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

As promised, an extra chapter this week. I had a lot of fun writing this one and was glad to see people wonder what the next challenge was. Hope you enjoy. As always, thank you for reading. Have a lovely weekend!

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A Taste of Magic

158th Course – Installed

"Hello Contestants," Francis said with a large smile, getting Harry, Kaito, and Celine. "I hope you are doing well."

"Hello Sir," Harry said warmly and the other two also greeted the host of the competition.

"Now, you might be wondering why we are meeting so early and without the audience in attendance," Francis said, gesturing to the empty stands. "Not to mention that this will be an all-day challenge so to speak. Let us not keep you in suspense for too much longer. It is time for one of our more cherished competitions with a small twist: War de Cuisine!"

Harry opened his eyes at that, mind already racing. He had read about this competition before in the past magazines and the other two had as well, judging from their expressions.

"Generally speaking, you will have more time to prepare the space, the menu, and have more people to work as part of the staff per team. So we are modifying things a little," Francis said. "We will be doing this not as full restaurants but instead as stalls." He noticed Harry perk up at that and he smiled. "The morning will be for planning and you will do some minor decoration as well. The facility is at your disposal for ingredients and will obtain your order once you decide on your menu. The contest will begin in the early afternoon and you will compete against each other to attract and feed not only the judges, but watchers and other guests. There will be two deciding factors: the votes from the watchers as well as the decision of the judges. One of you will be eliminated and thus leaving us with the final two.

"Now, since the scale of the stalls and the amount of guests will be smaller, you each will receive just one person to assist you through the duration of the challenge. They will be with you from beginning to end and will do their best to be of assistance." He waved his hand and a few people came walking over from one of the hallways.

Harry looked over and recognized Gwendolyn, followed by Claude and Alexander. They were the last of them to be eliminated and Harry breathed a sigh of relief that Mael was not among them.

"After you select your partner, you will be shown your stall and the space in general," Francis continued. "Chef Potter, since you won the last challenge, you may pick first on who will help you for today's challenge."

"Would you like to help me?" Harry asked.

Gwendolyn smiled. "You got it!" She walked over and held up her hand for a high-five, enthusiastically giving one to Harry when he raised his hand. Francis then had Celine and Kaito flip a coin and call the side, with Celine winning. She chose Claude and Kaito then had Alexander as his assistant. He then led them to the outer courtyard alongside the arena. It was a broad open space with three large wooden stalls on different sides of the courtyard, keeping the central area open and clear and the one side that did not have a stall was the entrance to the courtyard.

He showed each team their assigned stall. They were all exactly the same on the outside, plain and undecorated, and the inside had the same layout. A stove against the back, several tables and counters, racks for plates and equipment, and cool and ice boxes.

"If you have any requests for general specific equipment, it can be brought to you. I would advise you to make your grocery orders as soon as possible so you may do your prep work swiftly and to ensure it is all obtained readily. When you are ready to decorate, there will be staff that will help you decorate the stall but will do nothing else for you. Any questions you may have, simply ask. Any questions now? No? Then time starts, now!"

"You look pretty confident," Gwendolyn said.

"I've done a lot of stalls actually for my school's festivals and we did one for the TriWizard," Harry said.

"Great!" Gwendolyn said. "Because you've never had to run a restaurant, have you?"

"Not really," Harry said honestly. "I got to the point where I could run the kitchen of the Hog's Head, a tavern, but just for cooking and orders and pantry management. Nothing else really. But for the stalls we came up with concepts and decoration and things."

"That's good," she said. "I kinda felt bad for you. You really jumped into a hard competition for your age and career."

"Always told I did things the hard way," Harry said wryly and Gwendolyn laughed appreciatively.

"Well if you didn't, you wouldn't be in the business," she said comfortably. "Well you've seen me cook for the competition but I do mostly American cooking, modern American too, only a little classical training as you saw. I think I'm a pretty fast learner though." She winked at him. "British cooking is just blander, right?"

"At least we call our biscuits something proper," Harry grinned.

