Illness.
Perched on the edge of Scorpius's bed, Hermione gently stroked the five year old's soft blond hair. Scorpius had been sniffling for the last couple of days, but he'd now completely come down with the flu. Hermione had insisted that Scorpius remain in bed, and it was testament to how bad the little boy felt that he didn't complain. Instead he stayed snuggled in his bed as Hermione fussed over him.
"Let me know if you need anything," Hermione said to her son. "I have to go and check on your sister."
Scorpius managed to nod his head, before snuggling further down in his bed. Wishing there was something she could do to make her son feel better, Hermione left his bedroom and headed into her daughter's room. Luckily Lyra hadn't seemed to have caught Scorpius's germs, and Hermione was hoping it would stay that way.
"Hey, princess," Hermione cooed, scooping her daughter up into her arms. Lyra had been happily playing in her play pen, but she willingly snuggled into her mother. "Since your brother isn't well, we'll go and snuggle downstairs and watch a film."
Making one final check on Scorpius, and finding he'd fallen back to sleep, Hermione took Lyra downstairs. Settling her daughter on the sofa, she put on a Disney film and settled down beside her daughter. She was hoping to have a few hours peace since she'd been up to Scorpius a couple of times in the night.
Hermione's peace didn't last long, before she heard Scorpius calling her from upstairs. Casting a protective charm on the sofa, so that Lyra wouldn't hurt herself, Hermione trudged back upstairs to see to her poorly son. After giving Scorpius another dose of the children's medicine she had, Hermione settled him down and tried to get him to go back to sleep.
"My head hurts," Scorpius whispered.
"I know baby," Hermione said soothingly. "The medicine will help."
"Can you stay with me?" Scorpius asked.
"I can't leave your sister," Hermione said regretfully. "But why don't you come and curl up downstairs."
Hermione had been hoping to keep Scorpius away from Lyra until his germs had cleared up, but she couldn't keep running up and down the stairs. Hopefully she could wrap Scorpius up on one of the sofas and Lyra wouldn't catch his flu. But even if she did, it was easier to deal with her two children if they were in the same room.
Gathering up Scorpius's bedding, Hermione helped her son downstairs. Settling him on the unoccupied sofa, she tucked him in before re-joining Lyra on the other sofa. For a few hours the plan worked fine, and Hermione was able to keep an eye on Lyra while she was looking after Scorpius. However, shortly after they'd had lunch, Lyra started to cry softly.
"What's the matter, baby?" Hermione asked, scooping Lyra up and cradling her on her knee.
"My head hurts," Lyra whimpered.
Hermione pressed her hand against Lyra's head and could feel her daughter was starting to burn up. Grabbing some of Scorpius's medicine, she gave a spoonful to her daughter and settled her down on the sofa beside her. Summoning Lyra's blankets, she wrapped them round her daughter and encouraged her to sleep.
"Great," Hermione muttered once both her children were snuggled up on the two sofas sleeping. "Just what I need, two sick kids."
For the rest of the day, Hermione felt as though she did nothing other than tending to sick children. She'd no sooner finish with Scorpius, then Lyra would start whimpering for her attention. Flitting backwards and forwards between her two children, Hermione was exhausted by the time she heard the floo network sound in the next room, signalling Draco had returned from work.
"Ssh," She hissed, the second her husband appeared in the doorway. "They're both sleeping."
"Lucky things," Draco croaked.
"Not you as well," Hermione sighed, taking in the sight of her paler than normal husband. "Are you feeling bad?"
"My head is killing me and I've been sneezing all afternoon," Draco replied.
"You should head to bed," Hermione said. "I'll bring you a hot drink and get you a pepper-up potion."
"Thanks," Draco replied with a weak smile. "You're an angel."
Hermione smiled back at Draco as he turned and slowly headed up the stairs. With a sigh, she headed into the kitchen to sort Draco a hot drink. It was just typical that on the same day both their children were feeling ill that Draco would come down the same bug. Now she had three people to look after.
"My weekend's going to be fun," Hermione muttered to herself as she headed upstairs to deal with her husband.
Sure enough Hermione spent the weekend, running round after two sick children and a sick husband. By the end of the weekend, Hermione herself wasn't feeling great, but she didn't have time to be ill. Dosing herself with potions, she carried on looking after her family and made sure they all got themselves better.