(no subject)

[deatheater-cook.livejournal.com]

Time: Late afternoon, 25 July 2000
Place: The Manor Grounds
Status: Public
Summary: The Barbecue

Severus had prepared for this extensively, had done research as soon as he was told that he needed to provide food for a ‘barbecue’. Well, that was American, wasn’t it? A newly-published book titled The Great American Barbecue and Grilling Manual was his starting point. (The words ‘great’ and ‘American’ did not belong in the same sentence, although perhaps he might be mistaken, never having been to America.) After learning that this was not merely an American cuisine but a regional (Southern) American cuisine, he began to specialise. Having found a butcher to bring a pig and something to cook it over (yes, the whole pig, you dolt) he learned that it could have been done with a goat as it had been in the Caribbean, and with less effort.

Having put forth effort already, he pushed ahead. The intensive labour required to prepare food by the slow ‘barbecue’ method had been provided by Remus Lupin, although he surely did not understand when he volunteered exactly what it was he’d be doing. The butcher himself was also interested and so Snape had ‘invited’ him to come and help. Work for the day, eat. Bring your family with you and they can help and eat also. Only if they help. Severus’ labour shortage crisis solved.

The whole concept of barbecue sauce was confusing, so he’d made three kinds. Two for public consumption—a South Carolina style with mustard, vinegar and black pepper that seemed reasonable enough. Kansas City style that was thick, red-brown, and gloppy, made with a tomato base and molasses. The third was for Crowley, a Texas-style sauce amusingly named ‘Devil’s Spit’ made from a tomato base with cumin and hot chiles. These American chiles being unavailable, he procured an Oriental variety that were infinitely hotter. Let him call that bland.

Chicken would go on, although not for as long as the blasted pig, and sausages for the unadventurous. The Brunswick Stew might end up in the restaurant under ‘American Cuisine’. It was simple enough, with a tomato base, lima beans (or any beans), corn, other vegetables, and meat. Traditionally rabbit or squirrel but he could use leftover pork, chicken, beef or even cut-up sausages. Basically, a fine way to rid himself of leftover almost anything and he revised his opinion of American ingenuity. The true test would be Crowley’s opinion. If he disapproved, it was definitely going on the menu.

Okra and sweet potatoes proved impossible to procure. Field greens—of the turnip variety—were simple enough to cook in some of the extra pig fat. Black-eyed peas, which looked an awful lot like beans, with bacon. He made carrots in sauce of butter and brown sugar that seemed terribly French, but he simply shrugged. There would be green peas—not mushy, unfortunately, which would have made Crowley complain and Snape smile, a dish of fried apples that was a side dish, apparently popular with pork, and potato salad. It was a source of annoyance that the recipe he found for this called for red potatoes that did not need to be peeled. How brilliant would it have been to set Lupin to peeling potatoes for his own requested potato salad?

Cornbread was simple enough to make, although all the different names and types confused him. The concept of beaten biscuits was repulsive so he settled on cheddar biscuits instead. American biscuits, he found, were a bread roll that seemed a bizarre combination of bap, scone, and crumpet. But they were a Southern staple and very simple to make. Devilled eggs—also simple, seemingly French—were another extra dish along with pickles of varied types. He refused to make grits—porridge was bad enough at breakfast and he would certainly not serve it in any other time.

Cold tea, sweet, with or without lemon was also a disgusting concept. Lemonade, if people wished to drink it. Lupin had to deal with squeezing the lemons, too. He had procured some Bourbon and Belial would, he imagined, not object if any leftover made its way to the bar. Mint juleps required it. Mint grew in the garden and sugar was a staple.

Having no sweet potatoes with which to make sweet potato pie, which seemed unpleasant anyway, he went with pecan pie. It was too sweet, but someone would eat it. Pound cake with whipped cream (another job for Lupin) and blackberry cobbler, which was enough like local fare for people to be willing to eat it. If he could have found watermelon, that would have been amusing. But messy, so just as well he hadn’t found it.

All in all, it was a great effort on his part, slave labour or no, and people had better appreciate it else he would be extremely put out.

"Let Wensleydale handle things in the kitchen, Lupin. The butcher will take care of serving the meat. You can clear plates and make sure the dishes are all filled." He had planned this. "The butcher's wife can help with drinks. The children have been disposed of."

Out of the way, nothing more sinister. Eating now, washing dishes later. Work for food, and a good trade on his part.

"Keep an eye on the biscuits, Wensleydale, and see that they don't burn. And make sure there is plenty of ice."

He turned.

"No, mint juleps are not sweets, get away from me, you silly child." Weren't they supposed to be on the far side of the lawn, eating their supper?

