A Historical Beating Errand

This is a thread for the Secret Santa errand

Todays adventure was clear. It would be a hunt, neigh, a quest, for the greatest gift ever given. Galton would need to be sure that it was unique, dazzling, and showed Galton’s attention to detail. Professor Zahid al-Benghazi ibn Masoud would know just by looking at it that it was made for him. How Galton would do that? Well that was unknown. He would travel around the castle in search of ingredients and components, all laying in wait, just wishing for the perfect eye to pluck them from boredom for a holiday surprise.

Galton donned his adventurer garb for the day. A dark orange sweater, brown corduroy pants, grey wool socks, and a black wizard robe left open. The robe was essential, it’s pockets held many a secrets that would come in handy on this journey (and it totally wasn’t pieces of candy). Galton slipped a pair of black boots on and departed from the Gryffindor dorms, so excited he sprinted away, shoe laces still untied.

Now, Professor Zahid taught the history of magic here at hogwarts. A class which Galton’s feelings for constantly shifted, evolving with Galton’s day-to-day, hour-to-hour mood. But for the most part, Galton was always happy to be there, as the boy was normally a happy one. Nothing reminded Galton of history like the library. Great stores of it lay waiting, so that is where he would go first.

Faced with his first trial, Galton would need to find the tome that held clues to the treasure. There were a lot of them here, and finding the right one may not be easy. He would need a tool for this.

Galton produced a pair of dice from his pocket. He would ask it a series of questions, roll, and a 1-3 meant yes, 4-6 meaning no. “Should I look on the right side?”

A 4. Looks like it would be the left side. “Should I look at the top half?”

A 2. He headed over. It seemed like he had wound himself in sections relating to the 18th-19th centuries. The shelf’s were high and Galton’s knowledge of the Dewey Decimal System was poor, so he chose to scan for the most interesting title. It felt like a dire task. Names like “Domfal’s Guide to 18th century charms” and “1900s and feathers - A Style Guide” weren’t sparking Mr. Lansdale’s imagination.

He sat down, tired from searching so hard. It must have been a good 30 minutes without any sugar. His hands again sank down into his pockets, searching for a bit of hard candy that a broken lollipop had left. Successful, he placed the confection into his mouth. And that’s when his eyes narrowed in on the perfect book, Dr. Bakkor’s Secrets to Cakes. What could be better for young Galton. Descendent from a line of candy makers, baking with sugar was in his blood. Paper appeared from his pocket as well as a quill. The quill’s feathers looked rather damaged from being kept in a child’s pocket, a horrifying mode of transport most would think. He quilled down a recipe for something called “Queen’s cake” and ran for the kitchen.

It was perfect. Truly. It was a piece of history that Professor Zahid would be able to eat! And if Galton made it good enough it would even taste magical. He’d be eating historical magic! Galton really was a brilliant lad.

The adventure was evolving, and the next series of trials was about to begin. Galton climbed down the stairs to a hallway adorned with pictures, many, many pictures. And best of all, every painting had food in it. To the untrained eye this was just a glutton’s art gallery, but to those who knew how to spot an odd looking pear, it was a treasure trove. Tickle the pear Galton did, opening a wonderful land of unfinished deliciousness. The house elves wouldn’t appreciate Galton getting in their way, even if it was midday, lunch in the past and dinner far off. Galton glided around, fetching flour, sifted sugar, and... he needed something called “currants”?

Another curve ball. If Galton has to guess, he’d go for something like custard, it sounded close enough. But! No! Professor Zahid deserved to have things done properly! For history!

Galton tapped a house elf on the shoulder, they were busy preparing some bread for dinner, but it didn’t seem like they were so actively involved in it. “Hellooooo! Do you know what this is? Currants?” The elf replied with an annoyed look.

“Young boy you have no business being here... I ought...” Galton began to frown, attempting to put on his best puppy dog face. “Oh, well... okay, but just because you’re cute.” She led him to a fruit section and handed him a small bowl of berries. It seemed that history would indeed repeat itself today, he’d have his cake.

He mixed the three together in a large bowl. The recipe began to take shape. For the next step he’d need butter and rose water. Butter was easy. Rose water was a bit more odd. He plucked a rose from his pocket, a true pocket of holding. He was saving this to give to a girl, but as he’d had it for 3 days now, and it was a bit crushed, this was probably a better end for it. He filled a jug with water, plucked (smashed) rose petals into it and covered it. He shook it violently for a minute or so and then emptied the rose water into another bowl. Fished the petals out, and added butter to it. He began beating the two together. His tiny arms sore after just a few minutes, he decided it was time to proceed.

Egg was the next addition. Eight of them. Galton tried his best to crack them so no shells fell into the mix, and he was moderately successful. He was smart enough to do it in a separate bowl, as the whites and yolks needed to be beat separately. It took a bit to separate them, and Galton’s hands were slimy, but he managed to get them separated (somehow). These were much easier to beat, his already sore arms finishing slurpy less sore miraculously. He added them to the butter and rose water, mixed, and was ready for the final step.

The final step was much more challenging then Galton had read. Probably because he hadn’t actually read any of the steps before arriving at the kitchen. He was much too excited. Mixing the dry portion into the wet portion called for an hour long beating session. That was a lot of beating. Much more than any boy like him had ever done. But it must be done. Again, Professor Zahid deserves the best!

And so Galton beat it. He just beat it for an hour. Every 10 to five minutes mixing more of the dried portion in. Every time the mixture getting thicker and thicker. Galton’s arms would be jelly for days to come. When he was sure it had been an hour he nearly collapsed on the kitchen floors. Only his fear of angering the nice house elves, and his need to get this present finished stopped that.

As he placed the mixture into a cupcake pan (actually two of them), he fetched the sugar and a spice for his finishing touch. The spice was actually more of a mix. It was called “Bzaar” and if Galton’s research was correct, it was a spice that much of Libyan food used. Hopefully it would compliment the cakes well. He sprinkled the sugar and bzaar on top and placed them in the oven. Then, Galton collapsed, eyes painted onto the great warm beast that held his present. He wouldn’t let it burn them, it needed to be perfect.

And after an immeasurable amount of time. Galton assumes the cakes were done. Because a house elf told him they were. And he believed them, he’d ate hogwarts cake before, they had the authority. They were a perfect golden brown, and they smelled so good it took every bone in Galton’s body not to eat them all. Now all that was left was a box, some ribbon and a note.

His tired body carried him up to the owlrey, he tied the box up and attached the note. It read:



And the owl was off. How? Galton didn’t care to see. There were many cakes. Must have been about 20 of them. They weighed maybe 2 kilos all together, so the bird would probably be fine. But that wasn’t on his mind any longer. With a smile on his face he climbed down the tower to find somewhere an elf wouldn’t get mad at him for collapsing. A truly historic adventure.