I do not own Harry Potter, the Wizarding World, or any canon characters.
A Taste of Magic
154th Course – Difference in Detail
"Hey that smells nice, and kinda familiar." Parvati took the lid off the pot and looked at the simmering contents. "What is this?"
Harry hummed. "Uhm, it's something new I'm trying."
"Go on," Parvati frowned. "Why are you being so cagey?"
"I'm not," Harry said evasively. "I just don't know how you're going to respond to it."
"So like most things new and different to Parvati," Daphne said with a lofty tone and a cool little smile.
"Quiet Princess Cupcake," Parvati said, ignoring Daphne's sour look and the chuckling of the others. "You, not quiet." She poked Harry. "What is it?"
"It's Japanese," Harry said. "Kaito made a version for the last challenge and it smelled wonderful and he sent me the recipe."
Parvati frowned at him. "Pads, come here. Smell this."
Padma sniffed the air a few times. "That does smell very nice." She frowned too. "Also kinda familiar." She stirred it with a ladle. "I see carrot, onion, potato, and I think that's chicken."
"You're making it worse by not telling them directly," Sue grinned.
"Wait, you told her and not me?" Parvati gasped. "Us?" she amended at Padma's look.
"Sue watched me make it," Harry said. "She also said you two would react like this and have I mentioned how pretty you two are today?"
"I'm always pretty," Parvati said. "We're always pretty," she amended at a second Padma look. She looked at the spices next to the stove. "Wait, curry powder! And is that garam masala?!"
"Why is there honey out?!" Padma gasped. "Did you sweeten this with honey?!"
"And apple," Sue said with innocent glee.
"Apple?!" the Patils cried.
"What kind of monster not-curry is this?!" Parvati said.
"It's Japanese curry!" Harry said.
"This isn't curry, it's gravy!" Padma cried. "It's so thick and viscous!"
"Whereas one is thick and vicious," Daphne said in a very low tone, smiling when Pansy smacked her arm and tried to look stern but her giggling ruined the look. "I jest of course but it was far too tempting to say," Daphne giggled.
"Why are you making this wrong curry?" Parvati accused, poking Harry repeatedly.
"Like I said, it smelled nice and it looked good!" Harry said, trying to flee the irate Patils. "It's a different kind of curry, like the thousands of kinds all across India, right?"
"You should know how affronted I am because I'm deliberately ignoring a factual statement," Padma said severely.
"What's wrong with Japanese curry?" Tracey asked. "Hermione and I went to a Thai place during one of the breaks with our families, her family took us. I had a Thai curry there and it was nice."
"Don't say that in front of Grandmum," Parvati warned. "She thinks Thai curries lack character and substance."
"She calls them glorified soup," Padma said. She looked at the pot. "She'd probably have words about this too."
"Some people take names of things far too seriously," Blaise said condescendingly.
"Okay Mister Open-Faced-Sandwich-za," Parvati said snidely.
"That is a matter of national pride," Blaise seethed. "And propriety!"
"So's curry!" the Patils said.
"One can have different interpretations of a dish, as long as they aren't calling it something factually incorrect," Blaise countered, glaring at Millicent who gave him the salute.
"Weren't you throwing a hissy fit about a particular pizza topping?" Astoria said. "Like an even bigger and hissier fit than normal? Oh it was pineapple and ham."
"Abomination!" Blaise shouted.
"That actually sounds tasty," Luna said brightly. "I want to try that."
"No you do not," Blaise said.
"I'm fairly sure I do," Luna said, frowning a little and looking introspective. "At least, I think I do. And I would know more than anyone else, right?"
"Yes?" Harry said when Luna looked at him expectantly.
"Look at you, causing another controversy," Sue said, deeply amused to a sighing Harry.
"I'm not responsible for the pizza one," Harry said with a small smile.
"Okay, not that one," Sue snickered. "Hey, I had an idea for a new event morale thingie by the way."
"For someone who was so eager to sell me out to the twins, you're asking a lot," Harry laughed.
"Guess their penchant for causing trouble and fun rubbed off on me," Sue smiled.
"Fairly sure that was in your family already, with your mum and aunt."
"Oh yeah, you're right. Oh and Mum wanted me to congratulate you again on the perfect steamed fish! She was so proud of you and loved the pictures of it in the magazine and the paper. Especially when you said it was our family recipe!"
"I mean it is! I wouldn't have learned it and used it if it wasn't for you and your mum," Harry smiled. "I was so happy with it and was so proud it came out how I'd hoped it would."
"Everyone in the family was so happy," Sue smiled, hugging him. "They also want you to join us for a cooking day when things calm down for everything."
