The Joy of Baking

The club classroom was warm and rich in scents and laughter. The wind howled outside, snow and chill doing their best to break through the castle stones and bother the people within. The stove working overtime kept it at bay, as did the chatting and feelings of happiness of the people inside.

"I've always wanted to bake biscuits for the holidays," Parvati said. "It always seemed fun."

"What do you do normally?" Harry asked.

"Mostly cakes and other traditional desserts and dishes," Padma said. "We visit with family, like visit ones we normally only see for trips and special occasions."

"But now I can prove I can bake," Parvati said smugly. "And fully intend on making them eat their words and my biscuits."

"You better not take any of Harry's to pass off as your own," Padma warned. "I can taste the difference."

Ever since they learned that magic had a possible impact on food, they made things together, sometimes with magic and sometimes without. They, including Flitwick, were delighted to discover that they could taste subtle yet distinct differences when magic was involved. They all regularly agreed that Harry was still the best of them and could easily tell when he made something, with and without magic.

Harry regularly cooked without magic however. He still learned the spells that Flitwick came up with and found, and liked practicing them. He was getting much better with the Scouring Charm for example. Yet since learning that magic could change things, he wanted to ensure that his skill in cooking did come from his practical efforts. He secretly found it more satisfying but enjoyed using a spell here and there.

"I'll make sure you don't do that either," Parvati said and she and her twin glared daggers at one another. "What do you do, Lavender?" she asked.

"My grandmum is a great cook so we usually go to her," Lavender said. "She almost always has things ready before we get there so she can spend more time with us so we don't cook with her much. I'm hoping to do something with her this year though! I never found cooking all that interesting until now and I want to cook with her."

She fluttered her eyelashes at Harry. "It's all your fault if you were wondering."

He grinned. "Sorry," he said, not meaning it.

She giggled. "What about you?"

Harry released a deep breath. "My aunt and uncle normally hosts dinner parties for the holidays, with an especially big one for Christmas. I made the food for them."

"All of them?" Padma asked, frowning.

Harry nodded. "They liked having guests and being sociable."

"They didn't help you?" Parvati asked, frowning identically.

"No, it was my responsibility and duty," Harry said, mixing another batch of biscuit dough. "I'm pretty good at it. People loved going to the parties and looked forward to them all year."

"You are a really great cook," Lavender said, looking at Harry closely. "Is it not happening this year?"

He shook his head. "I sent them a message the other day, asking what the themes of the party were and asking for details so I could prepare. Turns out someone else is hosting the parties this year because I left them for school and they're going on a trip for the other part of the holidays. So I'm not needed to come home."

"Not… needed?" Lavender looked troubled and the twins shared the look. "That's… that's not very nice."

Harry shrugged, not meeting their gazes. "It's okay. It'll be the first holiday that I can remember where I'm not responsible for cooking everything. I'll have a lot of time off for the first time. I get to see what it's like," he joked feebly.

"You'll be here by yourself?" Parvati asked quietly

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