The Cupcake Catastrophe - A Standard by BananaCarrot-five

This was very very different than how I imagined, but it's here. Enjoy! This is very loosely inspired by S02E3 of "How I Met Your Mother."

The kitchen was a mess. Flour, eggs, sprinkles, an upside down bowl with cake filling dripping out of it, a broken oven, and a shattered light was all that the group could see. On the table sat a plate, upon it a single, half burned, messily iced, and decorated cupcake.

"I knew I should have bought them instead," Hermione stated, breaking the silence, while getting a shoulder massage from Ron.

"I knew you shouldn't have used your wand for this," Luna exclaimed, hitting Neville in the arm.

"I knew you shouldn't have invited this lot," Harry said, glaring at Ginny.

Pause.

There are three parts to this story that you need to know that lead to this point.

Part 1: The Harry and Ginny Part

One bright and early morning, Ginny woke up and a fun idea floated into her head. Grinning, she turned to her side and started poking Harry in the arm to wake him up.

"Harry! Get up!" Ginny exclaimed. Harry shook himself awake at her voice.

"What's up, Gin?"

"I want cupcakes!"

Harry looked puzzled. "But Gin, it's only seven in the morning! Its not the right time to eat cupcakes."

"Harry, I want cupcakes. Ooh! We can bake them here! Ooh! We can invite Hermione, Ron, Luna, oh, and Neville too! It'll be fun!" Ginny hopped out of bed as she started getting dressed.

"Why not just buy them? That would be easier," Harry asked.

"Oh, but where's the fun in that?" Ginny sing-songed. "I'm going to invite the others! You go down to the kitchen!"

Part 2: The Hermione and Ron Part

For the past few days, Hermione had been up almost nonstop, working on a personal project of hers. So when she was abruptly awoken by a Floo call by Ginny, she mentally cursed the Gods and answered the call.

"Hi Hermione! Get Ron! Both of you come over! Me and Harry are making cupcakes!"

Hermione rubbed her eyes. "No, Ginny, I'm tired, and I've barely slept. I want to sleep. Plus, you can just buy them."

Ginny gave her a face. Hermione sighed and nodded. "Fine, we'll be over in a bit."

"Yay!" Ginny exclaimed. She ended the call and Hermione groaned as she stood up, called out to Ron, and started changing her clothes.

"Ron! Do we have any Pepperups?"

Ron poked his head in a few moments later. "No love, I stopped buying those after you were awake for three days straight using them. As a matter of fact, you should be asleep. What gives?"

Hermione groaned. "Ginny convinced me to bring you and me to her and Harry's house to make bloody cupcakes."

Ron thought for a minute. "Can't Gin just buy them?"

"I said the same thing!" Hermione exclaimed before she let out a loud and long yawn. "Ron, I need to somehow wake up, help me?"

Ron shrugged before whipping out his wand. "Aguamenti!"

A stream of cold water splashed on Hermione's face, waking her up.

"Blimey! Thank you, Ron! Let's go!"

A still tired Hermione (the shock of water rolled off her quickly) and Ron Floo'd over to Ginny and Harry's place, just as they saw that both were running around, looking about anxiously.

"Hermione!" Ginny shouted, which made Hermione's head hurt. "I need you to run to the shop and get us some eggs! We have none! We need them for cupcakes!" Harry was apparently ignored as he kept saying that he could get them in a bit.

Hermione groaned and turned to Ron. Ron shrugged. "I knew I should have stayed home today." The duo then left to get a carton of eggs for Ginny's cupcakes.

When they got to a corner shop, Hermione groaned in pain. Her headache was getting worse and all she wanted to do was sleep. Of course, Ron had to be the one man in London who didn't know where to find eggs in a corner shop.

I can get through this, I can get through this, Hermione repeated to herself. She then saw Ron wander right into the personal hygiene aisle.

"I knew I should have stayed home today," Hermione moaned. "I need some paracetamol," she stated, glancing towards the painkillers area. Oh, sweet relief from her headache…

After twelve minutes, three unpaid paracetamol's, a box of plasters, and an ice pack for Ron's head (he smacked right into a shelf!), the duo exited the store with a carton of eggs.

"We should have stayed home today, Hermione," Ron stated.

The duo was in for another surprise when they got back to Harry and Ginny's and saw none other than Neville and Luna there, with a container of frosting and a small tin of hundreds and thousands.

