James looked up as he saw Zoe come into the kitchen and looked around nervously. So...he'd managed to make...some spaghetti and some salad, albeit with a lot of help. Looking at her he smiled sheepishly and stuck his hands in his pockets.

"Hey. So...we're having spaghetti. I'd like to say I made it myself but that isn't entirely true." He smiled and shifted on his feet a little nervously. He looked over her wardrobe and he laughed when he saw her in socks. "Now that's a new one."

This wasn't an easy task, you know? But she figured she'd better do the magical part of this homework because she will surely get tired of space timelines soon enough. Though that was probably never going to happen. The spells wouldn't be tricky, what was tricky was choosing what sort of food she could actually make that wouldn't be a disaster in a puree form. She didn't think pizza would work that way, and that's pretty much all she could do. Besides pasta, which she also thought was a no.

Leaning towards a safe bet, she decided on potatoes. They also have it in puree form, so... this was alright. Except she was gonna bake one and add the toppings and THEN use the spell. She could get creative about this and found a way to make a pizza this way, but who really has the time for it, yeah? Exactly. Plus, she really wanted to make something different and something that was edible. Soooo... as soon as she arrived to the kitchen she searched for what she needed, washed two small potatoes, just in case one didn't work, forked them a couple times, added a bit of oil and salt and put them in the oven.

While she waited for the food to cook, bake, whatever, she considered the toppings... and also wrote down all of this. The ice cream ingredients she wasn't exactly sure of...

...by the list in the parchment she had, red velvet was already discarded.

Food, that's what Devlin needed. So, it took him little time to get from the common and into the kitchen. When he walked in he realized he wasn't the only one alone. Of course. This place was bound to be busy but he was secretly hoping that he could eat something on his own, unbothered.

Anyway, he started looking around the cupboards not sure what to eat. Honestly, either he was being extra picky today, or his eyesight was getting worse. "Always out when I get here. Never have anything that I like. What a waste." He muttered to himself, slightly annoyed as he continued searching.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Team ronmione

Food, that's what Devlin needed. So, it took him little time to get from the common and into the kitchen. When he walked in he realized he wasn't the only one alone. Of course. This place was bound to be busy but he was secretly hoping that he could eat something on his own, unbothered.

Anyway, he started looking around the cupboards not sure what to eat. Honestly, either he was being extra picky today, or his eyesight was getting worse. "Always out when I get here. Never have anything that I like. What a waste." He muttered to himself, slightly annoyed as he continued searching.

Torn between using cheddar or cream cheese. Cream cheese, she decided. One tomato, just because. Was that a fruit or a vegetable again? Whatever. She decided to take bacon too (already made, because elves are wonderful and she wouldn't cook that), and was reminded of Aidan. That bacon freak. What else, what else? Pepper! That too. Ground black pepper. It was there on the cabinet, might as well use some of it.

Checking the time, she realized she had more minutes to spare. So, she brought the raspberries and chocolate for the ice cream mix. Leaving kiwi out of the ingredients list as well. Signature flavor. Raspberries needed to be here, sorry kiwi. The chocolate was added in honor of L-Squared. Lex would approve. And maybe she could taste it. Maybe.

Then someone was complaining?

Oh? "Do you like bacon? Or potatoes? I'm baking potatoes if that interests you...," she considered something..., "I'm also making ice cream, sort of." Sort of. Because it wasn't regular ice cream, nor the spiked kind. It was more of a sorbet. Yet it wasn't a sorbet either. We'll just call it ice cream and be done with it.

A smile was given to the boy. Slytherin. Grayson's year, no?

Search search. More complaining and mumbling to himself. Whenever he got his own place in the future he would make sure that his kitchen was stocked with everything he wanted. Unlike this one here.

It seemed though, that, even if he hadn't wanted it, he'd caught the attention of the girl. Sigh. Take a step back, now. Interests. Maybe, just maybe, it wasn't so bad she was here. Bacon and potatoes. And ice cream. Now Devlin was mildly intrigued. Was she going to give him food for free? Just like that?

