"Did you two have any idea where the kitchen were?" Tracy asked her friends.

Hermione, Susan and herself had been asked by Daphne to come to the kitchens. Throughout all her time at Hogwarts Tracy had never been to the kitchen where all of Hogwarts house elves made their food. She never had a reason to seek it out, if she ever needed food she would just walk over to the Great Hall.

But now she found herself along with her friends standing in front of a painting that supposedly was the entrance to the hidden culinary warehouse.

"So, we just tickle the pear?" Tracy spoke up.

"Tickle the pear?" Susan asked.

Tracy shrugged. "That's what Daphne said." In a world that consisted of many weird creatures and artifacts, of saying and doing things most people wouldn't dream of, this was the most weird thing Tracy had ever done.

She lightly scratched the pear on the painting, hoping this counted. "Coochy-qoo."

The pear laughed and the painting swung open to reveal the kitchen. Stepping inside the three students were greeted with the sight of multiple house elves busy at work, preparing the many dishes that would be served for lunch and dinner.

Standing over by a table with an oven behind her was the girl who called them here.

"Guys, over here!" Daphne waved them over.

"Daphne, what's going on?" Hermione asked, as they made their way to the brunette.

Daphne had a massive smile on her face and was holding a piece of paper close to her chest.

"I was hoping you three would help me out with something. Harry mentioned the other day that he likes baking and cooking, so I thought I would bake him something."

Oh, so that's what this was. Tracy shook her head fondly. Ever since her best friend had begun dating Hadrian Potter not a day went by without one of them doing something for the other. The two were sickeningly sweet, in a way that made Tracy wish she had someone like that.

"You called us here for baking? Daphne, I have other important things I could be doing." Hermione said.

"Like what? Read "Hogwarts: A History" for the 50th time?" Tracy teased.

"Or spend your day in the library reading multiple books that won't be touched upon for the next five months?" Susan joined in.

Hermione crossed her arms and let out a "Humph."

Tracy and Susan shared a grin and looked back to their lovestruck friend.

"So, you want our help making cookies?" Susan asked.

"Kinda." Daphne confessed. "I was hoping you guys would keep me company and make sure I wasn't screwing this up. My plan was that we'd each make our own batch."

"I get a whole batch of cookies for myself?! Count me in!" Tracy exclaimed.

"I'm not sure the whole batch is for you." Hermione said.

"I'll make some for the other Hufflepuffs." Susan said, clapping her hands.

"I'm sure some people in Gryffindor wouldn't mind." Hermione pondered.

"Ah, screw you two and your selfless behavior. I'll take selfishness any day as long as I get cookies!" Tracy said.

"So, you're all in?" Daphne asked.

All three girls nodded.

"Great! Let's make some cookies, girls."

The ingredients were provided by the house elves who were more than happy to help. Hermione choose not to vocalize her feelings on house elves given her present company which consisted of two pure-blood heiress', and the fact that apparently she was not as confident in her original assumption from last year given what Daphne had told her about the bond between house elves and their master.

The four girls were mixing the dry and wet ingredients into a batter.

"Ok, now before we continue, we have to decide what type of cookie we want." Daphne said, reading off her recipe.

"Ooh," Said Tracy, "Choices. What are you all thinking?"

"I was just going to use chocolate chips, they're the easy choice." Daphne said.

Susan looked at the shelf behind her which housed many different ingredients.

"I like the idea of chocolate too, but I'll mix it up and go with white chocolate."

Tracy gave a dramatic gasp. "White chocolate! Why not dark? Susan!"

The redhead gave her friend an unamused stare and received a grin in return.

"Hmm, I think I'll do some pecans. I've always liked them. Oh, and maybe some raisins."

Tracy stuck her tongue out in disgust.

"What about you, Tracy?" Daphne asked.

"Honestly, I'm fine with anything. Just getting free cookies is good enough for me."

"Ok, then, how about…" Daphne walked over to the ingredients shelf. She eventually picked a bag.

"Some sugar cookies?"

Tracy thought about it for a bit before nodding. Cookies were delicious with sugar, but add more sugar?

The four placed their chosen ingredients into their mix and began stirring.

"Hey, Daph," Tracy spoke up, "You've got something…"

Tracy pointed to her friend's hair where a bit of dough was stuck.

Upon seeing the rough bit of uncooked cookie, Daphne began squealing.

"Ew, ew, ew. Get it off, get it off, get it off!"

"Ok, calm down."

Tracy grabbed the piece of dough and picked it off then flicked it into a nearby garbage can.

When it came time to ball up their cookies, Daphne opened up a drawer behind her and pulled out a pair of green gloves to prevent getting dough all over her hands. This earned her types of stares. One of amusement, one of confusion and one of "are you serious we are making cookies". The last one was Tracy.

After rolling up their cookies, they placed them into the oven and waited the allotted time. They spent the time not going to the library as Hermione wanted but by simply talking. It was nice. For this brief moment they could be regular teenage girls without the threat of a returning dark wizard hanging over their heads.

The timer on the oven beeped, alerting them that their baked treats were finished. Daphne carefully pulled them out and all four girls were pleased with their results.

"Wow, these turned out really good." Susan said.

"I must admit, these do look delicious." Hermione said.

Daphne smiled, it seemed this had worked out the way she wanted.

