Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. I just like to toy around with them in my imagination before putting it to paper.
A/N: Hey! I'm back with another cute one-shot! Sorry that I haven't posted in a couple of days. Tore the mess out of my knee and I've been in a lot of excruciating pain lately so I'll try to post when I'm laid up in bed, but it's really distracting to be in this much pain. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!
"Mommy, we're sick." Answered the voice of Sebastian, her three-year-old son. He was only in his pull-ups as he lay on his daddy's bare chest. Severus wore only boxers as he lay on the couch with their son. She had just arrived home and found her two favorite men just like that. It was obvious that Severus wasn't feeling well as he had his hair pulled up from his shoulders and was sweating profusely. Sebastian was wearing a little pout on his face.
"Yeah, Mommy… We're sick." Severus drawled in his smooth voice, but it didn't have the same effect as it might have when he ended up sniffling mid sentence due to having his nose rather clogged up. Hermione couldn't fight the grin, thinking they were awfully adorable, but knew she was in for a hellish couple of days until her husband recovered. He was a bigger baby than Sebastian when he wasn't feeling well.
"Okay, what are your symptoms?" She asked as she carefully lifted Sebastian into her arms. He was hot to the touch and she could tell her baby boy had a fever. He immediately laid his head on her shoulder, pouting up a storm.
"Sebastian says his tummy hurts and he has a fever. My head hurts, my nose is stuffy, my throat hurts… Everything hurts." Severus grumbled. He always became even more cranky than normal when he was sick, but Hermione loved him in all of his ways even when he was irritable and irritating.
"Do we have any pepperup potion?" Hermione asked, wondering why they hadn't taken any.
"No, love. Sebastian and I have been busy in the lab making dragon pox cures since the outbreak and I didn't realize we'd run out." He told her, finally making the effort to sit up.
"Alright… Do you think you two could eat a little something and I'll floo Ginny to see if she has any pepperup?" Hermione knew that the best thing to do when dealing with a volatile Severus was to baby him. He'd make a fuss about having her fuss over him, but he secretly loved it. She was pretty sure he dumped any pepperup potion that they had just to get her to spoil him a bit.
"Yeah… We could eat a little something. What do you want, Sebastian?" Severus asked, slowly standing. He reached for the handkerchief he had left on the table to wipe at his nose as he followed behind his wife and son.
"Grilled cheese sammich and otter's oj!" He cheered before throwing his hands up to his face just in time to cover a sneeze. Severus took Sebastian from his wife so he could get his son's hands clean while she started a light early supper for them.
Hermione figured they wouldn't eat all of their meal, but she wanted them to get a little something in their stomachs, so she began to make some grilled cheese for them. She charmed Sebastian's sandwich into the shape of a Panther for his father's animagus form. She teasingly made Severus' into the shape of a bat. She gave her boys their plates side by side since Sebastian was sitting in Severus' lap. Then she conjured up two glasses and filled them with Otter's Fizzy Orange juice. It was Sebastian's favorite drink of all time and he refused to drink anything else unless it was Grandma Weasley hot chocolate or if his Grandma Granger made him chocolate milk.
"Alright, you boys stay right here, I'll go floo Ginny." Hermione said, moving back to their living room to do her floo call.
As soon as Severus and Sebastian were sure Hermione was out of hearing, they turned to each other. "Alright, time to go forth with our plan, little guy. Hopefully, we can keep mommy home with us tomorrow." Severus smirked as he conjured a potion that would take the pepperup much longer to work. He gave Sebastian a very small dose before taking one himself.
Severus knew what he was doing was wrong, but his wife hadn't had a day off in well over a month and she had been working long days. He and his son both missed Hermione and knew the only way to get her to stay home was if they were both sick. When Sebastian mentioned to him that he didn't feel well, the idea came to fruition in his mind and he couldn't resist the opportunity. He made sure to mimic Besides, he wasn't a Slytherin for nothing.
They quickly took the potion and Severus banished the tube just as Hermione returned waving the pepperup potion in her hand.
"This should make you guys feel better in no time." Hermione said, giving her husband and their little boy a dose. "And you two have barely touched your food! No appetites?"
Hermione had to fight back a smile when they both gave her pitiful smiles while shaking their heads. "Well, just try to eat some, okay?"
