Reformed

-7-

THE SAME EVENING AS THE DAY OF THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER.

"Pansy, please would you come with me?" Hermione said, voicing her tone more as an invite rather than forcing the girl, who flicked her black hair over her shoulder and stared at Hermione.

"Why?" She asked with caution laced into her tone, second nature to her.

Hermione understood by that point that it was in her nature to regard everything with caution due to her past experiences, which Hermione hoped her latest idea would help her to get past.

"I just want to show you something." She replied lightly, walking towards the kitchen.

Although Pansy was unsure, her own insatiable curiosity got the better of her and she followed Hermione into the kitchen.

What she saw made her eyes light up.

Hermione had conjured up some baking equipment she owned and she had a book with recipes in that Pansy could choose from. She noted that they shared a mutual appreciation for the craft of baking and therefore wanted to connect with the other girl on a mutual level.

"I don't know how open you'd be to the idea of baking the muggle way. It's not the worst, it's just even more hands on." Hermione explained, unable to keep the smile off her face as Pansy's blatantly eager eyes surveyed the contents that stood proudly on the surface, just itching to be tainted with flour and whatnot.

"I'll... give it a try," Pansy said nervously, surprising herself but her infectious excitement washed over her as her eyes darted towards the cook book, which she opened to find an appetising recipe.

As she skimmed through the book, intent on finding a delicious recipe to bake, Blaise entered the kitchen.

"What's going on in here?" He enquired curiously, staring in confusion at the setup.

"We're baking something once Pansy chooses a recipe. Want to help?" Hermione offered him casually, explaining the situation.

"Yeah, sure!" Blaise said enthusiastically, taking an apron that was laid out.

Hermione chuckled as the apron had a huge bow adorning its front and frilly material stitched onto the hem.

"I think this suits me, what do you think?" Blaise enquired sassily, placing a hand behind his head as he struck an elegant pose in a mocking way, which caused each of the girls to let out a chuckle.

"Let's make apple crumble with summer fruits added in," Pansy chose, pointing to her chosen recipe.

"Ok, so Pansy, you can blend the breadcrumbs and Blaise, you can slice the apples, I'll chop the summer fruits." Hermione set them all up with a task each and they made small talk as they chattered, preparing the food.

"Have you ever made this crumble before?" Pansy asked Hermione, who was carefully concentrating on chopping up some strawberries.

"Yes. I used to make them for summer barbecues. A barbecue is food you prepare on a grill and you can make desserts to eat after the barbecued meat." Hermione explained for context as she parted the raspberries, blueberries and strawberries neatly into a big dish made of carefully crafted Pyrex.

"Can we have a barbecue? " Blaise asked in turn, piling the slightly skewiffly chopped apple on top with the sauce.

"You bet. Sometime soon, I'll organise one," Hermione promised. She felt that in times such as the circumstances they were in, she had to offer some form of promise. She couldn't guarantee much, but no matter how minor, she wanted to give them some form of enjoyment, however much guilt she felt for not being able to do more than a few minor things as she saw it as at that point.