I do not own Harry Potter, the Wizarding World, or any canon characters.
I'm having a rough time of things, so some extra chapters for evberyone for some positive energy. Hope you enjoy. I'm really proud of this chapter and wanted to share it too. Have a lovely day!
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A Taste of Magic
19th Course – Moons and Maladies
"Hi Harry."
"Hi Sue." He finished writing his sentence, and looked up when Sue slid into the chair opposite from him. "What's up?"
"I was wondering if we could do something for our next club or if we can do something out of it." Sue tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "The Mid-Autumn Festival is coming up and I want to do something for it."
"Sure, what's that?" Harry asked, intrigued.
"It's an important holiday in my family and culture," Sue explained. "It's celebrated during the biggest full moon of the year and people make offerings to it for all sorts of reasons. One of the most important parts of it is for family to come together and have a good meal together for prosperity and good luck. We weren't able to do it last year because of school but when Padma told me you were able to make curry without having made it before, I wanted to ask if we can do it."
"I'd love to try," Harry said softly. "It's important like you said and a tradition, right?"
Sue nodded. "There's a lot of traditional foods you make and eat with it but I don't really know how to make them. But there is one thing we could make that I'm pretty familiar with and with the recipe, I'm sure you and I can figure it out together like you and the Patils did."
"I'm game." His smile joined Sue's. "What is it?"
"Dumplings," Sue said happily.
"Oh I've seen them and have always wanted to try and make them!" He quailed at Madam Pince's irritated hiss from the front of the library. "Sorry!" he said in a loud whisper. "I've seen them and have always wanted to try and make them," he whispered to a giggling Sue.
"Great!" she said quietly but enthusiastically. "I'll write home for the exact recipe for the dumpling wrappers but I've made them too so it'll be good. Here's a list of things for the filling and I'll help pay for them of course."
Harry looked over the list. "We can get most of that stuff through Hogwarts but that other stuff we'll need to order. I'll go to Hedwig after I finish my essay and we can see about getting them."
"I'll ask home for stuff too. Oh I'm so excited!" Sue said happily.
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"Hmm, unfortunately I have prior commitments that night," Flitwick said, "but I have no problem with you using the clubroom. You've proved yourself and I trust you." He smiled at Harry's obvious pleasure. "The usual caveats apply of course."
"Be careful and make sure you have your fair share," Harry said happily.
"Indeed!" He hesitated. "May I ask you for a favor, however?"
"Of course, Professor. You've done so much for us, I'd be happy to," Harry said seriously.
Flitwick smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Harry. Rest assured that I do what I do out of genuine enjoyment and I ask you for this not out of recompense, but I believe in you and trust you. One of my firsties is having a spot of trouble fitting in." He frowned a little. "In fact, I suspect there's been some bullying."
"That's not good," Harry said. "Why is she being bullied?"
"She means well but she's a bit…odd," Flitwick said. "She's had a tougher upbringing and I do hate phrasing it so, you might be able to relate a bit." He noticed Harry's alarm and that made him grow concerned for more than a moment. "As in she lost her mother at a young age."
"Oh! Oh, that," Harry said, feeling a little better, oddly. "I mean, yes, I can understand that." Flitwick looked at him curiously but decided to not press further, at least not at that moment. "That's an awful reason to bully someone," Harry said with more than a little disgust.
"I agree and I truly hope that is not the reason," Flitwick said severely. "But she does say and do a few things eccentrically and that has drawn the attention of others, which leads to the unfortunate state of things.
"How can I help?" Harry asked.
Flitwick smiled with relief. "If you could be there for her, I would be in your debt. I feel like you and she can relate a little, as I said. You are quite kind and get along with people and I trust you."
"I'm not that kind," Harry protested weakly. "I don't get along with everyone to be fair."
Flitwick chuckled. "Fair, but let us say that you get along with most, those that are pleasant. Or at least have become mostly pleasant," he amended.