"No you don't," she laughed. "What are you thinking and no offense, but you're going have to step it up from what you did at the other festivals. They're going to expect something more here."

"I figured," Harry said. He took a deep breath and held it for a moment.

"What did you make for the stalls you did before?" she asked.

"The first one was a dragon and beef stew," Harry said. "Similar to the beef stew I made for the placement. Would be close to do it for this if we didn't include the dragon meat. I did the same stew for the Showcase. I didn't run the stall at the most recent festival but they did baozi and pasties."

He looked over at the other two teams. Celine and Claude were already working on something in the kitchen together while Kaito and Alexander were bent over a table and Kaito was writing or drawing something.

Harry looked back at Gwendolyn. "How does this sound?" He swiftly explained his idea to her.

"Hmm, that's definitely doable and it's good food to walk around and eat. Might seem a bit plain but not in a bad way. It'll just depend on what the others do," she said. "And I bet you're trying to do this for another reason?"

"I won't lie and say I'm not," Harry agreed. "But here's something to make it fun, if I can get it." He talked about it with her.

"Hey, that is fun," she nodded. "And people will like it! You teach me how you want to do it, and we'll get it done!"

"Thanks!" Harry grabbed the ingredients and wrote out the recipe he had in mind. He started making it with Gwendolyn who got to work alongside him.

"We can do it in batches instead of doubling everything," Gwendolyn said. "Sometimes doubling or halving things makes the final product a little funny. If we work off the set batch, we can get it done and pop it into the cool box and just cook it longer. Then as we run through those, move things from the ice box to defrost in the cool."

"I know a few defrosting and warming charms for that too, I'll teach you," Harry said.

"Nice. Now we can ignore what I just said for the vegetables," she said. "We can mass work out that since we can use it for both products. We just adjust seasoning right at the end to match the final taste."

"I like that," Harry said gratefully. After they finished the first batch of both products, they popped them into the oven and waited for a moment for them to cook. "Thank you," he said sincerely. "For being cool."

"Of course," she replied easily, smiling at him. "You got a raw deal of it from the beginning. I'll admit, I was a bit wary. You were this unknown name and you were able to knock out others that had been in the game for a lot longer than you. I won't lie, was a bit intimidated and threatened by you."

Her smile grew as she looked at him. "Then it turns out you're a sweet kid that's just doing your best and you're a whole lot nicer than others I know so yeah, consider my views changed a bit. I might've lost but that's no excuse for me to be an asshole and I want you to win and I'll do my best to help you."

She winked again. "Besides. Wouldn't be smart of me to mess with someone who can cast a Patronus at your age and fight one of the nastiest Curses in the world. Not to mention cast a perfect flame whip spell."

Harry smiled back. "Say, that actually gives me an idea for later. I'll have to see if it's doable." When the food finished baking, he took it out and cooled them slightly and offered the first two to Gwendolyn.

"Mmm, that's good," she said, licking her lips after taking a big bite of the first one, fanning her mouth slightly. "Good crust, fillings' tasty and not over seasoned. Let's try the second one." She took a bite and chewed appreciatively before she suddenly coughed. She breathed deep and smiled as she saw what happened. "Okay, that's fun! I never would've thought of it and it tastes great! Mind if I steal that?"

"You're welcome to it," Harry said happily. "If we win, that is."

Gwendolyn laughed brightly, drawing the attention of the other two teams. "Then let's do this!" She held both hands up and slapped them against Harry's. "Let's go!"

Harry put the order in for what he thought he would need, with a little extra just in case, and it came very swiftly. He and Gwendolyn worked together for a while, doing all the prep work that was needed. After a few hours had passed, the ones who would be helping with decoration came to the courtyard and Harry left to meet with them. He gave them his ideas of how he wanted the outside to look and they listened to him seriously, making small suggestions of their own. They came to a good compromise and Harry worked with them, something that surprised them, but in a good way.

"I like it," Gwendolyn said, walking out and admiring it when it was finished. "It looks homey."

