Rainbows and Jelly Beans

[Elt]

Elt had seen a fair few grumpy faces in her time, and she knew exactly how to turn those frowns upside down. Admittedly, her gestures of goodwill hadn't seen much success thus yet, but this was absolutely definitely going to work. Professor Styx couldn't possibly be in a sour mood after receiving a delicious, specially baked cake from his two favourite pupils!

So excited to get started, Elt grabbed Oona by the hand and took off towards the kitchens, explaining the plan in breathless, choppy English as they ran (well, waddled): "Mr Styx is sad! We make him a cake! Big cake! Cake gives everyone happy! Yes? Go, go, go!"

 

[Oona Tuuri]

After failing spectacularly last semester, Oona wanted to make a good first impression on her professors. It immediately came to her attention, however, that one professor in particular needed some more attention than others - and that was Professor Styx. He looked so sad all the time, he definitely needed something to cheer him up. Fortunately for Oona, she had a wonderful friend to help her in this endeavour! Squeezing Elt's hand, Oona set off with her at a speedy waddle to get to the kitchens as soon as possible. It was a relief that her friend seemed to think of the same things she did, they were definitely two peas in a pod.

Taking her long her in her hands and tying it back into a bun, the pre-teen got to work on pulling two stools to the benches so that they could get to work. "I'm thinking rainbows and Bertie Botts beans, and icing and sprinkles and-" She could go on, but she screamed with delight as she saw the perfect ingredient. "CHOCOLATE!" The Ravenclaw made a beeline for the mixture and put that on their counter as well.​

 

[Elt]

"YEAH!" shouted Elt, who had heard 'rainbows, sweets, and chocolate,' and decided she couldn't agree more. Tucking her own loose strands of hair behind her ears (it didn't require quite the same work as Oona's spectacular locks), Elt climbed up onto her stool and began to rifle through the overhead cabinet, pulling down some glitter strands, chocolate sprinkles, and food colouring. She set these down, puzzling for a moment before realising what they were missing. "Floor! Butter! Chicken balls!" she exclaimed, hopping down to gather said ingredients. Fortunately, she returned with flour, butter, and eggs, and she placed these with the sugary decorations. "Now what?" she asked, reaching the limit of her baking expertise.

 

[Oona Tuuri]

The Ravenclaws were as excitable as each other. She laughed at her dear friend's mispronunciation, and sought to correct her. She was still learning English, after all, and it was good to help her out as much as possible, her grandfather said. "Flour," she replied, grinning brightly. "Not floor! Flour!" She was near hysterical at the 'chicken balls', and poked the eggs. "These are eggs, Elt," she said, stifling her giggles. Fortunately, whilst Elt had no baking expertise, Oona had watched her mother and grandmother bake all the time. "Preheat!" she announced, and as soon as she had, one of the elves sheepishly approached the young girls to heat the oven for them. Oona didn't mind - she didn't want to burn herself. She instead grabbed the pan for greasing, and presented it to Elt. "You grease this like this..." With the brush, she began coating the pan, before offering it to Elt. "And I'll sift!" She had the sifter prepared and was ready to go, starting on the flour eagerly.​

 

[Elt]

Elt looked at the ingredients and scowled. "I SAID floor," she said, shaking her head and taking the brush and pan from Oona. Clumsily she greased the latter, as well as three of her fingers and a bit of her face. When that was done, she prised open the egg carton and grabbed two, smashing them into one another to break them. Well, some of the insides went in the pan. So did a lot of shell. It was at that moment the young goblin realised she ought to have cracked the eggs into Oona's bowl of flour. Shrugging, she picked up the pan and tipped the egg-and-shell combination into the flour, leaving a fair amount of goo stuck to the bottom and sides of the pan like a giant slug trail. "Now sprinkles?!" she asked hopefully, grabbing at the little box.

 

[Oona Tuuri]

Oona was stunned at the mess her friend at created. She had sifted her flour and had the mix started, but it was all for nothing in the end as her dear friend hand... well, become a little too eager and missed a few vital steps. Clearly, they didn't cook too much where Elt came from - but that was no matter! Oona gave Elt an affectionate side-hug. "No, Elt - we need to bake it before the sprinkles," she explained. "So it's tall and fluffy!" Surely even like this, if they threw everything together it would cook in the end, right? The Ravenclaw added everything into the baking dish, using a big spoon to churn it all to remove the lumps. Professor Styx would probably like a little crunch in his cake anyway, he looked like a man that needed some crunch. "And we just stick it in the oven!" Most wisely, an elf intervened once more, and politely placed the cake in the oven to bake.​

 

[Elt]

Elt deflated a little, but soon perked up again. Tall and fluffy - how cakes were supposed to be! She brushed her hands clean on her robes and stepped down from her stool. And so began the waiting game. The cake soon began to smell delicious, though sadly the same could not be said for the way it looked. When a house elf finally brought it back out of the oven, the mixture had risen over the sides, the edges were singed and the middle was still gooey. Of course, this final point was only discovered when they turned the cake out onto a cooling rack and the sponge began to sag through the holes. "It's PERFECT!" Elt said, bouncing happily on the spot. "Now sprinkles? And beans? And ice cream?" Clearly someone had forgotten the list.

