A/N: Before I begin this installment of the story, I need to give a shout out to Jacee. You interjected humor in your criticism which took the sting away and left me laughing. I thank everyone who gave not only kudos but constructive criticism, it makes me work all the harder to put out a polished product. I hope you will see the improvement. Admittedly there are some plot weaknesses (Hermione as Head of Gryffindor House... Clarissa not doing much) certain things are too late to change, but perhaps I can use those weaknesses later in the story and turn them into strengths. I'm glad that it seems you all have enjoyed the story enough to forgive those faults and keep reading. I hope you continue to do so and continue to review.
Back into the fray! The ride isn't over yet folks. After completing this chapter I immediately sent for an owl delivery from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes for a hat and robe with a shield charm built in as I imagine more than a few hexes are going to be aimed in my direction. So as soon as I don my new magical protection clothes, I'm sending this off for your perusal. Try not to judge me too harshly...
Cheers
Tenten's Mom
Requiem Dei
"The Dark Lord requests the honor of your presence to discuss an armistice." Pettigrew said with a mock bow.
"And we're to be your escorts." Greyback said.
"You can tell Voldemort I'm not availabe." Harry said, raising his wand and circling away from the bystanders. "I'm rather busy at the moment."
"Oh, I'm afraid that is not acceptable, Mr. Potter. Will you, nil you, you will go with us." Greyback said and lunged.
Harry was faster. His stunning spell hit Greyback square in the middle of his broad chest. The moment Harry took to watch him fall gave Bellatrix the opening she needed. Her cry of "Crucio!" echoed off the walls and immediately caused white hot tongues of pain to lick through Harry's body. He crumpled to his knees under their impact. The pain was so intense, it blotted everything else from his mind. All he could do was feel the curse envelope his body and hear Bellatrix's mocking laughter.
"The Dark Lord told us to bring you to him alive." She cried. "But he didn't specify what condition you should be in when we got you there."
Harry clenched his teeth. He would not cry out, he told himself. No matter what, he... would... not... cry... out!
Softly at first, then much stronger, Harry began to hear a voice in his head over Bellatrix's maniacal laughter and the searing ringing of the curse. It was the voice of a memory.
"Acknowledge the pain and set it to one side in your mind. Focus on the task at hand... Set it to one side and focus on the task at hand..."
Harry closed his eyes and gulped deep breaths, forcing himself to fill his lungs with air and exhale slowly, though each breath was agony.
"Say 'uncle', Harry and I'll stop!" Bellatrix taunted.
"Set it to one side..." Harry gathered himself.
"Cry mercy, little boy. Quit being stubborn and it will all be over. Drop your wand and I'll be merciful."
"Focus on the task at hand..." Gripping his wand tighter and using his free hand to push against his bent knee, Harry made himself move to a standing position and raise his wand in spite of his violently shaking arm. He met Bellatrix's disbelieving eyes.
"What the...?" Bellatrix could not finish her exclamation. Harry's cry of "Protego" tore from his throat almost as a scream and she flew across the lobby, hit the wall and slid to the floor unconscious. Harry collapsed again to his knees, the cessation of pain was almost as unnerving as the curse itself. He gasped great gulps of air, trying to clear his head and stop his body from shaking uncontrollably; giving Pettigrew time to act.
Using the silver hand Voldemort gave him in exchange for the sacrifice of his own, he scooped up both Greyback and Bellatrix and Disapperated with them in tow. Harry slammed his fist on the floor and swore. He should have had them! He had three of the most wanted people on the Wizarding world in the palm of his hand and he blew it.
There was only one thing to do. Return to Diagon Alley and try to find them. Harry highly doubted they were there, but it was his only option. As he stood, the people in the waiting room applauded. Harry had a fleeting urge to sarcastically thank them ever so much for all their help but instead he choose to ignore them and their applause and Disapperated.
The sun was just beginning to appear over the horizon as Harry Apperated in what was once Diagon Alley. Crouching low, wand out, he scanned his surroundings ready to parry curses. Nobody was around. Harry thought it very strange to hear the normal bird song that always greets the dawn.
A few blocks down, municipal wizards were putting out the last of the fires. Water from their wands, debris and blood ran in the street gutters. Witches and wizards in Ministry uniforms were wrapping bodies as they discovered them and were transporting them to the morgue at St. Mungo's. Everyone was speaking in the hushed voices that people in mourning use at a wake.
