Disclaimer: The characters that look familiar to you belong to J. K. Rowling. The ones you cannot find in any of her books are mine. I don't intend to make any money out of this. I'm just having some fun.

At St. Mungo's

Sirius just couldn't believe his eyes when he saw Mrs. Weasley's body in the fireplace. He had been upstairs with Buchbeak and had heard a strange noise. When he had gone to investigate, he had found her lying there in a heap. He took her out carefully and was trying to see what was wrong with her when Mr. Weasley's body appeared in the fireplace too.

Sirius had laid them both on the kitchen floor and was trying to reanimate them, when he heard the wards on the house go down. He took his wand and went carefully to the door. Tonks, Hermione and a couple of muggles he supposed were Hermione's parents came in. Sirius didn't even greet them, just told them straight away about the Weasleys. They all ran back to the kitchen and tried different spells, but none seemed to work.

"Here, let me see them," Mr. Granger said, and kneeled beside Mrs. Weasley and started examining her.

"Are you a doctor, sir?" Sirius asked.

"A dentist, but we have to take general medicine too at university. Maybe my wife and I can help."

Mrs. Granger was examining Mr. Weasley now. "There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with them, maybe they are just in shock," she said. "Do you have a bucket?"

"A bucket?" Sirius asked, more to himself than to the others. "Yes, in here, I think." He opened a cupboard and there it was. Mrs. Granger took it and filled it with cold water, then went back and threw it at Mr. Weasley. He awoke with a start and sat gasping for air. He looked around, and then screamed: "Death Eaters! At the Burrow! You have to help the kids!"

Sirius put a comforting arm on Mr. Weasley's shoulder. "Don't worry, we will." He looked at Tonks and she got the message. The girl left in a flash to find some aurors and go to the Weasleys' home.

It was lucky that Mr. Weasley was so worried about his family that he didn't even realise he was being comforted by none other than Sirius Black, who was supposedly dead. In the meantime, Mrs. Granger had lost no time and had thrown another bucket full of water at Mrs. Weasley, who reacted exactly as her husband had a moment ago.

Hermione and his father helped the Weasleys stand up and took them to a couple of chairs. Sirius prepared some tea and added some firewhisky to their cups. Mrs. Weasley took hers from Sirius, and muttered a "Thanks", but in looking at him realised who he was, and let go of the cup, which fell to the table and broke, splattering tea in every direction. "SIRIUS BLACK, SIRIUS BLACK!" Molly started to scream, now standing and pointing at the man she was looking at with her eyes almost popping out of her face.

The Grangers didn't understand much what was all the fuss about, so they thought Mrs. Weasley was still in shock and hurried to her side trying to calm her. Mr. Weasley, alerted of a dead man's presence by his wife, stood with his wand ready, and was going to attack Sirius, thinking he was an impostor, when Hermione jumped in front of the animagus with her hands in front of her, trying to avoid Sirius' second demise in a few days. "IT'S OK, IT'S OK!" She tried to cry above Mrs. Weasley's shrieks. "It's Sirius! He really is! He has come back to life!"

At this, the Weasleys looked doubtful for a moment, but seemed to calm themselves; Arthur lowered his wand and Molly stopped screaming. The Grangers, instead, looked nonplussed. What did their daughter mean by 'back to life'?

Now that everybody was silent, Sirius put a hand on Hermione's shoulder and said calmly, "Sorry I scared you, it's a long story." Mrs. Granger fainted, but everybody ignored her. Her husband sat, very slowly, on a chair, trying to calm his breathing and to comprehend the fact that the man standing behind her daughter had defeated death itself. Mr. Weasley approached Sirius slowly and shook his hand, absolutely nonplussed too, while Mrs. Weasley threw herself at Sirius' neck and started sobbing hysterically on his shoulder, as if she had just recovered another son. Sirius patted her awkwardly and smiled at the other two men in the room apologetically. Hermione sighed in relieve and started making some more tea.

***

Percy and Penelope came out of the bushes in front of the Burrow and started walking slowly towards the house, with their hands still up in the air. When they reached the door, Ginny, Ron, George and Charlie welcomed them as if there hadn't been any misunderstandings between them until then. Percy had come back to his family in the end, and that's what mattered now, not the mistaken decisions he might have made in the past. They talked some, but they couldn't just sit and chat, they had to take Bill and Fred to Grimmauld Place and see if their parents were ok.

Penelope closed Fred's wounds magically and he stopped bleeding, but he was still out cold, he had lost a lot of blood. Ginny was already in the grate when they heard lots of popping noises, someone had just apparated. They all jumped, their wands ready, fearing the Death Eaters had come back, but the newcomers were aurors, not enemies. Shacklebolt went to them and checked Bill and Fred. "Take them to St. Mungo's," he said, "we'll take care of the Death Eaters lying around." Charlie and Percy took hold of their injured brothers and disapparated. Penelope followed them. Then Ron, George and Ginny took the Floo network to go to Grimmauld Place and see if their parents were ok.

***

Arthur and Molly Weasley hadn't have time to recover from the shock of Sirius' being alive when a noise could be heard coming from the fireplace. They all turned to see Ginny coming out of it, she stepped rapidly outside and then Ron and George followed. The adults rushed to them, and after the first commotion, Ginny explained what had happened after her parents were cursed.

"Percy and Penelope saved us," she said. "We wouldn't have made it without them. They took the Death Eaters by surprise."

"But how did they know we were being attacked?" Mr. Weasley asked astounded.

"The clock mum gave Penelope for Christmas." Her father didn't seem to understand, but her mother hugged her sons even harder and started to cry. Ginny explained further: "Remember? Mum gave Penelope a grandfather clock like ours, only it included all of us and her family too. It seems after Percy quarrelled with us she moved to live with him. She was in their flat when the Death Eaters attacked us, and when she saw our hands in the clock pointing at 'mortal peril', went to the Ministry to find Percy, and then they went to the Burrow together."

"It seems they wanted to bring some aurors along," George added, "but the Death Eaters are attacking many places at the same time, and there were none there at the moment."

"I know," Hermione said, from beside her mother, who had regained consciousness by now, "we were attacked too."

The Weasleys were shocked at this. "Oh, dear," Mrs. Weasley said, "and how could you escape?"

Hermione proceeded to explain everything, and then added: "And by the way... just so that nobody faints or screams again, let me tell you that Sirius is alive," and she pointed at the handsome wizard, who was standing a little bit behind Mr. Weasley and couldn't be seen from where his children were. Arthur stepped aside now, and they could finally see him. Sirius just raised his right hand and said: "Hello there!" with a very silly face.

Silence once more. Ginny, George and Ron all gaped at him. Finally Ginny shook herself and said: "I'm sure there's a very long and good story behind this miracle, but I'm afraid it will have to wait. We should go to St. Mungo's and see how Bill and Fred are."

"Yes, dear," Molly said immediately. "Let's go now. And we must see Percy too," she said, looking at her husband out of the corner of her eye, "after all he did for us." Mr. Weasley didn't comment, he just looked very sombre.

"There was someone else too," George said, not very sure if he should mention it or not.

"What do you mean?" His father asked.

"Penelope and Percy helped us from the front, but we had help from the back of the house too." The boy explained.

To everybody's surprise, Hermione was the first to ask: "Who?"

George looked uncomfortably at them all. "Professor Snape," he finally whispered.

"WHAT?" All the Weasleys and Sirius shouted, but Hermione just hit her head with the palm of her hand. "Of course," she said, "probably Voldemort sent him there with the other Death Eaters, but he is on our side, so he tried to help you. Very risky if you ask me. If another Death Eater has seen him help you, then Voldemort won't be happy, and I can only imagine what an horrible death awaits him..."

Sirius was nonplussed. He had always hated Severus Snape, but he had to admit the man had some nerve. To risk his position as a spy and his life like that... not that he was going to let him know, but he was starting to respect him a bit. Just a tiny bit.

The Weasleys were very shocked too, but they felt more gratitude than surprise. Hopefully they would have the chance to thank the man for all his help, but now there were more pressing matters, so they started making their way to St. Mungo's.

St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries was simply crowded. The Weasleys could see now that their father had been right, the collapse of the Floo network meant that people were trying to run away from Death Eaters' attacks. Voldemort knew it was a matter of time until the Ministry or the wizarding community realised he was back, and in the meantime he had regrouped all his old followers and gained many more. They were ready, and so when the news of Voldemort's return were out, the Death Eaters started putting into action their intimidating policy of terror. Wizards and witches weren't ready to defend themselves, after leaving in peace for more than a decade, and they were easy preys.