"I'm there! Also, sure, always happy to try something new and do a fun school event thingie. What is it?"
"Chinese New Year! Or Lunar New Year actually."
"Aren't we a couple of months too late?" Harry asked.
Sue laughed. "The Lunar New Year is based on the phases of the moon and it's usually on the second new moon of the year after the winter solstice. Actually it's lunisolar from what Dad says but he admits that's a quibble. Anyways, it's celebrated as the beginning of spring and basically a fresh start of the year. Because it's based on the moon, it changes every year a little."
"That's so neat," Harry said, enthralled. "And I bet there's special food and stuff?"
"You'd bet right," Sue nodded. "Lots of foods to symbolize family, prosperity, and good luck for the year to come. You already know some like dumplings and fish, but there's others too."
"Sounds good to me! If you help deflect the twins some," Harry said.
"Deal!" Sue and Harry shook on it. She cleared her throat a little. "So I actually looked this up a bit ago and the generally accepted origin of curry is the word kari, which means sauce or relish for rice. It doesn't actually have to have curry leaves in it at all. In fact, some of the earliest forms of curry spice mix that got brought over from Asia were different mixtures of spices."
"And?" Parvati and Padma said together, giving Sue an identical look.
"So one could argue that all curries are acceptable and that it's all different versions of the same thing: food cooked in a lot of spices and usually served with rice," Sue finished.
"Okay, sure," Padma said. "But there's curry, and then there's curry."
"Meaning one is more right than the others," Parvati finished.
"Really, putting emphasis on a word makes it more right?" Sue asked sardonically.
"Sometimes," Padma glowered. "One could also argue that they know where you sleep!"
"We're roommates! Of course you do!" Sue replied with an identical expression.
"Look, let's just all try it," Harry said loudly, "and then you can judge me after!"
"I don't judge you," Luna sniffed, hugging him tightly.
"We don't judge you," Parvati protested at some of the looks from others, "just judge what you do and how you define things once in a while."
"Fair enough," Harry snorted. He poured ladles of the rich brown curry over plates with white rice and the smell was deep and savory. Orange carrot and pale yellow potato were daubed in thick curry sauce alongside pieces of light brown chicken.
"Oh this is so good," Pansy gasped after her first spoonful. "It's so rich! Lots of lovely flavor!"
"Mmm, it really is," Millicent said as she ate hungrily. "The chicken is really good!"
"You can fry chicken or pork to make katsu," Harry said. "That's a popular thing to serve with Japanese curry. You can also serve it over thick noodles called udon. They even put it into bread."
"I don't want to admit it," Parvati said with full cheeks.
"It really is tasty," Padma said with a similar expression and full cheeks.
"You don't want to admit Harry's food is delicious?!" Luna said severely.
"No! I don't want to admit that this curry is curry!" Parvati said hastily.
"Let's say we like it only because Harry made it," Padma said.
"Okay that sounds good," Parvati said brightly and ate more without any reservation.
"Thank goodness," Harry sighed and the others laughed. He poured out two portions into containers. "I genuinely didn't intend on starting any cultural fights. The last time I did, it was an accident."
"That wasn't your fault either," Blaise snorted. "That was due to some small-minded bigots who wanted to start a fight and lost."
"I wish I was there this time," Pansy smiled. "The expressions on everyone's faces seeing Hedwig in action must have been wonderful in person."
"It was pretty great," Harry grinned as he poured more curry for Hedwig who bounced from foot to foot, licking her beak eagerly. She hooted happily and dug into her food with gusto.
"I don't understand why they were so surprised. She has a good eye," Blaise said. He snorted again when Hedwig stared at him with one eye wide open, then the other. "Good eyes even."
"Because they do not know her like we do," Daphne said. "The picture of the broken door was wonderful."
"I felt bad," Harry said. He shook his head when Hedwig struck a fighting pose and waggled a leg. "It was very impressive," he praised, petting her as she went back to eating.
The door to the Uncommon Room opened and Lavender walked in. "Hey everyone! Mmm, something smells good!" She sat by Harry and kissed him as he put a plate of curry and rice in front of her. "Thanks!"
"You weren't saving those for her?" Ron asked, pointing at the containers.
"No, these are for Hermione and Nev," Harry said. "Since they can't make it over as much during the week and all."
"Thanks!" Tracey smiled as Millicent hugged him.
"Hey Lavender, you've had a lot of pizza growing up, right?" Astoria asked. "What's your feelings on pineapple and ham?"
"Daddy likes it once in a while," Lavender said.
"Abomination!" Blaise exclaimed again.
"It's not that bad!" Lavender said.