Harry stumbled aimlessly down the street looking for someone, anyone he knew. Here and there, he saw bodies the Ministry hadn't gotten to yet. One made him choke back a sob. Near the gutter lay the tiny body of Dedalus Diggle, his top hat floated in a puddle of dirty water a few feet from his body. Harry shook his head, the sweet little man was forever loosing that hat. He picked it up and lay it on dry pavement near Dedalus so that when he was gathered up, the top hat would go with him.
Continuing on, he watched the clean up crews silently going about their grisly business. Surrounded by rubble, the charred, smoking timbers that once supported thriving shops and pubs stood in effigy to what once was. Civilians began to come out of hiding. Most of them were shop owners and relatives of the people who lived in flats over the stores that came to inspect the damage or look for loved ones who were still missing. Everyone had the same grief-stricken numbed expression.
The only two buildings that were attacked left standing were Gringotts and the Leaky Cauldron. Gringotts looked as if the initial fireball did nothing but blacken the brick walls. The Leaky Cauldron, made of stone, survived but every window on the Diagon Alley side was blown out. Ironically or not, Knockturn Alley appeared unscathed.
A familiar woman's voice weeping attracted Harry's attention. Panicked, he limped into a weary jog. It came from a side road and not knowing what he's find or who was with her, he plastered his body against a single standing wall and leaned cautiously around the corner.
Hermione was sitting on a crate, a small limp form in her lap. She was rocking a tiny boy's body tight to her as a mother would rock a babe before bed weeping as if her heart would break. Two men lay dead near her. Remus, kneeling beside her, was speaking softly, trying to get her to put the body down and come with him.
"Harry," Hermione said, her eyes swollen and red. "He saw the Death Eater kill his father. He was so frightened but so brave... he picked up his father's wand and aimed it at that man. There was a green light and... that... animal laughed. I knew at that moment I had enough hate in my heart that I could perform the killing curse too... and... and I did... He didn't even see it coming... I don't even think he had time to be surprised."
"Hermione," Lupin said very gently. "You need to put the boy down and come home."
"No, he's so cold... I can't leave him... He'll be so scared..." Hermione continued rocking the dead child.
"He won't know," Harry said. "It's okay. People are on the way to take care of him and his father. You have to come with us. We need you to come with us. Ron needs you."
Hermione sat still and looked up at Harry. "Ron? Yes, he was hurt so badly. He never woke up. Hagrid took him from me, told me he'd take care of him... told me to get back to help here." Her eyes filled with new horror. "What if... what if he's... Yes, I need to go! I don't think I can get there on my own... help me, Harry?"
"Of course, I'll help you. Just put the boy down and come with us."
Slowly, she laid the little boy on the ground and took off her robe. Tenderly, she wrapped the boy's body with it as if she were tucking him into bed for the night and gave his white cheek a motherly kiss. For a moment she broke down, silently weeping with fresh tears and then stood, gave a shuddering sigh, faced the two men and nodded that she was ready.
Hermione placed herself between the Harry and Remus and grasped their arms, one in each hand. In unison, Harry and Lupin stepped off and turned, leaving Diagon Alley behind.
Pettigrew screamed and writhed under the CrustiatusCurse.
"Tell me again why, Wormtail," Voldemort paused his torture to ask, "you chose to save two expendable people instead of grabbing the one person I commanded you to bring back?"
"Forgive me, my Lord. When the Potter boy threw off Bellatrix's curse, I panicked. I didn't think..."
"Precisely, Wormtail, your years as a rodent have shrunken your brain," Voldemort replied. "YOU DIDN'T THINK!" His voice changed from rage to an almost bored tone. "Leave my sight and don't return until I summon you... be grateful Nagini doesn't require feeding any time soon."
Pettigrew needed no further prompting. He scurried out of the room as fast as his short, stubby legs could carry him. Voldemort cast his red serpentine eyes on Bellatrix.
"And what should we do with you, My Pet?" he queried. "You too, had Potter right where you wanted him. You could have delivered Potter to me, but instead you took the time to have a bit of fun and torture him. What a precious waste of time. And you lost your wand in the process! What use are you to me now?"
"Mercy, my Lord." Bellatrix groveled at her master's feet, kissing the hem of his robe. "I can offer no reason worthy of your forgiveness."
"No, Bella, you can't..." Voldemort raised his wand.
