Thanks to Raven Potter Weasley, who asked for the update. I know you all are probably wanting to know what happened to Harry and Ron but I needed for this bit to come first and figured it was best to update with the chapter I had ready rather than waiting until I'd written chapter five. Anyway, hope you like the Weasley's take on the situation.
Back at the burrow house the Weasley's kitchen was filled with energy and movement. It was after dawn by the time the Weasleys managed to get through reporting to the ministry and getting a hold of the people they needed to start the search, but now things were in full swing, despite it being only eight in the morning.
"Bill what've you got?" Arthur asked his oldest son as he walked in the door.
Even though Bill—who had come of age during his sixth year—was only beginning his last year at Hogwarts, and Charlie was only just starting his fifth year, Arthur had pulled them from school for the weekend so they could help with the search for Ron. If the war had taught Arthur anything, it was that young wizards are never to be taken lightly, and he knew that his two oldest sons would be of great help despite the fact that they were not yet fully qualified Wizards. Bill, for instance, had made several useful contacts over the summer during an internship at Gringotts Bank. Bill had just spent the last couple of hours utilizing those contacts.
"A certain group of Gringotts Goblins have been coveting that ring I inherited from Uncle Billious for ages now, I offered it up as bounty for anyone who brings Ron to us alive and well. Two of them said they'd start tracking him down straightaway. News spreads fast around Gringotts, they wanted to get ahead of the competition."
"Good boy, Bill," said Mr. Weasley squeezing his son's shoulder in gratitude. He was filled with pride at how his eldest had volunteered to give up his most prized possession without so much as a flinch.
Bill himself didn't give the ring a second thought; he was too worried about Ron. Bill would never admit it to anyone but himself but he was much more protective of Ron than he was of his other brothers. The boy had, after all, been traumatized into fearing spiders, almost killed through making an Unbreakable Vow, and had a hole burnt through his tongue, by the twins' antics alone, never mind the mischief he got into on his own.
His mother was always so busy, that he often took it upon himself when he was growing up to keep track of Ron when his mother was busy or distracted. The thought of Ron running around alone in the cold without any fingernails made him more upset then he could express in words.
Bill was broken out of his worried thoughts as his brother Charlie poked his head out of the fire.
"Just spoke to my friend from the magical creature reserve I volunteered at over the summer, he said he's got a couple owls he's been training in tracking and agreed to send them out to find him. He also said that his girlfriend has a creature that'll be able to help too. He wouldn't say what it was, so I think it's one of her illegal crossbreeds, but he promised that whatever it was is harmless."
"Excellent!" said Mr. Weasley, "do you have any more contacts?"
Charlie shook his head sadly.
"He was the last person I could think of to call."
"That's alright," said Mr. Weasley, "Mad-eye wants a few memories from family members. Think you could give him a few? He wants to see how Ron acted when Molly and I weren't present, he reckons it'll give him some insight into how Ron thinks."
Charlie nodded and headed upstairs to where Mad-eye was waiting upstairs.
Arthur had amazed his fellow ministry workers by not only gaining Dumbeldore's help with his son's case, but he'd also managed to get Mad-eye out of retirement for the search too. Mr. Weasley may not have been an official order member during the first war—he had to be much more subtle, given the fact that he had a horde of defenseless children at home with his wife—however, he always found ways to help out on the sly, which gained him many useful allies.
Mrs. Weasley brushed past, her hair fluttering around wildly.
"—can't believe I forgot the Loovegoods!" she exclaimed. The red-haired woman had spent the last couple hours mobilizing a small army of her fellow house-witches in keeping an eye out for her youngest son. The nosy, gossipy women would undoubtedly inform all the rest of Wizarding England of the situation, which is exactly what the Weasleys wanted. The more people searching for Ron, the better.
"We're running low on flue powder, Bill, can you pop over to Diagon Alley and get some more?" Mrs. Weasley called over her shoulder.
"Will do," said Bill, heading out the door so he could disapperate.
"Daddy?" Ginny was tugging on Arthur's robes.
"Ah, there you are, Ginny. Mad-eye wanted to interview you about the last time you spoke with Ron," said Mr. Weasley, absentmindedly patting her head and taking her hand to lead her upstairs, but Ginny resisted. He looked down at her.
