Work Text:
Hermione felt her neck ache after a long day at work. As much as she wished otherwise, being Minister for Magic meant she had to spent long days at work. She felt quite lucky that she was able to return in time for supper today. If only there was a way to reduce her workload and make normal working hours her new norm without being called up the moment someone lost a bit of paperwork!
(Of course, there was a way to do just that. But Hermione had never been good at delegating her work to her deputies.)
After having done the short walk home from the apparition point, Hermione opened the front door and was immediately assaulted by the strong aroma of food. More specifically, pizza! She forgot today was this month's pizza night. She felt and heard her stomach growl in hunger at the thought.
She closed the door behind her and removed her high heels before making her way further into the house. She followed the voices and scent of pizza until she entered the kitchen.
The kitchen in her family's home was big and very open. Unlike in most other houses, their stove, sink and counter were located in the middle of the room, leaving the walls to accommodate the refrigerator and cabinets. On one side of the counter stood four stools, two of them currently occupied.
Hermione found her two children sitting on the stools watching as their father prepared a ball of dough and molded it into a flat circle. On the counter was a steamy pizza already cooked, which was the subject of the conversation between her family.
"Can't we just have one slice now? I'm starving!" Rose, Hermione's fifteen-year-old daughter, whined.
"No." Harry, her husband and Rose's father replied as he put sauce on the dough. "That's my pizza. No touching!"
"But, Daddy-!" Jimmy, their ten-year-old son, whined.
"Hey, didn't you learn patience at school?" Harry said. Rose snorted.
"I would have, but I decided to ditch my fourth-year Patience class at school. For some reason, the OWL is worthless in the real world." she answered sarcastically.
"Smartass." he snorted in turn. Rose and Jimmy laughed.
"Well, as long as you aren't skipping other classes, I'll let that one slide." Hermione spoke up, joining in on the joke. All three Potters' heads looked up to her in synchronization.
"MUM!" Jimmy, ever the mama's boy, squealed before jumping off his stool and running in her direction.
"Hello, my dear boy." Hermione greeted, kissing her son on his two cheeks. The ten-year-old buried his face in her stomach.
"Hi, Mum!" Rose said, waving at Hermione with a smile from where she sat. Hermione waved back.
"Hermione! You're home sooner than I thought!" Harry exclaimed, sounding very happy.
"Always using advantage of my slow days at work." Hermione smirked. After Jimmy released her, she went and gave a hug to Rose before walking around to the other side of the counter to give Harry a kiss. Harry smiled as he returned the kiss ten-folds.
"EWW!" Jimmy said, looking disgusted. The spouses let go of each other and laughed.
"Don't say 'EWW'." Rose said, rolling her eyes. "I think it's cute."
"Thank you!" Harry exclaimed with a beaming smile. "A kiss from your other half always makes your day!" he said. Hermione kissed him in answer.
"I know." Rose said with smile, not really thinking about her words.
Harry, who had gone back to preparing the next pizza, froze. "What do you mean 'I know'?"
"Huh?" Rose said, looking up in confusion.
Harry stared in his daughter's eyes, whose eyes were identical to his'. "When I talking about how a kiss from your other half make your day, you said 'I know'."
Rose's eyes grew as wide as saucers. "Whaaa-? Did I?"
"Rose." her father said with a stern tone, indicating he didn't believe her confusion.
Rose blushed. Then, she sighed. "Alright fine. I might be dating someone."
"What? Really?" exclaimed in surprise. "Why didn't you tell me."
Rose shrugged tentatively. "I don't know." she muttered. "I was afraid you wouldn't like it. Act like the cliché protective dad, you know?"
Harry stared at her. Then he burst out laughing. "Oh come on! Like I would do that after my history with your Mum! I know better than most how annoying it is when people think they can dictate your relationship. That and I have no doubts your mother would eviscerate me if I tried to interfere." he said with a wink.
"Definitively." Hermione answered sweetly. She was now sitting next to Rose on her own stool. Rose smiled in relief.
"Now, enough talking. What toppings do you want on your pizza, missy?" he asked.
"Do we have bacon?" she asked.
"Of course we do!" Harry said, opening the fridge.
He'd bought a pre-cooked box of bacon in advance specifically for pizza night. He always did, as his daughter was a great lover of bacon. He grabbed the box, opened it, sliced the slices in bits, and put them on the pizza.
