Closed A cooking afternoon

[Hildegard de Valeriane]

One afternoon when there were no lessons, Hilda went down to the kitchens for the first time, of course she introduced herself to the house elves and asked them if she could cook in a small corner of the room,they agreed on the condition that she would clean everything away after cooking ,she understood and found it normal they had other things to do than wash behind her. She took the ingredients and went to one of the little tables, being careful not to disturb the house elves, she rolled up her sleeves and started washing the rhubarb sticks. After that she started cutting them into pieces and at the same time she was watching the room and the dishes on the large tables,she was very impressed with the work of the cooks and wondered if they had many visits from students or teachers. She was ready to continue her recipe, when she saw someone else enter the room.

 

[Terrell Foley]

Terrell had homework to do but free afternoons didn't come along every day so exploring took precedence. He had wanted to climb the cliffs surrounding Hogwarts, but first, snacks!

He headed down to the basement, following an older students instructions for gaining access to the kitchens. It seemed a little odd to tickle a painting, and he would feel very foolish if the older students were pranking him or if he'd misunderstood. But, to the boys surprise and delight, ticking the pear opened a door that admitted him to the kitchens, which was full of warm smells, house elves and another first year. "Oh hey!" He said, he hadn't been expecting to see anyone else here. "Sorry to disturb, I just came for snacks. What are you making?" He asked with interest.

 

[Hildegard de Valeriane]

The person who had just walked in was a Gryffindor boy whom Hilda had often seen in class.
"Oh hello! No problem you don't haunt me at all, I was just preparing a rhubarb and strawberry pie .I will try to attract ghosts with it"she said whispering the last part of the sentence before starting mixing the ingredients to make the dough.She hoped the boy wouldn't find her weird because of his desire to see a ghost when most people tried to avoid them. "By the way we never had a chance to talk to each other, my name is Hilda. "she said, remembering that she hadn't introduced herself .

 

[Terrell Foley]

Rhubarb and strawberry pie sounded absolutely delicious. He grinned, "Would you like some help making it?" Offered Terrell kindly, he didn't want to get in her hair and it was okay if she declined. He paused, taking in what she said, "Did you say for the ghosts?" If it was one thing Terrell knew, it was that ghosts did not eat food. Perhaps Hilda did not know this. "I've never seen the ghosts eat food before! Would they like this?" Terrell would gladly eat it instead.

He smiled, introductions often came second for Terrell. "Oh yes you are in my house, I've seen you loads. Nice to officially meet. I'm Terrell."

 

[Hildegard de Valeriane]

Hilda accepted the young boy’s help that he offered her, she would surely go faster to make the recipe with someone else and it would be more fun. When he told her that he had never seen ghosts eating, she replied: "Oh me neither but that is part of my plan on observation and lifestyle uh ... deathstyle of ghosts" step one was to see if they could still ingest or absorb food.
"Nice to meet you Terrel" she said with a big smile when he introduced himself."If you would help me could you cut the strawberries into small pieces"she asked him gently, she didn't want him to feel obliged to do something.

 

[Terrell Foley]

Terrell respected Hilda's initiative to find out about ghosts, there was probably a book in the library that would tell her everything she needed to know but this option was much more fun. "Good idea, and we can eat it if they don't!" Terrell added then asked, "Do you know where the ghosts tend to hang out in the castle?"

Yes he could help! This was great. "Sure umm, I'll need a knife and chopping board." It was as if the elves were listening as they brought him what he needed in no time. "Cool, thanks!" He started chopping the strawberries into quarters. "Are these the right size?"

 

[Hildegard de Valeriane]

"Yes don’t worry I’ll even keep us some slices" she wasn’t going to give her nothing when he was helping her and they hadn't taken time out of the day for a dish they weren't going to taste.
When Terrell asked her if she usually knew where the ghosts were, she replied: "I have a few suspicions but i don’t know especially where they wander but I have all year to discover it".
After a few minutes, the boy showed him the cut strawberries to check if it was well done: "Perfect! Thank you " she said, giving him a friendly tap on the shoulder.

 

[Terrell Foley]

"Well..." Terrell was delighted to share some intel with Hilda that he had overheard, "I heard a rumour that the sixth floor corridor was a popular haunt for ghosts." He said with a smile, "We could find out if that's true." He suggested.

Terrell continued to chop the strawberries into quarters as Hilda was happy with them.

 

[Hildegard de Valeriane]

"Thank you for the information and yes of course we could go together, I would need a teammate." she said with a mischievous smile .She spread the dough in the mold before placing the rhubarb in it, then she asked Terrell to place the strawberries in the mold and finally Hilda covered everything with the mixture and put it in the oven.
"And now we wait thirty minutes"she said before adding "I think we make a pretty good team" holding out her hand to the boy for a High five.

 

[Terrell Foley]

"We'll have to go a little later, the ghost are more active in the evenings I think, and easier to see when it's darker." He said, scooping the strawberries into the pie and watching Hilda finish everything off, "You are very good at this, have you done lots of baking before?" Terrell asked, hoping to learn more about her.