Luckily, the Weasleys' red hair was easy to detect among the crowd, so Arthur and Molly found Percy and Charlie easily. They were standing in the far right corner of the reception area at St. Mungo's. They made their way there with difficulty. The room was crowded with injured people and friends accompanying them, all equally worried and intent on getting their relatives attended first.

To their relief, Fred was already awake, although he looked extremely pale. Mrs. Weasley started hugging and caressing him tenderly. For once, the boy didn't complain. When he felt her mother's soft embrace, he started sobbing quietly. "We've lost him, we've lost him," he repeated once and again.

Ron felt his stomach contract, he was going to be sick. Charlie's and Percy's sad faces confirmed their worst fears. Bill was dead. The newcomers started to cry, Hermione, who had decided to go with the Weasleys, took Ron's hand in hers. Ginny was the only one who didn't cry, she looked absolutely furious instead. She went to where Bill was lying and kneeled beside him. They were going to pay. If it was the last thing she did, those Death Eaters were going to pay.

After a while, Mr. Weasley finally found his voice. "Molly," he said, "take the kids to headquarters. I'll stay and take care of Bill's burial." Mrs. Weasley, still holding on to Fred, only shook her head. She wasn't ready yet to go and give up his first son.

"Weasley?" A voice shouted above the noise the people in the room were making. Eight red heads and two girls looked in the direction of the speaker. A thin boy was approaching them, he was wearing St. Mungo's uniform, so they supposed he worked there.

"Ming!" Percy said, and went to the other boy to shake hands.

"Why are you here?" The boy asked, looking at all the Weasleys and their tearstained faces.

"My family was attacked by Death Eaters," Percy explained. "My brother Fred was injured, we are still waiting for another round of Blood-Replenishing Potion, the nurse said he would need at least 4 doses, but he's only had one so far."

The other boy nodded and sighed. "We haven't got any more. We're running off of all the potions we had in stock. I'll try to find you some, but I can't promise."

"Thanks," Percy muttered. His friend's eyes went to a pretty girl sitting on the floor, next to a young man, obviously another Weasley. "What about him?" He asked.

Percy just shook his head sadly. His friend nodded to show he understood, and approached the corpse. "I'll try to speed things for you..." he was saying, but then stopped mid-sentence. He had put his hands in Bill's chest and could feel something. There was definitely still a magical aura around him, it was very feeble, but it was there nonetheless. "Did a healer see him?" He asked.

"Yes, an old woman with short blue hair," Charlie informed him.

"Wait a minute here, will you?" The boy said hurriedly and ran off through a door close by. The Weasleys looked at each other surprised, and then at Percy. "Benjamin Ming," he said. He was in my year at Hogwarts."

"I knew he looked familiar," George said, "isn't he that Slytherin you used to hang around with?"

Percy sighed. "Look, I don't care what you say. Not all Slytherins are bad. Ben and I were kind of friends at Hogwarts. He was a Prefect too," Percy added, as if that settled the matter.

They didn't have much time for conversation, the boy was already back, and a tall black woman in her forties, with very short hair and also wearing St. Mungo's uniform, accompanied him. "May I?" She asked, so that Ginny would move over. She kneeled at Bill's side and started examining him. The Weasleys waited for her to finish without even breathing. After a moment, she turned to them and said:

"He's not dead yet, but we don't have much time. He has been hit with the Cathatis curse. It is a very ancient curse, black magic, of course. It was widely used in the Middle Ages. It makes the injured person look as if they were dead, no pulse, no heartbeat, nothing. Most of the affected die, of course, some of them not because of the curse itself, but because they are buried alive by their relatives, who think they are dead. The curse is lethal in itself, though, because it goes on consuming the magical force of the witch or wizard until they die. It's very difficult to detect, and the Death Eater who used it must have been very powerful, because it takes a lot of dark magic to cast it."

The Weasleys were horror-struck. They were going to bury Bill alive too!

The woman went on talking. "I cannot cure him myself. He is too weak. He needs a more powerful ashanrii."

"You are an ashanrii, madam?" Charlie asked bewildered. He thought they were just a legend.

"Yeah, I am," she said, not very enthusiastically though, and then turned to Benjamin, who had been waiting by her side. "Good job, dear," she said with a smile. "We'll need Yamiko Sam for this though. Do you think you can contact her somehow?"

The boy thought for a moment. "Sha-adi might. I'll go and ask her."

