Counter Balance

[Emily Hayes-Magonus]

Early mornings were Emily's favourite time of the day. If she woke up before everyone else, she could easily sneak down to the kitchens and go about her business without anyone noticing. Unfortunately this particular morning, Emily was quite a bit slower than usual. It was weird now that neither her mum, or Ciro worked here and she had grown quite used to their morning chats. She rather missed them. Truth be told, though she was used to not having her mother around, she was used to having a father-figure. With her biological father not around much anymore, she had taken quite a liking to Ciro and now he wasn't around much anymore either. Sighing, Emily tiptoed down the stairs and out of the portrait, not that she had far to walk. She looked around the staircase and corridors as she went, making sure that there were no prefects around. She didn't want to get into trouble after all. When her mother was still here, she was able to get out of small detentions or warnings. Now, she would not be so lucky. If she got into trouble, she was going to have to wear it. She was pretty careful though, there wasn't much trouble she could get into anyway.

Emily snuck into the kitchens and smiled at all of the house elves. Emily didn't mind house elves. She knew they were practically slaves, but she'd never heard them complain. The elves at Raven Manor were pretty well dressed too. Emily quite liked the Manor. It was huge, much bigger than any house she had seen. Ciro and her mum would probably be getting married soon. She didn't know what was taking so long. She hadn't asked, but she had her suspicions that it was her mum's fault. Moving towards the counter, Emily grabbed the closest implement she could find, which turned out to be a wooden spoon and balanced it on her hand. She had been learning all new things over the break and she wanted to test them all out. The balance of the spoon, the count of the ingredients, the thickness of the liquids. It all counter, it all had a balanced and a counter balance. It was all important. She placed the spoon back on the counter and smiled to herself. Now she would just need the ingredients to cook with and then she was all done.
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[Desislav Zhefarovich]

Desislav didn't know what he was doing up so early. When he didn't have class, he was prone to sleeping until his twin dragged him out of bed. Once he was out of bed though, all bets were off. Desi figured that if he was going to be up this early, he was going to sneak down to the kitchen and have breakfast before his normal breakfast in the Great Hall. The Gryffindor contemplated what he would ask for when he arrived.

Entering the kitchen, Desi was immediately surrounded by house elves. "A muffin" Desi asked, reaching for a muffin off of the plate that the house elf in front of him was holding. "And I'd like some juice" he added as he moved to take a seat. Two house elves scurried away to get it for him, bowing over themselves as they left. It was the first time he'd looked up since entering the room and his eyes came across a girl who was smiling down at a bowl. "Hey! Are you here for extra breakfast too?" he asked cheerily before taking a huge bite of the banana nut muffin.

Out of Character:

I hope you don't mind.

 

[Emily Hayes-Magonus]

Hello Cyndi!

Looking around the room, Emily noticed that the house elves were beginning to get ingredients out of wherever it was they left them. She smiled at them and walked over to the opposite counters to look at what was there. Maybe she could make butternut cookies, she'd never made them before, it would certainly be a challenge, but a fun challenge. Emily gathered the butter, sugar and other essential ingredients before moving back to her counter and retrieving a bowl. She started to fill up the bowl, then looked up slightly startled when someone addressed her. She hadn't realised that anyone even came down here this early. Though she shouldn't have been too surprised, since she was down here herself. Emily smiled at the boy and shook her head when he asked her a question. She gestured to the slight mess before her. "No, not exactly." She said, moving around to add a couple of ingredients into the bowl. "I'm making butternut cookies. Would you like some when I'm done? It only takes about twenty minutes!"

It had been quite a while since Emily had offered to make anyone anything. The first time she had done it was for Avie and she had done it a few times since then for him. They both enjoyed cooking, though he preferred to let her do most of the work, which was just as well really. She hadn't seen him around much though, which was a shame, she supposed he would have had other friends though. "I like to come here most mornings, if I could cook in the dorms I would, but I somehow don't think Professor Kingston would appreciate that." She laughed.
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[Desislav Zhefarovich]

The girl didn't seem much older than him, but she was moving around the kitchen like she knew what she was doing. Desi sure didn't. The family had a house elf who did things like cooking and cleaning. So there had never been a reason for him to learn. Still, he couldn't turn down cookies. Nodding vigorously, Desi took a bite of muffin as he settled into a seat near her. "Ok!" he responded through a full mouth.

