Disclaimer: JKR owns Harry Potter. I am not JKR, therefore I do not own Harry Potter
Author's Note: This story was written for Healer Pomfrey's summer challenge and can be found both in the livejournal group Hogwarts Hospital Wing and on under my pen name .
Consequences of a Delicious Meal
So much to do. Molly Weasley hummed happily in the kitchen, preparing food for a multitude of people. This was how she was happiest. Caring for others, cooking, cleaning, keeping busy. And it wasn't that she was being treated as a house elf, quite the opposite in fact. They wouldn't stop thanking her. It was as if everyone expected to cook for themselves. Even her older children.
She stirred the pot on the stove, adding in another pinch of spices and then the bowl of meat she'd just finished mincing. Good smells and heat filled the kitchen. It wasn't that noticeable, not with the summer cooling charms placed throughout Grimmauld place. Sort of like air conditioning that muggles used, if Arthur was to be believed.
There was pounding on the stairs and Molly began to cut of vegetables, running them under water first. She could hear Harry and her own children laughing and playing about. Then the whispered shouts of Hermione, reminding them to keep quiet, lest the portrait should awaken again.
There was bread baking, stew simmering and Molly was just about to start frying potatoes when the front door banged open, no quiet in hopes to avoid waking Mrs. Black, and someone began screaming for help.
Molly dropped what she was doing and ran out to the front hall. A strange looking women was carrying a man who looked so alike that he could have been her brother. Molly didn't have the slightest idea of who thy might have been, or why they could enter the house.
"Oh Molly, I was hoping there would be someone here." The women pushed her long bangs out of her face and all at once she changed, becoming shorter, her hair a pink colour and her face sharper than the other woman's.
"Tonks." Molly pulled out her wand and levitated the man she was carrying. "Whose this?" She asked, now struggling to make herself heard of the screams of Mrs. Black's.
The two women made their way into the house. Tonks stopped and pulled the curtains over the portrait shut tightly. "Snape. He took a cutting curse to the side. He lost a lot of blood before we could reverse it."
Molly led the way up the staircase and into one of the spare bedrooms. She rested Snape's inert form on the bed. "I can look after him for now. Arthur's been busy and he's been having to stay over at the Ministry recently. Poppy's on vacation now too."
Tonks nodded. "I've got to get back to work myself. Guard duty and all that. Can you watch him? There should be some potions somewhere." She stepped back, almost knocking a small table over. "In one of the rooms I think."
"No worries. I can deal with him." Molly charmed the sheets over the Potions Master. "Minerva's arriving tonight, after her guarding. Things should be easier to deal with then." Really, she just wanted to get Tonks out of the house before she tripped over something and destroyed another priceless artefact of the Black family, not that Sirius would mind. In fact, it would probably bring a smile to his face.
"Thanks." Tonks smiled. "I've gotta run." She hurried down the stairs and out through the entrance, miraculously not smashing into anything or anyone.
Molly shook her head and set about summoning potions. She did have seven children and had dealt with her share of injures of all kinds. Especially when Charlie had entered his phase when he'd tried to adopt every wild creature he came across. Even the more dangerous ones.
With the cuts on Snape's side disinfected and bandaged, Molly left a few potions on the side table. A pain reliever, some more disinfectant and a mild sleeping draft with water to wash them all down. Molly crossed the room, turned off the light and closed the heavy door behind her.
The food had been eagerly awaiting her return. The stew pot had nearly boiled over and the bread was almost down. Magical ovens saved so much time. Molly distractedly cut the potatoes and began frying them in oil, paying little attention to her actions.
She took the stew off the stove and ladled out some of it, putting it back on. Once everything had dissolved and boiled away, it would make a good broth for the injured man upstairs.
A spell set the table quickly. Eight places, four for her children, Hermione, Harry, herself and one for if Professor McGonagall arrived on time. Not for the first time, Molly was glad that Sirius was gone. "Away on Order business," Was the official word. Whatever the reason, it was helpful. There weren't as many pranks and Severus seemed slightly more comfortable in the house.
"Dinner's on!" Molly called out, levitating the food to the table along with butter and pitchers of juice and water. "Wash your hands first!" She called, even though none of them would. Well, Hermione might.
The seven kids arrived and the plates were filled with food. The meal was simple, but hearty and delicious. Quickly it disappeared, to leave only empty platters and jugs on the table. Several times Mrs. Weasley had to glare warningly at her twins, warning them against placing their various. . .products in the food.
Harry was the first to finish. "Thank you Mrs. Weasley." He said, gifting her with a smile that she saw far too infrequently.
"You're quite welcome dear. Are you quite sure you're full?" Molly had been watching the boy, he'd barely eaten anything and it worried her.
