Procrastination Done Well Solo Errand

For Errand: Hogwarts Dessert Decorators

There were a lot of things that the young Hufflepuff probably ought to be doing today. Studying, training in Quidditch, practicing spells or potions to name but a few. However, instead, she found herself sitting in the Great Hall, leaning over the table as she attempted to ice a cookie. It was a very odd thing for her to be doing in the middle of the day but after days of training constantly and studying too much, she needed a break. Hogwarts was surprisingly lacking in fun things to do.

Well that was not true. There were definitely things to do and people to hang out with - a lot of them. All of her friends where here, after all. But after everything that happened, Serena started to close off a little. In her first year, she spent so much of her time socialising, trying to make sure everyone was happy and looked after. She became a prefect pretty soon after starting, which was very strange for her. Before the end of her first year, she ended up as head girl. There was a lot of responsibilities that came with the roles. Socialising, despite her shyness, was one of the things that she forced herself to do.

For the year, she pretty much knew everyone. People even considered her 'popular'. But she was not actually as popular as they believed. She knew a lot of people, she did not have many close friends though. The Hufflepuff campout changed everything for her. The attack left her afraid of the dark to the point where she hated even going on a patrol. It made her realise that she had to study, that her life literally depended on her ability to successfully use magic - that her friends lives depended on it. Time and time again, Hogwarts just proved that to be the case.

Serena sighed softly. It was strange to think that her second year had passed by so quickly. She spent most of the year stuck indoors, studying and cramming. She pushed away a lot of her friends. Not willingly. The girl still loved them to bits but after everything that happened in her dramatic first year, she had just lost a few people she trusted and gotten hurt by too many. The ones that she still had, she did not want to burden them with her stupid fears. What twelve year old was afraid of the dark anyway? No one would understand that...

She did not expect them to understand it though. No one would. Not unless they were there that night. She stood alone, she felt alone that night and she almost died alone...

Carefully holding the icing bag in her dominant hand, Serena pressed on it to try and get some of the icing out onto the cookie. Her hand shook a little as she did it. This was definitely not as easy as it looked. Her wondering mind did not help make the process any easier. Yes, after everything, Serena had absolutely no idea why she was sitting there decorating cookies instead of studying.

She ought to be studying.

But there was something comforting about painting her cookie with a beautiful gold coloured icing. It even had a little sparkly effect to it, which she thought was very pretty. Serena had no idea what she was actually trying to create, she just wanted to do it. It gave her something to do - without needing to actually socialise with anyone. The talkative, energetic hufflepuff was learning to appreciate that silence was not something to be afraid of. Silence was not awkward or overwhelming. It was the peace and quiet that everyone deserved.

She frowned as her eyes fell onto her attempt at decoration. Half the icing was wobbly, with some of it spilling off the edges. Welp! This was definitely harder than it looked. Serena paused, pondering for a moment. For perhaps the first time since starting, she actually focused on the task on hand. The cookie itself was a star shaped one. Picking up a small spatula, Serena spread the gold icing over the cookie to actually over the whole thing. She left it to dry and picked up another one, deciding to try another attempt. This time, she focused on the task at hand and was far more careful.

The lines were a little wobbly but she managed to make 3 gold stripes running down the circle shaped cookie. Then, picking a black icing bag, she filled in the remaining gaps with black. The stripes were not perfectly even by any means, nor perfectly straight. However, it was clear that they were black and gold stripes. Grinning at the result, she nodded. It was not perfect but it would definitely do. Even if it was not the most beautiful creation, anything that showed her house pride was definitely fine by her.

She took another cookie, this time a star shaped again and iced the outside in a black outline before writing 'Huffle' on it in gold. Serena paused, frowning a bit. Perhaps she could write a very small 'puff' somewhere on it? It might just get squished though or look a bit too busy... She wrote the first six letters a little too big to allow the full name to be written. Gasping suddenly, an idea hit her. Picking up the next star, she did the same but with a gold outline, writing 'Puff' in black. Putting them aside, she kept them next to each other so that the house name could easily be read.

It took a good thirty minutes - maybe even an hour. She lost track of time, to be honest, once she started to focus on actually decorating the cookies. However, by the end, she had a selection of different cookies all iced in shades of yellow, black and gold. A few had stripes in different thicknesses. One had a squared pattern alternating the colours. Two had the words, another had a heart in gold. One was entirely a gold star. She had attempted to draw a little badger silhouette, entirely in black, on one of them but it was kind of hard to recognise as the icing kept wobbling. It was the thought that counted, however.

She looked down at them and grinned. They were not perfect by anyone's standards but... she kind of liked them. Maybe they would allow her to take them for her housemates, perhaps even for her Head of House who was definitely growing on her. She did not trust him at first - she had become highly suspicious of most of the Heads of Hufflepuff after everything Lear did. But this one... he seemed okay. Or maybe... she had just started to wonder if she was wrong about Lear. She was not sure. Either way, she was proud of being a Hufflepuff and her cookies definitely showed that.

Serena grinned to herself before leaving them on the table for the house elves to collect. From what she knew, she was not allowed to take them anyway. However, she totally found herself wondering if she could convince them to let her take one to give as a gift to her housemates... Perhaps next time.