Attention Edit: As of this point the Devil's Spit sauce is no longer on the serving table but in Snape's hands, doled out by him. Please do not have your character get into it.

Comments

[barking-harry.livejournal.com]

With a cheerful smile, Harry, having spent most of the morning and afternoon trying to do something about the stains in the corridor on the fourth floor, stepped out of the Manor and into the sunshine and saw the assortment of Manor staff and residents milling about with plates in their hands (or in Duke Ligur's case with handfuls of mushed up greasy looking food). By the looks of things he was perhaps a little late, but the carpet stains he'd been doing battle with really had been persistent.

Locating a clean plate, he began to pile it high with the delcious looking food on the serving table while keeping an eye out for anybody might know.

[bullfightposter.livejournal.com]

Brian was feeling great after that soss. It'd really put the spring in him.

He caught what he thought was a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye. Wensley!

"Think quick!" He didn't look before he sprang into a tackle. It wasn't until he'd actually collided that he realized that the young man currently on the wrong end of some fifteen stone of flying Brian was not, in fact, Wensleydale.

[barking-harry.livejournal.com]

Harry wasn't quite sure what had hit him. One moment he was standing there eating a spare rib, the next he found himself being send crashing to the ground due to the overenthusiastic onslaught of a man that Harry was quite certain he'd never met before. Well, a man he'd never met within the space of the last year and a half, at least.

"Er, hello," he said, slightly dazed and vaguely hoping that he hadn't splashed babarque sauce all over his shirt. Picking himself up he experienced a moment of dizziness accomapanied by a brief flash of a scene involving a dog with dark fur and sticks that shot bright light.

"Have we met before?" The question was slightly more genuine that it would have been from most other people. After all, for all Harry knew in his amnesiac state this man could be a close relation, or friend... or enemy.

[bullfightposter.livejournal.com]

"Uuuummmm... no, actually." Brian gave him a bright, apologetic smile. "Thought you were someone else." He started to helpfully pick things up."

[radishesncorks.livejournal.com]

Concern scribbled illegibly on Luna's face, she tagged along behind Anathema and the blonde desk clerk (come to think of it, she hadn't seen him at the reception desk for some time now), but lagged behind as she saw the small crowd gathered on the lawn.

Even from where she was she could see that someone was on the ground - a redhead. And she seemed to be in pain. As Anathema knelt in front of the redhead, Luna expected her to cast at least a pain-relief spell on the girl. Anathema did nothing of the sort. Instead she made a Muggle... thing used in Muggle healing, and wrapped it around the girl's arm. Was Anathema not telling the truth about being a witch? Was she a Squib in denial? Luna pondered this for a moment and didn't see the crowd break up as the girl was carried back into the Manor.

Looking up, she noticed two someones at the tables picking things up from the ground, and one of them looked like - yes, it was Harry! Luna made her way over, grinning resplendently, and said, "Hiya, Ha-Hugo," catching herself just in time. Turning to the other boy, she thrust her hand out and said, "Hi, I'm Luna."

[bullfightposter.livejournal.com]

"Brian," said Brian, extending a hand that was a bit messy with the sosses from the food he was trying to pick up.

[radishesncorks.livejournal.com]

Shaking Brian's hand vigourously for about a minute (or what seemed like it), Luna extricated her hand with a 'gloop' and said, "Scourgify." There was no knowing where all the mess on her hand went to.

"Try the potato. It's good. And the cobbler's not bad too."

[bullfightposter.livejournal.com]

"I liked the barbecue soss and the chicken," Brian said happily. "And the beer."

[radishesncorks.livejournal.com]

"Well, I got some chicken, but I haven't tried it yet," said Luna, pointing at her plate. "And I thought that one of the barbecue sauces looked rather alive myself. I suspect that there may or might have been a Wriggling Nigby or two in it. But then Professor Snape took it away, so I wasn't able to check."

"Is it light beer? I don't really like dark beer," Luna confessed.

[bullfightposter.livejournal.com]

"It's American Beer."

It was a little more.. metallic and lighter than Brian was used to, but it was American, so it must be cool.

[radishesncorks.livejournal.com]

"Oh. Maybe I'll try some later on then," said Luna.

A large black dog ran past them and tackled Harry, licking him all over. Luna laughed, guffawing loudly and half-moving forward to help, but it seemed that Harry had things under control. Still snorting a little, she turned to Brian and said, "Well, I guess there must be something tackle-able about, um, Hugo today. How did you know him, anyway?" If Brian was a wizard too, she'd be more than happy to have company of her own kind, but if he was a Muggle, it was fine too.

