Author 1's Disclaimer: We do not own any of the characters that you recognize from the Harry Potter books.
Author 2's Disclaimer: Well I have nothing more to say, as Author 1's disclaimer was short and sweet. But to specify, I'll add...
James, Sirius, Remus, and any other character from Rowling's Harry Potter series do not belong to us! Although, they are just as good (we refuse to say better) as ours. Thank you.
Author 1's Note: Hey, you might've noticed that my disclaimer was shorter than usual. Well, I was kinda feeling bad for yelling at you guys last chapter, so I decided to just keep it simple and nice. But anyway, on a happier not, we now have five reviews! So, thank you to all you lovely reviewers, especially to Amanda-panda and to Orange-Coyote... And, to the rest of you lazy readers, REVIEW! 421 people read our story, why is it that we only have 5 reviews? REVIEW! Oh, shoot, I was supposed to be nice. Kay, well, let me rephrase. I would really really appreciate it if you guys would review, because they are totally awesome. How'd you like the last chapter? Gosh, I was laughing whilst writing/editing it. Ya, well, last chapter we hardly included James and didn't even mention his cooking, so this chapter will mainly be about James' (hopefully not so dramatic) cooking adventures. Again, you guys, review! And peace out, baby, and stay cool... :D
Author 2's Note: Thank you for the five people who have reviewed, and even more special thanks to Miss Amanda Panda, but we would also be grateful for more. Reviews are our dreams...so please, please review! How it would delight us! Even a word or two about the story is much appreciated, even critique, bad or good, that would help us to improve our writing! Thank you again!
"Ekaterina's" Note: Heya, I'm gonna start referring to myself as Ekaterina because it makes life a lot easier than saying Author 1, Author 2, etc. So yeah, hope you enjoy! We re-posted the last chapter so now you know all of our aliases. Thank you for reading! We love reviews :3 and to AmandaPanda, thank you for taking time out to read the story we've been talking about so much... worked our much better than Pearl, huh? :)
All the Authors' Note: Special thanks to Amanda Panda, Orange-Coyote, and Rose-chan-chan! Thank you for your reviews!
Now, the whole time Lily and the girls were making a mess of themselves, James was cooking his meal. He had decided just to make pesto pasta, and for dessert, bake cookies. Those were not only delicious, but they were also simple to make.
"Hey, James, we're counting on you!" said Remus settling himself down in a chair.
Sirius rubbed his hands together. "Finally! Lara as my slave!"
James smiled, then frowned. "But what if Lily will hate me because of this?"
"Mate, she already-OW!" Remus had stabbed Sirius with his wand-again.
James seemed not to notice. "I don't want Lily to hate me..." he pouted.
"Mate, Lily won't hate you any more than she already does because of this! Now stop worrying like a sissy and get to work!" Remus reassured.
"Okay then..." James agreed and washed his hands, but Remus could see through him. And he could see that if he didn't stop James, he would mess up on purpose and make a fool out ofhimself.
"In fact, I'm positive that Lily would better like a guy that knows how to cook!" Remus said brightly.
Sirius stared at said speaker and raised an eyebrow. "Really?" he mouthed.
Remus nodded slightly.
"If you say so, Moony!" James' expression had brightened considerably, and now he was even humming as he started with the pesto pasta.
"So, what type of pasta are you using?" asked Sirius.
"Angel hair pasta. It's really delicate and adds to the texture of pesto pasta. The pasta is store bought, but I'm making my special pesto sauce for this!" James said excitedly, setting a pot of water on the stove. James had gone up to Headmaster Dumbledore, and made sure that any boilers, stoves, ovens, or any other electronic thing could be allowed, so the electronics wouldn't go haywire with all the magic.
"So, what do you think of chocolate chip cookies for the dessert?" asked James.
Sirius grinned like a fool . "Any food with the words 'chocolate' and 'cookies' in the name sounds perfect."
"No, but I heard that the Gryffindor judge didn't like chocolate..." Remus said sensibly.