"As long as they're nice first," Harry said. He chuckled a little, realizing what the Charms professor was alluding to. "Or like you said, become nice eventually. What's her name?"
"Luna Lovegood. And thank you, Harry. I truly appreciate it."
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Hedwig barked in greeting the next morning, circling around and landing carefully so as not to disturb the package she carried. She danced up and down, puffing out her chest when Harry undid the ties and took the box from her.
"Good job," he praised, scratching her head and smiling when she nibbled on his fingers. He pushed his bacon to the side of his plate and opened the package when she started munching on the rashers. "Oh hey, it's the special things we ordered."
"Ooh for the dumplings?" Lavender asked as she petted Hedwig.
"Mmhmm! Soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice vinegar." Harry showed her the bottles.
"I love soy sauce," Lavender said. She unstopped the vinegar and took a sniff. "Woo! That's strong," she said as her eyes watered a little.
Harry poured a drop onto his hand and licked it experimentally. "That's sharp," he said, smacking his lips. "Different from white and malt vinegar obviously. Less harsh and more mild."
"I'll take your word for it," Lavender laughed. "At least until I try it later with things." She winced a little. "Please don't tell me the Dursleys made you drink vinegar or something."
"No, why?" Harry asked, puzzled.
"Thank goodness," Lavender said, hand to her chest. "Oh no reason, just checking."
"Did the rice vinegar come in?" Sue asked, walking up to them eagerly.
"It did. Wait, did you smell it all the way from your table?" Harry asked, surprised.
"I noticed the smell," Sue laughed. "It's so familiar and once I got a whiff I came over."
"It's true, her head came up like a dog's," Padma giggled, having followed after.
"I remember you doing it last year when you said Parvati got the spices from home," Sue smiled. "I also got the chili oil from home so we can do it whenever we want!"
"Great! Say, question for you two. Do you know Luna Lovegood?"
"Not well," Padma said. "She's a firstie, a bit strange to be honest."
"How so?" Harry asked.
"She's very…oh how do I say this politely, a bit out of it," Padma said slowly. "She talks about things no one has ever heard of. She takes dreaminess to a whole new level."
"She also talks about strange theories like how the Ministry wants to control the pie making industry and something about fire monsters," Sue continued. "Apparently her father runs the Quibbler. A very odd magazine full of those kinds of things," she explained at Harry's questioning look.
"Why do you ask?" Padma asked.
"Professor Flitwick asked me to talk to her and be there for her, said she was having trouble fitting in," Harry said. He frowned a little. "Said she's being bullied."
Padma and Sue looked at each other uncomfortably. "Maybe a little," Sue said uneasily.
"It's the upper years," Padma said just as uneasily. "You don't really stand up to them."
"I don't like bullies," Harry said frankly. "I've known too many."
"We haven't done anything to her," Sue said in a small voice. "But we haven't really done the opposite either."
"Can you point her out to me?" Harry asked. He looked across to the Ravenclaw table, following their pointing fingers. He saw a very small girl with long silver-blonde hair and pale skin, blue eyes that were just a little too big. She sat alone at the end, eating slowly.
"She looks really lonely," Lavender said quietly, sadly.
"Can you bring her with you?" Harry asked.
"We'll bring her when we do the dumplings," Sue said, her voice growing more firm.
"We'll try to be nicer," Padma said, voice no longer quiet or uneasy.
"Thanks," Harry said, smiling at them.
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"You are at the correct classroom," Snape said dryly when he saw students stop at the door and look at him in confusion. "Professor Lupin is ill and I am substituting for him."
"Oh no, I hope he's okay," Lavender said as they walked into the classroom.
"He is ill, not dying," Snape said even more dryly. "If it pleases you, I will pass along your well wishes," he continued sarcastically.
"Thank you, Professor!" Lavender said brightly. "I'd appreciate that and I'm sure he would too!"
