[HD] Give me a sugar rush, and don't let me crash [Honey Bea]

“Ughhh.” Jonathan made a face as he put the stopper back onto an amber vial and proceeded to gently prod his forehead. He was getting sick of the scent of dittany. And if he never had to smell murtlap essence as well, that’d be a lovely bonus. They were necessary stocks when running a cafe full of animals, and Jonathan inevitably had a reason to use one or the other. From cat scratches to overly playful nicks from the dogs, if Jonathan wasn’t helping a patron, he would usually be applying it to himself. But now what used to be welcome salves were just nuisances to his poor nose.

And a few months ago, murtlap and dittany saturated the air he breathed, punctured only by the scent of blood and sweat. Worse, those scents carried images, scenes of broken bones and oozing gashes, twitching arms or arms that turned deathly still. They were memories Jonathan wished to put behind him, but they seemed to entrap him like the dome had done. And the images would not leave him until the last scent of dittany dissipated, bringing his senses back to the present, but always feeling sapped of energy.

When Jon felt he had control of himself again, he placed the vial back onto the potion shelf and checked himself in the mirror. Today gifted him with a particularly nasty gash, courtesy of one of the unicorn foals. His quick treatment turned a deep cut on his right temple into what looked like a third-day bruise, which was shaped oddly in a U. It was not a pretty sight, but better than before.

The foals were getting bigger, and getting a bit more particular about preferring a woman’s touch. Some days they were cute as a button, trotting eagerly to nuzzle Jonathan as he fed and brushed them. And some days they acted as if he were some muddy neanderthal. They’re basically cats. Cats with hooves. Arses. They had been rather fickle that morning, with Jonathan having to chase them around the pen in order to finish their brushing. And just his luck, Jon had lost his balance on a muddy patch, causing him to instinctively grab onto one of their tails. That was a big no-no. That resulted in unicorn hoof meeting human face, and those two definitely did not go well together.

So here was Jonathan inspecting the damage, and decided it would have to do. Spells and potions could do only so much, and the rest just needed time. He also decided he needed a change of environment, and some much needed comfort food. Though there were plenty of treats at the cafe, he had an odd craving for something he didn’t make himself. Since his cousins seemed to be manning the front of the shop without trouble, Jonathan figured they could do without him for a time.

He brushed off as much of the mud from his cloaks, but felt too tired to change. Besides, he’d have to help close the shop later, and that always meant a soiled sleeve or a torn shirt anyway. No use ruining two good pairs of clothing. He sauntered past the front door, making his way to Hogsmeade proper, pausing at the unicorn pens just enough to send an obscene gesture at the two braying foals.

Turning onto High Street, Jonathan poked his head along the shops, catching whiffs of freshly pressed cloaks, or warm butterbeer, or decadent chocolates. None of them smelt like dittany. Or unicorns, for that matter. His day was turning around already!

He stopped at Honeydukes, one of the few places that always left him with happy memories. He definitely needed a pick-me-up. He paused to breathe in the delicious smell of confectioner’s sugar, salted toffees, and complex mixes of chocolate. Jonathan was bursting with giddiness. He couldn’t wait to chomp his teeth onto one of those---

“Hey, hold on.” Jonathan arched his brow, puzzled at why the door was resisting him. Why was the knob not turning? How awful was it to be tantalized by yummy pieces of heaven just a door away, and not be able to have them?  Jonathan slid over to one of the large front windows, pressing his face onto the pane. He wasn’t sure if it was just a trick of the light, or if someone was inside. Did Honeydukes host private events? Now he definitely needed to make his way in. He tapped on the window, face still squished onto the glass.

“Heeeyyyyooooo.”

"Nope," Honey said with a shake of her head, quickly chasing her last bite with a swig of chocolate milk. "Definitely not," she said to no one in particular, being alone in the kitchen of Honeydukes, clearing off the counter in front of her with a swipe of her arm. The white chocolate truffles sprinkled with cracked pink peppercorns, while pretty enough, were definitely not the flavor profile she was looking for. She slid what was left of her experiment to the side, hating to waste things, but also hating to give away anything she had made that wasn't one hundred percent delicious, and these definitely were not. She'd just have to figure out what to do with them later.