[bullfightposter.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I don't know him. I just tackled him. I thought he was somebody else."

[radishesncorks.livejournal.com]

"Oh. Who did you think he was then?" asked Luna, picking up some peas.

[grimsirius.livejournal.com]

Sirius was distracted with his thoughts as he left Remus behind and made his way through across the barbecue. It wasn't that crowded, but the scene was rather chaotic, and he thought he'd left Remus and Snape's line of sight behind him. If Snape wasn't watching, he could safely find some food to eat.

When he glanced over at one of the food tables, he saw a young man tackle another unsuspecting man to the ground. Sirius shook his head. His memory played tricks on him. He'd seen dead faces in crowds before, and just now he'd seen James. He turned away, and once he'd collected himself, he forced himself to look back and see the young man for what he really was.

He still looked like James.

No. The nose was all wrong, and the glasses, and those eyes...

"Harry," whispered Sirius to himself. It hardly seemed possible, but the more he looked the more he was certain that the boy was his godson.

He wasn't sure what to do about this-- it was too overwhelming, and he'd already had an overwhelming day. He knew if he approached Harry now, he'd probably say something stupid or scare the boy, but Sirius had the irrational fear that if he let Harry out of his sight, he'd never see him again.

Finally, he reached a decision. Glancing back occasionally to make sure he could still see Harry, Sirius stepped away from the barbecue and found a sturdy tree. He hid behind it from the largely muggle crowd, and transformed into a large black dog.

Padfoot's emotions were simpler. He knew Harry was the best person ever, and he wanted to see him again more than anything. All the man's fears and doubts were washed away as the big black dog bounded out from behind the tree and charged at Harry. Wagging his tail joyously, he tackled the young man and began licking his face and snuffing at his neck and t-shirt, checking him to make sure he was okay.

[barking-harry.livejournal.com]

Harry had been dusting himself off and listening to Luna introduce herself to the young man who'd just knocked him over when he was suddenly beseiged by a very large and very friendly black dog, who seemed intent on covering his face with a layer of canine saliva.

Instinctively grinning he patted the dog's head with one of his hands.

"Hello boy," he said, overwhelmed by a strange surge of joy. "You're friendly, aren't you." He then laughed as the creature continued to be boistrously affectionate. "Well, I'm Hugo and I'm...."

He trailed off as he was seized by a moment of something that was almost, but not quite, dizziness. Something that he was certain was a recollection trickled into his mind. It wasn't a disjointed flashback or an incomprehensible hallucination of the sort that he'd grown used to experiencing over the past twelve months. It was a memory of a quaint village and a red-haired boy a bushy-haired girl and a large black dog. He couldn't name the people or the place, but it seemed somehow very real.

For some reason he felt a sudden and overwhelming sense of loss.

Had he had a dog like this once?

"I think that you remind me of someone," he said in a quiet voice, before reaching over to take a spare rib from the table and offering it to the animal.

#300, Baby!

[grimsirius.livejournal.com]

Sirius stopped licking and snuffling at Harry when he spoke, but cocked his head, perked an ear, and listened intently. The solemn expression was somewhat comical on the dog's face. When Harry trailed off, Sirius nuzzled him gently in concern.

It was obvious that, despite everything that had happened in the Wizarding World since his death, Harry was still in danger. Even at the Manor, a fairly safe and mostly muggle place, he had to use an assumed name (Sirius wondered why the hell no one had taught the boy to use a glamour, as well. He was painfully recognizable, even at a distance). He must have been very afraid, thought Sirius, judging from the way he'd stopped talking in mid sentence.

But when Harry spoke next, Sirius understood. A dog's sense of smell was very accurate. He could pick up on the particular glands that caused certain basic emotions, such as fear, or anger, or joy. Right now he could smell sadness, and there was something very lonely in Harry's words. Sirius wondered what had happened to Ron and Hermione, or the Weasleys, or any of the other people that had been helping care for Harry. He bared his teeth slightly at the thought that no one had bothered to continue looking after Harry after his own death, but quickly stopped and licked Harry's cheek affectionately and somehow paternally,

Harry still hadn't realized who he was-- understandable, since he'd been presumed dead for five years. But it was time to show Harry that he wasn't alone. Sirius stood and climbed off of Harry. Using his gentle mouth and broad snout, he pushed and pulled at Harry to bring him to his feet. Once he was satisfied that Harry had gotten the right idea, he began to trot off back towards the tree he'd changed behind (They couldn't do this here, much as he wanted to. The transformation could attract too much attention, and might even alert Harry's enemies to his presence). After a few steps, he turned around and gazed straight at Harry, tongue lolling, inviting him to follow.