He spun round then high fived her, he loved high fives. "Yes we are, good work!"

 

[Hildegard de Valeriane]

"Yeah, you're right, they like the nightlife" she said, thinking it would be best to go out in the middle of the night, but they might get caught by a teacher.
"Thank you I got into the habit of cooking with my father so cooking makes me feel like I'm still with him" she explained to the boy with a small smile on his lips. "And you ,are you used to cooking?" she asked to Terrell.

 

[Terrell Foley]

Terrell laughed, "Yes even better to go when it's darkest, we could go looking in the middle of the night!" Terrell wouldn't break curfew for any old reason but he would enjoy breaking curfew to go ghost hunting.

"That's sweet" He said when Hilda remembered cooking with her father, "Will you go home at Christmas to see him?" He asked. He shook his head, "Nope never cooked before. But this has been fun, I'd do it again!"

 

[Hildegard de Valeriane]

"No, this year I am staying at Hogwarts for Christmas" she said, the reason she was staying was that her father worked hard and could not stay at home and her mother was also busy. "And you , what are you doing for Christmas?"she asked at the same time as she checked the cooking of the pie, which she started to brown.

 

[Terrell Foley]

"I haven't decided yet, I wouldn't mind staying at Hogwarts for Christmas, but I think my family will want to see me too." Terrell replied, he looked at the pie. "It's coming along nicely! How much longer?"

 

[Hildegard de Valeriane]

"Listen if you go home when you get back, I will give you a summary of all the interesting things that have happened," she said, thinking that like that he would not have the impression of missing something.
"Another 5 minutes and it's good" she replies, checking the pie.

 

[Terrell Foley]

"Yeah alright, thanks!" He replied, "Imagine Christmas dinner in the Great Hall with all that food, you'll be well and truly stuffed!" Terrell said, hardly taking his eyes off of the pie that was baking. The smells were making him hungry. He checked the time, "The ghosts might like custard with their pie, shall we make some?" Make that Terrell... Terrell might like custard with his slice of pie!

 

[Hildegard de Valeriane]

"Yes you are right, nothing better than a pie with some custard" she said before taking out her wand.They had learned a spell earlier in the week which may well serve her this time. "Accio, custard" she said, pointing to the bowl she had picked up earlier, but it arrived quickly and splashed the girl."Custard 1, My shirt 0" she announced the score with a laugh because it was not so serious and she just had to get it up later. She put the bowl on the edge of the table before going to the oven and taking out the pie, which she placed on a ceramic tray so as not to burn the wood on the table. "Now, the most important moment, the tasting"

 

[Terrell Foley]

Terrell was impressed with Hilda's summoning spell, even if it did make a mess. "Oh bad luck, we haven't learnt the cleaning spell yet." He said. It was time to try the pie, Terrell beamed, "The best part of baking is tasting the food." He smiled, "It looks really good!"

 

[Hildegard de Valeriane]

Hilda cut two parts of the pie before placing them on two small plates and pouring custard on it, then she handed one to Terrel. " Bon appetit !(Enjoy your meal)" she said to her friend before taking a bite,she was happy with their work, the pie was neither too sweet nor too sour.

 

[Terrell Foley]

"Thanks!" Terrell tasted his slice of pie then groaned happily, it had been worth waiting for! "Wow this is so yummy!" He said, scooping another spoonful into his mouth. "Who'd have thought that strawberry and rhubarb would go so well together!" He finished the bowl in record time but he didn't ask for any more as he knew Hilda had made the rest for the ghosts.

 

[Hildegard de Valeriane]

Hilda was happy that Terrell liked the recipe, she had learned it a few years ago. After putting away the kitchen utensils, cleaning the table and leaving a few slices for the house elves, she turned to her friend.
"You know what? I could always come back to make a little cake for the ghosts so we might as well go finish this pie in the common room with the others" she said before covering the dish in a tea towel.

 

[Terrell Foley]

It was Hilda's pie, she was allowed to share it if she wanted, Terrell nodded in casual agreement, "We could take some food from the Great Hall tonight for the ghosts instead?" Terrell suggested, saving Hilda baking from scratch. He was also kind of curious if her plan would work, did ghosts eat food? Would they attracted by the smell of food? These were all questions that Terrell had never thought about but now he wanted to find out the answers.

 

[Hildegard de Valeriane]

"Good idea Terrell" she said, the evening meal dishes were more diverse and they could take small bits of different foods. "Let's think about a plan" said the girl before heading for the exit, then turned around "Except if you want to stay a little longer" maybe the boy had other things to do.

 

[Terrell Foley]

"No I'm good, I came down here for a snack and I've had it now." He said, he could still taste the pie. "I'm good to go back to our Common Room and get ready to go ghost hunting this evening!" He suggested. "It's been great meeting you by the way Hilda!"