━━━second task!

BIRDIE WAS FINALLY calm as her best friends — and hopefully her brother — had finally figured out the clue, they had to fight mermaids, or deal with them in some way, so she decided to celebrate her not being stressed anymore and made her way to the kitchens.

Of course, she wasn't alone there — coincidentally, Fred and George Weasley were also there, and of course Lorelei went looking for Birdie and ended up in the kitchens herself.

No offense to the people she loves or anything like that, but kitchen time is Birdie's alone time — she guesses it was fine though.

"Oh, excuse you" Birdie scoffed, "This is the second time you've considered baking easy, cooking? Sure. Baking? Hell no, darling, baking is science!"

"Ok, you can't convince me that throwing shit in a bowl, mixing it and then sticking it in the oven is hard, Robin" Fred chuckled, "I bet it's a piece of cake"

"Good one" George high-fived him.

"Ugh, as if" Lorelei huffed, "Why don't you try it then?"

"Yeah, Freddie" Birdie said getting up and brushing the dust off her pink plaid skirt, "I challenge you to a bake off, let's see how easy it really is"

"Really?" Fred raised his eyebrows, "Ok, well, don't be surprised when I win"

"You're on, Frederick" Birdie said, "Let's do it, we'll both bake a cake without a recipe and see who wins"

"What?" Fred frowned, "But you'll have an advantage, you've baked cakes before!"

"Oh, I'm sorry" Birdie said in a mocking voice, "I thought all you had to do was throw shit in a bowl, mix it up and then stick it in the oven, isn't that it?"

Fred paused, his lips curled into a thin line, "Fine, we can do it your way" he threw his hands back.

"Hm" Birdie smiled proudly, "I'm so gonna crush you, love"

"We'll see about that, sweetheart" Fred smiled back at her, both of them squinted their eyes at each other. The competition was tough.

"We'll also need a judge" Birdie said, she turned to look at the two — Lorelei and George — both as far away from each other as possible, munching on some popcorn and cookies.

"Ooh, I'll do it!" Lorelei said putting down her bowl and wiping her hands on a napkin, "Spending so many years with Birdie has probably made me a professional taste-tester"

"But you hate desserts?" said George and quickly changed the topics, "Besides, that makes you biased towards Birdie's way of cooking"

Birdie glanced between the two, the last time Lorelei had ever mentioned she hated desserts was when she was around seven, it's a surprise that George still remembers that. Of course, Lorelei likes a few chosen desserts, she's not a monster — like cheesecake and warm, soft cookies but that's about it.

"Like you're a better candidate?" Lorelei shot back, "You're gonna be biased towards Fred, obviously."

"You two, stop fighting" Birdie rolled her eyes, "We're in a room full of house elves, I'm sure there are many elves who can try it out"

"But—" Lorelei and George said together but paused when both Birdie and Fred passed them a glare.

"Ok, get your apron on, Fred" Birdie said, putting on her favorite 'kiss the chef' apron she'd stolen from her father, who'd stolen it from his father.

"Pfft, I don't need an apron" Fred said, grabbing the bowl, "I'm so graceful, I bet I won't even get a single speck of flour on my clothes"

"Don't say I didn't warn you" Birdie said in a sing-song voice.

"Ok, contestants" Lorelei said getting up, her voice bubbling with excitement, "Ooh, I've always seen people do this on the television" she turned to George with a smile but it faltered when all she saw was a frown, "To your stations in, one...two...three and go!"

Birdie immediately rushed to her station, instead of starting with the process she preheated her oven, she then jumped forward and grabbed one of the huge mixing bowls, she didn't waste any time and immediately poured the flour in, along with the other ingredients, and within five minutes her batter was already done.

She looked around, and then picked some of it in her finger, licking it. Yeah, she's definitely winning this.

She put that batter in two pans, distributing them evenly and then stuck it in the oven.

"Ms Potter, how would you say you're doing" Lorelei said, holding one of the spatulas as if it's a mic, "You seem to be pretty relaxed compared to your partner!"

"Not, partner" Birdie squinted her eyes comically, "He's my enemy right now—"

"What?" came Fred's voice from the other side of the room.