Re: #300, Baby!

[barking-harry.livejournal.com]

There was something about the dog that made Harry feel strangely secure. Thus when it seemed to invite him to follow it as it wandered towards the tree, he didn't question for a second whether doing so would be safe or not. He'd been at the Manor long enough to know that animals weren't always what they seemed; dear little Sugarplum for example was so much more than just a large squid. But the trusting nature of his Hugo Persona persona combined with the inexplicable closeness he felt to this new canine friend meant that he didn't hesitate in his decision to allow it to lead him away from the throng around the serving area.

"What is it boy?" he asked, as he ambled after him. "Is there something you want to show me?"

He was utterly astounded by the thoroughly human look the dog suddenly affix him with.

"You're not a normal doggy, are you?"

Re: #300, Baby!

[grimsirius.livejournal.com]

The dog gave Harry a slightly concerned look. Something about Harry seemed off somehow-- too trusting, too passive, and a little too slow on the uptake-- but Sirius quickly decided that as long as the boy was in one piece, anything else wouldn't matter.

They were far enough from the barbecue at any rate. He shook his massive shaggy head in Harry's direction, then trotted forward into the shadows of the tall tree. The transformation was near instantaneous, and seconds later a tall, slightly too skinny man was standing there.

Sirius bit his lip, heart fluttering in terror. He realized he had no idea what Harry would think about seeing him again. What if he didn't want you to return? asked a nasty voice in his head, but Sirius quickly shoved it aside. "I'm back," he said quietly, more to fill the silence than because there was any doubt.

Re: #300, Baby!

[barking-harry.livejournal.com]

Harry blinked. It was really the only response his mind and body were capable of orchastrating in the seconds that followed seeing dog transform into man. He was so startled that he almost didn't register the words 'I'm back'. Almost.

"So you're not... not a dog then," he said, aware on one level that he should probably be a tad threatened by this situation - after all, he'd moved into the Manor on a permanent basis after receiving those threatening letters from somebody he'd got on the wrong side of before the accident - but something in his head was reassuring him that this... this person was safe.

For several moments the man looked at him with what seemed to be an intense kind of expectance.

Finally, Harry managed to pull his thoughts into coherent enough shape to form the necessary question. "Do you know me from before the accident?"

Re: #300, Baby!

[grimsirius.livejournal.com]

This was not the reaction Sirius had been expecting. Either Harry would be happy to see him, or he would be angry, upset, possibly suspicious. To apparently not recognize him at all? Even the nasty, insecure thoughts he sometimes had couldn't explain it-- you didn't just forget your godfather after five years, and the idea that Harry was somehow pretending not to know him to avoid him was absurd. He frowned in concern.

"No, not a dog," He said gently. "It's me, Sirius. I don't know what accident you mean, lad, but I've known you since you were just a baby." He looked away for a second. "Even if I wasn't there for a lot of the in-between bits." He'd known, or at least suspected, that something was wrong with Harry, and this 'accident' didn't bode well. There was a sudden rush of horrifying images of what might have been responsible for Harry's strange mental state and how deep the damage could go. He reached automatically for Harry, wanting nothing more than to give the boy a hug, but stopped himself. He didn't want to frighten Harry away, especially not when something might be truly wrong.

Re: #300, Baby!

[barking-harry.livejournal.com]

Sirius?

There was... familiarity there, coupled with a great swell of an emotion that Harry couldn't quite put his name on, and he felt almost as if there was just a thin barrier between him and a deluge of memory.

For a second he thought that the man was about to hug him. A prospect that caused him to feel a momentary pang of fear tinged with something that seemed almost like hope. It was strange, and he really didn't know whether he should be panicking or not.

"I'm afraid I can't remember anything that happened further back than a year ago," he said, when it became clear that the man... Sirius wasn't going to embrace him. "I had an accident, you see, a fall of some kind - though nobody quite sure how it happened, because there didn't seem to be anything to fall from where they found me, unless some kind of really low flying aircraft was involved. Well, anyway, I ended up with a few bad head injuries and I've had amnesia ever since."

He almost mentioned the flashbacks, but managed to stop himself before the words came out of his mouth. It probably wasn't a good idea to mention them at this second.

Re: #300, Baby!

[grimsirius.livejournal.com]

"Oh, Harry," said Sirius, unsure what to think. It explained so much of Harry's behaviour, but it hurt to think that Harry had gone through such a thing, and it filled him with rage that not one single goddamn Order member had bothered to come and find him. He stopped himself from any sort of obvious reaction, however. There were more important things to do than to indulge his hatred of nearly everyone in the wizarding world.

