His Boy

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Bug

"Harry, you are going to be absolutely, one hundred and fifty percent, fine." Sirius said as he peeled Harry from his leg for about the eighteenth time that morning. It was around 7:45 and Sirius was getting ready to leave for his first day back in the Auror Offices at the Ministry of Magic. He had gone in last week to see about getting his old job back, and been welcomed with open arms at the idea. In his time, he'd been one of the best on the force, pulling double duty both inside the ministry, and outside of it when he'd joined the Order of the Pheonix, of course, the ministry knew not of the latter.

"I dun want you to go, Paddy." Harry raced forward again as Sirius reached for his overcoat. He locked his arms around Sirius's thigh, gripping tightly and burying is face against his godfather's hip.

"Prongslet, I have to go to work. And you have to be getting to school soon." Sirius swung his coat on and buttoned it up the front. "Now get your boots on, Moony will be back in a moment."

"But you won't be here when I get back." Harry complained, grabbing hold of Sirius's jacket now. Sirius scooped him up and hugged him. He hated seeing Harry like this, but he needed to learn how to be a little more independent. Moony had been saying it for weeks now that Sirius should go back to work and that Harry would be fine. How else were they ever going to prepare him for going away to Hogwarts if they coddled his every whim? He would learn from experience that Sirius would come back from work.

"No, I won't. But I will be here in time for dinner and bedtime and bath time in the morning and every single weekend. You'll have plenty of fun hanging out with Moony this afternoon. Grown ups need to go to work, and little boys need to go to school."

"But… Moony can go to work instead." Harry suggested after a moment's deliberation. "Then you can stay with me."

"Harry, remind me… what is Moony the very, very best at?"

Harry pondered for a moment or two and then smiled. "That's easy. He's the best at homework and stories."

"And when do you do your homework?"

"Right after school… but you could help me instead! You're not dumb."

"No, but I'm not very good at homework am I? Harry, it's best this way. Now, I love you very much, but I really need to be going now before I'm late." Sirius sighed, setting Harry back down. Harry pouted up at him, all big green eyes and knitted eyebrows. Sirius bent down and kissed his forehead, ruffling his hair. "It'll be perfectly alright, mate. I promise. Now get your boots on."

Harry heaved a great sigh and turned around. He slid the hall closet open and pulled out his winter boots that Sirius had gotten him when the first snowflakes had started coming down weeks ago. He tugged them on over his thick woolen socks. He rose, his entire little body covered in a puffy bright red snowsuit, perfect for playing outside in. He'd had a blast learning how to make snowballs and forts over the weekend, but now, it was Monday, and Harry would be able to show his friends at school these new games out on the playground.

"Hat." Sirius said, reaching out and tugging the green knitted cap Mrs. Weasley had made for Harry down over the little boy's ears. "Mittens." Sirius held out a matching mitten. Harry stuck his hand out and let Sirius push it up over his hand and into his sleeve. He did the other one as well and then grabbed a scarf from a hook on the wall and wrapped it around the little boy's neck and lower face. "There now, snug as a bug."

"Yep, snug as a bug." Harry nodded and struggled with his backpack. It was always harder to get on when he was wearing his snowsuit. He managed to pull both straps over his arms as the front door flung open and Moony came inside, stomping the snow off of his boots.

"Aha! Are we ready to be off then, Harry?" He asked, reaching down to tug on of the little boy's straps all the way up onto his shoulder.

"Yep! But Moony, I dun want my Padfoot to go to work." Harry said, pointing one accusatory mitten at his godfather. "Can't you make him stay home? You make me eat my broccoli."

"Nah, Harry. Padfoot has to go to work, it's just like you having to go to school. You know how Padfoot is an Auror, right?"

"Yeah, like a police man." Harry nodded, pulling his scarf down off of his face so it hung around just his neck now. He learned a bit more about being an Auror in the past week. "He helps people be safe."

"Right! So, if Padfoot doesn't go to work, who's going to help people be safe?"

"The other Aurors." Harry said quite promptly, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Of course there were other Aurors that could do the job. Why did they need his Padfoot now?

"But there aren't enough Aurors to help keep everyone safe right now, Harry." Moony explained gently, getting down on his knees and fixing the zipper on the front of the little boy's suit. "If someone needs him and he's not there to help them, then they could get really hurt."

"Oh." Harry frowned, seeming to think this over before sighing. "He hasta go then, dun he?"

