Author 1's Disclaimer: Now, I'm willing to bet that over half of you readers don't read the disclaimers. I know, because I don't. But I'm still going to put a lot of effort into the disclaimers. And if you don't read disclaimers, you'd better watch it, because when I'm through with you, your favorite -and only- hobby will be cultivating mushrooms. So...here goes. Sigh. Okay, I do not own any of the characters that are found in any published book with Harry Potter in it's name. There. That good enough? No? Well, you don't own them either, so I suggest you SHUT YOUR MOUTH before I shut it for you. Thank you, and have a nice day.
Author 2's Disclaimer: Hello, peoples! This is the first time, as you may have noticed, that we have written separate disclaimers. But, the same information is in both. We don't own J.K. Rowling's awesome characters, but we have some of our own. If you have even skimmed through Harry Potter books, you should be able to tell quite easily. Now the reason behind the 2 disclaimers...is because I (Author 2) think that we Authors should be SUPER NICE to our readers, and frankly Author 1's disclaimer, though I, being a friend of Author 1, know that Author 1 would never do anything mean to anyone intentionally, is not the nicest thing ever. SOOOO, just to clear the air, I have written a second disclaimer, and hope that it will do well to our readers!
Author's 1's Note: How was the last chapter? Long, that's what. The four of us had a big confusion writing this chapter, but it is all sorted out now. Ugh, it was confusing. But like Author 2 said, "All's well that ends well!" Oh, I feel like drinking tea. Maybe I will... What kind of tea do you like? My favorite? Hmm...I really like vanilla black tea. I drank it at Author 3's house, at a tea party. It was deeeelicious. Okay, though, you're probably getting bored with me. On with the story...
Author's 3's Note: I am Author 3! The one you guys haven't met yet (Well, I have t written very personal messages but you have heard from me)! Okay, so about our disclaimer, Author 1 did not mean to offend anyone. And cultivating mushrooms... well... one of the authors and I(the one who hosted the tea party) have a great liking for anime/manga, so whenever the characters get all depressed and sit in corners with dark clouds above them we call it 'mushroom cultivation' and whenever bad things happen to us, we sit down and yell 'mushroom cultivation!'. We actually started a kind of club thing for it too ^'^. Yeah, so enjoy, and prepare for a whole lot of action!
Love, Author 1, 2, and 3
"Lara! Lara!" whispered Lily, gently shaking her friend awake.
"Mmmmm..." Lara turned around sleepily. "Mom?" She yawned and shoved her head back into the pillow.
"Do I look like your mom?" Lily hissed and several girls stirred. Lily looked around apologetically. "Lara!" She sighed. This was NOT working.
Lily turned and headed toward one of her, hopefully, more reliable friends. "Hey, Nadia! Nadia! Wake up!"
Nadia didn't even move.
"Is she alive?" Lily said, shuddering, and put her ear close to her friend's face. Nadia sneezed loudly.
"Ow!" Lily leaped up, surprised, and rubbed her ear. "Too alive!" she muttered, frustrated. She needed another plan. Definitely. Lily looked around for ideas, and Death, slinking around the sleeping dorm, caught Lily's eye.
"Ah-ha!" Lily smiled, and brought her lips close to Nadia's ear. "Nadia!"
The sleeping girl didn't stir.
"Death is sick!" Lily whispered lightly.
"WHAT!" Nadia bolted up from her bed. "What happened to Death? Is Death dying?"
Lily laughed. "How can Death die?"
Nadia's glare sent shivers up Lily's spine "What happened to Death?You woke me up saying she was ill, and now you're laughing. Shut your mouth and tell me!"
Lily was slowly backing away. Any other time she would have retorted, "How can I tell you and shut my mouth at the same time?" but Nadia's eyes were too frightening."Ummm, she's fine. I just...wanted to get you awake," she confessed meekly.
"Don't you ever do that again! I don't care if you're my best friend, I will do something scary to you. On my terms scary."
Lily nodded. Something on "Nadia's term" scary was really scary.