"Anything else?" Rose shook her head. Harry grabbed the peel. "Well then, in it goes!" He opened the oven and slid the pie on the pizza steel. A low hissing was heard as the cold, wet dough hit the hot steel. Harry closed the door. "Your turn, Jimbo!"
"Chicken nuggets on top!" the boy immediately yelled. Harry and Rose shared an identical look of disgust.
"Who put chicken nuggets on pizza?" Rose asked, baffled.
"It's as bad as pineapple on pizza!" Harry agreed.
"Hey! It's super good!" Jimmy defended himself. Harry raised his hands in surrender.
"If you say so."
Hermione rolled her eyes fondly. "Harry, stop teasing your son."
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Rrrrrrrr-TSSHHHH!" Rose imitated.
"Oi!" Harry exclaimed, glaring at his daughter playfully. "I am not whipped!"
"Sure you aren't." Rose said with a pure-Hermione innocent look. They all burst out laughing at Harry's mock-hurt look.
"Wow. Feeling the love here, guys." Harry said, grumbling playfully.
"Aww, don't worry, Dad. We love you!" said, playing along, though her words were entirely genuine.
Harry smiled. "I know."
It took Harry a few minutes to finish preparing Jimmy's pizza, just in time for Rose's to finish cooking. He swapped them, putting the bacon pizza in front of Rose and slipping in the chicken nugget topped one inside the oven.
"So, what do you want on yours, love?" Harry asked his wife.
"Pepperoni." she said with a smile.
"A classic for a reason! You two might wanna catch on." he said pointedly to his children. Rose rolled her eyes while Jimmy pulled his tongue at him. Harry playfully pulled his' in return, making his son giggle.
As he began preparing Hermione's pizza, he realized something. "Aww crap. I didn't shred enough cheese."
"Want me to do it?" Hermione asked, already starting to stand up.
"Nah." Harry immediately said with a dismissive wave of the hand. "It will take me a minute or two at most. I still have the grater somewhere."
Harry found it sound enough on the counter next to the sink. He grabbed it, took out the block of mozzarella cheese and began grating it aggressively over Hermione's pizza.
"Oh Merlin, I hate it when you grate it like that." Hermione moaned. Their children looked up at their father in interest. "I keep fearing you'll hurt yourself! Take your time!"
"Nah! It's going to be alr-" The cheese suddenly slid off the grater and the force Harry had been applying made it fly up and crash into his face. Harry screamed.
"OH MY GOD!" Hermione exclaimed as Rose and Jimmy gasped in horror.
Harry held his face as he breathed deeply. Then... he dropped his hand, grinning. "I'm just kidding. It didn't hit me."
There was a moment of baffled silence. Then...
"OH MY LORD, DAD!" Rose moaned in despair.
"HARRY JAMES!" Hermione screamed, feeling the urge to pull her hair out. Harry burst out laughing. This was the last straw. Hermione jumped off her stool, stormed around the counter and began slapping him harmlessly on his chest and arms.
"You are a git Harry Potter!" she yelled at him. It wasn't enough to stop his laughter. If anything, it just made Jimmy laugh as well.
"Hey, I was just making a joke!" he chuckled. Hermione huffed and returned to her stool. She didn't find it that funny.
Harry opted not to get himself into more trouble and stayed silent as he removed Jimmy's pizza and gave it to his son. "Careful there, Jimmy. It's still very hot. Wait a few minutes like your sister did." he said, knowing how enthusiastic his son could become the moment pizza was put in front of him. Jimmy took deep breaths and blew air on his pizza to help it cool down.
"It's still a bit too hot to my liking." Rose said, taking her second bite of her first slice. "But it's delicious still. Thanks, Dad!"
"You're welcome, hon." he smiled.
With his job done, Harry removed the dirty dishes and put them in the dishwasher. He then looked down inside the oven to see where Hermione's pizza was currently at. Feeling like there still was a minute or two left before it would be ready, Harry decided it was finally time to eat his own pizza. He stood up and went to grab a slice when he froze.
"WHO TOOK A SLICE FROM MY PIZZA!" he exclaimed, looking at his family.
"You're missing a slice?" Hermione asked innocently, munching on a slice of pizza. Rose and Jimmy burst out laughing.