 

[Oona Tuuri]

The cake didn't really look like the cakes her mother made, but she was sure it would toughen up when it cooled down. "Sure!" she replied to Elt. "And don't forget the chocolate!" she added as they began decorating the cake. Oona was trying to make it look slightly more presentable. She had considered green, because Professor Styx was the Head of Slytherin House. But now that she saw it, perhaps green wasn't the way to go, it was also the colour of sickness. Pink, however, brightened up the area, so she started ith that, and together she and Elt decorated their cake. It was pink, it was covered in jelly beans and chocolate and sprinkles and three large dollops of ice cream - it was the perfect cake!

Unfortunately, at some point during their wandering to Professor Styx's haunt, Oona looked back at her friend (whom she had entrusted with the cake). Her eyes widened. "Elt!" There were no beans on the cake. There were a few very suspicious finger-like lines along the icing, and most damning, Elt had some chocolate on her face. "You eated it!"​

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[Elt]

Elt hummed tunelessly as she decorated the cake, popping the occasional Bertie Botts Bean into her mouth. When it was finished, she carried the thing to Professor Styx's office, keeping a few paces behind Oona the whole way. At some point she must have absent-mindedly (coughcough) stuck her finger into the icing and licked it, because suddenly Oona was accusing her of eateding the cake. Elt's face fell. "I was just checking it's good for Mr. Styx!" she protested. A few moments later the two goblins trotted up to the Slytherin Head of House's door and knocked on it hard - just in case he was asleep, or something. Elt could only imagine how devastated the man would have been to miss out on this glorious half-baked pink jelly-bean-and-ice-cream-with-sprinkles cake.

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

Kalif looked up from his desk as someone knocked on the door, loudly. He rolled his eyes, knowing he could not get an ounce of rest. He didn't even say to come in. The door opened, and the Slytherin Head of House remained seated, and continued to do his grading. He didn't even speak. This was the moment for those to just say why they were here and just go.
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[Oona Tuuri]

Oona wasn't convinced, and gave her a disgruntled look, but didn't bother saying anything more. Oona's knocking was hard was rhythmic so that, if he were asleep, he would awaken to a happy note. She wanted him to be in the brightest of moods as he received their gift. The door opened and the tiny Ravenclaw wore her biggest, brightest grin as she set eyes on the freakishly tall professor. "Hello Professor Styx!" she greeted, bumbling towards his desk and tugging Elt along with her. "We brought you a cake! We made it ourselves!" She looked at Elt expectantly so that she would present it. "We made it rainbow and it has every flavour beans and - oh you can just try it yourself!" He was going to love it!​

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[Elt]

Elt stood as tall and erect as she could, beaming with pride as the door swung open. She trotted in with Oona, nearly tripping up in the process but managing to regain her balance just in time to keep the cake from going flying. That would have been a disaster! The goblin nodded enthusiastically as her friend explained what flavour the cake was, and then lifted it over her head in order to nudge it onto Professor Styx's desk. "We thinked you look grumpy! So here is cake." Elt stood back and held her arms behind her back, waiting expectantly for Professor Styx to try some.

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

Kalif finally peered down at the two girls that brought a mess that they claimed to be a cake. As soon as it was nudged onto his desk. The smell of it just made him wished he had diabetes to use as a good excuse, Sadly, he did not. Kalif placed his quill down and narrowed his eyes. "Excuse me?" He looked down at the one that called him grumpy. He heard that enough when he was at home with his wife. He did not need it here. "Take this mess and get out."
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[Oona Tuuri]

Oona didn't quite understand. Their cake looked amazing! Sure, it was held stable but a few licorise Wanda and a bit of hardened chocolate here and there, but that was for added flavour! "Don't you want to try some, sir?" she asked, before gasping. "Oh right! Of course!" She dug into her robes and pulled out a fork for tasting purposes, and put it on the desk. "There you go! It will be delicious, I'm sure. You'll love it!" Her face was one of eager excitement at the thought of him trying their creation.

 

[Elt]

Mess? What mess was Professor Styx talking about? Elt looked around for a mess, but couldn't see anything she could take out. As far as she was concerned, the cake, with its licorice support beams and leaning floors was a feat of architecture. She nodded as Oona produced a fork, unable to help herself from poking her fingers into the cake and stealing a bit of the icing. Professor Styx was just going to love it!

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

Apparently, these short children were not getting the hint to leave. He didn't even notice the fork or anything. He narrowed his eyes, his expression becoming darker as he grew more agitated, "Are you hard of hearing? I said take that mess and get out of my office, now." These two were Ravenclaws. They didn't know any better. His slytherins would not have dared to do such a thing. The next thing he would do would be to take care of it himself, and the girls did not want see that.
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[Oona Tuuri]

Oona pulled a displeased face at Elt for eating some of the icing, trying to relay to her that she disapproved, but she didn't want to say anything in case Professor Styx hadn't seen it - she definitely wanted to see him give the cake a try. "We heard you, Sir!" she said with a disproportionate amount of confidence. "But we really want you to try it. It was a labour of love!" That would totally get him to give it a shot. Her big toothy grin said so.

 

[Elt]

Elt had just about had it with this man. She and Oona had slaved away in the kitchen making him this lovely cake, and now he was telling them to leave without so much as tasting it! The goblin shoved her hands on her hips and gave him her fiercest scowl. "Professor, you is RUDE," she said. "We work hard! Try cake now."

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

Kalif was reaching the last of his patience, especially when someone was ordering him around. He narrowed his eyes and spoke in a cold tone, "Ten points from Ravenclaw for your insolent behavior." Kalif pulled out his wand and made the mess of what they called a cake disappear with a small pop. He hissed, "Now, get out."
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