I do not own Harry Potter, the Wizarding World, or any canon characters.
A Taste of Magic
160th Course – Pleasantries
"What are you baking?" Sue asked, looking into the oven. "It looks funny."
"Cake, technically," Harry said. "In the shape of an animal but not one with the charms for it. I wanted to see if baking it in a pan shaped like the animal would be better than me cutting and carving."
"Is it a dragon?" she asked.
"Close," Harry said. "A newt."
"How is a newt close to a dragon?" Ron asked.
"Four legs, tail, reptilian-esque head," Harry said.
"Newts are amphibians," Hermione said, looking over.
"Bless you," Ginny said.
Hermione smiled. "Thank you. But amphibians are a type of animal, like a reptile or a bird. Newts are not reptiles. They're actually like salamanders."
"Why are you baking an amphibian cake?" Ginny asked.
"A form of good luck," Harry said.
"Are newts lucky?" Ron asked.
"I have no idea," Hermione said. "Unless there's a magical one that brings good luck."
"I would say not since their eyes are used in a lot of potions," Parvati remarked. "According to the poet that is." She looked at some blank expressions. "Wow, it's rare when I know something literary and others don't. Shakespeare, I mean. Wrote a lot of famous plays and poems."
"Oh right, Macbeth," Hermione said. "Eye of Newt. Which I learned that most historians agree that it refers to mustard seeds."
"How are newts like mustard?" Ron asked. "And yes, I know my questions sound dumb but I'm genuinely curious."
"I think it's because newt eyes are deep yellow and seeds are the 'eyes' of a plant," Hermione said.
"Huh," Ron remarked. "This poet guy's a bit off."
"Wait so the dried newt eyes we use in some potion recipes are mustard seeds? But we use ground mustard seeds when it calls for it," Tracey said.
"No, I think those really are newt eyes," Hermione said. "So yeah, not very lucky that."
"Ohhh I get it," Sue said at last. "We can eat the newt cake to do better on our N.E.W.T.s."
"I thought it'd be fun," Harry nodded.
"Never a bad reason to eat cake," Ron smiled.
"Actually, there can be," Parvati said. "We have an uncle that only gets cakes for when something bad happens to soften the news. Which now becomes a thing where if he brings a cake or someone gives him one, he assumes something bad has happened."
"That's kinda sad actually," Tracey said, frowning a little.
"Definitely mixed feelings," Parvati nodded.
The door to the Uncommon Room opened and Daphne walked in with Pansy. The pair were grinning about something, their expressions filled with glee. "Have you all heard?" Daphne asked without preamble.
"Heard about what?" Millicent asked idly, looking up from her Care of Magical Creatures textbook.
"The latest gossip about who was caught with who in where," Daphne said with barely restrained glee.
"Ooh, not yet," Tracey said, eyes sparkling. "Wait, have you heard something?" she asked.
Parvati shook her head. "I haven't, so it must have just happened!"
"Just last night," Pansy confirmed. She smiled slyly. "Blaise was caught in a broom cupboard with someone last night."
"Oh, don't care," Millicent said dismissively, returning to her work.
"Oooh, he was?" Sue leaned over the counter. "While he was on patrol?"
"Thankfully not," Pansy said. "But he was apparently caught by one of the fifth years."
"Do we know the other in said broom cupboard?" Tracey asked.
"Sadly not," Daphne sniffed disappointedly.
"I even tried to check the write-up and it wasn't listed," Pansy said.
"You know you're not supposed to do that," Hermione said with deep disapproval.
"I know but it's Blaise and I need the information to torture him," Pansy said.
"No points were removed though," Hermione said, deliberately ignoring the flout of proper rules. "So he must not have been formally punished, therefore, no write-up."
"I wonder what poor person got caught by him," Daphne said.
"Probably is embarrassed to be caught with him given we don't know who it is," Tracey said.
"I wonder if it's Yeens," Sue said thoughtfully. "She's a fifth year in Ravenclaw and she always makes eyes at him."
