Title: Creating a New Standard Author: paopu_parachute Prompt: #G3 by storiofmylife Characters: Hugo. Background canon ships. Rating: G Word Count: ~1,600 Content/Warnings: [Spoiler (click to open)]None!! Summary: For Dominique's birthday, Hugo decides to make a big supper for his entire family at Shell Cottage. Author's Notes: Huge shout out to the mod for putting up with me when I totally messed up the due date & thanks to N for the beta!! This prompt was super fun. :) Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of JK Rowling and associates. No copyright infringement intended.
Because his parents had been busy working during the day, Rose and Hugo spent much of their childhood at their grandparent’s house. They’d be joined by a random assortment of their cousins on a near daily basis, but Hugo fell into a rather sparse part of the wild array of cousins. Dominique, James, and Fred were all in the same year at Hogwarts, but the closest Hugo had was Lily, who was two years older than him. Roxy was one and Lucy was born the past spring.
For two years now, ever since Lily had gone to Hogwarts, it was mostly just him and his grandparents at the Burrow. His grandpa was teaching him how to work a washing machine--it was a very fun game where you had to catch the rubber ducks when they flew out of the water. His mum thought it was very funny but he wasn’t allowed to play at his other grandparents’ house. His Nana didn’t think soapy water all over the floor was very funny after the first couple of games. Grandma Weasley always had him be her helper in the kitchen. He loved to do it even when his cousins were there and were playing exploding snaps or wizard chess. His dad said he was so good, he let him cook dinner on his own a couple of times and his mum didn’t even yell at him. She just made him do the washing up on his own.
It was his Uncle George’s idea to cook dinner for everyone. They were all going to Shell Cottage for Dominique’s birthday and once Dominique found out their Uncle’s plan, she wouldn’t listen to anyone else. He was going to Hogwarts next year, which practically made him an adult so he could handle the responsibility. His cousins all agreed that Hugo cooking dinner was a great idea (he was famous for his cinnamon rolls and James requested them biweekly from Hogwarts, although Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry made him promise to send him sweets every once in awhile. Although his mum sometimes let him send some to Uncle Neville to give to his sister and cousins and Grandma and him made sweets all the time to send them).
Hugo had been excited as he decided what to make but he started to feel uneasy when he and his Dad went shopping for food and now, in the kitchen of Shell Cottage, surrounded by his entire, very loud, family. Hugo was starting to feel like he had messed up.
Standing in front of the large pile of potatoes he had to peel, he could see his mother get up from her seat at the breakfast table to come over to him. Before she could however, Lysander (not really his cousin, but he was still his cousin) came running into the kitchen, scaring his grandma and Aunt Fleur who were his other two helpers for the afternoon.
“Aunt Hermione! Uncle Harry said not to tell you but Uncle Ron went chasing after the Snitch underwater and it’s been six minutes and he’s not back yet.”
His mother shut her eyes for three seconds and then she headed out. She paused to put a hand on Hugo’s shoulder, “your aunt and grandmother are allowed to use magic you know. You don’t need to look at those potatoes like that.”
Hugo scowled because of course he didn’t forget but when Grandma went and started peeling he still sighed in relief.
Aunt Fleur picked him up (not only was he the youngest, he was the smallest as well) and put him on a chair so they were the same height at the counter. “The bread’s in the oven, the soup is on, what’s next?”
“Hello, Weasleys!”
Aunt Fleur and Hugo flinched in unison as Aunt Audrey, Uncle Percy, and Molly walked into the house. “We would have been here sooner but we got swarmed walking up.”
“Where’s my newest granddaughter?” Grandma demanded as the potatoes continued peeling themselves behind her. Hugo tried not to stare but he was so excited to go to Hogwarts. It was only two weeks now.
“Outside, I think Ginny has her?” Audrey hugged her hello as she hurried out to see Lucy and then she turned to Hugo. “I was so excited about dinner today and I was so bored stuck at home I made little menus.” She reached into her bag and pulled out a carefully cut piece of paper that had the appetisers, main dishes, sides, drinks and desserts on it. She had called to ask him what he was making yesterday and he had been looking forward to what she was going to do all morning. She might have been a Muggle but she was always making things. She owned a little store in London that Hugo loved to visit.