"Potatoes are interesting." He said. "How can you have 'sort of' ice cream? Its either ice cream or its not." It wasn't very hard to tell the difference of a not ice cream or ice cream, just saying. But, she had food. Food that was decent and he was willing to have. "Share." It wasn't a suggestion by the way, but more of a demand. Though, that did sound rather rude. He didn't know the girl, so he couldn't expect her to be so compliant right away.

"I'll pay you in return some other time, if you're kind enough to spread the love of food with me." Better.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Team ronmione

Search search. More complaining and mumbling to himself. Whenever he got his own place in the future he would make sure that his kitchen was stocked with everything he wanted. Unlike this one here.

It seemed though, that, even if he hadn't wanted it, he'd caught the attention of the girl. Sigh. Take a step back, now. Interests. Maybe, just maybe, it wasn't so bad she was here. Bacon and potatoes. And ice cream. Now Devlin was mildly intrigued. Was she going to give him food for free? Just like that?

"Potatoes are interesting." He said. "How can you have 'sort of' ice cream? Its either ice cream or its not." It wasn't very hard to tell the difference of a not ice cream or ice cream, just saying. But, she had food. Food that was decent and he was willing to have. "Share." It wasn't a suggestion by the way, but more of a demand. Though, that did sound rather rude. He didn't know the girl, so he couldn't expect her to be so compliant right away.

"I'll pay you in return some other time, if you're kind enough to spread the love of food with me." Better.

Interesting? Not exactly her choice of words, but she supposed potatoes could be interesting to some people, like this boy right here. She didn't find them interesting, obviously. "It won't be the usual ice cream consistency, but it's meant to be one." Did he take astronomy, by the way? She didn't know if he was actually in Grayson's year, and she didn't know if astronomy was mandatory or not, but it seemed like he didn't take the class, otherwise he'd have associated this with the homework.

She did smirk a little bit at his demand, and went to check on the potatoes with the fork. Still not done. "Not so fast." Chocolate was being heated to liquid form as she explained, "I will willingly give you a baked potato if you try that same food in its puree form." Good thing she was making two. Raspberries and water were blended together next.

Lotus was clearly taking advantage of the factor time here, while the potatoes baked. "Also, you don't get to choose what's in it. Hence why I asked if you liked bacon." She could leave that off the recipe, but nothing else. "And I'll keep that in mind. But it's hardly necessary, since this is a transaction already." The paying in return thing. He tries the food (though she will as well) and she gets points. Seems fair. Also, she doubted she'd need his help any time soon.

'Meant to be one' Devlin slowly nodded his head at that. Ok, so was the girl playing some sort of trick on him? Or did she clearly not know what she was doing but was playing it off as she did? Whatever. He was going to get that food. Even if it made him sick. The girl had to know how to cook. "I hope you know what you're doing and making. I don't want to pay the price for something you're putting me through." He would be taking this 'sort of meant to be one' ice cream nonetheless.

"What, the bacon? Potatoes?" Devlin was smart, alright? He was just testing the girl to see that she knew what she was doing. Had to look out for himself without seeming too obvious. "Just give me the food eventually."

"Bit bossy, aren't you? " He flat out said. Can't choose what he wants. Has to have that bacon. Needs to have that puree. Head shaking was happening. "Well, the bossy in you definitely knows how to handle business." Devlin was just saying the truth here. Or, at least how he saw it. "Devlin. What's your name?" Or she could keep being 'the girl' if she wanted to.

She gave him a smile, "Mmm spaghetti sounds great!" She grinned though at him saying he hadn't done it himself basically. "Still sounds good to me." Yep, he looked as nervous as she felt. What was up with the butterflies in her stomach? Was it because he'd said 'date'? That shouldn't matter...should it?

