Gaston needed coffee... now! Dividing his time between his students and his daughter was running him ragged; he could barely function without caffeine. He intended to just grab a cup from the coffee bar outside his office, but his growling stomach reminded him that he'd skipped lunch and was now starving! A quick detour to the bistro was in order...

He poured himself a cup of coffee and added lots of cream and sugar. When it was sweet enough for his liking, he helped himself to a slice of cherry clafoutis and took a seat in the nearest chair. His bright blue eyes darted around the empty room, and a sudden pang of loneliness gripped him. It was nice to take a moment to unwind, but it would be nicer if he had some company. He glanced at the door, silently hoping somebody else would show up.

Dorian had been feeling creative all day and he had been itching to practise some Charms he had read about in his textbook. Waiting for classes to learn certain spells was not really his thing, he prefered trying them out by himself and see if he was able to do them or not. 9 out of 10 times he failed because of his concentration problems but he was working on it and he was definitely not a quitter.

With the Charms book tucked under his arm, Dorian pushed the door open and frowned. Had the practise room changed looks since last year or had he pushed open the wrong door AGAIN. With an annoyed sigh, the third year was about to turn back around when he spotted a figure on one of the chairs. "Oh hey Professor!" he called and even waved his free hand at him. "What are you doing?" all alone he wanted to ask but decided against it cause that would be rude. "Eh...this isn't the practise room right?"

With a sigh, Gaston turned his attention from the door back to his snack, absently swirling the custard dish around his plate. This place brought back memories of happy days spent with his wife, back when she still taught at Hogwarts, but it was also a bad reminder that he was on his own now... which was why he usually avoided this place.

Then, as if his wish for company had been answered, the door opened. Gaston turned around in his chair, just in time to see Mr. Katharos appear. "Hello, Mr. Katharos!" he greeted, smiling slightly as he waved back at the boy. "Nothing much. I just needed a snack and didn't feel like going all the way to the kitchens." His face fell at the boy's next words. He might've guessed! "No, the practice room is down the hall... but you're more than welcome to stay if you'd like a snack or are interested in cooking with magic." Or if he wanted to just, you know, hang out, that was fine too. Was it too much to hope that he wouldn't leave just yet?

The practise room was down the hall? Dorian leaned back to look down the hallway and indeed saw another door. That had to be the right place. But as he looked back to thank the man he felt like he couldn't leave just yet. It would be concidered rude in his opinion to leave after getting an invitation to stay for a snack. And only a fool would pass food.

"Alright" he said and walked closer before taking a seat at the table as well. "Is the food here made by the house elves as well?" he asked as his blue eyes curiously scanned the menu card. "Woah! Macarons? I want those" he said as he looked around. Where were they?

His attention went from the macarons to the idea of cooking himself and he looked over at the small kitchen. He looked like he wanted to get up and start cooking himself for a moment but then remembered that had never cooked before. His father and sometimes his grandfather would do that all the time or they just had take out. "I want to try, but i am a hundred percent sure that this place will be a war zone after i'm done cooking" He laughed. "There's a reason i was searching for the practise room earlier" he said as he held up his third year Charms textbook "i suck at magic you see" he added with a chuckle though he did not find it funny at all. He just wanted his spells to work or when the worked they shouldn't be so powerful. A simple Aguamenti could turn in to a fire hose spray if he tried it. SIGH.

Gaston half-expected the young Ravenclaw to retreat down the hall to the practice room, but to his surprise (and relief), that didn't happen yet. He beamed as Dorian accepted his invitation for a snack. "Most of it is, yes," he replied. "The rest comes from a bakery in France. I have a friend who enjoys baking, so she sends me pastries every couple of days." He realized how that probably sounded and quickly added, "Not to worry - she uses plenty of spells to keep everything fresh."

He chuckled to himself a little. "Good choice! Macarons it is!" he said. He aimed his wand at a pink box on the counter, and it flew across the room into his waiting hands. "Freshly made this morning..." He opened the box, revealing several neat rows of colorful cookies. "Pick your favorite color."

