Life As We Know It

In the kitchen, Harry helped Ginny with dinner. Living with the Dursley family, Harry had learned much about Muggle cooking, but Wizard cooking was a completely different story. Of course, all the food was created by spells and magic, but just like Muggle cooking, it wasn't quite as simple as following the steps to create the perfect meal. Ginny's mother had taught her well; she knew a good number of spell combinations to create wonderful meals.

Harry finished setting the table, choosing to do it the old way rather than simply magic the dishes and silverware onto the surface. When he turned back around to the stove, Ginny was leaning over a pot of what appeared to be soup. She dipped a spoon into the liquid, lifted out a mouthful, blew on it, and placed the spoon in her mouth.

"Mmm," she said, sounding pleased with herself. "I've almost got Mom's Spiced Tomato Cream soup down. Want a taste?"

"Sure!" Harry replied, walking over to her. She repeated the process using the same spoon and even blew on the steaming liquid for Harry before placing the spoon into his mouth. As the thick, hot liquid spread through his mouth, he smiled. "That is good, Ginny."

She grinned, pleased. "Thanks!"

"I don't know, Harry," came Ron's voice from the doorway. "She's already got you eating out of her hands. Not a good sign."

Ginny blushed and Harry laughed. "Would you turn down her cooking?" Like Ron, Harry had grown from his Auror training, though his body had reacted slightly differently. Harry's shoulders were broad, his chest was solid, and his arms were significantly larger than they had been at Hogwarts. Standing just a bit shorter than Ron, Harry wasn't overly muscular, as Ginny often noticed, but he did fill out a t-shirt quite nicely.

Hermione elbowed Ron in the side, preventing him from saying anything more. With a quick flick of her wand, Ginny moved the dishes from the stove to the table, and the quartet sat down to eat.

All in all, it was a lovely meal. Ron had only tried once to weasel his sister's latest task for work. And he spent much of the meal with his hand upon Hermione's knee, attempting to slide it higher more than once. Each time, Hermione gave him the evil eye, which worked, as it always had.

On the other side of the table, Harry and Ginny were not oblivious to what was going on between Ron and Hermione. Anyone would have figured them out by now, spending so much time together, sneaking glances when they were together. Harry had once confessed to Ginny that he thought they were perhaps keeping their relationship a secret so to protect their jobs. Never before had two Aurors been in a romantic relationship, and neither of them wanted to be moved to a different location in the department.

But that didn't mean they couldn't tell their friends.

Following the meal, three of them retreated into the sitting room. Ron stayed behind to do the dishes. Not thirty seconds later, they heard a crash of pans and a hearty laugh.

"Ron, you had better not be destroying our kitchen!" Ginny yelled, laughing.

Ron entered the room with a sheepish grin. "Everything's fine, Ginny, I would never destroy a kitchen," he replied charmingly. "Well, except for that one time when I was ten..." he said with a laugh as he sunk into the couch next to his sister.

Ginny rolled her eyes in response. "So, how is work going for you boys?"

"That's classified information, ma'am," Harry drawled.

"Harry, you git," scolded Hermione jovially. "Ginny has access to more classified information than the three of us put together."

"True. It's going well, I'd say, Ginny. Obviously, you know we're kind of back in training, working towards the big push the Ministry is planning in a few months."

Over the past year, there had been a surge of dark magic. Whether or not it was related to Voldemort or his followers or another group had yet to be seen. But the entire Ministry of Defense had been preparing for a huge sting against the dark wizarding world. The department had been as discreet as possible with these preparations, as no one wanted to tip off the dark wizards that something was coming. But everyone suspected something big was being prepared. By both sides.