OOOUCH! A flying drop of boiling water had popped right out of the pot and landed right on Zander's arm. Well that was quite the wake up call...The Gryffindor hadn't even noticed that the water had started boiling. He quickly scooped a shell up and out of the water to test it for softness. Hmm... Could still use a couple minutes. Five minutes later, Zander repeated the same step. Perfect consistency! Maybe cooking was his thing after all....

Nah.

Then he picked up the pot, and brought it over to a nearby sink. This step meant draining all of the water out. Boy was this thing pretty heavy! After getting rid of all the water Zander brought the pot back onto the fire he had made with the help of good ol' Kenaz. Then he poured a bit of milk into the pot, but not too much he didn't need the macaroni to be all runny.

Then he took his six blocks of cheese and plopped them in one by one! Noticing that the fire had died in strength, Zander decided to do the chant one more time for good measure. "Kenaz kenaz kenaz . . . ku ka ki ke ko . . . kun kan kin ken kon . . . ok ek ik ak uk . . . kaunnnnnnnnn." AH there. Much better.

Then he let the cheese melt and stirred the mixture once or twice. Just to get all the shells gooey. Once everything was all melty and yummy goodness looking, he extinguished the flame, that he had worked so hard for sigh, and then grabbed a nice container for storage. He poured in every last bit of the yummy creation because this Gryffindor would not stand to waste!

Then he realized that the pot was still pretty gooey and decided to do a couple quick "Scourgify"s before he left for the kitchens. This looked delicious. He'd have to ask the elves to make some too.

Emmylou could feel it in her bones that she was going to mess this up. She was horrible at cooking, she almost burned her grandmother Duchannes very old Victorian house done last summer when she was using a microwave. She couldn't remember what she was making but there was smoke everywhere in the house. There was that other time when she was making toast in the toaster and you couldn't even tell the slice of bread was once bread. It broke up in your hand when you touched it but there were no flames. The third year didn't trust herself with a stove or fire. Nope, nope.

Emmylou had a large plastic container with most of the ingredients in it and another smaller one with some ingredients in it as well. She took a piece of paper out. She unfolded it and looked at the recipe. She didn't know it off the top of her head. It was a nice way to travel because when she was all done with this she could put the candy in it. The Gryffindor candy girl wasn't going to mess up on her favorite food ever and she had seen her Aunt Raeanne make this candy before but she didn't help. The homemade hard candies are the best ever. Emmylou didn't know how much she wanted to make. If it came out good at all then she would like to have a lot of left overs. A medium pot would do well and she needed a cookie sheet, she went over and grab one and then back to her work area.

Emmylou looked at the paper in her hand. Emmylou read the first few steps. She nodded, she's got this. Emmylou sprinkled the powered sugar on the cook sheet and set it aside like the instructions told her. Emmylou poured the sugar syrup into the pan and now it was time for water. "Aguamenti." she smiled as the water filled the pot. She gave it a stir or two, she put the paper in her pocket before she got the ruin and wand in her hand. "Kenaz kenaz kenaz . . . ku ka ki ke ko . . . kun kan kin ken kon . . . ok ek ik ak uk . . . kaunnnnnnnnn" She paused for a second. "Incendio." IT WAS WORKING! Emmylou bounced on the balls of her feet happily. Now she just had to wait for it to boil or something.

After stirring her sauce, Lux decided that it was time to check on her water and see if it was boiling. The flame was a little weaker, but at least the water was bubbling. This weak flame needed to be fixed. "kenaz kenaz kenaz ku ka ki ke ko kun kan kin ken kon ok ek ik ak uk kaunnnnnnnnn." Chanting, she worked to get the fire stronger before adding some olive oil then the pasta to the water. There. Now time for her to heat up the sauce while the spaghetti cooked.

With her Rune and wand touching each other, Lux chanted again over the second burner. "kenaz kenaz kenaz ku ka ki ke ko kun kan kin ken kon ok ek ik ak uk kaunnnnnnnnn.... Incendio." The flame started which made her smile. It wouldn't take too much longer now. Once the sauce was on the heat, she reached into the bag and took out two spoons. They say that a watched pot never boils, but she wanted to make sure that everything was done perfectly and nothing was overcooked. Soggy spaghetti was gross, and so was burnt sauce. Being the good friend she was, Lux would try her best not to inflict that on anyone.

