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Side Dishes

46th Course – Speaking With Words 17: The Seventh Year Part 5

As per tradition, takes place all over the timeline with the first instance starting at the 152nd course of Taste, where a new game is created to pass the time.

Harry pushed his schoolwork to one side, finished for the moment. He had been able to stay on top of both his classwork as well as the extra studying that N.E.W.T.s necessitated, in conjunction with his Morale duties and all the training he did for the Rising Stars. He had worried that he had too much on his plate, ironically and metaphorically and literally, but he had been able to keep up with everything thankfully. He knew he had his friends to thank for keeping up with school and his other duties and he was incredibly grateful to them for that.

He looked down at Hedwig who was sitting in his lap, fluffed and comfortable. "How about let's make something just to make it?"

"That sounds good," Hedwig said, nodding encouragingly.

"Any suggestions?" Harry asked.

Hedwig clacked her beak thoughtfully as Harry rubbed her belly. "Hmm, something we haven't had in a long time. Oh I know." She hopped onto the counter and then flapped to the rack of cooking equipment. She gently patted a clay vessel with a wing. "How about some Bulgarian stew?"

"Oh the gyuveche pot. Great idea! I haven't had that in a long time." He gathered the ingredients and got to cooking, soon pouring everything into the clay pot and putting it in the oven. "It's going to simmer for a bit now." He looked back at the school work and sighed softly. "Still don't feel like doing more work or practicing for the next challenge. I feel a little practiced out."

"You've been working very hard," Hedwig nodded. She fluttered to his shoulder and preened his hair lovingly, nuzzling him. "You deserve a break."

Harry enjoyed the contact before he got up and started cooking some bacon, putting the rashers in the pan and smiling as Hedwig licked her beak. "Always room for a pre-dinner bacon snack, right?"

"Right! Ooh, we can play some too!" When the bacon was ready, she grabbed a rasher and thwapped Harry in the hand with it.

"Tug o bacon? Always fun-hey wait. I just got an idea for another game."

"I love games! Do share!"

"Remember when you were pretending to be a shark the other day and sneaking around the cushions over there and nipping people?"

Hedwig giggled and clicked her beak a few times. "I sure do! That was fun. Parvati and Pansy make the best noises when I surprise nip them."

"That gives me an idea for this." He dug into his knife roll and took out a length of fishing line. "I kept this from when we went to Thalga. But I was thinking we put some bacon on a hook, I cast the line over there, and let's see if you can eat the bait without being pulled in, or if I pull you in first."

"I love it! Let's do that. Bacon fishing!" Hedwig flapped to the far side of the room and burrowed behind one of the large cushions and then hooted loudly. "I'm ready!"

Harry then cast the line over to that side, watching the bacon baited hook land amid the things on the far side of the room. He tugged on the line lightly, waiting.

Hedwig crept around and saw the bacon lying on the ground. "Ah ha! Hmm, normally I just munch and gobble but I doubt I can do that with it on the line and with you not feeling it. I have to not jerk the line either. Hmm, maybe a nibble at the end and get the hook out."

She carefully nibbled on one end, letting go when Harry tugged it gently and waiting for it to settle before she chewed a little more. Unfortunately, she stood on one end of the line to gain a little purchase and Harry felt the resistance and immediately began to draw the line in. Hedwig had a beak full of bacon and was loath to let go. She scrabbled a bit, trying to regain traction but the line tugged her off balance and she slid across the stones, attached to the bacon.

"I got you!" Harry crowed in victory as he pulled the line back to him with Hedwig stubbornly chewing on the bacon as she slid back. "That doesn't hurt, does it?" he asked worriedly.

"Not at all!" she barked comfortingly, head bonking him warmly. "And that's fun! I'll win the next time though! Again!" She finished the bacon and waddle ran to the other side, hiding once more and hooting when she was ready.

True to her word, she managed to best him the second time. She nibbled all around the hook and then gently managed to pull it around a table leg. When Harry pulled hard on the line, the hook came free and Harry pulled back an empty line and hook and Hedwig popped her head up and chewed her bacon while flapping her wings. "I got it this time!"

"This is a lot of fun," Harry grinned, already putting a new piece on the hook.

"So much fun!"

-0-

"Mmm, that smells good." Lavender sniffed the air when she walked into the Uncommon Room. "What is it?"