Snape clearly did not expect that response, staring at the bubbly girl with astonishment and the rest of the class giggled and snickered. "Sit down before I take points away," he said coolly and the class hurriedly complied. His lips curled in a not-quite smile. "Turn to page 94. According to his class notes, you are learning the differences between Jinxes, Hexes, and Curses. You will spend the first half of the class reading and we will have a quiz in the latter half."
This time he smiled sincerely while the class gave muted groans.
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"Me and my big mouth," Lavender grumbled when they left. Snape had called on her after every other student in a clear form of reprisal for her comment at the beginning.
"At least you got most of them right," Parvati said comfortingly.
"Only because you and Harry cracked your textbooks open on the page and he didn't catch me glancing down at either one in between," Lavender sighed.
"At least he didn't demonstrate on you like he did Corner," Harry said comfortingly, with the three of them snickering at the memory. Snape had cast the Jelly-Leg Jinx on Michael Corner and let the boy wobble around the class while Snape made him repeat the definitions to his satisfaction after the Ravenclaw boy muttered a snide correcting remark when asked a question.
"He deserved it. Snape is the only professor you don't mouth off to," Parvati said. "Well you don't mouth off to any of them for different reasons. Professor Flitwick is so nice and fun, Sprout is nice too."
"And Professor McGonagall will make you regret it too a different way," Harry said with a light shudder.
"Binns wouldn't notice," Lavender smiled. "And Professor Sinistra will bop you on the head with her book." She giggled. "Remember when I asked why she didn't bop people in the head with her telescope?"
"'And ruin my precious telescope on thick skulls?'" Parvati gasped in a very good imitation of Professor Aurora Sinistra, the Astronomy professor. "'Students come and go but this is precious and very expensive equipment!'"
"In her defense, it's a very nice looking telescope," Harry chuckled.
"I'm glad we're done for the day and can't wait for dumplings tonight," Parvati said, rubbing her stomach. "Our dumplings are called momos and I love them."
"That's a cute name," Lavender said. "Are they made the same way?"
"Pretty similar I think, at least that's what Padma said when she looked at Sue's recipe. I think the filling is the major difference and maybe the shape?"
"Well let's get our homework out of the way so we can enjoy ourselves more," Harry said.
"Ugh, you and Padma and Hermione are so similar sometimes," Parvati sighed, sticking her tongue out.
"I could say the same about you and Padma," Harry grinned. He snorted when Parvati shoved him while Lavender giggled merrily.
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"Okay, these are darling," Lavender cooed. She held up a small rolling pin, much smaller than a typical rolling pin and it was made from a single piece of wood, smoothed and oiled.
She, Parvati, Harry, Hermione, and Neville had gotten to the clubroom first and Harry was setting things up with the others assisting where they could. All the ingredients were waiting for them on a side table or in the ice box and Harry was laying them out.
"Why is it so small?" she asked. "It looks like you can use it with one hand!"
"It's a special one apparently," Harry said. "And you're supposed to only use it for one hand. It's easier to use than a regular one for dumpling wrappers."
"I've never heard of these kinds of dumplings," Neville said. "I thought all dumplings were things cooked in soup or stew or like dessert things with fruit in them."
"Those are British dumplings," Hermione said. "I did some reading and ours are traditionally made with suet."
"Bless you," Parvati said.
Hermione smiled. "Suet is animal fat, usually beef or mutton."
"Really? Weird," Lavender said and she and Parvati made identical faces. "Have you made them before, Harry?"
He nodded. "Mmhmm. They are good in stew. Nice and doughy and absorbs the gravy nicely. They can get really dense and chewy if you overwork the dough though."
"That's why I don't overwork," Parvati said airily.
"You're dense to begin with," Padma said, catching the last bit as she walked in.
"Your face is dense," Parvati said crossly.
Harry chuckled while the others laughed and then Sue and Luna came walking in. Luna looked a little nervous as she looked at the others, head turning back and forth slowly. "Hi," he said as friendly as he could. "My name is Harry. Welcome to the Household Charms clubroom."
