Harry looked at the doors to the Great Hall eagerly. The students had just returned from the holiday break and were streaming in for the return dinner. While he had enjoyed himself over the holiday, he had missed Lavender, Parvati, and Padma. It was a shock to him when he realized he missed seeing them and talking to them. He never had friends before to miss.
"Potter," Fred and George said, giving him a cool but polite nod as they walked past. Ron grunted and nodded, saying nothing else. He looked less hostile than he did before and it surprised Harry.
"Hello," he said back. "Good holiday?"
"Was pretty good," Fred said. "Yours?"
"It was good, thank you. I was alone in the tower," Harry replied.
"Having the run of the tower by yourself, that must be nice," George said.
"We'd never get that chance," Fred said, looking back towards the door.
"Probably for the best," George snickered. The three Weasley brothers nodded again and kept walking down the table.
"I do hope they were polite," someone said from behind, making Harry turn. He saw Percy standing there, throwing a stern look after his brothers.
"They were," Harry said.
"Thank goodness," Percy sighed. "I hope I did not act out of turn, but I had a talk with them a few months ago about how they were treating you."
"You did?" Harry looked surprised. "Why?"
It was Percy's turn to look surprised. "Because it was not right, how they were treating you. I should address it as a prefect and as their older brother."
"Oh. Thank you, I appreciate it."
Percy felt faintly embarrassed for some reason. "You are welcome. I sincerely hope that there will be no future problems, but do feel free to let me know if there are."
"Did… did they tell you why?" Harry asked nervously.
"It was over a misunderstanding between you and Ronald on the Express and it was taken out of proportion," Percy said.
"Oh actually, I think I can explain more. We learned in Household Charms club that you can taste magic."
Percy looked interested. "You can?"
"Yeah, apparently the more you use magic to cook, it leaves a distinct taste. That's why I found your mother's corned beef to taste so different."
"Is that so? How interesting." Percy looked impressed. "Mother cooks with magic all the time so that would explain things. With your permission, I will tell them that and hopefully the misunderstanding could be firmly put to rest."
"I'd like that. Thank you," Harry said sincerely.
"You are welcome." With a nod, Percy walked away.
"Harry!"
Harry turned and smiled as he saw Lavender walk in with the Patil sisters. He waved back excitedly. "Hi everyone!"
"Did you have a good holiday?" Lavender asked as she sat beside him.
"It was really nice. Quiet and I got a lot of work done and visited with the Elves and Hagrid and the Headmaster. Thank you so much for the gifts. I love my apron and my mortar and pestle!"
"You're welcome! I adore my sewing kit," Lavender smiled brightly.
"I've never seen Parvati read something so diligently like her book," Padma smiled.
"It's really interesting!" Parvati said. "And that tablet is really handy. Padma uses it a lot and it's so cool."
"I'm glad," he said with relief.
Padma left to go back to the Ravenclaw table and Harry felt more at ease eating and chatting with Lavender and Parvati like before.
"Everyone liked your biscuits," Lavender said the next night when they met for club activities.
"Really?" Harry asked, pleased.
"Mmmhmm! They said they were great and my mum said she could actually taste a difference between the ones you made with and without magic," Lavender said. "That was really exciting. My little sisters preferred yours to mine though," she huffed, making the others laugh. "It was fun baking with them though. When we went to my Grandmum's, we all baked together and Grandmum was really happy to do that with us."
"Only your mum could taste a difference?" Parvati asked.
"Daddy could a little but she could more. She's a witch too," Lavender said. "My dad is a Muggle." She hesitated for a moment, as if debating whether or not to say more, and decided not to.
"I guess that answers a question if Muggles can tell the difference in tasting magical food or not," Flitwick said smoothly. "We can explore that as well later on. Oh and I managed to procure some magazines for the club." He revealed them with a large smile. "Here are some ones focusing on fashion and textile work and things like that."
Lavender and Parvati picked those up eagerly, already flipping through them.
"And for you Mister Potter, some cooking magazines." He grinned at Harry's enthusiasm. "Now most of them are from international magical communities. There really aren't any domestic ones."
"Why is that?" Padma asked.
.....
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