Humming Under the Sea to herself, Lux stirred away and waited for what seemed like centuries (even though it was not really all that much time at all). Seeing that the pasta was perfect, she carefully removed it from the burner and strained it. Perfection. After extinguishing the flame, she removed the sauce from the other burner and dumped it in with the spaghetti. Yummy. It looked and smelled tasty. The other flame was extinguished and it was time for her to clean up.

After taking out a pair of oven mitts, Lux placed all the ingredients into the bag then used Scourgify to clean both the table top and the burners. She didn't want to get into trouble with Professor Botros for making a mess. A quick scan of the floor revealed that it was all clean, so no worries there. With everything back in her bag, she placed it over her shoulder before putting on the mitts and heading out of the workshop carrying the hot pot of food. She did not want to get burned, so she was glad she had brought them with her.

Now that AJ had her fire going she could get down to making her some cookies. Reading over her sheet one last time she confirmed that she had every ingredient that she needed. The first year placed the instruction sheet right next to her so she would be able to refer back to it at a moments notice.

She measured out the cup of butter. Next came the sugar and that took a cup of the glorious white stuff. Cup of brown sugar was added next. A lot of sugar was being used and that was exactly how she liked it. The lion continued to add everything in piece by piece. According to her instructions she was doing everything perfectly.

Now she had to wait! Did you get to take off any minutes simply because she was cooking this the magical way? Wasn't that faster? She had a magic stone and everything. Do, da, di, do. AJ waited and hummed a tune to herself.

Errr... how many minutes had passed now? Looking into her pan she guesses that they looked done. Her "cookies" looked more like a pie and the edges were rather crusty. Whoops. Nothing to see here. She boxed her creation up, killed the fire, and cleaned her area. It was on to the kitchens to try this all over again. If only she knew a cloning spell or something.

The walk up to the Ancient Runes Workshop wasn't as long as she remembered it being but that might have been because she had Dima walking with her. He wasn't the quietest kid out there so that helped. Made her forget all about the walk.

Once there, she found them a station and began setting up. This time they'd be using magic fire and since he was here he'd be helping with the chanting even though he didn't take this class. It wouldn't be that hard, Lex even reached into her bag and fished out her textbook so he could look at it while they chanted. By the time he actually started taking this class, he'd be a natural...at Kenaz anyway.

With him being a Firstie, she didn't actually ask his help with using diffindo on the seasonings because she'd rather not have to explain the taste of flesh in her omelette. There was probably already enough she had to explain when these were done.

"You can get this mixed then we can put it on the fire and get rune magic going." Lex said, sliding it across to him.

The bubbly third year was so happy that she could finally put in the food color and make pretty. Emmylou just had to get the food coloring. She looked at the colors that she had. There wasn't a purple so the third year had to make the color herself. She wanted it to be kinda bright. Emmylou grabbed a little bowl kind of thing and out a about ten drops of blue food coloring, she put the cap on that and grabbed the red food coloring she put about twenty drops into the bowl. The third year grabbed a small spoon and mixed the two colors. Once she was done she poured it into the sauce pan and stirred the liquids together.

Emmylou set the spoons and her instructions aside and carefully grabbed the pot and pour the contents on to the cookie sheet. Once everything was poured on the cookie sheet Emmylou waited about five minutes for the hard candies to cool down and solidify like the instructions told her. The thirteen year old grabbed a towel out her bag and laid it over the cooled candy. Emmylou looked around for something that would break it. Emmylou grabbed a wooden spoon and start to hit the layer of candy to break them all up. In no time at all Emmylou had successfully made food in a kitchen without almost setting it on fire. No she just needed to clean up. "Scourgify" Next stop the kitchen.

Okay it was time to get down to doing this homework. The main reason why she took do long to get started was she had know idea want she was going to cook. After a long debate on what to cook Cinnamon finally decided on buffalo chicken wings. Her dad and hers favorite thing to eat.

Cinna carried a container of chicken wings. She also bought salt pepper, and other seasonings. And of course HOT sauce. She had bought a pan to cook the wings on and a bag to shake the sauce on the wings.