Dark chocolate. That was always the answer. She summoned the necessary ingredients to her from around the room and set to work, soon replacing the sickly sweet smell of the white chocolate in the air with the much more pleasant and rich smell of dark chocolate. The process was ingrained in her now: melting the cocoa butter, adding the cocoa powder, adding the perfect amount of sugar sans measuring to keep it at precisely 70% cocoa. Tempering the chocolate was second nature, knowing the timings and temperatures each type required.

But now the real question was what to put with it? She needed something new and interesting, something that wasn't the pink peppercorns with the white chocolate that definitely did live up to expectations before. Something like it though. Honey leaned back against the counter in thought, not noticing or caring that she was a downright mess from her whole creative process, cocoa powder smudged on her face.

Honey straightened up quickly in a burst of inspiration, hightailing it to the basement to take a look around. She knew she had some somewhere, having bought them at the market not two days ago. She beamed as she found what she was looking for: a very small crate of jalapeño peppers. While not one for peppers or green food or spice at all, something about this flavor combination just seemed... right.

As soon as she got her chocolate to the perfect temperature, she proceeded to dip the jalapeños one by one, leaving a bit near the stem undipped for easier handling. She laid them out on a tray she had prepared with wax paper for them to harden, eager to find out if she had something here or not. They just needed a few more minutes, as Honey began to impatiently pace around the kitchen. She had learned not to speed up this part of the process with magic as it always did something funny to the aftertaste.

She heard the tapping from the shop, pacing quietly in the kitchen, and she hurried out fully expecting to see an owl with on of her many pending grocery orders. Normally she would be disappointed to be wrong, but she was beside herself when she saw a smooshed up version of Jonathan Emerson's face through the window, which he would definitely be cleaning his face smudge off of later.

Hurriedly unlocking the door, she ushered him in. "Perfect timing," she said, tugging at his sleeve, wordlessly inviting him to follow her back into the kitchen. "I just made something new," she said over her shoulder, moving around the counter and through the door to the back. She plucked up two peppers by the stem, one in each hand, and handed one over. "Dark chocolate covered jalapeño," she offered, holding it up to her nose to get a nice combination of cocoa and spice.

She took a healthy bite, immediately mentally congratulating herself on a job well done. But then she bit through a seed and quickly changed her mind. Honey was not made for anything spicier than cinnamon, apparently. But she had spent so much time on the chocolate, she wasn't about to spit it out. She powered through the rest of her chewing and swallowed quickly, tenderly setting the half eaten jalapeño back on the tray with the others. "I think I just killed my mouth," she said, too distracted by her own discomfort to notice if Jonathan had actually enjoyed himself.

Pouring herself a new glass of chocolate milk, she took a large swallow to cool things down before finally offering one to Honeydukes' second best taste tester with an apologetic smile.

Jonathan heard some rustling, and gasped at the sound of the door opening. Honey’s face was a welcome sight, and he eagerly followed her into the shop. While this was all routine by now, with Jon frequenting Honey's shop ever since she'd taken over, he never lost his sense of wonder at being inside Honeydukes. It was heaven on earth! His eyes excitedly scanned the marvellous creations, all just beckoning him to gobble them up. But as tempting as it was to just buy the lot, Honey’s offer of something new was foremost in his mind.

He felt so cool to be inside Honeydukes when no one else was supposed to. In his mind, this was tonnes better than those lame celebrity backstage meets. Did those famous people offer candy? No? Didn’t think so. Dumb. Next!

