Cooking like a Bachelor
Chapter 1 Soup
Broth, Meat (Chicken) Onions, Celery, a large potato and Noodle.
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE ACTUAL SERIES; THIS IS A WORK OF FANFICTION. (If only though am I right?)
Ron was nervous. Though to be fair, there were a fair few thing to be nervous about. Dumbledore had just died, there was a war, ready to brew into open conflict AND he was about to leave everything he knew behind to find and destroy pieces of a human's SOUL. He was about to help killing the evilest man alive.
Though in this case he as more nervous about how he fits into this whole thing. When he sat down to think about it, Ron could never really find a way for him to be of use. Well there is one thing that he could do, but that was an extreme option and SOLELY a last resort.
Ron was never a particularly ADVANCED Wizard. He wasn't daring and dashing like his best friend Harry Potter, and he wasn't particularly skilled as far as smarts go like Hermione Granger, his other best friend (and subject of his crush for the past four years). No, Ron was just Ron. He didn't really have much skills aside from being able to play a mean game of Chess and a mediocre game of Quidditch in which he tried to save as many goals as possible, but fell short many, many times.
Ron had been thinking since he had returned from his Sixth year at school about the task ahead of him and to be honest, Ron didn't see him helping out much while they were out there in the thick of it. That was going to change today, though. Ron had decided that while he didn't bring much to the table himself, that he could at least make sure the others kept going. The best way to do that was to keep everyone fed and watered while they, with their glorious brain and nerves, kept the battle going.
Ron took a deep breath and clasped his hands on his thighs. "Right," he said, getting to his feet. He found his head stretched up so far that it's almost constricting how close to the ceiling he was. Today was the day he was going to learn to cook.
Ron traipsed down the stairs in a practiced manner, stopping at Ginny's door on the second floor. The door was open and when he looked into the room, he saw Ginny sitting on her old toy box looking out with her back against her one of the sides of the little out cropping for the window, staring out of the window with a sad look in her eyes.
"Gin," he said, "I need a favour."
Ginny turned to look at him, her gaze still unfocused. After a second, she shook her head, trying to focus on Ron.
"What is it?"
"I need you to get Mum out of the house for the day." Ron said. Waiting for his sister's answer he nervously chews the side of his cheek. The plan would ONLY work if Ginny was able to get Mum out of the house.
Ginny sighed, not hiding her annoyance at all.
"What for?"
"A thing- "
"A thing, it's always A thing with you, why can't you just straight up tell me, Ron?" Ginny grabbed the pillow behind her head and plopped it into her lap with force.
"Fine, it's a thing to do with taking out You-Know-Who. I nee- " Ron immediately stopped talking when he saw her expression, wide eyes looking back at him. Ron realized how momentous that sounded and tries another tactic.
Ron sat down next to her on the other end of the toy box, propping his long and lanky form against the wood panel, like he used to such along time ago when they were little and scared from nightmares. "I-I need to get Mum out of the house because I want Dad to teach me how to cook."
"Why don't you just ask Mum?", Ginny responded.
"C'mon Gin, you know the first thing out of her mouth would be 'Why do you need to learn to cook you have me AND Hogwarts to cook for you.' And, to be honest, I haven't told her OR DAD that I'm not going back to Hogwarts this year."
Ron leaned his head back looking out the window at the family pond that sparkled in the afternoon sunlight. "Not to mention this is probably the ONLY day off Dad'll have till the wedding and I really don't want to step on toes while Mum is prepping a wedding."
"Yeah it's a good way to lose an eye for sure." Ginny commented dryly."What do I get in return?"
"This is a priority request. Peanut butter and Jelly class."
Ginny looked at Ron impressed; it was a rare moment when one of the Weasley Siblings invoked their most sacred favor request.
"Fine! To return my favour, I want you to knock some sense into Harry. He can shove his stupid nobility right up his own arse."
"Ginny, you know that if I could, I would. But this is out of my decision is Harry's and Harry's alone."
Ron sighed, nudging Ginny in the side. "How about you hold on to it for a rainy day? Whatever you want, it's yours."
"Fine." Ginny said, "How long do you need?"
"Till sundown at least. I dunno how long this is gunna take." Ron got up from the bed. "You really ARE the greatest sister."
Ginny got up as well "Whatever. I'm cashing that favour in on something juicy by the way. You will regret this."
Ron just sighed and followed Ginny down to kitchen where his mum was busy hand washing a pan she had used to cook bacon this morning. Dad was sitting at the kitchen table reading a Plumbing handbook Fred and George had found one day while wooing Muggle ladies in a London bookshop.
