A Very Harmony Christmas

The Battle Of The Cauldron

Prompt: December 8th. Sick during the holidays. Where either one of them is sick during the Christmas holidays and the other takes care of them, or both have to quarantine together over the winter holidays.

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The Battle Of The Cauldron

Her sixth sense, one that she'd cultivated over the past four and a half years, had her looking up moments before he appeared in the doorway. The second that she saw him, she rocketed to her feet and around the table to him.

"Harry! Are you alright?" Hermione asked.

"I'm fine," he replied in his classic 'no one should ever worry about me, I'm not worth worrying about' way.

"No. You're not!" she countered, taking his arm and helping guide him to the table.

The fact that, in addition to his bloodshot eyes and red-rimmed nose, he took slow, cautious steps and nearly stumbled into the chair only emphasised the point that he was sick. She placed the back of her hand on his forehead and frowned; he was burning up something fierce.

"Apart from having a temperature and a runny nose, what are your other symptoms? Headache? Achy joints?" she asked.

He peered at her from between the fingers of his hands that his head was resting in and she could see his mind working, trying to figure out how she already knew exactly how he was feeling.

"Yeah," he finally admitted with a nod of his head.

The fact that he immediately grimaced with the movement only emphasised how sick that he was. This was most unlike her Harry. Harry never let others see when he wasn't feeling well or was feeling emotional or was hurt. It was too much of an ingrained reaction from his upbringing – not that he'd told her much about that, but what she'd surmised was bad enough.

"Sirius, do we have any cold-relief potion here?" she asked, turning to the man who was watching his godson with deeply furrowed brows and a worried look on his face.

"Cold-relief potion? Who needs cold-relief potion? Is someone sick?" Mrs Weasley asked, appearing in the doorway of the kitchen.

"Harry's not feeling too great this morning," Hermione told her.

"Well, if he'd stayed here all day yesterday where it was safe instead of gallivanting across the countryside in the middle of winter, then this wouldn't have happened!" Mrs Weasley stated bitterly, a fire in her eyes directed at Sirius.

Nevertheless, she was instantly across to Harry, placing her hand on his forehead and then turning his face up to hers so that she could look him over.

"Going to a zoo with his girlfriend's parents is not 'gallivanting all across the countryside', Molly," Sirius stated. "Harry was perfectly safe and from what these two said last night when they got home, they had a lot of fun and it was exactly what they needed. Merlin knows I wish I could get out of this old place."

"Sirius?" Hermione prompted. "The potion?"

"Sorry, Hermione, we're all out," Sirius replied. "I could send Kreacher to get some if you like?"

"No need," she replied. "It's a fairly simply potion and I know that we have all of the ingredients here; I'll brew up a batch shortly."

"It's fine, dear, I can do that," Mrs Weasley stated. "I have years' worth of experience looking after sick kids."

Hermione saw Harry's eyes dart to hers with a pleading look, not that he needed to, but it was extremely nice and gave her a warm fuzzy feeling to know that he'd rather have her look after him than Mrs Weasley.

"Thank you, Mrs Weasley, but I know that Harry wouldn't want to bother you. I'm happy to do it," Hermione countered.

"It's never a bother to look after one of my kids," Mrs Weasley stated, bustling off towards where Hermione knew that the potion-making cauldrons were kept.

"Molly..." Sirius stated, a clear note of warning in his voice.

"You know what I mean, Sirius," she replied. "He's as good as one of mine!"

Once again, Harry's bloodshot eyes caught Hermione's, this time with even more of a pleading tone to them. Hermione gave his shoulder a squeeze and determinedly crossed the kitchen after the Weasley matriarch.

"Thank you, Mrs Weasley," she said, taking the cauldron that had been pulled from the cupboard out of her hands, "I appreciate you getting this out for me."

"But, I didn't..." she said, a shocked and disbelieving look on her face at Hermione's audacity of taking something from her.

"The visiting hours at Saint Mungo's should be just about to start," Sirius interjected. "What time was Arthur expecting you this morning?"

His distraction allowed Hermione the opportunity to not only put enough distance between herself and Mrs Weasley to stop the cauldron from being taken back but to also place Hermione right beside the potion ingredients that she knew that she'd need.

"I had told Arthur that I'd be there first thing this morning," Mrs Weasley replied, her eyes never leaving Hermione, a deep frown on her face. "But I'm sure that he'll understand that Harry's sick and needs me."

"Please, Mrs Weasley, let Hermione do it," Harry croaked out. "She's the best at potions in our year, despite what Snape says. You know that. And I wouldn't want you to not be there for Mr Weasley when he needs you, not because of me."

Her mouth opened, ready to protest; thankfully, Sirius cut her off, allowing Hermione more time to gather what she'd need to brew the cold-relieving potion.

"Molly, they'll be fine," Sirius stated. "I'll watch over my godson and Hermione's here to watch over the both of us."

Mrs Weasley's gaze shifted between the three of them multiple times over and Hermione couldn't tell who she was frowning the most at – Harry for getting sick on top of going out without her permission yesterday; Hermione for trying to take over Harry's care and potion-brewing when it should be Molly's job; or Sirius for being Harry's godfather.

Finally, while Hermione was making a start on cutting up the flax weed, Mrs Weasley sighed.

"Fine, I'll go see Arthur," she sighed before her voice turned hard and determined. "But! If there is no improvement in Harry by the time I return, then he will be following everything I say until he's better. No arguments!"

Harry's eyes caught Hermione's and she gave him the smallest of nods. The potion wasn't hard to brew, nor did it take long and once drunk, the effects were almost instantaneous. There was no doubt in Hermione's mind that Harry would be back to being himself long before Mrs Weasley returned.

"Yes, Mrs Weasley," Harry said quietly.

"You're a good boy, Harry," Mrs Weasley smiled, coming across the kitchen to pat him on the shoulder. "I'll be back in two hours."

"Give our love to Arthur!" Sirius called after her as she bustled towards the Floo.

"Hermione?" Harry asked once the green flames had died down from Mrs Weasley's exit.

"Don't worry, Harry," she said, leaving the potion ingredients where they were for a moment to go across to him. "I'll have this done and you feeling better in no time."

She felt him relax slightly as she kissed the top of his head.

"Thanks, Hermione, you're the best," he smiled up at her.

"And don't you forget it," she replied.

"Sirius?" Harry asked as Hermione returned to her potion brewing. "I'm feeling a little cold, could you go get my Christmas jumper for me?"

Hermione shook her head, even as she smiled at her boyfriend's predictability. He'd been prevented from wearing his new favourite jumper yesterday, it was inevitable that he'd want to wear it today. She loved the fact that she knew him so well.

"It's on the end table in the hallway, right where it was left yesterday morning," she said.