"UNCLE GEORGE," James screamed, letting go of Teddy's hand, the dark-haired boy ran towards his favourite uncle. George who had been stacking one of the shelves in the store turned around and caught the boy lifting him into the air for a giant hug while James giggled.
"Why if it isn't my little Jamie, have you been good for Auntie Mione," the redhead asked, smiling at Hermione over James' head.
"Yeah," he nodded at his uncle.
"I good too," a small voice called, Albus had awoken from his nap and was now struggling to get to his uncle, Hermione lowered the tot onto the floor and watched with a fond smile as the three-year-old ran to his uncle on his little chubby legs.
"I'm sure you have," George spoke to the boy, pulling him into a tight hug.
"Yes, all three of them have been well behaved, I had a lot of shopping to do, and they were very helpful," she told George who was now hugging Teddy.
"Sounds like you guys need a treat, come into the back and let me show you something that I've been working on," he told them joyfully. The trio of boys followed the man excitedly with Hermione bringing up the rear.
"My latest invention is something I am sure Albus, and James will enjoy, Metamorphic Candies, they will give children the ability to change the colour of their hair and eyes for an hour," George told them holding out a gold wrapped sweet to each of the Potter boys. James unwrapped his quickly and shoved it in his mouth, within minutes his dark hair morphed to turquoise and his hazel eyes morphed to amber.
"James, you look like Teddy," Albus gasped in awe as he quickly unwrapped his own sweet before eating it too. Hermione and George watched amused as Albus' features morphed to match the other two boys.
"This is wicked Uncle George," James praised his hair turning Weasley red to match his uncle while his eyes turned blue.
"I thought you'd like it, now Teddy I have a special gift for you," George spoke pulling a large box off one of the shelves that lined the back of the work room.
"What is it," The eleven-year-old asked excitedly.
"It is my understanding that you will be starting at Hogwarts next month; this here is a junior pranking kit that I have put together for you; it has everything you need to cause mischief and mayhem," George told him happily.
"Awesome," Teddy breathed opening the box to peer inside; from where she stood Hermione could see stink bombs, skiving snack boxes, and at least fifteen other products that would likely get Teddy in trouble. Hermione pursed her lips but chose not to comment on the gift.
"Are Fred and Roxy upstairs," James asked.
"Afraid not Kiddo, Ange has taken them to visit her parents for the day," He replied ruffling his nephew's hair.
"Mummy," Albus called as they stepped out of the floo into the Potter's home in Godric's Hallow.
"Albus why do you look like Teddy," Ginny asked with a chuckle.
"Uncle George, did it, it's awesome," James said stepping out of the fire, his green hair changing to match the other two boys'. All three turquoise haired boys hugged Ginny before running out of the kitchen.
"New sweet, they should be back to normal in half an hour," Hermione told her friend as she rummaged through her bag to find the potions she had bought.
"Did they behave," Ginny asked as she bustled about the kitchen preparing lunch.
"They were on their best behaviour, how's Lily doing," she asked sitting down at the breakfast bar.
"She's doing okay, finally got her to sleep about an hour ago, this flu is dreadful," Ginny spoke as she chopped some tomatoes.
"It's going around, the hospital is full of patents with the flu, I ran into Malfoy when I was buying the potions, his little one has it too," Hermione told her friend quietly.
"Oh, poor Scorpius, I hope he starts to feel better soon, he's such a sweet child," Ginny told her.
"He is," Hermione agreed, smiling at the memory of the fair-haired, silver eyed child.
"Oh, you got to meet him, what did you think," Ginny asked. "Draco is rather private when it comes to Scorpius," she continued before Hermione could answer.
"He was crying when we first entered the store but by the time, we left I managed to help settle him, he was adorable, sweet, he didn't talk but he seemed to like me," she told her friend. "When did you start calling him Draco," she asked.
"Harry and he have worked together for a decade, they are friendly, he's been round for dinner a few dozen times and Scorpius and Albus are friends, we aren't at Hogwarts anymore, he's Draco to us," Ginny shrugged, Hermione nodded.
"He's a good father," she told the ginger witch watching as she laid out lunch on the table.
"That he is," Ginny agreed before taking a deep breath, "LUNCH IS READY," she called. How three children could sound like a herd of elephants Hermione wasn't sure but to her ears that is what they sounded like as they descended the stairs to join her and Ginny in the kitchen.
"Ohh Chicken Salad, my favourite," James spoke happily grabbing his sandwich with both hands, his and Albus' features were now back to normal and Teddy had morphed his to match theirs instead. Hermione smiled at the three boys and tucked into her own lunch.
It had been an exceedingly long day for Hermione; she'd worked the night shift the previous night and hadn't got off work until; six in the morning. She'd had three hours sleep before Ginny had flooed frantic because Lily was sick. She'd dressed quickly and flooed over to her friend's house shortly later. Harry was currently in France protecting the Minister who was at a magical conference and Ginny was frazzled. With four children in the house one of whom was sick her friend needed a break. After casting diagnostic charms and reassuring her friend that her daughter would be okay, she'd offered to take the boy's out for the day and collect some potions to help Lily get over the flu, something Ginny had been grateful for.
