c is for cookie [open]

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Zytka didn't often find herself in the basement of Hogwarts. They were too far in the ground for her liking, and in the winter months they were especially frigid. Cold and dark were two of Zytka's least favorite things. Luckily, she was not in any old part of the basement. She was in the kitchens, which weren't cold nor particularly dark. Her reason for being there wasn't a particularly noble one - she just had a craving for her grandmother's pierniczki, and since the house elves didn't know the recipe, she wanted to make them herself. Getting all of the proper ingredients was quite the task, especially since Zytka only knew the recipe in Polish and was having to translate it on the fly. Once the ingredients were gathered, though, Zytka was fairly certain she knew what to do. There hadn't always been time around Christmas to make the cookies, but the steps were still in her body the way her grandmother's laugh was still in her heart. Zytka began humming a Polish lullaby beneath her breath as she began mixing together the dry ingredients, smiling all the while.

for your enjoyment

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Dom was in a good mood. She didn't really have a reason, other than the fact that all of her classwork was done so she had some spare time in which to relax. She wasn't quite sure what exactly she wanted to do, but there was one thing that Dominique Weasley was sure of: she was hungry. Not that this was a new thing for Dom; she loved food and if she had the opportunity she would eat constantly. The thing was, she always ran out of snacks shortly after getting them, so there was one place she went quite frequently. The kitchens. So that's where Dom headed now. She walked in the door, surprised when she saw someone already standing inside amidst the many house elves. "Can I get some crackers?" Dom whispered to the house elves before approaching her Ancient Runes professor with a smile. "Professor! What are you doing down here?" She asked with interest as she looked at some of the ingredients spread out in front of her professor. Obviously Professor Kamuntu was making something, so hopefully she would just tell Dom so she didn't have to wheedle it out of her. Either way though, Dom was going to figure out what was going on. She couldn't help it; she was curious.

@zytka

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@dominique & @zytka

the kitchens. it was a place that was a favourite hangout for a lot of students. ranger was no exception. he headed down into the dungeons and ran his hand along the wall as he hummed softly. having been back at school for a little while he was feeling himself settle back into the routine of being there, he was able to let himself relax more than he had in months and he generally felt more like he was getting better. he knew he wasn't all the way there yet but it was progress. he walked into the kitchens and was greeted by a mass of red hair and a professor that he hadn't had the pleasure of being taught by yet. ancient runes wasn't really one of his interests and it wasn't a class needed to become an auror so it had slipped under his radar. "hey dom. professor" he said with a smile as he walked over to where the two of them were standing. he felt something tug on one of his fingers and he smiled down at the little elf as it asked him if he'd like anything. "any chance of a turkey sandwich?" he asked, smiling a little more as the elf nodded it's head and rushed off. he looked at the table before them and saw the ingredients and smiled slightly. "pierniczki?" that's all he knew what to call it. his mother had loved cooking things from all over the world and he recognized the ingredients for the gingerbread like cookies.

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It was rare that Zytka saw students outside of her room or the library, but here a student was. “Habari za asubuhi, Miss Weasley.” Zytka greeted when Dominique Weasley noticed her presence and greeted her. “I was baking some cookies, in anticipation for the Yule season.” It felt strange to call it Christmas season when it was not yet December, but Zytka tried to ignore that niggling doubt. Technically, pierniczki could be made at any time of the year, but Zytka had always associated them with Christmastime. “If you have a spare moment, you’re more than welcome to join me.” Zytka added, cracking an egg into the dry ingredients and stirring in water and milk so that a dough began to form. A second student entered the kitchens at that point, which made the situation even more strange for Zytka. Maybe she ought to spend more time there, the professor thought with a smile. “Habari za asubuhi to you as well, Mr. Lloyd.” Zytka greeted. Though the student likely didn’t know her name, since she taught none of his classes, he was a prefect, and Zytka made a point of knowing all of their names, whether they were in her class or not. “Would you like to join us in baking as well?” Too many cooks in the kitchen could be dangerous, but now that she had made the dough, it would really be more of a question of rolling it out and shaping it into individual cookies.

