I do not own Harry Potter, the Wizarding World, or any canon characters.

A Taste of Magic

126th Course – Enchanted Eating

"Wait, I thought we already did the Enchanting homework," Parvati said.

"We did," Susan said.

"Then what are you doing?" Parvati said accusingly.

"Reading for fun and doing something extra," Harry said, grinning at her look of horror.

"You're a bad influence," Parvati said, poking her sister.

"First of all, no you are," Padma said with retaliation pokes. "Second of all, why aren't you blaming Hermione or anyone else?"

"You're a bad influence," Parvati said, poking Hermione.

"I wish," Tracey sighed gustily, making people laugh and Hermione flush. "Actually, wait, you might be onto something. My marks have improved because someone actually makes studying bearable."

"Hermione Granger! Are you using your wiles to influence her education?!" Parvati gasped, making people laugh even harder and Hermione glower even more. "I don't know if I should be appalled or impressed."

"How about I offer a third option, in trouble," Hermione growled.

"On what charge?!"

"I'm sure I can find some!"

"You're manufacturing a crime to inflict a punishment now?!" Parvati poked Tracey. "Maybe you're the bad influence."

"I wish," Tracey repeated gustily.

"What are you reading by the way?" Sue asked Harry.

"It's a book with some old charms that Mr. Drake thought I would enjoy. They date back to the Renaissance Era and there are charms for feasts and food things. Mostly showy things or things for fun and not food directly really but some seem like a lot of fun and I'm trying one out now. If it works, I'm hoping to show Professor Flitwick."

"Ooh, what are you doing?" Millicent asked.

"Let me show you! I think it's ready." His kitchen timer chimed and he went to the oven and opened it, taking out a tray with a covered pan on it. He set it on the table and cast a charm over it. "This is a cooling charm just for cakes to make them cool and firm up a little faster."

"You really have embraced magic more for cooking," Pansy said approvingly.

Harry smiled. "For some things. Other things I prefer to not mix as much in but sometimes it's a lot of fun. Like I'm hoping this will be." After a moment, he removed the covering with a flourish.

"That's a crab," Blaise said.

Indeed it was. A very large crab sat on the tray. The outer shell was bright red, indicative of a cooked crab. It sat there with legs curled and two front claws held tight. The shell gleamed in the light and if it were not so obviously cooked, it looked like it was about to scuttle about and wave its claws in a threateningly crabby way.

"It's a crabcake," Harry smiled, making everyone groan.

"Is there crab meat in it?" Ron asked. "'Cause that'd be a little weird."

"No crab meat in it. It's a regular cake," Harry said.

"That looks like a crab." Parvati poked it gently with a palette knife. "Why?"

"I thought it would be cute and fun," Harry said, looking slightly crestfallen.

"It is cute," Parvati said, poking it again. "I just don't get it. I thought you do magic fooding when there's a reason."

"Oh well, it also does this," Harry said, tapping it with his wand. Parvati shrieked with alarm when she went to poke it a third time, the crabcake came to life. It grabbed the palette knife with a claw and tugged hard on it, making her lose her grip on it. It held it and waved it belligerently and began scuttling back and forth on the table making the others jump and yelp.

"Is it a real crab or is it acting like one?" Hermione asked as it moved around the table, clicking and clacking its free claw while waving the knife.

"Acting like one. It's a regular cake but there's a variation of the Animus Charm and it can act like an animal. The simpler the animal, the better."

"That's amazing," Lavender gasped. She howled with laughter as the crabcake chased Parvati around the table and Parvati ended up hiding behind Padma who was laughing just as hard.

"Apparently it was really popular for feasts for a time," Harry said. "Then it stopped being as popular."

"Probably something like a herd of cake animals got loose and caused a bit of damage," Sue smiled. "There's a story in Chinese history of how a cake that looked like a dragon basically ruined a palace and flew off."

Hedwig swooped in and she barked a challenge, holding a cake knife in one talon. She fluttered in the air and saluted with it, looking down at the crabcake. The crabcake burbled a reply and waved claw and knife before scuttling forward to meet the challenge. Owl and confection dueled around the tabletop, the palette knife and cake knife clanging off each other in a flurry of jabs, parries, and ripostes.

"What is going on?" Blaise asked, looking like a person that did not believe what they were seeing.

"Dessert and a show," Luna said happily as she clapped her hands. "Go Hedwig!"

The duel ended in fantastic fashion when Hedwig literally disarmed her opponent. Her blade cut through the joint of the claw holding the knife and it flew to the side. She flew up and then brought the knife down, neatly spearing the crabcake through the upper shell right between the eyes. The crabcake gurgled briefly before going limp and Hedwig sat on the handle of the cake knife and hooted victory to riotous applause.

"I'm assuming you didn't know that would happen," Pansy smiled.

Harry grinned. "No, but I'm not complaining." He picked up the cut off crabcake claw and took the knife out and offered it to Hedwig when she hopped to his shoulder. "To the victor goes first spoils." His smile grew as she noisily enjoyed the claw of cake, munching on it happily and wiggling from delight. He then sliced the rest of the cake into pieces and everyone had some.

"I was really expecting it to taste crabby but it doesn't, so weird!" Millicent laughed.

"I feel a little crabby, does that count?" Astoria asked.

"No, that is your default condition," Daphne said, smiling at Astoria's frown.

"Now I kinda want to see other cake animals," Parvati said as she ate hungrily. "Imagine one of those big pegasi from Beauxbatons."

"Oh I'd feel bad eating one of those," Lavender said. "There's cute and then there's really cute."

"Oh now I have an idea to mess with my family," Sue smiled. "We do whole steamed fish a lot for big meals and I'd love to present a cake fish and watch them be super confused. Teach me?"

"Sure, as long as you don't tell them it was my idea," Harry laughed.

"No way, I'm taking all the credit for the idea," Sue grinned.

"Was it difficult to cast the charm?" Hermione asked as they helped clean up.

"A little bit. I think it was a little easier because I used the magically active sugar I learned how to do for the Yule Log cake and that makes charming things easier. But the sugar was mixed into the batter and it made the cake react a little differently too. And taste more differently but luckily not in a bad way," he replied.

"Fun to do every once in a while," Padma said.

-0-

The door banged open and Sophie walked through it with utter confidence. "Harry Potter!" she cried into the room, pointing dramatically.

"Hi Sophie!" Harry said, waving energetically.

Sophie blinked a few times, unprepared for that response as well as seeing others in the room looking amused and unsurprised as well. "Wait." She groaned when she saw Perenelle sitting there. "Did Mistress Flamel warn you?"

"Warn me about what?" Harry asked, looking innocently confused.

"Drat." Sophie deflated a little, like a sail losing wind. "I was hoping to surprise you and gain the advantage."

"Oh wait." Harry gasped theatrically and held a hand to his chest. "Sophie of BeauSolei?! What are you doing here?!"

Sophie smiled brightly at him. "Thank you, my friend. I mean. I am here to make a wrong, right! You bested me thrice, two years ago and I come now to even the score! I challenge you to a duel with the kitchen as our battlefield and food our weaponry!"

"Oh no, I'm not prepared for this at all," Harry gasped, making the others snort and laugh. "Whatever will I do?!"

"Don't quit cooking because an actor, you aren't," Blaise said companionably.

"No, I'm hamming it up," Harry whispered back.

"Clearly," Daphne smiled.

"I accept of course, if that wasn't clear," Harry grinned. "Also, Grandmother didn't grass you up exactly. She just told me to prepare for something dramatic and I was expecting Grandfather to do something honestly."

"Is Mr. Flamel teaching Sophie how to be dramatic too?" Lavender giggled.

Fleur shook her head as she sat beside Lavender. "No, Sophie has always been a bit more dramatic than I. She and Master Flamel feed off each other's drama though which is very amusing if you are not directly involved."

"It really is and it saves me some energy these days," Perenelle said comfortably. She clapped her hands excitedly as Sophie and Harry set up their stations and the other pulled out things for them to use and laid them out on the back tables. "This will be very fun!"

Pansy, resuming her role as announcer, rummaged through the bag that people filled with ingredients and themes. "Let us see. We have, egg once more for ingredient. For theme, we have savory. Are you ready? Begin!"