She wiggled her toes and shrugged "Eh, it's not as cold as it has been this winter, and I didn't feel like pulling on my trainers."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Team ronmione

'Meant to be one' Devlin slowly nodded his head at that. Ok, so was the girl playing some sort of trick on him? Or did she clearly not know what she was doing but was playing it off as she did? Whatever. He was going to get that food. Even if it made him sick. The girl had to know how to cook. "I hope you know what you're doing and making. I don't want to pay the price for something you're putting me through." He would be taking this 'sort of meant to be one' ice cream nonetheless.

"What, the bacon? Potatoes?" Devlin was smart, alright? He was just testing the girl to see that she knew what she was doing. Had to look out for himself without seeming too obvious. "Just give me the food eventually."

"Bit bossy, aren't you? " He flat out said. Can't choose what he wants. Has to have that bacon. Needs to have that puree. Head shaking was happening. "Well, the bossy in you definitely knows how to handle business." Devlin was just saying the truth here. Or, at least how he saw it. "Devlin. What's your name?" Or she could keep being 'the girl' if she wanted to.

No tricks whatsoever. Treats of all kinds, yes. Actually, Lottie has never baked a potato before, but the recipe was very specific and she could follow instructions perfectly well... when she wanted to. However, the Hogwartian wasn't going to tell him that. She technically knew what she was doing. So, this wasn't a lie. "It's difficult to trust someone you don't know, but yes, I know what I'm doing." She'll explain the ice cream thing soon. Promise. Well, she was about to make the ice cream, so she was going to be explaining.

The chocolate melted nicely, and she didn't think about checking the potatoes because she decided to work on this first.

Slowly and carefully, she poured the chocolate into a container, "Both." The bacon and the potato. "Have you ever had a jacket potato before?" Or a baked potato? Same thing, really. If he had, then he knew one of the toppings could be bacon. Bits of it. ANYWAY, the blended raspberries were added to the container too, and she started to mix both the chocolate and the raspberries until a certain consistency was reached. THIS she knew how to do well. It was a signature flavor she's dealt with since... her second or third year. "I will." Give him the food.

Smirk. "A bit." Wink. OKAY. Time for magic. Lotus took three small containers for this. Sorry, Lex, you'll have to share Lottie's. And repeated the spells for three portions of the mix. Don't worry, there's enough. Her wand moving slowly each time, and the flick up worked wonders as she said the spell, "Ratus ausicceso!" Done. Two containers were now sealed. And then the other one too, but was given to the boy, "That's your ice cream. I hope you're not allergic to raspberries or chocolate. It's like astronaut ice cream, that's why I had said 'sort of' before." If he asked, she'll explain. Otherwise, she had business to attend to.

Also, "Devlin, I'm Lotus." She nodded. Lotus, not Lottie. Not yet anyway. "Lotus Wisteria." Though she was the only Lotus at Hogwarts for the time being.

Checking on the food, then...

Devlin nodded at her words. She was right, about the whole 'not being easy to trust someone you don't even know' thing. Eye squinting. Well, at least she didn't sound like an idiot. So, although he did not know her, or trusted her, he figured she was capable of making this food. Figured. There was a difference to his thoughts and her expression. "I'll be the boss of that." He was the one that would be tasting her food.

He watched the girl as she started to pour and mix stuff here and there. "Don't believe I have. If that is the case, and your cooking turns out to be a disaster, any future potato eatings of mine may remind me of your awful cooking. So, do well." Devlin was just giving her a suggestion here. A warning suggestion of sorts. He took the ice cream, got himself a spoon and opened up the container. "I didn't know there was a level of intelligence when it comes to ice cream. Astronut ice cream, more like." It didn't measure his level of smarts, normal ice cream and 'astronaut' ice cream. Anyway, he started to slowly eat it in small spoonfuls. Careful.

"Hmm. Nice. Lotus. Not too bad." Her ice cream making skills, that is. Not her name. Now, the other dish?