"Good. We understand each other. Now I'm going back to bed." Nadia buried her face in the covers.
"What? No, no, please? It's just...today's the cooking thing, and I'm nervous!" Lily seemed crestfallen.
Nadia's head popped back up. "Oh yeah!" she said, jumping off the bed. "No wonder you're all weird right now!" She gave Lily a hug. "I'm so sorry for getting mad at you (not really but that's okay), I should have known better. But," Nadia's eyes glared at Lily again, "don't ever pretend Death is sick again!"
A flood of relief drowned Lily. "Oh, I won't, don't worry!" she said, returning the embrace.
"So, are you still doing that impossible recipe?" Nadia asked worriedly.
Lily nodded. "I'm gonna do the chestnut soup with cream fraiche, cognac shrimp with beurre blanc sauce and lemon rosemary chicken, and chocolate souffles."
"Yeah...the impossible one. Trust me, I've tried it. And, no offense or anything, I am a better cook than you, and it was hard for me. Remember I served it to you guys?" Nadia said, frowning.
Lily cocked her head, and had a vague memory of forcing down the terrible foods-of course she really loved French food, it was her favorite and cooked right, it was fantastical. But when it was not cooked right...Oh Merlin! Anyway, she knew because one warm summer, Nadia had been obsessed with cooking foods from around the world, and came up with the French dishes-the ones that she was doing for the contest. Lily had forced it down, as to not offend Nadia, despite the fact that Alice had taken one look and went skipping out looking for snorkacks or something, and Lara had refused to eat another bite after taking a small spoonful of the chestnut soup and spitting it out. Promptly afterwards, Lily had a fit barfing...followed by another, and another, and another. Literally. The hallways leading from the Room of Requirement to the hospital wing were almost flooding with...well Lily didn't even want to think about it. After that Filch seemed to be more nasty and mean than usual.
"I remember," answered Lily, nodding.
"Um, Lily, are you okay?" asked Nadia in a concerned voice, "You look a little...green..."
"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine, just fine! Just...worried," answered Lily, looking away. "Here, can you help me awaken Lara?" She motioned to Lara's bed on the other side of the room. "And then maybe Alice?"
Nadia looked at Lily matter-of-factly. "You know how hard it is to wake up Lara. It is virtually impossible! I'll go get Alice, okay?" She changed into a pair of jeans and t-shirt. "Be back! Good luck with Lara!" With a wave, she left the dormitory.
Lily sighed. Here goes nothing. She braced herself as she made her way to the seemingly innocent Lara. "Lara!" Lily pulled Lara's blanket off the bed. "Wake up!" She grabbed the pillow and tugged it out from under Lara's head. "LARA!" she screamed as loudly as she dared into Lara's ear.
Lara raised her arm and accidentally whacked Lily. "Mmmmm... 'm awake. Five more mins..." she murmured.
"OW! Painfullll..." Lily rubbed her poor cheek. "Well, it was some progress!" She tried again. "LARA! Darling, wake up! PLEASE?"
Lara's hand crept up to her dresser and fell upon her alarm clock. "Go...wayyyy..." she mumbled and threw.
For a sleeping person, her aim was amazingly accurate. If Lily hadn't ducked, it would have hit her full in the face. But since she did duck, soared toward the innocent Alice who had just made her way up the dorm.
"Whoa!" Alice caught the flying alarm clock. "Hmm... It appears that you girls have Wufflewargs in your dorm...Got to wear my radish earrings again for protection.. I can get you guys some if you want too...Hey, Lily!" She hummed softly as she danced to Lara. "Let me help you with that..."
"What are Wuff- never mind, I probably don't want to know," said Lily.
Nadia crept up the stairs soon afterwards. "What happened?" she asked Lily as her eyes fell onto Lily's cheek, which had a red mark suspiciously looking like a hand print. "She didn't...She sleep whacked you too?"
"Huh? Uh, yeah..." Lily said, turning away. "Come on, help me...need all the help we can get."
