James felt horrible. His nose was clogged, and with each breath he thought he would choke. With an awful whooping cough, he rolled over in his bed to glance at the clock on his bedside table. After a few seconds of staring uncomprehendingly at it, he lurched bolt upright. 6:30 am; he was late.
"Bugger!" he cried, as he attempted to extract himself from the tight constraints of his sheets, and failed miserably. His throat felt scratchy and swollen and mucus was dripping in earnest from his nose by the time he accepted defeat and laid back on his pillow. It looked as though the Auror office would have to make do without him for a day or so.
"Jamie?" he called out as he grabbed his wand from beside his clock and conjured some tissues. There was at least a minute of loud blowing before the call was repeated.
With a small click, his bedroom door was suddenly opened, and in came his daughter, still in her pyjamas and her back to him. A heavily laden tray was in her hands, and the bright light from the hall filed in with her."Oh good, you're finally awake," she said, bustling around the side of his bed to place the tray on the bedside table.
"My alarm didn't go off," James complained through his clogged nose, as he tried to scratch at his itchy eyes. Jamie gave him a sympathetic look as she placed a cup of tea in his hands.
"Well of course it didn't, silly," she replied with a small laugh, "I turned it off. There's no way you're going to work with a cold this bad, and you need your sleep. I was up half the night listening to your coughing. You sounded like you were dying, or something, but I couldn't wake you up."
James began to protest, but thought better of it when he was overcome with a fit of retching coughs, "I see your point," he managed to choke out, before taking a few sips of tea. The familiar taste soothed his throat.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of you," Jamie said with one of her bright, contagious smiles. She took back the half-drunk teacup and replaced it with a small vial of red potion. "Pepper up," she stated simply, and James quickly ripped off the cork stopper and swallowed the concoction whole. It burnt all the way down, and soon there was steam protruding from his ears.
"I owled the office and told them you're not coming in today, so that's all sorted. Your breakfast is here," she motioned to the tray, "And if you need anything else, just yell. I'll be downstairs."
She turned to leave, after placing a soft kiss on his burning forehead and whispering, "Get well soon, dad," in his ear
James stared admiringly after her, steam still pouring from his ears. How could he live without her?