"This was our stall at the TriWizard," Harry said fondly. The outside of the stall looked like a nice thatch-roof cottage with a plain wooden base, white painted walls with the front of the stall looking like a large open window, and the roof transfigured to be thatch and sheaf. A small chimney poked out of the roof and smoke puffed out of it slowly and languidly. Flowers sprang up around the front and sides of the stall, sunflowers and corn poppies alongside wildflowers.

"For a little luck and I like how cozy it feels," Harry said.

"Sure does," Gwendolyn agreed. "I'm through most of the prep on the main."

"Wow, awesome," Harry said. "I feel like we can prep everything we have and if we have leftovers, well it's better than running out, right?"

"Better too much than too little," she agreed. She looked over at the other stalls. Celine's stall looked like a café taken off the streets of Paris. The front was open and polished to a mirror sheen, lots of glass making it look open and inviting and bright. The space in front of it was made to look like a busy French street as well, a broad sidewalk with chairs and tables and a large cloth awning covering the front.

Kaito's stall spoke of the sea. The wooden parts were very dark and also polished with the front wall looking like a moving ocean. Nets draped over the opening at the top and the air had that pleasantly briny scent of a port. Right in front of the opening was a very strange looking set up. A large metallic form was sitting at the open window and it was pockmarked with a lot of uniform divots into the metal.

"I wonder what that is," Gwendolyn mused.

"I think that's something called takoyaki," Harry said. "My friend told me about it. They're octopus balls you make out of batter and bits of octopus and cooked in that special pan. It's savory. He saw my aebelskiver pan when he visited me at school and mentioned it saying the pans look very similar."

"Sounds interesting," she said. "I like our odds still. Thanks for listening to my ideas and making the last part though."

"I might be the one competing technically, but you're working hard for it too," Harry said. "You deserve as much recognition as I do."

"You might be the least ego-driven chef I know," she laughed.

"Is that a bad thing?" he asked, grinning.

"I wouldn't say so. It's a pleasant difference for sure," she said.

-0-

"Wow, look at the crowd," Ariana said admiringly.

It was almost time for the challenge to officially begin, as in, the opening of the stalls. While the contestants arrived early to do everything in time, everyone else arrived much later to take part in the open challenge. The guests and supporters of the remaining contestants were there as well as invited guests in the industry and the ICW and the World's Kitchen were there too, not to mention media correspondents from all over. Consequently, given the nature of this challenge, there were more than the usual audience and they chatted in groups, waiting to be allowed entrance. Each of the guests received a small silver token and they would put them in the basket at the front for the stall they liked the most.

"There are more people now," Nicolas observed.

"More industry guests now," Rita said. "I recognize a few of them from research I've done."

"More ICW people as well," Drake said. "Makes sense. We are approaching the end of the competition and it has garnered much interest." He looked up at the person at his side. "You do know how to relax, do you?"

"Sure I do," Aberforth grunted. "I just feel very out of place here."

"Not a soul is giving you a second look," Drake said insincerely. Aberforth did receive a second look here and there, but none made any comments or did anything impolite.

"At least smile you grumpy crup," Ariana chided. "No, not like that," she sighed when he grimaced.

Remus chuckled with Primrose, Valentina, Dee, and Minla. The contestants were allowed more guests as the competition scaled towards the end, and they were there with Ariana, Aberforth, and the Flamels. Drake had arrived as part of the ICW contingent and Rita was with the media as usual. "So there are some very important people here?" Remus asked.

"Oh yes," Valentina said. "I also started paying attention to the big names in the industry and recognize a few people from their pictures."

"Extraordinary," Remus said admiringly.

Perenelle noticed someone approaching and her smile was equal parts sympathetic and giddy. "Prepare yourself," she said.

"For what?" Drake asked, nonplussed, before stiffening. "Edwina," he said coolly when she walked into view.

"Vladius," she replied just as coolly. She nodded at the others. "Hello," she greeted slightly more pleasantly before wincing a little at Ariana's look. "It is…nice to see all of you."