"Hello," the smaller girl said, her voice shy and dreamy. "My name is Luna." She blinked a few times. "Do you know why I am here?"
"I asked Padma and Sue to invite you," Harry said.
"Oh? Why?"
"Well, to be honest, Professor Flitwick asked me to be friends with you," Harry said nervously. He flushed a little at the slightly exasperated looks from Lavender and Parvati. "But I always like making new friends and would like to, if you would."
Luna stared at him with her very large eyes. "You want to be friends with me?" she asked timidly.
"I do," Harry said with a firm nod.
She smiled for the first time and it was a bright one. "That sounds nice. I would like a friend." She skipped over and sat beside him at the preparing table and continued to look around the room with interest.
Hermione and Neville shared a confused look while Parvati tilted her head at Luna. She flinched when Padma dug a finger in her side and the two sisters started to squabble softly in a different language. Lavender looked between Harry and Luna while Sue looked on with a vaguely unsure expression. Then arguing could be heard outside and the door opened.
"I'm beginning to think that you don't like Sunny," Millicent complained.
"I like her just fine as long as she doesn't mess my things up!" Pansy retorted.
"You learned the anti-clawing charms and she hasn't damaged any of your things since!"
"Which she has retaliated by hiding them! Dragging them all over the place!"
"You know, she realizes that it irritates you so if you don't react, she'll stop."
"That shows malicious intent! Also she's a kneazle, not a child!"
"Of course she's not a child, she's smarter than one," Millicent said proudly, "and she's still a kitten."
"Fine, you know what, from now on, I will be hiding your things every time she hides mine. You can share my pain." Pansy huffed and turned away when Millicent made a rude hand gesture. "I will tell your mother!"
"You snitch!" Millicent gasped.
"I haven't done it yet," Pansy sniffed.
"You premature snitch!"
"Your face is premature!" They glowered at one another before they faced the room and saw that everyone was staring at them. "Oh! Uh, hello everyone," Pansy said awkwardly.
"Wow, you two are practically sisters," Parvati said and Padma nodded.
"I treat her a little better than my actual sister," Pansy said lamely. "Mostly because my little sister is a brat."
"I only have brothers," Millicent said. "And they're both annoying too. Pansy's a little better than them." She noticed Luna. "Oh hey, someone new. Hi."
"Hello," Luna said, waving slightly. "I'm Luna Lovegood."
"Lovegood? Are you Xenophilius' daughter?" Pansy's eyebrow rose. "The one that runs the Quibbler?"
"What's the Quibbler?" Hermione asked while Luna nodded happily.
"It is a magazine of dubious quality," Pansy began and coughed when Luna suddenly glared and Harry gave her a stern look from behind Luna, shaking his head from side to side. "Which I mean it has some very…interesting articles of…alternative viewpoints."
"Daddy likes alternative viewpoints," Luna said, mollified by Pansy's hasty correction. "He thinks they are more akin to the truth than to lies."
"Which is one way of looking at it," Pansy said slowly.
"Let's get started, shall we?" Sue said suddenly and a trifle loudly. "We'll want the dumpling wrapper dough to sit and rest a bit."
"Yes, good idea," Harry said hastily.
At Sue's direction, he added warm water to the flour with a pinch of salt, stirring the flour with chopsticks until a very shaggy dough formed. Pouring the mixture onto a floured worktop, he kneaded slowly, working the simple dough into an eventual smooth round ball. Once done, it was set aside to rest with a moistened towel on top to keep it from drying out.
"What kind of filling are we making?" Parvati asked.
"Pork mince and napa cabbage and scallions," Sue said. She was peeling the leaves off the long feathery edged cabbage and washing them with water and the produce cleaning charm that Harry taught her.
"That does look like a more pleasant cabbage to nap on," Luna said. "More so than regular cabbages."
"I don't think that's why they call it that though," Sue smiled.
