Nightmares

Nightmares

Hermione sighed contentedly, burrowing herself into Harry. It had been a long day, she’d almost missed her deadline, she’d come home from to work to find no food in the house, and to top it off, Harry had come home from work with a fever and no amount of Pepper-Up Potion was working to break it. Hermione felt Harry wrap his arms around her, one hand resting on her stomach, feeling the child within her and a smile snaked its way across her face.

Hermione turned around in Harry’s arms to face him and gently kissed his burning forehead. She wiped off the sweat that had found its way to his face. Kissing his nose once more, Hermione closed her eyes and let herself drift off into the land of dreams.

Sometime later Harry and Hermione were awoken by a loud, high pitched scream, coming from the room across for theirs. Before either could react, a little girl was running through their door, an avalanche of tears cascading down her cheeks. She jumped on the bed and crawled between her parents, crying tears that shook the two year olds body.

"Mummy, Daddy, I can’t find Flop! I looked everywhere, the monster ate him!" she screamed as she squeezed between her mummy and daddy.

"Shh… Heather, I’m sure Flop is all right," Harry said in a comforting manner to his daughter. Flop was a stuffed Flobberworm that Harry had found one day while out shopping when Hermione was pregnant with Heather and he bought it as a joke for Hermione. He was surprised when Heather was born and she fell in love with the flobberworm.

"Daddy, the monster’s got him!" Heather exclaimed again, trying to get across to her parents the seriousness of the situation.

"We’d better go find him then," Hermione told her daughter, "before the monster decides he wants a midnight snack!" Heather nodded quickly, and Hermione started to get out of the bed before Harry placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I’ll get it, you stay here, love. You need your rest," Harry told her.

"You’re sick. I’ll do it," Hermione replied.

"I’ll be fine, love. Now go back to sleep." Harry stood up and picked Heather up. Heather wrapped her legs around his waist, had left arm hooked behind his neck, and was sucking the thumb on her right hand with her head resting against her daddy’s chest.

"Let’s go rescue Flop," Harry said, smiling down at his daughter, "I’m sure he is scared."

Hermione watched as Harry stood there, their daughter in his arms. Heather looked so small, cuddled in her father’s arms. Heather was an exact copy of Lily Potter, from the red hair to the emerald green orbs that lit up her face. Hermione would never tire of looking at her daughter and knowing that she helped create her.

Harry carried Heather into her room and it was not long before she heard Heather cry out in happiness that her daddy had rescued Flop. Harry was back before the spot beside her ever got cold. As Harry climbed back into bed, still hot with fever, he wrapped his arms around his wife and they both fell asleep. Both were thinking about what a wonderful gift they had been given and the gift that would soon be with them as they fell back to sleep.

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Disclaimer: I do not own, or have I ever owned, the characters which J.K. Rowling thought up, created, and published.