I do not own Harry Potter, the Wizarding World, or any canon characters/
Side Dishes
13th Course – Inspiration
Takes place after the 173rd Course of Taste, after Hedwig's Hearth had finished the grand opening and had been operating for some time.
Lavender looked up when she heard the door open. "Hey!" she greeted, seeing Harry walk into their home. She looked at the clock and frowned slightly. "Oh it's late, was there a problem at the Hearth?"
"No, no problem," Harry said, hanging his jacket up and putting his bag down on the counter. "Just spent some time working on something."
"Nothing bad I hope," she said, tilting her head up and kissing him back.
"Nothing bad at all," he reassured her. He smiled and kissed Hedwig on the top of her head when she cheeped at him and looked at him expectantly. "Did you get your latest project done?"
"Just about," Lavender said. "Whenever Hedwig models, it's so much better." She smiled as Hedwig nodded with noble self-assurance and struck her pose once more.
"Of course," Harry smiled and yawned. "I'll go take a quick shower. Be right back."
Lavender watched him walk up the stairs and she hummed softly to herself before she went back to work, finishing putting some pins in place and then putting the hat back on Hedwig, smiling at the look. "Perfect. What do you think?"
Hedwig fluffed up with satisfaction as she looked at herself in the mirror that Lavender had set up on the table. She barked happily, throwing her head left and right and admiring the way the ribbons moved.
Lavender heard the shower start and then shook her head before making the new adjustments on the hat.
-0-
Harry waved as the elves were the last to leave the restaurant. It had been a good day. The Brigade moved like a well-tuned machine and the front of house was equally in sync. Business was smooth and steady with them being able to accomplish all their covers with little to no problems save for the small incidents here and there.
Harry glanced at the clock. "I have some time," he said to himself as he moved about the kitchen. He put out his favorite pans and honed his knife a little on the sharpening steel. He put out the ingredients he thought he wanted and got to work. He hummed softly, the only prevalent sound in the entire empty restaurant save for the sounds of chopping and moving things, of the fire on the stove hissing slightly.
He tasted the sauce when he finished it. "Hmm, a bit too tart," he said to himself, smacking his lips. "Maybe decent with the chicken though?" He swiped some of the sauce with a piece of chicken. "It isn't bad, not what I want though."
He looked at the clock again and blanched. Hours had passed already, went unheeded and unnoticed. He cleaned swiftly and put things away before leaving the restaurant, hurrying home.
-0-
"What's with your face?"
"What's with yours?" Lavender replied automatically.
"I asked first," Parvati said, unoffended. "Come on, what's up?"
"Oh nothing, I think," Lavender sighed.
"Come on, tell me. Unburden your thoughts and confide in your best friend," Parvati wheedled.
Lavender smiled and went back to sewing. "Harry's been a little funny lately, I think."
"Like funny as in telling more jokes funny or acting funny."
"Acting funny," Lavender clarified. "He's been coming home a little later than usual the last few nights. But nothing's wrong at the Hearth. I asked Chloe the other day and she said they've been closing at the usual time and getting out normally."
Parvati gave her a very flat look. "You don't think Harry's tomcatting or anything like that, do you?" She continued to glare when Lavender threw a handful of fabric at her.
"No!" Lavender said, incensed. "Not at all!"
"Good!"
Lavender growled when Parvati hit her in the face with the fabric in return. She shook her head. "I'm just worried. He usually tells me if something's bothering him."
"Have you asked him?"
"No…"
Parvati snorted. "He's probably doing some kind of chefy thing or cooking thing or is working on a surprise or something. He's been coming home and still being Harry, right?"
"He is. I just want to help him if he needs it."
"If he needs it, he'll ask. Harry's like that."
"I guess you're right. Thanks. I'm just being silly."
"Yes I am and yes you are," Parvati said. "And in recompense for your silliness, I'm eating your lunch."
"Don't you dare! Hey! Get back here!"
-0-
Harry watched the chicken sizzle in the pan, taking on color as the skin cooked in the hot oil. When the skin was golden-brown and crisp, he put the pan in the oven to let the chicken continue to cook through. He then poured oil into another pan that was waiting on the heat. A mound of shredded potatoes and onions was put onto the pan and he pushed it down with the spatula to increase the surface area touching the hot pan. The potatoes and onions crackled and cooked until the edges were crisp, and he flipped the pancake to cook on the other side.
He put the finished potato pancake on the plate and layered sliced chicken thighs and breast on top of it, admiring the smell of the meat and potatoes. He arranged a half-circle of roasted sprouts and carrots and parsnips around the central meat and potatoes and onions. "That looks good," he said, admiring the look.
He took the pan that the chicken had cooked in and added butter and flour to it, cooking the roux until brown and the smell of flour had ameliorated. He splashed in chicken broth and cooked the bubbling gravy until it was thick and rich, seasoning with salt black pepper, and cayenne pepper. He then poured the gravy around the dish, drizzling a little over the meat directly.
"That looks good," he said, looking at the finished dish. He tasted the components separately and together, with and without the gravy. "It's good, solid. What I was expecting."
He looked at the remnants with a critical eye. "Hmm. Now how about this…"
-0-
"Welcome home," Lavender smiled, seeing Harry.
"Still love hearing it," he said, kissing her.
"Still love saying it," she replied. She looked at the clock. "You're home a little early tonight."
"I know I've been out a bit late lately, so wanted to come home earlier and spend some time with you properly," he said. "If that's okay of course."
"Of course it's okay!" she said happily.
"Let me shower, be right back."
She watched him go. "Do you know what's going on?" she asked.
Hedwig shook her head but fluffed up, plumping down on Lavender's lap and cheeped in a soothing way.
"You're right," Lavender said, petting her. "He'll tell us when he tells us."
-0-
"Oh, hello Chef," Mirra said, surprised to see Harry there. She was usually the first one to get to the Hearth, happy to start most of the prep work. She enjoyed being at the Hearth and she was still learning a lot of the French techniques and other skills Harry employed in his dishes. Sometimes he would come earlier too to help her train and teach her. That day she had been scheduled to come in later and had arrived at the same time as Guy and Felicity and they too were mildly surprised to see Harry there before them.
"HI!" Harry looked up at the clock. "Oh wow, time really got away. Didn't realize it was this late." He began to tidy his area up. "I used up some of the leftovers from last night, sorry about that. I'll help out with prep work to get us back on track."
"Chef." Chloe walked into the kitchen from the front of the Hearth. "You have your meeting at the Council office in five minutes, have you forgotten?"
"I did," Harry groaned.
"We will clean up Chef," Felicity said.
"Thanks, I'll make it up to you!" Harry ran out of the kitchen, not even bothering to change.
"How long was he here for already?" Mirra wondered, seeing all the things Harry had out.
"I came in early to catch up on office work and he appeared to have been here for some time," Chloe said.
"I wonder what's all this," Felicity said, looking at all the food and things. She looked at Guy who had snorted softly.
"Chef is crafting," Guy said.
"Well yeah," Felicity said, "that's obvious."
Guy smiled thinly. "Is it?"
Felicity gestured. "I mean, yeah, I can see he's been testing stuff out."
"He does more than merely test." Guy pointed at the bowls of sauce and gravy. "Look. See all that he has done? See how many he has made? Look at the marks on the paper. How those are the same save for a single ingredient? He does more than test. He is creating and experimenting with many different things. Doing it over and again until it reaches the ideal that he wants."
Mirra dipped a spoon into the remnants of one of the sauces and licked. "Wow!" she gasped. "This tastes amazing!" She goggled at the other bowls. "And he still went on to make more to test more?!"
"Because he does not want simply good," Guy said knowingly. "He wants to make sure what he ends up with is the best, and by only trying everything can one know if it is the best. Many would stop as soon as it tastes good. Few would go further to continue and try, to constantly improve."
"These are all so good," Felicity said, eyes wide as she and Mirra had tasted all of them. "And Chef is still going farther to try and be even better?"
"That is what sets a craftsman apart from the rest," Guy said.
Mirra clapped her hands together, eyes glimmering. "I need to get there."
"Me too!" Felicity said. "We can do that, right?"
"We can!" Mirra and Felicity high-fived and the two of them rushed off to change and to get started on their duties.
"How very romantic of you," Chloe said with amusement.
"Simply telling it how it is," Guy said defensively. He cleaned up the leftover food and mess, also tasting one of the sauces.
Chloe reached out for a spoon when she saw Guy look at the sauce appreciatively. She licked her spoon delicately, her eyes widening. She tasted the others. "They get better with each version."
"Chef is thorough," Guy said. "And as I said, a craftsman."
-0-
Lavender smiled as she heard happy musical barking. Hedwig flapped her way through the Needy Thread, weaving about and landing on her desk. "Oh, for me? Thank you," Lavender said, taking the small note from Hedwig. She read it and smiled, feeling happy. She scribbled a reply and gave it back to Hedwig who nuzzled her and flapped back out, taking the time to buzz Parvati on the way out.
"Someone's sassy today," Parvati said, shaking her fist at Hedwig who cackled as she left the store. "What was that about?"
"Harry suggested dinner at the Hearth tonight," Lavender said.
"Oh that'll be nice," Parvati said.