"Why is everyone running around the house?" she asked, looking confused.
"Sorry?" asked Mr. Weasley.
Ginny scowled as if he were being very stupid.
"Why is everyone running around inside when Ron is outside? Can't we all just go out and look for him? Maybe he's in the woods, or in the fields, or at Hogwarts, or Diagon—"
"It isn't that simple," said Arthur sadly. "He could be any of those places but he could be anywhere else too. The best we can do is get the word about Ron out as much as we can and try and find any clues we can to help," he said.
"…Fine, but we should go check by the creek after I talk to Scary-eye," she grumbled. The two walked out of the room, leaving Mrs. Weasley kneeling in front of the fire calling out into the Lovegood house.
"Mr. Lovegood? Mrs. Lovegood?" she hollered out. She heard silence. At first the she thought that no one was home, but suddenly a little blonde girl around Ginny's age sprinted into view.
"Help, please help!" the little girl screamed desperately at Mrs. Weasley, tears streaming down her face. Molly knew the Lovegoods rather well; given the fact her daughter would often hang out with their daughter, because of this Molly knew at once that the sight of happy, fairy-like, Luna, in tears meant that something had to be terribly wrong.
Momentarily forgetting about her mission, Mrs. Weasley forced herself all the way through the grate and into the Loovegood house. Luna grabbed Mrs. Weasley's hand and sprinted with her into a room downstairs.
Mrs. Weasley gasped at what she saw. Xenophilius's wife was on the floor, convulsing. Blood was leaking from her mouth and she was gasping. It looked like she was being tortured by an invisible deatheater.
Mrs. Weasley didn't hesitate, she snatched Luna up by the waist and took hold of Mrs. Lovegood's hand. There was a hint of a pause as Mrs. Weasley cleared her mind, then suddenly the three disappeared and reappeared in the emergency-apparition entrance hall of St. Mungo's.
"Healer!" Mrs. Weasley screamed as Luna laid on the ground, shell shocked from the abrupt apparition.
A wizard sprinted over and took up Mrs. Lovegood at once with a levitation charm. He ran towards one of the doors off the entrance as a witch hurried over to Mrs. Weasley.
"What happened to her?" she demanded calmly, but firmly.
"I don't know, I was just flue-calling her when Luna came in, she said, gesturing at the horrified child huddled up next to her. Luna let out a sob and Mrs. Weasley gathered the girl into her arms and set her gently on her lap.
"Hush now, dear, it's alright, it's alright," said Molly soothingly.
The healer pulled a smaller bottle from her robes.
"This is a small dose of calming draught," she said to Mrs. Weasley, "I'm going to need her to drink it."
Mrs. Weasley nodded and helped the witch get the shaken up Luna to swallow the potion. Once it took affect Luna's eye-lids started to fall and she blinked slowly.
"What happened to your mother, dear?" asked the witch.
"She was practicing a spell, a brand new spell. She was trying to invent a new charm for breathing underwater. She said something I don't remember, then she started breathing funny and blood came out of her mouth and…" Luna started crying quietly, "I didn't know what to do, then I heard Mrs. Weasley."
The witch quickly cast a patronous and sent it after the wizard who was caring for Luna's mother to relay the information.
"I will need to examine her," the Healer told Molly. "She might have been affected, being nearby when a spell backfired so violently. You will need to go to the waiting room and fill out a report.
Molly nodded.
"I'll contact her father," she said.
With that, the Healer carried the sad, docile, Luna back into a separate wing from where her mother was taken.
Molly turned and walked away, the shock of what had just happened was starting to set in and she felt like giving up and sobbing on the floor. First her son, and now this, it was all too much. She didn't give up, or cry though; she had more important things to do. Mrs. Weasley marched into the waiting room with her jaw set, sent an owl to Mr. Lovegood, and filled out a report for the hospital. She wanted to sit down after that, she was so overwhelmed, but she was afraid that if she did she wouldn't get up again.
The adrenaline rush from the search for her son and the sudden crisis at the Lovegood house had finally left her and she felt exhausted. Still, she pictured her little boy's face in her mind and that gave her enough strength to grit her teeth and go seek out a fireplace.
"Arthur!" she called, her head in the burrow fireplace. Bill peeked into the kitchen, took one look at the fire, and dashed off to fetch his father.