"I'm good." Harry said, perhaps a tad too quickly. "It was great, thanks."
Molly waved a hand. "Go on then. Have some fun. Do your summer homework." She smiled kindly.
Harry disappeared up the stairs, hurrying around the corner and into the lav as soon as he was on the next floor. He almost thought he wasn't going to make it in time. But he was lucky and nothing fell outside the toilet.
Slowly the other proceeded to finish and left the table, following Harry upstairs. Hermione offered to help, but Molly waved her off. She already did everything by magic, there was no need for help. Two simple spells and the dishes were washing themselves. It was no great task.
Soon the kitchen was clean, with fresh bread covered on the counter, waiting for breakfast the next morning. If someone woke early or wanted something specific, the kitchen was fully stocked and easily organized. Something Molly prided herself on.
The time was later then she'd expected. Helping out Tonks had taken longer than she had originally thought. Molly took one last kitchen before climbing the stairs to the third floor. Now that the majority of the first three floors of the house were cleaned up, there was space for the children to have a separate floor from the adults. It was a nice relief. A quite a bit quieter in the morning too.
Molly prepared for bed. Changing into her nightgown and putting her hair back in a braid. She set her alarm clock and got into bed. It had been a long day, productive, but long and stressful. It was like the first war all over again. Only this time worse. Now there were children, her children, to worry about. And most people refused to acknowledge that You-Know-Who had returned. It bothered her to no end. Especially when, for some odd reason, her children felt compelled to fight the fight and save the world. Something not even the Order of the Phoenix deluded themselves into thinking was possible.
And the last time around, Molly had lost her two brothers. They had been dearer to her than anyone else in the world. She feared to think of who might be lost this time.
But slowly, as darkness descended, those thoughts disappeared, then all thoughts were gone. The world around her seemed foggy and she was aware of the slightest twinges of pain echoing throughout her body. And then she entered the realm of sleep and no longer felt her body and any protests it might have had.
Pity that feeling didn't carry over into the morning. Molly awoke in the wee hours of the morning. She felt as if there was something very important she had to do. Or that something terrible was going to happen. The last time this happened, Ginny had been taken into the Chamber of Secrets by Slytherin's monster. Molly had learned to trust her instincts.
Only, this time nothing came to mind. For one thing, Molly wasn't sure she could get out of bed herself. She felt as if someone was tying knots with her innards, they ached and twisted and she wanted to throw up.
She put a hand to her forehead, sweeping back the hairs that had come loose from her braid. They stuck stubbornly to her forehead, soaked with sweat. But something was going on, and this was no time to worry about her own health.
Molly Weasley summoned her dressing robe to her side and wrapped up in the warm material. She wrapped an arm around her stomach, getting up slowly and moving even less quickly on her way to the door.
The house was quiet and disturbing, in the way that only a building full of dark arts and old hate could be. She crept down the stairs, as silently as possible. So far there had been no noises, no lights and no sign of any need.
She reached the floor where the children and Professor Snape were staying. There was a light coming from underneath two of the doors and small noises breaking the calm of the night. Molly knocked softly on the first and opened the door.
"Stop right there!" A harsh voice rasped out. "Come into the light where I can see you, keep your hands above your head!"
Molly ignored her mothering instinct that told her to run in quickly and take care of the poor soul. "Severus, it's all right. You're in good hands. With the Order. Tonks brought you here, remember?" She stepped into the light, the pain in her stomach temporarily forgotten.
"Molly." Severus dropped his shaking arm back into his blanketed lap. "What happened?"
Molly hurried to his side and reached for his nightshirt, intending to check his bandages.
"Keep your space woman!" Snape snarled, moving out of her reach. "Just what do you think you're doing?" He sounded horrified and there was a tenor of pain in his voice.
Molly pulled her hands back and busied herself pouring and measuring out doses of various potions. "Honestly Severus. I need to check the bandages and put more salve on them." She held u the thick jar and turned it in front of his face. "Really."
Severus paled. "I'll be fine. Jut give me the potions and I can be gone." He put a hand to his side, trying to stop the torrents of pain that just seemed to keep getting worse and worse. "Sorry." He muttered before sinking back down onto the bed in a faint.
With a sigh, Molly pulled back the blankets and exposed the bandages. She used a quick spell to stop them from sticking to the wound and carefully washed it out again before applying the salve and re-bandaging it all. A few more wand movements had the pain reliever and a diluted version of the sleeping draft in the professor. Molly covered him again with the blankets and hurried to the next light she'd seen on, hoping the problem wasn't as serious.
It was.
The light was on its softest setting and Molly was certain that there had been a silencing charm cast over everything.