"Care to make it another omelette match?" Sophie asked with a big smile.

"Maybe another time," Harry laughed. He filled a steamer pot full of water and put it on the stove with the lid on. He then beat eggs together and strained the egg mixture through a chinois sieve before mixing the strained eggs with chicken broth, salt, and white pepper. He poured the mixtures into small ramekins and set them in the steamer basket carefully. Once steam started rising through the lid, he settled the steamer basket on the pot and put the lid back on.

Sophie's first steps looked the same as Harry's. She beat eggs together and strained them but then beat them with cream, milk, salt, and pepper. She lined a pie dish with some pie crust at the ready and scattered some chopped ham and cheese into it. She poured the egg mixture on top and popped the entire thing into the oven.

After his timer chimed, Harry took the lid off and nodded approvingly at the sight of the ramekins. He took them out gently and finished them off by pouring soy sauce and sesame oil on top of the creamy golden-yellow surfaces of the steamed eggs. He scattered a bit of cracked black pepper on top as well and garnished it with some shallots he had sliced thin and fried until crispy.

Sophie took her quiche out of the oven and when it had cooled a little, cut large wedges out. The pie crust was golden brown and the top of the quiche was also brown in parts, the cheese and the ham studding the soft egg.

"Mmm, that's really good," Parvati said, eating her piece of quiche. "That all melted together really well."

"Good texture to the egg, well cooked pie crust, very good," Blaise agreed.

"Oh my goodness, look how jiggly this is!" Susan said, scooping up a spoonful of the steamed egg. "It's so delicate."

"Oh wow, that's silky and delicious," Parvati said as she ate. "Melts in your mouth was made for that."

"What is that?" Sophie gasped after eating her first bite of the steamed egg. "It's incredible! It's like a savory custard."

"Chinese steamed eggs," Harry said happily. "Isn't it delicious? There's also a Japanese version called chawanmushi and there's a Korean one too that I won't butcher the word for. They're a little different from each other but made basically the same. It's so good."

"I am not even upset," Sophie said when Susan, Blaise, and Parvati voted for Harry to win. "As long as you teach me of course."

"Of course," Harry grinned.

-0-

"Things seem very lively," Drake said, smiling at the happy youngsters and the delicious smells in the air.

"Oh hello Drake," Perenelle greeted warmly. "I did not know you were in the country."

"Only for a brief visit. I was bringing some ICW messages to Albus and was hoping to conduct a little side business myself. Ah, and it seems it will be easier than I thought."

Perenelle followed his line of sight. "You wish to speak to the Skeeter woman?"

"Yes, to help me figure something out."

"Is it serious?"

"I do not think so, yet anyways. But I do not know for sure and I have heard that she is adroit at ferreting out information."

"I have heard the same," Perenelle said. "You will let me know if you need my assistance?"

"Have I ever not given you the opportunity to meddle?" Drake asked dryly.

"No you have not and that is why we are such good friends," Perenelle chuckled. "Does this have to do with the strange fellow from the Festival?"

"It does actually. I have poked about and he is a member of the ICW but as a casual member, not a part of any major department or committee or anything."

"Very interesting," Perenelle said. "Keep me informed."

"Of course. By the way, what is she doing here anyways?"

Perenelle smiled. "Writing articles for that new magazine."

"Oh I need to pick up an extra copy. Mine became the office copy," Drake said. "It is some lovely work however and a pleasant read. And I heard Andromeda won the pool?"

"She did," Perenelle snickered.

"She is a smart one," Drake chuckled. He and Perenelle applauded when Sophie won the bout, making a croque madame to beat Harry's grilled ham and cheese sandwich, and after a wave to Harry with a promise to speak to him later, Drake approached Rita. "Miss Skeeter, a word if I may."

Rita looked up and took a double-take for a brief moment before smiling broadly. "Well well well, Eld Tepes, is that right?"

Drake made a sweeping bow and a courtly gesture. "You do have that right." He and Rita walked to one side of the Uncommon Room. "I have heard how clever you are and it seems appearances match the rumors."