"Beef gyuveche," Harry said, hugging and kissing her back. "It's a Bulgarian stew."

"Oh the one that Krum taught you? I remember now." She winced and looked at him sheepishly. She smiled when he kissed her again.

"Yup," Harry smiled. "It's a great stew, especially when it's cold out so I got the gyuveche pot out and made it again. Actually I got a letter from Viktor."

"Oh that's nice! What did it say?"

"He wanted to congratulate me about the World's Kitchen and to ignore Banters and the bad press. He gets a lot of it and says that there'll always be rude people that want nothing more than to make others as miserable as they are. He's also going to be in France and maybe Britain soon and hoped for me to cook for him again."

"That's so sweet of him," Lavender smiled.

"Yeah, he's cool," Harry grinned.

"What's with the fishing pole by the way?" Lavender asked, noticing the pole on the table. "And what's that on the hook? Is that a piece of bacon?"

"It's a new game that Hedwig and I came up with." Harry picked up the rod and flicked it out, casting the line and the baconed hook went flying to the other side of the room, landing amid some cushions and things. He moved the rod a bit back and forth, reeling the line in and drew it all the way back with the bacon intact.

"She hides somewhere and doesn't fly around, only walking. I fish for her and she tries to steal the bacon. If she can get it off the hook without me reeling her in, she wins. If I pull her all the way back, I win."

"You two come up with the best games," Lavender smiled. "Who's won the most?"

"We're about even," Harry said. "She has one up on me but she gets impatient and hungry."

"Can I try?" Lavender took the pole eagerly and flung the line out, sending it over to the top of the cabinet. She pulled the rod a little but then the line went taught. "Ah ha!" Lavender started to reel in the line. "I got you!" She pulled some more but then the end of it came flying out and bounced on the ground, the metallic hook ringing merrily on the stone.

Hedwig popped her head from the top of the cabinet and hooted smugly, beak full of bacon, and turned to waggle her tail feathers at Lavender. "You got nothing and you like it! Mwahaha! Look at my butt feathers!"

"I'll get you!" Lavender said brightly. "More bacon please." Harry obliged, securing a thick slice to the hook and smiled as Hedwig snuck around and hooted when she was ready, watching Lavender cast the line out once more.

"C'mere little bacon," Hedwig hooted as she searched for the bacon. "Mmm bacon and play. The best."

"Mmm, that smells good." More of their friends arrived as Harry took the gyuveche pot out of the oven and set it on the owl-shaped trivet. "Oh is that the stuff you made in fourth year?" Parvati asked.

"Yup, gyuveche," Harry said. "I'll probably making the shkembe chorba soon. Had a craving for some tripe and something spicy."

"How does one crave tripe?" Blaise asked.

"I don't know," Harry shrugged, "much like any other craving really."

"I guess I'm not all that fond of offal, hence my not understanding," Blaise said.

"And we're not fond of you because you're awful, which isn't hard to understand," Astoria said snidely.

Blaise smiled blandly. "I knew you were going to say that. In fact, I expected it by saying what I did. You are becoming predictable."

"You take that back!" Astoria gasped.

"Shan't!"

Pansy smiled at the ensuing argument and gave Lavender an odd look. "What are you doing?"

"Hedwig fishing," Lavender said, reeling the line back in. "She's hiding over there and you either manage to reel her in before she eats all the bacon or she steals it off the hook first. It's a game."

"It's fun!"

"That sounds incredibly absurd," Pansy said, tilting her head. "May I have a turn?"

"Go for it!" Lavender gave Pansy the rod. "I don't think she's in the tall cabinet again and I haven't had luck in the open racks."

Pansy clumsily threw the line out and flushed when the hook did not go halfway across the room. Lavender showed her how to throw it our further and she smiled when she managed to send the hook into the cushions. "How do you know if she's on the bacon?"

"Try to watch the top of the rod and if it bends and you feel some tugging on the line, she's probably on it or it's caught on something," Lavender said.

"Ah ha, there you are. And while they're busy chatting, I'll get busy chewing." Hedwig nibbled on the bacon but tugged it back at the same time as Pansy tugged it towards her.

"Oh!" Pansy spun the handle on the reel, pulling hard. The line went taut and there was obvious tugging on both ends and then Hedwig appeared from among the cushions, beak clamped onto the bacon bait. She tried to get purchase on the cushions and pillows but could not keep from sliding across the stones. Halfway across, she accepted the circumstances and gnawed on the bacon as Pansy drew her in.

