Title: The Day We Broke Mum

Category: Books » Harry Potter

Author: crowskisses

Language: English, Rating: Rated: K

Genre: Humor/General

Published: 01-19-16, Updated: 04-09-16

Chapters: 5, Words: 12,221

Chapter 1: Bill

Summary: To help Hermione heal at Shell Cottage, Bill tells her of the day the Weasley children really did hit their mother's breaking point and the consequences that followed.

A/N: No beta, just my own insomnia and this is a repost. It's in the Shifting Tides universe, which will shortly disappear, but is AU for DH, specifically Malfoy Manor onwards. This doesn't share much of that, besides visitors to Shell.

Rating: K

Disclaimer: Nothing owned, nothing gained except smiles from reviews.

The Day We Broke Mum

It was Bill who'd sensed the restlessness first in her sleep, the mumbled words and trembling that belied a nightmare and so he'd quietly taken her from the house to his favorite view of sea hoping at least this way the others could have a full night's rest. The moon was glinting off the water and the gently crashing waves always seemed peaceful, even at 3:37 am bundled in blankets. She struggled briefly in his loose grip as she woke, attempting to swallow down the screams of terror that had broken the nights since she'd come to this small haven of a house by the sea. His arm was around her strong and warm under the blanket, but he didn't offer her the form of comfort she'd expected; no empty words that the war would be ok, that she would be ok after all that had happened. Instead his voice was soft, distractingly low with the crashing waves. "Did any of my siblings ever tell you about the day we broke Mum?"

She shook her head mutely, still trying to swallow down the screams trying to claw their way out of her dry throat and push the images away, as Bill casually caught a silently summoned bottle of firewhiskey. "Charlie calls it the 'Day of Reckoning.' Ginny refers to it as 'The reason why the Burrow is crooked.' Depends on which Weasley sibling you ask, I suppose."

Bill gave a small laugh and took a sip before passing it to Hermione, idly wiping the sweat from her face as if he'd done it a thousand times before. He was silently wondering what Percy had made of it, before shoving the thought away. There was enough heartache at the moment to fill the entire cove they were sitting at.

Bill urged her to take a sip, before starting on his tale in his amused timbre. "Charlie and I were on summer break from Hogwarts and Mum was trying to teach Ron to read," A soft ironic smile that was a ghostly echoed on Hermione's face at the idea of the effort that must have gone into teaching one Ronald Weasley to read, "So she asked Charlie and I to keep a watch on the twins." He grimaced now. "George said he wasn't feeling well and wanted to lay down. Charlie and I had been playing quidditch with them and since he felt warm we figured it was best to just let them rest in case it was dragon pox or something."

"Fred?" Her voice was still hoarse from all she'd been through at Malfoy Manor. Hoarse from how little she'd used it in the two days since they'd come here.

Bill shrugged, the weight of his shoulder shifting slightly against her, "They always napped together. If one got sick the other inevitably did a few hours later." A small grin twisted the scars on his face, "Gin hated naps when she was little, never wanting to miss out on fun even as a toddler. The only person who could get her to take them was Percy."

She took another sip and idly passed the bottle back to him, she was feeling slightly better whether it was the burning whiskey, the story or simply being treated normally. She spoke again in a slightly astonished curiosity, "Percy?"

Bill's grin widened, "Took us years to find out how. Turns out he was reading Charlie's textbooks or the Muggle Encyclopedia aloud to her and frustrated or bored she would go to sleep. Wouldn't have worked on you, I suspect."

He got a faint smile in return and took his own sip of the drink, remembering how small and demanding Ginny had been from the day she learned to talk and how she'd had them all wrapped around her tiny finger. "Anyways, Charlie and I decided to just fly near the house tossing the quaffle back and forth in case the twins weren't actually sick or actually needed Mum for fever potions. We were joking around, could hear Mum starting to lose her temper with Ickle Ronniekins and then everything happened with a bang all at once."