The first thing Cinna did was open the container of wings and placed them on the Pan. Cleaning the pan first of course. She took a pinch of salt and pepper and tossed it on the wings. She then took the pack of seasoning by a pinch and sprinkled it over the wings. She flipped each wing over and sprinkled salt pepper and the seasoning on that side of the wings. Moving the pan over the burner.

Taking the rune and her wand out of her bag. Rune in one hand wand in the other but touching each other. She begun chanting. "kenaz kenaz kenaz ku ka ki ke ko kun kan kin ken kon ok ek ik ak uk kaunnnnnnnnn." Whoa she need a breather after that. "Incendio" A flame appeared shortly after that.

Now it was a waiting game now right? So that meant she had plenty of time to get the hot sauce ready.

Okay looks like Bay was a little late to the game over here. Everyone seemed to be working really hard on the foods. Thank goodness for him he had brought the ingredients with him so it would be easier. See Bay was going to be cooking chocolate chip cookies. smirk. of course it would be junk food... even though for his potions homework he said he wouldn't ever eat bad food again... and against his parents wishes.. but oh well.. cookies for all right.

Laying his bowls out and his ingredients he laid down the steps and measurements down on his work station.

He was happy he did his research before he picked something to make well because.. it was a little difficult to make by hand but it was worth it.. these things were so yummy.. having had raided the kitchen he thought it was best only to make a half a batch well because he didnt want to waste anything.. and the other half he could cook in the kitchens for the rest of his homework.

getting started he followed each step once he was done he took out his wand.. and his rune he held them together as he started to chant.. as his raw cookies were on a baking sheet waiting to be cooked eaten

Bay started to chant.

"kenaz kenaz kenaz ku ka ki ke ko kun kan kin ken kon ok ek ik ak uk kaunnnnnnnnn" and then a breath and then he said "Incendio" as he saw the flame under the cookie sheet... he only had to wait 10 minutes.. but he thought it was best to keep checking on them so they didnt burn.. no one loved burnt cookies. EWWWWWW..

now all he had to do was the waiting game.

Now she was getting to the best part of chicken wings the HOT sauce. She started out with a basic hot sauce. Getting out the huge plastic bag from her bag, she dumped the hot sauce into the bag. Add a little bit of the seasoning to hot sauce. She also added a little bit of cinnamon into the sauce. It was kind of her signature ingredient in everything.

She went back over to the wings to check on them. They were starting to look yummy. She would soon have to flip them over. Taking the bag of the hot sauce in her hand and shook it. Making sure it was sealed. She really didn't want to make a mess. Then she gave the bag a small squeeze. Just to make sure it mixed up good.

Now it was time to flip the wings over to cook the other side. She took the tongs out of her bag and quickly cleaned them. She used the tongs to flip the chicken wings over so that side could get done.

Now what to do while the chicken finished cooking. Ohhhh there was Bay. Was he making cookies? They smelled delish. Not wanting to distract him from his work Cinna watched the yummy smelling cookies from a far.

was ten minutes over yet or what? Bay just wanted to eat… i mean let people taste his cookies.. the surely smelled good.. watching them with out blinking Bay got a feeling that someone was watching him.. scanning the room he noticed it was Cinna… and what was she making???? CHICKEN WINGS!! no way.. why didn't he think of that.. it was so much easier… *sniffff* and they smelled amazing..

Thinking it was safe to leave his cookies for just one minute he walked over to her "Hey Cinna…. your Chicken Wings smell amazing!" he said as he was lost in thought just staring at them while she was flipping them. soooo good…..

He didn't realize he was over there for more than a minute as he said "oh excuse me" as he dashed to his cookies… using a flipper thingy he lifted on up to see that it was a little burnt.. but not to burnt. He had already got his cooling tray ready so he quickly took off his 12 cookies and placed them on it.. "gah" he didn't want them to be any type of burnt but oh well.. he took out his wand and said "Finite" to end the fire because he didn't want to start a fire.

Watching them cool.. he prepared his box so he could carry them to the kitchens.

When they were finally cool bay took his quill and marked the bottom of the box with AR so he knew which batch was cooked in the Ancient Runes lab. Placing each one in carefully he closed the box and tied the lid..

Now it was time to clean everything. Taking out his wand he preformed the charm to clean up everything and then he packed up his equipment so he could bring it with him to the pitches. On his way out he waved goodbye to his friends as he went to go make his second batch that was already mixed and just waiting to be placed in the oven.

