Late Night Stomachache

Summary: After Harry goes to the movies with Sirius and fills up on movie theater popcorn, candy, and then burgers, fries and milkshake at their favorite burger place, only to come home to a Christmas feast, Harry wakes up late at night with a stomach ache. Follows Going to the Movies with Sirius.

The moon was high in the clear night sky, the stars were shining bright and everything was calm. The residents of Potter's Bar were all sleeping in their beds in their respective houses. In the Potter household, a man with black hair and a woman with auburn red hair were asleep in the master bedroom. Down the hall in a bedroom that definitely belonged to a teenager, a fourteen-year-old boy wasn't asleep. Or he was until he was awoken by an angry growl of his stomach.

Harry turned into his side, curling into a ball, wrapped his arms around his aching stomach. He groaned quietly to himself, feeling the churning get worse in his belly.

"What is your problem?" Harry groaned to himself, rubbing his stomach, one-handedly. He turned over on his back, turning his head towards the red numbers of the alarm clock. He groaned when he saw the time was 1:34 in the morning.

Harry had spent the day with Sirius. They had gone to the movies, where they watched Dumb and Dumber. Sirius had claimed that Lloyd and Harry were similar to Ron and Harry, but Ron and Harry were smarter. The road trip the protagonists go on was something that Sirius said that Harry and Ron would do one day.

Harry doubted it, but since Sirius was talking years from now, it was still an idea.

They had a good time and a lot of good talks while they were gone. Sirius was to get Harry out of the house for James and Lily to get the house ready for their Christmas celebrations. Due to the Yule Ball, Harry and Lily were at Hogwarts for Christmas until last night when they flooed home for the remainder of the Christmas Holidays. Even though Harry's friends were all still at school, it was the perfect opportunity for Harry to spend time with his parents and Godfather.

It was after they came back home when Harry found out that Lily had made their usual Christmas meal, which was basically a feast and one that they would be eating leftovers for days.

Harry knew there was no getting out of it, and Sirius had a stomach made of steel. While he could ride roller coasters all day long, Harry had to ride them before lunch or wait two hours afterward. It didn't matter because sometimes, regardless of what Harry did, he still ended up with a barf bag.

Now, Harry was awake with a stomach ache. He remembered the times when he had woken up with a stomach ache as a child and then as a teen. He had kept stomach soothers in his nightstand in Gryffindor tower and only once did he have to sneak down to his mother's quarters.

Only when it got more than he could bear, he would go to his mother.

He was never one of those children would go crying to Mummy over every little thing. If and when he got sick, like now, he would wait until he couldn't take it anymore and go to find Lily.

And he was rapidly reaching that point.

Harry got up, arms wrapped around his middle. The cramps were getting worse and Harry knew he needed his mother. He felt his stomach roll and in the quietness of the house, he could hear it protesting loudly the amount of food Harry had stuffed into it that day.

He shuffled his way to his parents' room, greeted by the snores from James. Lily slept on the side farthest from the door. Inwardly groaning at remembering this little fact, Harry slowly walked over to where Lily was sleeping. Unlike James, Lily was somewhat of a light sleep. She woke up at any little noise, even when Harry was sick with Wizard's Flu after Christmas last year, she heard him vomiting in his bathroom.

"Mum?" Harry gently shook her shoulder, keeping his other arm around his middle.

Lily woke up at the motion and looked up, finding her son hunched over at her bedside.

"What is it, sweetheart?" she whispered.

"I don't feel good," Harry replied. Lily sat up and turned, placing her feet on the floor and toeing on her slippers. She slipped on her dressing gown and led Harry back to his bedroom.

When they reached Harry's room, the teen sat down on the bed gently and then laid down on his side. He felt Lily's hand on his forehead. "You're not running a fever, but you feel sweaty. What's wrong?" she inquired.

"My stomach hurts," Harry slurred. Lily sat down at his bedside, going into full healer mode, wanting nothing more to take care of her son's sickness.

"When did your stomach start hurting?" She inquired.

"About…." Harry paused and looked up at the clock. It was now 2:05. "Half hour ago."

"What all did you and Sirius eat while you were out today? Lily requested. She knew that Sirius and Harry would have popcorn and candy at the movies and then go to lunch at their favorite burger place in London. Lily didn't figure that Harry would already be stuffed by the time they got home. But then, Sirius had a tenancy to ignore Lily's instructions and do what he wanted. But then, James did too.