Ian went and collected the fish and chips from Argyle. Thanking the helpful little house elf, Ian tried some of the fish and chips. very yummy. Ian had thought about putting them in the same tube, but it seemed the best option to use two separate tubes. Placing a few pieces of fish in one bowl and a handful of chips in a second bowl, Ian used francesco to puree the items. Grabbing a funnel, he filled the first tube with pureed fish. He wasn't sure the fried flavor would translate well, but he tried it. It was good, he thought. After the tube was filled, he used 'ratus aussicesso' with a quick flick of the wrist to freeze dry the mixture in the tube. Sealing the tube with a cap, he had enough to do a second tube for himself. He followed the same procedure for filling two tubes of chips.

Having finished with that, Ian took the bowls and funnel to the sink and washed them out. Placing the bowls back in their spots, he retrieved the ice cream. It was sufficiently frozen and he took a small spoon and tried it. It had a slightly cod-like taste mixed with the sweet and vanilla. It wasn't an abhorrent flavor. As a matter of fact, he thought he'd chosen well. He was able to make two tubes of freeze dried ice cream as well. He now had 6 tubes. 1 each for the professor and one for him. He was pleased with his overall effort. He didn't know if the European Space Agency would come seeking his fish and chips with Cod Ice Cream, but he thought the professor would be pleased. Having finished his work, he headed for the Astronomy tower to turn it in.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Team ronmione

Devlin nodded at her words. She was right, about the whole 'not being easy to trust someone you don't even know' thing. Eye squinting. Well, at least she didn't sound like an idiot. So, although he did not know her, or trusted her, he figured she was capable of making this food. Figured. There was a difference to his thoughts and her expression. "I'll be the boss of that." He was the one that would be tasting her food.

He watched the girl as she started to pour and mix stuff here and there. "Don't believe I have. If that is the case, and your cooking turns out to be a disaster, any future potato eatings of mine may remind me of your awful cooking. So, do well." Devlin was just giving her a suggestion here. A warning suggestion of sorts. He took the ice cream, got himself a spoon and opened up the container. "I didn't know there was a level of intelligence when it comes to ice cream. Astronut ice cream, more like." It didn't measure his level of smarts, normal ice cream and 'astronaut' ice cream. Anyway, he started to slowly eat it in small spoonfuls. Careful.

"Hmm. Nice. Lotus. Not too bad." Her ice cream making skills, that is. Not her name. Now, the other dish?

Riiiiight, of course. Fair enough. He was going to be trying her food, and, lol, Merlin, she was truly hoping what she decided to make didn't turn out bad at all. Then again, instructions were fairly simple, and this was an easy recipe, sooooo....

...she cared not for the boy's future eating experiences, but she did care for the Astronomy assignment. She did wonder, though, what Airey was going to do with the food. He wouldn't try it, right? Lottie wouldn't. She trusted herself, she didn't trust others. Granted, not everyone was going to be doing this assignment, there would be plenty of timelines instead. But still. "You know, I make the best pizza, so if this doesn't turn out to your liking, I'm sure I could make it up to you." BUT that wouldn't happen, there will be no need for pizza. "Do you take Astronomy?" Because she's heard 'astronut' before, mostly related to the Professor in charge of the subject, so, perhaps he did.

"I know." This isn't her first time dealing with the mix. This was an ice cream she could eat, because it was made by her.

Now, the potatoes were finally done, so she took them out and, as careful as possible, opened them a bit at the top, letting some of the steam get out. THAT was a good sign, Devlin. She almost sighed in relief, but decided against it, since she's done this already, right? No. OKAY. Cream cheese was added at the top of both, and the tomato was chopped and added as well. Bacon was cut into tiny pieces, no complaints here, if you want more ask the elves. And... that's it, bacon was a topping too. It all smelled really good, though, she hoped it tasted good as well. For Airey's sake, not Devlin's. "Let's let it rest for a couple minutes." So, keep your hands to yourself, Devlin.

