SOON the school would be teeming with the studentsies and studentses (small and big, respectively, of course) all over again and the almost crisis would become a full of blown disaster because, of course, her whisk had gone missing AGAIN.

Tinka didn't ask for much in life! She only needed the whisk! She could not WORK without it. Ever.

She accidentally knocked over a saucepan as she bent over a table, but barely noticed. "Whiiiiiiiskkkkkkkkkk?" Her voice was almost a tearful whine. "Tinka's whisk?"

Busy, busy, busy.

Studenteses returned and big feast was to be made. Argyle was more than ready to make the food for Mistress Headmistress and the rest. The older house-elf flittered around the stoves checking on things. “Musn’t burn…” she murmured aloud. “Studenteses hungry…young mistresses and masters will be happy with food.”

Unlike the unhappy sounding house-elf behind her."Tinka lose whisk?" Argyle asked, trying to sound supportive. Tinka always lose whisk. She let her big eyes wander the kitchen in search of the missing implement.

Nimma could NOT find Toddles! Nimma had looked everywhere she had. Oh Merlin! OH MERLIN! Bouncing into the kitchen like a ball of anxiety she began to look under tables, behind things, ON TOP OF THINGS.

Where had the small elf gotten to? Best not to alarm the others, though. They were all busy...

"I help you Tinka. We will find the Whisk." Tinka's whisk was very important and Pips would help find it. He started to search all around to see if it was near the bowls. It had to be there somewhere.

"Tinka lost the whisk, yes!!!"

Or maybe someone had stolen it.

...Had studentses and studentsies arrived early? Was this a prank? Suspiciously, Tinka raised her tear strained purple gave and surveyed the area. Seemed unlikely but she could NOT be sure enough.

Argyle was very kind as always but she was busy trying to cook. Nimma was without Toddles (????) but she received a shaky nod as Tinka headed over to Pips.

She bent over, crawled under tables. "Has Pips found the whisk yet? No? Yes?????"

Pips looked and looked to see if he could find the whisk, but he wasn't finding it. "Where was the last place you saw it Tinka?" They would find it yes they would. He moved around the kitchen and opened up the last drawer hoping it was tehre.

"Tinka it's here, it's here!!" He pulled it from the back and showed it to her.

The downside of taking her new potion, was she was always hungry. It was a good thing that Noelle had friends like Althea and Olly to keep her full.

Heading to the kitchens, she hoped Olly received her 911 call for emergency cookies. His were the best. Even better than the house elves. Sorry, house elves. You did a brilliant job at ... your job, but there was just something about Olly's cookies that made them her favorite.

Tickling the pear, she headed into the kitchen and gave a look around. No Olly. Not yet anyways. Hopefully he wasn't too busy. Putting her bag on one of the tables, Noelle scribbled a note to Olly and sent it by birdie to see if he would have time to bake cookies with her.

In hopes that he would be around soon, Noelle started grabbing things that she thought he'd need. Like eggs, flour, and such. Now, she just needed was an Olly.

Olly hadn't meant to take a nap. But naps weren't often intentional. They just sort of...happened. So Olly had been curled up on his bed, a crumpled piece of parchment under his cheek and a discarded textbook upside down on the ground when he'd felt something tap his cheek. The birdie had woken him up rather suddenly and at first he had been a bit put out, but as soon as he'd seen who it was from he smiled and hopped off his bed. Hanging out with Noelle was better than napping anyway. Baking cookies with Noelle was one of the best things in the world.

His hair was still a bit ruffled as he made his way to the kitchens. He ran a rand through it before tickling the pear and stepping in. He grinned at his person and hurried over to where she was assembling ingredients. "I see you got started without me," he said with a smile. "What sort of cookies did you have in mind?"

Noelle had thought] she had pulled out all the ingredients they normally used. She didn't have a recipe book in her head like Olly did though. Speaking of Olly, where was he? Maybe he was preoccupied. In that case, maybe an elf would like to help her?

Just as she was about to go to the counter to ask for help, she heard the door open and grinned big when she saw Olly walk through. Practically flinging herself at him, she hugged him tight. "I had a craving for cookies." As if that explained everything.

Noelle did the model pose as she showed Olly all that she had. She may be missing a few ingredients, but she didn't know. "Extra chocolate chips?" She asked, pointing to the bowl of chocolate chips she had found. "Are you craving anything?"

She found that Hufflepuffs were the luckiest, their common room was so close to the kitchen. Sometimes Ava was quite jealous about this fact but well, she still thought that Gryffindor was the best house ever in Hogwarts. Hehe. Alright, she might be a little bit biased here.

Ava was in a mood for some sweet treats, hence why she headed to the kitchen. Plus, the Gryffindor always found baking was kind of therapeutic, even though she was still learning. Gathering some ingredients, Ava decided to do some experiment. She wanted to try baking red velvet cookies with cream cheese icing. Hopefully this would turn great.