"A lot," Harry admitted. He then told Lily everything that they had eaten. He inwardly groaned at the mention of everything he had stuffed into his stomach.

"And then you ate dinner," she finished. She shook her head slowly. "Why didn't you say anything?" Lily asked.

"I didn't want to seem rude, that you spend the day cooking and I didn't eat it. It's stupid now that I think about it, you would have understood."

Lily nodded in agreement and then shook her head. "What am I going with you?"

"Help me or make me suffer."

Lily frowned at her son. "I'll let that remark slide, young man because you're sick. You're out of line." Then Lily softened, running her fingers through his hair. "Have I ever made you suffer when you are sick or have a stomach ache or a headache? I've never refused to treat someone and let them suffer. I'm not a sadist." She got up and bent over, covering her son with the duvet.

"I'm going to go get a stomach soother to help your stomach. I'll be right back." Lily left the room and headed towards the bathroom. She checked in Harry's bathroom first before heading to her and James's. She found one in the cupboard and checked the date on it since it had been a while since she stoked Harry's potion shelf in the bathroom cupboard.

To her relief, the potion hadn't expired. She returned to Harry's bedroom finding her son lying on his side, his knees pulled up.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" she asked, soothingly.

"Stomach cramps," Harry groaned. He let out a long breath and hissed slightly when another cramp ripped through his abdomen.

Lily sat the potion down on Harry's nightstand and sat down on the side of the bed. She reached over and rubbed his back in soothing slow circles.

Eventually, Harry turned into his back and threw the covers off of him, claiming he was getting hot.

"Are you ready for your potion?" Lily asked, once Harry had relaxed and let his knees back down.

"Yeah," Harry breathed. He sat up and took the uncorked potion from his mother. He swallowed the thick pink potion quickly as so the taste wouldn't linger on his tongue.

Lily had summoned a bottle of water from the scullery. She tapped it with her wand to cool the room temperature water just a little. She twisted off the lid with practiced ease and handed it to her son.

"Thanks, Mum."

"You're welcome, sweetheart."

Harry handed the water bottle back to Lily and laid back down in his bed, feeling the potion starting to work in his belly.

He didn't move even when Lily sat down on the side of his bed again and reached over, sneaking her hand under his shirt and start to rub soothing circles on his stomach.

The lamp on Harry's nightstand came on when Lily tapped her wand to it, to bring some light in the room. Harry wasn't going to go to sleep anytime soon and neither was Lily.

Now with some light in the room, Lily pulled up Harry's shirt to get a clear view of her son's abdomen. It was still bloated and distended a little, but it would be back to its usual flat self in the morning. She continued to rub soothing circles, watching her son's face and the hand on his stomach.

Harry sighed in content as he felt Lily's warm hand rub circles on his abdomen. But something was nagging at him. Was Lily mad at him for getting a stomach ache and waking her up in the middle of the night?

"Are you mad at me?" Harry asked, quietly.

Lily paused her massage and looked directly at her son. "Am I mad at you?" she repeated. "No. I'm not, mad."

She continued the massage and watched as Harry relaxed more and more.

"This reminds me of when you came back from your first Hogsmeade trip with a stomach ache," Lily said, thinking back to that October day that was the first Hogsmeade day of the school year last fall. Harry had learned his lesson and paced himself.

"I kept doing it, don't I?" Harry asked, feeling Lily's hand dip down his abdomen, continuing to massage in circles.

"You're a teenager. I think it's just part of it," Lily informed her fourteen-year-old son.

"Mum." Lily hummed in response. "Thanks."

"For what?" she asked.

"This." Harry pointed to her hand that was making the circles on his stomach.

"You're welcome. I've been doing this since you were a baby. It always seemed to calm you down and helped you go to sleep." Lily looked up at her son and smiled. "And it still works."

Harry had fallen asleep, finally after fighting sleep for twenty minutes. Lily's massages, regardless if they were a back massage or stomach massage, they both put Harry to sleep.