"Hello Eld Bathory," Rita said cheerily. Primrose and Valentina blanched and looked at the woman with trepidation and awe.

"Miss Skeeter," Edwina replied with a hint of good cheer. "Quite the crowd. I never saw the appeal before for this sort of thing but I have become a recent convert."

"Tends to happen when one tries Harry's cooking," Dee said warmly.

"Indeed," Edwina said with genuine warmth. "I promised to be here to support him and so I am here. Plus it fulfills some of my obligations as a director so win win as they say."

"I greatly enjoyed the compendium," Nicolas said. "Very well done."

"Thank you," she preened. "Some of my finest work, I must say." She looked over at the courtyard. "Do we know what Harry is making yet?"

"Not a clue, but it should be quite good," Perenelle said with confidence.

"I believe it," Edwina said eagerly. She sighed when Greta approached her. "What now?" She leaned in when Greta whispered into her ear. "Pardon me," she sighed to the others. "A bit of work that needs doing." She walked away with Greta beside her, both of them whispering in a different language.

"That's Eld Bathory?" Valentina asked in a whisper.

"Sure is," Rita said. "She's something, isn't she?"

"That is saying it lightly," Primrose shivered.

Remus shook his head slightly, his eyes fading from amber to brown. "Good Merlin," he said. "She feels dangerous."

"You do not know the half of it," Drake grumbled. He looked up and his expression soured even more. "Oh, so you do know how to smile?"

Aberforth grinned. "Looks like. Never seen you so flustered."

"A normal response when confronted by one's ex-" Nicolas began.

"I will stab you in your fat mouth," Drake hissed.

"My mouth is not fat," Nicolas hissed back.

Aberforth chuckled and patted Ariana on the shoulder. "Come on, you had your revenge and you even got wergild for the whole thing, right?"

"I did," Ariana said sulkily. "Never thought I would."

"Wergild, for what?" Dee asked, looking very interested.

"She dusted a Bathory, his immediate kin, and three hunting parties," Aberforth said proudly and the others turned to stare at Ariana with wide-eyed amazement.

"Abe and Al helped some," Ariana said, waving a hand.

"So you had to pay wergild?" Remus asked.

"No, she was paid it, for the original offense," Aberforth said. "As compensation for the offense and as a peace offering."

"I took it for Harry's sake," Ariana grumbled.

"And yours, don't pretend you didn't benefit," Aberforth snorted.

"I didn't say I didn't," she retorted, kicking him in the ankle.

"I know it is odd for me to say this, but let us put aside grudges and just enjoy the company and the food and support our boy," Nicolas said soothingly.

"You have no right to say that," Drake sniffed.

"Nothing's really boring when it comes to Harry, huh?" Minla remarked.

Remus chuckled. "You have no idea," he said fondly.

-0-

"Hello and welcome everyone to the second to last challenge for the Rising Stars Competition!" Francis appeared in his usual swirl of magic light and cloak to eager applause. He smiled at the waiting crowd. "Today's challenge is one of our most popular: War de Cuisine! Our three finalists: Celine Beaufort, Harry Potter, and Kaito Sakai have been working all day on their stalls and they are ready to fight head-to-head for the right to continue to the finale! One will not be moving on and your votes will help us determine who will be leaving and which two will be continuing."

He held up one of the silver tokens. "We will announce when it will be the end of the voting time, so be sure to put your token towards the stall you enjoyed the best. Remember to take into account everything: décor, theme, and taste. Each of our contestants have been joined by a former competitor to help get ready for this challenge. And I have seen what they have done and I believe it will be a very close match!"

He waved his wand and the gates to the courtyard opened. "Let the challenge begin!"

The waiting crowd cheered and streamed into the courtyard. They looked at all the stalls and showed appreciation for the variety of decorations, how different each was and how they matched the designer and owner of the stall. They milled about and took in the sights and smells of the different foods being made and offered.

