The next morning dawns brightly and, when she stirs, for a brief second she forgets she can't walk pulling herself into a sitting position and leaning across for a glass of water yelping as she falls face first out of bed. Tears of frustration quickly pooling in her eyes when she remembers that she can't walk and then humiliation as she realises that she has wet herself and didn't even realise.
"Sash," George is first through the door and the embarrassment is overwhelming as she looks up at him.
"GET OUT!" she screams and he is so shocked he laughs which makes her scream again yelling the same words over and over again until Molly and Charlie rush in and only then does Molly realise what has happened and ushers all the men from the room before sealing it shut and turning back to the sobbing, shaking girl on the floor.
"It's okay Sweetheart, let's get this all cleaned up and you back in bed and then we'll have a chat," she says gently and all Sasha can do is nod in silence, occasional sobs and whimpers the only sound escaping her or indeed permeating the room as Molly goes about cleaning her and then changing the sheets and her clothes before levitating her back into bed.
"I can't live like this," she murmurs eventually, "I can't make Charlie live like this, make you all live like this," she continues, the tears now once again making steady tracks down her swollen cheeks and Molly merely sighs as she sits on the bed beside her, conjuring a box of tissues for the girl as she does so.
"Sasha, I have seen both Bill and Charlie in worse states than that after a night of too much fire whiskey, there is no need to distance yourself from them, from any of us," she whispers and Sasha tries to smile she really does but she can't.
"The difference is that I'm stuck like this," she says thickly and Molly sighs again before grunting as she conjures a glass of water.
"You don't know that, none of us do and there are spells that can stop what happened this morning from happening again, Sasha you have to believe that you can get better or it will never happen," she exclaims and Sasha turns tortured eyes on the woman who had been a mother to her these past several years, even before her own mother was taken from her Molly had stepped up and cared for her.
"I so badly wanted to make sure Fred wasn't feeling guilty and now I've made it worse, what must they all think of me?" she asks rhetorically instead and Molly smiles sadly down at the girl.
"They love you Sasha, we all do, they only want you well and happy, that is it, stop underestimating them," she scolds and Sasha has the good grace to look slightly shamefaced as she stares down at her hands.
"Sorry," she whispers and for a moment everything is silent as the two women merely sit together, Molly wondering what was going to happen, how she was going to keep her family together if the paralysis turned out to be permanent. "Can you send Fred in to see me?" Sasha asks quietly after a while and Molly smiles and nods her head as she kisses her on the forehead before moving off fetch her son.
Once outside the room she shuts the door quietly and makes her way wearily down to the kitchen where she knew the rest of the family would be waiting.
"Mum," it is Charlie's voice that sounds first, accompanied by the scraping of several chairs as the people sitting around the table stand.
"Where are the others?" she asks as she moves to make a pot of tea, and start baking some scones, it was a default for her to bake and nest when she was worried or anxious about something and all her children knew it well, which only served to worry them more as they watched her.
Of course Arthur, Percy and Bill were all at the ministry, there was so much to repair, too much to be done and Harry, Hermione and Ron were with Ginny at the castle helping with the clean up, although again the ones left were convinced that they were too scared to see Sasha and they were using the work to be done as an excuse to avoid it. Charlie and the twins though, couldn't escape it, they wouldn't.
"Mum," Charlie tries again and she sighs now as she turns and places the tea on the table, sitting and gesturing for her sons to do the same.
"She's trying to be brave, you know what she's like but she's struggling," she says at last and they, all three of them hang their heads slightly. "Fred, she wants to see you, why don't you take her up some of that leftover cake," she says quietly now and after a second he nods his head and silently grabs a plate with some cake on and two forks and then leaves the room.
"What's going on mum?" George asks now, his whole body tense, as it had been since she had screamed at him that morning.
"She's scared George, she's trying to understand where she stands and she is trying to work out how to not be the burden she thinks she now is, on everyone," Molly explains and Charlie lets out a heavy sigh now.
"We talked about this just last night," he exclaims and she stands now, moving to squeeze his shoulder in a comforting gesture, "I thought she was okay with it," he mutters and she smiles a wry smile at the cluelessness of her son.
"She was trying to make you feel better, we don't know, we won't know until she visits St Mungo's next week until then I think we just need to reassure her that we still love her, that she isn't a burden to any of us," they both nod but the sadness and pain is still heavy in the air around the table.
The air was still thick with it when the others began returning home. Bill and Percy first, then Arthur and then the four youngest members of the household.
"What's happened?" Harry asks and it breaks Molly's heart that he so easily sees and recognises pain and grief so easily, he had seen too much of it. They all had.
"Nothing, everything is going to be fine," she replies but he doesn't look convinced none of them do so Charlie looks up from his mug, which he had been brooding in for the last few hours and speaks to them.
"Fred's upstairs with Sash, they've been talking for hours," he explains and the others all relax a tiny amount and move to sit down at the table.