"You got me fair and square," Hedwig said as she gnawed and nibbled, sliding along the stones without care.

"I did it!" Pansy cheered as she removed the rest of the bacon from the hook and Hedwig gobbled it up with a happy bark. ("You got me first try! Only Chick has been able to do that. Good show.") "That's rather fun. Is fishing this fun normally?"

"Not really," Ron said with a laugh. "But if you catch a big enough fish, you can eat it at least."

"Fishing can be fun! Well how I fish anyways. I don't fuss with lines and hooks and things. I only need my talons and my natural talent."

"Some people fish for sport," Hermione said. "Throw the fish back into the water."

"That seems a bit rude," Luna frowned.

"I agree."

"More rude than being eaten?" Susan asked.

"Well, no," Luna conceded, "but imagine you wanting to nibble on something and then you get dragged out, poked at, then thrown back."

"You're not wrong," Susan smiled. They all tucked into small bowls of the spicy beef stew as Hedwig hid among the things on the other side again and Parvati flung the line out, newly baconed.

"I wonder if Sunny would play this," Millicent mused as she watched.

"The beast would probably hook you," Pansy snorted.

Hedwig saw the bacon lying beside one of the table legs. She smiled to herself as she lightly dragged it with her wing tips. "And around this leg, then this one, and finally this one and why not the last. It's a table after all and there! Perfect. And now all I have to do is tug here, make you think I'm fighting you and-ah ha! Even more perfect!"

"I got you!" Parvati said, pulling on the rod and spinning the handle on the reel. "You'll tire out!"

Hedwig smiled with smug victory as the line was pulled tight and the hook and bacon did not move. Parvati was fighting with the very heavy table and had not realized it. "And I can just take the whole piece of bacon off and then enjoy it at my own leisure. And pleasure. Speaking of."

She poked her head out and giggled, seeing everyone focused on Parvati and the line. She snuck down the side of the room and flapped silently up to sit beside Harry, settling down and munching happily.

"You've been pulling hard for a while," Padma remarked after a few moments.

"That means it's only a matter of time," Parvati grunted.

Harry looked down. He realized Hedwig had walked over back to the kitchen side while everyone was watching Parvati and was sitting placidly beside him, munching on the end of a rasher of bacon, looking both bored and pleased with herself. "Uh, Parv?"

"Yeah?" Parvati looked over and gasped as Hedwig giggled, looking especially plump and proud. "When did you get over here?! What happened to the hook?!" Everyone laughed loudly as she stomped over. "You wrapped it around the table legs!" She disentangled the line and returned, smiling wryly as Hedwig did a victory dance that involved a lot of emphatic rump rolling. "I'll get you next time," she said.

"You say that a lot and to my recollection, hasn't happened at all! Suffer the indignity of your failures! Rolling my rump at you to assert superiority!"

-0-

Transfiguration class ended and Hermione and Parvati left for the Prefect offices while Harry and Lavender went to the Uncommon Room. Hedwig cheeped hello and fluttered over when they walked in, depositing letters in front of Harry and plumping in his lap. He petted her and scratched her head as he opened the letters with his wand, unfolding them and reading them. "Hiiiii. Ooh, right there. Thank you, Chick. You're the best at scratching and getting those hard to scratch spots. Little to the left, thaaaaaank yoooou."

"Who are they from?" Lavender asked as Hedwig walked over to her lap and cooed happily while Lavender petted her.

"You're good at petting and scratching too," Hedwig hooted comfortably.

"Chef and Chef Gabriel," Harry said, reading the other letter swiftly. "Chef Gabriel said he had hoped they wouldn't do something so banal for the Rising Stars but it's popular for a reason, those challenges I mean. He said practicing for not having certain equipment and things isn't worthwhile. Instead just focus on what I know and try to think of different ways around things if ingredients are limited."

"That makes sense. What does Chef Diglin say?" she asked.

Harry grinned. "He said those challenges are really stupid and doesn't see the point of them. But he's saying the same. Don't worry about cooking with what I won't have. Just think about what I can do if I don't have access to basic seasoning and think of ways around it like using different spices and flavors. Or different products to help like using pickles that already are pretty salted or strongly flavored to make up for other things."

