Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/213454.

Rating: Archive Warning: Category: Fandom: Relationship: Character: Additional Tags: Series: Stats: General Audiences No Archive Warnings Apply Gen, M/M Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Ron/Harry Ron Weasley, Harry Potter, Remus Lupin, Molly Weasley AU, Domestic Part 12 of Two Households Published: 2011-06-19 Words: 1761

Taking Care Of Ron Weasley

by mad_martha Summary

Harry takes care of Ron for a change.

Notes

This is set about 18 months after the end of Two Households V, I think. Ron and Harry have set up home together in a little rented flat and they're just getting used to (mostly) managing on their own. Needless to say, their relatives are a bit twitchy about the set-up. Nothing much happens here; it's just a little taster taken from something a bit longer which seems to have stalled at present.

One of the biggest unspoken concerns of everyone around him was how Harry's health would stand up to his new living arrangements. Never one to depend upon others if he could possibly avoid it, he had now reached a stage where he wouldn't tell anyone - even Ron - if he felt unwell, and this tended to lead to him quietly collapsing somewhere without warning when his strength gave out. Sirius would never admit it, but he had a few sleepless nights worrying over this. So it was somewhat ironic that when ill-health decided to strike, it actually struck Ron instead. Some four weeks after they moved into the flat, he and Harry decided that they had been high-minded and frugal enough about

their cooking for one week and splashed out on a curry from a Muggle takeaway a couple of streets away from where they lived. Ron spent the night that followed in the bathroom, wishing he had never been born, and the next morning Harry sent an owl to Ministry to let Ron's boss know that he would be taking at least one day off sick. Secretly Harry was rather pleased. For much of their friendship it seemed as though Ron had been taking care of him; now his opportunity had come to reciprocate, and he devotedly tucked his friend up in extra blankets, fed him a potion that was supposed to ease nausea and brought him cool drinks that Ron, it had to be said, was not particularly grateful for. Ron dozed the morning away, but when lunchtime came and he was still refusing to eat or drink, Harry started to worry. It wasn't as though he had any experience in nursing sick people, after all, and being ill all the time himself didn't really qualify him. So he stuck his head in the Floo and called Black Manor. When this failed to produce either of his godparents, he reluctantly tried The Burrow instead and found Mrs. Weasley sweeping out her kitchen. Very conscious that she didn't much like him, Harry muttered an explanation. "What do you mean, he's been sick all night?" she demanded, frowning. "He's been chucking up," Harry mumbled, "and - you know - diarrhoea. And he says he doesn't want anything to eat - " "He won't if he has an upset tummy, Harry! Do be sensible, dear." "I know, but he won't drink anything either and I thought maybe he ought to." "I know I put a box of Peppermint Settlers in your medicine cupboard. Have you tried giving him one of those?" "Yeah, but it made him sick again." "What has he been eating?" Mrs. Weasley asked sternly. Harry wilted a little. "We had a curry last night ." "The two of you tried to make curry? Well, that explains a lot." "No, we bought it from the take-away." "Hmph! I might have known." She sighed and put her broom aside. "Well, move out of the way, dear. I'd better come and see for myself." The flat always seemed smaller to Harry when she visited, and he was conscious that there was an accumulation of laundry in the bathroom which they hadn't got around to washing yet. A flick of his wand straightened the magazines in the sitting room, but he had to suppress the impulse to race into the kitchen and start scrubbing surfaces. And why Mrs. Weasley should have that effect on him at all he couldn't imagine. He didn't get any compulsive urges to clean when anyone else visited.

He would have followed her into the bedroom, but the Floo rang again almost immediately and Remus's head appeared in the flames. "Harry? I saw your signature in the grate - is everything all right?" "Ron's got the trots," Harry explained with his usual grace, "and he doesn't want to eat or drink anything, and I was a bit worried about him, but his mum just Floo'd over ." "Did you call Nick Pinker?" Remus asked calmly. Harry paused; it hadn't occurred to him to call his healer. "Hang on a sec," Remus said, amused, and his head disappeared. A minute or two later the Floo roared and he stepped out of the grate. "Sirius is going to Floo Nick and ask him to drop by. Now - how are you feeling?" "I'm fine," Harry said, confused. "Why wouldn't I be?" "That depends. What have the pair of you been eating?" Harry sighed. "We had a curry from the Muggle take-away last night." "Did you both have the same order?" "Yeah - at least, he had the naan bread and I had poppadoms, but we had the same lamb phaal." "I don't see how the naan could be the problem," Remus said with a sigh, "but you never really know with a take-away meal. And a lamb phaal? Good lord!" He peered around the bedroom door, where Mrs. Weasley was bent over Ron, interrogating him. Ron looked bleary-eyed and thoroughly miserable. "Hello, Molly." She looked up at Remus, her expression annoyed. "I could have predicted this! They've been eating a lot of Muggle rubbish - " "That was the first take-away we've had since we moved in," Harry protested. "The hygiene in those places leaves a lot to be desired, Harry, and this sort of thing is the result." Mrs. Weasley huffed a little. "And I don't suppose the pair of you settled for a nice chicken tikka, did you? I know you boys! Never happy unless a curry's hot enough to strip the paintwork! You of all people ought to be more careful with your delicate stomach!" "My stomach's not delicate," Harry grumbled. "Sirius is getting Nick Pinker to come over," Remus said, intervening before the tone of the conversation could degenerate. "He'll sort Ron out." "A private healer? And who'll pay for that, I wonder?" Mrs. Weasley demanded crossly. Remus's brows went up. "No one. Nick's been on the Potter family's retainer for decades - he gets paid whether he's treating them or not."