"I kinda agree with Luna actually," Parvati said.
Harry mixed thinly sliced cabbage with the minced pork meat and chopped scallions and added the seasonings which included soy sauce, sesame oil, white and black pepper, salt, sugar, minced garlic, and grated ginger.
"What's the difference between white and black pepper?" Lavender asked.
"How they're prepared," Harry said as he continued to mix the meat filling. "White pepper is made from soaking the peppercorns before drying them to get rid of the skin. Black pepper is dried with the skin on. The taste is different too. Black pepper is hotter and white pepper is more mild and earthy."
"It's the same plant too," Neville said. "And peppercorns start off green."
The meat filling was finished and set aside. Sue then helped roll the wrapper dough into long thin logs and cut them into small pieces. She showed Harry how to roll them on the tabletop until they were round balls and then patted them flat with the palm of the hand. Then with the small rolling pin, she showed him how to roll out a wrapper.
"You want to hold the wrapper on one hand and turn it while you use the other hand to roll out," she explained as she demonstrated. "And you want the edges to be thinner than the center so you can pleat the edges on top and the bottom won't be too thin for it to break while cooking."
Harry watched her before following suit. It took a little bit for him to get used to using the smaller rolling pin with one hand using the palm and the heel to roll while holding the pin in the center instead of holding the ends with fingers. After some practice, he was rolling them out in even circles. "Like this?"
Sue picked one up and nodded. "Yeah, just like this. Are you sure you haven't done this before? This is really good."
"I haven't," Harry said, smiling with pink cheeks. "You're a good teacher though."
"I've done this before and I'm still not too great at it," Sue grumbled. "How are you so good at it?"
"He's a great cook," Lavender said proudly.
"Save my self-esteem and tell me that you've done something similar at least," Sue begged.
"Uhm, I've rolled out really thin pie crusts before?" Harry said weakly.
"I'll take it," Sue sighed.
After they made a pile of wrappers, she showed them how to make the dumplings themselves. "So you wet the edges with a little water to help them stick, and then put a dollop of the mixture in the middle. Not too much though or it'll explode. Then you hold the ends between your thumbs and pointers like this and fold them over and over like this." She proudly showed them a finished dumpling and they admired it. "Oh and part of the fun is for everyone to do it together," she added.
"What if we mess it up?" Neville asked nervously.
"You will at first," Sue said frankly. "But you keep going and they'll still taste good at the end."
Padma and Parvati fell to easily, having made momos at home in the past. Lavender found the process to be a lot of fun and she readily got better, making the pleats very tight and neat. Hermione and Neville struggled a little but they laughed as they compared their misshapen dumplings and Luna quietly and contentedly worked on one for a long time before moving on to another. After a few moments of watching, Pansy started and Millicent joined after.
"Mother would be beside herself," Pansy said as she slowly and laboriously pleated her dumpling, eyes narrowed in concentration.
"Why?" Lavender asked.
Pansy floundered a little. "We…we never aided in any kind of food preparation. It was not proper."
"Same," Millicent said. She frowned as her dumpling came out a little squished, the filling peeking out at one end. "I'm rubbish at it."
"Everyone looks like that at first," Sue said. She snorted when Millicent pointed at Harry's and Lavender's. "Harry is an amazing cook apparently and Lavender does a lot of sewing and intricate stuff so they have an excuse. Keep at it," she said encouragingly.
Millicent sighed but resolutely picked up another one and clumsily worked at it, slowly improving.
Pansy finished hers and looked at it glumly.
"Looks better than my first one," Harry said and pointed at his misshapen first one.
"You're a dreadful liar," Pansy said but she smiled a little. She picked up another wrapper and tried again. With all of them working together, they soon had mountains of dumplings finished and everyone had good looking ones by the end.
"Now what?" Lavender asked eagerly.
