Sweets for Your Sweet Errand Open

Valentine's Day was fairly wasted on Cain. The shades of pink and red decorating the hall did nothing for him, but he was drawn to the smell of wonderful chocolate and sugar. It was the one good thing about this holiday. Nearly ruined by the sight of people staring into each other's eyes and holding hands and even worse... kissing. Normally he would just avert his gaze politely, but this sort of behavior was all over the school and he was half tempted to use his prefect status to start breaking things up. He had no wish to become the "fun police" however or become so vastly unpopular with his peers. He found that if he took off his glasses, things would become just blurry enough that it wasn't so bad anymore.

Of course here everyone was too busy creating sweets to kiss each other, this was a safe space. He looked between the tables of cupcakes and chocolate bark and it was no contest. There were a few recognizable faces here already, but he didn't bother them and went to work on creating his delicious bark. Certainly mistakes could be eaten by himself... Certainly... Milk chocolate was an obvious and safe choice, but dark chocolate seemed more mature to Cain. He dropped some chocolate with a touch of butterscotch into his cauldron and watched it cook. His mother told him once that heat would make or break your chocolate, if it was too hot then there would be little white lines all over it.

After his dark butterscotch chocolate mix was ready he poured it into his trays, smoothing it over carefully and quickly with his given spatula. What to decorate it with, he wasn't sure. Nuts were a good choice, but he couldn't be sure if some of his recipients were allergic so he prepared a second tray of dark butterscotch mix and sprinkled some nuts over that. But then he couldn't leave the other one plain so he threw some edible gold glitter in a zig-zag pattern over the plain tray, it would all be broken up later anyway by the house elves.

After all that he found some green bags and black ribbons and wrote on each label clearly and neatly the name of each of his first year teachers. Zoë Fresnel, Brian Barlow, Atticus Wade, Orion Lécuyer, Zahid Masoud, Nigel Read, Tuesday Irons, Miriam Stube and last but not least his head of house Hjørdis Jensen. Cain did have any crushes that he knew of and maybe this was dorky and too much, but he wanted to show his appreciation. He couldn't exactly send any to his parents like he usually would so this was the next best thing. He already carried sherbet lemons and caramels to give to his friends anyway, he couldn't complicate that with semi-romantic chocolate. This made sense to him. He didn't really want other students to make fun of him though so he quickly dumped it all on the Gyrffindor table and hurried on over to the ravenclaw table to write his letter.

But who was he going to write a letter to? Well, there was only one person in school that he was loosely pen pals with and that would be Winnie Harper. He sighed and picked out a nice gold piece of paper and picked up a green vial of ink to write with. He couldn't start with her name for some reason, but she'd understand that, surely.

14th, February, 2022

Hello,
I hope your Valentine's day is going well. Mine is okay. I made chocolate bark. I also ate some of it too, it's okay, but I prefer milk chocolate. Which one do you like? Are you keeping up with your studies? Did Matt like that book? Oh yeah, thank you for those frogs you sent me for Christmas. I owe you a present next year. Anyway, I'll keep this short since you're probably busy today.

Your Friend as usual, C. Corvus

So it was nearly Valentine's Day again hm? One big event after another although this one was not one of Annie's favorites. The day in itself was usually overlooked, but leading up to it heart's would be broken, friendships tarnished and way too much chocolate a teenager should ever be allowed to eat in their lifetime. Speaking of chocolate..

Annie had entered the Great Hall. Rumors spread fast and so did the smell of something sweet. A fresh waft of chocolate entered her senses and she sighed. Time to get to work! After a few misguided directions by some overly excited and unknown voices, Annie made her way to the Slytherin table where there was said to be the chocolate bark making station. The other option was cupcakes at her own House's table. Sorry not sorry Hufflepuff, cupcakes are not my forte! She'd shiver once quickly, the idea of the frosting to actual cupcake ratio was just down right depressing.

Time to get to work! Annie cracked her knuckles and had expertly worn an apron around herself for the task, not wanting to get her robes dirty. Alas she could clean it with a spell but she wasn't going to take the chances and end up hexing her uniform instead knowing her luck, it could happen. The black apron was more or less tied in a knot around her back but it was an attempt. Her hair had been tied up in a messy bun, as a look of concentration crossed her face. Now for the hard part, making decisions.