"Yeah..." Nadia nodded. "Hey, do you know what James is doing in the common room, snoring his head off?"
James woke with a start. "Where..." He looked around, then remembering the event of the past night-no, morning-laughed aloud. However, his chuckle soon faded away as he thought of what to cook. "Pasta...that's it, pasta...But Nadia did pasta for the picnic, what if I'm compared to her...oh yeah, but then no one except for us tasted it, huh? Yeah...pasta...but then there's cake...and pie...and Lily's doing a full course meal...that's French..." He licked his lips.
"Yum...so I should do a full course too! But oh, what if Lily hates me because I win? AHHH! Maybe I should just lose on purpose...What do you think?" he asked, holding up his hand. "Since you're doing all the cooking, what's your opinion on this?" James said to his hand. He jumped as he heard a voice.
"Talking to your own hand. The first sign of madness," said a knight roaming in and out of a painting.
"Huh? Who are you?" James asked, still not realizing it was a painting. "Come out!"
"Now what are you doing?" James jumped a second time as he heard a familiar voice. "Are you talking to your imaginary friend who is hiding from you?" Lily chuckled, climbing down the stairs to the common room.
"Or maybe you're hallucinating Lily..." Nadia added, grinning.
"More likely it's a Wufflewarg whispering in your ear... They've infested the girl's dorm, you know," said Alice wiping her wet hands on her jeans.
Lara sniffled, trying desperately to comb through her dripping hair. "Yeah, right." She sneezed, sending drops of water everywhere.
"Why in the name of Merlin's beard is her hair dripping wet?" James asked.
"Because some people decided to wake me up by pouring a bucket of water on my head!" screamed Lara, then sneezed.
"Only because she refused to wake up!" protested Nadia, petting a purring Death. "And stop spraying so much water! Death doesn't like it!"
"Well if you hadn't dumped a pail of water on my head, I wouldn't be *achoo!* sneezing! Sheesh!" Lara exclaimed.
"You really didn't wake up though! We tried, like, everything!" Alice said.
Lily nodded. "Look, we screamed in your ears-everyone else in the dorms bolted awake except for you- and we pulled your hair-"
"WHAT? You what?" Lara demanded.
"Well, it didn't help anyway, so..." Nadia muttered.
"No wonder my head hurts so much! URGH! This is what I have for best friends!" Lara screamed.
"Hey, well how do you think I feel when I have two friends in the same dorm, and all of them refuse to wake up until I've either threatened them with her pet or dumped water on their head!" Lily shrieked.
"Whoa, whoa! Yeesh, is this what girls do every morning?" James muttered under his breath. Unfortunately, the girls caught all the words.
"You boys don't know anything but how to interfere!"
"Stay out of this!"
"Shut off!"
"Potter! I am seriously considering sending you to the moon right now!"
"Okay, okay! I don't know anything, I unnecessarily interfered, yadayadayada etc."
"Okay, James, just to make that big head of your happy, I will apologize. So, Lara, I am sorry that I poured water on you, pulled your hair, and woke you up."
Nadia nodded, and Alice added, "But the pulling hair was my idea..."
"Yeah, I wanted to use a trumpet!" grinned Nadia evilly.
Lara shook her head. "No, I'm sorry. I have...trouble waking up...and for kinda... sleep whacking you... I know how nervous you are about today, I wasn't thinking right..."
Lily smiled. "Okay, then, it's settled! Now let's go make the food!"
"Wait! Wait!" James yelled. "You know, you can't start until after breakfast!"
Lily frowned. "Hmmppphh. Fine then! Breakfast time!" The girls raced out of the common room and into the Great Hall, full of chattering witches and wizards. As they all sat down at the Gryffindor table, all laughing and talking, Dumbledore stood up and tapped his crystal goblet with his spoon.
"Attention, Students," he said, his piercing blue eyes sparkling with mischief, "I have come to some information that there is to be a cooking competition held between two of our well known students!"