"People really do have strong feelings about food opinions," Daphne said.
"If you're going to argue about something, at least it's good to be passionate about it I guess," Harry smiled.
-0-
"What are you working on?" Harry asked.
"Oh this is my big book of designs," Lavender said, showing Harry a large sketchbook. "Stuff that I want to make one day." Within were sketches and drawings of all sorts of clothes. Cloaks, Magical and Muggle styles, all kinds of clothing. They were broken up with pages that had patterns illustrated on them, a variety of colors and different designs.
"That's so cool," Harry said, flipping through them.
"You really think so?" she asked happily.
"Definitely. Oh I like this one," Harry said, stopping at a cloak that was ankle length and had a wave motif on the outside. Light blue around the hood and shoulders and going to dark navy blue at the hem.
"I based that one off of a picture that Tsumugi sent," she said proudly. "I like the ocean look of it."
"You've had this for a while," Harry smiled, still looking through it.
"Always did doodle things like that," she nodded. "I still remember when Parv and I were saying we wished there were more fun options for clothes in the magical world. There's magic! Why aren't there cooler and prettier clothes?! I think we were complaining about it and Padma said we can do something about it and we decided to do our shop idea."
She rested her head on his shoulder. "When we were doing our internship thing at Millie's family company and with one of their clothes people, they said it was good to always keep an eye open for the fashionable and what catches the eye. I remembered I had this and decided to really keep up with it. Draw things I saw, colors I liked together, and keep it ready in case."
"That's amazing," Harry said. "You two are going to be at the top for fashion one day. People are going to want to wear your stuff."
"I hope so!" she laughed. "We've been saving money and from the festivals and the side things we do. And we've worked at other places that gave us some money too."
"I can definitely help with that," Harry said.
"That's your money though," she protested.
"I have investments and things from what Sirius and Uncle Ted and Gringotts had me do, I'm very comfortable," Harry said. "I want to help."
"I know you do, I just don't want you doing too much because you already do too much. That and I don't want things to get messy. Money always makes things messy," she said softly.
"I get that," he replied, resting his head against hers. "I like to think we wouldn't let money get in the way."
"We know better than that," she agreed.
"Maybe I can invest in you two?" he suggested.
She giggled. "I don't think you can be objective about it."
"Probably not," he smiled and kissed her cheek.
"We'll talk about it more later," she decided. "I'm just happy to have your support in lots of ways."
"Same here," he said happily.
The door opened and Sue and Luna came walking in. Luna saw them together and immediately looked away, still walking, and bumped into Sue from behind. The older girl turned and gave her friend a bemused look.
"They don't like to be watched while kissing," Luna said, a smile on her lips. "Or rather I think Lavender doesn't, Harry didn't say anything. Well neither said anything out loud actually."
"Why were you watching them in the first place?" Sue laughed while Lavender scrunched her face from embarrassment and Harry groaned.
"I didn't know I wasn't supposed to!"
"You make it sound like we snog everywhere all the time," Lavender said, flushing but smiling and shaking her head as Luna giggled.
"Do you two need another few minutes?" Sue asked, laughing as Lavender threw a towel at her. "If not, we can get started on the food stuff! I got the recipes and I know you already got all the ingredients."
"For the New Year Feast? I want to help!" Lavender said brightly.
"Good because it's a lot," Sue laughed. She laid out all the recipes on the table for them all to look over. "I figure we can get started and others can jump in as they want. We can try it all together and then we can teach the elves."
"Oh and we can work on decoration ideas together," Luna said.
"Yeah! That sounds great!" Lavender said enthusiastically.
"Like most foods eaten during our holidays, they have a lot of symbolism," Sue said as they got to work. "You guys know about dumplings now and they represent good fortune for the year. Fresh fruit is also good fortune and luck, usually in the form of oranges. Whole fish means prosperity and abundance. Some families do a whole chicken to represent unity and wholeness."
"Oh, sort of like a Sunday roast," Harry said. "That's really neat."
"Yeah! Here are a couple of new things we haven't done before. This is called tangyuan. They're rice balls that can have a sweet filling and are boiled. They're super chewy and super tasty. And these are spring rolls."
"I love spring rolls!" Lavender smiled brightly. "They're our favorite to get for take-away."
"They're so good," Sue smiled. "And not that bad to make honestly. Takes a bit of effort but no worse than dumplings I don't think. It's the frying that a lot of people don't want to do all the time. But we take wrappers and fill them with veg and meat and fry them after rolling them. They represent wealth too. The final thing we should have are noodles. They're referred to as longevity noodles and the noodles represent a long life. Some places do a bowl of a single super long noodle."