"Who is she anyway? I think I've seen her around I have never really talked to her... I think that all the four judges are close though." asked James.
"Her name is Mimiona. She's in 3rd year now... I heard she's picky, so she might be a problem," Remus said. .
"But...but...how is it possible for anyone to NOT like chocolate?" demanded Sirius.
Remus shrugged. "I dunno...but she's kinda cute, you know? We see her in the common room a lot of times..."
"Ooh, is our Remus in love with her?" Sirius waggled his eyebrows.
Remus turned red. "No, I-"
"Nah!" James said laughingly, "He's all Alice, so no worries. Although I do have to admit, she is pretty...But no one could be as gorgeous as Lily!" He chuckled.
"But still! How can she not like chocolate?" asked Sirius.
"Actually," said James, adding the pasta into the now boiling water, "I'd like to try to get her to like my chocolate chip cookies...I always did like a challenge. Hey, Remus, you seem to know everything...How are the other girls with chocolate?"
"Hmmm...Well the Ravenclaw, Blossom, fourth year, isn't a large fan of chocolate chip cookies, although she's okay with just chocolate. But dark chocolate is a big no-no for her, too!"
Sirius looked shocked.
"And the Slytherin, Ekaterina, she seems to absolutely adore vanilla but she can take most chocolate unless overly done, and she's kinda... well, ditzy but clever. Can be cruel if she wants, hence the Slytherin. Umm... Oh, yeah, she's pretty much cool with all the houses, close friends with all the other judges." Remus shrugged.
Sirius grinned. "Ah, sounds like my kind of girl! What year did you say she was in again?"
Remus looked at Sirius with a worried expression on his face. "I didn't say."
"Oh. Well, what year is she in?"
Remus grinned. "Too young for you, Sirius. She's in Fourth year."
Sirius frowned. "Man, and I thought I had struck it rich." He grinned at the thought of girls.
"Oooh, man, is Lara gonna be pissed," James snicked.
Sirius quickly snapped out of his dreamish faze, and glared at James. "One word to Lara, and I'll-"
"That's enough, you two lovebirds," Remus interrupted. "James, don't tell Lara. And Sirius, for Merlin's sake, please don't go around fantasizing about girls."
Sirius moved his glare from James to Remus. "Shut your mouth."
Remus chuckled. "Sir, yes sir."
While putting the fresh-picked basil into the food processor, James stifled a laugh. "Oookaaayyy... so, what about the Huffl- wait a minute. Moony, did you just call me and Sirius lovebirds?"
James switched the food processor on, and it started with a shudder, and began loudly shredding the basil.
Remus waited until James turned the machine off, then sighed. "The Hufflepuff is called Amber, likes chocolate, especially chocolate chip cookies. But not so much dark chocolate. She's in 3rd year. Very easy going, likes Anime and Manga. I hear that she and Ekaterina have this sort of mushroom cultivating thing that has to do with gloom and manga. Somehow it's a very cheerful affair though."
Sirius frowned. "Merlin, what is with these people and not liking chocolate? I hate all of them!"
James laughed out loud. "Aw, Sirius, you're too kind," he said, reaching in the top cabinet for pine nuts. With some struggle and a couple nuts falling on his head, James got the bag of pine nuts out and measured out a cup. He then dumped the pine nuts into the bowl that had the shredded basil in it.
Remus smiled. "Hey, Prongs, do you need any help with what your doing? Although you seem fine, should we do anything to help you?"
James nodded. "Yes. Remus, you measure out one cup of olive oil, and Sirius, you measure out a half cup of Parmesan cheese."
While the two were doing what they were told to do, James began peeling a clove of garlic. After a moment of rare silence as the boys worked, James said, "Okay, I'm done, you guys?"
Remus nodded, holding up a cup of olive oil, and Sirius chuckled and said, "Yeah mate!"
"That's perfect. Now we put it all into this bowl."