'Not the quietest kid out there' was the understatement of the century, considering the fact that Dima's mouth didn't stop running the whole trip up to the workshop. He was like a nonstop chatterbox, and it was quite a feat that Lex's ears hadn't fallen off by the time they reached.

".... and THAT was how Angelo's teeth got crooked, but he never would let Dad fix 'em. Still won't," he concluded cheerfully as they approached the station, starting another story as their head chef chopped up the seasonings. Were they gonna get to eat this stuff or?

As soon as she passed them to him, Dima started mixing.

"Wanna hear about the time I jumped off play equipment and tried to fly?"

Dima wasn't half bad at the mixing thing, even if he had a million stories for everything, which she just kept nodding at all the appropriate times to. Jeez, it was like he was on a babbling beverage only this wouldn't wear off. Did she wanna hear about the time he thought he could fly? Well........not particularly, no, but she'd have let him continue anyway were it not for the mixing being done and her taking the bowl back.

"You can tell me about it in a minute. Right now we have chanting to do." Lex incendio-ed up a fire, placed the frying pan on top and got the egg going then grabbed the kenaz runestone and held it against her wand.

"This right here is what we'll be chanting. The stronger you chant, the better it works." Lex slid the book a little closer for him to get a better look then she began the chant. "kenaz kenaz kenaz ku ka ki ke ko kun kan kin ken kon ok ek ik ak uk kaunnnnnnnnn......kenaz kenaz kenaz ku ka ki ke ko kun kan kin ken kon ok ek ik ak uk kaunnnnnnnnn..."

She couldn't hear him. Lex glanced at him to be sure he was reading the words right before going on with the chant.........and some flipping too so it wouldn't burn too bad.

"Okay!" Dima agreed, ever the compliant one. He peered into the textbook that the older girl had opened for him, squinting at the words. It sounded like the stuff people had been chanting when he set that one boy on fire! Now he had to do that, yeah?

Pity he hadn't gotten to listen.

But at least he had Lex's voice as an example. Listening to her first chant, Dima jumped in on the second. "Kenaz kenaz kenaz ku ka ki ke ko kun kan kin ken kon ok ek ik ak uk kaunnnnnnnnn..... kenaz kenaz kenaz ku ka ki ke ko kun kan kin ken kon ok ek ik ak uk kaunnnnnnnnn...."

So cooking. Without Cat. In the Ancient Runes classroom. It was a little weird, and Mo was regretting not having asked Cat along to supervise, but he had NO regrets about who he had asked to be his partner. Not a single one.

While he waited, Mo unpacked his supplies. One oversized thermos full of a gloppy beige mixture. One stick of butter. One enormous cast iron skillet. One small opaque phial that went to the back.

Now he just needed a Sophie.

Sophie thought Runes was hard and confusing and in class she had just followed everyone else's example, so when it came to homework, there was no way she would've been able to figure it out on her own, though she'd never admit to that. Instead, she conveniently got Mo to be her partner. Because Mo knew everything and could help and wouldn't make her feel silly or stupid if she did something wrong or didn't know something. He was good to her pride, Mo was. Always patient and kind.

That didn't really make her any less nervous, though, because what if Botros was in the workshop and saw her struggle? She wanted to make the man proud, as she'd undoubtedly led him to have high expectations for her when she first went and introduced herself to him during her first term. This subject wasn't a breeze, though, like she thought it'd be, and the very full parchment of notes Soph was reading as she entered the workshop made her appear a little stressed.

Because she was. Already.

At the sight of Mo, though, she smiled and hurried over to him. "Hi." Her eyes scanned the work station he'd already set up for them and she set her bag of various supplies on the table, taking a seat next to him and not letting go of her parchment of notes. No. She'd keep those very handy, with her textbook laying right underneath it for reference. "So what's the game plan?"

Mo grinned broadly as Sophie showed up, and he gave her a little side-hug in greeting. She was always trying to prove she was a tough little thing, but there was something very clearly uncertain in her eyes when they'd discussed partnering. Maybe she needed more help than she was willing to admit.