"Yeah, he does. But he'll be back and I'll be here. C'mon now, let's get you in the car and off to school. We're going to be late otherwise."

"Ok. Paddy?"

Sirius reached out to give Harry another hug. "Yes, Prongslet?"

"You keep people safe really good, ok?"

"Ok, Prongslet." Sirius laughed and ruffled his hair again before rising to his feet. "Later Moony." And with that, he spun in a circle and disapparated with a crack. Moony reached down and took Harry's hand, leading him out into the snowy world.

…..

Harry was not having fun. He'd been having fun, but now everything was just wrong. He'd gotten to school. Moony had helped him get his things put away and put his snowsuit onto his jacket hook. They'd had circle time, and a story and snack time, but it was then, after he'd finished eating his crackers, that Harry's stomach had twisted and he'd felt this undesirable urge to puke. It had started as a headache, and then his throat getting a bit sore and those he could handle. But not his stomach.

"Miss Nancy, I dun feel good." Harry tugged at her skirt as she held out a mitten for Preston, one of Harry's table mates. It was a bit more difficult for the teachers to get everyone ready to go outside onto the playground in the winter, but they managed it by cutting the last half hour of indoor playtime in half.

Miss Nancy got Preston's mitten on and then reached out to place one of her cool hands against Harry's forehead. She had a lot of experience in her years of child care to know what a fever felt like with just her bare hand. "Oh my Harry…" She placed both hand against his flushed little cheeks and then one on his neck. "You're burning up, sweetheart. Here, you come with me. Miss Carrie, can you finish helping Preston with his boots? Harry's ill."

Miss Carrie nodded and hurried over from where she was shepherding children along out the back door and onto the playground where Miss Jennifer was watching them.

Miss Nancy led Harry over to lay down in the reading pillow corner, getting him settled with a blanket. She tugged open the cleaning closet and set the mop bucket beside him. "I'm going to call your house ok? And then I bet Remus will be along to pick you up before you know it. If you need to throw up, aim for the bucket, ok? But don't worry if you miss." She rose and keeping an eye on him, went to her desk. Harry watched as she flipped through some cards that sat in a little tray there before finding the one she wanted. She picked up the telephone and dialed.

"Hi Remus, this is Miss Nancy… well, he's feverish and is looking quite a bit off color, so I think it would be best if he went home for the rest of the day. I've got him resting now…. Oh, alright…. Yes… thank you, see you soon." And she hung up the phone before returning to sit by Harry. She placed a tender hand on his back, rubbing in circles. "Remus is on his way to get you, Harry. Does your tummy hurt?"

"Yeah." Harry nodded and then sat up quite suddenly. He grabbed hold of the edges of the mop bucket and retched into it like there was no tomorrow. Miss Nancy continued rubbing his back until he had finished, and then she got up to wet a cloth and helped him wipe his mouth clean.

"Lay back down now, Harry. I'll get your things so you're all set to go as soon as Remus gets here." Harry nodded and watched as Miss Nancy went to the cubbie area. She gathered his backpack and lunch box as well as his snow suit and carried them over to him. "Here we are now then, dear. Let's get you dressed. He said he'd be here within ten minutes, you don't live too far away."

Harry sat up long enough to get his suit on, mostly just holding out his limbs so Miss Nancy could help him with it, before he flopped back down. Something fuzzy touched his face after a moment and he opened his eyes to find his beloved lion had been taken from his bag. He hugged it, smiling slightly and then buried his face in Lion's fur. That was a little better.

"Harry?" Harry opened his eyes again as Moony lifted him from the pillows, hugging him and adjusting him onto his hip. "Hey there. I hear you're not feeling so hot."

"No, Moony, I feel super hot." Harry let his head rest down on Moony's shoulder, gripping his coat tightly, glad he was there.

"Here we are then, Harry." Miss Nancy arranged his boots on the floor and Remus set Harry down into them before hoisting him back up and accepting the little boy's back pack from her. Harry still gripped his lion tightly. "There's a bug going around unfortunately. It seems to be a longer one as well. We're still missing a couple of children who caught it at the end of last week."

"Oh, that's not good. I hope it'll pass more quickly than that, right Harry?"

"Mhm." Harry managed a nod, not up for much talking. He just wanted to rest.

"Alright, well, thank you Miss Nancy. Hopefully we'll be seeing you really soon."