Lily smiled at the sight of her sleeping son. She continued her massage until she was sure he was asleep. Then when she was positive he was sound asleep, she stopped the massage and pulled down his shirt. She tucked the duvet around her son and kissed his cheek. She conjured a cot and placed it in the middle of the room. She left enough room for Harry to get to the bathroom if he needed to and summoned her pillow and a heavy quilt. She cuddled on the cot, under the quilt and soon was fast asleep.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

The sun shining through the window woke up Harry the next morning. For a second, Harry had to think of where he was. He realized he wasn't in his bed in the fourth year boys' dorm of Gryffindor tower or was he in his bed in his mother's quarters.

He was in his bed in his room at home in Potter's Bar. Then the night before came back to him.

Looking back, it had been stupid to make himself sick, eating even when he wasn't hungry and too stuffed to fit anymore. At least he didn't throw up or did he?

James walked in the room just as Harry had put on his glasses. "Good morning, son. How's your stomach feeling this morning?"

"Better. The potion Mum gave me help."

"I'm glad." He ruffled Harry's bed head. "Mum's got breakfast ready."

"I'll be there in a minute," Harry told him, shuffling to the bathroom. He quickly did his business, washed his hands and headed downstairs to the kitchen. Lily has made porridge for breakfast this morning and had placed a bowl with a glass of orange juice by Harry's usual place at the table.

"Good morning sweetheart," Lily greeted as Harry entered the kitchen. "How are you feeling this morning?"

"Better." Sitting down at the table, Harry got the cinnamon and sprinkled some in his porridge. He slowly ate breakfast, while reading the comic section from the Muggle newspaper Lily subscribed to from the village.

James read the paper as he ate breakfast. It had been a tradition for Remus and Sirius to stay with the Potters for Christmas Eve. But this year with Harry having to remain at Hogwarts for the Yule Ball, the tradition was a little different this year. They had left to head back to Sirius's flat where Remus was temporally staying, last night after Harry had gone to bed.

"What are the plans for today?' James asked his wife.

"I thought you and Harry were going to spend some time together?" Lily retorted.

James looked at his son, who had been listening to the conversation with interest.

"Well, we could go and spend the day in London," James suggested.

"That sounds fine to me," Harry replied. He finished up his breakfast, took his dishes to the sink and headed upstairs to shower and change.

Lily was cleaning up the kitchen and when Harry came back down, dressed and ready to go.

"Mum?"

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"Did you sleep in my room last night on a cot?"

Lily turned around to face her son. She had got up and left Harry's room before he got up. "Yes, I did." She approached her son and straightened his hair up. "I will always be there for you, whether you're sick, injured or both, I will be there when you need me. I will also not leave you alone when you don't feel well. I wanted to stay close to you last night in case you needed me."

"Thanks, Mum."

To Lily's surprise, it was Harry who embraced her with a hug. She wrapped her arms around her son, relishing in the fact that she could still do this at all. She had worried when Harry became a teenager that he wouldn't want her hugs or kisses again. Oh, how wrong, she was.

"Ready to go, Harry?" James asked, swinging the keys the Potter's Range Rover.

"Yeah, I'm ready." Harry left the kitchen briefly to get his coat and came back and hugged Lily. "Bye Mum."

"Don't eat too much, now. You'll have a repeat of last night."

"I'll pace myself, Mum. See you later."

James kissed Lily goodbye and followed his son out to the SUV. Lily followed them to the door and watched as James pulled out of the driveway.

She smiled as she thought of the peace and quiet she had to enjoy for the next six hours.

Heading down to the lab, she collected a basket to shock the cupboards upstairs with potions, especially stomach soothers in Harry's bathroom.

She figured that she would need them at some point tonight or tomorrow. But luckily for Lily, it was a rarity that Harry woke up with a late night stomachache. As a matter of fact, it was almost rare that Harry was sick. But Lily liked to be prepared for anything, which explained the massive supply of potions she kept at home and in her cupboard in her personal quarters at school.

She, ever the mother, wanted to help her son if and when he got sick. It didn't matter if it was a headache, a cold, or even another late night stomachache would take care of her son and help him get better for whatever ailed him. Even if it was a late night stomachache.

AN: It's been a year since I started this series and wow. I'm completely surprised at the amount of alerts, followers, and favorites this series has brought. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, added this to their favorites and/or alerts and has read this series. I hoped you have enjoyed reading this series, as I had writing it.

There is more to come so stay tuned.