Arthur Weasley hurried into the kitchen, confused as to why his wife was calling rather than just coming home to talk with him.
"Arthur, I flue-called the Lovegood house. Arthur, it was bad. Luna—she was screaming—"
Arthur's jaw dropped and he crouched to the floor in front of his wife and spoke urgently.
"Luna? Screaming? What happened?"
"Mrs. Lovegood was working on a charm, it went wrong, very wrong. She was—it was awful. I took them both to St. Mungo's that's where I am now, I contacted Xenophilius. I—I was thinking I'd leave Charlie or someone to wait for him…"
"No, Molly," said Arthur firmly as his thoughts whirled. "No, it has to be you, he'll want to talk to someone who was there and he'll need someone who can provide proper reassurance," he told her.
"But, Ron—" said Mrs. Weasley desperately.
"I know Molly, but you've done all you can for the time being, I promise you, coming home right now won't be productive. You're needed there, we'll tell you if there's any news on Ron."
"No, I need to be there, I need to—"
"Molly, we've called in favors from every Wizard, Witch, and Goblin in half of Britain today. There's a horde of people looking for Ron, but you're the only person who can be there for Mr. Lovegood right now. Think about what you would want if you were in his shoes."
Molly almost cried at the image of her husband on the floor bleeding instead of Marigold Lovegood and Ginny screaming for help instead of Luna. She pushed the image from her mind and sighed.
"You're right, I know…" tears filled her eyes, "but I'm so worried about him."
"I know you are, dear, we all are, but there's nothing else we can do right now. Go, be there for the Lovegoods."
Mrs. Weasley looked into her husband's tired face and gave a reluctant nod.
"You hear anything then you send one of the boys over to tell me straightaway, you understand?" demanded Mrs. Weasley sternly.
"Of course, dear."
Just then a racket started up in the room next door and Xenophilius's unmistakable voice echoed from the room next door. He was shouting at someone.
Molly and Arthur exchanged surprised looks, but Arthur recovered first.
"Go, Molly."
Molly pulled her head from the fireplace and hurried into the next room.
She squared her shoulders and went of to placate the enraged editor of the Quibbler. He was currently screaming at the poor woman behind the desk. It was a far cry form the peaceful man she'd known for almost a decade, but yet again family crisis could put a little firewhisky in anyone's soul.
"I don't care about your nitwitted, pointless regulations, you let me see my wife and daughter or else I will infest your house with nargles, and—"
"Xenophilius!" Molly called.
The man whirled around. He forgot all about the receptionist that he had been terrifying and hurried up to her.
"Molly! I heard you were there, what happened, what happened to my wife, to my little Luna? Where are they?"
"Luna should be fine," said Mrs. Weasley calmly. "She's pretty shaken up, but she seems fine. The healer did have to take her back just to double check but I think it was only your wife that got hit," she said.
"What happened, when she was hit…what happened?" Mr. Lovegood demanded.
"Luna said Marigold was creating a charm for breathing under water, but it didn't work out very well."
"Do you think she'll be okay?" asked the man frantically.
Molly looked into the man's eyes, gritted her teeth and forced herself to tell the cold, terrible truth.
"I don't know. It was bad, Xenophilias it—it looked like she'd been cursed. She was still breathing when I brought her it though. She has a chance, I just—don't know how big of a chance it is.
Mr. Lovegood closed his eyes and went down, hard and fast onto his knees. Mrs. Weasley knelt down next to the man as he started sobbing. Molly felt like joining him, this was one of the worst days of her life. She woke up to find her son gone and the evidence of her failure as a parent stuck to the face of a clock in an envelope labeled Mum, then she found Marigold dying…
Molly shoved the thoughts away, summoning her Gryffindor courage. She pulled him to his feet after that and sat him down in one of the waiting room chairs.
Mr. Lovegood bowed his head and took a bright orange tissue from his pocket, pressing it to his nose, which was starting to stream. After a few moments he pulled the tissue away and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a notebook and handed it to Molly. She looked at it curiously.
"That's what I was doing when it happened," he said tiredly. "She said she wanted to try a new spell, she was just dying to try it. I'm always there to safeguard against things like—"Xenophilius rubbed his eyes and shook his head.
