Working Together and Macarons
1991-First Year
It was Saturday morning and Elizabeth grunted at the realization when she woke up. It was a dark morning with the rain hitting the windows at alarming speeds. Thunder sounded in the distance.
The time stood at 8:27 am. She still had five and half hours before she had to meet him.
Erin was still sleeping in her bed and so was Cho and Padma. Luna usually was up with the sun and wandered around doing Merlin knows what.
She should get up. Maybe try to get some stuff done before meeting up or even get a head start on the project. So, that’s what she did.
Elizabeth got out of bed and decided to make it, a habit she was trying to build. She grabbed a pair of jeans and a “The Smiths” t-shirt that she had stolen from her uncle and changed. Her hair was staring to get greasy, but she had no want to clean it. She put the dark brown hair into a ponytail and walked away from the mirror before she started picking at her skin.
She packed her satchel with anything she might need including her ballpoint pens. She sent a letter to her uncle asking for fountain pens to use instead of the quill and she was still waiting for them. The thing to her was a menace to use and why use it when she could produce cleaner work with something else. Her handwriting was legible, but with a quill. Oof. She had Erin try to read it and the girl couldn’t understand anything.
Erin was waking up at that point and asked if Liz could wait for her. She was also meeting her project partner at the library later.
Before they left, Elizabeth grabbed a too large for her sweater to throw over top since the library could get cold if she didn’t move for long periods of time. Also, she could use it to hide sweat stains from how nervous she was starting to get.
They grabbed a small breakfast and a couple of snacks for lunch. Technically, they weren’t allowed to eat in the library, but Madame Pince didn’t seem to mind small snacks especially if they cleaned up after themselves.
They found a quiet spot next to a window and started doing bits of homework and finishing up their notes. Next week, they were finally able to start brewing potions instead of just learning about the ingredients. Of course, Professor Snape made sure that his students had plenty of readings and papers to be prepared for their first brewing. While looking over the recipe some things looked strange to her. For what the potion was supposed to do, some of the ingredients either seemed to be either too much or too little. She made certain notes of which in which to ask the Professor about.
This took up most of their morning and soon it was 1 pm and Erin had to leave to go work on her project. She went to a table further down and started chatting.
Elizabeth still had an hour and looked outside. The rain still hadn’t stopped, but it wasn’t as hard as it was this morning. In the distance she could see the sun struggling to break through the clouds. She loved it when it was raining. There was always a sense of peace in it, but here it felt more somber than usual.
However, she contributed the feeling more to the state of her stress rather than the weather itself. She was indeed sweating through her shirt and shivering at the same time.
“Let’s get this over with.” Malfoy had arrived and sat down opposite of her. He was wearing a pair of black trousers and a green sweater. It was very Slytherin of him.
“I was thinking we could look at the reasonings for the strike and break them down in the context of the time,” Elizabeth started explaining.
“That would be awfully boring if you ask me.”
“History can be boring, but if you have a better idea than I’m all ears.”
“You do have rather large ears. Is it a half-breed thing or …” he smirked.
“If you are going to sit there and make fun of me the whole time, I’d rather just work on this myself and not put your name on it. Plus, the person here with the large ears is you.” Elizabeth smirked thinking that she got him. She looked back up at him and he was staring back with an unamused look.
“Let’s go with your idea so that this can be over.”
“Shouldn’t we have a backup? Maybe, even have a bit of it done so that we can prove that it’s a good subject?”
“Do it yourself then if you so wish. I have things to do.”
“What? Like tormenting other first-years, adding more gel to your hair, etc. Stuff like that?”
“My hair is perfect. Yours is the one that makes you look like a drowned rat. Can’t you even try to make yourself look presentable? What is even on your shirt?”
“An extremely good band and my hair is none of your business. Tomorrow is hair wash day because it takes a long time to dry.”
“I’m leaving now. Do whatever you want half-breed.” Malfoy grabbed his bag and left. He hadn’t bothered to unpack it in the first place; clearly making the point of not wanting to be there.