"Those sound like good tips," Lavender said.

"I guess it'll just come down to what I get that day," Harry said. "No sense in worrying about it until I get there." He got up and put on one of his aprons and tied a bandanna on. "What are you in the mood for?"

"You want to make me something?" she asked, delighted.

"Of course," Harry smiled. "If anything, you're helping me practice."

"Something you haven't made in a while," she said. "Anything that makes you happy."

"Making you happy makes me happy," he said, leaning over the table and giving her a kiss. He snorted when he looked down and saw Hedwig with her eyes closed and her beak open, tongue hanging out, a very amused expression on her feathered features. ("This is a visual representation of you two and hey! I nip you!") He poked her beak and earned the reprisal nip. "Hmm, okay. I got it."

Soon he had rice steaming in a pot on the hob as he minced ginger, garlic, and green onions. He put them into a wok with oil, the air taking on the perfume of the fragrant herbs. Pork mince went into the wok and browned as he added seasonings to it, mixing it around. Cubes of soft tofu went in next and some chicken broth covered it barely and bubbles and simmered. A slurry of cornstarch and water went in at the end and he garnished it with green parts of the chopped green onions and served it piping hot over white rice.

"I love mapo tofu!" Lavender said excitedly. Before she dug into her plate, she portioned it out onto two more plates and set one in front of Hedwig and pushed the other to Harry. "Mmm," she hummed as she ate. "So good! And just the right amount of spice for me. I can't handle it like Parvati but it's growing on me."

"I tried to not add any salt or pepper or any extra of the basic seasonings," Harry said as he ate too. "Just letting the flavors from the soy sauce, the bean paste, and chili oil come through." He added a little more salt and pepper and tasted it again. "It does lack just a little without."

"Still tastes really good though," Lavender said and Hedwig cheeped agreement as she ate happily.

"It's good! I thought tofu was strange at first but I love it now. Soaks up so much lovely flavor. Mmm. I see what you mean though. It's not aggressively seasoned, but there's still plenty there to taste and enjoy. Yum yum yum."

"Your smile got a whole lot bigger all of a sudden," Harry smiled.

"I was just imagining the future," Lavender said brightly, her tone turning wistful and wondering. "I think it will be so wonderful like this. You cooking and happy, me happy being with you and eating." She fed Hedwig another spoonful as Hedwig looked up at her expectantly, beak open. "Hedwig there too of course."

"I damn well better be!"

"That does sound amazing," Harry said soulfully.

The door opened and Clover and Marigold appeared. "That smells so good!" Marigold said as they bounded in.

"Hey, this is mine!" Lavender squawked as Clover reached for her spoon. She sighed and rolled her eyes and looked at Harry wearily. "And of course these two just barging in and ruining the mood."

"We don't ruin moods!" they gasped, affronted.

"You kind of do, in an amusing way," Hedwig snorted.

"Who was being peepers and watching when they shouldn't have?!"

"Who was being gross in our own home?!"

"It's my home too!"

Harry's laugh was deep and warm. "I wouldn't have it any other way," he smiled. "Don't poach your sister's plate," he said to the twins who were in the process of doing just that. "There's plenty still." He dished up two more plates, as well as adding second helpings for Lavender and Hedwig, and he continued to eat and smile as the Brown sisters chatted and argued, completely enjoying the moment.

-0-0-0-

Hands Off MY Wolfie - I like to think about how things slot in and fit into the settings sometimes, makes it feel more lived in as a setting in my mind. I used to do inventory at my mother's sandwich shop growing up. It's a lot off work and it's so annoying when you run out of something. Then have troubles trying to get the replacements. Thanks for reading.

poka - I like them a lot. I just write without a real ending in mind, just see how the characters go about their day. It meanders and feels cozier for it.

odonnellzoo99 - It was fun to finally give Lavender and Parvati's dream store the attention it deserved and let their dreams shine. Lavender knows Parvati loves the attention and the loving harassment from Hedwig.

alix33 - That does sound laborious. I also wish I could clean and organize without actually doing it.

HoneyBear84 - Thank you.

DOOOOOOM Lord of Waffles - I thought it would be fun to be the same day as the Day at Hedwig's Hearth. To show how Lavender and Harry go about on the same day more or less, in tandem instead of in succession. It had a nice symmetry to it.

TheSphynx - Thank you, glad you still are enjoying it.