Ron sat down beside his Dad into Percy's old seat. Ginny came down the stairs, already with her shoes on. Ron could see that she must have done something to make herself tear up in the time between his talk with her and now, as her eyes were puffy and slightly red.
"Mum?" Ginny asked.
"Yes dear?" Molly said, not looking over her shoulder.
"M-Mum, could we get out of the house today?" Ginny asked, playing up the wounded pride inside of her. Molly stopped with her task and turned to look at Ginny with a curious eye. "It's just been so long since you and I had a day to ourselves a-and with everything that happened last year I-I just wanted to spend time with you." Ginny looked at her shoes while Ron inwardly cheered at his sisters acting prowess.
Molly sat the pan back into the water and dried her hands. "Of course, darling, let me get my shoes and we'll have a day, yes?" She turned to her husband. "Arthur would you mind finishing this pan before tonight?"
"Yes dear" Mr. Weasley said, not looking up from his book.
"Ronnie, would you bring in the laundry today, I heard on the wireless that it's supposed to rain tonight."
Ron gave his mother a quick nod before Molly went towards the door. "Oh, also get the Camp beds out of your Dad's shed and set them up. Can't have Harry and Hermione sleeping on the floor, can we?"
"Of course. Mum." Mrs. Weasley stood behind her youngest son and smoothed his hair out.
"Oh my, Ronnie," she laughed as she kissed the top of Ron's head. "Your hair is starting to thin, dear. I expect you'll be like your father in that regard…" Ron looked at his dad, who's hair was slowly but surely fading away.
"Well, at least I have something to look forward to then, yeah?" Ron smiled, looking at his dad who smirked behind his pages.
After a little hem-hawing, Molly and Ginny soon left the Burrow and it was just Ron and Arthur sitting at the table. Ron ran a finger over the grains of the table feigning interest while Arthur waited for Ron to finally spill what's on his mind.
"H-hey Dad?" Ron asked, still concentrating on the table.
"Yes son?" Arthur sat down his book and looked at his boy. Ron was clearly nervous about SOMETHING but Arthur could tell it was more personal rather than serious. Maybe this was about Hermione?
"I was wondering if I could ask you fora massive favour?" Arthur nodded at his request. "Well y'see, Harry, Hermione and I are not going to Hogwarts this year."
Mr. Weasley looked over the top of his glasses with concern in his eyes.
"Go on," he said in a concerned tone.
"Well, we're going to find a way to stop You-know-who and erm… well." Ron gulped.
"I-I was wondering if you could teach me howto cook for us while we were on the road?" Ron finished in one breath.
This was NOT what Arthur was expecting. A pregnant Hermione would've been his first bet if you asked him to put money on it. He blinked at his son.
"Um... isn't this the sort of thing you'd want to ask your Mum?"
"Well, I don't really want her to know about us leaving 'til later. You know her, she'd pry and pull and next thing I know I'm on the Hogwarts express with my hat in my hand."
Arthur nodded in agreement. "Well, I s'pose if I'm going to teach you, then we might as well make sure you know everything. Grab your shoes, we're going to Gringotts."
He sat his bookmark in place and put the book down. Ron headed to the front door and opened the small closet that holds the family shoes. He grabbed his ratty old ones that used to be Charlie's nicer ones from a few years ago and pulled them on.
Arthur met Ron at the fireplace and they flooed to Diagon Alley. The pair of them started walking down the road to Gringotts as fast as they could. Avoiding the refugees and vagrants that seemed to teem in Diagon Alley for the last year or so.
When they had finally gotten to their Vault (on of the ones lower in the ground as their family was so old), Ron took a pointed look at the inside of their Vault and noticed how much fuller it seemed to be.
Arthur Weasley had recently been promoted and with the majority of their kids out of the house, the Weasley family found themselves slowly building up wealth. Not that they'd ever be anything close to rich,but it was nice for Ron to see his family bouncing back as they say.
They got inside and Arthur took out ten Galleons to get it exchanged for Muggle money.
Once back on the street itself, they started to head further into Diagon Alley until they heard a very familiar, but unwelcoming voice.
"Of course, your brothers will wear nice black robes for the wedding but I think you would look good in blue!" The two of them heard Molly Weasley say from down the street. Ron panicked and pulled his Dad between the narrow alley between two buildings,hidden from his mother's view.
"Avoiding someone, aren't we?", Ron suddenly heard George's voice from the window behind him. Ron and Arthur turned around completely startled. The building they were hiding behind was Weasley Wizard Wheezes.
George leaned out of the window and looked down the street.
