A/N: Written for Hogwarts Assignment 11 - Culinary Arts: task 6 - Write about eating or drinking something warm on a cold/cool day.
Word count: 549
Hermione shivered as the cold wind followed her inside. "I should have used the Floo," she said as she unwound her scarf and hung it across the hook beside the door, with her cloak following after.
"Hello to you too," Ron said with a teasing grin from where he was stirring something in a pot on the stove.
"Sorry," Hermione said with a sheepish smile. She pressed a quick kiss to his lips and looked at the pot from over his shoulder. "Hi. Have you had a good day?"
"Yep. We went to the park. Don't worry, I used a warming charm to make sure the kids didn't get too cold."
Hermione hadn't been worried. Ron was always worrying about things like that. He was far more adamant about the kids only going out with a warming charm than she was.
"Is that mulled wine?" she asked, motioning at the pot. She already knew it was. It looked and smelled just like it, but she was surprised to find Ron making it.
"It is," Ron said, standing up straighter and smiling proudly like he did each time he tried making something new and it worked out on the first attempt. "I figured we needed something warm with the weather. I made the kids hot cocoa earlier, but I wanted to try something new. We've had hot cocoa for five days straight."
Hermione laughed. "You've perfected the hot cocoa. Of course the kids constantly want it."
Ron shrugged, but his cheeks flushed from the compliment. "Maybe, but I still wanted something new for myself, so I called Mum on the Floo. She gave me her mulled wine recipe. It wasn't as difficult as I expected actually."
Hermione took a deep breath of the spicy sweet scent. "It smells good," she said.
"Go sit down, and I'll fix you a cup." Ron ushered her towards the table. Hermione smiled and did as asked, watching as Ron ladled out the wine into two cups. He handed one to her and slid into the seat across from her.
Hermione took another deep breath of the scent before taking a sip. She hummed in contentment. "This is really good!"
Ron, who'd been watching her closely for her reaction, beamed. He took a sip of his own, his eyes lighting up once he'd tasted it for himself. "It really does taste like Mum's," he said, like he hadn't been expecting it to.
"If you'd told me at Hogwarts that you'd get so into cooking, I never would have believed you," Hermione said.
"Me either," Ron said with a laugh. "Doing the chopping and whatever else for Mum as a kid was never fun, but it's so much different when you do it all yourself. I like getting to eat and know that I made it."
"I'm not complaining about getting to eat it either," Hermione said. She reached across the table to take Ron's hand in hers, rubbing her thumb over the back of it.
Their quiet moment was interrupted by Hugo yelling, "Dad, Rose took my broom care kit again!"
Ron sighed and ran a hand over his eyes. Hermione gave his hand a quick squeeze before standing up. "I'll handle it," she promised, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek as she passed.