"More than a few in our House have done the same," Daphne said, "no accounting for taste of course."
Loud popping filled the air suddenly, making everyone jump at the sound. They looked over at the source and Harry was shaking a pot over the stove, a staccato of pops and crackles coming from the pot. "I'm making you lot some popcorn. Popcorn is a gossipy snack, right?"
"Oh that sounds wonderful, thank you," Pansy beamed.
"Parv, wanna help me make that tasty mix to sprinkle on top? The chaat masala?" he asked.
"Sure!" Parvati walked over as Harry opened spice boxes and his masala dabba. They put together a spicy spice mix and sprinkled on top of the popcorn, throwing it in the bowl for even coating. Harry took the first batch over to the others who fell on it gratefully, enjoying the savory spicy popcorn. He returned to the stove and threw more popcorn kernels into the pot with more oil.
"Thank you," Parvati whispered softly.
"You're welcome," he whispered back. "Saw you were quiet and a little twitchy so sorta guessed."
"Good guess," she sighed, eating some popcorn.
"So," Harry said after a polite pause punctuated by popcorn crunching. "You and Blaise?"
"Just a little fun," Parvati said softly, shrugging a little. "Mutually decided."
"That's good."
She gave him a look. "You think he would pull something or I can't handle myself?"
"No of course not, but I'm glad to still hear it," he said.
"That's fair," she sighed.
"A broom cupboard?" he asked with the smallest of wry smiles.
"Hey, we said not in here because we wanted to be respectful," Parvati said, giving him another look and the smallest quirk of her lips.
"I really appreciate it," he said and sounded it. She punched him in the shoulder and he pretended to rub it ruefully. "Do I need to talk to him?"
"You really would, wouldn't you," she said, eyes shining.
"Absolutely. Not sure he'd, well anyone really, would take me seriously, but I would definitely talk to him," he said.
"A lot of people would," she said, leaning against him and resting her head on his shoulder. She smiled to herself, "Take you seriously I mean. Going to give me a talk?"
"I might if he asked me to," Harry mused, smiling as Parvati started laughing. "I trust you both. I won't say anything though."
"Thanks, bro," she said, hugging him.
More of their friends arrived and dug into the fragrant and delicious popcorn, prompting Harry to make more. Padma arrived and joined Parvati and Harry at the stove. "That smells awesome," she said.
"Family chaat recipe," Harry said, giving her the bowl.
"Never thought to put it on popcorn before," Padma said, eating happily. "That's good."
Harry looked between them, noticing the sisters standing on either side of him. "I'm guessing you know," he said quietly.
"I'm the poor sod that had to confront them," Padma said quietly.
"You?!" Harry gasped.
"Hey I didn't want that either," Parvati hissed, blushing.
"Technically one of the fifth year prefects caught them but didn't know it was them per se," Padma said, making a face. "So she came and got me because she felt awkward about confronting students about something like…that alone for the first time."
"It's not funny," the sisters growled, glaring at Harry who was doing his level best not to burst out laughing.
"It's not, but it is, a little," Harry said, struggling to maintain composure. He coughed and took a deep breath. "So that's why no official reprimand?"
"It wasn't after curfew and they weren't causing a public disturbance and it's a pain in the arse punishing fellow prefects so I gave them a warning," Padma said. "You know, and because it's Parv. And then I proceeded to try and blot the incident from my mind forever."
"You didn't see anything," Parvati sniffed.
"If I did, things would have been very different," Padma grunted.
Harry smiled and winked at Padma. "Hey, you have to admit."
"Admit what?" Padma asked, looking up at him.
"Yeah, admit what?" Parvati asked, looking up at him.
"Parvati and Blaise," Harry said quietly but waggled his eyebrows.
"Oh yeah, you got a point," Padma smiled, catching on.
"What? Wait. No! No point! Positively pointless!" Parvati cried, flushing.