Chuckling, he shook his head. "Not if she's like my Head of House." Desi rather liked Professor Kingsley when she wasn't directing attention his way. She seemed to have radar for when he was about to get in trouble. Standing up, Desi put his arms on his hips. "She's always like this" he began, " and then she narrows her eyes like this" he narrowed his eyes, his head tilting down in perfect imitation of the Gryffindor Head of House. " And then she'll say something like 'Mr. Zhefarovich...Will I be getting a message about your behavior today?'" the boy finished with a grin and then sat down, taking another bite of muffin. "Is Kingston like that?" he asked as he accepted a glass of juice from the house elves. One stood near him, using a dust pan to pick up the crumbs that he was dropping from his muffin.

 

[Emily Hayes-Magonus]

Emily was always happiest when she was able to share her creations with someone else. Normally it was just her dorm mates, or someone she ran into when she was leaving the kitchens. They'd never actually been people she was with whilst she was cooking. Mainly because never had anyone with her when she was cooking. This was new. Emily smiled over her shoulder at her companion as she worked her batter and other neccessities. Cooking was always relaxing, no matter the day. Though she definitely had to admit that she enjoyed baking over regular cooking. "I hope you like butternut cookies, I haven't made them very often, because they can come out in all sorts of states!" Now that she had someone to cook for, it was going to make her a little nervous, as it always did. Maybe it would work to her advantage and make her really try to perfect this.

Emily chuckled along with the boy as he began to explain to her the way he would get into trouble off of his head of house, who she assumed was Professor Kingsley. She's never seen the woman angry, but she had heard a lot about her from her cousin. Her brother got into trouble a lot she was sure, especially now that her mum wasn't around. "I've never seen her angry, so I'm not sure. But I think most of he heads of house would be the same, right? Like they're all old and teachery." She nodded at him as she pounded the batter and began to cut into it. She was originally going to try and make shapes, but now she wasn't so sure. She looked at her new friend. "Should I make shapes? Or just leave them round?" She hoped he would give her a second opinion.
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So sorry how late this is!

 

[Desislav Zhefarovich]

Desislav took a big gulp of juice and then put the cup on the counter so that he could wipe his mouth with his sleeve. Emily was talking about her Head of House, and he couldn't believe that she was never angry. Desi thought about it and realized that he had probably been exaggerating a little bit. Professor Kingsley wasn't always angry. But she was old and teachery. Desi nodded his head in agreement as he picked up his juice again.

"I don't know if I like butternut. I've never had it" Desi admitted with a shrug. A cookie was a cookie though. He sure wasn't picky. As Emily asked him how she should make them, Desi almost shrugged again. Then, he stopped. He had an opinion this time. "Shapes! Do you think you could make a house elf shaped one?" he asked her with a smile on his face. Desi handed off his cup to one of the house elves roaming around the kitchen and nodded his head. This one looked like a lady. At least, he thought she did. It was always really hard to tell. Desislav hadn't even known that the house elf in his house was a lady until Bisera had told him. "Can I help?" Desi asked after a moment. He wasn't usually allowed in the kitchen, so he was ready to hear a no.

 

[Emily Hayes-Magonus]

Being in a kitchen was automatically something that put Emily in a good mood. She was very rarely in a bad mood when she was cooking, which was a good thing because food seemed to know when people were in a bad mood. It was almost impossible to make a soufflé when you were in a bad mood. Emily had tried. She was lucky though. She may not have been the best when it came to magic and spells, but she was very good with her hands and she could do basically anything in a kitchen. It was true that she once enjoyed games as well, but these days she much preferred to be in the kitchen, mostly because she didn't have anyone to play her favourite games with anymore. She missed her brother, but there was nothing to be done about it. He insisted on not having anything to do with her, so that was it. She was excited to be continuing her classes though, because even though she didn't much have a head for academics, she enjoyed being with her friends. She wasn't a solitary person in the least, she liked having people around her always. Emily smiled at the boy when he admitted that he wasn't sure about butternut. "That's okay, we'll soon find out. They're pretty basic though, but they are really nice and you can combine them with just about anything."