"Ok," the woman said. "I must go back now," she said, and left without giving the Weasleys time to thank her.

"I'll be back in a minute," Benjamin told the Weasleys. "Oh, and I checked about the potion. None left. They are making some more downstairs, but it will take some time. I'll bring you a dose as soon as I can," he added.

"Thanks," Percy said. None of the others could react. Difficult to believe though it was, Bill still had a chance.

They didn't have to wait long before a beautiful girl with long green curls approached them. She wasn't wearing the St. Mungo's uniform, just a lime-green apron on top of her dress and a golden badge with the word "Volunteer" in forest-green letters printed on it.

"The Weasleys?" She asked.

"Yes," Mrs. Weasley responded anxiously.

The girl approached her. "My name is Sha-adi Ming. I'm Benjamin's sister. He told me you needed the help of a friend of mine."

"Yes," Molly said, "it's for my son Bill, he's been hit by the Cathatis curse." She explained.

Sha-adi looked over to where Bill was lying. "Ok," she said, and taking a pin out of her hair, offered it to Mrs. Weasley. "You must take him to a quite place. Maybe your house, if it's possible, and if not, a hotel, or a friend's house. You lay him on a bed and undress him. When you've finished, press the little green flower in this pin, do you see it?" Molly nodded. "Right, if there are wards on the house or the place where you are, you have to take them down. I know it's a risk, but you have to, otherwise my friend won't be able to answer your call. While you wait, put some clean water to boil. If there is a fireplace in the room where your son is, then much better. Did you understand everything?"

"Yes," Molly answered.

"Oh, and I almost forgot," Sha-adi said, "my friend will think I am calling her, so she might not be happy when she realises I'm not there, she might think it's a trap or something. Just keep your wands out of sight and do nothing that can make her think you are a threat, because you might be in trouble. Just tell her I gave you the pin so that she could save your son, and it'll be ok."

"She will help us, won't she?" Charlie asked worried from behind the girl.

Sha-adi looked at him and smiled. "She will, don't worry." She then turned again to Mrs. Weasley. "Any questions?"

Molly thought for a moment. "What about my other son?" She asked looking at Fred.

Sha-adi looked at him too. "You need some Blood-Replenishing Potion, don't you?" She asked. Fred nodded. "That's ok," the girl went on saying, "Benjamin will take care of it. They are making some more now, the problem is that there aren't enough hands to help."

"Could we help somehow?" Hermione asked.

"Definitely," Sha-adi told her. "I'm not a healer myself. Actually, I have my own kindergarten. I'm working as a volunteer, administering potions, healing unimportant wounds, trying to calm the relatives of the injured people, assigning beds..."

"Mrs. Weasley, would it be ok if I stay and try to help?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know dear..."

"Please, mum, I wanna stay too," Ginny said. "There's nothing we can do for Bill, and while we wait for Fred's potion, we can try to help some other people."

Mrs. Weasley was thinking about it when another voice greeted them, this time, though, it was quite familiar. "Ron? Hermione?" Neville Longbottom inquired. He was wearing a lime-green apron too on top of his clothes and another badge reading "Volunteer".

"Neville!" They all exclaimed.

"Hi!" The boy said, and then took in Fred's and Bill's state. "Were you attacked then?" He asked.

"Yes, you?" Ron replied.

"No," the boy said, "I was here visiting my parents when chaos ensued. My grandma left to see if my uncle and his family were ok, and I stayed to try and help."

"Mum?" Ginny insisted then.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Weasley, they'll be fine. Madam Pomfrey is co-ordinating the volunteers' job." Neville said.

"I'll stay too, Mrs. Weasley," Penelope said. "I'll take them back with me when we finish here."

Mrs. Weasley sighed. "Ok, then, who wants to stay?" Ginny, George, Ron and Hermione raised their hands. "Ok, then, but try to help and not to cause more trouble, ok?"

"Yes, mum." Ginny said. "Thanks!" She was feeling much better now that she knew Bill still had a chance and she was going to be useful.

Percy and Charlie took each a side of the small stretcher where Bill was lying, ready to disapparate.

"Where to?" Charlie asked.

"Headquarters," their father answered.

"But Dad," Charlie said, "we'll have to take down the wards."

"I know," Mr. Weasley said, "but we cannot go back home now, it's not safe. And I can think of no other place. Let's go there and we'll talk it over with the people there."

The boys nodded and disapparated. Arthur and Molly looked at their younger children for the last time, and then they were gone too.

"Well," Sha-adi said, "I must go back to work, I'll see you around," and then left.

George stayed with Fred while the others followed Neville to where Madam Pomfrey stood, a very long parchment on her left hand and a quill in the other. She smiled at them when she saw them coming.

"More volunteers, I guess..." And before they could even answer, she was already assigning them jobs. "Miss Granger, you go downstairs through that door to the left. You can help make some potions. I've heard you are pretty good at it, aren't you?" Hermione turned a little bit red. Was it possible that Professor Snape had praised her in front of Madam Pomfrey? How strange! The matron gave her a lime-green apron and another badge like the one Neville was wearing, and then went on with the assignments: "Miss Weasley, are you any good with children?"

"Not really," Ginny answered awkwardly.

"I am, madam," Penelope said, "I work in a kindergarten."

"Ok, then," the matron said, "third floor, ask for Miss Guillaume, she's in charge there." She gave then Penelope an apron and a badge as well.

"What do you think you could help us with, Miss Weasley?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"I'm not bad at healing charms, madam," Ginny said. "I've helped my mother many times to cure Fred and George."

Madam Pomfrey nodded in understanding. Yes, yes, she was sure the twins had given the rest of the family lots of opportunities to practice their healing charms.

"Ok, then," she said, "you must go through that door in the middle of the wall behind you, do you see it?" Ginny nodded, and then took an apron and a badge from the woman.

"Mr. Weasley, what about you?" Poppy asked.

"My brother George wants to help too, madam, he is with Fred now, he's been injured." Ron said, before answering her question.

"Oh, dear, I'm sorry," the woman said, looking at him and Ginny. "Is he ok now?"

Ron shrugged. "Waiting for some potion," he said.

"Oh, ok. What about your brother and yourself then?"

Ron was thinking about it when Neville said: "Maybe they can help me, Madam Pomfrey." And then added, for Ron's benefit: "I'm taking the injured people to the different floors depending of the kind of injury they have. Some healers are working here, in the reception area, and when they assign a floor, me and other volunteers levitate them to the right place. You have to talk to them on the way, you know, try to comfort them a bit."

"That would be fine, I think," Ron said.

"Ok, then," Madam Pomfrey agreed. "Take these to your brother, and these are for you," she said, giving him two aprons and two badges.

"And what about Fred?" Ginny asked. "Who's gonna stay with him?"

"You can take him with you, Ginny, you should be able to keep an eye on him in case he needs you. Meanwhile, he should probably try to sleep a bit."

"Ok," the girl said.

They all turned to go their separate ways. Just then, Hermione and Ron realised they were still holding hands. They both let go very quickly, and turned very red. Ginny and Neville noticed, and looked at each other with knowing smiles, but didn't say a thing.

"See you in a while," Penelope said, and she and Hermione went to the stairs, where they took separate ways.

Ron and Neville walked with Ginny to where Fred and George were. Once there, Neville levitated Fred and followed Ginny, while Ron explained to George what they were supposed to do.

***

Sirius was showing the Grangers their room. Moody had decided it wasn't safe for them to stay at home, so they had called their friends and relatives to say they had won a trip on a contest -Tonks' idea- and were leaving the very same day. Then they had packed some things and followed Hermione and Tonks to Grimmauld Place, where they had found Sirius trying to reanimate Arthur and Molly Weasley. When the Weasleys and their daughter had left, they had told Sirius they were supposed to stay for some weeks, and he had taken them to one of the clean rooms on the second floor, excusing himself for the bad taste in decoration of his ancestors. Mrs. Granger almost fainted again when she saw the reduced house-elves' heads hanging on the wall, but made it to the room in one piece.

Suddenly, they could hear a thud from downstairs and an ear-splitting cry. In a moment, the shrieks of Sirius' mother contributed to increase the noise pollution in the house.

"Stay here," he whispered, and run downstairs with his wand ready. He recognised Petunia immediately, although she looked even thinner now. She had always had a good voice, but Sirius concluded that didn't make her a real threat, so he turned his back on her and went to close the curtains hiding his mother's portrait. When he turned, he saw Harry for the first time.

Their gazes locked, and then they both started walking at the same time to each other. Sirius hugged Harry fiercely and started grinning like mad. When they finally let go, Harry looked into his godfather's eyes and said, smiling, "Good trick, you'll have to show me how to do that," he said.

"I will," Sirius said, "but no practical lessons, ok?"

They both laughed, more out of nerves than because they found the situation funny. Then turned to the Dursleys, who were looking scared at the man in front of them: the mass murderer they had seen on TV.

Sirius was used to seeing terror in the eyes of those looking at him, so he just acted as normal as he could.

"Hello, you must be the Dursleys. I'm Harry's godfather," he said, and offered his hand to uncle Vernon, who shook it without much enthusiasm.

"Mrs. Figg?" The young wizard greeted her. Luckily, Dumbledore had had time enough to tell Arabella about Sirius' resurrection, so instead of fainting or screaming like mad, she just nodded tiredly.

"Sirius," Harry said, "the Dursleys will have to stay for a while, Remus thought it would be dangerous for them to stay at home."

"All right, no problem. The Grangers are here as well."

"The Grangers? Why?" Harry asked.

"Listen, Harry, don't get nervous now, ok?" Sirius said, laying his hands on the boy's shoulders and looking him in the eye. Harry didn't like at all his godfather's tone. "It seems there have been lots of Death Eaters' attacks today. Nobody was expecting they would attack so soon. It seems they went for the Grangers, probably because of Hermione. But luckily Tonks was with them at the time, and they're ok. Moody sent them here, though, for the same reason the Dursleys will have to stay." Sirius paused, took a deep breath and then went on. "The Weasleys were attacked too." Harry's eyes rounded with worry, but he didn't dare interrupt Sirius. "It's a long story, but basically, Fred and Bill were wounded, so the Weasleys and Hermione are at St. Mungo's now."

"Was it very bad?" Harry asked.

"I don't know, Harry," Sirius said with a grimace, "but let's hope they'll be fine. They left not long ago, and if the rumours about the attacks are true, then it might take them some time to come back. I'm afraid St. Mungo's must be full of people right now."

Harry looked at the floor. It just wasn't fair. The Grangers, the Weasleys, even the Dursleys. Why did they have to leave their houses and run into hiding? Why couldn't they live their lives freely? Someone had to stop Voldemort soon, and he knew it had to be him. Sirius noticed he was looking very sombre, and asked him if he was ok. "Yeah," Harry said in a not very convincing tone, "it's just that I wish I could help the Weasleys somehow." Sirius nodded in understanding and hugged him once more.

"Where is Moony?" He asked suddenly. Harry's worries didn't diminish, they just took a different direction.

"We couldn't use the fireplace at the Dursleys, because it's not connected to the Floo network, so we had to try the front door. He stayed behind fighting the Death Eaters who were surrounding the Dursleys' house so that we had time to escape." Sirius paled.

"It's ok, Sirius," Arabella said in her sweetest grandmother's tone. "I had alerted Moody, he was there, and Tonks and some other aurors as well. Don't worry, he'll be fine."

Sirius forced a smile and then played the host once more. "Well, if you'll follow me, I'll show you your rooms."

He turned to go upstairs and they all followed him. When they passed the Grangers' room, they came out to greet them. The Dursleys were relieved to see they wouldn't be the only 'normal' people in that scary place, and they were staying just next door. The Grangers had almost finished unpacking, so they went to the Dursleys' room to talk with them and see how they liked the decoration of the house.

"Do you wanna stay with your parents or with the young people?" Sirius asked Dudley. He started trembling just at being addressed by the wizard, and backed into his parents' new room.

Sirius looked a little bit surprised, and thought maybe the boy was a little bit retarded. He'd have to ask Harry about it afterwards. "Ok," he said with a very wide smile, talking slowly and very loud, "I gather you want to stay with your parents then. Let me tell you, though, that there are some pretty girls staying too. If you change your mind when you see them, just tell me and we'll move your things to another room, ok?"

Dudley looked at Harry and then nodded slowly. Harry was trying very hard not to laugh. At the beginning, he had thought having the Dursleys at Grimmauld Place would be agony, but now he realised it could turn out to be funny.

Sirius took then Arabella to another room. The old woman said she was very tired with all the stress and would go to bed, so they left her, and went on walking to the room where Ron and Harry had stayed the previous summer. Harry was very surprised to see that there was another bed in the room.

