?"
"That makes sense," Lily said. "What can I do to help?"
"We'll just pat the meat dry and then shred it with forks," Euphemia said. "That's how James' father liked it best—although it took him years to get used to spice beyond salt."
They worked side by side quietly, Lily's eyes darting back and forth from Euphemia's quick and practised hands to her own. This was quite obviously second nature to Mrs. Potter and Lily did her best to keep up.
"Good," Euphemia said. "These are good sized pieces, it'll cook nice and evenly… Now let's heat some oil in the stockpot so that we can brown this meat."
"Why do you use a stockpot instead of a pan?" Lily asked.
"If we use one pot for the whole recipe, the flavours will all get to know each other and mix while we cook," Euphemia said.
"That makes sense," Lily said.
"And then we have less dishes at the end of it all," Euphemia said.
Lily laughed and Euphemia laughed too and bumped her hip against Lily playfully.
"Go ahead and drizzle some vegetable oil in the pot, love."
"How much?"
"As much as you'd normally use," Euphemia said.
Lily nodded and chewed her lip, but followed her intuition.
"I've never cooked goat meat before," Lily said.
"Alright," Euphemia said. "Let me come here and show you…"
Euphemia showed her what to do a few times and walked her through her process a few times before passing the spatula to Lily. She stayed at Lily's side and watched her try it out a few times, saying encouraging things.
"Perfect," Euphemia said, patting her shoulder. "Just like that, love…"
Lily smiled and nodded to herself as Euphemia moved away from the stovetop and to the counter, ready to dice some celery and onions.
"Do you cook often?" Euphemia asked, her cuts nice and uniform. "James tells me you're top of the potions class, but if there's anything being married to Fleamont Potter taught me, it was that cooking and potion-making is wildly different."
"When I'm home, I do," Lily said, flipping the pieces of meat sizzling before her. "Nothing at all like this, but my mum taught me lots. That's how she kept me busy when I was too shy to go play outside with the other kids, but I also liked just sitting with her and watching. I help my dad when I can, now. It makes me think of her too, when I make the things she makes."
"James did tell me you lost your mum around the time he lost his dad," Euphemia said. She offered Lily a small, reserved smile. "Well, here's one more thing you learned to make."
Lily nodded and turned back to the pot before her so that Euphemia didn't see Lily clamp down on her lip in an effort to shove down the feeling in her stomach that may bubble into teariness.
Euphemia finished her chopping and waited for Lily to make her way through the batch of meat. When James came wandering in looking for her, his mother shooed him away because he was being a distraction.
"Now, let me put the vegetables in your pot," Euphemia said, approaching with a cutting board and a knife to dump everything in.
"Should I caramelize them?"
"Mmm, not quite," Euphemia said. "Let's make them nice and translucent, yeah?"
"Yes," Lily nodded, stirring the vegetables and letting them cook down.
Euphemia showed her how to measure out vegetable stock to pour into the pot, throw in the marinade, cooked meat, carrots, and a bay leaf.
"Give that a stir for me, love," Euphemia said, patting Lily's shoulder again. Lily liked the gesture; it was like two little pats.
Lily stirred and listened to Euphemia's soft singing until the latter came back to check on the pot.
"Very nice," Euphemia said. "Do you smell that, love? It's all coming together."
"What next?" Lily asked.
"Oh, now it just needs to simmer for another hour or so," Euphemia said. "Let the meat get juicy and tender, allow that nice sauce to thicken…"
"Oh," Lily said.
"I'll add potatoes in a little bit later," Euphemia said. "Would you like to help me peel them?"
"Of course!" Lily said. By this point, she could navigate the kitchen well enough to find a knife in the right drawer and get to work peeling the vegetables Euphemia brought her.
Technically, after the potatoes were completely peeled, Lily could have wandered away and rejoined the others in the backyard. But she did dishes instead, and then Euphemia dried, and they put all their dishes away. Lily wiped the counters too, and Euphemia swept until the room was immaculate. But Lily didn't want to leave this delicious-smelling and toasty kitchen that had become familiar to her very quickly.
Mrs. Potter didn't say anything either. She simply stood there, looking around as if she was looking for something to do.
"I'm going to make tea," Euphemia said finally. "Would you like a cup, love?"
"Yes please," Lily said with a smile.
"We can sit in the kitchen," Euphemia suggested. "You and I…"
"That would be lovely," Lily agreed.
Stacked with: MC4A; Shipping Wars; Hogwarts
Challenge(s): Feat; Gryffindor MC; Summer Vacation; Seeds; Minerva's Migraine; Old Shoes; Themes & Things A (New Beginnings); Themes & Things B (Loss); Themes & Things D (Pot/Pan); Themes & Things F (Education); Advice from the Mug; Ethnic & Present; Rian-Russo Inversion; Hold the Mayo; In a Flash; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux
Word Count: 1559