"Yes, I hope so." Miss Nancy nodded and picked up Harry's puke bucket. "Wait a moment." She rinsed the bucket out in the sink and then handed it to Remus. "Here, you might need this for the car ride. I've got four more stocked up. It is flu season after all."

Remus laughed and took the bucket, saluting her. "Thanks. We'll get it back to you, clean and sanitized."

"Bye bye Harry, I hope you feel better soon."

"Bye Miss Nancy." Harry garbled out and kept slumped on Remus's shoulder.

Harry puked again before they even made it out of the school lot. Remus made a mental note to bring Miss Nancy some flowers and maybe a couple of new buckets as he listened to his poor little mate feel so awful. He drove as quickly as he could through the snow, not wanting Harry to have to endure the bumpiness of the car any longer than was absolutely necessary.

When they got to the house, Remus hoisted the little boy out of his car seat, grabbed his lion and the bucket and carried him inside. He didn't even bother stomping the snow off of his boots as he carried Harry up the stairs to his very red bedroom. Boots and snowsuit were shed, jammies were put on, and a certain four year old was tucked tightly beneath his covers, lion on one side, dragon on the other.

Remus heaved a sigh of relief for a brief moment, glad of all things, that he'd had the foresight to get a phone installed in the kitchen rather than solely rely on Floo and owls. With Harry going to a Muggle school, something was bound to happen sooner or later and he or Sirius would need to be there. This was precisely one of those times.

Having gotten Harry safely tucked into his bed, Remus rinsed out the bucket in the bathroom and brought it back into Harry's bedroom, just in case. He placed a cool cloth on Harry's forehead as well, watching as his little chest heaved up and down, having fallen asleep shortly after his head had hit the pillow. Pondering on what to do next, Remus went back into the bathroom and looked through the medicine cabinet. They had potions for just about everything, the only problem was he wasn't sure as to what the correct dosage would be to give to a child of Harry's age. He checked the bottles, but all of the information was for ages six and up. Why was that always the case? Of course… there was another alternative to his dilemma…

"Lexie?"

"Remus?" Lexie blinked, tilting her head down to peek into the fireplace in her office at St. Mungo's. Remus's head had appeared out of practically nowhere. Well… technically…. "What's up? I was just about to go find some lunch."

"I'm glad I caught you. Harry's got some kind of bug and I could use some help. I'll make you a sandwich… with bacon."

"You don't need to bribe me, Remus." Lexie laughed and opened a desk drawer. "I'll be there in a moment , let me just grab a couple of things."

"I owe you." Remus jumped, his head hitting the top of the fireplace as Lexie apparated directly into the living room behind him.

"Yeah yeah, just put extra bacon on that sandwich. Now, let's go see this patient." Lexie headed right on up the stairs and into Harry's bedroom. She frowned as she sat down on the foot of the bed and held out her wand. She waved it over Harry's body. "A hundred and two. Have you given him anything yet?"

"No, we only just got home from the school. I checked the bottles, but they haven't got anything for a child under six written on them." Remus called from the bathroom. He came in, carrying all of the bottles. "I was going to bring him into the hospital if you weren't there."

"How many times have I written to that damn apothecary?" Lexie groaned and sorted through the bottles as Remus set them down on the bedside table, putting them in order. "What are his other symptoms?"

"An upset stomach. And he said something about his head and throat on the way to the car. His teacher said there was some kind of bug going around."

"Oh, so that's what he's got." Lexie nodded and grabbed up a purple bottle. "Yeah, we've been seeing it coming through the hospital lately. It's one of those really crappy Muggle illnesses that are treatable, but also have to just run their course. We give him a tablespoon of this every six hours or so, but I give it at least three days before he's up and about. It's a pretty tame bug as far as symptoms go, but it's got the lifespan of an elephant. We'll also be wanting this." She dug into the pocket of her robes and pulled out a bottle of very pink liquid.

"Isn't that Muggle-made?"

"Yeah, but this stuff's amazing." Lexie said after a moment, swirling the bottle around to mix it up a bit. "You have to hand it to the Muggles sometimes, I suppose. It doesn't work quite as well as a potion for the same things would, but it usually does the job and tastes a lot better. Harry will be thanking you to chase this..." She held up the purple bottle. "…with this." She indicated the pink one. "As the purple one tastes about as foul as a troll's gym socks and the Muggle stuff is chalky, but peppermint."

Remus smiled, taking the bottles from her and setting them down on the bedside table, ready for usage. "Thanks for coming."