Gaston's eyes followed Dorian's to the kitchen area, but his expression darkened at what the boy said next. "Whatever happens, I'm sure we could fix it," he said with an encouraging smile. "Don't let fear stop you from trying something new. We could start out with something simple..." His face fell; it broke his heart to see a student so down on himself! "You don't suck at magic! You're still learning, and mistakes are just a part of the learning process. After all, if we got every spell right on the first try, I'd be out of a job!" He chuckled sheepishly. "All you need is a little practice." That and some confidence, but who was he to talk bout that?

Dorian had wanted to comment on the freshness of the food when the Professor seemed to have read his mind and he nodded his head to show he understood. "That friend sounds nice. Say thank you for me and make sure to mention my full name so when i am in that bakery one day i'll get a free dessert" cause that was how life worked right?

His blue eyes watched in fascination as a pink box was summoned towards them and he looked inside to see the macarons. "I know that Accio is a fourth year spell but i tried to learn it last year together with Rylee" he said as he picked out not one not two but three....ok four macarons from the box. Hey his favourite color wasn't included! "We got nowhere!" he laughed and took a bite from the first dessert.

Eating the second macaron, Dorian shrugged his shoulders once. "Nah, it isn't fear. I just don't like cleaning" he said and ate the last macaron he had taken and then looked at the box. "Can i have another one?" he asked.

"I know that im still learning. But i want to be able to do a spell right away" he sighed heavily. "But i guess i don't want the professors to lose their jobs either" he had honestly never thought about it like that. Did that make him a selfish person?

Looking over at the cooking area again, Dorian suddenly got up. "I want to make something" he said with more determination than that he felt "It would be a good practice right? What is easy to make?" he asked.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckyLinJi

Dorian had wanted to comment on the freshness of the food when the Professor seemed to have read his mind and he nodded his head to show he understood. "That friend sounds nice. Say thank you for me and make sure to mention my full name so when i am in that bakery one day i'll get a free dessert" cause that was how life worked right?

His blue eyes watched in fascination as a pink box was summoned towards them and he looked inside to see the macarons. "I know that Accio is a fourth year spell but i tried to learn it last year together with Rylee" he said as he picked out not one not two but three....ok four macarons from the box. Hey his favourite color wasn't included! "We got nowhere!" he laughed and took a bite from the first dessert.

Eating the second macaron, Dorian shrugged his shoulders once. "Nah, it isn't fear. I just don't like cleaning" he said and ate the last macaron he had taken and then looked at the box. "Can i have another one?" he asked.

"I know that im still learning. But i want to be able to do a spell right away" he sighed heavily. "But i guess i don't want the professors to lose their jobs either" he had honestly never thought about it like that. Did that make him a selfish person?

Looking over at the cooking area again, Dorian suddenly got up. "I want to make something" he said with more determination than that he felt "It would be a good practice right? What is easy to make?" he asked.

Gaston half-expected Dorian to question the freshness of the baked goods further, but it seemed his explanation had appeased him for the time being, or so the professor thought, judging by the nodding. "She is nice," he replied, smiling. "She used to give me pastries every day when we were at Beaubatons." He almost laughed out loud as he remembered one time when he'd been through a bad breakup, and Lorraine tried to cheer him up by feeding him crepes - crepes that unbeknownst to her, her brother had spiked with alihotsy leaves. He wound up in the infirmary for the rest of the day with fits of laughter, but on the bright side, it led to one of Lorraine's signature recipes!

He was so lost in thought that he almost missed what Dorian said next. "I'll be sure to thank her for you," he promised. "If you ever visit her bakery, just tell her you know me, and she'll give you any dessert you like." Which, if his present eating habits were any indication, would probably be more macarons. Gaston smiled as Dorian took a few macarons from the box, but his face fell as the subject turned to . "I'm sorry to hear that, Mr. Katharos," he said, giving the boy a sympathetic look. "Would you like to try that spell again now? I could offer you a few pointers..."