"MY LORD!" Draco burst into the room, Narcissa right behind him. They fell prostrate before the Dark Lord. "Stay your hand, I beg of you! I have Aunt Bella's wand."
Voldemort turned to Snape who was sitting beside him. "Has anarchy broken out everywhere, Commander? Does no one follow my orders?"
Snape's eyes narrowed on Draco. "Tell me, Malfoy, why did you leave your post?"
If you please, my Lord; Commander, when I heard of the fighting, I used my invisibility cloak to get to Diagon Alley to see what I could do to help." Draco began, trembling. "I arrived in time to see Potter and the Blood Traitor twin's father Disapperate and Aunt Bella and the others follow. I figured they were headed for St. Mungo's so I went there but I arrived in the wrong area of the hospital. I found them just as Wormtail left with my aunt and Greyback in tow. Potter left before I could stop him. I... I saw Aunt Bella's wand lying on the floor and came here to return it to her... I see now that I should have followed Potter and captured him for you... but I had no idea that was the plan... I was very wrong to leave my post... but no one saw me! I just wanted to fight in your mighty name, my Lord..."
Narcissa flung herself across both her sister and son's bodies crying for mercy and weeping. The Dark Lord looked from one supplicant to another calculatingly. He didn't speak for a very long while. He then looked at Snape who met his gaze evenly and shrugged.
"Narcissa, have no fear. You are too recently a widow to loose a sister and only son." Voldemort returned his malevolent gaze upon the pitiful creatures at his feet. "Your son is still valuable to my cause and perhaps your sister, now that she has a wand, has learned her lesson and will restrain herself from recreation and learn to obey orders TO THE LETTER"
The three would-be victims offered their gratitude to their master until he grew tired of it.
"Commander Snape, would you please escort these three out of my presence? They may say their farewells to Draco. And, Bella?? No doubt you know that you fall under the same restrictions as Wormtail. I wish to not see you again until I summon you."
Stricken, Bella offered a tearful, "Yes, Lord."
Snape knelt and kissed the Dark Lord's hand before ordering the three to follow him. They walked to the door of Narcissa's room and entered. He took note, but chose to ignore Bellatrix's speculative look she gave him. Draco embraced his mother and aunt, bowed to Snape and left, promising his mother to be careful. Turning to the darker sister, Snape prepared himself for whatever she was bursting to say.
"How did the plan go, Commander?" Bella's eyes narrowed on her prey.
"Not as well as expected." Snape replied smoothly. "The Dark Lord is contemplating what our next step should be."
"I'd say it was a bloody fiasco. The Order got there way too soon." Bellatrix's voice took on the shrill tones that indicated her loss of temper.
"Yes, they did. But we were still able to destroy most of our major targets and the loss of life, while not what we had hoped, was still devastating to both the Order and the Ministry."
"The Order arrived before the plan was implemented, Commander."
"What exactly are you implying, Bella?" Snape asked, tired of her games.
"I mean, we didn't know of the Dark Lord's true plans until the last minute," she spat. "Only a handful of people knew just what those plans were. Someone close the the Dark Lord must have tipped them off."
"I believe I proved my loyalty to the Dark Lord this last June. I've no idea why the Order arrived when they did." Snape's eyes gleamed murderously. "Beware, Bella, one more accusation like that and a word in the Dark Lord's ear will cause your sister to grieve more deeply than she is already. Remember your blunders over the past couple of years have changed your situation. He may still refer to you as his 'Pet', but you no longer hold a favored position."
Bellatrix looked as if she would retort, but thinking it wiser, she chose to remain silent for the time being. Snape bowed his head tenderly over Narcissa's hand and, after a mocking nod to Bellatrix swept out of the room.
The woods surrounding the gates of Hogwarts were so beautiful and peaceful. The sun glittered off of the frozen dewdrops clinging to the bare trees and brown vegetation, sparkling like diamonds. Birds that stayed the winter offered up their morning vespers to the sky. It was eerie that everything should appear so normal, as if nothing had happened the night before.
Hagrid and Neville were waiting by the gates. From the look of relief on their faces, it had been a long, anxious time for them. Running to Hagrid and throwing her arms around his great middle, Hermione tried to ask the fearful question that burned in her heart.
"Aw now. There there, Hermione, Ron's just fine. Madam Pomfrey's mendin' his leg and 'e's in no pain. 'E's askin' for ye, though." Hagrid said comfortingly. "I'll take ye to 'im. Thank th' heavens you three are back safe."