"Now we cook them! And there's three ways of doing it!" Sue pointed at the three different things on the stove. "You can boil them and those are called Shui jiao, water dumplings. You can panfry them and those are called Guo tie or potstickers. Finally, you can steam them and they're called Zheng jiao."
"You can cook the same thing three different ways?" Neville asked.
"Yeah and they all have different textures and slightly different flavors, I love them all," Sue said happily.
She taught Harry how to make them in different ways. The water dumplings were put into water and boiled until done. The steamed ones sat in a bamboo steamer over bubbling water until they were done. The potstickers required the most work but even then, it was relatively simple. They sat in a pan with a little oil until the bottoms were browned. A bit of water was added and a lid placed on top to steam cook the insides. Once the water was boiled away, the heat was turned up a bit to crisp up the bottoms once more and they too were done.
"And these are how you make your dipping sauces," Sue said. "You can go with simple soy sauce or mix it with some sesame oil, chopped scallions, vinegar, or chili oil. Careful though, the chili oil is super hot. Like super extra fire hot. Way worse than the curry."
"Challenge accepted," Parvati said and she scooped up a little of the chili oil.
"Challenge unaccepted," Neville laughed and steered clear of the menacingly red chili oil.
"Thank you for sharing the recipe," Harry said happily. "These all look wonderful."
"Thanks for making it happen! I'm so happy I get to eat food from home for the Mid-Autumn Festival," Sue said brightly. "Let's eat!" She bit into one enthusiastically and she smiled widely. "This is it, this is home. Oh it tastes so good!"
"Ooh, hot hot hot!" Hermione said, fanning her mouth. "Wow, this is incredible!"
"I love how chewy and smooth the water ones are!" Lavender said as she dipped one into her sauce. "Hard to keep a hold of though."
"You can say that again," Neville said as he juggled one before popping it into his mouth.
"I like how crunchy the pan-fried ones are," Harry exclaimed. "It's got a nice texture."
"You look like you ate a bunch of Pepper Imps that were dusted with Auntie Anvi's super spicy masala," Padma giggled.
"And this stuff would still be hotter!" Parvati drank her glass of water dry. "It's tasty though!"
Luna ate each dumpling with a focused intensity, nibbling it down to nothing before she started the next. She hummed happily to herself as she ate.
Pansy looked at her plate with open wonder. "Is this an invention by Chinese Magicals?"
Sue shook her head. "Not really. At least, no Chinese Magical claimed the origin of it. It's been made by Chinese people for ages and ages. It's one of our traditional meals."
"Muggles made this?" Pansy asked. She looked thoughtful as she ate more, chewing slowly and savoring the flavor. The meat was juicy and the water boiled dumplings had a pleasantly chewy texture. It almost seemed to slide down her throat easily. The meat was savory and spiced and the fragrant sesame oil mixed with sharp vinegar and savory-salty soy sauce. The nooks and crannies of the water dumplings collected all the sauce, flavoring every bite.
"Oh," she said, noticing a steamed dumpling that Harry was reaching for. "That one is mine. Perhaps you should take another. It looks a bit sad compared to the others."
Harry took it and dipped it into his sauce and popped it into his mouth. "Tastes wonderful," he said stoutly.
"You made the filling," Pansy said with a small blush.
"And you wrapped it," Harry said. "Good job."
"Th-thank you," Pansy stammered.
They ate until everyone was full and Inky appeared to gleefully take the ones allotted for the Elves and Flitwick. Harry included some for Dumbledore and Lupin as well. "Wow, we ate so many," Harry grinned.
"They freeze wonderfully," Sue said. "And it adds like maybe a couple more minutes to the cook time. I love them."
"They're wonderful," Lavender said.
"We've been seriously missing out," Millicent said. "Thanks again for sharing the recipe and stuff. Oh, we can chip in some coins for everything," she added and Pansy nodded in agreement.