Gaston nodded as understanding dawned in his eyes, and his smile returned. "Oh, I see," he said. "To tell you the truth, I'm not fond of cleaning either, but if you want to try cooking, you won't have to do the cleaning." He brandished his wand. "Trust me, magic makes the job go faster. A couple of quick spells, and I can undo whatever mess happens." His smile turned into a chuckle as the boy asked for yet another macaron. "Of course," he said, holding the box out to him. "That's why they're here."

Gaston watched Dorian get up, half-expecting him to make a beeline for the door, but... His blue eyes widened slightly as the boy said he wanted to try cooking. Well, that was a pleasant surprise! "Glad to hear it!" he said, beaming. He thought for a minute, deciding on a recipe. Maybe he'd like to try making his own macarons? But that was probably a little too complicated for someone just starting out. "Why don't we try making some sugar cookies?" he suggested. That was a pretty simple recipe that didn't require any complicated spells.

The fact that the Professor had went to Beauxbaton surprised Dorian as he always had in mind that people who worked at Hogwarts had also went to Hogwarts in their school years. But the part that caught his attention the most was that this girl had made him pastries while they had been at school. A small smirk came across him as he tried not to snicker. "I think she had a crush on you, Sir" come one, no girl would make pastries for someone that many times. "Please tell me you two dated at least once" Yeah he knew it was rude to ask someone that but come on, he loved love and being curious did not help either.

"Of course i want to try the spell again" he said and took his wand out. "Ok so usually when i try a spell, my mind gets cluttered with random thoughts" he said "Most of the time its songs" annoyingly enough. He pointed his wand at the box of macarons across the table and was about to use Accio when a thought popped up that he HAD to voice. "Did you know that when you have a song stuck in your head your brain actually wants you to finish the song....

Oh right..spell" he added as if he just realised what he had wanted to do.

He aimed his wand at the box, tried to concentrate on the box moving towards him and said "Accio!" The box moved. Actually moved a few inches closer to him and Dorian looked up in surprise that he broke the connection again. HAD HE SEEN THAT?! "Accio!" he tried again but this time nothing happened.

With a sigh, the Ravenclaw placed his wand on the table. "I honestly don't know what i'm doing wrong. My wand is an Acacia and i read that this wood will refuse to perform magic when anyone but its owner holds it. But i AM the owner so why is it not listening?" could he hear the frustration in his voice? Cause he was definitely frustrated about this.

So he could cook and make a mess and the Professor would clean it up after him? Deal! Without a word, Dorian hurried towards the small kitchen. "I'm guessing since its sugar cookies i need sugar?" he asked as he began opening cabinet doors to find it.

He was like at a level 0 when it came to cooking.

Blink, blink. Well this conversation certainly took an awkward turn! Goodness, how did he put that idea into Dorian's head?! He and Lorraine were both happily married to other people! Gaston looked down and took a sip of his coffee, trying to hide the blush rising to his cheeks. He didn't know whether to be amused or appalled by the question! "It's not like that..." he said. "Her brother's been my best friend since I was about your age, so she's really more like a big sister than anything else." The boy's next words nearly made him choke on his coffee. "We did once... it was a pity date set up by her brother. It was weird." He couldn't help but smile a little at the memory. "We decided it was best that we remain friends and nothing more."

He was grateful when the subject changed. "I'm glad to hear that," he said with an encouraging smile. His expression changed at what was said next. "I understand; concentration is a common problem when learning magic." Well, maybe not so much getting distracted by songs... He chuckled. "No, I didn't know that, but it makes sense." So was Dorian going to try the summoning charm again or...?

He took the wand aimed at the box as a yes. Gaston's face brightened as he watched the box move a few inches but soon fell as it stopped. He offered the young Ravenclaw a sympathetic look as he set his wand down. He could remember experiencing that same frustration many times in his younger days. He thought for a minute. "I think it's because it senses your distraction," he said. Granted, he wasn't a wandmaker, but that was his best guess. "Next time you try the summoning charm, think of how amazing it'll be to see the object flying toward you. Or if that doesn't work, maybe you could make up a song about the spell to think about." Well, he said he kept getting songs stuck in his head...