"All right, Harry? Remus?" Neville asked anxiously.
All Harry could manage was a nod. Suddenly, he felt so weary, more weary than he could remember feeling in his life. Sitting back in the lead carriage with Hagrid, Hermione and Lupin, Harry leaned his head back on the upholstered seat and closed his eyes, wishing the past several hours were nothing more than a very bad dream.
"Ron came 'round shortly after I got 'im inter the carriage. Kept goin' on 'bout the twins. Did ye find them? Are they alright?" Hagrid asked.
Harry didn't have the strength to tell Hagrid the whole story yet. "They're alive. Mr. Weasley and I took them to St. Mungo's" A bitter taste rose in his mouth as he remembered he hadn't stopped his would-be captors from escaping.
Nobody spoke the rest of the ride. They could hear Neville's carriage trotting behind them. Evidently, Harry thought, they were the last three to return. The woods turned to snow covered lawns and the sun sparkled off of the icy Black Lagoon signaling to Harry their journey was near its end.
The thesterals slowed to a brisk walk as they approached the front drive, Hermione paled anew and a low moan came from her throat. "Oh, no! Not here too?!" she cried.
Thrusting his head out of the window and looking forward, Harry saw the crumpled form of a student laying in the half melted snow. Automatically glancing up, Harry searched the sky for the Dark Mark and was a bit relieved there was none. Leaping from the coach, Hermione and Harry ran to the tiny form in the snow.
Long black curls fanned out in stark contrast against the white snow. The nightie looked as if it were soaked through and then frozen. Rolling her over revealed the long black lashes of her closed eyes resting on very white cheeks and cherubic lips colored a sickening blue. Harry gathered her in his arms and picked her up. She was as cold as death.
"Julie? Again? How'd she get out of the castle?" Hermione exclaimed.
Lupin caught up and pointed his wand to her chest, "Rennervate!". But she didn't waken. "She's alive!" he called to Hagrid and Neville as he, Hermione and Harry ran to get her to warmth.
They'd almost reached the hospital wing when Hermione stopped.
" Listen, I... I don't want Ron seeing me like this. I'll just go freshen up and change. I'll be right back."
"Just be quick about it." Remus said firmly. "Ron needs to know you're all right and as Head of House, you have to speak with Madam Pomfrey about Julie."
Hermione nodded with a strange look on her face and ran toward her quarters. Harry hurried into the hospital wing with his bundle calling for Madam Pomfrey, Lupin on his heels.
The sick room was filled from wall to wall with beds. Harry lay Julie down on one of the few empty ones. Madam Pomfrey examined Julie behind privacy curtains, muttering the entire time.
"I don't know what I'm to do with this girl. I've given her several different kinds of potions. She still is found sleepwalking at least two times a week. Almost always, she's discovered in the Gryffindor common room or on the stairs to the girls' dormitory... Well, at least there's no frostbite but there is hypothermia... I keep trying to find out why she sleepwalks. She swears she has ordinary dreams... no nightmares... no resurfacing memories... her father says she's never done this before her disappearance... I'm not surprised she got out with all the commotion around here last night... but it could have killed her!"
The nurse pulled back the curtains. Julie was mummified in an enchanted warming blanker, still asleep.
"She'll probably sleep most of the day. But she'll be alright. If nothing else hits the fan, I'll keep her here a couple of days for observation and I'll need to speak to Miss Granger as soon as possible." Madam Pomfrey paused a moment, as a frightening thought crossed her mind. Miss Granger is all right isn't she?"
"She'd alright. She's just cleaning up and she'll be down." Harry replied.
Madam Pomfrey put her hand to her chest and sighed with relief. "There's a mercy. I'll speak to her when she gets here then. In the meantime, you can wake Mr. Weasley. It's almost time for his potion and he'll be fuddle-headed after I give it to him. He needs to know your news about his brothers before I knock him out. He was so wild with panic last night that he almost undid everything I'd done for him."
"Poppy," Remus spoke a bit fearfully. "My wife?"
"She's fine, Professor Lupin." Pomfrey reassured him. "She's been relieving the Advanced DA class from guard duty and she'll be mighty glad to hear that you're all right."
"Go find her." Harry said. "I can handle Ron by myself."
Remus grasped Harry's hand gratefully and went to find Tonks.