"Oh like when you were sticking them together," Luna said to Harry.
"And when Parv almost choked," Lavender snickered.
"She did choke," Harry sighed.
"Good thing you knew the charm," Sue grinned. "But as long as the noodles are nice and long, it's fine. We can do soups or even stir-fried noodle dishes. What do we want to start with first?"
"How about the spring rolls?" Harry suggested. "Then people can help make more as we do the other stuff. After I pop a chicken into the oven." At Sue's direction, he julienned cabbage, mushroom, and carrot very finely and thinly, and stir-fried the veg in the wok with pork. Once the filling was done and slightly cooled, she showed them how to wrap and roll the spring rolls using large thin wrappers. By then, more of their friends appeared and joined in with the wrapping with a will.
Sue then showed Harry how to make a paste with black sesame seeds and sugar that he ground in his mortar and pestle and they cooked it until they made a smooth paste. They made a dough using glutinous rice flour and after working it, formed small balls with both the dough and the sesame paste. They flattened the rice ball dough and wrapped them around the paste balls and boiled them in water until the tangyuan were very soft.
"Gosh, look at all this," Padma said admiringly after they put everything on the table. The chicken sat alongside a fish that Harry had steamed and there were plates of dumplings prepared all three ways, golden crisp spring rolls, bowls of the soft and chewy tangyuan, piles of oranges, and a large plate of stir-fried noodles that Sue made.
"It looks exactly like it should," Sue said happily, hugging Harry. "I'm so glad we get to celebrate like this while we're here! The first year felt really off to me because I didn't get to do something like this after doing it every year growing up. Thanks so much pal."
"Thanks for sharing your culture with us," Harry smiled, hugging her back. "Let's dig in!"
"I can believe all of this symbolizes wealth," Luna said, eating happily, nibbling a spring roll down to nothing before doing the same to the next. "Having all of this and eating it with people makes me feel very rich."
"Same," Harry said, agreeing completely and happily.
"I love spring rolls now," Millicent said, munching hungrily. "This is amazing!"
"Ahh!" Susan guzzled water greedily. "That was so hot!"
"Oh sorry, yeah, tangyuan can burn the heck out of your mouth if you're not careful," Sue said, wincing sympathetically. "The paste is molten hot."
"It's good though," Susan said, fanning her mouth. "It's really chewy and sweet."
"Oh what year is it by the way?" Parvati asked. "For the Chinese Zodiac I mean."
"It's going to be the year of the Tiger," Sue said.
"Each year has an animal?" Pansy asked as she ate fish and noodles together.
Sue nodded. "There are twelve animals in the Chinese Zodiac, and people born during that year are said to be of that animal. It repeats every twelve years."
"Is it like other astrology signs?" Padma asked.
"Somewhat! People born under that animal sign can share characteristics of the animal and there are the five elements involved and a lot of other stuff. Some people take it seriously, others don't."
"What's our year?" Hannah asked.
"Monkey," Sue smiled.
"Ha, you ape!" Astoria crowed.
"I am fairly sure apes are different, you ingr-ape," Blaise said coolly, glaring at Astoria.
"Monkeys are clever, curious, and talented," Sue said. "Also very social. They also are very adaptable. But they also can be very vain, impatient, and condescending."
"Not a word out of you," Pansy said severely, staring at Aster who suddenly looked very innocent all of a sudden.
"What are you?" Tracey asked Hermione, "since you were born the year before."
"I don't know," Hermione said, looking away.
"I think you do," Tracey gasped. "You're trying to deflect!"
Hermione sighed. "I'm a goat," she mumbled.
"Goats aren't bad," Sue said while others snickered. "They have a real thirst for knowledge and are innovators and creative."
"Hey that does sound like you," Tracey said encouragingly, making Hermione smile.
"They also are sort of anxious to please and can be hurt easily," Sue said with an apologetic tone. "They also fall in love easily sometimes."
"Hey! I had to work very hard to earn that, thank you!" Tracey said indignantly to laughter and Hermione's confused flush.
"You two are roosters," Sue said to Ginny and Luna. "You're bold and ambitious and have a strong sense of morality and conviction."
"No she doesn't," Ron argued, scooting away when she glared at him. "The sense of morality thing I mean."
Sue smiled. "Remember these are generalizations. Roosters also can tend to be temperamental."
"Okay, that does sound like you," Ron nodded, wincing when she kicked him.
"I've always wanted to be a cock," Luna said brightly, making some people cough and spit. "I like their feathers. They're very grand and pretty." She smiled cheekily as Daphne coughed and sputtered, face turning bright red.