As he followed Honey past the main shop and into the kitchen, he was practically bubbling, bopping happily with each step. This was the real magic, here! Jonathan noted the pile of chocolate on the side of the counter, with broken truffles and peppercorn, all of which looked like they were just cast aside. He felt offended looking at it. Surely Honey would do something to save those poor chocolate creations? He could just hear their sweet, pleading voices. Saaaaave us! Make us edible!! Jonathan nodded at them seriously, mentally responding. Don’t you worry, poor chocolates! Something will be done. If Honey wouldn’t do it, then he---

‘What was that now, dark chocolate jalapeños?’ Like the sweets in the main shop, the abandoned peppercorn truffles were immediately forgotten. Jonathan’s eyes lit up at the piece offered to him, his noses tingling at the decadent mix of bittersweet cocoa and mouth watering spice. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! He quickly took the piece and popped the whole thing into his mouth. But the moment his teeth broke through the rich, chocolate shell and bit into the jalapeño, he knew at once he’d made a mistake. Jonathan liked spice, but generally in mild concentrations. A pinch here, a dash there. But he’d never actually bit into a whole jalapeño, and now he knew why.

He began panting, mouth open and teeth covered in chocolate. He didn’t want to bite anymore, afraid of the juices that would keep burning his mouth. He was about to spit the whole thing out, but politeness won out and he swallowed the gooey mush. The burn was shocking, causing his eyes to water and his poor nose to run with snot from the overpowering heat.

The glass of chocolate milk was a welcome salve for his flaming taste buds. But the heat from the jalapeño still lingered, although with the chocolate milk, it lessened into a rather delightful sensation. Perhaps if his tolerance for spice were greater, that’s what the chocolate pieces would have tasted like. Luckily, this injury was neither as painful nor as lasting as the one his poor, bruised head had received earlier that day.

‘Sorry, love, but this may have done me a touch one over.’ He raised his sleeve to wipe his snot from his face, as well as the milky moustache that foamed above his upper lip. ‘Mind you, it’s rather good with the milk! Ever thought of serving it as a drink?’

He lifted up the glass again, finishing it’s delicious contents. Quite satisfied, he place the glass back on the counter, this time not bothering to wipe his milk-moustache as he spoke. ‘As for the jalapeños, there may be some brave fools who’d find this a treat. I reckon the Hogwarts kids might have a bit of fun with these with their friends. Hope they’re better behaved in your shop than I’d been as a student.’

Honey wanted to feel bad about what she had just done, about what a huge mistake she had made in offering the chocolate to Jonathan without knowing the consequences beforehand. But his reaction was priceless, and the woman couldn't help but smile through her own displeasure. "Sorry, so sorry," she managed to get out without laughing too much.

"Oh, go ahead and be totally honest," Honey rolled her eyes but smiled, completely in agreement about them having just a tad more heat than she could handle. "Good idea, though," she added with a nod, quickly following another train of thought into how to get the jalapeño flavor for the chocolate milk without having chunks of pepper floating about or having to steep the peppers in the milk long enough for the flavor while keeping the milk fresh. Too many logistics to think about while she had a guest, even if Jonathan probably wouldn't protest too much if he needed to test things more.

She picked up the tray of unwanted peppers and plopped it down next to the unwanted white chocolate truffles. "If you still want to try things," she motioned to the pile of truffles scattered with the ground pink peppercorn. "I'm looking for some new flavor combinations." She said with a shrug, leaning back against the counter and folding her arms across her chest. "It's not going too well," she added with a laugh, it plainly obvious she still hadn't been successful with anything today.

"Another good idea." Honey's face lit up at the thought; while she far more enjoyed the more gourmet sweets she curated, she had a special place in her heart for the joke sweets, especially now that she had a bit of competition in that department.

She laughed again as she straightened up to pour herself another glass of chocolate milk, leaving the bottle within reach so Jonathan could get himself another glass if he wanted. "Oh no, they're angels, every last one of them, just like you." Honestly, Honey repressed a lot of the memories about Hogwarts student days in the village, finding the key to surviving the rush is eating something every ten minutes and not feeling bad about yelling at the children if they stepped out of line. Though she had found herself actually longing for the craziness that the students provided during the whole situation with the Dome, but she wasn't about to point that out.