"Oh, yes." Madam Pomfrey remembered. "Mr. Potter, the Headmistress says there's no hurry but she would like to see you when you get a moment. She assumes you're going to St. Mungo's as soon as you can and she'd like a word before you leave." She spotted Harry's shoulder. "But before you do anything, you'll let me have a look at that."
Harry was hurting so much in so many places, he'd completely forgotten about the cut on his shoulder. Knowing it would be useless to argue, he let her clean and mend the minor laceration. Truth was, he honestly didn't look forward to waking Ron up and telling him the grim news about George and Fred. Finished with the first-aid, Pomfrey led him to a separate wing for the more seriously injured.
Ron was in a bed by the far window, his leg strapped and elevated above his head. Madam Pomfrey explained that because of the severity of the break, he would have to stay about a week, but should be fine except the leg would always have that annoying ability to let him know when it was going to rain. Ginny was in a chair beside him, her head resting next to Ron's on the pillow, sound asleep; her hand holding her brother's. At least he wouldn't have to tell the tale more than once for now.
As if reading his mind, Madam Pomfrey left him with some advise. "No matter how cruel it may feel, telling the whole truth without giving false hope is the greatest kindness."
Quietly, Harry stole up to the siblings. Tenderly, he kissed Ginny's cheek. She woke and encircled him in her arms. Huge tears of relief fell from her eyes.
"I was so afraid I'd lose you tonight." she whispered.
"I'm not that easy to be rid of." he replied.
"The twins?"
"They're alive. Let's wake Ron and I'll tell you both the whole story."
It didn't take long to tell the tale, including the attack in the lobby. Then Harry came to the hardest part.
"Your brothers were both burned very badly. Fred, I'm sure will be okay, but I don't know how damaged his hands are." He looked at both of their faces praying they could take the rest. "George got it the worst. He was burned severely from his neck down his back to his knees. He was alive when the Healers took him away but it's been hours since I heard anything."
The look on the siblings' faces made Harry wish he could just disappear. Both were trying to digest the news bravely and both were failing. Ron scrunched his eyes tight shut and rubbed them hard with his thumb and forefinger. Ginny put an arm around him and squeezed tight. She reached out for Harry with her free hand. He took it up with both of his own and tried to transfer some of what little strength he had left to them.
"If it wasn't for this effing leg!" Ron cried hoarsely. "I could be there for them... for Mum and Dad." He pounded his fist futilely on the bed. Ginny hushed him and whispered soothing words, rubbing is back. After a moment, Ron looked back at Harry. "You'll go, won't you, Harry? At least long enough to take Ginny? I know you've got to be dead exhausted..."
"Of course, I'll go. What'd you expect?" Harry said. "Me to sit here and play nursemaid to your sorry self? No, really, I'll go and send regular updates on how the twins are doing. If McGonagall allows it, I'll take Ginny too. But seriously, Mate, are you doing?"
Ron shrugged. "I'm all right. Just feeling damned useless right now." He grimaced and drew a hissing breath through his teeth. "I figure it's about time for Madam Pomfrey to bring me my potion. I"m really starting to hurt again."
"That was a nasty break. Look, I'll stay with you until she brings it in. Then I'll get going." Harry offered.
"Harry, could you do me a favor instead?" Ron looked a little embarrassed. "Can you find Hermione? I'd really like it if she could be here when you go."
"Sure thing." Harry answered, wondering what was keeping her.
"It's not that I don't like your company, but she's easier on the eyes than you are."
Harry played along to keep his spirits up. "Well, if that's how you really feel, fine. I know when I'm not wanted."
"I'll stay with Ron until you get back." Ginny gave him a quick kiss.
Harry made straight for Hermione's room. She should be cleaned up by now. Why hadn't she shown? The door that always opened at his touch was locked. He knocked and called, but there was no answer. He pounded and shouted. Slowly, the door, as if the thing itself were reluctant to let him in, swung open. Hermione was sitting on her favorite chair with Crookshanks in her lap, staring at the fire in her hearth. Her hair was still wet and she was only dressed in a white fluffy bathrobe.
Irritated, Harry rounded on her. "Hermione, what are you doing sitting there like that? I know we're all beat, but Ron's been asking for you. You can catch a nap when his potion puts him out."
"Funny thing fire," Hermione pet Crookshanks slowly. There was a very far away look in her eyes. "It can be beautiful or hideous. It can save your life in the cold or burn you to death. It can create or it can destroy."