Gaston followed Dorian to the kitchen area, nodding in reply to the question."It does," he said. He pulled out a sugar cookie recipe card and read off the ingredients. "Sugar, flour, butter, baking soda, baking powder, eggs, and vanilla extract." He suddenly got an idea! "We could try summoning some of the ingredients, if you like." Now what should he ask the boy to try to summon? Flour? No. Eggs? Definitely not! "You could try summoning a mixing bowl from that cabinet." He inclined his head in the direction of the cabinet. There, that shouldn't make too much of a mess if the spell went wrong!

Prior to the arranged meeting time, Isa was at the bistro setting up a table. She had set out two plates, two tea cups, an empty tea pot, and assorted sachets of her custom tea blends on one of the tables so far. They would be trying their hand at making their own food while practicing charms instead of just getting the ready made food. Even making tea would be a charms exercise today. Isa knew that Emmalyn liked baking, so hopefully baking a treat themselves using charms would be a fun way to practice charms. Much more interesting than routine homework and had the added bonus of a tasty treat at the end. Would little Em show up?

Daisy decided to make the classic French dessert Tarte Tatin. She remembered this recipe by heart because her mother and aunt taught her how to make the dish. She aimed her wand at the refrigerator and cabinet and using the Summoning Charm, gathered some red apples, a lemon, some vanilla sugar, a bit of unsalted butter, French puff pastry and some cream. She also had on the table in front of her the necessary utensils.

Daisy was ready to begin. First was the apples. She aimed her wand at the apples and moved it in a spiral motion as she said, "Decortico!" The six apples were now peeled. She moved her wand in a circular motion around the apples as she said, "Extractum!" This resulted in the apples being cored. Daisy used the Severing Charm to cut the apples into quarters. After placing the apples in a large bowl, Daisy cut the lemon in half using "Diffindo," and squeezed some juice over the apples and added about 100g of the vanilla sugar.

She had been waiting all morning to head to The Bistro for tea with Isa. After spending far longer than usual getting ready and even catching up on some homework, it was finally time. She excitedly made her way to The Bistro and spotted Isa and greeted her with a bright smile. "Hi, Isa. The table looks great."

Her eyes scanned the room, taking in all of the various ready made treats and ingredients. She couldn't help but giggle when her stomach growled in response to such a lovely sight. She focused back on the sixth year Hufflepuff, "Thanks for inviting me. It smells fantastic in here and reminds me a bit of my father's bakery." Her hand rested on the back of the chair in front of her, wondering if she was supposed to sit or if Isa had other plans for them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Birchwoodmom

She had been waiting all morning to head to The Bistro for tea with Isa. After spending far longer than usual getting ready and even catching up on some homework, it was finally time. She excitedly made her way to The Bistro and spotted Isa and greeted her with a bright smile. "Hi, Isa. The table looks great."

Her eyes scanned the room, taking in all of the various ready made treats and ingredients. She couldn't help but giggle when her stomach growled in response to such a lovely sight. She focused back on the sixth year Hufflepuff, "Thanks for inviting me. It smells fantastic in here and reminds me a bit of my father's bakery." Her hand rested on the back of the chair in front of her, wondering if she was supposed to sit or if Isa had other plans for them.

Emmalyn was here! ”Hi Em! Thanks, I was hoping you’d like it here.” Isa grinned at her second year friend. ”Congratulations on your amazing performance in the most recent quidditch match.” It was a great pleasure to see Em growing up and developing her quidditch skills. Sometimes Isa missed quidditch, but there couldn’t have been a better choice than Bel to captain the team this year and it was just so much less stressful not needing to worry about fitting quidditch in on top of classes, homework, caring for her pets, tending to her plants, participating in choir and orchestra, and all the other craziness in her schedule. Really, Isa didn’t know how she had managed last year with quidditch and OWLs on top of all of that.