"We got mostly everything through trade with the kitchens," Harry said soothingly. "I bought the sauces and Sue said we're going to use them for other things so it's fine. You can chip in for when we make something you want to eat. That might make things easier actually, take turns coming up with ideas and the decider puts in a bit for it."
"That works," Parvati said and the others nodded.
"Did you enjoy yourself Luna?" Harry asked.
Luna's smile lit up the room. "I did! Thank you for inviting me and wanting to be my friend." Her smile faded a little. "I can't remember the last time I ate with others, and such good food too."
"I know what that's like," Harry said softly. "Don't worry, you're always welcome." He smiled when her brilliant smile returned.
Neville coughed awkwardly. "Can you explain what the Festival is for?"
Sue nodded, looking sadly at Luna and Harry for a moment. "It's to wish for a good harvest and to pay respects to the moon. It's also a time for family and for prosperity and fortune."
"Why pay respects to the moon?" Pansy asked, looking away from Harry. "I know many magicals do that for rituals and the like. Why do the Muggles?"
"Folklore and legend," Luna said all of a sudden. "To honor the woman that became the moon goddess and to allow her to visit her lover on earth that can only happen once per year. Or if you believe that she drank an elixir of immortality to escape a man but I prefer the former, it is happier. There is also the rabbit in the moon that offered its life to feed a hungry man, and a god took him to the moon to honor his selflessness."
"That…that first one is right. Chang'e is the goddess of the moon," Sue said, surprised. "When she lived on Earth as a mortal, she drank an elixir of immortality and ascended into the heavens and became the moon goddess. And I think the rabbit is a Japanese story."
"I like moon stories," Luna said serenely. "For my name if you were wondering."
After cleaning together and putting things away, they left for their common rooms, full and content after all that work and enjoying the fruits of their labors. "I like Luna," Parvati said. "She's a bit dotty but not in a bad way."
"Yeah, she's sweet and she looked a lot happier when we were leaving," Lavender said.
"Sounds like she's had a rough time of things," Hermione said. Her eyes flicked to Harry.
"I think we all have in our own way," Harry said softly. "Guess that's why we can be friends."
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l4w - Sorry, I missed replying on yesterday's chapter. When I was looking up some things on the wikis, I found that Su Li was listed as Sue Li. Susan Bones could obviously use Sue as a nickname as well, but I guess they changed Su to Sue at some point. I went with that because the tag on AO3 was also Sue Li.
odonenllzoo99 - I'm trying something new with Remus this time, making him a part of the effort to have the adults be a bit more adult like and more proactive while hopefully sticking within the setting and canon personality. Inky is very protective and she knows how to handle people, Quarters and Parvati especially. She's very fond of Harry.
Arnie1701 - Indeed, unapologetically so.
DOOOOOOM Lord of Waffles - Ebbers is the nickname of a person I admire very much, Chef Ben Ebbrell of SortedFood, a great cooking YouTube channel that is UK based. Ebbers as head chef elf is my homage to him.
alix33 - The Book is expanding and growing, much like Hogwarts' food culture.
poka - A good beef stew is very satisfying. It's a lot like fries, can be good or bad but many different ways to make it and really hits the spot. Part of my goal for this fic is to explore those little things that I don't see explored in the canon series: food in general, where it comes from, sources, processing, magical food, that sort of thing. It's fun to imagine the mundane slice of life things and let it grow and see what happens from it. While there are some stakes and drama, I want a more at ease feeling for this fic with a dose of what I deem 'anime absurdity' which will become more evident as time passes. I'm glad you are enjoying the pacing and how things are going.
Guest - Yes indeed. I love SortedFood and Ben is a hero so this is my homage to him.
Hands Off MY Wolfie - Food allergies might play a part in the future. They also might not. Who knows.
Earth Guardian 28 - That's how I make karaage but I dredge with flour and potato starch and do a twice fry for extra tastiness. It's so good and tasty.
tumshie - Oh sure, I was playing off the idea that wizarding culinary culture is different and that's why they are having fun exploring the different things.