"Hermione, are you all right?" Harry began to feel alarm for his friend.
"Should I be? I heard animals scream death throws in the very place I got Crookshanks from. I saw innocent people's livelihoods destroyed. I saw children murdered. I saw people I love hurt. I killed and felt glad." Hermione said in a toneless voice. "I killed and wasn't sorry I did it. Now I have to forget all that and go comfort someone else. But I don't have anything left. I feel empty. How can I help when there's nothing left of me?"
Now what do I do? Harry thought. He knelt on the floor in front of her and took both of her hands in his. "Hermione, Ron needs us right now. You can be strong for him and he will be strong for you but he can' t come to you. You have to go to him."
"The girl he wants isn't here anymore. I killed another human being and I still don't regret it." Hermione's voice took on a shrill note. "A baby died and I couldn't save him!"
Desperate, Harry tried a different tact. He stood and roughly shook her by her shoulders.
"So you've been to Hell and back! " He yelled angrily. "So what! Join the club! You killed someone? Well, guess what, so did I! I killed the first person I aimed at! I saw people I care about get hurt and killed! We all did! We saw more blood and gore then we could ever imagine!
"But guess what? We're alive! We have to go on! We have to hold each other up. We have to keep going. If life were fair, we'd still be students playing Quidditch and going to classes and complaining about homework! Instead, life forced us to grow up before we were ready. Instead, we're teachers one day; soldiers the next. But we'll make it if we stick together!
"Now get up and get dressed. Get to the hospital wing and do your duty by the Fletcher girl. Go be with Ron . You don't have to do anything or say anything... just be with him! Hermione, Ron needs you! I need you! There be time for breakdowns later. Please? God, Hermione, if you can't snap out of it, I don't know... I can't... I'll..."
Without realizing it, Harry was back down on his knees in front of her, sobbing into her lap. He felt her arms surrounding him, comforting him. Together, the two friends wept, drawing strength from one another.
Harry and Ginny sat in the Headmistress' office. The lines on McGonagall's face were more deeply etched than the night before. The dark circles under her eyes betrayed her lack of sleep. She paced the floor behind her desk, every once in a while,she looked up at Dumbledore's sleeping portrait and gave a frustrated snort as if wishing he'd wake up and take over. She opened a drawer in her desk and tossed a bag of Floo powder to Harry.
"That is a special blend," McGonagall explained. "Professor Slughorn made it last night. No one else has anything like it. It can be used in any fireplace in the castle and it will negate all anti-Floo transportation charms in and out while you come and go. Don't waste it, I've very little and I understand from Horace it's devilishly hard to make.
"Classes will be suspended for one week so the students can be with their families and attend memorial services if they've lost anyone in the attack. I don't believe there's one person within these walls who wasn't affected personally by what happened last night to one degree or another. We will shorten the Christmas holiday break to make up for it so there's no hurry to return outside of another emergency... God forbid.
"Miss Weasley, your parents and brothers are already at the hospital. They've sent word that they want you with them as soon as possible. I can assume Mr. Potter intends to be your escort and since time is of the essence, you may use my hearth. Tell your parents that they are in my thoughts."
Harry and Ginny stepped into the fireplace and Harry threw down some of the powder saying, "St. Mungo's." The sensation of spinning out of control was the same, but the flames were bright, peacock blue. They landed in one of the main lobby transportation fireplaces, stepped out and went to the front desk. Following directions they got from the information witch who 'Mr. Potter, sir'd' them to death, they found the intensive care unit and the room the twins were in.
There were two signs on the twin's door. The first read, "Oxygen in use. No Smoking, No wand Waving, No Spells That Cause Sparks of Any Kind." The other said, "Family Only." The hospital must have meant it too because Ginny stepped right in, but Harry couldn't go through the doorway. A moment later, a very angry Mr. Weasley came out and went up to the Nurses Station.
"Since when does 'family' mean blood relatives only?" He asking the attending nurse. "He's my adopted son!"
"If he's been officially adopted, the doorway would have allowed him through." The nurse replied in a bored voice.
Harry tried to smooth things over. "It's alright, Mr. Weasley, I can wait outside."
Something made the nurse look up from her charting at Harry. Her eyes focused on the scar and grew wide. "I'm sorry, Mr. Potter. I didn't realize it was you." Quickly she touched each of the twins' charts with her wand. "You may go in, Mr. Potter, sir." She said hastily and curtsied.