"Flattery gets you somewhere," Rita smiled back. "And I've heard that you are so very polite and genteel and so very dangerous."

"And how does my appearance match my rumor?" Drake said, smiling enough to reveal his fangs.

"I didn't say anything about rumors, now did I?" Rita demurred.

Drake chuckled. "And you are more clever than you are rumored to be."

"Oh I don't know about that. It's never good to show how clever you are. You always want people to over or under estimate how clever you are. When a person knows exactly how clever you are, then you become predictable."

"A very good way to look at it," Drake said with approval. "Do not worry, Miss Skeeter. I mean you no harm and I hope that feeling continues."

"Providing I do what you ask?" she asked, fluttering her eyelashes.

Drake laughed. "I would be most appreciative if you accept my offer, but I will not coerce you into accepting it. And to me, no is an answer."

"An offer? Color me intrigued."

"I heard you are quite good at finding information and that sometimes, it is even true."

Rita smiled more sincerely at that. "You might be correct."

"As you might imagine, as an Eld and as a prominent member of the ICW, I have a rather guarded relationship with the media. All too often, I am told what they think I want to hear instead of what I would like to know."

"Would you be surprised if I experience that myself?" Rita smiled as he laughed once more. "Those that would even tell me anything that is. Though I will admit that has changed slightly as of late."

"And as a member of the media, I assume that you have colleagues or friends in media from other places?"

"Friends might be going a bit far but a safe assumption."

Drake pulled out a file from his cloak. "I would like to know more about this person and what they are planning. Nothing dire, I hope, but it intrigues me."

There was no mistaking the hunger in Rita's eyes as she looked at the file. "And why come to Rita Skeeter? While I am very good at my job, there might be some better. Not to mention I have my reputation to consider."

"Your reputation is partially the reason I am approaching you. You get results and are surprisingly clever after all," he said. "Not to mention, it might involve a mutual friend of ours."

Rita looked at him. "Harry?"

Drake nodded. "I first discovered this person during the Winter Festival here a few months ago and have been poking about since."

"Is he in danger?" Rita asked baldly.

"I do not think so, but this is also me trying to ensure that he is not," Drake said seriously. "Do not think there is nothing for you. You will be compensated for it in gold of course and if you promise me direct copies, I suppose I can offer interviews for the magazine."

"Interviews that others would kill for given how guarded you are with the media," Rita said with a smile. "I accept." She took the file from him. "I would have done it without the promise of the interviews though."

"Then think of them as a bonus," Drake smiled. He offered a hand. "To a bountiful working relationship."

She shook it firmly. "And to finding things out."

-0-

"Mmm, I know that smell," Millicent said happily. "That Bolognese, right?"

"Sure is," Harry said. "Good catch."

"I love it," Millicent smiled. She noticed him sitting there with his wand at the ready and blinked at some of the others sitting at the table with plates of noodles and sauce. "What's going on?"

Harry sighed. "So I found this charm that lets you attach thread to other bits of thread which is pretty useful apparently when you want a different kind of a piece or a different color and didn't want to rethread a needle or something. I then made the mistake of seeing if it works sticking one end of a noodle to another end."

"Ahh, and apparently it does," Millicent said. She watched Owen continuously slurp a single noodle. "He's going to choke and I'm going to hold it over his head for the rest of his life."

"I had Madam Pomfrey teach me how to do an anti-choking charm," Harry sighed. "And I know how to do the Heimlich maneuver."

"What's that?" Millicent asked. "Sounds like something Parv would call pervy."

Harry grinned. "It's how you help someone who's choking on food. You wrap your arms around someone from behind, make a fist, and press upwards here."

"I might do that to Owen and Nathan on the regular as it is," Millicent mused. "Sounds slightly uncomfortable."

"Not generally done if you don't need it," Hermione said, faintly amused at Millicent's calculating expression.

"No, but it's good to do to make sure there's nothing stuck right?" Millicent asked.

Harry snorted but then the sound of someone choking made him turn and aim his wand. After casting the anti-choking charm, he waved his wand at the other plates, undoing the charmed noodles. "Okay, no more. It was a funny idea but I said the second someone chokes, it's done."