Remus, Sirius, and James all put the ingredients into the bowl, and James got the hand blender out from the cupboard and began pureeing the ingredients together until they were nothing but a thick paste. Remus dropped a pinch of salt into the mixture. Sirius peered into the bowl, stared at it suspiciously for a couple seconds, then dipped his finger into it and tasted it.
"You know," he said conversationally, "regardless of how this green sludge looks, it tastes pretty good! The look is what I expect from one of Lily's dishes. The taste is to the level of my dear Prongsie." he put his wet finger back into the bowl for another bite. Remus grabbed his finger, hissing, "Stop! The last thing we need is for all the judges to catch the seemingly contagious stupidity of Sirius Black! One is already way too much!"
"Actually, negative one Siriuses would be too many for this world." commented James absently.
Sirius looked up from the paste and at Remus. "So, for lack of anything better to say, how are things with you and Alice?"
Remus blinked at the unexpected question. Then he narrowed his eyes slightly. "I could've sworn we dropped this topic the last time you brought up that topic out of sheer boredom."
Sirius swore mentally. Shoot. He had gone in one moment from bored into dangerously boiling waters. He tried to change the topic before Lupin thought that his casual words were insulting enough to give Sirius one of Lupin's punishments. And Lupin's punishments were slightly scarier than the everyday time-out.
"And you, James," Sirius quickly changed topic. "How are thing with you and Lily? I saw you talking to her at the picnic yesterday. What was going on?"
James shrugged. "Not much. We were just talking about...how pretty she is."
Remus turned from Sirius to James, his mouth gaping open. "And she just took that? Without even slapping you? Wow. Improvement."
James smiled proudly. "I know, I'm so hap-oh, crap, the pasta's going to overcook!" He rushed to the stove and turned it off. Then he carefully yanked the pot from the stove and rushed to the sink to drain the water out. "Sirius! Get over here and bring the pesto with you! Remus! Cut up three tomatoes and get them ready!" James drained the water from the pasta, which was (thankfully) not overcooked, and dumped the pasta into another bowl. Sirius came over with the pesto, and poured it into the bowl with the pasta in it. James pulled out two forks from the drawer and began thoroughly mixing the pasta with the pesto.
"Beautiful," James whispered to himself. Remus came over with the freshly cut tomatoes, and sprinkled them on top of the pesto pasta, giving it a very "fresh" look.
Sirius inhaled deeply. "Smells great!"
Remus laughed. "Good job, guys!"
James exhaled, as though he had been holding it while he was cooking. "Yeah. Good job. But, now the cookies. This should be really easy."
James walked over to the stove and turned the dial to 175ยบ C. "Moony, could you please measure out one cup of white sugar? And Padfoot, measure out one cup of softened butter."
"Sure thing, Prongsie-pie," Sirius smirked. "You know how much I love working in the kitchen."
"Well, Padfoot, I know how much you'd love having Lara as your slave, too, so I suggest you just do what I say, and live with it."
"Good point," Sirius chuckled, and walked over to the cabinets to find the butter.
A few minutes later the three were standing anxiously around the food which was neatly plated on pristine white plates with a simple green leaf design around the border. The chocolate-chip cookies were browned just right. Just looking at it made Sirius' mouth water.
"Prrooongss! Can I have another cookie?" he pleaded.
"Oh, be quiet! You've already had like, what, ten?" Remus said, fishing out his wand again.
"No, no! Don't poke me with that thing again!"
"Ahem!" James said. "Okay, stop bickering! No, Sirius, no more cookies! And Remus, I understand you and totally feel for you."
"Alright mate, time to get this show started!" said Sirius while clapping James on the back.
"Yeah. Lets go kick that fancy shmancy French a la cuisine outta our good old England." chuckled Remus.
"Okay, so, what do you guys want to do for the next hour?" James asked.
Sirius grinned. "Why don't we plan our next prank?"
"Oh, yeah," Remus said, "I forgot to tell you guys. Yesterday I thought of the perfect idea for our next prank. Let me tell you about it." And the three marauders walked side by side out of the kitchenette.