LbN: Written for a Teachers' Lounge challenge. Prompt was "a meal at the Burrow", with extra points given for the use of food.

It was the day Hermione had been dreading for a year. Dolohov, Bellatrix, Voldemort? Child's play. This was more terrifying than all of them combined.

It was her first night to cook family dinner at the Burrow.

Apparently it was a rite of passage for the women who married into the Weasley family. In fact, Ginny had even done it, just to show solidarity between the women. Angelina had failed so miserably she wasn't even allowed near the kitchen anymore. Her steak and kidney pie had looked like something you would use to coat roads or build houses, and her attempt at lemon sorbet was now a thing of legend. They'd ended up ordering Muggle pizza that night…. Audrey, Percy's wife, had passed with flying colors, as everyone had expected, preparing a perfect Christmas stew with only minimal assistance from Molly. And Fleur has obstinately refused, saying Bill liked her food well enough and that was all she had to worry about.

Looking back on her history with Ron, the whole situation rubbed Hermione the wrong way. Why did she still have to prove anything? Half of her wanted to pull a Fleur and refuse. Ron actually told her that he completely understood if she did. Unfortunately, the half of her that was used to excelling at everything she did wouldn't let her. And this is how she found herself in the cooking section of the Hogwarts library (she had a lifetime pass to use it whenever she wanted) on a beautiful Friday in June. She had a plan—as always—but she'd had to come and do a little research before she went grocery shopping.

"Thank you, Madame Pince!" she said, placing two of the books in her bag. "I'll be sure to have them back next week."

"No trouble, young lady. Good luck with your party."

"Thanks!"

When they got to the Burrow that afternoon, there was a small kerfuffle in the kitchen. Audrey may have been okay with Molly hovering as she cooked, but there was no way in hell Hermione was letting the older Weasley woman chaperone if she could help it.

"No way."

"I'll stay out of your way.

"I need space to move. And I have stage fright. Watching me cook is just a bad idea."

"What if you need an extra pair of hands?"

"I have my wand. I'll be fine, Molly," Hermione said gently, steering her to the back door.

"I'm being thrown out of my own kitchen," Molly Weasley grumbled.

"Sorry, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione said, grinning. "But dinner tonight has a theme, and you wouldn't want to spoil the surprise, would you?"

"I suppose not…But do you know—"

"I know where everything is, and that the oven is tricky. And that Harry, Ron and George are currently knicking grapes!" she called over her shoulder.

"Sorry, love," Ron said as they scooted into the back garden as well.

"Wait," Harry said. "Did you say your dinner had a theme?"

"Of course it has a theme," Ron told him in his "Come on, mate; this is Hermione we're talking about" voice.

"Out!" Hermione ordered, laughing.

She spent the next two hours pretending to be on some sort of wizarding cooking contest show. It honestly helped, seeing as she'd technically be graded anyway. She stirred, and chopped and poked and prodded and time checked and calculated and cursed. Finally, as six o'clock rolled around, she put the finishing touches on the salads and set them on the table.

"Dinner!" she called into the back garden, and opened the door as the family trouped toward her.

"So what's the theme, Hermione?" Arthur asked as they all sat down. "I believe there were a few bets taken outside."

She smiled and waved her wand. "Magical meals around the world," she said, as the bowls of soup and plates of salad floated toward them. "First we have lobster bisque and dirigible plum salad from America."

"It looks delicious!" Molly said.

"Thank you!"

"Though I thought we'd be having British food…this is a nice change of pace."

"Always good to mix things up a little," Hermione said. She caught Fleur's eye and the blonde subtly raised her glass to her. She looked around the table, and the other women seemed to be onto her plan too. Play Molly's game, but don't give her home court advantage. "So who won the bet?" she asked.

"I think George came the closest," Harry said, grinning. "He said something about exotic foreign food."

"I thought you'd go all Hogwarts throwback on us," Ginny told her with a wink.

When everyone had finished their soup and salad, Molly said, "Would you like help serving the main course, dear?"

"Oh, we've actually got one more bit before that. And no need to get up, Molly." Hermione waved her wand again. "Some pan-fried pork and cumin dumplings with pineapple salsa."

Molly looked slightly scandalized at the fact that Hermione wasn't bustling about the kitchen, but said nothing.

Fleur seemed to be enjoying herself immensely.

"Next up: blue bottle flame-roasted duck with Chinese five spice. A sweet firewhiskey and raspberry sauce to go with it, and some buttered lentils and carrots on the side."

For quite a while, no one spoke as they dug into their food. Hermione let out a small sigh of relief, caught only by Angelina, who winked at her. She was genuinely happy that it was going so well, seeing as she'd never tried these recipes before. Though, she did notice Molly looking a bit nettled at all of the compliments she was receiving….

"This is amazing, 'Mione," Ron said through a mouthful of carrot.

"And no one's going to take it from you, Ron. Slow down and chew," she said fondly. She still found his eating habits slightly disgusting, but she realized (to her horror) that she was used to it at this point. She reached over with a napkin and wiped a bit of sauce from the corner of his mouth.

"Zis is very good," Fleur agreed. "You must give me ze recipe, oui?"

"Of course, Fleur!" Hermione said.

Dinner continued to go well, and Hermione continued to get subtle encouragement from the ladies at the table. The men were staying out of it—they knew better. She didn't really understand this family's need for rivalries with one another, but accepted it as a "big family thing" and enjoyed the fact that she seemed to be winning whatever game they were playing.

That is, until Molly threw her a curve ball over dessert. She had obviously noticed that she was fumbling the initiative, and felt the need to regain ground fast.

They were just digging into their fried ice cream when Molly asked, "So, Hermione, when are you and Ron planning on giving me grandchildren."

Ron choked. Hermione paled.

Ginny came to the rescue.

"Don't know when they're planning on it, but Harry and I plan to give you one in about six months," she said, calmly eating.

In the chaos that ensued, Molly's question to Hermione was completely forgotten.

Later that night, once they were back at their flat, Ron and Hermione relaxed for a while listening to the wireless.

"For a while there, I thought you'd be our second refusal," Ron said after a bit.

"No…. I thought about it, but it was nice to show off a bit," Hermione said, smirking. "Plus, as much as everyone thinks this is your mum's way of testing us…. I think it's also kind of her way of stepping back and letting us have the spotlight for a while, even if it drives her crazy to not be the Head Mother in Charge. And, since we always refuse her help, she gets to put her feet up, so to speak."

"Dinner really was fantastic," he said, kissing her shoulder. "Thanks for going with the flow."

"We Weasleys are an adaptable lot."

He laughed and then sat up as an owl soared in through the open window. "It's for you," he said, taking the letter off of the bird's leg. "From Mum."

Hermione opened it, and read:

Thank you for a lovely dinner tonight, Hermione. I'm so glad you agreed to cook for us. I know it seems a little overbearing on my part, but I do enjoying watching you girls conspire against your mother in law… :) Any time you want to throw a Weasley dinner of your own, let me know! I'll be happy to hand over the oven mitts to you anytime. And maybe between the two of us we can teach Ronald some table manners, eh? One can only dream…. Have a wonderful weekend, dear. Give my love to Ron.

~Molly

P.S. Don't think I didn't notice you narrowly avoiding the grandchildren question….

Hermione smiled and folded the letter up again. "Nothing gets past that woman."

"Been telling you that for years, but what are you talking about specifically?"

"She caught all the winks and nudges during dinner tonight. But good news—I think I've officially gotten the Weasley seal of approval."

"Only in our family would cooking be a rite of passage," Ron muttered as they made their way to bed.