Harry had a stroke of inspiration, remembering what happened during his very first stall competition. He took a deep breath and called out to the crowd. "Hello! Thank you for waiting and showing interest! My name is Harry Potter and I've had the pleasure and honor of cooking with Gwendolyn Graves." She waved cheerily from within the stall. "And this is Pie Cottage, not to be confused with cottage pie though that's wonderful as well."

There was some good-natured chuckling at that and Harry smiled. "What we have here today is a specialty of our cultures! Pardon my French, literally," he paused while more people chuckled, "but I'll describe it first given the location." He cleared his throat. "Nous avons fait deux options: du poulet et des legumes assaisonnes enveloppes dans une pate feuilletee et l'autre est du bouef taite de la meme manière."

Those who understood French nodded along. Primrose tilted her head slightly and Nicolas and Perenelle started snickering and giggling together.

"What's so funny?" Valentina asked.

"Because I think I know what it is despite what it sounds like," Perenelle said merrily.

Harry unveiled the covered dish in front of him revealing two hand pies. They were golden brown with crisp crackling crust with a pine tree vent cut into the top to let out fragrant steam. There were blank looks as people saw what was described and some were murmuring with irritation and others definitely had an amused note to it.

"We made a chicken pie and a beef pie," Harry explained. "They also have seasoned veg in them and a bit of a tasty sauce. But that's not all! I added a special ingredient at random that will come with a lovely surprise. And if you're lucky to be chosen by the pie, you'll get a special treat." He looked in the crowd and smiled, pointing at someone. "Would you like to try your luck?"

Edwina looked dumbfounded for a moment, suddenly put on the spot and people looked at her with surprise. After a moment, her features smoothed back into a cool and collected mask and she smiled ever so slightly. "Of course," she said confidently, striding forward. "I have very good luck…in most things," she said.

She took one of the hand pies and bit into it without reservation. "Mmm," she hummed, "this is delightful." She swallowed and looked at it appreciatively. "The crust is very good, not soggy. The chicken is tender, the vegetables still have a texture." She bit into it again and chewed slowly and genteelly. "Quite nice-" she started to say before she felt something hard crunch between her teeth. She felt a sudden build up of heat and pressure and coughed, exclaiming when a large gout of flame erupted from her mouth. It surprised the others and people gasped and made sounds of shock that was then overridden by Drake's ribald laughter at Edwina standing there looking even more shocked and dumbfounded than a moment before.

Edwina licked her lips and looked at Harry. "What was that?!"

"The surprise!" Harry smiled. "Doesn't it add a lovely peppery taste to things and haven't you ever wished to breathe fire like a dragon?"

Edwina stared at him for a moment longer before she started laughing. Her laughter was loud and merry and people stared at her in open astonishment. "It is and I have!" She popped the rest of the pie into her mouth and ate hungrily without restraint. "Now, you promised a special treat?" she asked, eyes dancing.

"I sure did," Harry said and he whistled.

Edwina gasped when a silver glowing snowy owl popped her head up from behind the counter, a pie balanced delicately on her head. Others exclaimed with delight at the sight with some realizing what it was immediately and others not quite. "Is that a Patronus?!" Edwina asked, looking closely.

"She is," Harry said proudly, petting her and she cooed lovingly at him before barking at Edwina, shaking her head but the pie on her head unmoving. "She brought you a traditional American apple pie! Smaller version of course, but with the same big flavor it has normally. A nice little dessert to round out the meal."

Edwina bit into it and chewed blissfully. "Sweet and buttery," she said happily. "Delicious! More please!"

That broke the crowd's reserve and suddenly a large line formed in front of Harry's stall. Harry immediately got to work, wrapping the pies in paper and handing them to people and as people discovered the fiery firepepper pods, the three snowy owl Patroni would deliver apple pies to the people to much adoration and wonder. When not actively delivering apple pies, they walked around the counter top and flew around the stall, hooting and barking warmly at each other, Harry, and the others.

"I love that boy," Dee said warmly as they waited in line.

"I will have to thank him later," Drake grinned. "It was a delight seeing Edwina reduced to such a state for a moment."

