Debris and sparks of various colors flew across the room. Mrs. Weasley stared blankly at the commotion before her without comprehension. The scene was chaotic but all she could hear were muffled noises, as though her head was full of cotton. She realized she was on the ground, propped against the back of Mr. Weasley's armchair, which was laying on its side.
"How did that get there?" she thought to herself, "and why am I on the floor?"
Suddenly, she saw Fred run across the room and jump over her upturned coffee table. One of its legs had splintered into countless fibers of wood, as if it had exploded. Right behind him was George, who appeared to be yelling at her by the gaping movement of his mouth and enlarged eyes. They were standing back to back, Fred and George. They might as well have been conjoined twins given how inseparable they always were. Each was holding his wand in the opposite direction, with red sparks shooting out of them.
"How many times do I have to tell them not to roughhouse with magic? Not indoors at least!" she thought to herself.
It wasn't until a tuft of black smoke swirled around them that it all came back to her.
She had been momentarily knocked unconscious. Blasted across the room by a stupefy spell. She remembered that her house and family were being attacked by Death Eaters.
A pair of arms wrapped underneath hers and began pulling. She was being lifted up by her husband.
"Arthur?" she asked. There was Arthur, and there were Fred and George. Suddenly, a surge of panic overtook her mind. "Ginny! Ron!" And at that moment, the surrounding sounds erupted in her ears causing her hands to instinctively shield them for fear of going deaf again. She almost wished for things to remain muffled.
Back on her feet, she realized her wand was still in her hand. There were three, no, four death eaters in her home. "In my home!" Her living room was turned into a war zone.
One moment she and her husband were enjoying a quiet evening. Fred and George were upstairs, plotting their next business venture no doubt, while Ginny and Ron were arguing over which Quidditch team would win the world cup. Then suddenly she found herself sprawled on the floor.
Fred and George were still in the middle of the room, back to back, each guarding the other as they fought the two death eaters swirling around them, materializing and vanishing in and out of smoke. With a quick flick of his wrist, Mr. Weasley shot a "petrificus totalus" at a death eater in mid transformation, rendering him frozen and unable to escape.
"We have this Molly! Find Ron and Ginny! They're upstairs!" yelled Mr. Weasley.
Without a moment's hesitation, she ran into the hall towards the stairs. She was still dizzy but that was something she didn't have time for, so she began to make her way up the stairs. She had to balance herself against the wall since most of the railing was blown away.
"My house, my house my house my house," she thought to herself.
Half way up the winding staircase she froze in terror at the sight of a body, face down, a pool of blood expanding from underneath and dripping down several steps.
"Ron…" she thought to herself, but as she crept closer, she realized it wasn't Ron, but an unnamed Death Eater instead. She gave a sigh of relief. That was three death eaters accounted for. Where was the fourth?
As she reached the top floor, she noticed it was eerily quiet. Aside from the shouts and sounds of destruction downstairs, it was too quiet here.
"Ron? Ginny?" she called, but there was no response.
She approached Ginny's room first and opened the door, her wand outstretched in front of her. The door creaked, but the room was empty and silent, undisturbed even. She proceeded to Ron's room, the sound of her shoes clanking against the hollow floorboards of their aging house. The door was already opened and as she entered the room, she saw Ginny, huddled behind Ron, who was wand-less but nevertheless guarding his sister from a sinister man.
"Molly. I see you've decided to rejoin us," said the man who was pointing a wand at Ron and Ginny. His composure was calm and collected. His platinum hair as undisturbed as curtains on a day where no breeze came.
"Lucius! What are you doing?!"
Her eyes darted back and forth between him and her children, but Lucius' gaze never left Ron and Ginny.
"One of your…offspring…has information I need to complete…an assignment," said Lucius in his cold, emotionless tone.
"What information? What are you talking about, get out of my house!" and she raised her wand at him.
"Mum no!" yelled Ginny.
"No is right Molly. I wouldn't be so hasty with your…feelings. You see, I'm simply doing my job…for the greater good of wizards and witches around the world, but your family, well, your family is not cooperating, and hasn't been for quite some time now."
"I don't know what you're talking about! Please, don't hurt my children!" yelled Mrs. Weasley, her voice frantic and her outstretched arm quivering as she continued to point her wand at him.
"Where…is…the book?" he asked, looking at Ron.
Ron simply stared back at him, wide eyed, his arms outstretched to shield Ginny.
The sound of footsteps running up the stairs grew closer.
"Molly?!" yelled Mr. Weasley. Before she could respond, Mr. Weasley, Fred, and George were all in the room. Without a stir, four wands were being pointed at Mr. Malfoy.
"I'll ask once more. Kindly tell me, where…is…the book?" directly at Ron.
Mrs. Weasley looked at Ron, her eyes filled with fear. Mr. Weasley gawked at Mr. Malfoy, Ron, and then Mrs. Weasley.
"What's he talking about Molly? What are you talking about? Get out of my house Lucius or so help me…"
"I'd be careful, Arthur," interrupted Mr. Malfoy, "Very careful, indeed. The ministry's been watching you for quite some time now. You…and your family…have been most…interesting to follow. We already have enough evidence to implicate you for treason against the wizarding world, and I'm not referring to your silly, and rather distasteful, collection of muggle…artifacts."
