Valentine's Day

[snitchnicker.livejournal.com]

It was Valentine's Day. It was Valentine's Day, and Lily was in the park now. Sure, James still had to win her over so she probably wasn't going to get him anything or do anything for him, but it was a great chance to win her over.

If Lily opened her door when there was a knock, she'd find a long trail of lilies leading towards the dress shop in the castle, where a green dress in Lily's size was on a mannequin.

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[snitchnicker.livejournal.com]

James laughed a little. "You don't want to see me cook," he teased. "I suppose it is fair though." He headed inside, then began to look around at the food, frowning. "What do you want?"

[notpotteryet.livejournal.com]

Lily waved off the question, "Oh, just something simple. You can pick as long as it's not too... much."

[snitchnicker.livejournal.com]

"I'm quite fond of fettuccine alfredo," James said casually. "How about we have some of that?"

It wasn't a complete lie. He did like it, it just wasn't one of his favourite foods. But it was one of Lily's favourites, and the whole point of the date was to make her fall in love with him. It wouldn't do to pick something that she didn't like a lot.

[notpotteryet.livejournal.com]

Lily said, "You are?" in surprise. She'd never really expected to have something in common with James Potter, even if it WAS just food. "Sure, okay!"

[snitchnicker.livejournal.com]

"All right," he said, opening the cupboards with a flick of his wand. He really hoped they had the ingredients here.

[notpotteryet.livejournal.com]

Lily peered into the cupboards, pulling out alfredo sauce. "Well, we have the sauce," she said. "Now we just need to find the pasta."

[snitchnicker.livejournal.com]

It only took James a moment before he found the pasta as well, and he put it on the cupboard. "Okay, so..." he said, pointing at a cupboard that had the pots in it and catching the one that flew at him. "We er, boil water, right?" he asked, already filling the pot with water from his wand. He had only cooked once in his life (for Lily's birthday one year), and Lily never let him cook again after he had managed to light their dinner on fire.

[notpotteryet.livejournal.com]

Lily had to laugh a little. "Right," she said. Frowning, realizing that this could result in disaster if he wasn't watch carefully, Lily asked. "How do wizarding families cook, anyway?"

[snitchnicker.livejournal.com]

"I don't know," James answered hesitantly. "The house-elves always used to cook for us when I went home, and I obviously never had to cook at Hogwarts. When I snuck down to the kitchen in the middle of the night for snacks, the house-elves always got me whatever I wanted."

[notpotteryet.livejournal.com]

Lily frowned a little, both because she'd never been able to get comfortable with the whole idea of house elves and because this meant James was really lost here.

"All right," she said, "then you're going to need to do exactly as I tell you. Can you do that, James?"

[snitchnicker.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I can," James said. He was tempted to throw a joking 'I do that enough at home, especially while you were pregnant,' but refrained. "What should I do now?" he asked as his wand stopped pouring water.

[notpotteryet.livejournal.com]

As though she was reciting something she was reading off a card, Lily said, "First, you turn on the stove so that the water can boil. Then you add the pasta to the water. First, you read the back, to see how long it says to cook it..."

[snitchnicker.livejournal.com]

"All right," he said. "How do I turn on the stove?"

[notpotteryet.livejournal.com]

Lily laughed. "Like this," she explained, turning on the stove and setting it to the right level. "That's the level you turn it on to boil water, all right? There are different ones, for different things. Never leave a stove unattended if it's on."

[snitchnicker.livejournal.com]

"Why not?" he asked, looking at it. It wasn't as if it was on fire or something. "What levels are there for what things?"

[notpotteryet.livejournal.com]

"Because it could start a fire. Better safe than sorry."

Lily smiled and pointed to the other levels. "This is if you want to pop popcorn. This is if you're making soup."

[snitchnicker.livejournal.com]

"How?" James asked, blinking. "There's no fire."

He frowned at the stove. "Why would I need a stove to make popcorn? That's first year magic. I knew how to do that when I was five. Hey, it's turning red!"