Oh good, Isa had hoped this would remind Emmalyn of home and baking that she was familiar with. ”I know you like baking, so I was thinking we could bake something today using charms. Your choice of what we should make.” Isa gestured to the list of charms posted on the wall. They could bake something from the menu, or even anything else Emmalyn wanted to bake that could be made with the available ingredients. ”So, would you care to sit down for tea first, or shall we get baking and enjoy tea with our food later?” The tea had not been made yet, so it really made no difference to Isa.

"Thanks! It was a tough game and the Gryffindor team really made us earn the win." It had been a nail biter and she wasn't sure they would pull off the win, but they did. "I miss having you as captain and seeing you at practice and such." That was one of the things she liked most about being on the team, seeing her teammates so much for practice, and the added distraction from studying was a big plus.

"Oh, baking with charms sounds lovely. I've never done it before." Growing up in a muggle household, she'd never seen magically made food and was beyond excited to try it out. "I think I'd like to get started on some treats before tea." She glanced over the menu and spotted several items that looked fantastic. Choosing was going to be hard. One of her favorites was on the menu, eclairs. The steam puffed pastry filled with the delicate cream filling and covered in rich chocolate. Her mouth watered thinking of them and they paired perfectly with tea. "Hmm, I think eclairs would be wonderful." She looked at the menu once again. "I would also like to try to make kouign-amann. Those were one my father's specialty pastries." She smiled remembering the line of customers around the shop, just waiting for the next batch of kouign-amann to come out of the oven. "Do those sound okay to you?" There wasn't a recipe for the kouign-amann, but she was fairly certain she could remember most of what to do.

Gaston had some spare time on his hands and decided a trip to the bistro was in order. Some coffee (and maybe an eclair too) was just what he needed! And besides, he needed to check in on things anyway! He peered into the room. So far, everything looked normal. The tables and chairs were neatly in place and all the drinks and pastries fully stocked.

He helped himself to a cup of coffee and grabbed an eclair on his way toward the kitchen area. It was only then that he noticed Daisy, and he beamed as he watched her peel and core her apples. "Hello, Daisy!" he greeted. "Excellent spellwork!" His bright blue eyes scanned the ingredients on the table, and he wondered if she was making what he thought she was. "What recipe are you making?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Birchwoodmom

"Thanks! It was a tough game and the Gryffindor team really made us earn the win." It had been a nail biter and she wasn't sure they would pull off the win, but they did. "I miss having you as captain and seeing you at practice and such." That was one of the things she liked most about being on the team, seeing her teammates so much for practice, and the added distraction from studying was a big plus.

"Oh, baking with charms sounds lovely. I've never done it before." Growing up in a muggle household, she'd never seen magically made food and was beyond excited to try it out. "I think I'd like to get started on some treats before tea." She glanced over the menu and spotted several items that looked fantastic. Choosing was going to be hard. One of her favorites was on the menu, eclairs. The steam puffed pastry filled with the delicate cream filling and covered in rich chocolate. Her mouth watered thinking of them and they paired perfectly with tea. "Hmm, I think eclairs would be wonderful." She looked at the menu once again. "I would also like to try to make kouign-amann. Those were one my father's specialty pastries." She smiled remembering the line of customers around the shop, just waiting for the next batch of kouign-amann to come out of the oven. "Do those sound okay to you?" There wasn't a recipe for the kouign-amann, but she was fairly certain she could remember most of what to do.

”I miss being part of the team and I miss seeing you at practices too. I just couldn’t handle that on top of everything else and academics have to come before sports, with way too many things it just got to the point where I thought I was either going to end up going mad or failing half my classes. We can always practice together out on the quidditch pitch when you’re free, if you want to.” Wow, she hadn’t really admitted that before, about exactly how overwhelmed she got last year. Looking back on everything, she was probably insane to have been doing all the extracurricular activities that she had been doing in her OWLs year. Well, she was still doing most of those things this year, but quidditch was a particularly time consuming activity and being captain had come with even more commitment and responsibility.