"Nothing, sweetie, you're doing great!" Birdie said and then immediately shook her at Lorelei who gave another look of disgust to Fred who was running from one side of his counter to the other in panic.

"Hm, let me just say" Lorelei said, "He's no competition"

"How are you doing, Freddie?" George asked, sitting down on the countertop.

"Terrible?" Fred said, and he turned to his brother, "A little help would be appreciated"

"Relax" George brushed him off, "I can see them, they're not even doing something right now, just giggling to themselves"

Fred turned around, he saw Birdie talking to Lorelei animatedly, well, George was right. Fred guesses he could slow down a bit.

"I'm done with my icing" Birdie said and then stretched, "Should I make another layer or something? That'd be cool, double layer cake?"

...

"Contenstants" Lorelei said, speaking into her spatula mic thing against, "Step away from the counters, Mr Weasley, step away with your hands up!"

Birdie leaned against her counter with her cake and Fred stepped away but instead of his hands he had his two middle fingers raised.

"Present your cakes to the judges, please" Lorelei said and motioned to the line of three house elves that sat on a chair with a table in front of them, courtesy of Lorelei, she had to convince them to be the judges and let's just say it took some time. On the table were Dobby, another elf called twixie, she was quite new and roxy.

"Ms Potter what is your cake called?" Lorelei asked, "And you too Mr Weasley what do you call that abomination?"

"First of all, fuck you" Fred said with an offended face, "and it's called a ba-boom cake"

"Well, let me tell you it certainly looks burnt" Lorelei smiled at him, "What about yours, Ms Potter?"

"It's called a double layer chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting and some skittles on top" Birdie said and the judges looked at each other.

"Come on, now, judges, take a bite" Lorelei said and placed the plates of cakes forward, "That's you guys, taste the cake and tell us which one is better"

"Mistress Robin Potter made her house elf a cake" Twixie said and then started sobbing, "Master Fleamont Potter was always this kind to Twixie too, never let Twixie work too much and fed her food"

"What? Twixie, you've met my dad?" Birdie asked, leaning down and facing the small elf who nodded excitedly.

"Twixie, met Ms Potter's father, Master James was such an angel, always giving Twixie chocolate and candy" Twixie wiped the tears that fell down her cheeks, "Oh, how much Twixie misses her Masters"

"Hey, hey, don't cry, Twixie" Birdie said to the elf, rubbing her shoulder comfortingly, "You still have me? You can come meet me whenever you want"

"Twixie can?" asked Twixie and Birdie nodded at her, "Twixie will meet Mistress Birdie then!"

Yeah, as Birdie said — it wasn't much of a competition, turns out instead of sugar Fred had added salt inside and his frosting smelled like wet soil for some reason, Lorelei made sure to announce it with a loud voice, "And our champion is, drumroll please" she looked around expectedly and then elves looked at each other, "Ms Birdie Potter!"

Birdie smiled proudly and then turned to look at Fred who looked like he'd just slept in a bed of flour, his hair all messed up and his head hung, Birdie shook her head and made her way towards Fred, "Hey, Mr Weasley"

"What?" Fred looked up.

"Doesn't the winner get a price?" Birdie smiled at him, "If you don't know what to get me, use the apron as a hint, maybe?"

"Hmm, let me think about it?" Fred turned towards her with a grin, "Am I really the one who should be giving you this—"

"Oh, shut up" Birdie said with grin and pulled him down into a kiss, she had to stand on her tip-toes even though she's tall her height is nothing compared to Fred, she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, it was a sweet kiss. Birdie and Fred pulled away when Lorelei and George started making loud gagging noises.

"I'm leaving" Lorelei said, "and I'm taking this cake with me"

"Hey, leave some for me!" George called out, chasing her.

"Have your brother's!"

"It's shit!"

Birdie and Fred fell into a fit of laughter after they stared at each other for a second, "This isn't how I imagined how first kiss would be, ya know, surrounded by house elves, in the kitchens with me covered in flour"

"Wouldn't trade it for the world" Birdie smiled at him.

✿

"MS POTTER I'M happy to see you here" Professor Mcgonagall said, she pulled up a chair and sat in front of Birdie who was eating a biscuit.