At this there was a wave of excited murmurings and muttering between students, Lily, however, sank into her seat gasping, "Oh Merlin, no... No...nonononono... This can not be happening!"
"Our very own head girl, Lily Evans and one of the infamous Marauders, James Potter, are to hold a competition to test one another's culinary skills. The judges are unbiased as there is one from each house, from Slytherin, we have Ekaterina (A/N: Okay, so this the alias for the author who hosted the tea party. We decided to be the judges :)), from Ravenclaw, we have Blossom, (A/N: This is the alias for the author who thought that all authors ought to be polite), from Gryffindor, we have Mimiona, (A/N: This is the author who likes vanilla black tea) and last but not least, we have Amber (A/N: Due to circumstances you guys have not met this author, but this is one of the mushroom cultivators and anime manga lovers, but not the one who hosted the tea party). Due to these wonderful student's work, they and their cooking crew will have the rest of the day off to prepare and carry out the competition. That is all, thank you. You may return to your classes."
"Oh, Merlin, where's the pot! I need it for the soup!" Lily shouted, waving her arms frantically.
"Here!" Lara threw a pan at Lily, and it dangerously missed her face as it clattered to the floor.
"That is a pan!" yelled Nadia. "Sheesh! I mean, I know that I do most of the cooking here, but you guys don't even know the basics!"
"What's the difference?" muttered Lily as she started chopping up some leafy vegetables.
"Everything!" yelled Nadia. "No! You don't hold the knife like that, it's like this..."
Pots and pans and sauces were all over the counter and the table in the kitchenette. There were chestnuts scattered on the floor, and plates and bowls filled with unknown materials all over the place.
"Where is that disgusting raw chicken?" yelled Lily.
"Should be in the freezer..." Alice said, dancing across the floor.
"It's not here!" announced Lara as she peered into the freezer.
"What?" Lily asked, frowning.
"Huh?" Alice froze and skidded over to the fridge. "Hey, it's here!"
"Merlin...Lily, this is chaotic..." Nadia said.
"Yeah, I noticed!" Lily almost growled. "And you, Nadia, I know you're a great cook, and you are not helping!"
"Hey, sorry! It's not too late to change the menu, and then I'll help. I'm not great with this particular French course! Remember?" Nadia seemed apologetic. "Besides, it is your competition!"
Lily couldn't really say anything to such logic. "Whatever!" she said, fumbling as she tried to chop the chicken up. "Hey, how were you supposed to hold the knife again?"
"No! You don't hold the sharp side, yeah, that way, the handle..."
"Oh, no wonder!"
"Hey, Lily! I think the water is boiling!" screamed Lara. "Oh! What do we do now! Add the salt?"
"Huh? Yeah, three spoons of salt!" notified Lily.
"Gotcha!" Lara grabbed the entire container of salt and dumped it into the water.
"WHY DID YOU DO THAT? THREE SPOONS! NOT THREE MILLION!" Lily screeched.
"Oh..." Lara said sheepishly. "Should I boil the water again?"
"No, duh!"
"Hey, Lily?" called Alice from the corner. She was now twirling around and around.
"Wha?"
"I think the chicken's chopped enough..."
"Huh?" Lily stared down at her hands. She held a pile of shredded chicken. "AHHHH! Oh, Merlin, I was only supposed to slice it into pieces easy to eat!"
"Lily! What about the shrimp?" asked Nadia.
"Shrimp? What shrimp?"
"Earth to Lily! For your second main dish..."
"Huh? Oh, yeah, of course! Yeah!" Lily leaped up and ripped up a bag of frozen shrimp. "Here, Nadia, could you wash them for me?" She threw the bag roughly toward Nadia. Unfortunately, she missed. Now shrimps joined chestnuts in littering the floor.
"Ohhh! Shoot!" Lily said with a frown.
"No worries," Lara knelt onto the floor. "I'll grab-AHHHHH!" Alice, who had been spinning around for a time, had twirled into Lara and toppled over her.