"I was thinking we'd make pancakes today. The hard part will be keeping the fire going and having the heat evenly distributed across the surface of the skillet. I dunno if you have any better ideas, but I thought one of us could hold the skillet and flip the pancakes, and the other could control the fire. Which job do you want to do first?" He buttered the bottom of the pan while he waited for her to respond.

Mo was the king of good ideas, wasn't he? Maybe he suspected her uneasiness with this class or maybe he was just thinking of the best way to let them both have a go and alternate roles throughout, but Sophie was glad there was an opportunity to let Mo show her how it was done properly.

"Good idea," she nodded a few times, taking two aprons from her bag and extending one to him, then put hers on and set her wand off to the side. "Hard part, shmard part. We can do this. I'll hold the skillet and flip the pancakes first, how 'bout that?" So Mo could be a pro and show her how it's done first?

Leaning forward, she snatched up Mo's thermos and peeked inside, sniffing at the contents. Did he make the batter on his own? "How many pancakes should we make for each part? Just one or a bunch?" One big one, or a few small ones? The skillet was gigantic enough to hold a few, if they sized them right, but she was certain Mo had a complete vision in mind for their task.

Would you look at that, kid caught on quickly and she could see the strength of the flames burning the omelette--WAIT WHAT????

"No no no no no!" Alexa raised a hand for him to stop chanting while she snatched the frying pan away from the fire. Oh sweet Merlin. They were doing so well. "It's okay...you're okay...not too burnt...still look tasty..." Ah maaan. Despite having removed it from the heat the Gryffindor was still fanning at the pot, wishing all the smoke would go away. How very dramatic omelette. Introduce you to a little magical fire and you try making a scene.

Lex put out the fire and slipped the omelette onto the available plate...on its good side. No one needed to know that it might have gotten a little burn here and there...and everywhere. Nope. They just needed to taste it.

After cleaning up the area she turned on her heel. "C'mon, we have to find someone to taste these." And she already had someone in mind.

"Just do one at a time for now. I'm not sure how to do heat distribution," Mo offered the very heavy skillet to Sophie before taking up the thermos himself. With one hand full of skill and one hand full of spatula, it was probably up to Mo to do the pouring. "Let's heat up the pan first. Kenaz kenaz kenaz ku ka ki ke ko kun kan kin ken kon ok ek ik ak uk kaunnnnnnnnn..... kenaz kenaz kenaz ku ka ki ke ko kun kan kin ken kon ok ek ik ak uk kaunnnnnnnnn...."

The Kenaz rune he'd grabbed lit up, and Mo nestled it in his palm against his wand. With a flick, Mo had a very sturdy little fire going, and he indicated that Sophie should hold the skillet out over it. It only needed it for a few minutes, and then Mo poured in the batter for a medium sized pancake. "What do you eat on your pancakes? Syrup?" He peeked at Sophie as he carefully directed the flame to heat up the entire skillet.

Right. Just one. Okay. Sophie was considerably nervous now, but handed off the thermos and took the heavy skillet first with one hand, but then grabbed it with the other, too, upon realizing how heavy it was. "Merlin, where'd you get this thing?" She steadied it, though, and held the skillet perfectly still as directed.

"You're so good at the chanting thing," she noted seriously. "How d'you not get tripped up and say something a little wrong? And what happens if y'do? D'you just have to start over?" Not that she ever intended to get any of it wrong, as she'd stare down at her notes if she really needed to be sure to get a chant right, but she was just curious. And Mo seemed like a good person to ask.

"Syrup, uh huh." What else? She adjusted her grip a little on the handle of the skillet, getting a better hold so she'd be able to flip the pancake in a moment. "What about you?" Carefully, then, when the pancake started to bubble a little, Sophie held the handle of the skillet in her non-dominant hand successfully, but with a shaky arm - she wiggled her eyebrows at Mo as if to show off her not-at-all incredible strength - and picked up the spatula with her dominant hand. "Readyyyy..." She tucked the spatula under the pancake, peeked under to make sure it looked like it had cooked enough on that side, then in one swift motion, she flipped the pancake over on the skillet. Like a pro.

"Cat would be so proud of us."

"I took it from the kitchen. It seemed like the right size for us, and we can return it when we go there next," Mo's hand was cramping a bit, and he switched his stance to get a better angle on the fire. Were they nearly ready to switch?