Another sip, another pass of the bottle. Bill knew he should be giving her potions, dreamless sleep perhaps, but felt a little distraction might be better at the moment. That was what had helped him heal the best. "So we're tossing the quaffle and the next thing we know there's an explosion and a giant hole in the wall of the twins' room and the house is shaking so hard it tilts. Shattered window pieces almost threw Charlie from his broom and the gaping hole is ringed by green flames. Panicked we flew at it and there they are completely fine in little bubbles of accidental magic that had protected them." He mused for a moment, "Probably a mixture of a protego and bubble charm now that I think about it."

She murmured her agreement, something lighting in the eyes that had been so dead since she'd arrived at Shell Cottage, perhaps the thinking of a spell. Bill took another sip, alighting in his small victory. "They were shocked, but grinning like maniacs finishing each other's thoughts it was 'absolutely' 'brilliant'. So Mum comes running up wand out, sees the twins with half the room blown away, a destroyed caldron, Fred holding a wand and Charlie and I framed by the blown out wall on broomsticks. I looked at Charlie thinking she might actually kill us, especially as it had set Ginny into shrieking from her nap. I was wondering how she was going to scream at us over that."

Hermione curled slightly closer to his warmth, urging him on as the interest in the story pushed darker thoughts from her mind. Bill wrapped his arm completely around her, handed her the bottle again and watched the small sputter and her almost breathless response, "What happened?"

"Mum went red with anger then white, then put out the fire. In an eerily calm voice told us all to go downstairs and wait until she was done and ready to deal with us. My mother nags, bosses, screams and cries over her children, she does not calmly handle situations like a missing wall in her house. It was Mum going mental on a level never seen before or since."

Hermione nodded her agreement leaning against his chest, Bill's deep timbre went on. "It was like walking to the gallows knowing you'll be hanged and having to wait your turn. Freddie and Georgie are clinging together, and completely terrified into actual silence. Little gits." It was said with a sort of annoyed affection. "Percy's gotten Gin who's still wailing and Ron is battering everyone with wanting to know what happened. I put on a kettle because it seemed like forever before Mum showed up and just looked at us, sighed and asked very, very calmly what happened."

"What did happen?" Hermione interrupted and Bill let her squirm, taking another sip from the bottle and having her do the same before he went on, at least she'd go back to sleep after this or dance like a crazy person.

"Fred started on this story of how it was an accident, but Georgie was so scared he fessed right up, both of them talking at once. Our wee troublemaking twins had gotten ahold of my O.W.L. potions book and wand, Charlie's caldron and supplies and somehow a muggle firework." He had to pause to laugh and her chuckle was slightly horrified. "They claimed they were practicing potions for school to show up 'that Snape', I guess Charlie and I had bashed on him pretty hard on breaks. Snape had it in for Charlie because of quidditch. Now the twins claim this is the day WWW was born. Or at least their fireworks line."

Bill chuckled, yet another name for the day, before sobering again, "Mum looked at them a long time, emotions running rampant across her face in a very non-Brit way. I imagine she was remembering her twin brothers as children." A pause. "Only the first few of us kids have memories of them, of how they'd help Mum with us and play little pranks on her to get her to stop worrying. Memories of lightness that were so rare growing up during the first war."

He shook off the unexpected levity and took another sip of firewhiskey as a shudder ran through her, tightening his hold and pulling her securely onto his lap. "Anyway, Mum came to a decision and just said 'Right, right'. Pours herself a muggle sherry takes a few sips, turns off the kettle, all the while leaving us sweating. She made Charlie and I stand behind each twin, I got Fred. Then the yelling exploded about us not being responsible enough for watching Fred and George, it was as she'd magnified herself into a never-ending Howler. Fred swears the noise made the muggle news in the village. Then she did what she'd been threatening for years: what we'd always assumed was just an empty threat. Dad wasn't there to calm her down either, so," he gave a small dramatic shudder, "She magically bound us."