Everything she'd used was quickly, and magically, cleaned. The two ice cream containers she'd saved were now safely in her bag, too. She'll be taking those to Airey soon. "You're new here, aren't you?" She asked, slightly curious.

Two small tubes were brought to the table and she eyed one of the potatoes. She'll change the bigger one, of course. One of the tubes was made smaller, because she wasn't giving the entire thing to the Slytherin boy nearby. "Francesco!" wand pointed at the food and... well, now it was in puree form. Might as well have done a mashed potato thing, no need for the baking, right? Now off to placing it in the tubes. The smaller one was given to Devlin, "Try that and you get to eat the other normal baked potato." Otherwise he wouldn't get the real food. The other tube was put away, it was meant for Airey.

AHA! There it was. Devlin could even almost get himself some free pizza in the process as well. Now, unless this Lotus tried her own food, as every chef or cook should do, then maybe he could get away with saying her cooking was bad, and then she would make that pizza for him. He kept this in mind, though. But he simply nodded his head at the pizza comment. "Nope. Don't take astronomy." Devlin simply answered her. Now he figured the girl would have to cut that topic off the list if she wanted some small chat.

He watched as she did the whole cutting up of the food and adding a ingredient here or there. Silently. Not to disturb her. "It'll be cold by the time I eat it." Baked potato could not be eaten cold! It just didn't seem to work that way. "Yes. I just arrived to Hogwarts this year. Unfortunately, there seems to be more whackos than actual learning, here." That's all he had to say about this place. One big mess it was. And Lotus here didn't need to learn more about Devlin's personal life in terms of why he only just got to Hogwarts now.

The slytherin took the tube Lotus had given him, and eyed it for some time. If he didn't have this now, he'd get no baked potato. He didn't just want to eat mush potato. An so he opened it up and slowly tried the puree. No comments were said about whether it was good or not. Lotus could guess herself if she wanted.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Team ronmione

AHA! There it was. Devlin could even almost get himself some free pizza in the process as well. Now, unless this Lotus tried her own food, as every chef or cook should do, then maybe he could get away with saying her cooking was bad, and then she would make that pizza for him. He kept this in mind, though. But he simply nodded his head at the pizza comment. "Nope. Don't take astronomy." Devlin simply answered her. Now he figured the girl would have to cut that topic off the list if she wanted some small chat.

He watched as she did the whole cutting up of the food and adding a ingredient here or there. Silently. Not to disturb her. "It'll be cold by the time I eat it." Baked potato could not be eaten cold! It just didn't seem to work that way. "Yes. I just arrived to Hogwarts this year. Unfortunately, there seems to be more whackos than actual learning, here." That's all he had to say about this place. One big mess it was. And Lotus here didn't need to learn more about Devlin's personal life in terms of why he only just got to Hogwarts now.

The slytherin took the tube Lotus had given him, and eyed it for some time. If he didn't have this now, he'd get no baked potato. He didn't just want to eat mush potato. An so he opened it up and slowly tried the puree. No comments were said about whether it was good or not. Lotus could guess herself if she wanted.

Well, the ice cream she didn't need to try, she knew it was great. The potato she would've eaten the regular one, though, but that was reserved for Devlin, so that was a problem. Unless he didn't mind sharing...? Only a bit? Granted, she did want to try it, given that this was her first time cooking this particular recipe. We'll see. "How come? I mean, obviously you don't like it...," because he would be taking it if he did, "...but is there a particular reason?" As a future astrophysicist, she was entitled to ask this.

"It won't be." If he wanted to burn his mouth, then FINE. She looked his way as he spoke, and Hogwarts didn't seem to be a place he enjoyed. Then again, who could blame him? She didn't want to be here anymore. "Then you're learning how to deal with whackos," which was actual learning too. Lotus smiled at him, "I can't blame you, weird things happen here. Or... weird for outsiders, that is." They were all used to strange events that haunted the castle and the grounds. "Where did you go to before Hogwarts?" Usual question.

