Ginny Weasley and the Sick Daughter

"Mummy, my throat hurts," little Lily complained to her mother while she was cooking dinner one evening. It had been a few years since they let Kreacher retire and Ginny actually embraced the role of stay-at-home mom when she wasn't running the sports section of The Daily Prophet as editor-in-chief.

"Stick out your tongue."

Lily did as she was told. Using the Lumos charm on her wand, Ginny examined her four year old daughter's throat.

"It is very red. Go lay on the sofa. I'll bring you some medicine and juice."

Usually a hyper one, Lily trudged into the sitting room, sat down on the couch, and waited.

"Take this." Ginny handed her daughter a spoonful of Pepper-up Potion. Lily shook her head. "Come on, I've got some pumpkin juice for you to wash it down with." Lily shook her head again. "Lily Luna Potter!"

Unwillingly, Lily opened her mouth and let her mother slip the spoon in. Pepper-up Potion tasted awful. She immediately reached for the cup of her favorite pumpkin juice and drank until it was empty.

"You should feel better shortly. Do you need anything?"

"No, Mummy."

"I'll be in the kitchen making dinner if you need anything."

Five minutes later Ginny went in to check on her only daughter. With her head on the arm of the sofa, she was sound asleep. Carefully, Ginny laid a blanket over Lily, kissed her warm cheek, and went back to dinner.

Ten minutes later after that she heard her two sons, six-year-old Al and seven-year-old James, run through the house, banging the back door on their way in. They stopped in the kitchen with curious looks on their faces.

"Why is smoke coming out of Lily's ears?" Al asked a little loudly.

Ginny put her finger to her lips.

"Sh, your sister's sleeping. She's sick. She has a sore throat and I gave her some Pepper-Up Potion. The smoke," she pointed to the boys ears, "means it's working."

"Ew," Al and James exclaimed.

"P.U.P. is icky," Al added.

"But, it works," Ginny said.

"Mummy! Mummy!" Roughly half an hour later Ginny placed the final bowl on the table ready to call her children to dinner when her daughter let out a scream.

"What is it, honey?" She hoped Lily wasn't sicker.

"There's steam coming out of my ears!"

Ginny ran into the sitting room to comfort Lily. She spotted Al and James watching from the top of the stairs.

"That's a good thing." She sat down next to her daughter and rubbed her back.

"It is?"

"Yes, it means the potion is working." Ginny pulled her wand out of her pocket. "Let me take a look at your throat." Again, using the Lumos Charm she checked out the back of Lily's throat. "Slightly pink. You're getting better. How does your throat feel?"

Lily swallowed.

"Better." She smiled. "When will the steam go away?"

"When it's done working. Do you think you can eat some dinner with us? We're having chicken."

"I can try, Mummy."

"Good girl." Ginny kissed Lily's forehead.