"No sweat. I can watch Harry for now. You just get started on that sandwich." Lexie grinned at him and Remus grabbed up the extra potion bottles so he could put them away.

"With extra bacon?"

"Extra bacon."

….

"Why in bloody hell, didn't you Floo me or send me an owl at least?" Sirius whispered angrily at Remus once he'd gotten home and found Harry sick in bed. "I should have been here." He raged, his heart aching with the knowledge that his Harry wasn't feeling well and had probably needed him. He had probably felt the illness coming on and that was why he hadn't wanted Sirius to leave that morning, not just because he was being clingy.

"Because you know as well as I do, that if I'd had told you you would have come flying straight back home and missed your first day of which. Everything was taken care of properly and he's doing fine. I called Lexie and she's upstairs making shadow puppets for him right now." Remus shot back. "We didn't want you missing your first day of work over something as simple as a non-life threatening bug.

"Still, I should know when he's sick, I am his godfather!" Sirius said after a moment of fuming. "Has he asked for me at all?"

"Except you needed to stay at work today. It would have looked bad if you'd come home halfway through just being back there. He's been a bit busy sleeping to do that. I got him back and he passed right out for an hour or so before he woke up and had to puke again. Lexie got some medicine into him and then he conked right back out. He's only been awake for about ten minutes. I was going to make some chicken broth." Remus shook his head. "You'd do well to remember that I'm perfectly capable of taking care of Harry for one day on my own."

"I'm sorry, Moony." Sirius sighed. "I didn't mean to snap at you, I'm just worried is all."

"Well, then quite hanging out here and go see him." Remus patted his back and headed back down the stairs to the kitchen to get started on that broth.

"Hey Prongslet." Sirius peeked into Harry's bedroom and entered when he saw Harry sitting up against his pillows, awake but tired looking. Lexie was sitting in one of Harry's tiny chairs, her hands moving before the light of her wand which was set on the table so that it blasted onto a wall. "How ya feeling?"

"I frowed up, Paddy." Harry stated clearly and then lifted his arms to Sirius.

"So I heard." Sirius grabbed him up, hugging him tightly to him and rocking him slightly as he sat down on the bed. Harry rested his head down on his chest, hugging his lion as well.

"He's got that bug that's been going around, probably caught it at school." Lexie said, rising from the chair and stretching. She was still in her Healer robes, having checked in at work for another hour or so before returning to tend to Harry. The other Healers would be fine without her. It wasn't like she was the head of their department or anything, besides, Harry needed her more than the old guy who had managed to get an orange stuck in his ear.

"So, what's the accidental magic ward going to do without you?" Sirius asked after a moment of snuggling Harry.

"Meh, it's the off season as far as accidental magic goes. We'll see an uprise next week around Christmas, but for now, well… I'd rather be here. Otherwise all I'm doing is loads of unnecessary paperwork."

"So, I take it it's been another denial of your wanting to switch to the Children's Department then?"

"Apparently they want at least two years of previous work with children before they let you in there. Of course, it could be the entire ward is biased because it's made up of parents who think people without kids have absolutely no idea how to take care of them properly mentally as well as physically."

"You take care of me good." Harry stated as though offended . He crossed his little arms and glared at nobody. "They should let you in."

"I know, Harry, unfortunately that's not the way things work. They want me to have a kid of my own, you know, someone who calls me 'mummy'."

"I'll call you mummy. You take me to work and we'll tell them you is my mummy and then they can't say no. I dun think my real mummy would minds it." Harry suggested, smiling as though it was the best plan ever. Lexie laughed and ruffled his hair.

"I don't think she would either, but that's alright, Harry. Thank you for the offer." Lexie smiled and patter Harry's head before sitting down next to Sirius and flopping backwards on Harry's bed.

"Hey, are you ok?" Sirius blinked, and pulled out his wand to turn on the overhead light. It lit up the previously fairly dark room brightly and Sirius shifted Harry back down against his pillows. "Lexie, you look like sh-…poopy."

"I'm fine. I just didn't get much sleep last n-…" Lexie's sentence was cut off as she jerked up and foreward. She shot off of Harry's bed and ran from the room. Sirius followed and found her retching violently into the toilet bowl.

"Not much sleep, eh?" He entered the bathroom and reached down to help hold back her long hair, sitting down behind her and rubbing at her back.