@dominique
@ranger

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"Cookies!" Dom grinned as her excitement took over. Not that that was unexpected. Everyone who knew Dom at all knew that she was incredible impulsive, so it wouldn't be a surprise to let surprise and excitement take over at the mere mention of cookies. But honestly, who wouldn't be excited by cookies? "Of course I want to help! What kind of cookies are you making?" Dom hurried over to where her professor was standing, looking at the dough. Would she get into trouble if she tried to steal some of the dough to eat it? She looked over at the older woman cautiously, trying to decide if she would mind if Dom stole cookie dough.

Dom turned quickly when she heard a familiar voice behind her. Ranger. She smiled and waved. "Hey Range." She turned back to the cookie dough, listening as Professor Kamuntu mentioned that Ranger could join if he wanted. "Yeah, come help us," She encouraged, gesturing he should come over and stand next to her. "So what do you want us to do?" She asked, unable to tame her excitement. Maybe the best time to steal cookie dough would be when they were rolling it into cookies? Honestly, all Dom wanted to do was try it, but she also didn't want to get caught eating it if she wasn't supposed to. So she would wait until she could sneak some without it being incredibly obvious.

@ranger
@zytka

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@dominique & @zytka

“Would you like to join us in baking as well?” ranger nodded as he settled into a spot at the counter next to dom. "Yeah, come help us, So what do you want us to do?" he chuckled a little as dom almost answered for him though he figured they'd both guess he was going to help them since he was still standing by the counter. he waited for the professor to answer dom in what she wanted them to do. it had been a while since he'd done something like bake cookies. it had been a tradition in his family when he'd been younger but it had slowly tapered out after all all of the lloyd children had gone off to school. though when they went home there had always been a steady supply of the sweet treats. "can we make them any shape we want?"

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Dominique seemed more than excited for something as simple as baking cookies, and Zytka smiled. She had never been as overtly enthusiastic about anything as Dominique was being right now, but it was still nice, to know that someone else was so happy for something so simple. “They’re called pierniczki,” Zytka said in an answer to the red-head’s question.“They’re similar to gingerbread cookies.” Zytka was of the opinion that they were better than gingerbread, of course, but that was mostly due to sentimental value. Dominique immediately asked what they could do to help, and Zytka set a ball of dough out in front of her. “If you’d be so kind as to roll that, that would be wonderful.” When Ranger asked if they could make them whatever shape they wanted, Zytka shrugged. “As a rule, yes. It has always been a tradition in my family that they are shaped like hearts.” Christmas was, after all, a season of love and giving, and after this year, Zytka thought the world needed a little more love.

@dominique
@ranger

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Dominique listened carefully as Professor Kamuntu explained a little more about the cookies. "Pierniczki," she repeated softly, trying to make sure she said it right. She wasn't sure how she did, but she wasn't about to interrupt the professor's explanation just to ask about her pronunciation. "Ooh! I've never tried those before!" she said excitedly once the explanation was over. She jumped up, excited when some dough was placed in front of her. "I can do that!" Dom answered in a bright voice, reaching for a nearby roller. She nudged Ranger with her elbow and winked, "I call rolling it out first!" She declared, immediately beginning the process of rolling the dough out. "That sounds like fun," she responded with a smile, still focusing on rolling out the dough. "How thick does it need to be?" she asked curiously. 

@ranger
@zytka

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@dominique & @zytka

ranger grinned when dom nudged his shoulder and he bowed his head slightly, holding his hand out slightly to concede to her rolling the dough out. he leaned his elbow down on the counter as he rested against it. this took him back to watching his mother bake again, when he'd been a kid it was almost a guarantee that if it was a weekend and she was at home she'd be baking or cooking something new. "How thick does it need to be?" he shifted a little and looked at the dough and spoke to answer without thinking that the professor would want to answer, it just happened on it's own. "it's about a quarter of an inch isn't it?" he asked as he looked at the ginger dough and then lifted his eyes to professor kamuntu.