EXCELLENT! "Glad to know it's edible." Meant the spell actually worked. "Here, you earned it." She said, handing him a plate with the baked potato. "Though, I was wondering... do you mind if I get a small, very small, piece of it?" Yes, it was meant for him, and he could still say no. No big deal.

Why did he need to have a reason for not liking astronomy? Couldn't he just not like it and leave it at that? But apparently he needed an answer, or so it seemed. And it would be a lame one, but hopefully it was enough to have the topic dropped and the matter changed. It would be hard pursing a conversation when one half of it would not be interested. "Its just too sciencey." Shrug. Was that good enough?

"Yeah." He said agreeing with her on the whole whackos things, but it'd been better if he didn't need to agree. "Though, the world, and Hogwarts, would be a better place if there was no need to actually learn how to deal with them in the first place. It just wastes time and effort." And effort was a lot that could be used on purposeful things. Whackos, clearly, were not purposeful. Was that why Hogwarts functioned the way it currently did? "So, this would be normal for you all?" It was all rather annoying. "I didn't go anywhere." Not to a school at least. Just home. He hoped that answered her question, without revealing too much about his own self.

"Clearly. Be a nasty bugger to try and eat something that was hard like a rock." Devlin wouldn't even try to power through eating it once he took that first bite. There. Real food, what he wanted. "Thanks, Lotus." Eyebrow raise. He glanced at his plate and then to the girl and then the plate again. She should take first bite. It'd tell him if it was worth his time to eat the potato or not. "A chef should always taste their food before serving it." So he pushed the plate closer to her. Go on.

Astronomy was evil.

If she wasn't being put through a lesson of getting assaulted with food while a crazy teacher acts like ... like a book character, it was having to cook. Granted, she could have done the other option pretty easily but that seemed quite boring. She had the option to challenge herself and make something edible or to sit and work on a time line for an hour or so. The better option seemed pretty obvious. Sort of.

So really, she only had herself to blame.

Or the professor for offering such terrible options.

Whatever. It hardly mattered now. She'd decided her fate. The redhead moved her belongings to the side of the room and began searching the kitchen for ingredients. Ingredients for what she didn't know, but surely she would find something eventually.

Gabe was off to the kitchens...and not to eat something pumpkin or get snacks. He...was actually going to cook. It was going to be a disaster.

......but homework was homework....and Gabriel was resigned to try. Out of everything that had happened to him while at school, what further embarrassments could he suffer? Nothing topped vomiting in front of your peers. Anyway...the recipes he'd chosen were pumpkin based.

Astronauts needed pumpkin in their lives...and he would personally eat whatever was leftover.

Entering the kitchens, Gabriel froze at seeing Clara Wilde.....face blanking at her presence. He had two options: bolting...or ignoring........and he had to get this homework finished.

Sigh.

Ignoring, it'd be.

Just when Clara thought the homework couldn't get any worse, it did.

She didn't notice initially, because she was too busy in her search for ingredients, but she was no longer alone in the kitchen. Five minutes down and all she'd managed to find was a lousy bag of sugar. Caster sugar, it would seem. There wasn't a much she could do with just sugar. A few minutes more and she found plain flour, too. That was used in a lot of cooking things, right? Unfortunately, that was less than unhelpful when she didn't even know what to do with the ingredients. Planning ahead would definitely have been useful.

With a sigh, she placed the two bags on a worktop and slid, defeated, into a seat. It was at that point that she noticed Gabriel Banner in the room. Gabe. Clara didn't know how to react ... and apparently, not knowing meant blinking a whole lot. It had been a while since ... since they'd stopped speaking and over that she'd grown increasingly frustrated with Gabe ... but now that he was there, she felt nothing of the sort.

She couldn't describe her feelings ... so, she chose to not think about them for the moment.