"Ooooh! That was fun!" Alice said, dusting herself off and leaping up.
"Owwww! ALICE!" Lara screamed.
"Ughhh! Why is nothing going right?" Lily screeched. No one heard her. "Guys! Please be quiet!"
Silence. Then a timer went off.
"AHHHHH! Not even the timer will listen to me!" Lily jumped up and down.
"Lily! We got to make the appetizer!" Lara said suddenly, as to avoid the awkward moment. "What does it say in the book?"
Lily showed her the book. It read:
Ingredients:
4 cups strong vegetable stock
8 ounces cooked chestnuts
1 cup chopped white onions
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1 thin celery stalk with leaves, chopped (1/2 cup chopped celery)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
3/4 cup plus 1/4 cup crème fraiche, divided
"What are we waiting for? Come on, this doesn't sound...so bad..." Alice said beaming. "I'll cut the onions, carrots, and celery!"
"Alice, I did that already," Lily said proudly. "See?" she held up a plate of chopped vegetables. Each piece was roughly the size of a golf ball.
"Lily...I hate to say this, but that is way too...big. We need to chop it. Emphasis on chopped," Lara said delicately.
"Huh? Oh...oops..." Lily said disappointed. "Hey, um Alice, can you get the chestnuts from the floor and wash them again instead...maybe you should peel them, too. Please? I'm gonna figure out how to make this stupid knife work!" She held up the knife and smiled.
"Hey, um, Lily...?" Nadia said cautiously. "Hold the knife by the handle...no, no, the other way...No wonder they didn't chop well...You're holding the blade! Doesn't that hurt?"
"Yeah...I was wondering why I was bleeding...Well it's only a quick spell to fix my hand up, so whatever!" Lily started chopping up the vegetables again.
Lara announced, "Well, I'll grab the cup of crème fraiche!"
"Careful not to spill!" Nadia reminded.
"Too late!" said Alice happily, as Lara danced across the kitchenette, waving the cup in her hand and leaving drops of crème fraiche everywhere.
"Ugh!" Nadia muttered. "Okey, doke, we also need...half a teaspoon of salt and one-eight teaspoon of pepper!"
A jar of pepper came flying.
"AHHH!" Nadia yelled and ducked.
There was a loud sound of glass shattering as pepper flew everywhere.
"A-a-a-chooo!" Lara sneezed. "Who-ACHOO!-threw that?"
"I did!" Alice pranced over. "Ooh...that cold water this morning must have given you a cold..."
"No, it's the pepper!" yelled Lara.
"Oh, really?" Alice grabbed Lara's arms and started to polka with her.
"You stop doing that!" Lara yelled, trying to get out of Alice's grasp.
"La-la-la~!" Alice sang, turning and twirling.
Lily sighed. "And we can't even use magic to clean up this mess!" she cried miserably.
Nadia nodded. "Unfortunately, it is against the rules...It's fine...the floor is clean, so, we can gather some up and use..." her voice trailed off as Alice danced into the pile of pepper. "Never mind..."
Lily forced a smile and reached into the cabinet again. "Here, it's fine, there's another jar of pepper here. And here's the salt!" She poured the correct amounts into two small bowls. "Now what next?"
"In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the vegetable stock, chestnuts, onions, carrots, celery, salt, and pepper to a simmer. Cover the pan, reduce the heat to low-medium, and simmer the soup for 30 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Stir in 3/4 cup of the crème fraiche," Nadia read aloud from the cookbook.
"Okay, then. Where's the saucepan?" asked Lily.
"Here! Catch!" A pot came soaring through the air.
Lily caught it and said, "Thanks, Lara!"
"No, it's not thanks!" Nadia said, exasperated. "It should be a no thanks. That is a pot!"
"I still don't see the difference..." muttered Lily, but dropped the pot. "Then what's the saucepan?"
"Here!" Alice threw a kettle to Lily.
"Awesome! Thanks!" Lily yelled, promptly placing it onto the fire.
"No, no, no, no!" cried Nadia. "That is a kettle!"