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Zytka nodded when Dominique repeated the word. Her pronunciation wasn’t perfect, but Polish was a difficult language, especially for people who had grown up speaking English – there were many, many sounds that were strange or hard on the tongue. Dominique volunteered to roll out the dough, and Zytka smiled at her. The girl grabbed a rolling pin, and began using it on the dough, though not before asking how thick it ought to be. Ranger answered before Zytka could, and her eyebrows furrowed slightly. “I haven’t a clue what it is, measurement wise.” She told the students. She hadn’t, after all, done any of this using a recipe, just muscle memory and what looked and felt right. Zytka separated her fingers a smidge, and showed them to Dominique. “This thick.” She didn’t know if that translated to a quarter of an inch, but she didn’t particularly care so long as the cookies came out well.

@dominique
@ranger

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Dom nodded her head when Ranger said a quarter of an inch, then looked up when Professor Kamuntu said "this thick". Perfect! She could do that. She continued rolling out the dough, trying to get it to the desired thickness the first time. She knew- from time baking cookies with her mother- that if you went too thin it wasn't that big of a deal, but that it was always best to do it right the first time. It didn't take long for Dom to roll out the dough and she turned to the two. "How is this?" She asked, gesturing to the dough in front of her, though she was pretty sure she'd done it right. She winked at Ranger before asking her next question. "What's the next step?" She asked, looking straight at the professor. These were her cookies after all. 

@zytka
@ranger

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@dominique & @zytka

"What's the next step?" ranger grinned and looked over to the cookie cutters that were sitting on the counter next to the ingredients. that was the next step, it was the one that made the most sense anyway. he reached to take one of the heart cutters, since the professor had said that's how she usually cut them. he stepped closer to dom so he could reach the dough easier and he moved to press the silver cutter down in the middle of the dough. normally he'd do the edges first, well that's how he'd been taught to do it but this seemed more fun. plus they could always re roll the dough if they had leftovers. "we make some hearts?" he said with a wink and he lifted the cutter out, the dough coming with it leaving the hole where the heart had been.

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The dough in front of Dominique was perfectly rolled, and Zytka smiled encouragingly at her. The cookies weren’t difficult to make, of course, but it was nice to have your accomplishments acknowledged. Ranger immediately began cutting the hearts, and Zytka clicked her tongue softly. “How about we split the dough so this goes a little faster?” She asked, already reaching across the two students so that she could cut the dough into three equal sections. There were more than enough cutters for all of them to have their own, and this way, they all could have an equal opportunity to cut the cookies, and it would go quickly. Zytka had already prepared a cookie sheet, so as she finished making the hearts, she laid them carefully on the sheet so they were ready for the oven.

@dominique
@ranger

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Dom laughed when Ranger answered her question, cutting a cookie for himself simultaneously. That was fine by her! Then Professor Kamuntu said they should divide the dough and Dom nodded, pleased with that suggestion. This way she would get a chance to participate as well! She accepted the dough from the professor and grabbed a heart shaped cookie cutter. Dom loved the feeling of pushing the cookie cutter through the dough. It was ... oddly satisfying in a way that she couldn't really explain. Which was fine, because no one was asking her to explain it. "So are these cookies for anyone in particular?" she asked with a smile directed at the professor before teasingly shoving Ranger's elbow. They were friends, so he should expect her to do something to sabotage him, right? She didn't want to ruin the cookies, so she wouldn't start an all-out-war, but she could push him and pretend like it was an accident. That was fun.

@ranger

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@dominique & @zytka

"So are these cookies for anyone in particular?" ranger kept on cutting out the hearts as he heard dom ask the proefessor if they were for anyone in particular. he didn't really want to listen in on that conversation so he kept pressing the cookie cutter into the dough. it was smelling great and they weren't even cooked yet. after a few moments they were all done and he took one of them and grinned, moving to hand it to dom. "here dom. have my heart." he said as he nudged her back in retaliation for the nudge she had dealt to him a little while ago. "all ready." he said as he finished putting the rest onto the tray.

-- one of you two can end it