"Now why would my father and git of a brother avoid my Mum and sister?" George smiled at Ron with a mischievous grin. Ron noticed that he was wearing brightly coloured robes for some reason. In fact he was probably the most colourful person in Diagon Alley today.
"We're having a bit of a father and son day actually." Mr. Weasley tells his other son. "Tell you what, if you stop them from seeing us, we'll invite you and Fred over later tonight to see what we've done."
George pondered a moment and then shrugged.
"You can apparate upstairs and I'll say hi to Mum so you can slip past." George vaulted over the windowsill and strutted into the street with his robes flowing behind him like a massive green and pink cape before shouting "MUM!"
Ron jumped into the window that George just came out of and Arthur climbed in, almost tripping and eating floor before Ron caught him and dragged him into the shop properly.
"Trying your hand at Cat burglary, aren't you?" Fred leaned over a display, amused at his father's attempt to climb through the window.
Arthur finally was on his feet again, standing up straight. He smoothed out a bit of dirt he had collected from the window.
"Come to the Burrow around five tonight," Arthur said. "Ronnie's cooking and we need honest reviewers." Ron's ears turned red immediately as Fred looked like Christmas had come early, a nasty grin on his face.
"There wouldn't be anything better in life than trying Ron's food." Fred said, trying to stop himself from laughing.
After flipping off Fred,Ron and his father went upstairs and Arthur Side-Along apparated them away. They arrived in a small park covered by trees; Ron recognized this park as it was the one in the Muggle town not far from where the Burrow was.
Arthur lead his son to the supermarket and went inside and as usual Mr. Weasley naturally took a moment to marvel at the automatically opening doors in the entrance way.
"Muggles…," Mr. Weasley marveled as he took a shopping basket and lead Ron to the meat section.
"RIGHT, So, first and foremost you have to figure out what you want to cook. For a beginner I'd say you start with a simple Chicken Noodle Soup. Would that be alright with you?"
Ron nodded wholeheartedly, feeling comfortable with his Dad taking the reins.
"So, the next thing to bear in mind is how many people we're cooking for. As we're making dinner for six people today, we need a decent amount of meat. Choose one of these chicken packets and we'll grab it."
Ron looked up and down the aisle and found one that has three large chicken breasts in it.
"What do you think about that one?" Ron asked, "its boneless so we won't have to worry about cleaning it as much?"
Arthur nodded his head as if to say 'Your call', so Ron sat it into the basket.
"Next thing we'll need to get are vegetables. Now I know we have some at home but since we're teaching you how to cook as if you're on your own, it's still important to show you what you actually need to get from a store."
Arthur lead Ron over to the right section where vegetable of all colours and sizes were lined up.
"So, for our very basic soup we'll go with potatoes and onions. Grab two of these Russet Potatoes" He pointed at a large crate that held a large amount of brown potatoes in it. "Then we'll see which kind of onions they have."
Ron looked over the potatoes and selected two decent looking ones. He made his way back to his dad and showed him the potatoes for Arthur's inspection, who nodded and into the basket they went.
Ron viewed the onions with his dad looking at all the types available. "So, how do we know which one is best for a soup?"
"Honestly, anyone would work just fine. However, certain onions, like the red ones here", Arthur pointed at a set of red onions "are better on stuff like sandwiches or a roast beef, while white and yellow onions," again he pointed them out. "are better for soups and general meals. Grab two of those" Ron did as he was told and grabbed two of the larger onions, setting them into the basket.
"Last thing we need is some broth which is over in the soup section." He led Ron to the aforementioned aisle and stopped in front of some boxes that said Broth and Stock on them. "Most of the time we use broth. You CAN get stock but I've found that it's a bit runnier and bland in my opinion. Stock and broth are both relatively cheap and you can find them at any Muggle store. So, grab two of those." Ron did as he was told and sat it in the basket.
"So, all we need now is noodles and we're good to go" Arthur pivoted and inspected the collection of noodles in front of him.
"We'll go with these Asian style noodles right here," Arthur picked up a pouch of noodles and handed it to Ron who read the label "Udon Noodles".
"Are these common in stores?" Ron asks as he set the noodles into their basket as well.
"Not as much, the only reason we're using these is because they're thicker and they absorb the flavour better."
The pair of them walked to the front of the store and Arthur handed Ron the money and the groceries. "Go ahead and pay."
Ron grabbed the basket and walked to the line. He waited until the Muggle in front of him was done (Honestly, who needs that much toilet paper?) and he sat his items down on the conveyor belt. He waited until it was his turn for the lady behind the register to scan the few looked up at Ron and his father behind him, who was using his height to look at other Muggles and marvel at their day-to-day life.
