Hello There Readers - Enjoy the new chappie!
A shout out to Bri892 for prereading, editing and basically being awesome.
Chapter 28: Recovery
Hushed whispers led to whisper shouting which led to shouting. The shouting gave way to shushing then whispers until the cycle continued. It was like that stupid book Anna had given Sabrina, If You Give A Mouse a Cookie, Severus thought. He was surprised that some of the children slept through the noise.
Hermione was sitting on the couch with Robbie and Colin as she took breakfast orders. Victoria and Teddy were arguing over who would call the Hogwarts kitchens with their requests and Sabrina, Stephan and Rose were doing the "pee pee" dance. Now he knew for sure that he spent too much time with Anna Granger.
"Sabrina, you may use my restroom. Stephan, please use the restroom in hallway." Severus called out.
Hermione stood, "Rosie, why don't you come with Robbie and I?"
Severus had Teddy give the order to the elves in the kitchen in exchange for allowing Victoria to use his wand to enlarge and lower the dining room table. The rest of the children had woken and were gathered around as Victoria and Severus changed the shape from the oval to rectangular and the wood grain into a red and white picnic blanket pattern.
"Toadstools, Daddy! Make us toadstools." Sabrina shouted as she bounced in place.
~~~~O-O~~~~
Two hours later, nine children were fed and dressed (in their own clean clothes despite numerous mix ups and trying to wear dirty clothes simply because it was their FAVORITE shirt).
George and Pam arrived to deliver all the Weasley kids to the Burrow. Four trips via the floo left Severus and Hermione with Helena and Sabrina.
Too tired to restore the dining room or living room to their original states, the adults sat on the couch together as the girls rearranged the toad stools. After the third round of "Ring Around the Rosie" Severus suggested the girls put on costumes in Sabrina's room.
Hermione leaned her head back on the couch and closed her eyes. The sounds of giggling girls could be heard however the distance allowed for a much lower volume. Severus prodded her arm, and handed her a headache potion when she sat up.
"Never again, Hermione, never again!"
"You are right. I was over ambitious. Her party was such a success and I thought since this was a much smaller gathering." She sighed and leaned back into the couch again.
~~~~O-O~~~~
"Shhh, they are sleeping!"
"But we have to tell them or we will get in trouble."
"Just take their wands and we can fix it"
"Not 'posed to do magic without Mummy or Daddy."
Severus and Hermione opened their eyes at the same time and they became aware of two things. One, they were sleeping together on the couch. Not sleeping on the same couch together but sleeping together on the same couch. As in, Hermione was tucked into Severus' chest as his arm was wrapped around her tightly. And two, there were two frightened girls staring at them.
Hermione lifted her head as he loosened his grip. She looked up at his face and he didn't seem distressed by the situation. She pushed away from him gently and he let go completely.
Standing up, Hermione asked the girls, "What is going on? Do you need help?"
Helena and Sabrina burst into tears and launched into a hiccupping story about a mess.
Severus stood up from the couch, only to crouch down in front of the girls. "Helena, Sabrina was right. Children must never do magic without an adult. It is very dangerous."
"Let's see this mess then, come along." Hermione led the girls down the hallway and turned back around, "Where is it?"
Sabrina pointed to the bathroom before fleeing to the safety of her bedroom, Helena following behind.
Hermione opened the door to find the room completely flooded with water as colored and scented bubbles were stacked from the floor to the ceiling. The taps were still on and the bubbles were now floating out into the hallway. Skidding across the floor, she managed to turn everything off.
Severus was waving his wand around trying to banish the bubbles as others popped around him. He was covered in pink, purple and yellow splotches and with each pop, fruit scents enveloped him.
Hermione began to giggle as she tried to siphon water from the floor. There was too much water and she couldn't summon enough magic as her body shook with laughter. She slipped and fell down into the ankle deep water as tears ran down her face.
Now, Severus was unable to control his laughter, guffawing at her predicament. Within moments, they were both on the floor; wet, covered in numerous colorful splotches and smelling like a sugary fruit sweet. Laughing, they clung to each other as they tried to regain their composure.
~~~~O-O~~~~
"But Mummy, I said sorry. I did!"
Diana raised her eyebrows and looked to Severus for confirmation.
"Helena gave a sincere apology as did Sabrina. They will not play in the bathroom or attempt to do magic again without adult supervision."
Diana hugged her daughter, "All right then, let's have dinner. We have a big day tomorrow."
Severus escorted the Granger cousins to the dining room, "Does muggle school start tomorrow as well?"
They were having a Sunday dinner with the Grangers. Anna had insisted as it was the night before the girls entered junior kindergarten and she had a gift for each of them. A glittery lunchbox with a matching water bottle and ice pack.
Hermione spent quite a bit of time explaining the ice pack to Severus. "It's not water, it's a special non toxic gel that you can freeze. Unlike ice, it retains flexibility and maintains its temperature."
Mark finally intervened when the argument over non-toxic gel got out of hand and dinner continued nicely. However, he distinctly heard his daughter muttering about chemicals and food safety as Severus and Sabrina joined her in the fireplace. He had a feeling their argument would be reinstated as soon as Sabrina went to bed.