She'd spent four hours in London with the boy's, they'd gone to the bank, Flourish and Blots, a muggle toy shop and many of the little stores along Diagon Alley. Admittedly they'd all behaved but it had been an unexpectedly long day. She'd planned to spend her Wednesday sleeping before she returned to work for Thursday's day shift.
After dropping the three boys back at home, Hermione had stayed for lunch and then flooed back to Bluebell Cottage, her home. Hermione had bought the small white two-story thatched cottage after her split with Ron, and she loved it. With its traditional sash windows looking out into the land around her it was the perfect escape. She'd picked the cottage for its location, set in an unexplored area of the Lake District she had mountains around her and a large lake to the west of her property. Her garden consisted of a large wildflower meadow, she wasn't one for gardening and she enjoyed the simplicity of the flowers which grew as they pleased attracting; birds, butterflies, and bees that she'd watch fluttering around her garden from a hanging egg chair she'd placed on her porch.
Arriving home from her visit with the Potter's Hermione had stripped off her clothes and climbed into a bath filled with lavender scented bubbles, the scent was calming, she'd felt her body relaxing as she laid in the hot soapy water. She'd lathered her curls with her jasmine shampoo, rinsed and then did the same with her jasmine conditioner before rinsing her hair again. She'd then used a loofah to wash her skin with her honey scented soap before rinsing her skin with clean water. Pulling the plug out of the bath she'd climbed out of the claw footed tub, stepping onto her squishy bathmat. She'd grabbed her large white towel off the warm radiator encasing her body in the soft material before exiting the bathroom and making her way down her small hallway to her bedroom.
Decorated in shades of blue, lilac and silver with rich oak furniture Hermione loved her bedroom; its window allowed her to see the lake in the distance and she had a whole wall of built-in bookshelves stacked with most of the books she owned. Hermione had dried her body with the fluffy warm towel before wrapping it around her hair. She'd then taken her time lathering coconut scented cream over herself. Once all the cream had been rubbed into her skin, she'd slipped on a pair cycling shorts and an oversized white t-shirt that had a picture of Tweety Pie on it, and the words; I Taut I Taw a Puddy-Tat underneath the yellow canary in giant pink letters.
Slipping on a pair of fluffy pink bed socks Hermione had sat cross legged in the centre of her king-sized bed, on top of her floral duck egg blue comforter, her hairbrush in hand. She'd carefully brushed through her curls, parting her hair into two sections. Splitting each section into three she'd made quick work of plaiting her hair into two identical plaits that she'd tied off with matching pink bobbles, she'd found that her hair was less likely to become a tangled mess when she slept with it like this. Throwing her brush towards her dressing table, she'd kicked the comforter down and shuffled her way underneath it, too tired to do anything else she had closed her eyes allowing sleep to claim her.
Hermione wasn't certain how long she'd slept but she was startled awake sometime later, when she had gone to sleep her room had been full of light from the sun outside but now it was dark. Reaching over to her nightstand she switched on her lamp which illuminated her room in a comforting warm light.
"I wonder what woke me," she muttered to herself jumping in fright at the sound of a persistent knock downstairs.
"Who on earth is visiting after midnight," she groaned her eyes on her alarm clock which told her it was 12:15 in the morning. Hermione picked up her wand and padded out of her bedroom, descending the stairs quickly.
"Who is it," she called as she approached her oak front door.
"Granger, It's Malfoy, you told me to contact you if Scorp got worse," Malfoy's panicked voice sounded. Hermione rushed forward using her wand to open the door.
"Come in," she told him, reaching forward to take the small child who was wheezing in his father's arms.
"I didn't know what to do, should I have taken him to St Mungo's," Malfoy asked worriedly his silver eyes on the tiny child she carried with her into her cream living room. Sitting down on her sofa, the small boy on her knee, she began running her wand over him, casting diagnostic and heeling charms silently.
"Draco, he's going to be okay," she told him kindly as she summoned her medical bag to her.
"Daddy," the little boy gasped, tears streaming down his chubby cheeks, his podgy arms outstretched towards his father.
"I'm here Scorp," Draco soothed, rubbing his sons back gently as Hermione placed a small clear mask over his son's face.
"What is that" Draco asked her.
"It's a muggle device called a nebulizer, we use them on children who have symptoms like Scorp's, they are good for helping with wheezing, asthma, croup and many other conditions, she told him as she set the device up. Draco asked no more questions, as he settled down on the sofa beside her, his eyes focused on his son whose breathing began to ease as the nebuliser worked. Hermione ran her hand through the little boy's soft curls as she had in the shop before, holding him upright on her lap so that the medicine could help his lungs.
"You're going be okay, sweetie" she whispered soothingly to the child who continued to cry, silent tears streaming down his alabaster cheeks.