Olly looked over the ingredients that Noelle had assembled. She had indeed gotten all the basics for cookies. He was proud of her. She should be able to know what they would need after all the times they had baked together. It did, of course, depend on what kind of cookie they were making. "Something peanut butter sounds good," he declared. "Peanut butter chocolate chip?" The two best flavors of cookies put together? Yes please.

Olly hugged Noelle back, clinging to her for a moment before moving closer to the counter and grabbing a bowl so they could start mixing. And the measuring cups, because those were definitely important.

Peanut butter and chocolate chip. "Mm. We should add caramel drizzles on top." Because that sounded delicious to be honest.

Noelle grabbed another bowl and started to separate the eggs. They had a rhythm of making cookies. "So, that new professor... the CoMC professor.." Noelle started, the corners of her mouth turning into a grin. "I may need to hang out at the barn and the hut to train." Ahem, in other words, he was cute. Plus his pet phoenix.

Noelle threw the egg shells into the trash before mixing them up. She was starving and each whisk made her want these cookies more. The potion was definitely working though, her mood was uplifted greatly from what it was.

"Great idea." Olly grinned at Noelle. Caramel drizzles on top did sound good. Peanut butter chocolate chip with caramel drizzle. They should probably stop there because adding any more flavors would just get ridiculous.

Olly measured the flour and stuff into his bowl and was mixing it when Noelle spoke again. He smirked, and then started outright laughing. He nudged her. "Just to train, I'm sure. No ulterior motive from you." Olly set his bowl on the counter, an invitation for her to combine them, and went to grab the cookie sheet. And preheat the oven of course. "I wouldn't mind spending some time in the library this term."

Ah the kitchen. Olivia hadn't been here in ages. Well. It had been AGES as Henry had been the person to show her where this wonderful place was. As she walked through the doors, she smelled homey like her aunt's home. Her aunt reminded her of her mother. Mother. She did not look forward to seeing her mother again. They hadn't left on the best of terms when she left for Hogwarts. They were never on the best of terms. She needed to distract herself.

Where was she again? Ah, the kitchen.

In the kitchen, she noticed a girl (Ava) who looked either around her age or older (perhaps?) gathering ingredients. "What are you making?" she asked with a small smile, instantly intrigued.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Watson

Ah the kitchen. Olivia hadn't been here in ages. Well. It had been AGES as Henry had been the person to show her where this wonderful place was. As she walked through the doors, she smelled homey like her aunt's home. Her aunt reminded her of her mother. Mother. She did not look forward to seeing her mother again. They hadn't left on the best of terms when she left for Hogwarts. They were never on the best of terms. She needed to distract herself.

Where was she again? Ah, the kitchen.

In the kitchen, she noticed a girl (Ava) who looked either around her age or older (perhaps?) gathering ingredients. "What are you making?" she asked with a small smile, instantly intrigued.

Eggs, flour, cocoa powder, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, salt, baking soda, food coloring, cream cheese, salt... What else that she would need? Ava took a look at her recipe notebook and gave a checklist on the ingredients that she had gotten. Oh, she needed some icing sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla extract. She was sure that she could get those ingredients from the cabinet.

Oh, actually she wasn't alone here. The Gryffindor just noticed that there was a girl, who she was sure that she had seen her around before. "Oh, hello." Ava smiled at her. "I'm going to try this new recipe, red velvet cookies with cream cheese frosting." Just by mentioning it, She tried not to salivate and imagine how mouth-watering these cookies would be. This would be her first try of baking these and she was quite optimistic about the result. Even though mostly she failed on some first baking trial kind of thing. "Do you want to be my tester?" Ava grinned.

A tester for delicious cookies? Olivia could hardly say no to such a wonderful offer. Though she had never tried red velvet before. "Sure, I'd love too," she beamed. Oh hold up. She hadn't even introduced herself to the other girl. The other girl did look very familiar and Olivia could have sworn that she had seen her in the Common Room before. She focused on the girl, trying to determine if the common room was the place that she had seen her. Unfortunately, she hadn't realized that she was somewhat staring at the other girl. "Sorry for staring... you just look very familiar. Are you also a Gryffindor? I'm Olivia Holden."

She eyed the ingredients and waited a moment to ask another question. "What does red velvet taste like? I've never had it before!"

If Noelle had her way, and the way her stomach was wanting everything, she wouldn't have stopped there. She'd have added sprinkles and etc just to bring that cookie over the top. It would have been impossibly sweet to eat though. Maybe that would have satisfied this hunger she was having... or maybe it would make her sick. Either way, she was glad that Olly stopped adding ingredients.

Noelle grinned at the nudge as she added the eggs to the mix. "The library huh?" She wondered if that had anything to do with the new and ... rather good looking librarian. She giggled and nudged him back.