Mr. Weasley looked to Molly, then back at Lucius, who was still pointing his wand at Ron. To his horror, he realized what Mr. Malfoy was referring to. Mrs. Weasley's heart was beating faster and faster. She realized they were trapped. Despite his being outnumbered, she knew they could not kill Mr. Malfoy. That would be more than enough to send her entire family to Azkaban forever.
"Oh Ron, I'm so sorry," she thought. "I've burdened you with this, with all of this." Tears were welling up in her eyes. "If only that book had never come to me," but she knew she couldn't have involved anyone other than Ron. He was the only one who could have successfully hidden it, and he had. What she couldn't understand was how the ministry, and worse, the forces of the Dark Lord had found out they had it.
"Very well, you leave me no choice," said Mr. Malfoy, and as the "ava…" began to pour from his mouth, and the deadly green from his snake-handled wand grew larger, Mrs. Weasley's eyes widened, her heart raced out of her chest, and she thought all was lost.
Just then, she felt all time slow to an almost complete halt. A feeling of dragon-like strength combined with the calm of the gentlest lamb overcame her. She felt no fear and all the courage of the world. Before her was her beloved family. All that mattered to her. That for which she would give her life a thousand times over in exchange for their safety. She walked over to Mr. Malfoy, his arm still extended, his lips still uttering the fatal phrase, now at "…kadaa…" The surge of green that would take life away from whatever it struck, suspended in midair, was now halfway to her son. In the gentlest manner, she placed her hand on his shoulder.
Everything went black.
More muffled voices.
"Mum? Mum can you hear me?"
"Molly? Molly can you hear me? Albus what's happening?"
Mrs. Weasley was laying in the hospital wing of Hogwarts. She had been there for two weeks. At first, they had thought to take her to St. Mungo's, but after hearing what Mr. Malfoy had said about his family that night, Mr. Weasley decided it was safer to go to Hogwarts.
As she was coming to, blurred images began to form, peering at her. Feeling nauseous, she rolled to her side, clinging her stomach.
"For Pete's sake give her some air to breath!" scolded Madam Pomfrey, scurrying towards Mrs. Weasley with a bottle of glowing orange liquid. "Here now, drink this. It will make you feel less like you just rode a hypogryff upside down."
Mrs. Weasley swallowed a spoonful of the glowing medicine and, with the aide of Mr. Weasley and Madam Pomfrey, she was propped up against the headboard. She could now see more clearly and the sense of nausea was greatly subsided.
Standing to her left was Mr. Weasley, holding her hand and looking at her with a concerned expression. Ginny was sitting on the bed to her right. Ron, Fred, George, and Professor Dumbledore were gathered around her.
"Wha…What happened?" she asked.
"Do you remember anything Molly?" asked Mr. Weasley.
"You were wicked mum!" said Ron excitedly.
"Malfoy didn't stand a chance. I think we'll be following orders more often now mum!" said Fred and George, in unison.
"What's everyone talking about? I don't remember anything," said Mrs. Weasley, taking her hand to her head. "I have a headache the size of England…"
"Mum," said Ginny, "we don't know how you did it, but one minute, Mr. Malfoy was about to…kill Ron, and the next, he was flying across the yard."
"You sort of…blew a hole in my room mum," said Ron.
Mrs. Weasley was staring at all of them in confusion.
"I think," said Dumbledore, in his voice that was always full of wisdom, "it was simply not acceptable that Mr. Malfoy would be taking Ron from you that day, and so you made that decision very clear to him."
"I think what I need, is some fresh air," said Mrs. Weasley.
"Can you walk?" asked Mr. Weasley.
"I think so. Ginny dear, lend me a hand will you?"
She was lifted to her feet by Mr. Weasley on one side and Ginny on the other. They made their way to the balcony that overlooked the courtyard. Professor Dumbledore opened the door for them and as they made their way out. Mrs. Weasley leaned on the ledge to catch herself, only to notice the mass of people who were all waiting in the courtyard with signs of support. A wave of cheering and applause erupted as soon as they saw her. Mrs. Weasley was taken aback.
"What's all this Arthur?!" she asked.
Ron, Fred, George, and Ginny smiled.
"Molly, everyone heard what happened. You've been the sensation of the town ever since that night." He held up several articles from the Daily Prophet. In one paper, a caricature of Mr. Malfoy flying from the third story window of a house across a field was published the day after the incident. The headline read "Malfoy Malfunctions at Weasley House."
Dumbledore raised his arms to silence the cheers from below. "Today, we are all very thankful for the recovery of Mrs. Weasley." The crowd erupted in applause once more. His arms went up and the cheering waned off. "What she and her family endured is but a taste of the evil and unspeakable horror the Dark Lord and his followers can inflict upon us. Including by those, I regret to say, who are employed in places we turn to for protection. But…as the Weasleys have shown, our strength, our courage, and our love for one another cannot be deterred by any cowardly act of intimidation. How the Weasleys survived this attack is nothing short of miraculous, but let it be a lesson to all who choose to terrorize. Our spirits cannot be broken by the tactics of tyranny. I have no doubt the forces of evil will strike again, but…I think…if there's one thing they've learned from that night, it's to never get between a mother bear, and her cubs."
End.