She turned away from them and made to wash up the pan she had used to make their food. Hermione had a strict rule about going it the Muggle way when she was in the kitchen, because she valued the sense of accomplishment that came with cooking and cleaning au naturel.
"Mommy, I still don't feel good." Sebastian told her after eating half of his sandwich.
"Oh no, sweetie. You too, Severus?" When her husband nodded, she let out a sigh.
"Maybe it's not just a common cold. How about you two get into bed? I'll call in tomorrow, okay? How does that sound?" She asked them as she moved to help Severus get Sebastian to their bedroom. She tucked her husband and son in to their large king-sized bed.
"If you think that's best, darling." Severus replied, letting Sebastian crawl onto his chest and rest there. "Join us… We want you with us. Besides, it's late." He told her as he fought back a smile. Once they were settled in, she sent her patronus off to her boss with a message explaining the situation. When her Otter returned, dancing around, she knew the message was well received and she vanished it with a quick wave of her wand.
"Alright, if you insist… Just rest, I'm going to go change." Hermione told them, walking over to their decent sized walk-in closet and getting dressed in her bed clothes. She was unaware of the big smiles that her husband and son were sharing before going back to their sick facades when the closet door opened.
Hermione smiled warmly at her husband and son, crawling into bed with them. They were both still warm to the touch. "Goodnight, my favorite men."
"Goodnight, fav'rite mommy!" Sebastian replied, his nose stuffy so his voice sounded even more adorable than normal.
"Yes, goodnight, favorite mommy." Severus chuckled, amused by his wife and son always.
It wasn't long before the family of three was sound asleep. In the morning, a much healthier Severus and Sebastian woke up. Not that he had doubted his own potions skills, but Severus was very pleased that his plan had worked. He knew Hermione would scold him but it would be worth it to have her stay home.
He and Sebastian carefully snuck out of bed and headed to the kitchen to start breakfast. They also respected Hermione's rule about going it muggle in the kitchen so they started to make pancakes. Severus started the coffee and poured his son a cup of his favorite orange juice.
"What are you two doing up? I thought you weren't feeling well?" Hermione asked when she entered the kitchen to find the two of them up and about, seemingly perfectly healthy.
Sebastian squealed. As much as he was like Severus, he was very obvious with his emotions and ran to his mommy in his excitement. "Surprise, mommy! We surprise you! We play sick, but we 'kay! And we make breakfast!" He squealed all over again as he hugged both of his arms around her legs. Hermione ran her fingers through her son's hair, shooting a glare at Severus.
"Severus! You know how busy I've been with work lately, why would you do this?" She asked, rather frustrated, but she and him had always resolved to never have fights in front of Sebastian. It was especially important to Severus who had despised that aspect of his childhood.
"That's exactly why. You've been too busy, we've hardly seen you, and we missed you. Take the day off, Hermione. You need it. Please… Just please, don't argue." Severus said as he brought her a fresh mug of coffee. "Today, we're pampering you. Sebastian missed his mommy and I missed my wife." He told her, giving her a look that was sure to silence her.
As much as Hermione wanted to argue, the look that Severus had given her and then the big smile Sebastian kept giving her kept her quiet. She didn't realize how much she had been neglecting her boys and despite not liking their underhanded, Slytherin tactics, she could appreciate that they wanted her home bad enough to go through all of the trouble.
"Alright, but just know if you ever pull a stunt like this again it's not going to pretty." Hermione told them, taking a sip of the delicious coffee Severus had made.
Sebastian squealed and started to break out into his little happy dance, shrieking with laughter when Severus scooped, his son up into one arm and kept dangling him upside down as he started filling plates with pancakes.
"Daddy!" Sebastian laughed as he tried to fling himself upwards.
"What's that?" Severus asked, looking around as if he forgot he was holding his son in that manner.
"Daddy! Down here!" Sebastian tried waving his arms about.
"Oh! That's it. My little prince is being upside down monkey." He chuckled, lifting his son back upright.
Hermione watched on with amusement, she was pleased to be home with her family. She made a note to self to never get so caught up in her work that she forgot the love that waited for her at home with her husband and son.
A/N: Okay, so I struggled writing this a lot... It started off great it seemed, but then it just kind of got stuck for me. Let me know what you think of this one-shot as I try to find my mojo and update Soul-mates Separated.