Second Floor Common Room [Tuesday Afternoon]

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

The facts were these: Young Ned had found his way into the common room again after getting bored of his room. He'd come with the intention of baking and, yes, there was something cooking in the oven (but he wasn't going to just reveal his pie choice today).

There was something different about today. Today, Ned had the hiccups. Now, as a boy at Longburrow, he'd been made to just wait them out.

Now, without that supervision, he could try to get rid of them. So, he'd looked up some hiccup cures and was currently attempting to stand on his hand and recite the alphabet in the middle of the common room.

It wasn't working.

Yet.

[Open, of course!]

Comments

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"I have the hiccups," he explained, feeling his face turn red both from standing on it and embarrassment.

[goodgirlmeg.livejournal.com]

"I see," Meg said, nodding slowly. "You try eating some sugar? That's what I do."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Does that work?" Ned asked, still trying to balance on his head. It was hard being as tall as he was. "I mean. I read somewhere that said this would work and it's not."

[goodgirlmeg.livejournal.com]

"I think if you keep trying to stand on your head you're going to have hiccups and a headache," she said.

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Too late for that," Ned said and just flopped down onto his knees before sliding onto his stomach. "Okay. Bad move on my part. Sugar? Like...just sugar?"

[goodgirlmeg.livejournal.com]

"Just sugar," Meg repeated, nodding. "I eat a spoonful or two and my hiccups go away. I don't know why it works, it just does. And it tastes good too."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"I have a pie in the oven but that's more than just sugar," Ned said, trying to make the blood leave his head and return to other areas of his body where it belonged. "I tried holding my breath and nearly passed out."

[goodgirlmeg.livejournal.com]

"Well, see, there should be plenty of sugar around since you were baking a pie," she said. "What kind of pie are you making?"

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"It's a secret," he said, pushing himself to his knees and shaking his hair out. "Well, it's not a secret what the pie is but it's a secret what the flavor is. I mean, no secret that there's a pie, I mean."

He stopped and tried to untangle that in his head. "It's a secret."

[goodgirlmeg.livejournal.com]

Meg giggled. "Okay, okay, I won't pry."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"But, you can have some," he offered quickly. "I mean, there's no way I could eat that entire pie by myself. Well, I could but it'd take me a few days and I think I'd make myself sick. All that sugar."

[goodgirlmeg.livejournal.com]

"I'd love some pie," she said. Then, figuring that she should at least introduce herself properly if she was going to eat some of this guy's pie, added, "I'm Meg, by the way."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Ned," he said, giving her a little wave before pushing himself to his feet. "New Ned. Wait. No. New isn't my first name. Ned is but I'm new. Well, I was new."

[goodgirlmeg.livejournal.com]

Meg grinned. "Nice to meet you. Do you like baking a lot or is this a first time thing for you?"

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"You too," Ned said with a small nod. "And no, I do this a lot. This is the third week for me in the common room. I didn't know dormitories had areas for cooking. The last place I was at didn't."

[goodgirlmeg.livejournal.com]

"I didn't get a chance to bake a whole lot when I was back home either," Meg said. But that was mostly because she had a maid to cook stuff for the family. "I bake a lot here though. Not pies; mostly cakes and cookies."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"My mother taught me how to bake pies," he explained, ducking down to check said pie. "I'm all right with cup pies."

[goodgirlmeg.livejournal.com]

"I was never good with pies," Meg admitted. "I mean, I don't catch them on fire or anything but they aren't spectacular."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"They're easy," he said but he was biased. "I mean, if you want to learn, I can help. Maybe. Um. I'm not the greatest teacher but I can do insert tab A into slot B kind of stuff."

[goodgirlmeg.livejournal.com]

"I'd love to learn," she said, smiling. Meg owed some people some cupcakes but after that she'd gladly take a break and try out pie making.

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Okay, well, we can do the basics right now," Ned decided. "What do you know about what goes into pies? To create them?"

[goodgirlmeg.livejournal.com]

"Er..." Meg chewed on her bottom lip as she thought. "Offhand? I don't know much. I can follow a recipe though."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Which is good," Ned said, laughing quietly. "You can tell the difference between flour and sugar?"

[goodgirlmeg.livejournal.com]

"Yep," Meg said, grinning. "Flour is soft and sugar is all gritty. And if I get confused? I can try a little taste test. I hope it doesn't come to that because flour tastes gross by itself."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"All we need to make a pie is a crust, filling and the top covering," he said, nodding. "Sounds easy right?"