Rolling his eyes, Harry walked back to the room with Mr. Weasley. The second sign on the door had changed to read, "Family and Harry Potter Only." Stepping though the door, Harry felt a weird sensation as if the air had thickened to the consistency of jell-o. Three steps later, he could move normally again but was clad in a white robe with paper shoe covers and a surgical cap covering his hair. Even his beard was netted. All the visitors in the room were dressed in the same antiseptic garb. Mr. Weasley explained to was to keep the area germ free.
The twins lay in beds about four feet apart. Between them, a very large silver cauldron simmered away though there was no fire under it. The light blue vapors from the potion inside split in two and flowed directly to each injured man's nose and mouth. Mr. Weasley pointed out that the vapor was the enriched oxygen the sign on the door warned about. Above each bed, looking serenely down at the twins, were portraits of guardian angels ready to fly off and get help should the need arise.
Both twins were unconscious, Fred in a potion induced sleep and George in a light coma. Fred was propped into a sitting position, his face almost as white as the sheet that covered him. His hands were thickly bandaged and elevated on pillows. If possible, George was even more pale as his brother. Laying on his stomach, he was completely covered in bandages over his neck, back, buttocks and around his thighs down to his knees. To keep everything as sanitary as possible, the hospital staff had shaved his hair down to his scalp. Ginny ws bending over him, rubbing his bald head and whispering into his ear.
"Hello, Harry dear," Mrs. Weasley greeted him in a shaky hushed voice. "Thank you so much for bringing Ginny with you. It seems we owe you again for the lives of our family." She hugged him tightly and covered his cheeks with wet kisses.
"Are they going to be all right?" Harry asked.
"Fred was very lucky. You got to him just in the nick of time. He will have full use of his hands and the Healers believe they can remove almost all of the scars once the burns heal completely. They think they can do the same for George as the burns are from natural fire. That is if..." She couldn't continue. She pulled out her handkerchief and retreated into the comfort of her husband's arms.
Bill and Fleur sat in straight backed chairs against the wall looking stricken. Charlie, who took emergency leave from work, sat next to them with his fists digging into his eyes. From a corner, separate from his brothers and looking almost as pale as the twins, Percy cleared his throat.
"The Healers said that George has a fifty-fifty chance." Percy said in a hoarse whisper. "They said if he survives the next twenty four hours, odds are he'll be all right. If you had been just a moment or two later... The Ministry was on the other side of the battle... they'd have never found them in time."
Now wasn't the time for grudges. Harry went to Percy and extended his hand. One moment, he and Percy were shaking hands, the next Percy's arms were around him in a tight hug. "I've been such a fool." Percy choked out.
Harry returned the hug. "Its all right, Mate. Glad you've come around."
Everyone sat down to wait and watch the minutes slowly march from day to night. Ginny alternately went from brother to brother to father to Harry as if trying to give comfort and strength to all of them. She even spent time cuddling Percy. If Fred so much as moaned in his sleep, she was there doing what she could to make him more comfortable and then she was back in someone's lap.
Whenever Harry figured it was time Ron would be awake needing more potion, he would go to the portrait of Dilys Derwent and asked her to inform Professor McGonagall of the twin's condition. Each time, she immediately left her frame to relay the message.
Some time during the night, everyone was able to doze off. Exhausted, Harry fell asleep hard enough to dream.
Harry, Fred, and George were having a great time. Students again, they were practicing Quidditch on the Gryffindor team. Red and gold robes flapping around them, they flew and dove and laughed with the sheer joy of being young. Harry looked for the Snitch but the Sun kept getting in his eyes. The twins laughed and flew around him. George pointed straight at the Sun.
"There it is!" George cried. Harry squinted at the light but couldn't spot the Snitch no matter how hard he tried. George began to fly straight into the Sun. "Come on! I'll show you!"
"Hey, George!" Fred called after him. "Harry's the Seeker, George!"
George kept after the Snitch, flying into the Sun's brilliant light. Soon, he was just a speck in the middle of the ball of fire high above them.
"George, come back!" Fred called. "George? George!"
George's only response was laughter.
"GEORGE! GEORGE! COME BACK! DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE ME!" Harry woke to Fred's real screams. Somehow he'd managed to get out of bed and over to his brother who was breathing erratically. "MUM! DAD! DO SOMETHING! HE'S DYING! GEORGE! DON'T GO!! GEORGE!!!"