"Oi! Are you listening?" George's loud voice brought Ron back to his senses.
"Huh?"
"Carry the yellow box downstairs. Protective dragon-skin gloves were sold out yesterday."
"Oh yeah, I'll do it." Ron blinked and lifted the box from the floor and descended the stairs to the shop.
Showy neon lights lit up the section in the store. He was annoyed by garish pink and purple reflection that reflected on the display case. Putting it down, he tried to remember something and had the sudden urge to go outside of the shop. He had urgent business, but he couldn't remember what it was or who he should've met. Was it an important customer for W.W.W? Why couldn't he remember? He had to find out. The stress of it was getting to be unbearable.
"Hey, George!" He called his brother. He was sure that he had missed something very important. .
George strode briskly to Ron and asked, "What do you want?"
Ron lost it and stared at his brother. He nearly got the memory back, but everything turned blur.
"I've already paid you this month. Do you want more? Hermione is having a baby. If you want extra, work hard."
"I don't mean money. I had to go to.." then he got confused again. He had to go to the person. But where should he go?
George raised his eyebrows and said, "If you're worried about your wife, finish taking stock. Verity will be back soon after lunch. So we can manage in the afternoon without you."
"Thanks," Ron still felt weird.
Hermione was in her fifth month and in very good health. Did he have to go back home earlier for her? He didn't think so. Maybe she knew who he had to meet or.. why did he have to meet the man? The vague memory was coming back to him. The person he had to meet was male. The man needed him. He had to do something important for him. What did the man need? Then the modicum of memory went blurry again.
He left the joke shop and walked towards the Leakey Cauldron. Little kids were running towards him and one of them bumped into him in the street. They rushed into the Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. He trudged wearily up the slope to the familiar pub. When he swung the door open, Hannah Longbottom welcomed him.
"Hi, Ron. Will you have a drink before you go home?"
"Yeah. Do you have Muggle beer, IPA?"
"Yeah, a pint?"
"Yes, please."
He had a friend who liked the malty beer. Why wasn't he here? The pub was full of regular customers. Ron liked the clamorous atmosphere and inexpensive dishes. Hannah cleaned up the table next him and picked up the newspaper from the wooden chair. He admired her efficient movement.
"When are you going on your honeymoon?" Ron asked.
Hannah handed the newspaper to him, "Next week. Neville has to prepare for the new semester at Hogwarts. So I decided to work here for a while. You know, it's lonely waiting for him for a week. I'll be back soon with your IPA." She smiled and retreated back to the bar counter.
She giggled at a bar man and answered to his banter. The beauty of a newly married woman radiated from her gestures, just like his sister, Ginny. Then Ron was unable to think clearly once again. Who was she wedded to? When he tried to think of the man, the haze started hanging over his brain. He flipped the pages of the newspaper, "Quibbler", frantically as if the act would give him the answer. Then he found it. The article told him that they were going to have a second baby. He jumped up. He had to rescue him. But where?
Then a silvery otter jumped into the spot and spoke, "Ron, where are you? Neville and Harry were cursed. Haven't you fetched the Healers yet?"
Hannah dropped the pint of beer on the floor. The malty flavor of liquor was reeked in the air.
Ron shouted, "Hannah, please call the Aurors to the Forbidden Forest. I've got to go to 's. Oh, wait! And call Unspeakables, too!"
The masked wizard gloated over the two's catastrophe. He had succeeded in casting the new Dark Magic he invented. His long-cherished study of Dark Arts was finally rewarded. He resurrected a deep-seated grudge of the ghost and her followers. Since he took over the post of a caretaker after Filch retired, he had taken advantage of the job. He found out the psychic spot where the spirits of the dead Death Eaters gathered round. He could trespass the restricted section in the library using his official authority. Every midnight he searched the book to perform the Dark Magic. After a few months passed, he finally found the old Druidc book. The book showed him how to call back the evil spirits. What he needed was strong emotion, his deep-seated grudge against the hero of the battle of Hogwarts. It was too risky to perform the magic inside of the castle. Professors would prevent him from accomplishing the act. He got a chance to do when he heard Harry Potter would visit Hogwarts with his friend to demonstrate in DADA class. He lured them out of the castle to the forest with a threatening owl.
It was unexpected that Ronald Wealsey wasn't cursed by the ghosts. He managed to cast the Confundus Charm on the Blood-Traitor. He couldn't see the ghosts, but he could sense them around the old oak tree. He was hiding in the bushes and waited for the death of the hero. Without doing dirty work by himself, the ghosts would do job even if they called the Aurors, though he couldn't predict how Unspeakables would be able to disperse the ghosts. If they could save them, he would think of the next step after he got information of their solution.
Under a tree, Harry Potter had been endured the pains. The piercing pain was just like he was stabbed by invisible knives deep in his internal organs. Something was wrong. He couldn't move at all. Invisible ropes were binding him tight. His limbs were paralyzed. He felt like he had light concussion, he couldn't function at all. The sky was spinning above him. His body swayed and fell down on the ground. An obnoxious laugh echoed through the trees,
"Baby Potter died in the end! We won! We won!"
Listening to the mad crackle, he lay on the cold forest floor. His stomach churned and he felt nauseated. He heard Neville's groan near him and tried to crawl towards him but he felt all his body was becoming rigid.
He breathed heavily and barely uttered, "Neville, are you alright?"
Neville desperately squeezed the words out, "Harry, conjure your Patronus to Hermione!"