"And you can have my lunch today," Lavender smiled.
"Oh good 'cause I already ate half of it."
"Hey!"
-0-
"Hi!" Lavender hugged Harry as she walked into the kitchen of the Hearth.
"Hi there," Harry smiled, hugging her back. "Hungry?"
"Always! I gave Parv my lunch since we were having dinner here."
"It's late, you're not starving?" Harry asked worriedly.
"I had leftovers as a snack in between," she reassured him. "I went home and had them to tide me over."
"Oh good," he said, relieved. "I just finished this for you and Hedwig," he said, taking a couple plates from the oven and setting them down on the counter.
"Oh wow, it looks and smells delicious!" Lavender exclaimed and Hedwig danced up and down on the table, barking in agreement. She admired the crackling crisp skin on the chicken thigh and the succulent looking chicken breast. The potato pancake was golden brown and glistening. The roasted vegetables just shy of charred and smelling deeply savory. She and Hedwig waited with open anticipation as Harry poured brown gravy around the dishes.
Lavender, armed with fork and knife, ate a bite of the chicken in the gravy, moaning with pleasure at the taste. "Oh, that sauce is wonderful!" She ate another bite of everything, first alone, then together with the sauce. "It's so good!"
Harry grinned. "I'm glad! I've been working on this new dish for a while now and you two are the first to try the completed dish, aside from my taste testing of course."
"We are?" Lavender smiled.
He nodded. "I wanted to make sure it was what I wanted before having you two try it. It's sort of a take on the regular roast dinner, but in a finished plate that's slightly fancier than normal."
"It's wonderful," Lavender gushed. "And this gravy, what is it? It's so nice and rich."
"It's a brown gravy but I use bacon fat instead of butter. I brown the bacon a bit to render out the fat, then cook it like a gravy with milk. I also saute some mushrooms first in the bacon and leave both to cook into the gravy itself. The bacon fat adds a nice deep richness that's not like butter."
"It's so good. Is this what you've been working on for a while?"
He nodded again. "Yup. I wanted to get it to taste exactly how I wanted to, and it took me a while. I went through a lot of different sauces and I wanted something more than just the regular gravy, but other sauces didn't quite match the feeling I wanted."
"What inspired you to do this?"
"You."
She blinked. "Me?"
He nodded a third time. "One night a few weeks ago, I came home and you were working on that one dress. The yellow one. You were so focused on it and you surrounded yourself with naturally yellow things and were trying to get the right color you wanted. You were so focused and so dedicated to it, well, it made me want to do the same. You said you wanted the right hue because you wanted something sunny and bright, but not too warm or too unnatural. You wanted to make the dress for her to be happy in."
"And you wanted to make this dish because of that?" she asked, eyes bright.
"I did. I wanted a play on a comforting roast dinner, but make it a little different. Something that's still homey and tasty and comforting, but feeling a little more special. Just like that dress you made."
She leaned across the counter and kissed him sweetly. "I love you," she said against his lips.
He smiled against hers. "Love you more."
"Don't think so," she laughed. "This dish is so good, it does exactly what you say it does." She looked down with a frown when her fork clattered against the bare plate. "Did I do the thing where I eat it all without realizing it?"
"I don't think so," Harry said, looking at the now bare plate quizzically. It barely had any gravy on it even. He looked around briefly before his eyes settled on Hedwig who was chewing happily.
Lavender saw her too and she smiled. "Hedwig, did you see what happened to my plate of food?"
Hedwig stopped chewing and looked at Lavender's plate. Her eyes widened comically and she looked all around the kitchen, head turning nearly all the way around before going the other way. She scanned around and then turned to face Lavender, shaking her head with wide open eyes. Her own plate was behind her, completely bare as well and Hedwig gently pushed it away with her foot, still maintaining eye contact with Lavender.
"You have some gravy on your beak," Harry smiled.
Hedwig continued to make eye contact with Lavender but her tongue slipped out from behind her beak and delicately licked the gravy away before disappearing once more.
Lavender laughed heartily with Harry joining in. "You're lucky you're so cute!" Lavender exclaimed, hugging Hedwig. Hedwig cheeped and bonked her head against Lavender's, nuzzling her.
"There's plenty more," Harry grinned. "Actually, time me if you don't mind." He started cooking again while Lavender and Hedwig made a note of the time. They watched with interest as Harry cooked the dish from scratch.
"Little less than thirty minutes!" Lavender said when he finished plating it all.
"And it'll be faster at service," Harry said, looking satisfied. "Veg can be cooked ahead of time, and the potato pancakes prepared. Then it's basically cook the chicken to order, make the gravy when the chicken is finished, and everything else will be ready at the same time."