"Oh...Well then it must be this, it's the only thing that they haven't thrown to me!" Lily held up a saucepan, beaming triumphantly.
"YES!" Nadia said in a relieved voice.
"Okay, then!" Lily dumped her semi-chopped vegetables into the pan along with the salt and pepper. "Hey...I think we're missing something!"
"Yeah...the chestnuts!" Nadia said, rolling her eyes. "Hey, Alice! The chestnuts!"
"Coming!" said a dreamy voice. Alice dropped in a handful of peeled chestnuts into the pan.
"Hey, Nadia, didn't it say that the chestnuts had to be...cooked?" asked Lily in an anxious voice.
Nadia nodded, and her eyes widened. "Are these...raw?"
Alice shrugged. "I dunno...I only did what Lily told me to..." she said innocently.
"No one bothered to cook these!" shrieked Lily.
Alice shook her head.
Nadia shrugged.
Lara answered softly, "I guess so..."
"Oh, Merlin..." Lily sighed.
"We can do it again...?" suggested Nadia quietly.
"No, we can't! We are all out of veggies and chestnuts...and running low on pepper, thanks to someone..." Lily said miserably.
"I'm sorry!" Alice giggled.
"Never mind, Alice, it's fine. It'll just have to work...raw or not," Lily said determinedly.
"That's the spirit!" said Lara with a whoop.
"Atta girl!" yelled Nadia.
"Hm..." hummed Alice.
"Okay, so we let this simmer for half an hour, ooh, first we have to cover it!" Lily placed the top onto the pan. "And then we...just wait?" She looked questioningly to Nadia.
"Umm...no. You work on something else while it is simmering!" she said.
"Okay, then. Time for the lemon rosemary chicken! Where's the chicken?" she asked with a grimace.
"Here!" Alice smiled as she held up a bowl full of shredded chicken.
"Oh yeah...oh shoot...that isn't cut right..." Lily said, frowning.
"Okay, so what do you do now?" Lara asked.
Lily flipped through the cookbook. "Says here to...Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celcius."
"Alrighty, then!" Nadia fiddled with the oven. "Got it! Just wait a little till it gets to 200 degrees..."
"Meanwhile, we need to place oil, garlic, and rosemary in a mortar and pestle. Pound until well combined. Season with salt and pepper," Lily said, reading aloud.
"Okay, will-do! I don't want you guys to throw stuff around any more!" Nadia said, getting the garlic and oil. "Hey, do we have rosemary?"
"Do you mean the stuff the cat's eating?" asked Alice absently.
"WHAT?" shrieked Lily.
"Oh, no, no, no!" Nadia peered into Death's mouth. "Oh, no! Do you think rosemary will make it sick?"
"Puh-leez! I don't think that's the problem!" Lara said. "How the heck are we gonna make rosemary chicken without rosemary?"
"Oh, yeah, huh..." Nadia said, looking sheepish.
"Never mind!" said Lily in a forced bright tune. "Here, uh, it can be just lemon chicken!"
"Okay, but I dunno..." Lara said.
"It'll be fine...I hope..." Lily said. "Nadia, just continue without the rosemary, okay?"
Nadia nodded, and after a moment, she announced, "I'm done!"
"Yay! Soooo, we arrange the chicken in a large roasting pan. And we rub the mixture Nadia just made over the chicken. EWWW!" Lily said.
"No worries, I'll do it!" Lara, though was looking a little disgusted, washed her hands and started. "Yuck...shredded raw chicken..."
"And then we place lemon wedges around and under the chicken..." Lily continued. She got up and placed a whole lemon into the roasting pan.
"Um...Lily?" asked Nadia.
"Hmm?"
"Lemon wedges...not whole lemons."
"Ahh..." Lily smiled and started slicing the lemons. "Hey! I'm not bleeding this time!" she said happily.
"Well...it's an improvement!" Nadia said, being uncharacteristically optomistic.