"I don't know, he might be right," Padma said, smiling from ear to ear.
"They would be awfully cute together," Harry grinned.
"Nothing's going on!" Parvati hissed. "Just simple fun! Don't see something that isn't there!"
"You think Grandmum would think they're cute together?" Harry asked.
Parvati's loud shriek drew everyone's attention and they looked over with interest. They saw Parvati doing her best to muzzle Harry, going so far to climb onto his back and try to shove handfuls of popcorn in his mouth as well as the bowl over his head while he gamely tried to fight her off and not fall into the stove with Padma pulling them both back and laughing her head off. She and Parvati were shouting at each other in a different language while Harry's laughter echoed from beneath the bowl.
"I wonder what they're talking about," Millicent said. "Wish Ivaan and Divya were here to translate."
"Probably something family related," Pansy said, smiling at the sight. "Most likely none of our business and not all that interesting."
-0-
"Hello Harry, may I come in?"
"Come on in Sir, of course!" Harry smiled as Dumbledore walked into the Uncommon Room and Fawkes flapped off Dumbledore's shoulder and landed on Harry's warbling a greeting. "What brings you two by?" he asked, petting Fawkes' head.
"I was having a walk to stretch my legs and taking a break from work and duties. Many times I walk without a destination in mind, just ruminating while moving. I found myself growing peckish and discovered myself here somehow." Dumbledore smiled as Harry laughed. "The school frequently leads me to where I want to go, I have found."
"I can whip you two something up," Harry said and smiled when Fawkes tootled happily, rubbing his head against Harry's. "Let me see, are you in the mood for something?"
"I will leave it to your expert choice," Dumbledore said sitting at the main prep table.
"Hmm, okay," Harry said. "I've been practicing this for the last day or so." He whipped up a batter using buckwheat flour, beating it until it was smooth. Using a large round skillet, he poured the batter out and made a flat crepe with it, making it uniform. After the bottom cooked some, he added sliced gruyere cheese and slices of thin ham to the center. In a side pan he fried an egg gently, cooking the whites until firm but kept the yolk runny and silky. He folded the edges of the pancake together, forming a square envelope, and then carefully laid the egg in the center. A scatter of minced chive and cracked black pepper was put on top. Harry then made a second in short order and served them.
"That looks incredible," Dumbledore said and Fawkes hooted happily and dug into his without waiting, eating eagerly. Dumbledore cut into the egg and admired the rich golden yellow yolk spreading into the ham and cheese and crepe, taking a bite of it all together. "Tastes incredible too," he praised.
"Thank you, Sir," Harry smiled.
"Looks familiar," Dumbledore said as he ate. "Ah, is this what your competitor served?"
"Yes Sir, as near as I can tell at least. She also made a baked galette with mushrooms. Galettes are kinda fun and really nice. Can be a crepe like this one or a baked tart. Like a pie without a tin." Harry shook his head. "She made so many of these perfectly, and with the eggs too. That's incredible."
"Very tricky," Dumbledore agreed. "Trying to see how your competitor thinks and operates in preparation for the finale?"
"Sort of? I just wanted to try it myself because it looked really good. And it is good. And seeing all you have to do to make it and all the ones she did make, well, it's intimidating," he said.
"I can imagine so," Dumbledore said. "It is simple and elegant, and difficult to do perfectly time and again under extreme pressure."
"That's what I thought." Harry smiled when Fawkes nuzzled his hand, blinking plaintively at him. He started making more, enjoying Fawkes' happy whistling and dancing.
"Worried about the finale?" Dumbledore asked kindly.
"Not worried, I don't think," Harry said slowly. "Just thinking about it coming, I guess. Every challenge has been really hard and really different."
"And you have performed excellently at all of them," Dumbledore said warmly. "Even the mother sauce one. Failing to succeed does not mean you did poorly."
"My food for it wasn't good though," Harry protested.
"Not good enough at the time," Dumbledore corrected gently. "And you learned from your mistakes and made up for them this time around. Take heart in that." He smiled sharply. "Not even Banters can say you did not."