"I bet he is one of the few to do so without some terrible reprisal," Nicolas snickered.

"You would be right in that," Drake said ominously.

"I'm so proud of him," Remus said, smiling from ear to ear. "Casting a Patronus is no mean feat for anyone. Being able to do so for something that is so whimsical and not at all intended for the purpose of the spell, absolutely wonderful."

"And he already has the majority of the crowd in the beginning," Primrose said, looking at the other stalls. "I know everyone is going to visit them all, but having the lion's share from the beginning is no easy task."

They cheered when they got to the front, and Harry's smiling face lit up more when he saw them.

"I am telling Gabriel you did it again," Perenelle laughed, leaning over the counter to hug and kiss him.

"At least I did it at a more appropriate time," Harry laughed as he gave them their pies.

"Such a good job drawing the crowd," Primrose praised.

"Thanks! I was inspired by Pansy and what she did for us during the TriWizard Winter Festival," Harry said. He coughed when Primrose reached over the counter and hugged him hard too, squeezing the air from him.

"We won't take up too much time," Remus said, clapping him on the shoulder. "Good job Harry!"

"These are so good," Minla said as they walked out of the line, munching on their pies. "No wonder Dad makes them so much now."

"He's good at them," Aberforth said warmly.

"A dangerous ploy, but I think a successful one," Nicolas said. "It is an obvious attempt at making up for the mother sauce challenge."

"Yup, a gamble, but it paid off," Rita nodded. "He gets to make something British, make up for how it looked during the other challenge, and if he makes it to the finale, no one can say he did a bad job before on purpose or is throwing things."

"And making the American apple pie is a calculated gesture," Valentina admired. "Shows considerable trust in his teammate considering she has nothing to gain if he wins and everything to gain if he loses."

Perenelle breathed a flying dragon made of fire into the air, to the delight and applause of others as the magical construct flew around before fading away. She smiled at the happy trill of a snowy owl Patronus swooping in and bringing her an apple pie. She laughed when the Patronus nuzzled her, laughing harder when she mooned Nicolas and did a cheeky butt waggle before flapping away. "I will never tire of seeing them," she said happily.

"They're the best," Ariana smiled as she received her own apple pie.

-0-

The War de Cuisine continued on. Celine and Claude had decided upon galettes, thinking crepes would be a little too easy to do and slightly less refined for what she wanted. Seeing Harry's presentation and immediate crowd draw, Celine quickly looked over her ingredients and added a second type to the one she had planned: a ham galette with an egg cracked in the middle. She added the option of mushrooms on their own and displayed both on the counter top at an angle, wafting their scent to the crowd with the use of a few charms.

Kaito and Alexander had their hands full with the takoyaki. Alexander had tried to match Kaito's ability in making them, but he could not do it the way that Kaito wanted with full spheres that were evenly cooked. Kaito was not upset about it, knowing one needed a lot of practice to be able to turn the cooking takoyaki to make the shape without overcooking or undercooking. He was kept at the large pan, constantly pouring out batter and filling and turning the spheres with skewers. Alexander constantly was making more batter and materials and he was at least able to decorate the baskets of the fried octopus balls with the sauce they made and sprinkling powdered nori on top.

"What a wonderful stall," Francis said warmly as he reached the front of Harry's line.

"Hello Sir," Harry said happily. "I'm glad you get to try the food piping hot today."

Francis laughed warmly. "As am I," he smiled. "Allow me to introduce today's judges. You are of course familiar with Madame Auclair. Today we also have Antoine D'Artagnan, his family is the owner of a very large coalition of farms in France, providing a lot of the local food for our competitions and is known world-wide. And we also have Chef Leslie Green. She won our most recent competition and owns a wonderful restaurant in New York City."

"Nice to meet you," Harry said, shaking hands with Antoine and Leslie and then with Melanie when she offered hers. "Good to see you again."

"And you," she said. She looked down at the pies he gave her. "An attempt at redemption?" she asked mildly.