"I do have something I know is good," she said as she strode across the room and entered the pantry, heading for the shelf that held one of her more recent creations. "New potion truffles." She reentered the kitchen with a jar of individually wrapped candies, with a neat hand written label on the jar reading 'Invigorating: white chocolate, lemon zest'. She set it down and fished out a handful, laying them out on the cleanest counter in the room. "Invigoration draught," she pointed out, in case he had neglected to read the jar.

Honey had found herself with quite a bit of free time the past year, having very little business with all the Hogwarts drama, and had taken to brewing potions for new truffles. She wasn't selling them, especially not to Ministry officials, but had made a habit of gifting them and trading and giving out free samples. Totally legal.

It was always fun watching creative people work. Jonathan liked cooking and baking, and had plenty of hobbies that may seem creative, but he knew he could never be someone like Honey. The way she seemed to always have her brain spinning, cogs turning, never passing up a moment to think about new and exciting things to make. Even now, in the flow of their conversations, Jonathan noticed her slight pauses at his suggestions, probably working out the finer points in ways Jonathan could not. He was very much by the book, perhaps tweaking little things here and there, but not really pushing any gastronomic envelopes.

His eyes followed her movements as she set the rest of her chocolate jalapeños to the side. And since she offered, he began to pick at the other discarded creations as they continued talking, taking care to pick at the pieces of white chocolate from the peppercorn, getting just a faint bit of heat, but still allowing his poor taste buds to recover from their earlier ordeal. Normally a fan of richer flavours, he did find the white chocolate to be a sweet salve in addition to the milk. He chortled for a moment at Honey’s self-criticism. Her standards were obviously quite high since everything tasted really great so far. She just needed to find taste testers with much higher heat tolerances.

He laughed more heartily at Honey’s playful jab. If those Hogwarts kids were the least bit like him when he was a student, Honey would probably need hexes at the ready for Hogsmeade weekends. But Jon liked to think he’d matured greatly since his wistful teenage years. He was a proper grown up now with a very grown up job after all! And his side job of tasting sweets for Honey required a very serious front, too.

Jonathan was piqued when Honey mentioned yet another new thing! This day was definitely on the up and up since the morning. He eyed the labels with great interest. Honey was definitely keeping on the family tradition. He tried to recall the last time Honeydukes received a new permit for charmed food products. Her family had done very well with her father’s whimsical creations, but he supposed with the Weasley twins cutting into that part of the business, Honey had to figure out whether she would compete or move her family’s business to other ventures.

Taking one of pieces that Honey laid on the counter, he carefully unwrapped one, sniffing it for a moment. There didn’t seem to be any offensively strong flavours in it, just a nice tart scent of lemon. He popped it into his mouth, and once he sucked a bit of it, he began to feel a slight warmth course through his body. It was a very pleasant feeling, and he felt lighter, like he could do anything. The rush of energy filled him was sorely welcome. Jonathan was known for his exuberance, but the months since the dome made him a shadow of his former self. It was nice to feel like himself again, even for a brief moment. A small voice in his head wondered if he could just take a handful of these sweets a day, he’d go back to being just fine. But the thought was fleeting. Jonathan was not one to rely on potions and draughts, when he knew they treated only the symptoms and not the cause. But he had to admit that, until he was able to work out his inner demons, temporary treatments were necessary. At least these came in the form of sweets, and much more palatable than the other dreadful things prescribed by his Healers.

‘Say, this is quite the stuff! This would have been great a few weeks ago when us Ministry folk were up to our necks with work. Although…’ Jonathan frowned as he tried to recall something. He’d been quite busy right after the dome’s disappearance in the rebuilding of the castle. It as tedious and arduous, but now that he was thinking back, he remembered seeing some of his fellow Officials being unusually gung-ho from time to time about working, when nearly everyone was on a near constant state of exhaustion. He eyed Honey for a moment with curious arch of his brow, but left it alone.

‘Anyway, you think you’d expand to make a line of these things? I reckon it’d do quite well, once you’ve gotten the proper permits and all to sell, of course.’ He stopped and laughed at himself. He was such a Ministry worker through and through. He shook his head and tried to keep their conversation more casual. But he did wonder if Honey was pursuing these potion truffles with some seriousness.