Lexie wiped her mouth with some paper and then flushed the toilet. She turned around and groaned. "I should get home."

"No way. I'm not sending you off to deal with this by yourself. We'll turn the guest room into a sick bay. You and Harry can hang out there."

"Sirius, no. I need to… I mean… I couldn't…."

"Lexie, you're a very dear friend of ours. Do you really think we'd leave you alone when you're ill?" Sirius asked as he helped hoist her to her feet. She stumbled a little but then regained her balance. He helped her out into the hallway and called down the stairs. "Moony, make it two bowls of broth! Lexie's caught the bug."

"On it! Don't let her leave!" Moony called back from the kitchen. Sirius helped Lexie up the stairs to the third floor where Remus's room, the third bathroom, and the guest room with its own bathroom were. Lexie leaned on him, unhappy that she'd been hit with the bug. She'd been around it for days now at the hospital, but it had finally gotten into her system and when it hit, it hit all of a sudden.

"Here we go, Lex." Sirius set her gently on the bed. The room was nice, sage green and soft rose, the walls bordered with rose vines at the top, the bedspread on the queen bed satiny and green. Knowing that it was Lexie who'd be staying over with Harry on a monthly basis, Remus had suggested they make the bedroom a tiny bit more feminine, and thus, the roses had been added.

"I'm fine, warden." Lexie said after a moment, laying back against the pillows. She grinned at him and Sirius laughed, tugging the covers up over her.

"I'll get another bucket in case you can't make it to the bathroom and then I'll bring you your cell mate."

"Aye aye." Lexie saluted him and then closed her eyes. Sirius made his way down to the first floor where the cleaning cupboard was. He grabbed up the mop bucket and carried it up to the second floor where he retrieved Harry's currently empty bucket and Harry himself.

"Harry, you're going to stay up here with Lexie, alright?" Sirius hugged the boy to his hip and Harry nodded, still feeling like absolute crap.

"My lion?"

"I'll get your lion in a minute. I'll bring you a bunch of books and some crayons and things for you to play with, alright?" Sirius entered the guest bedroom and rested Harry down on the bed next to Lexie, tucking him in. He placed a bucket on either of the bedside tables and then went back down to gather some of Harry's things. He knew both Harry and Lexie would prefer being sick with company as opposed to being in separate rooms. Once he'd gotten Harry's favorite things, including his music box and the framed picture of his parents, along with Lexie's wand upstairs, he went down to help Remus with the broth.

"Both of them?" Remus asked as he doled out broth into two separate bowls, one adult sized and one child sized on a tray.

"Yep. Lexie wanted to go home, but I figured it would be better if she just stayed here until she feels better. Harry can barely stand, I'd hate for her to be stuck in her apartment on her own." Sirius grabbed a pitcher from the cupboard and filled it with water. He set it down on the tray and grabbed two cups from the cupboard as well. He filled these with water as well and then, as though it came to him as a second though, he grabbed two of Harry's sippy cup lids from the drawer and snapped them on top. Harry rarely needed a lid, preferring a straw, but Sirius just wanted to be on the safe side. Besides, it was easier than making either of them sit up.

Sirius carried the tray upstairs, Remus taking the pitcher so it wasn't overly heavy, and together they entered their own little sick bay. "We come baring liquids."

"Yay." Lexie groaned, pushing herself up a bit more. Harry was snuggled up to her side, looking quite content with his bed buddy.

"Careful, it's a bit hot." Sirius warned as he rested the tray on the bed and then quickly thought better of it as it tilted. Broth sloshed slightly onto the tray and he sighed.

"Here." Remus took the tray and set it down on the bench at the foot of the bed and poured the water from the sippy cups into the pitcher. He filled them with the broth instead and fitted the lids back on before handing one to both Lexie and Harry.

"Fancy." Lexie laughed, tipping the cup up and drinking directly from the spout. Harry, getting the idea, did the same.

"That's yummy, Moony." Harry beamed, chugging at the broth before Sirius reached out and placed a hand on top of his cup.

"Slowly now, Harry. You don't want to go too fast and make your tummy up-…" Sirius was cut off as Harry dropped the cup and reached for the bucket beside him. Sirius sighed… it was going to be a long night. He could tell already.

What is this, another one in less than a week? You bet! I really like this particular chapter, it was a lot of fun. Anyway, I hope you liked it as well! Please let me know what you thought if you'd like. ;)

Love always,

S.Q.O.