"I'll tell you lot later when we figure out yours," Sue said to the other younger siblings.
"That was delicious," Pansy said when they finished the very large meal. Everyone ate until very full and content with Hedwig and Sunny splitting the last of the spring rolls and Crookshanks claiming the last bit of fish. "Thank you so much!"
"This is going to be a great Feast," Harry smiled.
-0-
And it was.
Inspired by the stories told to them by Sue, the professors put in some work to decorate the Great Hall. The twelve animals of the Zodiac ran around above them, reenacting the great race that determined their hierarchy in the calendar. Streamers of red and gold lined the walls, a different hue of both to not give the Gryffindors too much position. Firecrackers popped and cracked and snapped all around them.
Sue's family and families of others were invited and they brought other decorations and things too. A couple brought the large celestial lion costumes used for dances they did at festivals and the like. Performers had done the dance first to cheers and applause before the costumes were charmed to dance on their own and they moved about the Hall at will.
The tables were covered in food. The kitchen house elves had taken to the new recipes with unreserved enthusiasm and there was plenty of traditional food to be eaten and shared and enjoyed. Despite it being the first time being celebrated there, the music and the food felt like it belonged, with the smiles from the students and the visitors evident with plenty of chatter and laughter.
"Simply wonderful," Flitwick sighed happily. "This is something we will have to continue into the future."
"I am interested in finding new things to try and celebrate," McGonagall said enthusiastically. "There must be even more cultural things we can share and learn with each other."
"I agree completely," Dumbledore said, munching on a spring roll, savoring the taste. "I will do my best to find a student every year that is enthusiastic about this sort of thing and do our best to continue what I believe to be completely new and wonderful traditions for us."
"How many have you had?" Pomfrey asked teasingly.
Dumbledore picked up another spring roll. "I have lost count," he said, smiling. "Worry not, I will adhere to the exercise regime you have set out for me."
"I might need a copy of it," Sprout said, rubbing her stomach and reaching out for more dumplings.
"I'm so glad Harry is going to be close in the future," Flitwick smiled. "I wouldn't know what to do if he left overseas."
"Thankfully the elves have included much of the recipes into the Book," Dumbledore smiled. "But it is no substitute for him of course."
"I am sure we can convince him to visit often," McGonagall said. "Perhaps to teach at the cooking club occasionally or something similar. Plus future events."
"If he has the times. Business owners are rather busy after all," Pomfrey sighed.
"I do not think it will be difficult," Dumbledore said with a warm smile. "Harry loves Hogwarts and she loves him as well. He sees the school as a home and I believe he will always make time for it."
-0-
"I don't believe it!" Parvati cried, staring at the letter in her hands.
"What?" Padma took it from her and she gasped as she read it. "I don't believe it!"
"What? Is something wrong?" Lavender asked worriedly.
"We sent Grandmum some of the wrong curry," Parvati said. "And she liked it!"
"She did?!" Harry exclaimed, smiling from ear to ear.
"She said it's tasty in its own way, but probably only because you made it," Padma said, handing him the letter.
"I'll take it," Harry said happily as their friends laughed.
"She really said that?" Divya gasped.
"She really does love him the most," Ivaan said with large eyes.
"No she doesn't," Harry said. "See? She wrote it right here in the letter."
"She loves what you do the most," Ivaan read. "Okay, that makes sense."
"She really wrote that?" Hermione smiled.
"Grandmum sure loves riling us up," Parvati, Padma, Ivaan, and Divya all said at the same time, inciting even more hilarity.
-0-0-0-
Remzal Von Enili - That would be too cute.
odonnellzoo99 - I sorta did too, but that'd be a bit too much lol. I thought I was going too childish over the joke as it was but the desire to see it come out was too strong. Por que no los dos meme for the question. She wanted to show superiority in both ingredient selection and door kicking.
DOOOOOM Lord of Waffles - We all knew it had to happen in one shape or form, Hedwig helping cook too.
TheSphynx - She was there as feathered insurance and she definitely wanted to help her chick and help him shine.
mike3308 - He earned it.
Arnie1701 - Few are finer.
Hands Off MY Wolfie - I figured it would make sense staggering them because they all had different challenges and that they didn't want it to, realistically, run for four hours waiting for each of them to finish before starting the next. Gabriel doesn't pull punches either. Thanks for reading.
poka - Glad you enjoyed it. I had envisioned Hedwig helping during a challenge as one of my milestone chapters so it was very satisfying to finally write it out and it came out how I wanted it to.
Wentley - Sometimes the gun has to be a gun.
alix33 - It was a fun joke.
Guest - Thank you.
TheReader81 - Me too.