Hugo grinned when he saw it, “can we put them on the table?”
“Of course. That’s why I made it, is it set yet?”
“They’re still playing Quidditch and we didn’t want to set it up until they stopped.” Aunt Fleur explained as she stuck one of the menus on a cabinet with a sticking charm and crossed off the bread and soup.
“I’ll put them out of the way until then. Where are we? Do you need help?” she eyed the potatoes, “with something a silly Muggle can do?”
“Yeah!” Now that he had a list in front of him, Hugo had his confidence back. “Can you make the lemonade?”
“You’re in luck, I’m fantastic at lemonade.”
Uncle Percy said hello and Molly ruffled his hair before they both went to say hi to Grandpa in the other room. He was reading to Roxy but by now the both of them might had been asleep.
The main course was a shepherd's pie that was so big he had to spread it out into three pans and Hugo worked away at it with Aunt Audrey as Aunt Fleur chopped up a salad with sweeping flourishes of her wand. When Grandma came back in from cooing over Lucy, she started icing the birthday cake. Hugo slipped around them, making sure they were doing everything right as Aunt Fleur and Grandma laughed and showed off their magic.
“Magic is going to see these dishes wash themselves.” Aunt Audrey sighed, leaning against the counter after she and Hugo put the pies in the oven.
“Don’t worry, that’s Dad’s job.”
“I think I remember Uncle George volunteering as well.” Aunt Fleur added and Grandma laughed. The four of them worked together to finish dinner, it was an impressive feat but together they managed it.
Aunt Fleur was teaching Hugo how to levitate the shepard’s pie from the oven when Mum came back in.
“I’m going to kill your father.” she sighed and then collapsed into one of the chairs in the breakfast nook. Aunt Audrey was immediately there with lemonade and the caprese bites. Mum laughed and then waved off Grandma’s worried glance. “He caught the Snitch and Harry healed the cut on his arm, he’s fine. He casted a bubble head charm and stayed on the Snitch’s tail until he got it. If you do anything like this, I’m going to put a Hugo-repellent spell on the kitchen.”
Hugo put his hands up, completely innocent, he was still seven years away from being able to do magic at home. Although now that she mentioned it, it did sound pretty awesome.
“When you open your restaurant, will you allow Muggles to come?” Aunt Audrey asked, taking a seat next to his Mum and completely changing the subject. They were pretty much done with dinner by now and Aunt Fleur couldn’t keep a small smile off her face so Hugo was pretty sure his Mum knew that and that’s why she came back now.
“Yeah! Everyone will say it takes like magic but magic will just be how it’s made. The food will be really good because I’m really good!”
“Humble,” his mum laughed, and then she clapped her hands together. “Should we go get everyone for dinner?”
Hugo gasped and jumped down from his chair, “I forgot to set the table!”
His mum pushed herself to her feet, lemonade in hand, “Aunt Fleur and I have it under control.”
“Come on, let’s go watch them.” Aunt Audrey grabbed the menus and Hugo’s hand and dragged him out after them. Uncle Bill had two big long tables set up in the garden. The pair watched as they floated plates and cups out the window and they raced to get the table cloth down before they landed and then rewarded themselves with lemonade as everyone started to swarm to get the best seats. Dinner was floated out of the house onto the table and Hugo just sat between Aunt Audrey and Dominique, hands together, watching everyone sit down. They all argued good naturedly over the order they were supposed to eat and then everyone was digging into dinner.
Hugo just munched on his dinner as he was showered with compliments. “Thank you for the birthday present.” Dominique said around a mouthful of cherry pie.
Tapping his fork on his plate, Hugo just shook his head, “No I got you something else! Something really good!”
“Better than pie for dinner?” she asked, avoiding James’ glare. He wasn’t allowed to have a slice until dessert and he was so mad about it.
“Yeah.”
Her eyes lit up and she laughed. When she noticed that he was done eating, she went to stand up, “a game of wizard’s chess before dessert?”
“Yeah!” Hugo jumped up and went to grab the board from the house. James protested loudly but he was drowned out by giggles.