Parvati pounded her chest with one hand. "Which means I won and can never be defeated," she coughed.

"No!" Nathan cried. "You choked! That shouldn't count!"

"Even before I choked, I still slurped the longest, so there. Chin up, no one likes a sore loser," Parvati grinned. "Just accept that I am the winner forever since the chance to do better has been removed forever. Which is good because we don't want people choking doing something stupid."

"Does she think about what she says before saying it?" Daphne asked mildly.

"She claims she doesn't, saying it isn't as fun," Padma sighed.

"Unfortunately, she does provide a lot of amusement that way," Hermione said. "Or fortunately."

"I knew you appreciated my silliness," Parvati said, batting her eyelashes.

"I didn't say that," Hermione said.

"You just said that."

Hermione frowned in thought. "Did I? I don't recall."

"You literally just-hey! I know what you're doing! Stop that!" Parvati cried.

"Did you hear me say something?" Hermione asked.

"Not me," Daphne said with the biggest smile from ear to ear.

"No I didn't hear anything," Padma said with an equally large smile.

Parvati huffed and fought a smile as the other three girls laughed their heads off. "I don't know if I should be offended or proud that she did me to me."

"Yes," Harry said helpfully, patting her on the shoulder.

-0-

"Hey you two!" Lavender walked into the Uncommon Room and found it surprisingly empty. Only Harry and Hedwig were there. She kissed Harry on the lips sweetly and then kissed Hedwig on the forehead who barked back and bonked her head against Lavender's. "What are you up to?"

"Doing some studying while going back to basics," Harry smiled. "I've been using magic so much for cooking lately, I decided to make biscuits by hand again with as little magic as possible while studying for the upcoming potions exam. Hedwig holds up a card and I recite the use of the ingredient or describe the law."

"Now that's good multitasking," Lavender smiled. "How's he been doing?"

Hedwig hooted proudly and showed the pile that Harry had gotten right and how much taller it was than the ones he missed.

"I might need your help studying later too," Lavender giggled.

"Me or Hedwig?" Harry asked.

"Both," Lavender said brightly. "Actually, I should start now." She joined them as Harry finished mixing the dough and portioning out the biscuits, popping them into the oven. When they finished baking, he put the biscuits onto wire racks to cool and served a few to Lavender and Hedwig and they sat together to enjoy them.

"Mmm, delicious," Lavender said and Hedwig nodded in agreement.

"Still really satisfying to do without magic too," Harry said as he poured glasses of milk for them.

"Yeah. Sometimes you'll want to do things an easier way, but other times you want to go through the process," Lavender agreed, holding the glass at an angle for Hedwig to dunk her biscuit into the milk a little more easily.

The door opened and Marigold and Clover were there. "Biscuits!" they said and ran in.

"There's plenty in the middle! Don't take them off my plate, you two!" Lavender said irritably, pushing them away from her plate. She sighed but smiled when Harry refilled her plate. "There goes the peace and quiet."

"It was nice while it lasted," Harry grinned. "But this is good too," he said when more of their friends came in.

"That's true," Lavender smiled as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"And we can try and get some more peace and quiet later," he added softly.

"That'll be great," she said, smiling even more.

-0-0-0-

odonnellzoo99 - I wanted a less positive version of Chef Gusteau's famous quote lol. I thought it would be nice for Harry to be taken care of again, especially considering his past. Definitely, and the petlings would have their revenge if they were forced to leave and return multiple times.

DOOOOOM Lord of Waffles - Yup, taking care of Harry was a nice thing to see and the reverse.

Guest - The petlings love Harry as both as a person and their creator of their treats. I do like a good Rita. That's such a strange thing to say but she's a lot of fun as a good person. Thanks for reading.

alix33 - She knows how to pick her battles and realized it would be a losing one if she went against the petlings.

TheSphynx - Not that serious yet for Sirius and Amelia.

DarkRavie - Thank you.

poka - Glad to hear it. Yeah, I thought it would be nice to see him being taken care of for a change. Also to show how different things are now from before.

RockIll - Thank you, glad you enjoy it. Hope you continue to do so.