Emily frowned slightly as she looked at the dough. She thought that maybe she could make them into house elves but she wasn't sure. She wasn't really all that artistic so she didn't know how they would turn out. "Hmm, you know, I'm not sure. We could try though!" She began to start cutting the dough into smaller sections when the boy asked if he could help. "Sure! We can try and make a house elf one together!" She moved over to make room for him, only to finally realise that she didn't know his name. She laughed slightly to herself and turned to him. "I'm sorry, I don't even know your name. Zhefarovich did you say? I'm Emily Hayes-Magonus! Does that make you related to Professor Zhefarovich?" Emily quite liked the Potions professor. It was one of her favourite classes after all. She wasn't so good at the theory stuff in the other classes, but Potions was a lot like cooking, everything had a use.
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[Desislav Zhefarovich]

Desi bounded out of his chair quickly, the crumbs on his lap finding their place on the floor. That wouldn’t last long, though, as the house elves tripped over themselves to clean up after him. Desislav barely noticed. He was too excited to try his hand at cooking. Looking up at the older girl, Desislav listened to her name. It was a long one, almost as long as his was. With a quick nod, Desislav spoke up. “Yup. Our daddies are, were, no, are brothers” he explained. “Not that it helps me in his class” Desislav mumbled. He knew that that made him cousins with the much older man. Desislav had grown up seeing him whenever he spent time at the Zhefarovich Manor, but it wasn’t like they were close. The man had children who were older than him! Desi hoped that she wouldn’t ask about his slight confusion. He didn’t really want to explain that his dad was dead. Well, his dad was alive, very much so. But, his Zhefarovich dad was not. Desislav still saw him fairly often though, but he didn’t want to explain that either. Ghosts weren’t uncommon among wizards, but Desi liked to keep it private that his dad was now one.

“My name’s Desislav Zhefarovich” the boy added proudly, “but everyone just calls me Desi or Des. It takes less time.” Desislav had grown up learning how important his surname was and it went a long way to explaining why he and his siblings had such odd first names. It was just as popular as his stepdad and mom’s one and they were pretty famous. “So, what should I do, Emily?” he asked, ready to get his hands dirty.

 

[Emily Hayes-Magonus]

Emily smiled at the boy as he told her that his father and Professor Zhefarovich's father were brothers. She thought that was pretty cool. Professor Zhefarovich was his cousin. Older cousins were almost as good as having a parent at the school. Emily missed her mother sometimes, but she also understood that her mother was busy with wedding plans and couldn't be expected to live at the school anymore. Ciro much preferred her mother at the manor where she could plan the wedding and all the other things associated with that. Emily didn't mind though, because she sent her mother letters all the time. She laughed slightly when he mentioned that it didn't help him in Potions. Emily could understand that. Professor Zhefarovich was not the sort of man to let you go easy, but Emily was a-okay with that. She knew that her mother would have never let her through easily. Emily herself had a couple of cousins at the school. She didn't speak to all of them, but she considered them all her friends. "Potions is fun though, right?" Potions and Herbology were her favourite classes. Admittedly she preferred Potions because it wasn't easy to stuff up, but Herbology was just as much fun for her.

Emily grinned when he told her the rest of his name. Desislav was a really fun name, she thought and she would not easily forget it. Emily thought for a second and then pointed to the still uncut sections of the dough. "I need to ask one of the house elves if they'll pose for me, so can you cut those into circles? I'll try and make a house elf head out of them!" She told him as she looked around for the nearest house elf. Apparently however they'd heard her speaking and decided to disappear. She would find one though, they wouldn't have gone too far, because they'd want to make sure she didn't blow up the kitchen in their absence. "I'll be right back, gotta go find one!"
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