Disclaimer: I don't own anything Harry Potter
Minerva had a couple hectic days in the castle. Having three sick children to take care of was not fun. Not to mention all her classes and teaching duties. Albus had been a help by covering her two NEWT classes. He had enough on his plate though. A group of skilled wizards from the Ministry had come to evaluate and help with the situation in Gryffindor tower. They were having no luck so far, but through a variety of spells, they managed to contain the gas into the tower. If there was one thing she was thankful of it was that Ron's fever had broken last night. She evaluated her situation as she walked back into her quarters. Ron was feeling much better this morning as his fever had broken over night. She supposed that living in such a big family had given him a better immunity to sickness then the other two. Harry was about halfway though it, he wasn't as bad as he had been the first night. Hermione was still the worst. Her cough had gone down drastically, but the fever reined and the poor thing spent most of the night awake and morning asleep. She had had Twinky, one of the house elves, watch the children during the day. Twinky appeared and met her as she entered her office.
"Hello Mistress, the childrens were very good today."
"Thank you Twinky." Minerva said walking over to the book case that allowed her to enter her quarters. "I'll take over from here; can you bring dinner for us up at 6 o'clock please?"
"Yes mistress." Twinky said and popped away. Minerva banished her bag to her room and approached the couch where the three were laying. Ron, she noticed, did look a lot better then he had yesterday. His color had returned and he looked bored just sitting on the couch.
"Hi" Ron said coming to see her. "When are we eating?" He asked.
"At 6, are the other two asleep?" She asked.
"Yeah, they've been asleep for the last hour, I'm bored. Can I go eat in the Great Hall tonight?"
"How are you feeling? Let me check your temperature." She pulled her wand out and raised it over his head.
"I'm fine." He whined but she still read the diagnostic that came from her wand.
"98.6" She pursed her lips. "I guess you can go eat in the Great Hall." He cheered and made for the door. "But go put a sweater on.'
"Aww." but he went and slipped on his maroon sweater. "Bye." He said running out. She raised her hand goodbye and walked into the kitchen. She quickly made up some tea for herself and brought out some water for Harry and Hermione. She sat down and did some grading while they slept. This lasted until quarter to six when she decided she better wake them up.
"Harry wake up dear." She said lightly shaking him awake.
"But I'm sleepy." he said putting his head back into the side of the couch.
"You need to get up for dinner." She said taking the blanket away. She quickly repeated this for Hermione and they both sat up on the couch rubbing their eyes.
"What's for dinner Professor?" Hermione asked.
"I'm not sure I guess we'll see won't we." Then with a pop three trays of chicken noodle soup appeared with some greens and pumpkin juice for the two kids.
"Did you guys do anything today?" Minerva asked sipping her soup.
"Not really." Harry told her. "Just worked on the homework you brought us yesterday."
"I read my library book." Hermione informed her. Minerva nodded and gave them both a smile. She was still so unsure how to act around the trio. She wanted to hold them all and kiss their heads and truly be like a mother to them, but then she was still afraid that would cause them not to like her. Ron came in not long after, full from what he described as his first full meal and days. Minerva and he promptly started their nightly game of chess. Ron hadn't been able to beat her yet, but Minerva noticed that he started to catch onto some of her moves. She noticed that he started out with the Scandinavian Defense this time, most likely because she was using her newer set of chess pieces. They didn't obey her quite as well yet, they had been a gift from Albus for Christmas a couple years back, however her older set was now located under the 3rd floor corridor. It wasn't necessary to use her own chess set for the transfiguration, but since the spell had to last, it was easier to keep the spell on them without fully changing their appearance. After the first game Harry stood up and said he was going to bed early. Minerva gave him some of the purple muggle medicine before she would let him go. As she and Ron started the next game Hermione came laid down next to her, putting her head next to Minerva's leg. Ron didn't notice, he was to focused on the game. Minerva reached over and rubbed Hermione's back as she focused on the game. After two more defeats, Ron headed to bed and Minerva cleaned up the game.
She smiled at Hermione who had fallen asleep on the couch and picked her up. She took her into the bedroom and tucked her in. She said good night to Ron and bid them good night.
Ron smiled as Minerva left the bedroom. He hadn't noticed at first but he had seen Minerva rubbing Hermione's back. At first he had felt jealous. Once when he had been sick as a little kid, one time when they all had been sick, he had seen his mother doing the same thing for Ginny. Now he loved Ginny, but there were times when he just didn't like her. It was bad enough that he was the youngest boy of 6, but that his mother favored Ginny so much, it was doubled. Whenever they were sick their mother would spend a lot of time with Ginny and not him. He always guessed that one of his brothers were suppose to watch him and never did. I guess the thing that always made me sad was that I was ignored he thought. But Minerva didn't do that, he thought, when he had seen Minerva rubbing Hermione's back he thought she'd stop the game so that she could put Hermione to bed and then insist that he go to bed to. But she played two more games! He thought. She had still cared for Hermione but she still played with him! And he almost beat her that last time! He grinned and put his face into his pillow. Maybe if I fall asleep on the couch she'll tuck me into bed too, was his last thought before failing asleep.