He felt Hermione's questioning brow against his chest and explained, "A proximity charm, like those reins Muggles have for their naughty kids, Fred and I couldn't be more than 2 meters apart. Nor George and Charlie." A chuckle. "Then Ron started to whine about how that sounded fun to always have someone to play with and she promptly decided that Percy, who usually tried for some peace and quiet, was going to bloody well teach Ron to read and bound them too. Then she handed Gin the learning broom she'd been trying to motivate Ron to read with, that Gin definitely wasn't old enough to play with yet, poured herself another glass of sherry and actually relaxed." A reverent pause of wonder. "She even had me order muggle pizza for pickup rather than cook. It was the first time the any of the younger kids had ever had it."

Hermione giggled, actually giggled in a rough sounding chuckle from the screams she'd let out at Malfoy Manor. "Poor Percy." Her chuckle was almost deranged, "Trying to teach Ron to read….Why wasn't Ginny learning too, they're close enough in age?"

"Oh, Mum started that way, but Gin was catching on quicker and it kept upsetting Ron, so he dug his heels in like a mule over it. Tsk, Hermione, you should be saying 'Poor Bill'." Bill answered, reveling in the sound of lightness of her laughter after such a dark time. "I'd had a date planned and Freddie was a nightmare at seven, but when it came time for bed I could hear him sniffling. He'd never slept without George in the same room and only God knows what they got up to in the middle of the night."

"Oh. I'd never thought of that." She mumbled, "Even at Hogwarts they were in the same dorm."

Bill nodded, still reminiscing and pulling her closer yet and arranging the blanket for warmth in the chilly winds from the sea. "So I start to pack up the bedding to go down to the living room only to have the door open with Charlie already holding sleepaways and Georgie with little silent tears running down his cheeks. Percy had seen Charlie and George and showed up with Ron shortly after to demand what we were doing to get everyone in even more trouble."

A small chuckle into his chest as Bill recalled the night, the shuffling of the two meters restriction: of how he and Charlie had gotten the twins beds, the twins curled on the floor with Percy and Ron at the bed ends once Percy had realized it was a sleepover and Ron wanted to stay so very badly. "Then there was a pop and we all jolted. It was little Gin's first big appearance of controlled magic, three years old and she'd apparated right into the room landing on both twins excitedly telling us 'I'm here too!'."

A real laugh came from Hermione, "I bet she used that as ammunition when Charlie failed his apparition test."

Bill smiled into her hair, thinking that she had no idea. "Mum freaked out upon not finding Ginny in her toddler bed, Percy missing, and when she found us all curled up in one room, did what she does best: got sentimental. The she took a photo."

"It's on the mantle at the Burrow. I figured it was from a holiday." Hermione murmured sleepily.

"That's the photo." Bill agreed, also getting sleepy from the firewhiskey. "But for three days I couldn't be more than two meters from Fred and little more than that from George and Charlie for that matter. They were curious little things, the twins, and I reckon we taught them a little more magic and more about Hogwarts than we should have." He shook his head, "How they got so few OWLs when they went in already knowing how to do nonverbal spells, I just don't get."

"Did Ron learn to read from Percy?" She'd smiled at his appreciation for education, but her question was a sleepy one.

This time his chuckle was a belly laugh that shook her, "Erm, yes and no. It was when Percy pulled his first and possibly only solo mischievous act. Fred and I were going to get Gin from the nursery and take her flying and there was Ron sprawled unconscious on the floor and Percy holding Mum's wand. When Ron woke up he could read, or at least put effort in. Percy never did tell us what happened, suppose we might never find out now."

His answer was met with the soft relaxation of muscles of someone falling into a peaceful sleep. So he cast a warming charm around them, settled her in a more comfortable position and looked back out on the sea to muse on his childhood, the wars and the girl in his arms.

A/N: Posting in serial at once, so we're onto Fred!