"Still hot out eh?" she said to Ron in her thick accent.
"Oh, erm yeah, blistering heat." Ron smiled, thinking that something mundane to talk about is something he was confident he could do. "'Spect it'll cool down after it rains later though."
"Damn is it gunna rain? Left my windows down." She swipes and pressed a button and weighed the onions before sliding them down to the bagger.
"Shouldn't be till tonight I'd think." She nodded and hit the Subtotal button.
"15 and 30 please." Ron checked the money his dad had given him and handed over two Tenner notes. She took them and pressed a few buttons on her machine and the register popped open and she gave him the change. "Thanks for shopping with Wilson's" She smiled at him again.
Ron grabbed the three bags and followed his dad back to the park where they apparated home.
Back at the Burrow Ron sat the bags down.
"Why don't you grab that laundry quick?" His Dad said. "I dunno but it might start raining a bit sooner."
Ron went outside, drew his wand and cast a charm on them. They unpinned themselves from the line and started to fold themselves. The laundry floated next to him as he went back inside and sat it down on the couch. Ron Pauses a moment and makes a mental note to ask his mum how to clean clothes on his own.
He returned to the kitchen where his dad was grabbing a large pot from the cupboards. Arthur turned towards Ron and showed him the cooking utensil.
"When doing soups, you'll want to use a stock pot like this. Its deeper and it allows us to cook everything in one pot all at once."
"So, we'll first start with the broth." Arthur sat the stock pot on the oven and turned the heat on. He took the two boxes of broth and poured them in.
"We'll set this on the highest heat to let it get a nice boil on. Now we'll take the onions and potatoes and cut them up nice and evenly. I'll show you how to do it properly with magic on this potato and the muggle way with this one. But first we need to wash them first. You never know where the veggies have been or who touched them. Or if a farmer decided that he didn't really need to walk back in to the house to empty his bladder and just let loose right in the field." Ron laughed at this and helped his dad clean off the potatoes.
"For other foods you'll want to peel them, but in this instance, I think we'll be ok if we just cut them up." Arthur showed Ron the Spell for cutting vegetables 'Corus' and showed him the best way to cut them with a knife. "Something to note while doing this with magic, you must clearly picture in your mind how you want the veggies to turn out."
"So, we'll set these in now" He grabbed the potatoes and sat them in the now boiling water. "Now you'll want to peel the onion and chop it up nicely. Here" Arthur handed Ron the knife. "cut a seam down the side of it, then use your thumbnail to peel off the skin. You want to avoid skin in your soup because it lingers and is weird to chew on if you get some in your mouth."
Behind them the door clicked shut, but the two men did not notice the noise. Molly and Ginny walked in laden with new stuff for the both of them and found Ron and Arthur at the stove. Ron looked very focused and concentrated while Arthur looked a bit lost to be honest. Molly exchanged a look with Ginny who just shrugged, while smiling smugly. Molly sat down at the table and Ginny followed a second after.
"Right, so chicken, erm. If you ever do chicken on its own, you'll need to season it before cooking, but when doing soup all that we really need to do is to cut it up into bite sized pieces." Arthur took the same knife and wiped off the cutting board before setting it up again. Ron grabbed the knife and started cutting the chicken into small strips. When the three of them are done he turned the strips and cut them in half.
"That's how mum cuts them…," he mentioned. Behind him Molly smiled at his recognition.
"Set the meat in the pot and give it a stir, then we can add the noodles." Arthur opened the packet of noodles and handed them to Ron. "Typically, you'll crack them in half if the noodles are longer like these are."
Ron cracked the pouch in half and sets them into the pot.
"Now we'll need to stir it evenly. Once those noodles are no longer hard, they'll increase in volume." Arthur turned to get a cup out so he can use some water when he finally noticed Molly and Ginny watching them bemusedly. Molly brought a finger up to her lips to tell him not to say anything. Arthur grabbed the water and poured it in the pot.
"Just a bit of water to even it out." He turned again and got himself some water to drink.
Molly studies her youngest son. She never knew that this would be something he liked doing. His shoulders, which usually seemed to be tensed are now relaxed. He appeared to be at ease while cooking, stirring evenly and making sure the pot didn't boil over.
"So, how do we know when it's done?" Ron asked.
"For this particular one, we'll just want to make sure that the potatoes and noodles are done." Arthur grabbed a fork and took the ladle from Ron. He dipped the ladle in and brought up a few of the potato pieces.
"Best test for potatoes is the fork test. Stab it in to the potato and if it falls off right away it's good to go." Ron did just that and the potato immediately slid off.
