Weasley Woes
Bill and Percy
Bill is the first one to see Percy. He does not notice Percy's pale face, shrunken figure, or the trembling of his hands and lips. Bill doesn't see his own anguish mirrored back. In fact he doesn't really see Percy at all. All Bill sees is the thing he most loathes and hates.
Within a few strides he has reached Percy and drags him, as if Percy in his weakened state could fight back, forward to that horror over which so many tears have been shed.
"See what you've done!" roars Bill as he prevents Percy from averting his gaze.
Charlie
Charlie has never felt the distance between England and Romania to be as great as he does now. He reads the letter again. It is the same as the last time he read it, and the time before that, and the time before that… Only now the lines on the parchment are blurry. The longing for those he loves the most is unbearable.
I never should have listened to Dumbledore. Had I been there I could have done something. I could have saved…
Hurriedly Charlie grabs a spare parchment and quill. Charlie's right hand shakes as he writes, "I'm coming."
Fred and George
Fred sits in a chair absently tearing up one of their joke shop order forms. The tiny shreds fall like snow to the floor. Fred's mind, never fixing on one thought completely, barely registers George.
George paces the room, hands clenching and unclenching. He wavers between anger and grief. Every once in a while he stops suddenly in front of Fred, opens his mouth to say something, anything to bridge the uncommon silence between them. Then George closes his mouth and continues to pace.
What can they say? Regret overwhelms them for every missed opportunity to say, "We love you."
Ron and Hermione
Hermione has her arms wrapped tightly around Ron's shoulders as tears silently course down her cheeks. He has been unresponsive to her whispered entreaties for him to talk to her.
Ron finds himself somewhat unwilling but more unable to verbalize his grief. Words are inadequate to describe a loss so permanent and irreparable.
Yet there is still some part of him that is not completely severed from those around him. Occasionally there is a break in his haze of grief when love's comfort slips in. That's when he kisses the top of Hermione's head causing her to hold him tighter.
Ginny and Harry
Harry's hands are beginning to ache from pounding on the wooden door. He will not give up. He still calls out in his raw voice, "Ginny! Ginny! Please let me in!" All he hears are muffled sobs.
Harry fingers his wand in his back pocket. He wonders how she would react if he opened the door by force.
Before he can contemplate this further he hears, "Leave me alone, Harry. Please."
Harry, overcome with fatigue, grief, and anxiety, sinks to the floor. "I can't leave you alone, Ginny. I love you."
The crying continues but the door slowly creaks open.
Arthur
Arthur sits staring at his motionless wife through red-rimmed, hollow eyes. Six of his children have become his constant shadow. Even Harry and Hermione linger with them-outsiders to the family grief and yet not strangers to it either.
Arthur, unlike the rest, ignores the ugly brawl that has erupted. He needs to concentrate on Molly's voice. It is all that is keeping the pieces of his shattered soul together.
They all need your love right now, Arthur, especially Percy. Percy needs your forgiveness.
I love you, Arthur, always.
"Molly, I love you!" he sobs burying his face in his hands.
Percy
"See what you've done!" roars Bill, manically shaking Percy within sight of their dead mother and the sound of their father weeping.
Percy's thoughts fix not on the surrounding hatred but on his mother's face for the first time void of any emotion. Racking sobs of grief and everlasting regret over take his body as it has his soul. He cannot recall that letter sent to Fudge on the whereabouts of the Order or stop it from reaching Voldemort. Too late to tell his mother he loves her, to beg her forgiveness, and to trade his life for her own.