He glanced up at her when she commented on his chanting. "You just have to keep practicing it. It gets easier, starts to make sense and have a pattern to it. And yeah, if you screw up, you just start over. No real harm done." Although she was careful enough that probably Sophie would think doing it wrong was harm enough on its own.

"I like pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream. That's how Cat and I have them when she makes breakfast," Mo held out the plate and let Sophie pour over the pancake before he took up the skillet himself. It was her turn now. "Go ahead and try the incantation, and then we'll relight the fire."

Mmmm. Mo was a thinker, wasn't he? "Solid logic." Sophie would keep him around, yes. He was a good one.

Practice. Sigh. "Okay." She could practice. She had been practicing. That didn't make her any less nervous though - Mo made it sound so... effortless. The chant had just rolled off his tongue so fluidly; Sophie was sure she was going to sound like an idiot in front of him. It was a relief that it apparently wasn't a huge deal if she messed it up, though, and she could just try again without ruining anyone's life. Still, she knew she tended to overthink things too much, and she'd end up halfway through, second-guess herself, and mess up. So. Reading straight from her notes it was.

"That sounds super good." The small talk and mentioning of such a meal eased Sophie's nerves for the time being as she obediently scooped the successfully cooked pancake onto the plate. Boom. One done. "Looks good." Casual. Conversational. Trying to sound less nervous than she was that it was her turn.

Uh huh, uh huh. She could do this. Fearless. Snatching up her Kenaz, Sophie gripped it tightly and added her wand to the same hand, peering at her piece of parchment. She stalled for a long moment, reading the chant over thrice and trying to ignore Mo's gaze before chanting slowly but surely, "Kenaz kenaz kenaz... ku ka ki ke ko... kun kan kin ken kon... ok ek ik ak uk... kaunnnnnnnnn...." she shot a nervous look up at Mo before forcing her gaze back down to the parchment and repeating, "...kenaz kenaz kenaz... ku ka ki ke ko... kun kan kin ken kon... ok ek ik ak uk... kaunnnnnnnnn....." Each syllable came out choppy rather than smooth and fluidly, and she looked at Mo for reassurance as the rune glowed in her palm. Well. OKAY. GLOWING RUNE. HELLO.

"Incendio," Sophie cast the new flame and directed it under the skillet before she lost her concentration. Then she proceeded to let out a giggle of relief. Heeeheehehehe. "Was that okay?"

When the chicken wings were completely finished Cinnamon took the pan off of the fire and let them cool. Once the wings were cool she placed them into the plastic bag with the sauce. Tossing the bag between her hands to mix up the hot sauce and wings really good.

After the wings were good and saucy she cleaned the tongs again. She used the tongs to get the wings out of the bag. She placed them back in a clean container. Rune baked chicken wings compete. Now it was off to the kitchen.

As soon as the flame appeared, Mo poured more batter into the skillet. It was still pretty warm before, and he didn't want to make either of them work longer than necessary. The skillet was heavy and Sophie looked very stressed at the moment.

Her chanting was spot on, though, and Mo gave her a nod of encouragement. Not a word, though, not until he could loosen up the sides of the pancake and give it a flip. In the air. That's how he rolled. "That... was perfect," Mo grinned as the pancake landed in the pan. "We're almost ready... let's pack up and head down to the kitchen."

He slid his completed pancake onto the plate and covered the plate with a heated cover. "You were brilliant."

Neeeeeeeeeeeervous. Sophie was incredibly focused, but even in her concentration she was worrying about what Mo was doing and what his reaction was and whether he approved of her or not. No one had died and nothing had exploded and neither of them were harmed, though, and Sophie even let herself smile at Mo's flipping of the pancake in the air.

"Show-off." Because he was.

"Long walk to the kitchen. Hope Cat'll be there." Because if Cat didn't have her Mo or Sophie, where else would she be, hmm? Soph extinguished the flame and helped packed all of their things away, wondering if it would be inadvisable to kiss her Kenaz rune for being so nice to her, but she ended up putting it back in her rune set for next time. "Nuh uh. You were. I just did what you did. Monkey see, monkey do. You're just a good teacher." She would've been doomed without him, and she let him know her appreciation by linking arms with him when they were all set to go. They were gonna walk like that the whole way to the kitchens, yep. He had no choice.