‘Sorry. Permit talk is very dull, although I reckon I could help push things along if you wanted to get them. Just wanted to say that there could be a good market for these truffles. Mind you, I’d probably get one that could get rid of nightmares, but these pick-me-ups are also really good!’

Honey Bea watched with interest as Jonathan took a truffle, smiling as he put it in his mouth. She was always nervous when she watched someone eat a Honeydukes product, even ones that she knew were top notch. But as much as she knew that this particular truffle was great, there was always going to be that one person that hated it. True, that person probably wasn’t going to be Jonathan, who ate practically anything she gave him, finding some polite way of telling her it was absolute rubbish if the taste didn’t agree with him. Still, she could help but be filled with anxiety as she watched him, though the feeling quickly subsided as it became clear he enjoyed it. Thank Merlin.

She grinned as she listened to him talk, wanting to interject, but not yet ready to interrupt his praises. ”Yeah, wouldn't they have been helpful?" She said it a tad too quickly and excitedly, but she wasn't sure why Jonathan knowing anything would be bad. He was the least menacing of all the Ministry officials she had come in contact with, which was at an all-time high after this past year. It wasn't always invigoration draughts though; cheering potions, pepperup potions, smiling serums, nothing but happy potions for happy people. And made even happier by the addition of chocolate. Plus, Honey had sampled everything, both before and after adding them to the truffles, just to make sure that the chocolate or additional flavors didn't have any unwanted side effects. And she never accepted payment for them. Getting permits would just be so… tedious.

As if Jonathan knew she was considering selling the truffles legitimately, he asked her exactly that. “Oh, of course. Have to keep things above board, no doubt.” She shrugged at the thought, quite content to keep things exactly how they were. While no one paid for them, exactly, they always got her back somehow. It was something she had done since childhood, trading candy for other goods, material or otherwise.

She perked back up once he got off the subject of permits and back to the subject of how awesome her chocolate was, which was the important thing, after all. “Well feel free to take a big handful of them, but be sure to add on a few hours to my puppy credits at the cafe,” she offered with a smile, loving this part of her job, giving and getting.

“I do like your idea though, dreamless sleep. Bit depressing, but I bet that would do well. Maybe milk chocolate and orange.” She straightened up from her leaning position, heading back to the pantry, still talking over her shoulder, doing her best to keep the conversation light. “Espresso and dark chocolate would be good but might work against the sleeping part.” There was a shelf lined with books, various cookbooks, charms books, potion texts. She ran a long finger along the spines, only taking a few more seconds to find what she was looking for.

Carrying the text back to the kitchen, Honey headed for a clean stretch of counter and set the book down on it, flipping quickly to the index then to the correct page. “Draught for Dreamless Sleep,” she read off the page, more for Jonathan’s benefit than her own, perusing down the list of ingredients. “I haven’t made this since N.E.W.T.s,” she said offhandedly, noting the few stand out ingredients that would cost a pretty penny. That was too bad; maybe actually selling the candies would be worthwhile, if she wanted to start making expensive potions.

“Probably too costly to mass produce,” she offered, “And it has chizpurfle fangs, so that rules out mint and citrus flavors. Probably peppermint, too.” She stuck her finger on the page to keep her spot and finally looked up, hoping her guest had been following along with her thoughts. “I bet I could make a test batch or two,” she mused, tilting her head to the side as she thought.

Jonathan was enjoying the surge of energy that coursed through him. Unlike caffeine, that sometimes did a number on his wits when he’d had too much, Honey’s invigorating chocolate had just the right amount of pep for his step! He wondered what it’d be like if he popped the whole lot of them into his mouth, but decided against it. He knew enough from potions classes not to over do it with doses. Being strung high on caffeine was one thing. Indulging with large doses of an invigoration draught was sure to wreak havoc on his already tired body.