"Okay, so after that we roast the chicken until it's golden and cooked through. We serve it with baked lemon wedges," Lara said as she cleaned her hands, as she was done rubbing the mixture over the chicken.
"Good." Lily threw a bunch of lemon slices in the pan and pushed it into the oven. "It should take about an hour."
"Lily...?" Alice said, dancing around. "Something's burning!"
"What? Oh, no! Not the raw chestnut soup! Someone add the creme fraiche before it burns completely!" Lily yelled.
"Gotcha!" Lara dumped in a cup of white stuff into the simmering vegetables.
"Hey, Lara...I think that was the milk Death was just drinking..." Nadia said cautiously.
"You are kidding me!" Lily had turned pale. "Oh, Merlin!"
"Never mind. It'll work...probably..." Alice said as she poured in the actual creme fraiche. "Three-fourths of it, right?"
Lily nodded. "It's gonna have to work..." she mumbled to herself. "Now, we process the soup in batches in a blender until it is smooth." She grabbed a blender and poured the soup like thing into it. "Here it goes!" She pressed the button.
"AHHHHHHH!"
"LILY!"
"WHAT IS THIS?"
There were cries and shrieks as white "soup" flew everywhere.
"YOU HAVE TO PLACE THE TOP OF THE BLENDER ON IT BEFORE BLENDING IT!" yelled Nadia as she pressed the stop button.
"Oh..." Lily said blankly as she wiped off the soup from her hair. She tasted it. "Mmmm...Not bad!" she said and gagged.
"Hehehe...I don't think I'll taste that anytime soon..." Lara said, trying (and failing) to clean herself.
"Hey, well, it's not as bad as I thought it would be..." Lily answered as she placed the top onto the blender. "Okay, lets blend this...not that much is left..." She pressed the button, and with a whirring sound, the soup was blended.
"Alright, so that's done..." Nadia said.
"Next we spoon it out into bowls and garnish it with the remainder of the creme fraiche," Lily read, and brought out four bowls. She started distributing the soup among the bowls.
"Lily...?" said Alice again.
"Hmm...?"
"Something's burning..."
"AHHHH! THE CHICKEN!" Lily screamed and threw herself at the oven. Unfortunately, it was about 300 degrees...
"OOOWWW!" Lily yelped as she stuck her hand under the faucet. "OWWW! Painful!"
"Gee, Lily-flower, careful!" Nadia said as she used a potholder to get the pan out. Black smoke billowed out of the chicken. "Hmm...looks overcooked..." she said matter-of-factly.
Lara nodded and coughed. "Yeah, at this rate we're all gonna perish of lung cancer."
"Hey! Isn't death my specialty?" Nadia said, grinning.
Lara shrugged.
"Okay, well so our first main dish is done, as well as our appetizer!" exclaimed Lily happily.
Alice nodded. "Hmm...I don't know if the thestrals will eat this now..."
Lily gasped, looking mildly offended, but let it pass. "Onwards!"
"Okay, for the shrimp cognac with beurre blanc sauce..." Nadia said, grimacing.
"We have so much left!" Alice said, pausing in her dance. "Hey...! Where did all the shrimp go? Weren't they on the floor?"
Lara nodded. "Well, they were..." She stared pointedly at Death.
"Nadia!" yelled Lily! "Control your cat!"
"Oh, Merlin! Death! What have you done! Did you eat all the shrimp?" Nadia screeched.
"Ladida...hey, I found a shrimp!" Alice threw it across the room to Lily.
Lily caught it and threw it to Death, who promptly swallowed it whole.
"Why did you do that?" asked Lara.
"Oh, come on! We're not gonna have cognac shrimp with one piece of shrimp!"
"Ooh, but here's another one!" Alice said triumphantly, holding up another shrimp.
"Then what?" Nadia asked. "Are you just going to have beurre blanc sauce?"
Lily sighed. "I guess we have to have only one main dish..."
"That's fine!" Lara said. "One main dish, is totally awesome! See, it even smells good!" She took a deep whiff of the burnt chicken and had a big coughing fit.
