Chapter 3
“Bugger,” Ginny cursed, staring forlornly at the cookie crumbles on the living room floor.
“What is this my ears are hearing?” a voice chuckled from the kitchen. Lily Potter smoothly glided into the room where Ginny stood, mourning the loss of her baked goods.
James Potter followed, just steps behind his wife, “I don’t think that’s language Molly Weasley would condone.”
But Ginny was genuinely upset at her blunder. It wasn't her fault really, she had held tight to the package, but the whiplash of the floo jittering caused her to drop them as she exited the floo gate to Potter Manor.
“I was supposed to give you those,” her lower lip wobbled, glaring at the fireplace, “They took forever to make!”
“That’s quite alright Ginny,” Lily comforted her gently, moving to engulf her in a hug whilst James banished the scattered remains of what was an afternoon’s worth of work for Ginny.
James and Lily had invited Ginny to stay over with them, as they were set to pick up Harry and Ron at the platform tomorrow for Easter break. She and Ron would stay with them until school started up again.
Ginny growled, “I had to do that entire recipe from scratch for you, uncle James, and Harry, just for me to drop it!”
“How about Ron?” James teased, prodding her backpack and setting it aside on their sofa.
Ginny waved a hand dismissively, “It wouldn't have mattered anyway, anything that you could eat was delicious to him,” she was suddenly interested in her shoes, “but I really tried to make them yummy,” she added meekly.
James didn’t know if it was possible for his heart to melt even more at the sight of the young girl he thought of his own. Her red hair was in a braid behind her head, and a small frown adorning her freckled face.
“Well, we’ll just have to bake new ones now won’t we?” Lily interjected, a soft smile across her lips. Clearly, she had been feeling the same as James, “I’ll help you.”
“That’s not fair!” grumbled James, looking back and forth between Lily and Ginny, and his office door in despair.
“Not my fault you’re the head of the department of law enforcement,” Lily sniffed, waving her wand towards the kitchen, presumably to start gathering ingredients and pans, setting her brewing potions aside.
Ginny giggled, “You can watch Uncle James!” She stuck her tongue out at him, “You can even be our taste tester!
Lily pretended to stare thoughtfully at Ginny, hand on her chin, “But what would make of our cookies if we had someone with bad taste test them?”
“Hey!” James protested over Ginny’s laugh, “I married you didn’t I?”
“Ooooh,” Ginny cried, looking up at James and Lily, “That was so cute.”
“That’ll be you and —,”
Ginny swatted James on the stomach and Lily looked at her fondly before ushering her toward the kitchen, smiling at the way she tried to hide her blush, “Don’t finish that sentence Uncle James.”
James smirked over at her before summoning his papers to settle at the kitchen island, where he could clearly watch them. He settled, ruffling his hair roughly while Lily showed Ginny all the ingredients they had on hand.
“So much stuff,” Ginny sighed wistfully, fingers hovering over the bag of strawberries, “This would have been helpful hours ago.”
“We’ve got all night love,” Lily replied, stroking her hair gently, “Where do we start?”
“Chocolate of course!” Ginny grinned, holding up a dark chocolate bar.
They had been at it for an hour, with James looking up from his papers with a tender smile on his face every few minutes to see Lily carefully measuring cups of sugar or Ginny furiously mixing dough together. He found it adorably distracting when he would hear his wife quietly laugh at any flour that made it to Ginny’s clothes or the young Weasley’s growls when something didn’t go her way.
He wondered if it was safe to ask his wife to try again.
“Uncle James!” Ginny sang, shuffling over with a spoon in one hand and a small bowl in the other, “Can you try before we bake these?”
She was looking eagerly at him. James shook his head lightly before picking her up and placing her on the bar stool beside him, dusting her shoulder gently.
“Is it safe to assume I won’t get food poisoned?” He peered at the bowl in mock fear.
“Of course!” Ginny cried indignantly, “Aunt Lily and I would never!”
“Yes,” snorted James, ignoring Lily’s faint snigger and scooping a small portion in the spoon Ginny passed to him, “Like that wasn’t suspicious at all.”
Ignoring all pretenses, he placed the aforementioned spoon in his mouth and chewed. He was pleasantly surprised at the burst of treacle, paired with the bitterness of the dark chocolate she had been holding a few minutes prior.
In his peripheral vision, James could see Ginny staring up at him hopefully, hair tousled, her brown eyes wide and glistening, and James knew that even if the baked goods tasted like shit he still would’ve said otherwise.
“Wow, that’s delicious,” he said honestly, making a move to grab another scoop, “If you told me an hour ago those cookies were this good I would have gathered the crumbs and tried to transfigure them back.”
“Really?” Ginny asked hopefully.
“Yeah,” he paused, only now noticing the combination of flavours, “Any particular reason these are treacle flavoured?”
Her face burned and James knew he’d hit the jackpot. James had seen the way Ginny thoughtfully watched Harry devour Molly Weasley’s treacle tart with rigour during their dinner at the Burrow, and that was his own son, of course he’d know his favourite treats.
Lily paused her cookie dough cutting to stare at Ginny in recognition. He saw his wife’s eyes gleam, and he knew they were in for a discussion during their nightly routine.
“No reason,” she lied, “saw it somewhere in one of mum’s cookbooks.”
——————
“Good Morning my love,” Lily greeted her son, who grouchily collapsed at the breakfast table, with Ron in tow.
“Good Morning mummy, dad,” he yawned, sitting up straight, a sight distinctly different from Ron who had used his arms as a pillow to nap.
“Morning Mr. and Mrs. Potter,” Ron mumbled sleepily.
James shook his head at them, before placing a large plate of eggs and bacon on the table.
“Where’s Ginny?” Harry asked distractedly, reaching over to grab himself two slices of toast.
James discreetly looked at Lily, quirking an eyebrow, before looking back at his son, “Still sleeping I imagine, she was terribly tired yesterday so we’re letting her have some extra hours.”
Ron had sat up now, happily munching on bacon, “Of course she’d take advantage of the fact mum isn’t here to tell us to get up at the crack of dawn.”
James hid his grin behind his hand.
Lily placed a plate of cookies near Harry who’s eyes had lit up in joy. Quickly, he brought the plate nearer to his seat, before taking a large bite out of one and moaning his delight.
“These are so good!” he cried happily, chewing on his next piece, “Whatever goodness combined treacle and cookies together I’ll love you forever!”
“Ginny did,” James mentioned idly, sipping his coffee.
“I love you Ginny,” Harry replied absentmindedly, grabbing his fourth cookie.
He saw a flash of red flicker in the corner of his eye near the staircase, and James stomped down on his urge to laugh loudly.