Word Four: Battered
Battered: Damaged by beating or hard usage.
Tonks coughed as flour entered her lungs. Remus glanced up from his leather-bound book, putting a halt to his reading and standing to aid his wife. He rubbed her back as a small cloud of white smoke emitted from her mouth after her last cough.
"We aren't getting cookies tonight, are we?" He asked, smiling sweetly.
Tonks rolled her eyes. "You and you're bloody chocolate chip pastries! You know I'm not good at baking!"
"Let me help you," Remus easily steered clear of the fight they were about to have, and rubbed her hands free of flour with a towel before washing his own hands under warm sink water and drying them.
"Watch, you have to knead it gently. Keep folding it into itself," he stated quietly, manipulating the dough how he wanted it to go, thus softening it.
"How did you learn how to bake so well?"
"I can only knead the dough, really. I can't manage the oven or mix the batter."
"Yes, but still," Tonks spluttered, a bit embarrassed that she couldn't perform one of the simplest duties a housewife has.
"My Mum kept me beside her in the kitchen often- she always let me sneak a few chocolate chips in between the cookie making process," Remus responded as he plucked a chocolate morsel from the bowl they were all sitting in, and popped it in his wife's mouth.
Tonks smiled and took the dough from him when he was finished, deciding to finish the mixing with a simple spell.
"See though?" Remus asked; a teacher at heart- making sure she understood what had just happened, and not letting himself do all the work with her not learning a thing. "You can't work the dough easily until it is battered enough."
Tonks nodded and leaned up on tip-toe to kiss him.
"I see now. Next time, I can do it all on my own!"
Remus laughed and returned to where he felt most comfortable: absorbed in a book.
Author's Note: I am loving writing these two today. Oh my goodness! Please review, and I will update sooner!
God Bless,
Sarah.