"Perfect," Lavender said, eating hungrily. She made a show of pushing Hedwig away from her plate and the owl retaliated by dunking her chicken into Lavender's plate and made off with a piece of her pancake.
"There's still plenty," he laughed as he watched Hedwig and Lavender try to steal from each other's plates. "But don't let me interrupt your fun," he said lovingly as they continued to playfight.
-0-
"Hey everyone, I made this for family meal today. If you all like it, I'm thinking of making it a special." Harry watched with a little nervousness as the Brigade and the front of house dug into their plates.
"Damn, now that's some nice gravy," Eddie said, eating hungrily. "And we take gravy seriously back home."
"It tastes like a good roast dinner," Felicity said as she ate. "But fancier!"
"Oh I like this a lot," Julia admired.
"Would not be out of place at many restaurants," Guy said, munching thoughtfully.
"Let me demo it for you." Harry cooked, explaining the steps as he did with the others watching with interest while they ate.
"Wouldn't be hard to do at all," Mirra said enthusiastically. "The mise for the veg would be done easily and wouldn't be hard to make more off. Chicken doesn't take long to cook and you can finish the sauce while it rests."
"How much were you thinking to charge for it?" Chloe asked. She nodded at Harry's estimate. "That is a good profit margin for the dish. Well worth the effort of making it and the value of the ingredients."
"A lot of people want to try your home cooking, Chef," Henri said. "Would not be a problem to sell this."
"What should we call it?" Inky asked eagerly.
"Roast Chicken, a la Hedwig," Harry smiled and Hedwig barked happily with evident approval. "Since it's a bacon based gravy."
"Even better," Julia smiled. "It is the namesake of the restaurant."
"We can joke about roast owl," Eddie joked. "Ow! Hedwig! That was a joke!" Eddie tried to fend an irritated Hedwig off and looked glum as she took his chicken away. "I'm sorry!" he called after while the others laughed.
-0-
"Hey sis and sis," Harry smiled, walking to the bar outside. The restaurant was comfortably busy and the majority of the tables had people at it. All of the outside reservations had come on time and there was a strong Hogsmeade presence that night.
"Hey bro," Padma smiled, hugging him.
"Hard day at work?" he asked, hugging her back.
"So-so," she said. "Thankfully. But Parv said you have a new special and so I wanted to come check it out."
"Yeah, Lav told me about it today and said it's amazing," Parvati said, hugging him.
"Two specials, coming up," he smiled. "Want to come eat inside?"
"Pads needs to be next to the booze," Parvati said before yelping.
Padma pinched her again. "I don't," she said, scowling at her sister. "But we'll be out here and show off your special. Unless it's been popular tonight?"
"Not yet," Harry said. "But I'm not too upset if it doesn't take off. It's what I want it to be and that's enough." He left them with a wave and went back to the kitchen. Soon the two plates left and he did not go out after due to an influx of orders. After a while, he realized that more of the orders were for the special.
"You didn't ham it up for me, did you?" he asked with a smile when the Patils came in.
"No, we had the chicken, remember?" Parvati said, laughing at his snort.
"Not at all but it was so good," Padma gushed. "We definitely enjoyed it and I guess people saw us enjoying it and followed suit."
"It's true," Nillie said as she delivered plates to be cleaned.
"We're trendsetters," Parvati smiled.
"Thanks for the help," Harry smiled.
"We'll bring Grandmum and Mum and Dad tomorrow night," Padma said.
"Always happy to see them whenever," he replied eagerly.
-0-
"Hey! You're late again," Lavender said with a big smile.
"This time we were busy right until close," Harry laughed. "Mr. Bennets and Dora came in at the end and they were starving."
"That's fair," she said. She hugged him to her and relished his contact and warmth. "Welcome home!"
"Glad to be home," he smiled.
-0-0-0-
Arnie1701 - She had fun.
Hands Off MY Wolfie - I think the Uncommon Room was one of my favorite additions to the setting. It really was a nice warm place to be. Thanks for reading.
odonnellzoo99 - Hedwig spinning around the cane is always a good mental image and how much she enjoys it. Hedwig is an equal opportunity attacker. She'll attack anyone if it's funny. Or if she's bored. Or if she's proving a point.
alix33 - She's very good at it.
Lucy Elizabeth Dawson - As only her right and due. She's the best.
HoneyBear84 - She's very sassy.
TheSphynx - Thank you.
poka - She was in fine form in fourth year. It's funny, she does so much more during the years. I already have three parts for year seven and I'm not even halfway through the year yet. I'm sure they will show up.
Shroudy9 - I just see him as an older cat/kneazle that's exceptionally lazy.