Closed Fondant and Flavour

[Clifton Ward]

As the year was drawing to a close, Clifton was finally starting to feel like his life was back on track. As uncomfortable as it was, he had begun rebuilding a friendship with Lily, his relationship with Knox was good, and he had taken a chance and applied for a job that would allow him to get some real experience working in a kitchen. It had been obvious to Clifton for a while now that food was where his future lay, and the more experience he could get baking, the better. So (perhaps foolishly) instead of studying for exams he had taken to the kitchen with Knox, mixing up the dough for a batch of biscuits while his boyfriend studied for the OWLs. Clifton wished he had done better on his own exams so he could help the Gryffindor, but at least providing snacks was a kind of helping. And Knox had insisted that repeating the work out loud helped him remember it, so Clifton mostly listened as he worked, nodding and occasionally glancing at Knox, heart swelling every time. How had he gotten so lucky?

 

[Knox Ivers]

In many ways, Knox was thriving, and all the pieces of his life were falling together perfectly. He was an alternate on the quidditch team, he had a boyfriend, and he was a prefect. So many of the things he had once questioned, and also never expected, were real in front of him. The underlying thought in the back of his head that he never truly belonged at Hogwarts was long gone, and he was settled for the first time in his life. But alternately, as the year drew to a close, and Knox’s OWL exams loomed over his head, he felt as if everything was falling apart. He was happy, and wanted to enjoy his life the way it was, but he knew that his grades were never as much of a priority as they should have been, especially when he was studying for the most important exams of his life thus far. He knew his grades should have been important to him, and up until that year they weren’t. Until then it was everything social, everything extracurricular. But now those aspects of his life were where he wanted them to be and his grades were left behind. He was left to pick up the pieces of the one part of his life he had neglected, and try to focus for the first time.

Knox had been studying, more than he ever had in the past, and that was what he was doing that day. Granted, he was sitting in the kitchens and accompanying his boyfriend, but he was still putting in the effort to study and attempted to multitask. It was helpful as well to be able to read things aloud to Clifton, as Knox always found that talking about something helped him remember. He hoped that he would remember all he needed to, and that by the end of that day he would feel accomplished in his efforts and have some biscuits to eat to show for it. Looking up from his divination textbook, Knox smiled to Clifton, and then looked to the dough Clifton was mixing together. “I meant to ask. Do you remember your dreams?” Knox said softly. “I don’t and I’ve tried to, but we’ve been studying dream interpretation in Divination and I haven't really interpreted a dream before.” He explained. “Do you have a dream you want me to interpret?” Knox somewhat hoped Clifton never remembered his dreams, for the sake of feeling like he wasn’t alone, but he was also curious to what Clifton dreamed about, both for the sake of his studying and also to get to know him better.​

 

[Clifton Ward]

Clifton turned his biscuit dough out onto the counter for a quick knead as Knox asked him a question, laughing a little nervously. "I'd have to think about it." He said hesitantly, trying to remember his recent dreams. "My dreams are... you know, a little bit all over the place." He smiled apologetically, kneading as he spoke before picking up a rolling pin. "I had... let's see, I dreamed the other day that... I was sitting an exam here at Hogwarts, but it was a flute exam, and my dad was the one giving it. Woke up with the biggest guilt about not practicing often." He laughed awkwardly, rolling the dough out to a nice thickness as he spoke. "Not terribly exciting, I'm afraid."