Black's House for Little Witches

32

A/N: Not a whole lot here but I hope you enjoy anyway. :)

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Hermione woke up slowly to her room covered in darkness. Someone must have taken a hammer to her head with the way it pounded against her skull. It was worse than any headache she'd had before. She whimpered as another wave of pain hit her. Her stomach rolled with a wave of nausea, too. She tried to get up, but her hand hit a wall of magic at the side of the bed.

Crookshanks, curled at the end of the bed, gave a soft sound of concern. He leapt off the side and out of the room.

So the wall of magic was just for Hermione. She must have dropped hard if Bella or Cissa put up a barrier around her bed. That probably explained the headache and nausea she was experiencing.

Crookshanks announced his return with a sharp meow that made Hermione grimace. The light turned off a moment later, but it shut off again just as quickly and Hermione flinched and let out a pained wail.

With the sudden movement she made, her stomach seemed to decide it finally had enough. She turned to the edge of the bed and vomited off the side of the bed and onto the floor.

Tears quickly welled in her eyes. Whoever had come into her room was sure to be mad at her now.

"Oh, ma colombe," Narcissa murmured in a very soft, quiet voice, suddenly a lot closer to the bed. A wave of magic washed over Hermione as the woman carefully sat on the bed, mindful not to move the mattress too much. "You're in between headspaces, love," she explained as Hermione whimpered again and shifted to grab at the woman's side. "You dropped hard this morning. Now you've come up out of the drop suddenly, and your body doesn't quite know how to handle the change. I can help you drop again, or help you come out of it. Which do you prefer?"

Hermione didn't really want to think about her options. She just wanted her migraine to go away. "Sœur," she weakly croaked after a moment of hesitation. A part of her brain said maybe she shouldn't use that term, but she didn't know how else to answer.

"Oh, baby, you can use that word if you really want," Narcissa cooed softly, stroking the girl's cheek tenderly. "Drommie uses it to mean something else, but we'll worry about that later. Let's get you into a bath right now. Does that sound alright?"

Hermione whimpered and clung tightly to the front of Narcissa's robe. She didn't have it in her to nod, and she didn't really think she could get any words out, so hopefully the woman understood.

Mercifully, Narcissa seemed to understand. She very carefully stood and lifted Hermione from the bed. She carried the girl into the en-suite bathroom. Somehow the water had already begun to fill the bathtub.

Narcissa gently set Hermione on the counter. "Hush now, ma chérie," she cooed softly as Hermione whined and reached out for her. "We need to get you undressed and into the bath. I think you'll feel much better after."

That was exactly what Narcissa did. She helped Hermione out of her onesie and disposed of the girl's diaper, and then carried her over to the tub and ever so carefully deposited Hermione into the basin.

Hermione sucked in a breath as she hit the warm water and shuddered lightly. A long, relieved cry left her as she melted against the back of the tub.

"Oh, my baby, I'm sorry you feel so poorly," Narcissa murmured softly. She gently cupped the back of Hermione's neck and applied pressure just at the base where her shoulders met.

Hermione shivered and shuddered, releasing a choked noise of relief as the tension drained from her muscles. She went completely limp, and Narcissa had to quickly catch her before she fell under the water.

"I think we need a bit of help here," Narcissa hummed softly.

Hermione thought she was going to call for Bellatrix, but she was wrong. As it turned out, Narcissa meant help with the use of what looked like a high chair without the tall legs. A bath chair, Hermione realized. That made a certain sort of sense. And with Hermione safely secured with her head above water, Narcissa was able to sit back and let Hermione enjoy sitting in the warm water of the bath.

Hermione patted the surface of the water absentmindedly as she laid in the water. Her awful headache began to fade away. Then something in her peripheral vision caught her attention. A handful of rubber bath toys floated in the water. Hermione gasped softly and reached for the rubber otter.

"Otto," she whispered. She made it dive under the water and then back up and, with a light squeeze, made it spit out water, earning a fit of giggling.

She spent several minutes playing with the toy otter and other fish before she had an idea. She could enchant the toys to swim on their own. Soon enough, she had a small pond of fish and an otter swimming around her.

"Alright, ma chérie, it's time to get you back into bed." Narcissa's voice, gentle but firm, broke Hermione's enchantment. "No, don't do that," she scolded lightly as Hermione whined and splashed water. "It's late, and you need to go back to sleep." She levitated the toys into a small bin and pulled the drain plug. "Bed time, little one. We'll get you some warm pjs and a bottle."

Hermione pouted, but Narcissa remained firm and didn't relent. Finally, she held her arms out to the woman. Narcissa lifted her up out of the tub, wrapped her up in a warm and fluffy towel, and set her onto the counter.

"What do you think about a pull-up instead of a nappy for the rest of the night, hm?"

Hermione tilted her head as she looked at the woman curiously. It wasn't a question she'd expected, but it was kind of nice to have another option. The more she thought about it, the more Hermione liked the idea. It was a nice middle ground. She didn't feel so Little that she wanted the nappy, but she also wasn't certain she was entirely Big enough to make it before having an accident. It might have served the same function as a diaper, but it didn't make her seem like quite such a baby. At least in her mind, anyway.

The pull-up was also nice because she didn't need help getting it on like she did with a diaper, and she managed to dress herself without Narcissa's help. Not that having assistance was a bad thing; she just wasn't feeling so Little that she was entirely dependent on help.

She did enjoy that the pull-up had little otters on it, though. That was a nice personal touch.

Finally, dressed in her kitten onesie once more, she was ready to go to bed. Maybe Narcissa was right about it being time to get out of the bath. Exhaustion suddenly washed over, and she swayed slightly on her feet.

Narcissa chuckled softly. She quickly brushed the girl's hair out so it wasn't a complete tangled mess. "Let's get you to bed, love," she murmured and held a hand out.

Hermione took her hand and followed the woman back into the bedroom. "I didn't mean it," she whispered. At Narcissa's perplexed look, she stammered to add, "Earlier. When I called you- and, and before with Bella-"

Narcissa slowly shook her head. "Hermione, you don't have to apologize or take it back," she assured gently. She held the blankets up and allowed Hermione to crawl into bed before settling herself beside the girl. "We'll talk about it later in the morning after some more sleep. I do think you need to talk with Drommie about how she uses it, but that doesn't mean you have to take it back."

Hermione nodded and curled against the woman's side. She hadn't meant for the term to slip out, but in the moment, it'd just felt right. She didn't really know why she had so much anxiety about it. She didn't do anything wrong, and Narcissa herself had even confirmed that.

Despite mentioning a bottle earlier, Narcissa summoned a sippy cup instead. Hermione didn't mind all that much. It was nice to be Little but not so young in headspace.

Tucked into bed, cuddling her otter and sipping on her cup, leaning against Narcissa, it didn't take very long for exhaustion to completely settle in and pull Hermione into sleep.

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A/N: If you happened to enjoy, consider dropping a comment to let me know what you think. :)