April 1st 2006

As Charlie, Hermione and Arty walked into the garden of the Burrow from the apparition point, they were greeted by the sight of a hoard of variously aged children running towards them, immediately grabbing Arty as they reached them and tugging him along with them. Hermione laughed and shook her head, watching where they were running to before turning back to Charlie.

"It never fails to amaze me how much energy that lot have." She grinned.

He laughed as he took her hand and pulled her towards the house, holding the back door open for her when they got there. The adults were all inside, including George, whose birthday they were here to celebrate. She walked over and hugged him tightly, rubbing his back before pulling away.

"How are you, George?" She asked gently and he shrugged with a soft smile.

"Same as always," he sighed, "I'm getting older without him, it's hard."

"I know," she sighed, "but just think, he's having his own knees up with the marauders, pulling pranks with the best of them."

"Yeah I guess," he grinned, pulling her in for another hug, "thanks Hermione."

"You're welcome, George," she smiled, kissing him on the cheek, "happy birthday."

He nodded as she headed back towards where she left Charlie, but he had disappeared. Instead, she found Harry and Ron, having a seemingly pointless debate about Broomsticks that did not interest her in the slightest. She looked around for someone else to talk to and found Angelina in the corner with Ginny.

"Hey Hermione," Angelina grinned as she walked over to them, "where's Charlie?"

"No idea," she laughed, "I left him by the door to go and talk to George and when I turned around he was gone!"

"Probably gone to talk to dad, he's in the shed," Ginny shrugged, "so, how is it, living with my brother?"

"I absolutely love it," Hermione grinned, "it's so nice not to be the only parent any more. It's nice to be looked after."

"I bet it is," nodded Angelina, "I can't imagine how tiring it must have been, looking after Arty on your own."

"I got used to it, I suppose," she shrugged, before her face morphed into a frown, "I cried the first time he cooked me dinner."

"Really?" Ginny laughed, "did he burn it?"

"No!" Hermione said, rolling her eyes, "it was the perfect lasagne."

Just as Angelina went to speak, a little boy with bright blue hair came streaking through the living room, crashing into Hermione and looking up at her panicked. She hadn't even know that Teddy was here and she began to look around for Andromeda when Teddy said words that made her stomach sink.

"Arty's hurt."

She told Ginny and Angelina to find Charlie and then followed Teddy out of the house, letting him lead her into the forrest that held the glade. Her heart was in her throat as he led her towards a huge tree, where the kids were huddled at the bottom and she almost screamed as she saw what they were huddled around.

Arty was laying under the tree, unmoving and if she didn't know any better he would appear to be asleep. She rushed forward and dropped to her knees next to him, gasping when she saw blood coming out of his ear and turning to Teddy, asking him what the hell happened.

"He was climbing the tree," Teddy said in a wobbly voice, "I told him not to go so high, but he didn't listen, he slipped and I tried to catch him but…"

"Its not your fault, Teddy," she told him, trying to keep her emotions under control, "I need you to find Charlie and tell him I've taken Arty to St Mungo's, ok?"

He nodded and ran off immediately as Hermione grabbed Arty's hand and pulled her wand from her waistband, flicking it and thinking desperately of St Mungo's.

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When the healers told Hermione what her son's injuries were, she felt like she might throw up at the sound of them. Cracked skull. Bleeding and bruising on the brain. Broken rib. Fractured ankle. Oh god she wanted to weep, but she had to be strong, at least until Charlie arrived and she could tell him what had happened.

It took only ten minutes for Charlie to arrive, but as Hermione paced outside the doors to the room where healers were currently trying to relieve the injuries to her son's brain, it felt like hours. When she saw him sprinting down the hallway, she felt her knees buckle as he rushed to catch her.

"Where's Arty? What happened?" He rushed out and Hermione took deep breaths to calm down.

"He fell from the tree in the forrest, the really big one and… oh gods Charlie, it's so bad." She broke down just as a healer walked out of the room that held Arty and ushered them into a side room, closing the door.

"Is our son ok?" Charlie asked, his voice clearly panicked and the healer nodded, smiling.

"He's ok," he said and Charlie slumped against the chair, squeezing Hermione with one hand as she clutched the front of his tshirt in her fists and running the other through his hair, "we've fixed his rib, ankle and skull. The brain injuries have been-"

"Brain injuries?!" Charlie gasped and the healer nodded, frowning.

"Yes, Arthur had bleeding on his brain and also bruising, but we've managed to get that under control." He said and Charlie took a deep shuddering breath as Hermione pulled herself away from him and wiped her face.

"So he will be ok?" She asked and the healer smiled as he spoke.

"He will be perfectly alright. He's going to be kept sedated for a few days, but that's just a precaution to prevent any further injury to his brain," he informed them, "we're just going to move him up to our children's ward, would you like to come up with him?"

"Yes, of course." Hermione nodded, and the healer told them he would collect them when they were ready to go.

"Jesus Christ," Hermione muttered, dropping her face into her hands, "Charlie?"

She turned to Charlie to see that he had his hands covering his face and his shoulders were shaking quite violently. She gasped as she wrapped her arms around him and felt his hands cling to the back of her jacket as he uncovered his face and sobbed into her shoulder. She closed her eyes and sighed, rubbing his back.

"Fuck, Hermione I was so scared." He groaned and Hermione nodded.

"I know, trust me, I know."

She sighed as he pulled away from her and tried to turn his face away but she cupped his cheeks and forced him to look at her, wiping his cheeks with her thumbs. He took a deep, shuddering breath as he looked at her and gave a very weak smile.

"He's ok, Charlie," she told him, "Arty is stronger than you know, he'll be just fine."

"I know," he nodded, "I just honestly thought I'd lost him and then you collapsed on me when I got here, Merlin, I've never been more scared in my life."

"Welcome to the downside of being a parent," she chuckled softly, "especially with a son. He's had more bumps and scrapes than I can count. Never like this though, so this is a first for both of us."

"We're ready to go up, now." Came the healers voice and Hermione looked up to see his head poking around the side of the door. Nodding, she and Charlie followed him out of the room