Of Apples and Oranges

IV: iii: Heartbroken

Author's Note: My beta hasn't gotten back to me on this chapter yet and it's been a couple weeks so I'm gonna go ahead and upload it. I'll update if any changes are made in the future by my beta.

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Today was the big day! And Aurum was spending it in the kitchen, baking up a storm. Already Ronald had come down to spy on her efforts, lured down by the entrancing scent of baked goods, and already she had to shoo him away.

Thankfully, Aurum had the kitchen to herself which gave her the freedom to move around as quickly and as precisely as she needed to. And besides, she didn't want help as much as she didn't need it. She was baking a cake for the most wonderful boy in the world because it was his birthday.

Aurum had to pity him though. He was spending his birthday in court. How tragic. Then again, looking at the time, he should've been back by now.

The sound of a crackling fire alerted Aurum to the oven. She checked to make sure nothing's caught on fire. It hadn't, so she scampered outside the kitchen where she found Harry in the living room, covered in soot. He had just stepped out of the fireplace.

Aurum felt her face flush red. She probably looked quite odd with batter staining her lips—who could resist licking the spoon?—and a dirty apron. She made an unintelligible noise followed by a couple of stammerings until finally she screeched, "Don't go in the kitchen! At all!", before running away back to her place at the oven, her face covered by her oven mitts.

A half an hour later, the door to the kitchen swung open forcefully. Aurum jolted around to see Draco strut in with a mildly cool air about him. He seemed disinterested in what she was doing as he leaned back in a seat at the table across from the oven.

"Grandma—I mean—your grandmother told me to check on you. Everything alright?" Draco asked.

Aurum nodded. At the same time, the oven dinged. Gleefully, Aurum removed her large cake and began icing it. It was about the fiftieth time she had baked a cake. The forty-ninth had been at Argentum's wedding. Baking was a passion she typically liked to keep secret due to the fact that it was overtly girly and she liked to transcend tropes from time to time.

"Are you trying to wish Potter a good birthday or kill him?" Draco suddenly sat up, somewhat amazed and simultaneously frightened at the hulking beast of a cake Aurum had produced.

The cake was a triple-layer with milk chocolate icing on the bottom, white in the middle, and German at the top. The mix itself was German chocolate. Aurum flitted around the kitchen, taking milk chocolate chips, white chocolate chip, and white chocolate icing from the cabinets. Atop the cake she spelled out, "Happy Birthday, Harry" and decorated the rest with the chips in circle patterns.

"We're getting some too, right? I mean you made it, and I oversaw the last few seconds." Draco reasoned, licking his lips.

"Well, we are having a party, aren't we?" Aurum shrugged.

"Sirius isn't back from recon yet, and we aren't expecting him until nightfall. Come on, Aurum, what good is a cake if it's cold?" Draco whined.

Aurum widened her eyes, having a eureka moment. "By Merlin, you're right, Draco. I'll just deliver it to him myself."

Draco let out a groan.

"Don't worry, you can carry silverware." Aurum winked.

With confidence in her step, Aurum trekked up the stairs of the apartment, Draco and the silverware in tow. She stopped at the door to the room where Harry, Ronald, and Draco were staying. Usually the Gryffindors were here, so Aurum and Draco typically occupied the living room.