Sleep over
Cokeworth was far away. Severus had to drive all night. At dawn Lily took over again and Severus quickly fell asleep on the passenger seat. The sweet stench, regular motor noises and Miranda’s constant waggling lulled him to sleep fairly quickly. He slept peacefully. Until the baby started to scream again, that is.
They weren’t in Cokeworth yet, so much was clear. The air outside was clean and smelled of rain and fresh grass. Happy chatter could be heard from outside the van. No, they definitively were not in Cokeworth. Miranda stood on yet another parking lot next to yet another motel. “We are all tired. Let’s rest for a couple of hours, then we drive... back home”, Lily yawned. “Back home? Even Snape knows You-Know-Who might show up there soon”, Potter protested immediately. “Cokeworth, the... place Sev and I grew up in”, the redhead explained, her voice nearly drowned out by Harry’s crying. “Where are we?”, Severus mumbled, climbing out of the car on shaking legs. “A small Hotel close to...” A car howled by and ripped Lily’s words away.
Severus was far too tired to care. He followed Lily to the hotel like a little puppy, trying not to fall asleep on his legs. Lily talked to the man at the reception, also looking extremely tired. It took her not even five minutes to organize rooms for them, but for Severus it felt like hours. He yawned, tried to keep his eyes open and sank against Black at some point; something both he and Balck found incredibly disgusting. Had Severus not been awake for literal days he would have probably started a fight with the mutt, but the thought of screaming alone tired him out further.
Lily returned with three keys in her hands. “We have three rooms; they don’t have any more. So, two people per room”, she yawned. For several, fatigue caused moments, nobody said anything, most likely because they didn’t quite understand what Lily had even said. Then all hell broke loose. “Wait, does this mean we have to share a room with Snape? One of us has to sleep in the same room with Sniv?”, Potter yelped panicked. Harry giggled and chewed on Black’s hair. “Don’t worry James, you get to sleep in my room”, Lily mumbled, rubbing her forehead. “NO! Nonononononono!”, Black cried out and hid behind Lupin. Well, he tried to hide behind Lupin, which really didn’t work, as Lupin was as scrawny as Severus and a few heads shorter then Black. “Well, I’m not sleeping in the same room as Sniv either! He’ll kill me in my sleep!”, Pettigrew wailed. “And I’m not going in a room with the werewolf! He almost mauled me before!”, Severus complained.
Lily rolled her eyes and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like “boys”. “All right. I sleep in Sev’s room. James, you take Harry. He will cry and Sev and I need to be able to drive. You discuss the other room arrangements between you all. I am way too tired for your childish nonsense”, she yawned and pushed two of the keys into Potter’s hands, then she grabbed Severus’s hand and dragged him away. The marauders stared after them with wide eyes. “Huh, a sleepover, just like in the old times”, Lily yawned while unlocking the door. Severus nodded. He had slept at Lily’s place a lot as a kid. Every time Tobias had kicked him out, he had curled up on his always-sister's blue rug and slept there, under Lily’s old blanket with the small ducks with umbrellas on it. “I’m not taking the floor this time though”, he chuckled. Lily laughed.
The small room contained two beds and an even smaller bathroom. Lily showered first, while Severus tried to find out which of his clothes would be the best pajama. He chose the shark onesie. Obviously, he checked it carefully for all kinds of insolences Black could have put in, but apart from a biting curse he found none. After Lily left the bathroom, which was now so steamy that Severus could barely even find the shower. He placed the onesie on the toilet lid and stepped into the shower. The shampoo and shower gel smelled so horribly of cucumber that Severus would have not been surprised if a bunny would have turned up to eat him right there, but he used it anyway. He put the onesie on and slipped into the bed closer to the door. Lily was already snoring in the one next to the window. Had Severus not been so tired he would have chuckled. Lily had always denied that she snored when they had sleepovers as kids, and he was willing to bet his wand that she still would do so now. It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep.