Cookies with a bit of a kick Errand Finished

28th August 2020, The Towers

Her head rested in the palm of her hand as she leaned against the desk in front of her. Her cheek was basically pressed into her eye but she was so bored at this point. It had been a few weeks since she came home from camp. A lot had happened this summer. Far too much, it would seem. She stared at the blank wall in front of her desk. A textbook lay open on the top of the desk. Serena still did not know how to process everything that happened in the past few months. In some ways, it felt like her entire life had flipped upside down but... in reality, very little had changed. Things were - for the most part - still the same. It just felt different with the knowledge she had now.

Serena had no idea what to actually think. More importantly, she had no idea how to feel. The changes or lack there of... This was... A good thing, right? Was it? She had honestly no idea. She sighed as she heard Arjan kicking up a fuss from the other room. His raised voice was screaming at someone - most likely an innocent house elf that did not deserve the abuse. She frowned as she tried to drown his stupid voice out, not wanting to get involved.

Unfortunately, it continued for a few minutes. What in Merlin's name was going on? Groaning, she pushed herself off the seat and headed out into the hallway. As soon as she opened the door, an owl came swooshing in. Serena ducked instinctively, although she did not need to. The owl was flying near the ceiling and... well... she was pretty short. There was no way she was going to have gotten hit in the first place, anyway. Her brother came marching towards the door before she had a chance to figure out what was even going on, "Move it, shorty! That dumb bird-" He shoved Serena out of the way and went towards the owl, continuing a rant about the fact that the owl had 'ruined' his hair and would not give him the letter that it was holding.

She could not help but roll her eyes, pausing only when she noticed that the letter was not addressed to him. It was... addressed to her? "That's because it's not your letter, genius," She replied sarcastically as she raised her hand. The owl quickly fly over, dropping it where she could catch it before her brother tried to steal it. Arjan would still try and take it but she managed to dodge out of the way, "Thank you, friend!" She called out to the owl as she quickly dodged out of the room. He might have been strong enough to shove her out of the way or grab it from her but... she was faster than him. He needed to catch her before if he wanted it.

The four foot ten hufflepuff ran through the corridors, quickly dashing through the house until she managed to lose him. Slipping into an empty room, she opened up the letter - panting as quietly as possible. The letter was from one of her professors. The... new Groundskeeper? She met him at the barbeque. It spoke about... baking? Asking her to bake something, anything. Serena blinked. She had absolutely no idea what she would even make. Baking meant... cake? What else even was there? Professor Dunaid was hungry, it would seem. This was an odd owl but it brought a smile to Serena's face. He was certainly her kind of person. Wait...

He was... exactly her sort of person. A gasp escaped her mouth as her eyes widened at the thought. It was... perfect. Perhaps he would help her understand what... this was? Serena looked at her hands. They did not look very different than they did before but it felt different. It was strange, in a way. Spending fourteen years growing up and being told that she was a pureblood, that purebloods were the most important blood status and that everyone else was inferior. Of course, she never agreed with these things but that was what she was told. And now... she was told that... she was not a pureblood? Hell, she was not even fully human. Her lineage had goblin ancestry within it but... she could not tell people that? As though it was something to be ashamed of. Serena sighed as she leaned back against the wall. She did not really understand why.

She had never once cared if someone was not a pureblood. Most of her friends were not purebloods. She knew giants and dhampirs. These were not things to be ashamed of. Her mind went back to the hospital after the Durmstrang Quidditch battle - for the lack of a better word - and how Quinn had been called a 'monster' and attacked based on nothing but his genetics. It was horrible.

Closing her fist in irritation, she stared at the letter. Right. This was what she would do! She would bake something for Professor Dunaid and ask him if he would be willing to meet with her in September, once school had commenced. She wanted to know more about her heritage and... asking her family did not seem to be an option. Her father was willing to share things, of course. But learning he had hidden from her for so long... a part of her wanted to find someone else to ask instead. For some reason, it always seemed easier to talk to a stranger than a family.

With renewed energy, Serena suddenly pushed off the wall and quickly made her way around her house until she found her grandmother, who was sitting in the corner of the living room knitting. It was not long till she convinced her gran to help her with the task at hand. Mostly because Serena had absolutely no idea how to bake or what to bake.

Following her grandmother's advice, she took some random ingredients out of the cupboard. Opening up the drawer, full of different spices, she pointed, "Uhh, this one?" She asked as she picked up a yellow powder. Her gran laughed, shook her head and pointed to some brown seeds instead. It took way longer than it should have done but the table soon had a variety of ingredients.

"Two cups of maida? Oh ok... Uh, is this too much? Fill it?! Oh okay," Serena scooped out a bit in the cup but her gran told her to fill it to the top. Repeating, she took two full cups of the maida and pour it into a bowl. Then she took a cup of the ghee and poured it into the bowl until her gran said stop. Continuing, Serena added red chili powder, cumin seeds, ginger and a variety of other minced spices. Her gran showed her how to mix them properly, turning them into a dough that was similar to chapatti dough.

In all honesty, Serena had no idea if Dunaid would enjoy these things. It was probably not what he was expecting. It was not exactly cake but her gran suggested making it as it was nice and easy but also unique. She rolled out the kneaded dough as evenly as she could. She was trying to make it around one inch thick but admittedly, it was a bit less one some sides and a bit more on other sides. Nonetheless, she tried her best to even it out. The most fun part was picking a cookie cutter.

Her gran had a huge range, it was kind of hard to actually pick. By the end of the process, she had cookies in a variety of shapes. There was a few stars, a square, a couple of hexagons, some hearts, some flower type things, and a few different animal shapes - such as a butterfly and an elephant. There was also a cookie in the shape of a hatchet or axe type thing, which she thought was pretty nice.

About an hour and a half later - mostly because it took her far too long to do the tasks that should have only taken a few minutes each - Serena grinned at the trays of Masala Biscuits. She had absolutely no clue what the Keeper of Keys wanted to eat but... He did say any sort of baking and according to her gran, this counted as baking!

Too excited to wait, she took a cookie and bite into it, "Ahhh hot hot hot-" She started as she puffed loudly, trying to fan her mouth. The biscuits were very hot, having just been baked. Apparently she was meant to wait a few minutes for them to cool down but instead, she just blew on the one she wanted to eat till it was a better temperature. Taking another bite, she grinned, "It's not bad..." She added. By the end of the cookie, the kick of the spices was starting to get to her but it was still pretty tasty. They were certainly different.

As the rest of the trays cooled down, she grabbed some parchment and penned a quick letter to go with the biscuits.

Dear Professor Dunaid,

Please find attached a box of cookies that I made - though I must give credit to my grandmother, who helped me a lot in this process. Please do not be decieved deceived by the appearance. Whilst they look like cookies, they are not sweet.

They are called Masala Biscuits and have a slight spicy taste to them, as they contain some chili powder. I think they count as a savoury creation and baked goods so, I hope you will enjoy them. My grandmother really likes them and she said my father really likes them too. I personally find them a little spicy so I can only eat two or three, rather than the whole box in one go. My gran did say that they taste very good with a cup of tea. But I don't drink tea, so I cannot comment on that. However, I do like drinking a glass of milk with it instead! This helps with the spicy taste, if you find them too spicy.

I really hope you enjoy them!

Also, if you have time, would you mind if I spoke with you sometime? I would like to talk to you about some stuff. things. personal matters, if that was alright?

Thank you very kindly,

Serena J. Towers

With that, she packed up the biscuits and filled a large container with them. Apparently it would serve around six to eight people minimum but nonetheless, she filled the container. Once it was packed, she noticed that there a few leftovers, which she boxed up for the family to eat. Putting the letter into an envelope, she addressed it back to the professor and attached the letter to the box. Then she sent the whole package back with the family owl, as the other one had already left. Hopefully it was alright!

[THREAD FINISHED]