Life As We Know It
Their first date should've been their last, but fate had other plans. Now they're stuck trying to raise a baby and not kill each other in the process. Slightly based off of the movie Life As We Know It.
Chapter One: Bad Beginning
It had been five years since the second wizarding war had ended. Five years since Harry had defeated Voldemort, five years of peace. It had been five years yet she still never left the house without her wand, never entered any place without nonverbally putting up protective spells. Habit was the excuse she offered, though she knew otherwise. Paranoia had taken over somewhere during the war and never relinquished its hold. She'd never admit it to anyone but she still had nightmares five years later. 'Bloody uptight', were the words Ronald Weasley had left her with before moving on to Lavender Brown. Yeah, the war had made her careful, but war hadn't been the only reason.
A good part of the first two year had been spent reconstructing the wizarding world by reestablishing both the Ministry and Hogwarts. Between the reporters and the memories these places held, she was glad to take up Harry's suggestion to track down her parents. Finding them and returning their memories was easy. Accepting that her father had been diagnosed with cancer in the meantime wasn't. It was terminal. He would die in a year and he didn't know. He still had hope. Harry was notified and heartily approved of her decision to remain with her father until he died.
While he was still active they decided to take a trip around Europe together. Her father was a great cook. His father had been a dentist and pressured him into following in his footsteps. Her father had always been grateful to her grandfather because he had met her mother while studying to become a dentist, but it had always been apparent he would have preferred to become a chef. So her father was ecstatic to travel around to learn native recipes. She spent the year traveling around learning how to cook and bake from the best masters with her father. When his health failed, they returned home and continued cooking. Her father was a man of few words so her way of spending time with him was helping him around the kitchen. Gradually that turned into him sitting in a chair instructing her how to prepare the latest recipe, he'd hoped to try out.
They'd sat on the porch staring at the stars just nights before he died. He'd confessed he'd always wanted to open a bakery and perhaps a restaurant. He forgave her for oblivating them and sending them away. He told her he was proud of her and that he loved her. He was rushed to the hospital just hours later. She spent the next forty-eight hours by his bedside, and he was gone.
She was devastated to say the least. Ronald got tired of being the shoulder to cry on. They'd grown apart during the time she'd spent abroad and with her father. He just didn't understand what she was going through. He had always had an emotional range of a teaspoon. Lavender had gotten to Ron, replaced her before she'd even left. The loss of Ron after dating for three years threw her into a deeper depression and made her even more uptight.
Somehow cooking became her escape. Ginny had come by to check up on her one day about a month after break up with Ron. She'd joked around, telling her she should open a bakery or a restaurant. She took it as a sign she was meant to take up her father's dream. She'd fallen in love with cooking during the Europe tour anyway. She realized that the wizarding world had different recipes and sweet goods than the muggle world. She decided to open a bakery with muggle baked goods on Diagon Alley. She named it Fraiche. She didn't know what it meant; she just knew it was the name her father always wanted to name his bakery.
Ginny had been there when no one else had. Harry had been too busy and Ron had caused most of the problems she needed someone to vent to. Harry had moved on and started dating Luna Lovegood during Hermione's European tour. Ginny, although she told Harry otherwise, was devastated by their break up. In the process of all this they'd become best friends. And while Fraiche became a successful business, Ginny got into her first successful relationship.
Hermione had been shocked as understatement to find it was with no other but Blaise Zabini, Head of Law Enforcement. She had called Ginny crazy until she had met him, and then she understood. He was handsome, funny, successful, and although he had been a former death eater, he had barely played any part in the war. That was how it all started although she wouldn't realize it till much later on.
Preview of chapter two: Dating Disaster
There was knock at the door. Finally, she thought annoyed. She smoothed out her dress and checked her hair in the mirror. She thrust her shoulders back and opened the door with a fake smile plastered on her face.
"Well hello there"