Isa grinned at Emmalyn. ”First time for everything. Honestly, I haven’t really done much baking with charms before either.” There were many recipes posted in here that Isa hadn’t tried making before. Usually she just baked cookies downstairs in the kitchens and she didn’t usually use charms for that most of the time. ”Baking it is then!” Ooh, yum! ”Those sound great! What’s in kouign-amann?” Isa headed over to the sink and washed her hands. As her mum always used to remind her when she was little, you always had to start working with food with clean hands. Couldn’t have dirty hands poking around in something that people were going to eat, that would be unsanitary. Then she looked to the list of charms for an idea of how to get started with the baking. ”Shall we start by summoning the ingredients and equipment we need?” They could always gather everything by hand, but that wasn’t the point of charms practice.

"Hello, Professor Marchand!" Daisy greeted, enthusiastically. "Oh, thank you, sir. I am making Tarte Tatin. This is the first time I've made it via magic on my own so I'm a little nervous."

With that Daisy added the rest of the vanilla sugar, along with the equivalent of two tablespoons of water thanks to her saying, "Aguamenti" to a Tarte Tatin dish that she had placed over low heat on the stove. She stirred the sugar and water mixture until the sugar was dissolved. Using "Calefacio," Daisy increased the heat to medium for five minutes to allow the sugar to carmelise to a light golden-brown colour.

Daisy then used "Accio," to gather the apples and butter. She added the apple to the caramel, making sure the cut-side was facing upwards, dotting each slice of apple with butter. Daisy turned the heat down to very low as she partially cooked the apples for five minutes. Once the five minutes had elapsed, Daisy turned off the heat via "Finite," and set the pan aside.

She nodded as Isa spoke. "I completely understand studies needed to come before sports. I'm not sure how things will go for me once I'm in my fourth year, I hear that's when things really start getting crazy. I'm hardly keeping up right now!" She giggled a little bit thinking about how horrible she had been in most of her classes at the beginning of the year. Now that they were approaching the end of the year, she was finally doing a bit better.

"A kouign-amann is sort of like a round croissant, but better. It has lots of butter and sugar. I used to have them at breakfast with tea every Saturday morning. I think you will like it." She followed Isa to the sink to wash her hands and even did a quick wipe of her wand. It occurred to her she had no idea when the last time was that she cleaned her wand.

"Yes, let's summons the ingredients and equipment, then get started baking. I'm getting hungry." Her eyes sparkled with excitement and she quickly glanced over the list of charms needed. "Accio butter! Accio flour!" She continued on with the ingredients for the kouign-amann, directing them to the left hand side of the workstation. "Do you want to start gathering the ingredients for the eclairs?"

Gaston couldn't help but smile at Daisy's enthusiastic greeting, and his smile grew even wider when she confirmed his suspicion about the recipe. "I thought so! Goodness, I haven't had Tarte Tatin in ages. My grandmother used to make the best Tarte Tatin..." He smiled a little at the memory. He could really go for some Tarte Tatin right now! Maybe Daisy would share some with him when it was ready?

"Unfortunately, I didn't inherit her cooking skills," he said with a small self-deprecating laugh. If he didn't know how to cook with magic, he probably would've starved to death by now! He nodded; he could understand being nervous about cooking. No matter how many times he cooked with magic, there was always that fear in the back of his mind that the dish would quite literally blow up in his face. He watched with a beam as Daisy continued her work. "It looks like you're doing a great job so far!" he said. "Let me know if you need help with anything."

"I hope this turns out well and if it does, I'll be sure to give you a nice slice with some cream on top," Daisy said to Professor Marchand with a smile as she turned the oven on to 190 degrees Celsius. Next was the French pastry. Daisy aimed her wand at the pastry sitting to one side and said, "Accio," so that it was sitting in front of her. She then passed her wand over the surface of the pastry, saying, "Sternuntur," at the same time to roll out her dough and then Daisy used "Diffindo," to cut a circle of pastry that in size was slightly larger than the pan. She then carefully used her wand to cover the pan with the pastry, tucking any excess pastry underneath and placing the pan onto a baking tray.