Still, he took her offer of having a bunch, stuffing several into his pockets. He smiled at her barter, finding it more than a fair trade. ‘You’ve got it! I may even work out a private reservation just for you if you’d rather not deal with icky Hogwarts adolescents. The critter cafe was a paradoxical place that offered both chaos and relaxation. There was something going on in every corner of the shop, but most patrons were too indulged in their own little world and the cute animal they were playing with. But if Honey wanted some real bonding time with the animals without extra distractions, he was willing to do so for her.

Jonathan perked when she actually took his whimsical suggestion with some seriousness. He mentioned it casually, but if Honey was serious considering making it, he would definitely be interested. He loved sleep, and he usually loved to dream. But lately, his mind couldn’t come up with a single peaceful, happy image to lull him to a good night’s rest. Instead…well, he’d rather not think about it if he could help it.

Jonathan, every curious, couldn’t help but shadow Honey and peek over her shoulder as she perused through a book. He followed her back to the kitchen table, sitting on the opposite side and reading the text upside-down to follow along. It was definitely a complicated concoction, and Jonathan shook his head at the mention of NEWT Potions. He was glad to have done well, but he wasn’t confident he could make the potion off the cuff like Honey was thinking of doing.

A batch or two?! The look on Jon’s face was one of admiration. Honey was amazingggg! Jonathan rolled up his sleeves, ready to play confectioner’s assistant.

‘If you can make even one and give me one night’s rest, I’ll be ever in your debt. And I reckon it’s best to leave all the potions brewing to you. But I can help prep ingredients, and the actual chocolate base.’ He was excited now, eager to begin.

Honey had sorely missed those icky Hogwarts adolescents all year, and not only because they made up the bulk of her income. Still, she wasn't about to bring that up and ruin the perfectly pleasant conversation they were having. She was well aware how difficult it had been for the village as a whole to stop focusing on and move on from Dome-related issues. Instead, she grinned, nodding fervently. "That would be perfect. I'd bring more treats for your troubles, of course," she added with a wink, heavily implying she could bring more not-so-properly-paperworked truffles.

She watched with a grin as Jonathan rolled up his sleeves. She would take that as a sounding affirmative for a test batch or two. "Oh, they're for you?" The woman raised an eyebrow as she smirked. "Why didn't you say so?" She pushed the potions text across the table towards him. "In the back of the pantry is another little room with potions ingredients." She nodded as she explained. "Grab everything and I'll grab a chocolate recipe for you." She had memorized her chocolate recipes long ago, but there were still the handwritten cards that had been passed down from owner to owner with the basic three: white, milk, and dark.

She pulled the cards from a magically-sealed drawer, calling out as she read from them. "How about dark and hazelnut?" That was a very basic and very hard to mess up combination and from what she could recall from the potion's ingredient list, it shouldn't interact poorly with anything. Honey nodded to herself as she stuck the white and milk chocolate recipes back in the drawer and resealing it, setting the recipe out on the table -- now Jonathan's workspace.

From the main pantry she grabbed jars of cocoa powder, cocoa butter, sugar, and hazelnuts, adding a small bottle of vanilla to the load as she made her way back into the kitchen. She set everything on the table, using her wand to summon the rest of the gear, bowls and spatulas and measuring things mostly.

"Melting the cocoa butter is first," she started once Jonathan had reappeared with her cauldron loaded up with the jars and boxes of potion ingredients. She pointed to the stove, permanently set up with a double boiler, then pointed at the little recipe card that told him exactly how much of everything he would need.

She pulled the cauldron towards her and unloaded the ingredients to the other half of the large table, tracing her finger down the recipe one more time before getting to work.

I’m making all the yummies for man tummy, la la la~~
All the yummies for just mah tummy, nyah nyah nyah~

Jonathan sang his little ditty as he eagerly followed Honey’s instructions. He would leave all the hard potion magic stuff to her. He had the much better deal making the tasty part.