Instead, she rested her arm on the surface and hid her face in them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Team ronmione

Why did he need to have a reason for not liking astronomy? Couldn't he just not like it and leave it at that? But apparently he needed an answer, or so it seemed. And it would be a lame one, but hopefully it was enough to have the topic dropped and the matter changed. It would be hard pursing a conversation when one half of it would not be interested. "Its just too sciencey." Shrug. Was that good enough?

"Yeah." He said agreeing with her on the whole whackos things, but it'd been better if he didn't need to agree. "Though, the world, and Hogwarts, would be a better place if there was no need to actually learn how to deal with them in the first place. It just wastes time and effort." And effort was a lot that could be used on purposeful things. Whackos, clearly, were not purposeful. Was that why Hogwarts functioned the way it currently did? "So, this would be normal for you all?" It was all rather annoying. "I didn't go anywhere." Not to a school at least. Just home. He hoped that answered her question, without revealing too much about his own self.

"Clearly. Be a nasty bugger to try and eat something that was hard like a rock." Devlin wouldn't even try to power through eating it once he took that first bite. There. Real food, what he wanted. "Thanks, Lotus." Eyebrow raise. He glanced at his plate and then to the girl and then the plate again. She should take first bite. It'd tell him if it was worth his time to eat the potato or not. "A chef should always taste their food before serving it." So he pushed the plate closer to her. Go on.

"Makes sense." That's all she was going to say about it. No need to waste her time explaining how amazing astronomy truly is to someone who obviously doesn't like it. Particularly when it's because of the science side of it. Which, let's be honest, it's ever present in Airey's lessons. Those who love science will clearly adore astronomy lessons. Fact.

Another smile was given to the boy. Thanks for agreeing with us, by the way. "I feel the same way about idiots." She didn't mind the crazy people, but idiots were still a big NO. And as much as she tried to avoid them, they kept showing up in her path. That was the most annoying part of it. Nodding, "Yeah. This is very usual." Hogwarts, weird events. "I'm just glad I have a few months left in this place until I'm out for good." Way to sell the school, Lotus Acacia. His words, though, they made her narrow her eyes at him in curiosity. "Home-schooled? There's a few like you this year." Hugh. Then there was Gabriel, and his sister, no? She wasn't sure, and didn't particularly care. Hugh was the one she found amusing, therefore the one she liked.

"I bet it wasn't bad." Really. It probably wasn't. "Welcome, and thank you as well." She took a fork and took a very small piece of it, with topping, of course, before eating it herself. Well... she was surprised. And not at all at the same time. "This is actually good." She was already regretting her decision to give Devlin this potato. But she'll keep her word, "Go on." Yes, we promise it tastes great. Which meant the puree form did, too.

...........Ignoring. YES, ignoring.

Collecting ingredients wasn't the issue in Gabriel's case. He'd thought ahead...opting to be prepared instead of out of luck. He'd carried a sack in with him, spelled with an undetectable expansion charm; mostly spices and fresh pumpkin from a special stock he kept.

For emergencies.

Anyway, the homework included two parts: a purée form and then a freeze dried ice cream. Both of Gabe's would incorporate said fresh pumpkin...and hopefully he wouldn't catch the kitchen on fire....because, LOGICALLY, cooking was just like potions...and potions were mostly attributed by patience and careful procedure.

WHILST BY HIMSELF....ahem, AHEM....Gabe could properly focus....and since he was going to start with the purée, that meant mixing the pumpkin filling first. After organizing his ingredients and noting everything there was to note....the mixing began.

.............and the ignoring continued.

There was not much Clara could do right now. If she'd prepared herself, as it seemed Gabe had, she wouldn't be having this problem. Now she was stuck with the issue of having very few ingredients, no plan, no cooking skills and no preferable way of getting help. A large part of her refused to ask for Gabe's help while the smaller part was telling her that she would be stupid not to.

So, of course, she was going to listen to the large part.

....................... SIGH.