"Well, we won't truly know if we don't taste them." Tracy said, taking a cookie from her sheet.

"She is right." Daphne admitted. "We should do a taste test before handing these out."

Susan and Hermione didn't need much convincing to try the tasty looking treats. All four girls took a bite of their cookies.

"Mmm," Tracy moaned. "Oh yeah, that's the stuff."

Hermione stared at her cookie in disbelief. "This is better than I could have imagined."

"Yeah." Susan agreed.

After taking her bite, Daphne was overwhelmed with a sense of nostalgia. They tasted just like she remembered.

"Daphne, are you ok?" Susan asked.

Daphne unknowingly had tears rolling down her cheek. She rubbed her eyes to clear them.

"Sorry, I forgot how good these were."

At her friends questioning looks she explained.

"This recipe is my mother's. It's been a part of her family for generations. We used to bake cookies when I was younger. They used to go quickly, even my father couldn't help himself." Daphne lightly chuckled.

"Why did you stop?" Hermione asked.

"When I came to Hogwarts, it was different. I was different."

Tracy placed a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder for support.

The first three years of their time at Hogwarts wasn't the best. Daphne and herself had isolated themselves from the rest of their peers, not because they wanted to, but because they felt it was the only way to stay safe. Daphne had gotten the reputation of the "Ice Queen" and people made sure not to bother her. She was also the heiress to an Ancient and Noble family, so she had some sway. By being her friend, Tracy was given the same benefits. Not that she befriended Daphne for that, the two had known each other since they could walk.

It wasn't until last year, when she and Daphne had met Hadrian Potter in the library that they began to actually have proper friends. And in Daphne's case an actual relationship.

Tracy never commented out loud how her friend had changed over the years. Daphne before Hogwarts was much like the girl before her: bubbly, kind, caring. But after realizing that wasn't going to work in a house like Slytherin, Daphne had embraced the "Ice Queen" persona. She hid her emotions, often wearing a blank mask. Having to wear that mask twenty-four seven naturally had an effect on her when she returned home.

But after meeting Hadrian, Tracy was glad to see her friend was back.

"Do you think Harry's going to like them?" Daphne asked as the girls were packing away their cookies.

"He'll love them." Hermione said.

"Don't worry, you know he's going to love anything you give him." Tracy pointed out.

Daphne caught her boyfriend while they were leaving Defense the next day. She led him away from the other students for some privacy.

"What's up?" He asked.

Daphne suddenly felt very nervous. Sure her friends liked the cookies and she herself thought they were delicious, but everyone's tastes were different. What if Harry didn't like them?

Tracy reassured her that Harry would accept whatever she gifted him and she knew if he didn't like the cookies he wouldn't say anything. He was too polite like that.

Daphne grasped the straps of her bag tightly as she tried to get her words out. "Um, well, I- I mean we, that is the girls and I, we, uh…"

Oh she was making a mess of this. Why was this so hard to say!? She was just gifting her boyfriend cookies.

She opened her bag and found the six cookies she had wrapped for him. She wrapped them with plastic wrap with a nice red bow.

She could feel the heat on her cheeks due to her embarrassment. She grabbed the cookies with both hands and extended them to her boyfriend with her head looking down. Too embarrassed to look him in the eyes.

"I hope you like them!" She exclaimed.

After what felt like forever, Harry gently took the cookies from her hands. She still looked down at the ground.

"You baked me cookies?" Harry asked.

"Yeah…" She said in a small, shy voice.

She heard the wrapping come undone and assumed her boyfriend was trying her treats.

"Woah,"

Here it comes. He hates them. They're the worst things he's ever eaten. Not even worthy to be fed to Filch's cat.

"Daphne, these are great!"

She looked up in surprise. He liked them? He really liked them?

"R-really?"

Harry nodded as he finished the cookie.

"You're not just saying that to be nice, right? You genuinely like them?" Her question came with a bit of desperation.

"I do. These are fantastic! I didn't know you could bake."

"Oh, well…" Daphne looked down again. "I used to bake these with my mother and I remember you saying you liked cooking and baking, so…"

Harry took her in his arms and she lent into his embrace, loving his warmth.

"Thank you, Daph. This is great."

"Of course, anything for you." She nuzzled her face into his shoulder. This is where she belonged, with Harry in his arms.

When he released her, the two locked hands and walked to their next class together.

"So, are there gonna be more of these gifts in the future?" He asked.

"I don't know." She smiled. "It all depends if you earn it."

"Earn it?" Harry asked with a smirk. "I think saving the school from a Basilisk, and winning an international tournament is more than enough to earn it."

Daphne tapped a finger on her chin pretending to think.

"Hmm, I suppose that's a good point. All right, I'll make more."

Harry fist bumped the air. "Yes!"

Daphne laughed at his childish actions. She loved seeing him behaving this carefree. Usually Harry acted as if the whole world rested on his shoulders. It was nice to see him act like a regular fifteen year old boy.

"And you can teach me the recipe."

"Sorry, Potter, that's a family secret."

Harry raised his eyebrow with a smirk. "Oh? I guess I'll have to fix that."

Daphne's brain froze. Surely he wasn't talking about…?

Harry laughed at the blush on her cheeks. "You're adorable."

"Stop!"