Olly just shrugged and grinned innocently, though it turned mischievous more quickly than he meant. "I take my studies seriously." It wasn't his fault that the new librarian was...nice to look at. Too bad he hadn't been there last year, OWL year, when Olly had practically lived in the library. "We need to go explore that maze sometime."

He let her mix all of the ingredients together and came back over with the cookie sheet. He sprayed it, so they wouldn't stick, and then it was time to put the cookies on. Olly grabbed a bit of the dough with his hands, rolled it into a loose ball, and dropped it on the tray.

Oh, good! This girl didn't mind to be her tester. Well, she hoped that this recipe would turn great because Ava didn't want to disappoint her. She left her workstation for a moment to grab some other ingredients that she would need for this recipe. Re-checking the ingredients, the Gryffindor was sure that she didn't miss anything and started mixing the flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, salt, and baking soda into a bowl.

"Yes, I am. Ava Burton, sixth year. It's nice to meet you, Olivia." She wiped her hand and offered a handshake. "Well uh... red velvet cookies is actually another kind of chocolate cookie, but it has the dark red color. And the best compliment for them is cream cheese frosting." Ava explained a little bit about red velvet cookies while she grabbed another bowl for mixing her butter and sugar. "What is your favorite cookies, by the way?"

Olivia watched as the other girl went about gathering ingredients. She tired her best to stay out of her way. At the handshake gesture, Olivia smiled. She hadn't been expecting a handshake since the girl had been busy but it was very kind of her to do so. She grinned, taking Ava's hand and shaking it. "Nice to meet you, Ava," added Olivia as she secured a seat by the kitchen and listened to Ava explain what red velvet cookies were. Ahh... She had definitely seen them before at the bakery.

Her favourite type of cookie. Well that was a hard question in itself. Olivia liked all cookies but she did have a special liking for gingersnap and snickerdoodle. She just loved the combination of cinnamon and sugar. It was delicious. "Gingersnap cookies. I love them so much. Are red velvet your favourite type of cookie?" she asked and watched as Ava went to grab another bowl. "Do you need help with making the cookies? I can help if you'd like."

"Oh, I like gingersnap too. Well... I just love any kind of cookies in general" She beamed as she added the egg, vanilla and red food color into the butter mixture. Once it mixed well, Ava added the wet ingredients into the flour mixture. "I do enjoy red velvet cookies, though. But my ultimate favorite is... classic chocolate chip." And she often baked them, like once in a/two weeks.

The Gryffindor smiled as Olivia offered a help. "If you don't mind, you can help me shape the cookies." Ava said. It was not that difficult, just rolled the dough into balls and then flattened it down. But she needed the cookie sheet and tray, also preheated the oven. "Just don't forget to wash your hands first."

Mhmm. Noelle knew better than that being the only reason Olly was heading into the library. "Oh please, you act like I don't know you better than that." She said nudging him with her elbow as she whisked the ingredients together. "He is rather cute. We should go say hello sometime." You know, make their acquaintance and such.

After the ingredients were mixed together, Noelle brought the bowl closer to the pan and began helping shape the balls. "Ever wonder if theres anything scandalous happening with the professors? Like... Hirsch... do we know who hes dating?" Noelle wouldn't ever ask a professor who they were dating. Never. ..... Probably. The thought of Skylar professing her love to Rivers made her giggle. But another thought occurred to her. She blinked that thought away.

She'd waited literally the entire week for this. Left to her own impulse, Jessa may have been down in the kitchen for ice-cream every evening but she knew everything was better in moderation and after the ridiculously long week she'd had, and a shower that left her feeling on top of the world, it was time to get her strawberry chocolate sundae with nuts and whipped cream.

This time she would have to remember to ask the elves if they had the little crushed bowls of fruit she could add to it. They did for her once and it'd been AMAZING. Like a symphony of happy little taste buds making beautiful music in her mouth.

It was like being in love she supposed...if she actually knew what that was like...which probably meant that in the moment this was better because she knew more of it than of that abstract concept.

Jessa tickled the pear on the portrait before crawling in through the portrait hole. It was possible that each step she took made her all the more excited. Perfectly normal.

The kitchens were something of a second home to Althea, and she frequented them so much that she might as well have called them her first home. Being in Hufflepuff gave her that exclusive sort of quick access to food whenever she wanted, which thank Helga for that, as she wasn't sure she could actually make it through the day without her frequent snack breaks.

So it wasn't completely strange that she was in the kitchens, again, surrounded by food. She was in mid chew when she heard someone else enter the kitchens. It wasn't abnormal, but Althea was pretty surprised. She figured this was a good time when she wouldn't have to deal with people, but she supposed she couldn't be that greedy - the kitchens were technically for everyone. Mostly. It didn't deter her, because she was content with stuffing her face, the waffles were so good, her mood instantly picked up as she chewed her worries away.