He went to rummage through potion pantry, book in hand to find the appropriate ingredients. He double checked all the labels before using his want to summon them into a cauldron. He wasn’t going to poison himself in this enterprise, no siree nope! Some in the last made him squint and frown, and hoped that whatever the end result, it would mask all of the less savoury bits that needed to be used for the potions part.

I’m making all the yummies for man tummy, la la la~~
All the yummies for just mah tummy, nyah nyah nyah~

When he came back, Honey pretty much had everything else set. He had to admit if anyone was going to know how to navigate this kitchen, it was her. As she placed them on the counter, Jonathan flicked his wand to whisk the lot over to his side, organising them to how he generally did when he was baking.

He flicked his wand again to open the packs, and pointed it at himself, until a frilly black apron appeared on him, shaped like a cat, the shoulder straps designed to appear like ears. He then summoned some of the whisks and other baking tools by his counter. But after that, his wand was put away. For some reason, making food always seemed to taste just a liiiiitle bit better when done by hand. Now, of course he resorted to magical assistance when having to make large batches, but there was some incalculable flavour that came from just doing something with nothing but your hands and your love for the craft.

Glancing at the recipe card, Jonathan prepped the cocoa butter, scooping the required amount for a solid batch, setting it in a bowl and popping it to the oven to melt. He checked it periodically until it became the consistency needed. Opening the stove, he was met with the lovely, sweet scent of cocoa, and his mouth instinctively watered. Grabbing a set of mitts, he eagerly took out the melted cocoa butter, and pivoted back toward his station.

He prepped and mixed the other ingredients expertly, showing as silly as he looked, he wasn’t a complete dud. He loved to bake, and as he glanced over Honey’s impressive movements, he loved being able to share the activity with great company.

‘I’m making all the yummies for man tummy, la la la~~
All the yummies for just mah tummy, nyah nyah nyah~

He peeked again at her side, curious at the bubbling concoction she was prepping. ‘Ready for the next step, ma’am!’

Honey set to work as Jonathan did the same, facing him from the opposite side of the table. She lit a fire underneath the cauldron and started pouring things into it, keeping her liquid and dry ingredients separate until the end, just like she would do if she were baking a cake. If she planned this correctly, she would be able to have everything added and simmering by the time Jonathan got the second step in his recipe and she would be able to supervise, which was the word she used when she would really be making sure he wasn’t doing anything to besmirch the name of Honeydukes chocolate.

She crushed, chopped, and cut this and that, grinding the chizpurfle fangs into a powder with a mortar and pestle. She tipped a bowl of bits and bobs into the cauldron and it bubbled happily, changing from a bright green color to a lovely shade of puce. The end result should be a very dark shade of midnight blue, so she was on the right track.

The smell of the potion blended nicely with the cocoa, though she had to remind herself to focus and not think about the chocolate for at least another few minutes. There was a bit of marginalia in her textbook, notes that she had made over ten years ago when she was perfecting her brew for her exams, and she reread everything carefully, tapping her wand to the brim of the cauldron in the precise pattern she had set out for herself.

The color was slowly darkening and with a final tip of ingredients into the cauldron it jumped a few shades darker. And just as she had planned it, Jonathan spoke up just as she was finishing examining her work. “Perfect!” She moved excitedly around the table to join him at his little workstation, pulling a large bowl towards her.

“Cocoa powder, powdered sugar, and vanilla in this bowl,” she said with a nod, pointing at the correct jars as she named the ingredients. “You’ll want to use the amount of cocoa powder that’s on the card, but you can vary the sugar to vary just how dark it is.” She did her best to stay hands off, to truly supervise as Jonathan measured and dumped ingredients into the bowl. “Stir that,” she offered when he was ready for the next thing, “and then add it there.” She pointed again, this time at the melted cocoa butter. “Over heat,” she added, figuring that point probably wasn’t as obvious to him as it was to her.

She glanced at the clock on the far wall and fell back to her cauldron, giving it a few quick clockwise stirs before rejoining Jonathan. “Now it needs to be room temperature, but I usually speed this process up a little bit.” She shrugged. “Up to you if you want to wait or not. There’s always more things to eat while we wait.”