Disclaimer for the previous disclaimer: I am not getting any money from this. Jeeze.
Coffee and Toast
He starts off with the base: instant coffee and a spoonful of powdered chocolate. Then he pours in the hot water and stirs thoroughly. Stirring is very important. If he doesn't stir, it will turn out clumpy and he'll have to start from scratch. Once the coffee, chocolate and water are mixed properly, Remus adds the sugar. It needs to be three level teaspoons. He stirs it again, but not with so much care. Finally he adds the cream, and he likes to watch it dissolve into the swirly pattern made from the still spinning coffee in the cup. Remus stirs the coffee once more and then lifts it to his mouth and takes a sip.
I've seen him do this every day for three years. Every day he does the same routine, which happens to be the only routine thing about him and his life. The coffee. The chocolate. The water. The sugar. The cream. Only after he has done all of this will he start to have an intelligent conversation.
Once I tried taking away his beloved coffee. He completely flipped… in a neat and orderly fashion, naturally. "Ginny, have you seen the coffee?" "Where is the coffee?" "I'm going down to the store to get some coffee." I laughed into my cup of tea and watched him run all the way to the shops in his boxer shorts to buy a tin of instant coffee.
Remus likes his toast, but at breakfast, he only loves his coffee. I could parade about in only a feather boa before his first cup and he wouldn't even look up. Once he's indulged in coffee, it is a different matter of course, and I'd dare not parade about in said feather boa, lest we be dreadfully late for work.
The strange thing about this business with coffee is that he is only ever pedantic about it in the morning. He enjoys coffee at other times of the day, but his breakfast cup of coffee is the most important. I could pour him a cup of mud from the garden at lunchtime and he wouldn't raise an eyebrow. I feel that instant coffee tastes like that too sometimes.
For Ginny, toast is a serious business. Every breakfast is another chance to experiment with toppings. She sets her jaw and I try to avoid getting in the way of her determination. I believe she wants to get some sort of award for her efforts in the field of toast enhancement.
When she wakes up, she gets into the kitchen and toasts four pieces of bread. While it is cooking, she plans what she is going to have on the toast and gets the materials ready. I am continually amazed at either her ingenuity or cruelty to werewolves.
Sometimes she has normal spreads - but with a twist. What could seem like a normal piece of strawberry jam toast could really be strawberry jelly and sprinkles. Actually, that one wasn't too bad, but there have been some that were really awful. Ginny went through a phase where she put left overs from the night before's dinner on the toast and heated it up in the oven. Of course she makes me try them as well, even if I sit there, shaking my head, my lips locked. The last time I refused, she took away my coffee. Now I pinch my nose and open my mouth.
The best slice of toast she has made was when she melted down chocolate and poured it on to the toast. It was delightful and I wished she could have said: "Gee Remus, I've reached a point where I can not go any further. I will now make this for you every breakfast to go with your completely normal coffee." But of course she didn't. She thought it was a nice idea, but could be "improved". Soon we were eating chocolate and gherkin toast, which made me avoid Chocolate Frogs for a month.
Every breakfast is an adventure. Sometimes it's scary, sometimes I'm horrified, sometimes I wish I was still in bed. But we get through breakfast together, usually nursing stomachaches and indigestion.
Author's Note: My beta reader went on some sort of weekend adventure. Word is sucky. Save a fanfic author - review today!