Chapter 9 – Muggles
As Arthur Weasley walked down the ward he passed a couple sat at the bedside of their daughter who was obviously a Hogwarts student. A younger girl with brown hair tied back and wearing a lilac dress and cream cardigan sat with them.
"One moment Molly." Arthur spoke.
Arthur approached the couple. He didn't recognise them at all but he knew instantly they were Muggles. The woman was dressed in a knee length black skirt, white blouse and red cardigan. The man was dressed in a grey jumper, white shirt and black trousers. They did stand out ever so slightly.
"Hello there I'm Arthur Weasley am I right in assuming your daughters go to Hogwarts?" he asked the couple.
"Yes, well they used too. We had to take Sarah out as it wasn't safe for her anymore. Laura left a year ago but went back to fight in the battle, how they managed to contact her I'll never know." The man who was called John answered.
Arthur had always had an obsession with muggles so was interested in this family's story.
"I'm John by the way and this is my wife Anne, John Jones." John introduced.
"I'm Arthur Weasley, this is my wife Molly and those are some of my children over there." he spoke pointing to the group of red heads.
"That's my son Fred who got injured, very lucky to be alive, we all thought...thought he was dead, but he's still fighting. He's not giving up any time soon." Arthur spoke. "The long haired one is Bill and that's his wife Fleur, the curly haired one is Percy and the other boy is Charlie."
Laura Jones was an 18 year old girl who had attended Hogwarts for 7 years, receiving top grades in her OWLS and NEWTS. She was placed in Hufflepuff but was popular with students from three out of the four houses. She was a member of the Hogwarts choir and also part of Dumbledore's Army. Her younger sister Sarah was in her 5th year at Hogwarts but was forced to flee due to her being a muggle born after Snape had taken over the school.
Her family were forced to go into hiding for fear of being murdered by death eaters. With Laura's knowledge of protective spells they were kept safe in a small little house in the middle of the Irish countryside.
All Muggle born students fled the school, fearing their life. Laura who had been a proud member of Dumbledore's army had kept the special coin and when the war hit, a message of need appeared on her coin and she went straight to the castle to fight. Sarah however was too young and wasn't allowed to return.
Laura had paired up with some of her fellow students to fight off some death eaters and defend the school however like Fred; Laura had been badly hurt by fallen debris and suffered a blow to the head, broken arm and broken ribs but thankfully was still alive.
Her muggle parents had no idea about what all had happened and although knew a lot about the wizarding world, felt out of place in St Mongos. It was like nothing they had ever seen before, a totally different world to the normal hospitals they were used too. However they knew that for Laura to make a full recovery, she needed to be in St Mongos not a normal hospital.
Arthur and Molly had spoken to the Jones parents for some time. Arthur explained a little bit about what had happened and explained that not all witches and wizards hated muggles. John and Anne were glad to see a wizarding family making some effort with them. Arthur even invited them to the burrow once everything had gone back to normal and Laura and Fred had recovered.
"We were very shocked when Laura got her letter from Hogwarts on her 11th birthday. Professor McGonagall brought it to her personally. A lovely woman I must add. It was a huge shock to our system. We never had any idea of how much danger Laura and Sarah would be in at the school." Anne explained about what Laura had received her letter.
"There must have been a wizard or witch in your family beforehand, could go back generations." Arthur stated.
Anne and John both looked baffled. They couldn't think of anyone. Just as Arthur and Molly walked over, Laura's eyes began to flutter open, her parents and sister jumping up.
"Oh Laura dear." her Mother sniffed.
"I do hope that's our Fred soon." Molly spoke looking back at her own family.