"Well, he has a fever," Ginny sighed, removing the tip of her wand from James' forehead.
"Poor guy," Harry muttered.
"I'm guessing he caught this when he was out playing in the rain yesterday," Ginny said.
"I feel icky," James coughed, pulling his blankets closer to him.
"I know, love," Ginny said, kissing the top of his head. "You're sick. You'll have to stay in bed and rest until you're better."
"No," the four-year old moaned weakly. "That's boring."
"You're not up for much else, champ," Harry told him. "And you need to get your energy back."
"Can you go start brewing a fever-reducing potion for him?" Ginny asked.
"Sure," Harry nodded, rustling the top of his son's head. "You'll be back up and causing mischief in not time, James."
"What's wrong with James?" three-year old Albus asked, walking into James' bedroom.
"He's sick," Harry said, quickly scooping up the younger boy. "He has the flu. Which means you need to stay far away from him; last thing we need is two sick kids in this house."
"Merlin, that would be a nightmare," Ginny said.
"Your brother will be fine," Harry assured Albus, seeing the worried look on the toddler's face. "He just needs his rest. Come on, let's go get Lily up and then I'll get you breakfast."
He set Albus down outside of James' room and headed across the hall to Lily's nursery, where the little girl was standing up in her cot, waiting to be let out.
"Morning, beautiful," Harry smiled, taking his daughter in his arms. He quickly changed her nappy and then brought her down to the kitchen, where Albus was waiting at the table.
"Why's James sick?" Albus asked as Harry pointed his wand at a stack of bread, causing it to fly into the toaster.
"Everybody gets sick sometimes," Harry explained, setting Lily in her highchair. "James probably caught his flu when he didn't listen to mummy and daddy and kept playing in the rain yesterday."
"So I can't play with him today?" Albus frowned.
"No, afraid not, Al," Harry replied. "You can play with your sister, though."
"Lily's a baby; she can't do anything!" Albus pointed out.
"Well, perhaps after breakfast I'll see if I can take you by to play with Rose," Harry said, heaving a large cauldron out from under the sink and placing it on the counter so he could begin preparing James' fever-reducing potion.
"I'm glad I'm not sick," Albus commented. "I don't want to sit in bed all day."
"Oh, there will come a time when you'll be eating those words, Al," Harry grinned.
…
The next morning, Harry slowly opened his eyes, letting out a long yawn. He glanced next to him and saw Ginny was still fast asleep. Both of them had been up throughout the night checking on James. Getting out of bed as quietly as possible so to not wake her, Harry padded down the hall to James' room. Thankfully James was still sleeping and didn't stir in the slightest as Harry pressed his wand to his forehead.
"Still has a fever," Harry muttered to himself. "Lovely."
He left the room, closing the door behind him. He was about to return to bed when he suddenly heard a loud series of coughs coming from Albus' room next door.
"Oh no, no, no…" Harry breathed, quickly turning and going into the younger boy's room. "Al? Al are you alright?"
"My head hurts," Albus muttered thickly. "And my nose is runny and I feel yucky."
"Yes…you caught your brother's flu," Harry sighed, pressing his wand to his son's forehead.
"So I have to stay in bed?" Albus moaned.
"That's right," Harry nodded sympathetically. "I'll bring you up some breakfast and potion in a bit. And mummy and I will read to you later on; that seemed to make James feel better yesterday."
"Alright," Albus mumbled, falling back against his pillows.
Harry had just closed the door when he heard a loud cry from Lily's room. It didn't sound like her normal cries, though.
"Please tell me this isn't what I think it is," Harry said, rushing into the nursery, where Lily was sitting up, her nose almost as red as her hair. She looked very uncomfortable and miserable.
"Three sick kids," Harry sighed, gently lifting up Lily and rubbing her back soothingly. "Well this is just brilliant. You just had to be like your brothers, didn't you Lil Bud? And you're too young to take any fever-reducing potion, so I suppose we'll have to run a cold bath for you. Mummy's going to thrilled…"
He set Lily back in her cot, covering her up with her blankets, and went back into his and Ginny's bedroom.
"Gin?" Harry whispered. "Gin, we've got a problem. Al and Lily caught James' flu; they're all sick."
"Hmm?" Ginny murmured, slowly opening her eyes. At once, Harry knew something was wrong.
"You're burning up," Harry said, taking his wife's temperature with his wand. "Looks like you got the flu as well."
"How did one four-year old manage to get an entire house sick?" Ginny coughed as Harry pulled out some extra blankets from the trunk at the foot of the bed. "Well, except for you. How did you avoid this? James must've coughed in your face at least a dozen times."
"Well it's lucky I'm not sick, or we'd be in real trouble," Harry pointed out.
"I should go get the boys some toast," Ginny said weakly. "Hopefully they can keep it down. I'll make Lily some porridge too."
"Fever's obviously made you delirious," Harry said, gently putting his hand on Ginny's shoulder to keep her from getting up. "You're not doing anything other than lying in bed and getting better."
"You're the delirious one if you think you can handle three sick kids on your own," Ginny frowned. "I'll be fine, you need my help."
"No offense, love, but you can barely sit up," Harry smiled. "You'd be more of a burden than a help. Really, just stay in bed. I'll take care of the kids and you. Let me just send an owl into the Ministry saying I won't be coming in. I was just going to be doing paperwork today anyway."
"You don't realize what you're getting yourself into," Ginny warned.
"Just worry about getting better," Harry told her. "Leave everything else to me."
…
"Lily, I promise you'll feel so much better if you stop crying," Harry sighed, trying to calm down the infant as she screamed in his arms. "I know you feel icky, but this is only making it worse."
He poured out three glasses of fever-reducing potion, skillfully using just one hand, and swished and flicked his wand at them, causing them to levitate.
"Let's go bring these to mummy and your brothers," Harry said.
He went up the stairs to James' room first.
"Alright James, I know you're not a fan of this potion, but you've got to drink it," Harry said. "Hopefully by tomorrow your fever will have broken, and then there will only be three sick people in this-what are you doing?"
James had quickly pulled his covers up all the way to his chin the second his father had entered the room. "Nothing!"
Harry pointed his wand at the covers, causing them to fold back, revealing an entire carton of Berttie Bott's Every Flavor Beans…or what used to be an entire carton.
"James! You ate all of these?" Harry exclaimed.
"I was sick of toast and soup," James shrugged. "I haven't had any desserts in two days."
"Because you're sick," Harry said. "You don't get dessert when you're sick."
"But I haven't been bad," James frowned.
"It has nothing to do with that," Harry said, sitting down on the bed next to James and beginning to pick up the remains of the carton. "Foods like this make you feel worse. Once you're better, I'll make sure that you get-"
Suddenly, James face contorted and he clutched his stomach as he gave a loud moan. Before Harry could react, James had doubled over and vomited square on Harry's lap. Lily, who Harry had thankfully set down by the bedroom door, managed a small laugh at the spectacle.
"That's why you don't get dessert when you're sick," Harry said, trying to stay calm.
After getting himself and James cleaned up, Harry took Lily with him to Albus' room.
"How are you feeling, Al?" Harry asked.
"Bad," Albus pouted. "I don't want to be sick anymore, daddy."
"I know," Harry smiled, handing him his potion. "Hopefully it won't be too much longer."
"My stomach hurts," Albus told his dad.
"Just try and keep resting," Harry said. "I know being sick isn't fun, but you've got to keep-"
And just then, without Albus made a loud gagging noise and proceeded to vomit up the contents of his stomach…right onto his father's lap.
"Well," Harry said, closing his eyes for a moment. "You did warn me, I suppose."
"Sorry," Albus muttered.
"It's alright," Harry sighed.
Once he had gotten the second mess of the afternoon cleaned up, him and Lily left Albus' room.
"So, Lily," Harry said, looking at his daughter in his arms. "I don't suppose you'd like to throw up on your dad too?"
No sooner had the words left his mouth did Lily give a moan, and spat-up all over Harry, just as her brothers had done.
"Lily…I was kidding," Harry said, shaking his head.
…
After nearly another hour, Harry finally managed to get to his and Ginny's room, where his wife was laying against her pillows.
"Here," Harry said, handing her the potion. "How are you feeling?"
"Awful," Ginny replied. "Less awful than this morning, though. I'm hoping tomorrow I can at least help you a little bit. Are the kids alright?"
"By some miracle, they're all asleep right now," Harry told her.
"Amazing," Ginny said, giving a small smile as she sipped her potion. "I really can't believe you managed three sick kids and a sick wife on your own. I'll need to make this up to you."
"No, you don't have to," Harry told her. "What was I supposed to do? Let you lot sit around and get sicker? I'm happy to take care of any of you whenever you need it. Please, just promise me one thing, Gin."
"What?"
"Don't you vomit on me too," Harry said, kissing the top of her head.