"Right…" Ginny says quietly as she sits down and pulls a mug of tea towards her waiting for the rest of the explanation and Charlie marvels for a second at how intelligent his little sister is. He supposes it is easy to do with Sasha and Hermione around those two always outshone everyone around them but Ginny was far brighter than she ever got credit for, she was much like the twins in that way he mused and he smiles briefly, leaning over to squeeze her arm affectionately.
"She's struggling Gin, she…" he breaks off and sighs as he looks towards his mum for help and she obliges, much as she had always done.
"She has convinced herself that she is a burden, that she'll never get better, that she'll never regain the use of her legs," Molly explains and watches as Harry and George seem to crumple with sorrow, their entire bodies seeming to cave in slightly as they both slump, heads hanging low to the table.
"Oh, poor Fred," Hermione whispers, the others looking to her, all but George and Charlie who knew what she meant, Charlie marvelling at the emotional intelligence of ones so young as Hermione and Ginny although, they have lived through trauma few others could imagine and so, he supposed, they were forced to grow wise beyond their years at an age too young. They weren't afforded the luxury of a youth, the freedom of making stupid mistakes and being reckless in the way he was. When they were reckless it was to save the world, to save their friends and it grieved him that it was something no one could ever give them back.
"I thought we were talking about Sash?" Ron asks, his mouth full of cake and not even Molly or Hermione have the heart to reprimand him for it because there was something inherently comforting about a tiny bit of reality, normality still existing around them, even if it was just that Ron would never learn table manners or lose his appetite.
"We are but don't you see how guilty Fred is going to feel, she got injured saving him," Hermione explains gently,
"But she wouldn't blame him," Ron says in shocked confusion and Hermione sighs in gentle exasperation even as Ginny chokes on a strangled sigh of her own.
"Of course she wouldn't we all know that and Fred does too but it doesn't make it easier does it, we all feel bad, we all hate it and we weren't the ones that got pushed out of the way," Hermione says and then looks up at Molly and Arthur, "what do we do?" she asks, looking more childlike than she had in many a year.
"We carry on as normal, we work, we keep busy and we make sure we keep her busy too, we have to keep her positive, we won't know how long this paralysis is going to last or if it will be permanent until she sees the healers next week but we have to have faith," Molly says to them all and they nod in silence.
"Your mothers right, Sasha is one of us and we will do whatever we can to make her feel safe and happy," Arthur says his arm winding its way around his wife to offer her some level of comfort. This war had been brutal and the recovery was anything but quick. The two Weasley patriarchs had spent countless hours over the last few nights sitting up and talking through their options. They loved their extended family of Harry and Hermione and Sasha as much as their own children and it warmed their hearts to think, Molly more than just thought, she was certain, that they would soon enough all be family officially too. Harry had rekindled his romance with Ginny now that the threat of Voldemort was gone and Ron had finally made his move on Hermione, it made them laugh to think that he was so surprised that she reciprocated his feelings, she had loved him in obvious silence for nearly as long as Sasha had Charlie.
"How do we make her happy though?" Ginny asks quietly, "her whole life has been about flying and adventure and now…" she trails off slightly and swallows the tears that are threatening.
"I can't believe I'm about to say this but maybe you could get her to help develop some new products for the shop George?" Molly says with a weak smile and George beams back at her before jumping up and giving her a hug.
"You're a genius mum, that might help Fred with his guilt over everything too," he exclaims and Charlie grins a little too.
"She did always love to prank with the pair of you it might be just what's needed," Bill murmurs,
"Did she? You should have seen the three of them at school, I'm just glad I only had it for a year, not sure I'd have survived longer," Charlie laughs and Arthur smiles as the mood seems to finally lighten just a little bit.
"Do you remember that blushing bubblegum she invented in the third year?" George laughs and then pauses as he sees Fred in the doorway, Sasha held tightly in his arms, for a second everything seems to still and become tense again as they look at her pale face, tear tracks still visible on her cheeks.
"One of my greatest," she smiles slightly and Charlie jumps up to pull out a chair beside him which is quickly transfigured into a comfortable wheelchair making him jump slightly. "Can't have you all carrying me around the whole time," she says by way of an explanation.
"Oh I don't know I quite like it," Charlie whispers as he leans forward and kisses her quickly making her flush slightly.
"What is this about a blushing lolly?" Molly asks in bewildered confusion and the twins and Sasha share a wicked glance before looking over towards a slightly glowering Percy, although, if you looked really closely you could see the relief and happiness that they were getting back to normal, even if only in a tiny way for a tiny moment, it was movement in the right direction and thats what counts.
"Blushing bubblegum," Fred corrects with a grin before George interrupts him to finish the explanation.
"Once you eat one every time you look at or talk to your crush your face goes bright red and the only words that will come out of your mouth are their name, it lasts five hours," by the time he finishes the table are all giggling.
"Percy nearly killed us when he ate one right before his first date with…"
"Penelope," George finishes for Fred again and now the table erupts with hysterical laughter and even Percy is trying to hide his grin.
"You see, this is why I could never regret saving you, you make everything better when it's both of you together and besides what would I do without you here to finish his sentences," Sasha whispers to Fred and he ducks his head quickly to avoid anyone seeing the tears that had suddenly welled in his eyes, his fingers gripping hers tightly.