Hogwarts - A Homecoming
Advent's Calendar 2012
by Healer Pomfrey

Please refer to the disclaimer and warnings in chapter 1!

December 11

Harry woke up to Sevvy's wails. He lazily opened his eyes, realising that he felt much better than before.

"Sevvy, what's wrong?" he asked, sleepily, before a thought crossed his mind. 'Maybe he needs his nappy changed. Hermione still seems to be asleep.' Realising that the boy seemed not inclined to reply, he asked, "Shall we change your nappy and get you dressed?"

Sevvy stopped wailing and gave him a short nod, before he quickly got out of bed and toddled ahead towards the nursery. Harry slowly followed him, wondering where Hermione was, as she usually got up, when the charm that she had placed on Sevvy went off. He changed the child's nappy and was just dressing him in a dark green jumpsuit that was covered with small, roaring yellow dragons, when Hermione entered the nursery.

"Oh Harry, I'm sorry, please go back to bed, I'll finish here," she said, urgently, giving him a concerned look.

"No Mione, it's okay," Harry replied, although he had to admit to himself that he wanted nothing more than to lie down again. "What happend? You look very upset."

Hermione sighed. "I am upset," she admitted in a small voice and informed Harry about her conversation with Ron.

"You separated from him?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Yes," Hermione replied, simply, and took a completely dressed Sevvy into her arms. "Are you hungry, sweetheart?" she asked, kindly, but the child shook his head and struggled out of her arms to the floor. "Harry, go back to bed," Hermione said firmly and admitted that she had called Pomfrey in the morning. Seeing that Sevvy busied himself with his Potions kit, she followed Harry into his room and sat on the edge of his bed.

"Wait, you cancelled my birthday party?" Harry asked, horrified. "But I need to speak with Ginny and Ron..."

"I know," Hermione interrupted him, before she waved her wand at a small towel casting a cooling spell. She carefully adjusted it to Harry's forehead and informed her friend about the conversation with Ron, leaving out that the boy already knew who Sevvy was in order to not upset her sick friend more than necessary.

"Mione," Harry whispered, reaching out for her cold hand, "are you sure that you wanted to separate from him? It's not just because of what I said last night, right?"

A smile flashed over Hermione's face. "No my dear, I wanted to tell him since weeks. I just didn't have an opportunity to speak with him." She gently held his hand and after a minute of quiet asked, "Harry, did you really mean what you said last night?"

Harry let out a few harsh coughs, before he returned the smile and whispered, "Yes, I meant it, although I didn't mean to say such a thing."

Hermione chuckled, thinking, 'Thank Merlin he was delirious enough to tell me.' Aloud she queried, hesitating, "Since when did you have... feelings for me?"

"Since about our third year," Harry admitted quietly, before he returned the question.

"Since I first met you," Hermione whispered back, blushing. Seeing Harry smile, she leaned over to once again pull him into a long kiss.

Harry couldn't help thoroughly enjoying the kiss; however, when he finally pulled off, he said, "I'm sorry, Mione, but I have to speak with Ginny first, before I can ask you to become my girlfriend. As soon as I can, I'll do so. Will you wait for me?"

"Of course," Hermione replied, smiling.

However, later the same day, both Sevvy and Hermione became ill as well, and the small family ended up spending the whole week in Harry's bed cuddling with each other to make themselves feel better, while they recovered.

Madam Pomfrey grudgingly allowed the students to remain in their own rooms and enlarged Harry's bed, so that they could stay together and look after each other and the child, while she came every few hours to check on them and administer the necessary potions. Knowing that her best friend Minerva would not approve the students sleeping in a bed together, even if they were adults and there was a baby lying in the middle, she forbade everyone to disturb the sick students. When she finally deemed them well enough to receive a visitor, Professor McGonagall came to see Hermione, Harry and Sevvy.

"Ms. Granger, Mr. Potter, I'd like to ask you something," she came straight to the point. "I don't know if you'd like to return to Gryffindor, when school commences in three weeks; however, I thought about making you head girl and head boy, and if you accepted the positions, you could remain here in your own quarters. Maybe it would be more convenient to live here together with Sevvy than in a dormitory. What do you think?" She gave the students an expectant look, pulling Sevvy onto her lap at the same time.

Hermione and Harry exchanged a glance, which was sufficient for them to know that they agreed with each other, and Hermione replied, "Thank you so very much for your offer. We really appreciate it, and we' like to accept it."

'Thank Merlin Sevvy and I don't have to share a dormitory with Ron,' Harry mused and quickly nodded his agreement.

At the Burrow

Ron was still not completely recovered from the lung infection with that he had come down on the day after his visit to Hogwarts, mostly due to the nightly interruptions from Voldemort, who was slowly becoming impatient. 'You must practise and cast the charm; otherwise it will be too late, and I'll have to think of something else. However, believe me, you won't want to live up to failing me and having me as your enemy,' the raspy voice threatened every other night. Whenever he was alone in his room, Ron spent some time practising the wand movement and the long incantation of the light velocity charm.

On this day, his fever had finally broken, and he decided to try out the charm, as soon as he'd find a quiet minute. 'I have to pull through with it before the time, at which Voldemort usually contacts me,' he thought and happily agreed, when Molly instructed him to take a long nap after lunch.

'I hope I'll manage the charm, otherwise he'll surely kill me,' he mused, anxiously, wishing that he could rely on Hermione's help. 'No,' he thought, letting out a long sigh. 'No one, not even Hermione, can know what I'm doing. All of my friends and family would despise me for this, all these Harry lovers.' Just to be sure to remain undisturbed, he cast a locking charm at the door, before he opened the window, placed his cauldron on the window sill, and pointed his wand against the sky, which was bright blue without a single cloud on this warm summer day.

Summoning all his courage and his magic, he waved his wand in the complex movement, which he had intensively studied, and mumbled the incantation that Voldemort had taught him, because he had not been able to find it in the Hogwarts library without Hermione's help. Finally, he pointed his wand at the cauldron, just when he finished the spell. 'This will now take a few hours,' he thought and, leaving the window open, retreated to his bed, where he immediately drifted off into an exhausted slumber.

tbc...

Thank you so much for your kind comments. See you tomorrow.