Hermione knelt on the floor, her arms wrapped around a waste-basket and her head bowed low over it. Her bushy hair fell around it and bits of it stuck to her sweaty neck and face. Even without the sound, it was clear that she was retching and throwing up everything she'd eaten.
Molly wanted to help her, but she was suddenly overcome with the pain in her stomach. She fell to her knees, retching uncontrollably, the noise of her discomfort as alone as Hermione's in the sleeping house.
But the fit passed and she conquered the feeling to vomit, moving towards Hermione. She broke the spell and vanished the vomit from Hermione hair and the floor. The waste-basket was charmed to do the same to anything that fell into it.
"Mrs. Weasley?" Hermione looked up. Her eyes were rimmed in red and the rest of her face deathly pale. "Ohh" Her eyes opened wide and she leaned back over the bucket as another rush of her dinner came up through her mouth.
"Poor dear." Molly summoned potions and clothes to herself. She opened Hermione's truck and pulled out a fresh nightgown. "Come on now." She located the anti-nausea potions and poured out a it. "There you are."
Hermione drank the purple potion. "Thank you." She accepted help in changing out of her sweaty nightdress and into the fresh, sighing with relief as she was manoeuvred back into bed and her hair smoothed back.
"Hermione dear, when did you start feeling sick?" Mrs Weasley asked, wondering if this was highly contagious, possibly the same thing she had. Will everyone fall ill? Can Severus handle this, what with the stress it will put on his wound?
Hermione wiped her face with her hand, getting off a bit of sweat. "After dinner. Please Mrs, Weasley, could I have some water?"
With Hermione carefully sipping a glass of water, Molly set up the waste-basket and left a dose of anti-nausea potion on the girl's side-table. She couldn't figure out what Hermione had eaten, if it was even food. But whatever it was, she had it too.
The twins were sleeping soundly, so was Ron. But just in case, Molly made sure to leave phials of potion in their rooms. Perhaps the symptoms wouldn't show themselves until later or until the morning. She checked the bathrooms and found Harry sleeping on the floor, the toilet obviously having been used for his bout of illness.
She didn't wake him, spelling a potion into his system and magicking him back to his bed. Her feelings of disaster abated, Molly had hr way downstairs. It was too late to go back to bed. But once she reached the kitchen, her energy left her and the feelings of illness returned.
The bathroom on the first floor was almost too far away. But she made it in time and from that point all the hours blended into an endless stream of fitful sleep and pain and unpleasant circumstances she had avoided all too long.
Noise above her head, sounds of children and walking, came all too early. Molly didn't know how long she'd been sleeping on the floor, or how long it had been since she came downstairs. Things weren't clear in her head.
Feet thundered on the stairs and the door was burst open, bathing the room in a painfully bright light. "Oh I'm sorry!" Someone exclaimed. Sounds of shuffling and then someone was kneeling down next to her.
"Mrs. Weasley? Are you all right?"
Molly sat up, wrapping a hand around her stomach. "I will be. Please, some water from the kitchen." She held her head in her hands, ignoring the pain and nausea that still had not abated.
Her mind left her body again and when she woke up, she was lying in her bed and through the room was empty there was water and potions on the side-table. The clock was turned around so she couldn't see the face and there was no way for her to know how many days, if any, had passed.
"Molly, you're awake."
Severus came into the room, bread and broth in his arms. "Here you are. You've been sleeping for almost two days."
Now that he mentions it, I seem to recall various times I woke up. Molly nodded slowly. "What had again? Did anyone else fall ill?"
"Everyone that ate your stew and potatoes." Severus commented, setting up the food on the side-table and helping her to sit up. "The oil you used to fry the potatoes in got contaminated somehow. Sirius is blaming everything on Kreacher."
Molly nodded. "Are the children all right? Hermione was ill, and so was Harry. The others got it to?"
Severus nodded. "None got it as badly as you. The fumes of the oil seemed to be particularly noxious. And the meat in the stew, you were so busy caring for others, it didn't cook properly."
Tears filled Molly's eyes. "I'm so sorry Severus. I never meant for anything like this to happen. And then you had to stay here to!"
Severus hushed her. "It's fine. Arthur is suppose to be home tonight. There is nothing you need to do. Minerva arrived, she helped me. Don't worry."
"Thank you. Severus, I don't, I can't believe what happened." Molly covered her face with her hands. "You got rid of the evil oil?"
"Yes. And there's food too. I can cook." He cracked a rare smile. "Just rest up. There will be more to do tomorrow."
Molly shook her head. "I don't know what to say."
"Then say nothing." Severus got to his feet. "I do have a reputation you know." He smiled bitterly and slipped out the door.