Hermione awoke with a cough and a sneeze. Groaning she turned over and looked at her watch, which was resting on the bedside table. 1:00 AM she groaned loudly and held in another cough. She lay still for about 10 minutes before deducing that she wasn't going to get back to sleep. Slowly getting out of her bed so she wouldn't wake up Harry and Ron, she walked into the kitchen and grabbed herself a glass of milk. Then she sat down on the couch and stared at the dieing fire. She yawned slowly. I need to get some sleep, she thought, I didn't sleep well last night either the only time I really slept good was one I just slept. She yawned again and it dawned on her, the only time she had really fallen asleep was when she was near Minerva. She wasn't really surprised, she was the same way when she was younger. She had to be near someone when she was sick, normally she would sleep with her grandmother as she wasn't allowed in her parents room a lot.
She took the empty cup back into the kitchen and set it on the counter, there was no sink. Then, slightly fearful, she headed to Minerva's bedroom. I hope I don't get her upset she thought pushing the bedroom door open slightly. She peeked in and saw Minerva asleep in her bed. Plucking up her courage she went into the bedroom looking around as she did. Minerva's bedroom resembled much of the rest of her quarters. Red and gold with a tall bookcase in one corner of the room. Hermione slowly walked to the side of the bed and cautiously poked Minerva in the shoulder. She backed away quickly, it was just like waking her parents up, you're always slightly afraid of what they'll do when you wake them up. She slowly walked back up to the side of the bed and shook Minerva again. Minerva slowly open her eyes and looked at Hermione in worry. She sat up on the bed and grabbed her glasses off the bedside table.
"Hermione what's wrong sweetie?" She asked rubbing her eyes. Hermione stared at her feet. She hadn't really thought that far.
"I couldn't sleep." She heard herself mumble. "I keep coughing." she said and a cough arose in her throat as if to prove it.
"Do you want so more medicine?" Minerva asked giving Hermione her full attention now.
"No that's okay," she had already grown sick of the taste. "I don't want anymore medicine." she saw Minerva make a little face. She most likely wanted Hermione to take more medicine or a potion.
"They what do you want sweetie?" Hermione blushed both at the endearment and what she was about to ask.
"Can I sleep in here?' she tried to phrase it so that she could be near but still sleep on the floor. "You know what never mind I'll just try to sleep again, I'm sorry about waking you up." she started to run out but Minerva grabbed her arm. She saw her Professor yawn and she felt Minerva pull her closer. Then without warning she was lifted onto the bed and was laying next to Minerva.
"Good night sweetie?" Minerva said pulling the blankets over her. Hermione felt her eyes start to close as feeling of warmth and comfort set in.
"Thank you." She mumbled. Minerva chuckled again.
"Anytime Hermione. You don't have to be afraid to come to me dear." That was the last thing Hermione heard before falling into a deep sleep.
Minerva looked at the girl with a smile. She fought herself to stay awake just a little longer as she stroked Hermione's hair. She was lost now she knew it, how could she not love this girl. The boy's to were pushing their way into her heart more and more each day. She found herself looking forward to her conversations with Harry and her nightly games with Ron. She had to admit she even loved taking care of them even if they were sick. She shifted Hermione slightly so that she was lying up and wouldn't cough as much she was just starting to get comfortable again when she heard the door creak and there stood Harry and Ron.
"Come on in and join the party." Minerva whispered. They quickly hurried in.
"I woke up and didn't see Hermione." Harry explained and looked at Ron, who was wobbling. "Then I hit the table and woke Ron up." Harry said.
"Well as you can see here she is." Minerva chuckled. The boy's stared at Hermione as if she was crazy. Harry yawned widely and Ron closed his eyes. "Why don't you two climb on up to?"
"Okay." Ron mumbled climbing to lay on Hermione's other side. Harry hesitated and looked at her.
"Are you sure?" He asked. She nodded and slid Hermione and herself over some more, Ron had budged over already, making room for Harry on her other side.
"It'll probably help us all sleep better." she said. "Goodnight boys." she said once Harry had climbed in and she gave he a small kiss on the forehead. And she put her arm around Harry and then put her other arm around Hermione and Ron. The former was still sound asleep but had curled up closer to Minerva. She brushed Ron's head with her hand and laid down beaming. Yes she was completely lost, but she wouldn't have it any other way.
Yeah! I've updated all my stories! And it's not even the new year yet, unless your reading this somewhere in the far east. If so Happy New Year! Please review and let me know what you think. Originally I wasn't to happy with this chapter but I don't mind it as much but let me know what you think. Thank you for reading and lets go class of 2011 By the way I'm being lazy and not reading over this cause I'm tired so just bare in mind that when you're done reading.