"Yes Ma'am," Harry said. "I won't lie and say it's not. But I believe in their taste and how it fits today's challenge."

"Confidence is good," she nodded.

"These are good," Leslie said, chewing thoughtfully. "Crust is really good. Not soggy. Filling is not overcooked. Good seasoning." She backed up hurriedly when Antoine coughed, spitting out a ball of fire.

"That is a strange experience," Antoine gasped, patting his chest and then dabbing his lips with a handkerchief. "I do not dislike it however," he said with a smile. "And it does add flavor to it!"

"I ground some of the firepepper pods to mix in with the fillings so you still get the flavor, but the whole peppercorns is what gives that property," Harry said.

"And we are all to receive the apple pies despite not getting the surprise pods?" Melanie asked when the Patroni brought them pies.

"I suppose it's a perk for being a judge," Harry said and felt better when Antoine and Leslie laughed and Melanie looked less severe. "I can't expect you to judge me on something you haven't tasted, right?"

"Indeed," Melanie said with approval.

"I've never seen a Patronus waiter before," Leslie said with delight. "Waitress, sorry," she amended when they barked at her. "That's incredible. And you're controlling them?"

"Not really," Harry said. "Never have before and I doubt I ever will. They do what they want."

"Are they modelled after your owl?" Francis asked, smiling when all three nodded at him in tandem.

"I didn't make it that way," Harry laughed. "But I'm not complaining. Hedwig is the best and so are the girls." He smiled when they swarmed him and nuzzled him lovingly, cheeping happily.

"This is wonderful too," Antoine said, eating the apple pie eagerly. "Very tasty. Just shy of being too sweet but appropriately rich."

"Thank you! Gwendolyn taught me. I've only mostly made British pies and a couple of American ones from a cookbook, but it doesn't replace actual experience," Harry said.

"Splendid teamwork," Francis said approvingly.

-0-

A hush fell over the crowd as the three contestants assembled in the center of the courtyard. Francis waved his wand and the baskets containing the tokens floated into the air and shook a little as a charm counted the contents. When the charms finished, the baskets glowed with golden light and Francis nodded. "The winner of the guest vote is…Harry Potter!"

The crowd applauded and cheered as Gwendolyn and Harry high-fived each other with both hands.

Francis smiled. "That alone secures your placement into the finale," he said. "Judges?"

"All three did excellent jobs," Melanie said. "All showed good thinking and presentation, excellent decoration of their stalls, and took into account the location and the situation." She looked at Harry. "If redemption was your goal, you have attained it. The pies were very well made and the sauce within was not lacking. Very good."

"The takoyaki were very good," Antoine said to Kaito. "Chewy and crisp on the outside. The octopus was tender and the flavors very good. The sauce was excellent."

"Very good galettes," Leslie said to Celine. "The egg ones were especially good, the yolks were runny and added a lovely color and taste with the ham and cheese. The mushroom ones were also well made, considering you said you came up with them on the fly. Good crusts on the outside and just perfect."

"It was very difficult choosing a winner this time," Melanie said. "As well as a loser." She took a small breath. "Unfortunately, Chef Sakai, you will not be moving on. In this case, it was not a situation of you not doing well, but one of you not doing well enough. Your competitors did just a little bit more than you, securing their win."

Kaito sighed, looking disappointed, but he nodded to himself. "I understand," he said.

"Chef Beaufort, you are the winner for today's challenge. Your galettes were impeccable," Melanie said to a smiling Celine.

"Thank you, Chef Sakai, for your efforts up until now and I know you will be invited to future competitions," Francis said, leading the applause for Kaito. "And a big round of applause for our finalists: Celine Beaufort and Harry Potter! They will be competing for the title of Star Ascendent and the winner of the Rising Stars Competition! As always, we will be informing them of the final challenge when the time draws closer and I know that it will be an amazing final challenge with these two in the finale."

"Congrats!" Gwendolyn whooped, hugging Harry.

"Thank you so much!" he replied, hugging her back. "Couldn't have done it without you."