"I don't think he wants to say much about me at all right now, not that I'm complaining," Harry said.
"Neither am I," Dumbledore said dryly. "I think he finally understands the magnitude of what he has done and has been humbled."
"Again, not complaining," Harry said. He served another galette to Dumbledore and put another on Fawkes' plate before starting another.
"You are continuing to do the best you can, and it is doing very well too," Dumbledore praised. "Your marks remain high and your efforts will reflect your N.E.W.T. exams. You are going into the finale with your head high and will be doing your best. You have not shirked your responsibilities for your clubs and your position. I am very proud of you, my boy."
Harry smiled and felt warm. "Thank you, Sir. It's a lot, but I'm glad to be doing all of it."
Dumbledore's eyes glinted slightly. "You have come a long way, since when we first met that day after the start of your very first term."
"I'm a little taller," Harry grinned.
Dumbledore laughed merrily. "Just a little," he agreed. "And you are much healthier, and have become quite the young man. It has been a genuine pleasure to see you as you are today."
"Thanks to you," Harry said. "And others, like you're about to say, but you too."
"Ah you know me well by now," Dumbledore smiled.
"Not that well," Harry said. "Mr. Abe said you can be petty and spite driven and I've never seen it."
"He would say that," Dumbledore snorted. "He is not wrong however. I had a short temper before and well indulged it when I was younger and had the energy." He smiled at Harry's snort. "I recall during my first year as Headmaster, I had a parent complain about a disciplinary decision of mine."
"Really?"
"Oh yes. That is something that comes with the profession but he sent many threatening messages about it. Well, I went through the records and pulled out every instance of his own disciplinary measures when he was a student and color me surprised when I discovered that the spell does not fall far from the wand. Anyways, I gathered them all together and sent copies of them to him, his solicitor, to the Ministry, to the governors, and kept them on my desk for ease of access."
He smiled as Harry laughed loudly. "He stopped bothering me after that but at the beginning of every term, there is a period of time for past decisions to be addressed and I sent him a letter each time to give him a chance to revisit the situation. With everything attached of course."
"That's brilliant," Harry grinned.
"I thought so," Dumbledore said modestly. "Now why was my brother giving you an accurate representation of my character?"
"We were talking about losing on my own terms and how Auntie Ari says it's better to lose with spite sometimes."
"She does believe in that," Dumbledore said wearily.
"I then said I should start doing that and he said I'm as spiteful as a cinnamon roll," Harry said, shaking his head. "Which when I asked Willie and Nillie if I could be spiteful, they started laughing and-hey! You two are laughing just like they did!" He tried to glare as Dumbledore and Fawkes started laughing, with the laughter sounding like a chorus of brass bells tolling as the phoenix laughed loudly and merrily. "I can be spiteful too!"
-0-
"My brain feels like mush," Lavender said, pushing her essay away.
"How's that different from normal?" Marigold and Clover asked before laughing loudly together.
"If I wasn't so tired, I'd go over there and smack them," Lavender sighed, trying to muster the energy to glare at her little sisters.
"Just do what I do. Make a note of it, let the feeling intensify, then smack them at a later date when they've forgotten all about it while you never have," Parvati said as she finished her essay.
"Oh there's an idea," Lavender nodded.
"Does she do that to you?" Hermione asked.
"Not me, the cousins definitely though," Padma said.
"I'm never not too tired to smack Nathan and Owen," Millicent said. "I really hope one of our essays on the N.E.W.T. isn't about elemental state transfiguration."
"I'm fairly certain it will be," Pansy sighed.
"I know, false hopes and everything," Milicent sighed too.
Harry looked up when the window rattled and opened, letting Hedwig come swooping in. "Hi girl," he greeted as she flapped to him, butting his head back against hers when she head bonked him hello. "What did you bring me?" He fished the envelope out of her harness and looked at it. "Oh, the World's Kitchen."