Lily nodded. "Yeah, right."
"Hey, well, there's always the dessert!" said Nadia cheerfully.
Lara looked around guiltily. "Soooo, your dessert was chocolate souffles..."
"Yeah...so, where's the gourmet chocolate. It said that gourmet chocolate had the best results so I bought that..." Lily looked around.
"Well, Lily...the thing is, that, you see...Did I ever mention that I loved chocolate?" Lara asked, licking her lips.
"Yeah...wait...NO! No, you didn't eat that whole pack of chocolate?" Lily shrieked.
"Well...It was good! And at first it was only one bite, but it was just so heavenly, I ate more, and more, and now...it's gone!" Lara said, smiling in spite of herself at the thought of the chocolate.
"LARA!" Lily screeched.
Nadia sighed. Then she looked at Lily and Lara. "Lara," she said, with forced calmness. "Now Lily is going to lose."
Lara looked up. "What? No!"
Lily looked at Lara. "See what you did?"
Alice laughed. "No, no, no, Nadia, don't say that. We still have a chance!"
Lily coughed. "Right. You know what, Alice? Look around yourself. Name one way we have a chance to win."
Alice looked around the room, her gaze falling on the raw peeled chestnuts, the chewed up rosemary, the pepper pile, the golf-ball sized vegetables, the burnt chicken, the white chestnut "soup", and Death licking his paws in the corner. Then she sighed, and nodded. "I'm sure there's a way. We just need to...think..."
"Yeah, and I'm sure that thinking will help Lily win this contest," Lara said angrily.
Nadia sighed. "Hey, guys, I...I'm sorry. I don't think that Lily has any chance at winning. So, in other words, Lily's gonna lose, and we are all gonna become slaves."
Lily grimanced. "Okay, if you guys know one thing about me, it's that I hate James Potter. Do not let me become his slave. Please. There has to be something we can do!" She looked around hopefully, but was met with blank, depressed faces.
Lara shrugged. "Lily, unless you want to cheat, tough luck. Believe me, I don't want to be Sirius' slave either. Ugh, he's just gonna have me snog him all day. Not that I don't like it or anything, but, all day? Bleagh. But just like what would happen if we won, and they would be our slaves, if they win, and they will, we are going to, and will have to be their slaves. Sorry."
Nadia looked at Lara. "Wait, what do you mean by cheat?"
Lara smiled mischievously. "Well, we can always have the house elves make something for us, then order them not to tell anyone. No one would ever know."
Alice giggled. "Sounds perfect."
Lily shook her head. "Hey, guys? I'd rather lose than win by cheating."
Nadia nodded. "Lily has a point. Besides, she's the one who's gonna be embarrassed in front of the whole school, and probably die of misery. Not out fault."
Lily glared at Nadia. "Not your fault? Who didn't cook the chestnuts? Who ate the chocolate? Who didn't catch the pepper so it fell all over the floor? And who couldn't control that stupid cat of yours, so it chewed up the rosemary and ate the shrimp? And now, like you conveniently mentioned, I'm about to embarrass myself in front of the whole school. Sure, I messed up, too. But, you know what else? I didn't even sign up for this stinkin' contest in the first place!"
Nadia shrugged. "Right. But, I don't think it would be a bad idea to ask the house elves to help us out."
"I do," Lily sighed.
Alice giggled. "Okay, don't you guys think we should start cleaning up this mess?"
Lara, who had been watching the small argument between Lily and Nadia with worried eyes, nodded. "Let's get this mess cleaned up," she said, turning around to wash the "soup" from the walls.
Nadia and Lily looked at each other. Lily smiled nervously, before saying, "Hey, sorry. It's just...I don't really want to be embarrassed in front of the whole school. It's not really a pleasant thought."
Nadia smiled tentatively. "No problem. if I were in your place today' thank Merlin I'm not, but if i were, I'd probably be a bit mad, too."
Lily giggled. "Now, let's go help them clean up."