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Breakfast finishes uneventfully and the Hufflepuffs leave not long after, promising to meet the other girls in the library that afternoon. Alli looks skeptical at this idea, as it appears to involve studying, but Jenny talks her into it, and leaves the Hall looking rather smug about her success.
"I want to bake a cake for Miranda," Jenny announces to Emma once they've left the other girls' earshot. "There's kitchens here, right? Would they let me bake, do you think?"
Emma supposes that they might, but has no idea where the kitchens are, so Jenny flounces off to find an older Hufflepuff to ask. The girl she asks for directions takes this very seriously, writing them out carefully step by step for her before handing it over. When asked about permission for baking, the older girl shrugs and says "the house elves probably won't care, just ask," which then dovetails into a conversation explaining house elves, but eventually Jenny thinks she has some idea what she's doing and heads for the kitchens.
Thanks to the extremely comprehensive directions, Jenny finds the kitchen immediately with no trouble. Convincing the house elves in the kitchen that yes, she's been cooking for years, no, she is not going to try anything fancy, and yes, she will stay out of their way, takes a little longer. She eventually charms them into it with protestations of "but it's for my friend's birthday!" A couple of them are even lured into helping her, which means the cake ends up decorated rather more nicely than Jenny could have managed by herself. Since the cake is chocolate- she had to guess on flavors, but she's seen Miranda eat a Chocolate Frog and really, who doesn't like chocolate?- she proclaims that 'close enough' to bronze and frosts the rest of the cake in blue, with her new elf cooking companions providing fancy little flowers along the border and chocolate sprinkles as extra frills.
She is extremely pleased with the result! She heads back to the Hufflepuff common room to fetch Emma, looking like she would be skipping if only she wasn't carrying a cake, and they head to the library to meet their friends.
metamorphmaga
Madam Pince forbids the entrance of the cake into the library.
parental_guidance
Emma rolls her eyes at Jenny but heads inside without Jenny in search of the others, for extraction purposes.
parental_guidance
"Hey, guys. Jenny changed her mind about the library, can we hang out somewhere else?"
'Good at lying' is too strong, but 'good at presenting half truths in perfectly reasonable fashion' is a talent of Emma's. It has seen much practice on her parents.
'Good at lying' is too strong, but 'good at presenting half truths in perfectly reasonable fashion' is a talent of Emma's. It has seen much practice on her parents.
witch_please
Alli is lounging nearby. There are no books anywhere in her vicinity; she's amusing herself playing wizard chess against herself. At this, she hops up. "I'm all for less studying," she says brightly.
parental_guidance
"Yes, your studying looks to be tiring indeed," Emma tells her solemnly.
witch_please
"See? Studying!" Alli tells Emma smugly. "Thanks," she adds to Karen as an aside. Then she gathers up- well, really just the chess set, there are still no books- and heads for the door. "Onwards!" she proclaims, a tiny bit loudly.
"Shhhhh," scolds Madam Pince as Alli walks past. Alli just waves at her with a smile on her way out.
She stops short at the site of Jenny outside, fortunately out of earshot of the Ravenclaws. "Cake! Hi, friend!"
"Shhhhh," scolds Madam Pince as Alli walks past. Alli just waves at her with a smile on her way out.
She stops short at the site of Jenny outside, fortunately out of earshot of the Ravenclaws. "Cake! Hi, friend!"
metamorphmaga
"Cake!" Jenny agrees proudly. "Where do you want to eat it? It's been banned from the library." Huffy face in Pince's direction. "And you-" she points at Alli sternly, "birthday girl first!"
chanuphis
"Well, we could all pile into the Ravenclaw common room but then people besides us might demand some," muses Miranda. "There's probably empty classrooms? Are we allowed in the Great Hall between meals?"
witch_please
"I vote we check classrooms, they're on our way to the Great Hall anyway," Alli says practically. And/or lazily.
chanuphis
"Okay."
And here is an empty classroom, incompletely erased Arithmancy notes in the corner of the chalkboard.
And here is an empty classroom, incompletely erased Arithmancy notes in the corner of the chalkboard.
metamorphmaga
Jenny puts the cake down and putters around, pulling forks and plates from increasingly obscure locations in her bag. Finally they are all on the table, and Jenny locates her final item. "Napkins!" she says in relief, putting the rather impressively large pile of napkins down with the rest of her items.
(She might have younger siblings.)
(She might have younger siblings.)
metamorphmaga
"Nope. House elves do not trust first years to take large knives out of the kitchen by themselves. We get to improvise with the back of the extra fork. It'll be an adventure! ...probably a messy one."
planetarium
"I got it," giggles Karen, and she takes an extra fork and manages to make lopsided but structurally cooperative slices. She gives Miranda the first one.
planetarium
"Yeah." Jenny gets the next one, and then Emma and then Alli, and Karen takes the last one, having cut up about half the cake by area.
witch_please
"Good job adventuring," Alli tells Karen as she digs in. "Uhmguhchalt" she mumbles around a large bite.