Okay, those are done, now we'll grab some noodles and test those." He dipped in again and Arthur took a noodle out to test it.
"Try some."
Ron dipped in with his dad's fork and spiraled a couple of noodles.
"See how that feels in your mouth. A little bit hard still? That means we need to let it boil for a bit longer."
Ron looked back at the pot and kept stirring slowly.
Just then Fred and George came in and wanted to make a big racket as always, but were silenced by Mrs. Weasley who stared them down and beckoned them to sit at their spot. The two didn't say anything but watched their mother who is studied Ron.
Ron took a spoon and leaned low to reach the spoon to taste the broth. He pondered a moment.
"It's just not the same as mum's" Ron looked at his dad as he chewed the inside of his cheek. Arthur took the spoon and tried some of it himself.
"You're right, though I can't tell for the life of me what it's missing." Arthur sat the spoon off to the side.
Molly stood up, went to her stove and pushed Arthur gently out of the way. When Ron saw his mother, his ears turned red. She put the same spoon into the soup and tasted it. "Ah" she said immediately.
Ron looked at his Dad who just shrugged.
Molly reached up to her spice rack, taking out a small jar with a red lid on it. She opened it and took out two small cubes, wrapped in a paper.
"This Is Bouillon Ronnie." She dropped the two of them into the still simmering water "give that about five minutes and it'll let all its flavor into the soup."
Five minutes passed and Molly took another test of their soup. She pondered for a moment before ladling a bit in for Ron.
"What do you think dear?"
He tasted it. This time it had more body to the flavor itself.
"Wow Mum, I can't believe those two little cubes fixed it all so quickly." Ron marveled at his mother. "You truly are the Queen of Cooking!" He gave her a little mock bow.
"Oh Ron, when you've fed as many people as I have for as long as I have you get used to it and start learning some tricks." Molly laughed.
She turned to the Cabinet that held the bowls and sat six of them out. She handed Ron's to him first
"Goon Ron, cook gets his food first." She said knowing full well that she wasn't the first to start eating her own meals after she cooked.
Ron took the ladle out and poured two scoopfuls into the bowl. He then went to sit at his spot as the rest of the family took their seats as well.
Arthur grabbed the spoons and passed them out to the family. Ginny took her first taste of Ron's cooking and her eyes went wide. "Mmm, this is good!"
She started to devour her meal happily, slurping loudly on the noodles. Molly and Arthur ate theirs and Fred and George enjoyed theirs so much that they barely stopped long enough to breathe.
"Don't worry you two, I made it, so you KNOW there's going to be leftovers." Ron laughed and the family chuckled as well.
"Ron, I taught you all I know about cooking." His Dad said, sharing a look with Molly. "I don't have anything else that I know, but your mum is happy to teach you." Molly nodded excitedly. A brilliant smile plastered on her face.
"You'll be a much better student than Bill ever had been, I expect. He never went out of his way to want to learn and that's such an important part of it all." Molly looked at her twins. "Maybe if we teach you Ronnie, we can convince these two to stop eating Take-away and eat something healthy for once."
Fred rolled his eyes and George scoffed.
"How about you lot invite us over when you cook so we can have a free dinner or two?" George bantered.
"Yeah mum, that way we don't have to waste our hard-earned down time on things we'd never retain anyway…" Fred followed up.
A/N: ERM. HELLO. SO, THIS IS THE START CHAPTER. IVE GOT A LOT OF IT PLANNED OUT TO COVER THE 7TH BOOK AND A BIT BEYOND. REMINDER THIS IS AN AU FIC SO IT WILL MIRROR THE MAIN PLOT CLOSELY, AT THE SAME TIME THERE ARE VERY DEFINITE DEVIATIONS THAT SHALL REVEAL THEMSELVES IN TIME.
THANK YOU TO ACNELLI FOR BETA-ING AND MAKING SURE MY GRAMMAR IS UP TO SNUFF (IT WASN'T AND I DIDN'T REALISE HOW BAD IT WAS UNTIL SHE CRACKED HER KNUCKLES AND READ FOR ME (SORRY TO BURDEN YOU WITH MY SUB-PAR ENGLISH)) AND THANK YOU TO EDNA_MODE FOR SPOT CHECKING THIS AN MAKING SURE THINGS FLOWED WITH CANON AND LOGIC. SERIOUSLY COULDN'T HAVE SET THIS UP WITH OUT YOU'RE AMAZING-NESS.
PLEASE DROP A REVIEW IF YOU WOULD LIKE; ANY THOUGHTS OR CONCERNS IM HAPPY TO TAKE INTO ACCT.