Gabe, hear that? That meant that she WANTED to converse but was NOT going to speak first. So, please speak. He was in the wrong, after all. Sort of. Maybe. Maybe not. The details didn't matter. What mattered was the now and how much she was suffering in the now. Clara glanced up to look at him, her expression unreadable ... though her eyes probably screamed 'help me'.

Now.....for the oven. Gabe would admit to others...if they were in the kitchen with him (WHICH THEY WEREN'T)...that he was apprehensive about messing with this source of heating. Was there a way to incorporate an Incendio! spell...for cooking reasons? Like a Bunsen burner effect...and brick oven pizza....

.........This was JUST an over. It wasn't....that big of a deal. He was a smart person. He would....figure this out.

Wiping some gathered sweat from his forehead, Gabe looked at his notes/recipe...trying to correlate temperatures with buttons and knobs. After several moments of messing and adjusting the contraption...he thought he'd had it sorted...and put the prepared dish into it's fiery depths. Small successes....It counted for...something, right?

.........and there was the sigh. SIGH. Yes, that was right. He wasn't alone.

See, Gabriel didn't want to fight...and further more, he didn't want to be reminded of what Clara had done...or...tried? to do...but clearly, ignoring the redhead wasn't going to work...and...Well, he felt bad for her. What was she here for? Was she also attempting the Astronomy homework?

......................."What?"

Was that ............... a word?

Sure, it wasn’t the nicest word or the nicest tone but it was something. Anything was progress, currently. Now she had to reply, but … she wasn’t really sure what she wanted to say. “Hi.” That was a good start but she needed more than that. Part of her wanted to apologise for, uh, things … but that wasn’t smart. She’d rather just forget about that and she was sure he would too. Moving on. “Are you doing Astronomy homework?” It seemed to her like he was but you could never be too sure. If he was … perhaps she could ask for help. Or something.

Anything was better than her pitiful bags of flour and caster sugar.

.................

"Obviously." Hmph. Would Gabriel have been in the kitchen, attempting to make food, if it weren't for homework reasons? No.....was the correct answer. No, he would not have.

Of course, Clara probably knew that...and well, her question could have been logical in the event that she knew nothing about him...but that wasn't necessarily true in this case. Clara liked to push him. She was probably pushing him right now. Well...UNFORTUNATELY FOR HER, he was already dealing with this baking business. No patience could be spared at the moment.

......and what was he supposed to be doing to the oven now....? Glancing his notebook, there was meant to be a decrease in heat?....and Gabe was back to fumbling with the stupid knobs, trying to find a medium?...Uh...

40 minutes. He went to check his wrist for a watch.....but found his wrist bare. Riiiiight, he didn't...heh, have a watch. That was awkward.........How...was he meant to check time, again? Did the kitchen have one of those...food timers with the alarm?.........

SIGH!

"....................What time is it?" Gabe's tone was low and more awkward to his own ears than hers, probably. He was FAILING to ignore her...and that annoyed him for some reason.

One thing Clara certainly hadn’t missed about Gabe was his sarcasm. Okay, maybe that wasn’t completely true. She’d missed it just a little. No … not even a little. She frowned slightly, turning away from him and getting to her feet. “It’s not really that obvious,” she muttered before going in search of more ingredients. No point in doing something complicated. Perhaps she could find some eggs or something and make … an omelette.

That sounded like a plan to her.

A very thought out plan.

Clara went from cupboard to cupboard, shelf to shelf, searching for eggs and was about to give up when she spotted some on a shelf above her. Perfect.

She was about to pull them down when she heard Gabe speak again. Not just one word this time; he spoke a whole sentence. Definite progress. Not that she cared about that at all. But he wanted the time. “Oh, uh.” … She glanced down at her watch, surprised that she’d even remembered to put it on that morning. “11 minutes past 1.” The redhead then turned back to her previous task and carefully lifted the carton of eggs down from the shelf before turning to take a look at what Gabe was doing.