She stared at him, shocked by his simple statement. Slowly, uncertainly, Pansy reached up and took the bundle from him. She looked at it, expecting it to do something else, waiting for some trick to happen. Yet none came and she looked back at Harry. "Why?" she whispered.
"Because I don't like hearing people cry," Harry said finally. With an awkward nod he turned and left, walking away without another word.
She watched him flee, losing sight of him as he turned the corner. She stared at the muffin in her hand, wrapped by a handkerchief with clumsy stitches. When she unwrapped the muffin, she breathed deep of the sweet scent. The muffin warmed her cold hand. She raised her hand to throw it, to toss his concern away, to get rid of his pity.
She bit into the muffin cautiously instead, still expecting some dreadful trick, some ploy to take advantage of her moment of weakness. She bit the muffin again, and again. Her bites became bigger each time. Tears ran again but they tasted sweeter, or perhaps it was the muffin that flavored them. After the third bite, she slowed down, savoring the taste, drawing it out.
Too soon, the handkerchief was empty save for crumbs and lingering warmth. She closed her eyes and held the handkerchief in both hands. Her stomach felt warm and despite her best efforts, the warmth spread throughout her body.
The tears still ran and she cried once more but they took on a different note as she continued to hide in the alcove.
.....
doRodrigo - I am going to try and maintain a twice weekly update schedule. Thank you for reading, it means a lot to me.
Arnie1701 - There will be some different friendships with different timing, and a couple that will be the same compared to my other stories.
poka - I really intend to explore magical cooking as well as mundane or regular cooking as well as delving into some other societies and cultures as well. I really want to create a culture that feels reasonable and plausible as well as be something we can recognize and imagine. Hopefully you will find it satisfying as it comes.
odonnellzoo99 - I always wanted to take a Home Ec class. I think that sort of skill and knowledge is always valuable. The high school I went to didn't provide that or shop classes sadly. I am a single male so I have to do all the cooking save for the occasional fast food or take out.
I'm a fairly decent cook I like to think though, hence my passion for it and the basis for this story. I wanted to give Flitwick a chance to shine in this story and I think he is perfect for this role too. He's so fun.
DOOOOOOM Lord of Waffles - He is. I also have a fun little side story with him in mind later one. It'll be a while yet though so nothing soon.
plums - I think the home charms were expected to be taught by parents or family members that cared about them. I'd want to learn them in class though but that's just me. I also hope to do some fun magical theory exploration in this fic so keep ruminating on your thoughts and theories.
alix33 - I like drawstring bags too, useful like you say.
LordLiberty - I always thought clubs in Hogwarts would be a valuable resource for students. Especially since it gives students from different Houses a chance to interact. I always wished I did more with clubs in school, I wasn't able to as much.
SvenHPotterFan - Hi there. It's been a while and I'm glad to see you again. What I want to do with this fic wouldn't have worked with strictly canon and as you saw with Family, when I was able to bend things a bit, it turned out better. Hopefully by this fic's end, it will still feel like a plausible part of the setting while being it's own story.