"Guess that explains why you can't remember me. I haven't been around the past few years, though not through any choice of my own." This isn't exactly true, he realized. He returned from the Veil nearly a year ago, but he'd been too caught up in self-pity to bother looking for Harry. Oh, he'd had Remus contact some people, and he'd been out searching for the boy on several trips, but he can't have been making too great of an effort if he'd missed that Harry was right here, living in the same bloody manor as he was.

Sirius sighed. "I'm your godfather," he said finally. "Your dad was my best mate, and when," Sirius paused, as Harry won't remember any of this, and he hates to be the one to break the news all over again, "when he died, I was supposed to look after you. I haven't done the best job with that, but I wanted to, Harry. I tried to."

He smiled tiredly, and then said "Oh, what the hell," and pulled Harry into a slightly awkward one-armed hug. As far as Harry was concerned they were complete strangers, but the boy could use hug anyway.

Gah, just received this reply today

[barking-harry.livejournal.com]

For a moment, he froze as Sirius awkwardly embraced him, but very quickly found himself relaxing.

It was all rather a lot for him to take in. For over twelve months he'd been calling himself Hugo, when in fact it appear that he was a Harry. Of all the things he'd just found out it seemed a slightly petty detail to focus on, but it invoked such strange mess of emotion.

The fact that his father was dead didn't shock him quite as much as it might. During the past year he'd mentally concocted a multitude of possible histories for himself (most rather unfortunately involving Harry having been part of a vast criminal network) and the idea that he may have lost people close to him had frequently crossed his mind. He did however feel a slight pang of something unpleasant at the revelation. Still, it seemed he had a godfather and that was better than nothing.

Disengaging from the hug, he looked at Sirius with a slightly shaky smile. There were a million and one questions that he wanted to ask, but he couldn't seem to pick one to ask first. In the end there was one subject that won through.

"Did I have any living family or friends before my accident?" he asked. "I've sometimes worried that there might be somebody out there missing me, but...." He trailed off, feeling at once rather guilty at his refusal to accept Adam's offer to return his memory.

No prob :)

[grimsirius.livejournal.com]

Sirius let go of Harry, smiling widely and genuinely for the first time at his godson. It finally hit him that Harry really was here and not dead or hurt or a prisoner somewhere. The amnesia was bad, yes, and Sirius wished he had been here to help, but he was here now and Harry seemed to be willing to trust him. As long as Harry had him, Sirius would do whatever was necessary to make sure everything would turn out okay.

He rested a hand lightly on Harry's shoulder when he answered the next question. "Well, I haven't exactly been in the picture for the past five years, so I couldn't tell you who's still living now." He isn't sure how to handle this, but guilt from five years ago about agreeing to keep Harry in the dark comes back to him. He doesn't want to upset Harry right now, but he isn't going to keep anything from him, either. "Look, there are some people out there who want to hurt you and your friends, and I don't know if anyone else has gotten," a pause, "hurt. When I left, you had an aunt and uncle and cousin, but they were a terrible lot, you never got on. The Weasleys would be missing you, they're a family you'd grown a bit close to, and their oldest boy Ron and a girl named Hermione were your best friends. If they're out there, they're looking for you, no question."

Okay, Sirius didn't know this for fact, but he'd liked Ron and Hermione, and would like to think they were loyal friends to Harry. But it's very possible they'd have given up-- according to Remus, Harry was presumed dead by many in the wizarding world.

Re: No prob :)

[barking-harry.livejournal.com]

Harry nodded slowly as Sirius spoke. He known since just before moving into the Manor that somebody was trying to do him harm. The threatening letters he might just have been able to write off as a malicious joke, but the dreams.... well, Adam had pretty much confirmed that there was something more to them than normal nightmares, before blocking off the link to whatever it was that had been causing them. It was however nice to know that he had friends out there who cared about him enough to be searching. Once again though, this thought induced a rather uncomfortable pang of guilt.

"Adam says that I can't be hurt while I'm in the Manor grounds," he said. "He stopped the worst of my nightmares too."

He looked at the floor for a moment not quite sure how to phrase what he felt he really should say next. Had he been a little more weary he might have thought twice before giving so much away to this man who said he was his godfather and whom he hadn't known for more than five minutes; but as Hugo Harry had never quite got to the stage where he'd learnt the art of weariness. Thus, feeling that coming clean would be the right thing to do, he looked back up at Sirius.

"He offered to give me my memories back too, but I've been too afraid to accept. You see, my flashbacks, when I have them are mostly unpleasant and I thought... well, I thought that maybe my life before the accident might not be something that I wanted to remember."