"You asked me to be here, Minnie" Birdie shrugged, "and these biscuits are really good"

"It's Professor McGonagall to you, Ms Potter" Minerva passed her a stern gaze, "I've called you here for a reason"

"Ok, what's the reason?" Birdie said, taking a loud bite of the biscuit, McGonagall looked annoyed.

"Hello, Ms Potter" Dumbledore came into view, his glasses perched on his nose and his eyes twinkling as always, "It's a fine evening wouldn't you say?"

"It's...midnight?" Birdie said with a confused voice, "What am I doing here, Professor Dumbledore?"

"Well, Ms Potter" Dumbledore started, "As you probably know, tomorrow is the day of the second task — and for that, we're going to need your help"

"My help?" Birdie repeated, "But what can I do?"

"Let's just say you're very important for Ms Black, and therefore hold importance for the next task" Dumbledore passed her a smile, "I have to put you under a sleeping spell and you'll be chained underwater, but believe me I assure you no harm will be caused"

"Uh..." Birdie stared at the two Professors, "go ahead?" she said unsurely, she wasn't really going to say no to the fucking headmaster as much as she hated the idea of whatever they were going to do to her.

"This might hurt, just a little" Professor McGonagall said, pulling out her wand.

"Huh?" was all Birdie got out before McGonagall placed a spell on her, and Birdie fell into a deep sleep, not being aware of anything around her. It was late at night, Cedric and Bianca were in their dorms rooms unaware of what's happening and Lorelei laid awake in her bed in the ship.

She had a lot of things in her mind, mostly about her parents, her dad still hadn't reached out to her and she was too stubborn to do it herself, and her mum, well who knows where she even is.

Lorelei sighed, she wishes she didn't have a messed up childhood sometimes.

...

"What the fresh damn hell was that?" Birdie said as soon as she got out of the water, gasping for air and flailing her arms around, seeing a much more exhausted looking Lorelei there with cuts all over her body, but another kid was next to them, flailing his arms, Lorelei took a hold of him and started swimming towards the surface along with Birdie, "Lore? Will someone explain to me what just happened?"

"Get to the surface first" Lorelei said between deep breaths, she was pressing on to her abdomen and taking deep breaths.

The two girls got pulled into hugs as soon as they got out, Cedric was the first one to do that, but he let go as soon as he heard Lorelei hiss in pain, "Hey, Lorelei — what? Go get that checked out that looks nasty!"

"Dear Helga, Lore!" Birdie exclaimed, tucking her hair back as she stared at the huge gash that was now on Lorelei's stomach, blood oozing out of it and the skin around it turning purple.

"I'm fine, did I make it in time?" Lorelei said and then looked around, "Where's her brother? Is he fine?"

"Yeah, Eloise's brother is fine, El" Bianca said, "You got here in time — Fleur and Eloise didn't even finish the round, I think you're gonna win this round, El"

"What?" Lorelei asked, "Ok" she nodded and suddenly fell down to the ground, Birdie looked down, alarmed — Lorelei Black had fainted.

"Lore!" Birdie immediately kneeled down, "Madam Pomfrey?!"

Almost as if she'd heard Birdie from a distance, Madam Pomfrey came rushing by, checking up on Lorelei and saying she needed to be admitted to the hospital wing for the rest of the day, Ms Ross had said she would look after Lorelei at the ship.

Birdie was now worried about her brother who still hadn't arrived back, and Fleur was panicking for her sister, Eloise was in a corner with her brother wrapped up in a towel. Birdie saw Harry's head pop up from the water along with Ron and a little kid who resembled Fleur a lot — Birdie assumed she was her sister. Turns out Lorelei wasn't the only one who had taken more than she was supposed to.

The points given were disappointing, for Lorelei that is — everyone had given her excellent marks except for her own high master who kept pulling her back because of his horrible attitude. Harry and Krum tied for first position, Cedric was second and Lorelei was third. Fleur and Eloise tied for the last place.

Birdie hoped that the last round was a bit easier.

bro i just watched shadow and bone yesterday and now ben barnes is all that is in my mind. i'm literally two seconds away from writing a sirius black fanfiction and i ship wolfstar hardcore