Daisy then grabbed some oven mitts and opened the door of the now preheated oven before placing the tray in the oven and closing the door. She then waited for the Tarte Tatin to cook as she waved her wand and said a couple of spells to clean and put away any equipment/ingredients that she no longer needed to use back where they belonged.

Gaston beamed. "I'm sure it'll turn out fine," he assured Daisy. He'd had her in his class long enough to know she was proficient at charms, and she appeared to know what she was doing as far as cooking skills went. His smile grew wider at the promise of a slice of Daisy's Tarte Tatin. "Thank you; that sounds heavenly!" His mouth was already watering at the thought!

He took a sip of coffee as he sat at the table nearest the kitchen area. The thought crossed his mind to offer help, but it didn't look like Daisy needed any. She was already doing a great job rolling and cutting the dough with magic. In what seemed like no time at all, the Tarte Tatin was in the oven, and the smell wafted through the room. It smelled so good, and he was sure it would taste even better!

Gaston rose, setting down his coffee cup, as he watched Daisy starting to clean up. "Would you like some help cleaning?" he asked. Even with magic, it could be an awfully big job for one person!

"Oh, it is my pleasure, Professor Marchand. After all, you have always been there for me." Daisy replied with a smile.

Daisy shook her head when Professor Marchand asked if she needed any help cleaning up. "No thank you. I seem to be quite skilled at the domestic charms."

Soon, the thirty-five minutes baking time was up so Daisy turned off the oven, opened the oven door and removed the Tarte Tatin from the oven and placed it on the counter. Daisy closed the oven door and she decided to use a Cooling Charm to cool the dish in the pan. She moved her wand in an "M" shape over the Tarte Tatin as she said, "Frigidus!"

Once the dish was cooled down enough, Daisy grabbed some thickened cream and whipped it using magic. She put the cream to one side as she got a large plate. She placed the plate over the Tarte Tatin pan and turned the lot upside down.

Daisy aimed her wand and said, "Accio plate. Accio fork," so that Professor Marchand could have a slice. Daisy pointed at the Tarte Tatin with the wand, saying, "Diffindo," so that a large piece could be cut. She then placed it on the plate and poured some cream over the top of the slice via, "Locomotor cream."

Daisy then passed the plate to Professor Marchand. "Here you are, sir. I hope you like it."

Daisy's kind words caught Gaston a tad by surprise... not a surprise that she'd say something like that, of course. He knew Daisy was a kind person. It was just unexpected because he didn't feel he'd done anything to deserve such praise. After all, it was his job to do everything he could to help his students! He blinked, too touched to speak; he managed a smile in reply before having to take a sip of coffee to help him swallow the lump rising in his throat.

He sat quietly for a few moments to gather his composure until Daisy's voice jerked him out of his thoughts. He smiled; he hadn't expected her to need help, but it would be rude not to at least offer. "That's certainly true!" he agreed. If anything, "quite skilled" was a bit of an understatement! "I'm impressed with your skills! When I was your age, I could hardly heat a dish without setting something on fire!" He laughed self-deprecatingly. That might be a bit of an exaggeration, but his fear of fire made cooking, with or without magic, hard for him.

Soon, the Tarte Tatin was ready, and Gaston beamed as Daisy handed him a plate. "If this tastes even half as good as it looks and smells, I'm in for a treat!" he exclaimed, taking in the delicious aroma. He took a small bite, and his smile grew. He knew it would be good, but this was even better than he expected. "This is the best Tarte Tatin I've had in years!" Certainly the best he'd had since his grandmother passed. "Would you mind sharing your recipe? I'd like to add it to the menu here in the bistro."

Daisy blushed inwardly when Professor Marchand complimented her on her spellwork. "Thank you, sir!"

Daisy watched in nervous anticipation as Professor Marchand had a small bite of her Tarte Tatin. Much to her delight (and relief), he was enjoying the taste of it. When he asked if she could share her recipe, Daisy beamed. "I'd be happy to. Luckily, I have some parchment and my quill on me."

She took out her parchment and quill and began to write. Once that was completed, Daisy tapped the parchment with her wand and it turned into a recipe card.