"Already? You still have more than a month before the challenge," Daphne said.
"Yeah, I hope it's not the clue already." Harry opened the envelope and read the letter within. "There's going to be a party before the final challenge."
"Really?" the others said, looking interested.
"Yeah. A gala. To celebrate the coming finale and how much attention the Rising Stars competition has gotten. It's apparently been one of the biggest ones they've ever had with tons of interest and coverage," Harry said.
"That sounds fancy," Parvati said. "I just had a thought, who caters for fancy food parties about food things?"
"Whoever it is must be very stressed cooking for people like that," Pansy remarked.
"Do you think this is a fancy hidden task thing?" Millicent asked.
"I wasn't before but I am now," Harry said, tilting his head and thinking.
"Sorry," Millicent said sheepishly, scowling when Pansy smacked her in the shoulder.
"It's okay," Harry smiled. "It really wouldn't surprise me if it turned out to be." He went back to reading the invitation. "They don't say anything about it so let's hope not. I'm allowed to bring a personal guest as well as my usual guests." He looked at Lavender. "Would you like to be my date to the gala?"
"Yes!" she squealed, hugging him strongly. "Oh that's so exciting!"
"Hey look at that, you finally got her as a date to a fancy ball type thing," Parvati smiled, sticking her tongue out at Lavender in a reciprocal gesture.
"I got better at asking early this time," Harry said, beaming with insincere pride, making his friends snort.
Lavender took the invitation from him and read it. "Oh it's next Friday. Okay, I'll work extra hard on studying so I don't miss out on it. I'm sure Daddy and Mum will say yes."
"And you'll get to tell us all about it the next day," Sue said happily.
"Definitely," Lavender promised.
"I have a question," Harry said after some companionable silence. "I can be spiteful, right?" He sighed after a beat of silence turned into hysterical laughter coming from his friends. "Why does everyone react like that when I ask that?!"
"I'm thankful you're not spiteful," Ron said easily.
"You're not even spiteful to your worst enemy," Pansy laughed.
"I thought we agreed that Hannah wasn't an enemy and he didn't start it," Parvati said. She smiled at Sue and Susan's flat looks.
"Harry, you're like the polar opposite to spiteful," Hermione snorted.
"But I could be, right?" Harry persisted.
"I think that is the one thing we have not been able to teach you," Daphne smiled. "I mean, succeeding to spite, yes. But to be spiteful? No."
"Why do you want to be spiteful?" Lavender asked, still giggling.
"I don't want to be spiteful really, but I think I could be," Harry pouted. "It started with me asking Mr. Abe if I could be and he said I was as spiteful as a cinnamon roll, which is to say, they aren't."
"I like you as a cinnamon roll," Luna said, hugging him. "You and they are soft and nice and sweet."
"And a little spicy when need be," Padma said. "That's actually a really good comparison."
"I guess it could be worse," Harry sighed, relenting while Lavender and Luna hugged him.
"You can be overly judgmental like many I know," Parvati said. "Most of them are in this very room!"
"I thought we established that Harry is not judgmental at all," Blaise said. "He couldn't even judge a sandwich contest."
"I did judge it," Harry sniffed. "It just so happens that no one won outright."
"Fair enough," Blaise smiled. "But my point remains, you are not nearly as judgmental as you could, or should, be."
"I guess," Harry conceded. He smiled as Hedwig hooted at him as he petted her. "I have Hedwig to be judgmental for me."
"Is she judgmental?" Aster asked. She looked at the others who nodded and snorted.
"You're not fooling anyone," Parvati said, waggling her finger as Hedwig opened her eyes wide and cheeped innocently. "Don't even pretend."
"She does have very emphatic facial expressions and eyes," Luna said. "She communicates non-verbally very well."
"She does do judgy eyes perfectly," Harry said.
"Really?" Marigold and Clover said together. They gasped when Hedwig turned her head around and stared at them flatly, her eyes half-lidded and an expression of bored judgement on her face.