“Ça va être une longue année (It’s going to be a long year.),” she told herself.
She continued working on the project by herself. She was just checking to see if there was enough information to make the number of pages they would have to write. It should from what she could see, but still better to be prepared than not.
The rain had finally stopped when Erin joined her table once again.
“How was your meeting with Malfoy? It didn’t seem to last that long.”
“I can’t wait for this to be over with.”
They went to dinner and Olivia joined them with Isaac. He was actually a funny guy if he wasn’t so shy. Mainly because he was Irish and his accent was much different to theirs and certain words just sounded like a whole new word.
The five of them were becoming quite close even though they were only finishing their second week at Hogwarts. It wasn’t unusual however. Elizabeth’s uncle told her that the people you become friends with at Hogwarts will last their whole lives. He still talked to many of his schoolmates.
Looking at the people around her, she hoped that was true.
…
It was earlier than last time. She walked down to the kitchens right after dinner ended to hopefully not be there when curfew came. She tickled the pear and walked in. Mipsy was at the table in the middle polishing some silverware.
“Hi Mipsy!”
The house whirled around and a big smile spread to her face.
“Miss Liz came back. Is Miss going to cook something again? Something with chocolate? Mipsy loves chocolate and Mipsy had such fun last time.”
“I was thinking something sweet, but not entirely chocolate. Have you ever made macarons?”
…
The pair of them got to work. They made different kinds. Some with coconut, raspberries, chocolate for Mipsy. Other elves chimed in as well asking for specific flavours and helped with preparing them.
It seemed to Elizabeth that they never really got to make what they wanted and she felt bad for them. There was one house elf that was coming up with crazy ideas for combinations and she really wished that he got to make them himself.
She had asked Mipsy about it, but the elf shrugged and said that the menu was set for them and the life of a house elf was for their master’s wishes. It made them happy.
Still, Liz felt like they could do more with their creativity if they were allowed.
When they were done, curfew for first years had long passed. They had made so many that Elizabeth wasn’t entirely sure what to do with them. Plus, it was best to keep them cold if she wasn’t going to eat them right away.
“What do you suggest we do with all of this?” Elizabeth asked them.
They looked at her with blank faces.
She didn’t want them to just be thrown out. Some of them were really good.
“Is it possible to pass them out at one of the meals?”
“Mipsy could ask Master Dumbledore?”
“Wouldn’t it be nicer as a surprise?”
“Mipsy supposes we could…” She looked at her other friends for help.
“Bruno says yes.”
“Polko says yes too.”
A bunch of the house elves starting saying they should make it a surprise.
“Just don’t tell them I was behind it if they ask, okay? Keep it a mystery.”
They nodded their little heads. Elizabeth helped pack them up and clean up the kitchen. She was excited to see the reaction tomorrow.
…
Elizabeth made sure to arrive early for breakfast hoping to see some of the reactions to her baked goods. She didn’t tell anyone of course, but Erin was a bit suspicious about why she had come back after curfew. She told her she went to the library and fell asleep.
Her little escapade was for her alone and she didn’t want it ruined. However, she felt bad lying to Erin. She had been nothing, but nice to Elizabeth and didn’t deserve to be lied to. Though Erin was a bit of a stickler for the rules and Elizabeth sneaking to the kitchens would have been a big red flag in Erin’s book.
More people were entering the Great Hall as well as the teachers. The macarons weren’t on the tables yet. As the time got a bit later, Erin and the others from her dorm had joined and that’s when they appeared. Elizabeth looked at the headmaster. He had grabbed a raspberry one and pondered at it. He finally took a bite and smiled.
“Yes.” Elizabeth yelled in head. “Success.”
She did look away and hadn’t seen the headmaster call a house elf to compliment the chef for the new addition.
“I would like to give my compliments to the chef. Not an easy pastry. Who was it?”
“Bruno has been sworn not to tell, but Miss will be very happy you enjoyed them.”
The headmaster smiled, dismissed the elf and looked over the students with a twinkle in his eye.