"I wasn't there today though. I told her she'd have to wait, that I had to meet a man for some more information on nargles. It turned out to be a two day trip. She'd been so excited about that spell, I should have gone home even for just an hour, just so she could try it. But I didn't I—"
Mr. Lovegood grabbed the notebook and threw it across the room.
"I was too busy getting some stupid facts about bleeding nargles!" He bellowed.
A healer came over with a vial of potion to calm him, since the first dose was clearly not working well enough.
"No!" said Xenophilius angrily. "No potions, do you hear me? I want to be aware of what's going on. My family needs me, I refuse to become a fog-brained mess!" he growled.
The healer's eyes narrowed. Mrs. Weasley grabbed Xenophilius by the shoulder.
"You listen to me," she muttered, keeping one eye on the menacing healer. "I know it's hard, but if you don't calm down they'll make you take whatever potion they see fit whether you like it or not. I can get them to back off, but I need you to keep your voice down and you need to stop throwing things," she told him swiftly.
Xenophilius clenched his fists, but nodded at her. Mrs. Weasley then turned her attention to the healer.
"He's fine, really he's okay now," Mrs. Weasley assured her.
The Healer didn't look like she believed Mrs. Weasley at all, but she didn't argue.
"No more outbursts," she snapped, "you're disturbing the other visitors."
She gestured at the other three people in the waiting room.
"Accio!" The notebook Lovegood had thrown was suddenly in the Healer's hand. She tossed it on the seat next to Mr. Lovegood, "and stop littering the hospital." She stormed away after that.
Molly was tempted to throw a jinx at the woman, but she restrained herself.
It was silent for a while after that. For a moment Molly considered telling her friend about the situation with Ron, but she knew it would be wrong. As Arthur said, they had a whole horde of people searching for her son but in that moment Xenophilis only had her, she needed to help him get through the situation before she could even think of asking for his help. Still, she couldn't stop herself from worrying herself sick about her baby. Arthur said he was missing his fingernails. Was he hurt anywhere else? What if he apparated over an ocean? Or an active volcano? Her stomach turned.
Mr. Lovegood didn't notice Mrs. Weasley's distress his focus had snapped to a healer that was coming towards them.
"Mr. Lovegood?
The man stood up and Molly followed, wiping a tear from her eye.
The Healer was tall and thin, with bright blonde hair and brown eyes.
"Your daughter is ready to see you," he said, motioning for them to follow him.
Mr. Lovegood rushed to follow him, practically gluing himself to the man's heels, eager to see Luna as soon as possible.
"How is she?" asked Xenophilius
"Fine. The spell had no effect on her. The dose of calming draught we gave her is still affecting her. She's very drowsy, but other than that everything's completely normal."
Mr. Lovegood nodded and the trio saw a flash of blonde hair as they approached an open door. Xenophilius rushed past Molly and the healer and had his daughter in his arms before she could even register what was going on.
"Daddy?" she asked sleepily.
"My Luna, Oh, my Luna. I'm so glad you're okay," said Xenophilius.
"Is Mum okay?" asked Luna, frowning "the Healers won't tell me anything.
"They won't tell me anything either, but I'm sure she'll be fine," said Mr. Lovegood, holding his daughter in a tight hug so she couldn't lean back to see the worry and fear of his face.
Luna snuggled into her dad. She knew something was wrong, knew how horrible things were, but the potion blocked a lot of what she was feeling. The sensation confused her, but she couldn't even begin to sort things out, her thoughts were too vague at the moment. The best she could think to do was to cuddle up to her Dad and go to sleep. Mr. Lovegood stroked Luna's hair as her breathing evened out. He laid her gently on the hospital bed and pulled up a chair. He sat down and rested his arms on the bed after his chin rested on his left arm as he watched his daughter sleep.
Hours into the future and miles and miles away, two boys finally made it to the train station after asking for instructions at five different places and walking through the cold night for hours. Back on Private Drive Petunia Dursley was having a wonderful time being the center of attention as the police bought her concerned parent act and the neighbors tittered about poor Petunia and her runaway nephew. A cat sprinted from the bushes in front of the Dursley household and through the cat flap to Mrs. Figg's house. Moments later a flue call was made to Dumbeldore's office, where his silver instruments had suddenly gone wild.