"I'll take that," she smiled. "Thanks for teaching me those things and I'm looking forward to you winning it all! And definitely make sure you come State-side one day. I'm going to take you to some of the best places I know of."

"Sorry you didn't make it," Harry said, shaking hands with Kaito.

"It was not my day," Kaito said simply, still looking faintly disappointed, but his smile to Harry was sincere. "I did not succeed today, but tomorrow, I might. Congratulations to you, my friend! I am pleased you found your peace with the pies and that you are going to the final. You have earned it."

"Thanks for being my first friend in the competition," Harry said.

"I am glad we became so," Kaito said sincerely. "You must come to Japan one day, for many reasons. You will eat well and be our guest."

"I know, I already promised Tsumugi, Sota, and Chiyo," Harry said. "And Azuki and the other foxes of course," he added.

"I think they finally returned all my things," Kaito said wryly. "At least, the ones they have not stolen since then."

Harry waved as Kaito left and noticed Celine giving him that same calculating look she normally had when looking at him. "Congratulations on the win," he said sincerely. "Those galettes looked really good."

"Thank you," she said coolly. "And redemption is not easy." She paused. "But you will find winning it all to be even more difficult. I will not lose to you."

"I'll do my best," Harry said, "like I'm sure you will too." He smiled weakly as she nodded curtly at him and walked away. He felt better when he felt Perenelle hug him. "I'm glad you're easy to talk to," he joked a little, hugging her back.

"Ah, ignore her cheri," Perenelle said, noticing Celine walking away. "She is French, therefore difficult and mercurial."

"Aren't you French too?" he asked cheekily.

"Of course! But the difference is that I love you very much," she said, kissing his cheek. "Congratulations on reaching the finale! I knew you would!"

"That makes one of us," Harry laughed.

"More than one," Nicolas smiled. "Proud of you, my boy. Very well done."

"Just one more," Rita said. "And no matter how you do, you're going to win."

"Just gotta do my best," Harry said softly.

"You'll do that and more," Remus said confidently.

-0-0-0-

Arnie1701 - You were close.

TheSphynx - Honestly, some of the really dense and doughy frozen pizzas probably could stand up to being fried and be good. I have cooked a lot of the dishes actually but a fair chunk of them I have not. Those I did some decent researching online and reading descriptions and things but if you ever wonder why some descriptions are better than others, those are ones I have personally and a lot. That said, I do plan on trying some of these recipes myself sometime soon.

DOOOOOOM Lord of Waffles - You were pretty close. Good job. Hope you like it.

odonellzoo99 - The day I learned that fried butter and fried beer were things, I was appalled and made all the curiouser. Blaise reactions and Hedwig reactions are some of the best. A little in-depth, not too much but hopefully you'll like it.

Hands Off MY Wolfie - Mmhmm. Lots of people think being in charge is easy, but it comes with a lot of responsibility. I have to disagree, lots of things are lovely fried. Other veggies, shrimp, fish, all good to me. Thanks for reading.

l4w - I like callbacks here and there. I think it makes the story feel more rounded and fun.

Wentley - They're good at being vague and you weren't wrong slightly in his case. Carbonara fascinates me despite my aversion to raw egg. Need to try it one day.

Pungis - Luckily good is a very broad and subjective quality.

poka - Hope you enjoy it. I put a lot of thought into it and was happy with how it came out.

alix33 - Hedwig being so shocked to her core is always funny to imagine.

61394 - Somewhat similar to what you thought. Hope you enjoyed.

Bitterkeit - Glad you found it and have enjoyed it. This is my ode to food and cooking which I adore in real life. Fried pizza is a thing. I've seen it on TV in Scottish Chip Shops no less. I haven't tried it myself but maybe one day.

mike3308 - Here you go, hope you enjoy.

dawnsfire - Fried pickles are like little bobs and very dangerous. I imagine a tomato would be very similar and I really want to try the saurkraut. The bun doughnut sounded very fun. What a nice little memory.