"Oh hey, that's not bad," Millicent said. "Still, we're Pureblood Society kids so we're immune to lesser judgement."
"We are well used to it," Daphne nodded.
Astoria twitched when Hedwig turned her head more to face them. This time her eyes were even more lidded, showing less than a third of amber. However the magnitude of judgement increased, especially with how quirked her feathers were above her eyes and the way her beak clacked disapprovingly. "Okay, maybe I should stop stealing Daphne's robes when I forget to get mine washed."
"I knew it!" Daphne exclaimed, glaring at her little sister.
"She looks like Great Aunt Betania," Aster gasped, staring at Hedwig.
"Dear Merlin you're right," Pansy said, also flinching when hit with the full force of Hedwig's judgmental look.
"Pathetic," Sue snorted.
"You think you can do better?" Daphne asked.
"I'm Chinese, so yes. Every adult judges everything you say, do, or how you look, or how you act. I'm a master at withstanding judgement," Sue said superiorly.
"Go on Hedwig, let us see her withstand you," Pansy encouraged.
Hedwig whipped her head around and stood at her full height, eyes opening wide and she stared right at Sue. Despite standing on the table and being shorter than Sue, she somehow gave off the impression of staring down at Sue, head ever so slightly tilted up and her expression down.
Sue recoiled physically. "Gah! Okay, that's a damn good one. Not even Grandmother's raven can stare like that and that bird is a total bitch."
"Okay, I need to compare this to Grandmum and the Aunties," Parvati said. "Hit me with it, Hedwig."
Hedwig spun dramatically and leaned forward, tilting her head at an angle and glared at Parvati, one eye narrowing and the other eye widening. Padma flinched and even Parvati's first response was to flinch a little and she nodded. "Okay yeah, that's Grandmum grade judgement right there."
"Wow, she really does look a lot like Grandmum when she's glaring at you," Padma said admiringly.
"Wouldn't surprise me if she learned it from Grandmum," Parvati muttered. She smiled slyly. "Okay, now for the ultimate test. Give Harry the Eye of Judgement!"
Hedwig looked down at the table before she whipped around and stared right at Harry with very large eyes full of latent and patent judgement. Harry flinched at the sheer amount of emotion in her gaze but after a few seconds, the feathers around Hedwig's eyes twitched and twisted and she flapped hard, flying into Harry's face. She nuzzled him and cooed contritely, flapping her wings with distress.
"It's okay, I know you weren't really judging me," Harry said soothingly, petting her and coughing and sputtering as she flapped around his face. "You were having fun, I know!" He coughed as she latched around his face, burying her chest into his face and wrapping her wings around his head, cheeping and cooing.
"Poor Hedwig and Harry," Lavender smiled as everyone laughed.
-0-0-0-
odonnellzoo99 - Some people just can't be what they aren't, and this Harry isn't very spiteful at all. Thought you would like the Lavender and Harry moment.
TheReader81 - It might happen, most likely not but still. I was happy with their scene too.
DOOOOOOM Lord of Waffles - Yeah, but he can try to convince others he could be. But fail in the process.
Hands Off MY Wolfie - I like Aberforth's earthy grounded wisdom. It's a pleasant contrast to Harry's other mentors. Thanks for reading.
guest - Thank you. Abe has a lot of good wisdom that I enjoy.
TheSphynx - It's funny to think about though.
poka - I like to think I can still progress things at a decent pace even with 'nothing' going on per se. I just finished one of the last remaining milestone moments I envisioned from before starting the fic and I'm within sight of the end. It's been humbling seeing everything coming this far and how much change has happened. I'm about 15 chapters ahead or so, just to give y'all an idea without spoiling.
l4w - It made me laugh writing it.
alix33 - The Patroni were in fine form this chapter.
Wentley - I like to be as consistent as possible. I like to establish the baselines and stay true to them while accounting for character development and growth. It feels more satisffying that way.