The Floo chimed again and the dignified figure of Nicholas Pinker, clad in his old-fashioned but pristine healer's robes, swirled into the grate. His eyes calmly swept the room and he gave them all a short bow, before stepping out of the fireplace and smiling slightly at Harry. "Well, Mr. Henry - what have you been up to?" "It's not me," Harry protested, but he was privately grateful to see his healer. "It's Ron - he's been chucking up all night." "Poor fellow! Let's have a look at him, then. Good morning, Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Lupin. Everyone in good health, I trust? Excellent! Ah, Mr. Ronald no, don't try to sit up, sir, I can reach you just as easily where you are." "They've been eating curry from a Muggle shop," Mrs. Weasley informed the healer in apocalyptic tones. "Indeed?" Pinker commented absently as he examined Ron with his wand. "I'm very partial to a nice Thai green curry myself." He paused for a moment, then nodded. "Well, I don't suppose the spices made this a comfortable experience for you, Mr. Ronald, but it wasn't something you ate that made the mischief. Do I recall Mr. Henry telling me that you took a job at the Ministry recently?" "Yeah," Ron confirmed weakly. "I thought so. I've seen this before. Quite an unhealthy environment, the Ministry - new employees invariably experience something like this when they first start work there. The drinks facilities are never as hygienic as they should be and if there are any bugs hanging around the new staff drop like flies. Anticipate spending the next two or three days at home, sir, and certainly don't return to work any earlier than Thursday or you'll pass it on to everyone who works with you." Pinker gave Ron a kindly smile. "There's a potion I'll give you to settle your stomach, but to be on the safe side don't eat anything but dry toast today. And keep drinking plenty of fluids - plain water is best." "He'd better come home with me, where I can keep an eye on him," Mrs. Weasley decided. "Mum ...!" Ron moaned. "I can keep an eye on him!" Harry pointed out. "The last thing you need to catch is another stomach upset!" she retorted. "He's coming home with me, and that's final." "I am nineteen," Ron said, as irritably as he could manage from a horizontal position. "I'm staying here!" Pinker turned to Harry and ran his wand over him. "No signs of it yet," he commented. He smiled at Mrs. Weasley. "I've a prophylactic potion I can give Mr. Henry since, as you say, it's better that he doesn't catch it. But I'd advise against trying to remove Mr. Ronald from his bed, ma'am. I doubt he'd thank you for a trip through the Floo at the moment, let alone by

Apparition. And the rest of your family don't want to catch this either, I'm sure." This made Mrs. Weasley hesitate, for she still had Ginny and Percy living at home with her and Mr. Weasley, and the twins and Bill were regular visitors. "It's only a Floo-call away," Remus suggested diplomatically. "I'm sure we'll soon hear about it if Ron doesn't get better." "Oh, he will!" Pinker said confidently, and he led the way to the Floo with all the natural authority attendant upon a man who for nearly fifty years had been telling his patients just how things would be. "My stomach settling potions are very effective, as Mr. Henry here will attest." "They just taste really foul," Harry retorted, and he and the healer smiled at each other in perfect understanding. A little while later, having persuaded Ron to swallow a particularly noxious potion and knocked one back himself, Harry kicked off his shoes and climbed onto the bed next to his friend. Ron was a miserable lump under the blankets, and Harry wrapped himself around him. "Feeling any better?" he asked solicitously. "No," Ron moaned. "You will soon," Harry said encouragingly. He didn't have a lot of faith in many people but having been nursed through numerous bouts of illness himself, some of them nearly fatal, he was inclined to place near-total confidence in the abilities of Healer Pinker. "And at least you get a couple of days off work." "Weren't you going to work on your projects at The Rose House today?" Ron asked presently. "I can work on them anytime." "You sure?" Harry snorted. "You spent two months looking after me once. I reckon I can spend a couple of days taking care of you for a change!" ~ finis ~

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