"What?!" Hermione tried to yell, but it came out all disorganized. Ginny however, didn't notice and smiled. "Ooh! You got the eggs! Awesome! Neville and Luna brought some icing and hundreds and thousands! We can make cupcakes now!"

Hermione's glare went towards Neville and Luna, the former gave her a small wave.

Part 3: The Neville and Luna Part

After Ginny had ended her Floo call with Hermione, she had then Floo called Luna and Neville.

"Hi Luna! Want to make cupcakes with me and Harry?" Ginny practically yelled. Luna, equally excited, bounced up and down.

"Yes! I'll bring Neville too! It'll be so much fun!" Luna grinned widely.

Ginny was about to end the call when she realized something. "Oh Luna! Bring over some icing and some hundreds and thousands, please!"

Luna smiled. "Happy to help! See you soon, Ginny!"

"Hey, Neville!" Luna called out once she had cleaned up, "Ginny invited us to make cupcakes!"

Neville glanced at her. "Luna, I haven't the slightest idea on how to bake, let alone cupcakes!"

Luna smirked at him and said, "It's going to be fun! Now, let's get some icing and hundreds and thousands!"

Ginny and Harry were in the kitchen, getting ready to bake those blasted cupcakes. Since they didn't have any eggs, Ginny had tasked Ron and Hermione with getting them. Neville and Luna arrived with the icing and hundreds and thousands, and Ginny was getting excited. Finally, Ron and Hermione had returned with the eggs, and her cupcakes were almost hers.

All that stood in their way was the oven. And if you thought what had happened already was crazy, it only got worse.

Harry had just finished mixing the batter together and Ginny and Luna had gotten the cupcake pan ready. All was good until Ginny suggested that each of them pour the mix into one of the spots. Brilliantly, she had Hermione go first; the poor girl was so tired she almost missed the pan entirely. Fortunately, she didn't and she passed it to the next person, who was Luna. This continued until all twelve spots were filled, and Ginny threw the cupcakes into the oven.

"Now, we wait like 30 minutes!" Ginny exclaimed.

"Sleep! Finally!" Hermione groaned, but Ginny stopped her.

"No no, Hermione! We'll need to ice the cupcakes when they are done!"

"Can you speed it up?" Hermione asked.

"No, be patient!" Ginny exclaimed.

"Sure, here," Neville replied at the same time, pulling out his wand.

"Neville, no!" Luna, Ron, Harry, and Ginny yelled, but it was too late. Neville's heat charm bounced off the oven and hit a spatula, which sent it flying into the bag of flour, spilling it on the floor. It also managed to hit the egg carton causing eggs to fly in all directions, even one that hit the ceiling, and another one hitting a light, shattering it and getting egg all over it. The oven itself started jumping about, the pan on the cooker hit the mostly empty bowl of cupcake mix, causing it to turn upside down, and before anyone could blink, there was a small pop in the oven, before smoke started pouring from it.

"The cupcakes!" Ginny exclaimed, quickly pulling them out. Unfortunately, almost all of them were burned. One however managed to get away only half burnt. Ginny wanted to cry, but Luna insisted on icing and decorating the cupcake anyway.

Now we reached the point from the start of this story. One cupcake, a messy kitchen, and six individuals in varying degrees of shock, surprise, and in Hermione's case, nearly asleep. There was a long silence as the group took in the mess, as well as the singular decorated, and half burnt cupcake sitting on the table.

"I knew I should have bought them instead," Hermione stated, breaking the silence, while getting a shoulder massage from Ron.

"I knew you shouldn't have used your wand for this," Luna exclaimed, hitting Neville in the arm.

"I knew you shouldn't have invited this lot," Harry said, glaring at Ginny.

Ginny however was unfazed. "Luna, want to split this with me? I promise to cut it evenly for both of us."

And so, that is how Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Neville all decided to never come back to help Ginny make cupcakes (or in Harry's case, agree to make cupcakes) ever, ever again.

"I knew we should have stayed home today," Ron stated, earning the nods and "mhmms" of the others who heard.

The Houses Competition, Round 4

House: Ravenclaw

Class: Charms

Category: Standard

Prompts: [Food: Cupcakes; [Quote: "I knew I should have stayed home today."

Word Count: 1,524