Gritting his teeth, Harry imagined Ginny, his first son and his unborn child. He muttered the spell. The silvery Stag came out from the tip of his holly wand and galloped off. Then two Gryffindors passed out.
Hermione Weasley was knitting a blanket for her baby who would be born in just four months or so. She was humming a lullaby which she'd heard from her grandmother. Then a familiar Patronus jumped into the drawing room.
The silvery Stag began speaking in Harry's weak voice, "Neville and I trapped in the forbidden forest. Call Ron. He was confounded by the remaining Death Eater." Then it vanished.
Hermione became anxious. What he told wasn't enough to grasp the situation of the two friends. She pulled her vine wand and conjured her Patronus to send the urgent message to Hogwarts professors. The silvery otter trotted away. She had to hurry. She shoved the undone blanket into the basket and took a step closer to the hearth. She sent her second message to her husband and grabbed Floo Powder and shouted, "St. Mungo's !"
She spotted Ron who was talking with the receptionist at the entrance hall. As she expected, he seemed to be confused and didn't know what he was going to do.
The irritated witch repeated the same question, "Sir, I know who you are, so please tell me who you are going to see."
"I told you. I'm Ronald Weasley, an Auror. I came here to see the important person. This is urgent! I need to help him."
"I recognize your certificate and I could let you pass. But tell me, who do you want to see?" the receptionist was now shouting.
Ron's face got perplexed. He looked utterly helpless.
"Ron!" Hermione walked at a quick pace but carefully not to give impact into her baby inside of her belly. When she reached the desk, she asked him, "What happened to Harry?"
Her eyes bored into his blue eyes.
His unfocused orbs stared back at hers and he gasped and said, "Yes, Harry! He got injured. And Neville was hit the Curse."
"Who was the caster?"
"I don't know. I felt a chill in the forbidden forest. Something evil spirits gathered around there. I sensed them, her…." Ron stopped speaking and his eyes couldn't focus on her face.
"Ron!" she snapped her fingers in front of him.
He regained his conscious again. "Oh, yeah. I came here to fetch the Healers."
Hermione called for the rescue team via the desk and said to Ron,
"You'd better see a Healer. Come with me, this way." She showed her wand to the receptionist and led him away to the hospital wing.
When they arrived at the fourth floor, a Healer, Augustus Pye was waiting for them.
"Mr. Weasley, what happened to you? I heard Harry Potter was involved in some troubles. We've already sent the rescue team to the forbidden forest." Augustus pulled out his wand and cast diagnostic spell over Ron.
The young Healer muttered, "I sensed the Confundus Charm. Stand still, Mr. Weasley."
Healer Pye put his hand on Ron's forehead and chanted complicated long spells and asked, "Mr. Weasley, do you remember what had happened to you?"
Ron blinked several times and said, "Yes, I do. Bloody hell, I have to go back to the forbidden forest." He turned around and was going to dash to the lift.
"Wait, Mr. Weasley! I didn't finish treatment!" Pye spoke to him from behind.
Then the other Healers in a flurry, carried two patients. Ron seemed to notice who they were and walked back along close to rescue beds. Hermione gasped at the injured friend. Harry had a bandage around his stomach and it was bloodstained. His face was deathly pale. She got anxious and tried to get closer to him. But one of the Healers shouted,
"Don't come closer to the patient. The Curse hasn't been taken away yet."
Hermione got confused and stared at Ron. He nodded lightly and mouthed, "He'll be alright."
When they watched over Neville was sent to ICU after Harry, Healer Pye spoke to Ron,
"Mr. Weasley, I sensed the evil spirit hovering around you. I think Mrs. Weasley had better wait in the fifth floor, tea room."
"No, I won't leave here. I'll stay. I know the way to disperse the evil spirit. Ron has the lucky charm. I have it, too." She pulled out a tiny wreath of an oak branch.
Healer Pye asked her with great interest, "Please show it to me." He took it and examined it. He smelled it, too. He said, "Interesting. You compounded garlic, did you?"
"Yes, I did. I should have given it to Harry as well. If he had this, he wouldn't be cursed."
Hermione smiled at Ron weakly.
Ron got anxious and asked her, "Do you mean this charm protected me from the ghost of Bellatrix?"
"I think so. Garlic always dispels the bad spirits. The sacred tree, oak does as well."
Then the silvery fox jumped in and it began speaking in Seamus Finnegan's voice,
"We captured the culprit. We are going to let him drink Veritaserum now."
In the ICU, Harry and Neville were getting care by Healers. Being half conscious, Harry could listen to the conversation of Healers.
"I can't believe how he survived these tremendous numbers of dead branches in his stomach." One of Healers spoke.
"Did the ghosts do this, Morag?"
"I think so. Oh, Nicolas, watch out! You forget pulling the tiny branch there."
Healer Nicolas got silent and seemed to focus on removing the branch. Morag spoke,
"We used all salt inside the hospital to pile up this. The wood of these beds are made of the sacred oak tree."
A big pile of salt was set near Harry's bed. Harry felt thankful that he didn't feel the pain at all. Perhaps he must have been smelled anesthetic potion before the operation had started. Then he fell into sleep again. The dream visited him gently. He felt happy in the dream.
He felt tiny soft hand touch on the cheek. The familiar voice whispered to him,
"Harry, we're all here for you. Healers told us you'll be better in a week." It was Ginny.
Harry smiled and fell asleep, again.
A/N: Thank you for stopping by. Any feedback is welcome. Please leave review. Many thanks to my beta, Stefi and a nice suggestion from krazybotharryginny.