Annie blankly stood, wondering what she should make, not necessarily who she should give it to. Finally she reached out, grabbing an item and took a nibble at the corner. A rich, buttery flavor entered her mouth and her face contorted into a look of disgust. She had chosen butterscotch. Quickly she folded the foil back over the bar and shoved it off to the side, diving in once more to meet a different, better tasting option. Her hand coiled back to her face, a bar-shaped object in her hand. Maybe this one is at least chocolate.. She'd unwrap the thing and a familiar scent welcomed her before she took a small bite of a corner. Immediately a bitter-sweet and comforting taste hit her tongue. Yes! Dark chocolate A small smile made it's way onto her face.

To avoid eating anymore of it, she'd make her way to a cauldron, the heat luring her in it's direction as she placed the chocolate in the pot. She'd set her hand down on the table waiting for it to start melting but as she did so, something hard jabbed her. Her hand recoiled from the objects, hearing one drop on the floor. What? Annie blinked slowly and went in for investigation, this time with another one of her senses, her nose. Alas a witch sniffing ingredients on a table wasn't common but she did what she had to do. The strong smell of cinnamon hit her before she scooched along, then smelling peppermint and a few other items like orange zest. Taking a handful of peppermints she'd toss them in the pot and begin to stir. Her concoction was coming along slowly, now all she had to do was not burn the chocolate..

Small bubbles popping had indicated her it was ready and she would carefully, without burning herself, begin to pour the chocolate into the baking pan provided conveniently next to her hand. "Easy does it.." She finished pouring and paused, not realizing what she should do next. Were they toppings? Probably.. Did she want any? Not really. She had basically made peppermint bark and if you put anything in it besides peppermint it ruins the whole thing in the first place. Plus even though it was a Valentine's treat, it was still winter and peppermint was one flavor that reminded her of the colder season.

Now what? Annie felt along the table and felt something definitely not edible. A bag perhaps? She grabbed up the paper bag and laid the peppermint bark in there carefully once it had cooled. Finally she tied it off with some ribbon she found, somehow managing to tie a bow better on the bag then her apron. The tag was there to address whom the recipient was. But who was she going to give the bag to? Calli? No too soon, she still cringed at the memory. Dale? No, he was off doing his own things, they barely ran into each other anymore. It dawned on her that she didn't really know that many people, not that well at least. Well it wasn't like she could write nicely anyways so she ended up leaving it blank, but she still had to give it to someone. Finally a decision was made.

She'd use the table as a guide and make her way over to the edge, hearing a familiar voice. "Uhm- Excuse me Professor Jensen. I wanted to thank you for helping set this up, it was really fun and I wanted to give you this." Annie held out the light blue paper bag with a golden ribbon on it. A small smile made it's way on her face. The professors never got thanked enough for what they did so hopefully it made her day. "Oh uhm it's peppermint bark and I hope you aren't allergic to chocolate.. or peppermint.. or bark." Annie grinned sheepishly. "Enjoy! Tell Cara hi, because I know you'll see him before I do!" She chuckled, waltzing out of the hall, feeling a lot more happy and less nervous then when she arrived.

@Hjørdis Jensen cough and shaking of my head@Callista Lovis

Errand WC: 942 (ish)

Interacting with: nobody (interactions open) Mentioning: anyone around her

-----------------------------------

Outfit: X

Winter had never truly been one for romance being she hadn't even found a romantic interest but that hadn't mattered, she was told she could make such things for the people she loves and cares about! Sure it may be valentines day for a reason but up to this point in Hogwarts winter still hadn't been drawn nor admired anyone there, perhaps one day it would be different but for now, she was determined to show her best friend Xeno Darkaz some well-deserved love for being such an amazing person and friend to her all the years they've known each other!

She made her way over to each of the tables slowly seeing what was placed there for the students. her ears were open and she listened carefully to the instructions given by an adult who she recognized as the head of Slytherin. She smiled slightly as she made her way back to the Hufflepuff table, deciding to create some chocolate bark to send to Xeno! Winter picked up one of the pieces of parchment with instructions on it and headed to an empty working space. she scanned over how to do it and chose two chocolates, butterscotch, and milk, two kinds that she knew Xeno would enjoy.

She melted the two chocolates separately in the cauldron provided, pouring the milk chocolate first and the butterscotch second. As the instructions said she added decorations whilst the chocolate was still liquidy, she added m&ms to form two letters 'X & W' both of their initials. If she knew Xeno he would keep it either forever or until the next time they get together and can eat it together. She smiled at the thought as she looked around at others, everyone had been doing very well and she hoped hers would be just as good as everyone's was within her surroundings.

After it was all decorated she picked out a bag and string, blue of course for Xeno's favorite color! She placed a deep blue bag and light blue string on the tray as well as tagging it for 'Xeno Darkax of Beauxbatons' before bringing it to the table where the house-elves had been, she set it down and said thank you to them knowing they would take care of it for her. Once finished there she made her way over to the Ravenclaw area where she would write a letter for Xeno. She scanned all the colors of stationery and ink with a smile and so once more she would have a choice that made her smile with joy. She chose to write on black parchment with white ink! upon taking a seat her hand picked up a quill and moved the ink to a good distance before allowing her hand to go to work.

─▪─▪─────────────────────────────────────────────────────▪─▪─
To Xeno Darkaz of Beauxbatons

Hey, Xeno! I must say it's been a while and I miss you a bunch! I hope you and your dad are doing well! So I'm sure you're wondering why you're getting this in this first place, well the school is having a valentines event and so I decided to make you some chocolate bark, of course, it has your two favorite kinds of chocolate in one! On another note not much has changed since we saw each other in summer camp other than a few new faces that I've met and befriended but I promise to send you a letter if anything comes up, you better write back you big dummy ill be waiting for you like always, tell scar I love him as I do you as well you big lunk hehe

lots of love,
Winty
─▪─▪─────────────────────────────────────────────────────▪─▪─

Along with the tray she had her chocolate bark on as well as the selected bag and ribbon she went and added the letter to the tray. it was sealed in an envelope and she smiled, once more thanking the house-elves as she would usually do for their hard work! By now she was sure she was done but nope, she spotted the cupcakes as she was headed out and decided she would go ahead and make a few to bring to those she cared about, perhaps some of her fellow friends would appreciate it! She smiled and quickly made her way over to her house's table where all the sweets were located. There were so many cupcakes lined up and so many different flavors as well, the colors and everything were just so beautiful. She was told they could pick up to six cupcakes and so that was exactly what she would do!

Deciding to go with the good old originals she picked three vanilla and three chocolate! She would move on to decorate two of each with a different type of frosting, buttercream, vanilla, and chocolate. Sure it wasn't anything too big but she enjoyed it and was sure her friends would be happy with it as well. After piping each of the frostings out onto the tops of the cupcakes she would look at the decorations and cover one of each with sprinkles. She added a bit of edible glitter at the end to those she hadn't placed sprinkles on and gently placed them into a provided bakery box. After getting each of them into place she closed up the box and smiled as she took the box with her on her way out, ready to give her friends their goodie face to face!

Wc: 913

Sunday 13^th February 2022

As Lily entered the Great Hall, the smell of freshly baked cupcakes made her feel happy. She turned and realised it came from the Hufflepuff table, where Professor Lécuyer had prepared the table for frosting and decorating cupcakes. On the other side of the room, at the Slytherin table, Miss Jensen sat in front of baking trays, little cauldrons, and lots and lots of chocolate. Lily hesitated for a while between the two tables. She enjoyed baking with her grandma at home, and she'd become quite good at decorating cupcakes over the years... but she'd never done chocolate barks before, and to try something new tempted her more.

Lily had never talked to the Head of Slytherin, and she was a bit nervous to ask her anything, but luckily the steps of the recipe were written down on cards on the table. The young Ravenclaw took one, read it carefully then selected two chocolates: white and caramel, her favorite flavours! Once melted, she poured slowly each one from the cauldrons to the baking tray, trying to mix them as best as she could before quickly scattering some heart-shaped white and pink sprinkles. She was the chocolate was going to get too hard but it turned out fine. When she was done, she picked up 2 little bags, red ribbons and tags on which she wrote the names of the the recipients of the chocolates.

Then she walked to the Ravenclaw table to write letters with her gift. She found a beautiful sky blue paper then sat and deeped one of the quills in some dark blue ink to write her notes. At the end, she chose a glittery ink to write the signature. She decided to gift the chocolates to two really lovely girls that she had met quite recently but who she hoped would become real friends over time.

Reducio

Dear Victoria,

Thank you for being my snowball fight partner. I hope we will see each other again soon. In the meantime, enjoy these chocolates i made! Happy Valentine's Day!

With Love, Lily B.

Reducio

Dear Anna,

Happy ValentineFriend'lentine's Day! I hope you enjoy these handmade white and caramel chocolates. I can't wait to see you again.

With Love, Lily B.

Hopping the girls would love the little treat and letters, Lily stood up and walked lightly towards the last of the four large tables: the Gryffindor one. Now she was really excited for the Sweetheart Tea Party tomorrow! She hoped that Victoria, Anna and all of her new friends would be there too!

Word count: 426
Mentioning: @Victoria Asminy Honest @Anna Washington

Victoria was tired, but she wanted to make cakes for her friends. Hufflepuff walked over to his desk and sat down in an empty chair. Bought 6 cakes, Victoria decided to send it to 3 people. She bought the vanilla and lemon cupcakes for Anna first. She chose a vanilla frosting cream. She thought Anna would like it.

She added nice little sugars on top of her cake, the cake looked quite delicious. She wrote Anna's name on the white baking packaging of the cakes. There was the second person in line.

Even though Victoria wasn't very close with Lily, she wanted to send her cakes. She chose chocolate and vanilla muffins for Lily, she had to put some thought into the flavor. What could Lily love? Because he didn't know, he added strawberry flavor to both of them in accordance with the cake. Decorating was the simple and most fun part. Victoria added small pieces of strawberries and placed the cake on the baking package and wrote Lily's name.

There were two cakes left, they were for Gemima. Victoria took carrot and lemon muffins and added vanilla flavoring to them. She put chocolate chips in the decoration and finished her work.

Victoria moved happily to the Ravenclaw table. She chose a yellow envelope for Anna. She took a black ink and began to write her letter.

Dear Ani,
Ehm, I wasn't sure what you would like, but I made two cupcakes anyway! Enjoy! I love you!
Love, Victoria

Victoria smiled. She chose a blue envelope and blue ink for Lily.

Dear Lily,
I know we're not close but I hope to be! Hope you like cakes!
Love, Victoria

Next up was Gemima, choosing a cute ocean blue envelope and black ink.

Dear Gem,
I think you will love the cupcakes! Enjoy it, I made it myself!
Love, Victoria

Yes, the letters were short, but Victoria wasn't the best at writing, and she made her way to the Gryffindor table with her cakes and letters. She put down what she had done and she felt her hands hurt.

Mention- @Anna Washington@Lily BridgesGemima Sable@

february 13, 2022.

Ivy's experience with love had been minimal. There had been one or two crushes in the past few years, some more intense than the others (she still cringed at the memory of the embarrassing ordeal with Zykeal Lane), but other than that, romance had played a very small role in her life. She was beginning to think about the topic a little more, but compared to some of the other girls in the school, it really didn't count for anything. Some of the first years had better love lives than her. At twelve, she had been completely unaware of what it even meant to be in love. If she was being completely honest, she still had no idea.

Tomorrow it would be Valentine's Day, and while she'd never paid much attention to the holiday before, she thought maybe this year she'd make a little more effort. And so Ivy headed towards the Great Hall, taking in the new decorations and the piles of colourful baking supplies on the tables manned by three different professors as she walked in. It had been quite the shock to come back and find that almost all of the professors she'd known back in first year were gone, along with a fair few of her peers. May, Ariana, Sky, George, Lizzie...

She shook the thoughts of her old friends from her mind before she could get too sad about it. Honestly, why did she always have to make everything sad? She was here to have fun! Determinedly, Ivy made her way over to the Hufflepuff table in the corner, where the DADA professor was supervising people making cupcakes. The corners of her mouth turned up slightly in a smile. Even though she didn't really know who she'd send cupcakes to, making them would be fun at the very least. She picked up a lemon cupcake at random and began to ice it with cream cheese. The Gryffindor did her very best to make it look as neat as possible, and despite her limited culinary skills, she thought it looked ok so far.

She looked up halfway through icing her cupcake, smiling at one of the nearby students' pet rats climbing up to sit on its owner's shoulder. She really ought to have brought Adelaide... maybe not, actually. Her pet had a tendency to chase small animals and insects - she would never hurt them, but other owners could get pretty mad. Ivy was still working on training her out of that habit. "I like your rat," she said. "What's its name?" It was pretty cute how the owner had offered her pet some of the cupcake. Wait, could rats even have cake? She didn't know much about rats, but she did know that cake wasn't very good for cats.

@serena towers | wc: 464/400

Mentioning: @Sylvain Wyllt
Sweet: Chocolate bark, mixed milk and butterscotch, no particular pattern, just evenly distributed.
Letter: Robin's egg stationary with dark blue ink. Contents as follows:

Reducio

[font=Monotype Corsiva]
I wanted to take the opportunity presented by this time of year to emphasize what a dear friend you have been to me. It seems as though no matter how many tantrums I have, how many mistakes I make, you are always happy to correct my moods and be my friend. Your patience and grace are a rare attribute, and I only wish I could do more for you in return.

Instead, I will only say I am grateful for you, and I hope to never lose your companionship. You bring great light and levity to the world, and I feel compelled to protect that beautiful sparkle. It would bring me great joy to know that this letter lifted your spirits, and if not my words, then hopefully the chocolate.

Kindest regards,
[/font]

Interacting with: Pizza Rat & @Ivy Bellamy

Hearing a nearby voice, she looked up to see an unfamiliar girl. Perhaps she had seen her around but she could not quite place her face or a name to the face. However, she instantly liked her - for the sole reason that the first words were a compliment towards her best friend and the second words showed interest in him! The girl was clearly someone awesome, just by default. Serena was likely very biased, of course, but that was fine. With a grin towards the girl, "Thanks! I like him too!" She admitted before looking over to the brown rat that was just chilling on her shoulder, "You hear that, bud? She likes you!" Addressing him with a grin before turning back to the girl to continue to answer her question, "His name is Pizza. Well, Pizza Rat but I just call him Pizza for short," She responded, as though it was a perfectly normal name. Like she had just called him 'Bob' or something.

Serena had not really been in a chatty mood - she had been worried about what to do with these cupcakes and overthinking every little detail. However, a conversation about Pizza Rat? She was totally in the mood for that! When was she not? She fumbled around with the icing, trying to get the heart-shaped pattern correct, but it looked a little wonky. For a moment, she allowed her mind to ponder... What flavour would Pizza actually like? None of them was savoury or... pizza-like, but perhaps he might enjoy a little bit of something sweet. He did eat pretty much everything, in fairness. Though he seemed to be big on tomatoes and other fruits, however, that was only something she had discovered after naming him. In truth, she did not really know much about rats before she bought him. She just wanted to save him that day and well, she never looked back. She loved him.

Speaking about Pizza quickly changed her entire demeanour. It felt like her spirit was instantly uplifted. At least for a moment. This was obviously the best sort of conversation to have, really. She was instantly cheered up and nothing could bring her down! Well... for the time being, anyway. This was a conversation she could definitely handle.

"Pizza, say hi to..." She paused, realising she did not actually know the girl's name. Serena frowned a little, "Oh, sorry, I'm Serena!" She introduced herself, on realisation, "Do you have any pets yourself?" She continued, showing interest in her pets too. Perhaps the girl's pet and Pizza could be friends! Ohh, what if she had a rat too? That would be perfect. They could be like playdate buddies or something, which would be super cute. Really, Serena always left that she needed to give the little rat more friends. His list of friends was mostly just her. Though he did seem to enjoy the company of a few of her friends too. As long as they were not trying to eat him or shoo him away or something, you know? He was not particularly fussy, but that was a good standard to maintain in terms of relationships.

WC: 585 [Previously] + 528 [This Post] = 1113 [Total]

Cupcakes in Progress:
1. Vanilla cupcake with strawberry icing swirled over it
2. Chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing in a heart