"Don't ask me," Sirius said, raising his hands to show his innocence, "I have no idea who else might be coming. Dumbledore has put some more beds in other rooms too. It seems we are gonna be quite crowded in here this summer."

As Remus had Harry's trunk and the Dursleys' suitcases, there wasn't much to do, so they all went to the kitchen, where Harry busied himself helping Sirius to prepare something to eat. The bacon was almost ready when the wards went down once more. Sirius and Harry took their wands. The Grangers and the Dursleys looked apprehensively at the kitchen's door. Dumbledore, Tonks, Moody and Shacklebolt were there.

"Mmmm, bacon!" Tonks cried delightedly, "Merlin, I'm starving." And took a sit in front of Mrs. Granger, who smiled at her. The others followed her example.

"Where is Lupin?" Sirius asked.

"Here!" A voice came from a little bit far away, and a very familiar hooting followed it. Obviously, Hedwig was with him.

"He's turning the Dursley's suitcases and Harry's trunk to their normal size," Dumbledore explained.

Sirius and Harry took a deep breath. Moony was ok.

The wards went down for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

"Headmaster!" Remus cried. Dumbledore and the other aurors were there in a flash. Sirius and Harry followed them too.

Remus was kneeling by Bill Weasley's body. Percy and Charlie were standing beside them. Their parents came right afterwards.

"Molly! Arthur!" Dumbledore approached them, sorrow in his blue eyes.

"Headmaster," Arthur said without preamble. "Our son has been hit with the Cathatis curse. A girl in St. Mungo's gave us something to contact a friend of hers, and ashanrii I think, so that she can save him. We need to take the wards down, though, so that she can get in."

"For how long?" The Headmaster asked.

"We don't know," Arthur admitted, "hopefully not very long," he said, looking at Bill's pale face.

Dumbledore looked at the floor. Taking the wards down was dangerous, but he wasn't going to loose a life if it could be avoided. "Ok," he said, and turned to the aurors behind him. "Each of you will cover a floor. Let's hope the Death Eaters aren't watching us and won't try to get in, but if you see one of them, cry out to warn the rest of us before even attacking. Sirius, you and Harry will stay with the Grangers and the Dursleys in the kitchen, just in case they need your protection. Remus, you and the Weasleys, follow me."

He then turned around and headed upstairs, to a spacious room where there was a big bed covered with white sheets.

"Here," the Headmaster said, "lay him on the bed." Percy and Charlie obeyed. Then Mrs. Weasley undressed Bill carefully.

"We must hide our wands, Headmaster," she told him, "the girl said her friend could think we were going to attack her or something."

Dumbledore nodded, and Remus and himself put their wands away.

"The water, Mum," Percy reminded her.

"Oh, yeah," she said, "we need a cauldron full of clean water and we must heat it on the fireplace."

Dumbledore took out his wand and a cauldron full of water appeared on the grate, flames under it. He then put away his wand once more.

Arthur and Molly looked at each other and then at Bill. Molly took a deep breath and said: "Ok, let's try this, then." She took the pin Sha-adi had given her and pressed the small green flower on it. It turned vivid red.

She had barely touched it, when a human figure appeared in front of them. It radiated an incredible amount on magical power. The newcomer was covered in a lengthy pink cloth from head to toe, then the cloth fell to the floor, and they all gasped. In front of them stood a tall girl with the most beautiful face they had ever seen. She had plenty of thick black hair that barely reached her shoulders, was wearing a pink kimono embroidered with gold and her Chinese eyes were alert and suspicious. She surveyed them all in turn, and then asked in an angry tone:

"Where is Sha-adi?"

Mrs. Weasley showed her the pin and said, instinctively bowing: "She gave me this, my son is dying, she said you could cure him, he's been hit by the Cathatis curse."

The girl looked at the pin and then at the woman's face. She seemed sincere. She approached her cautiously and extended her right hand. Mrs. Weasley gave her the pin, and the girl took it without looking at it. Her eyes were surveying the body lying on the bed above Mrs. Weasley's head.

"I'm sorry," the girl said. "I cannot cure him."

Mrs. Weasley cried at this and threw herself at the girl's feet.

"Please, please you have to help us, I'll do whatever you want me to, I'll exchange my life for his, I'll..."

The girl kneeled and put her hands on Mrs. Weasley's arms, looking her in the eye.

"Sorry, I didn't express myself right. You didn't call me, you see. You called my older sister, but we knew Sha-adi wasn't in danger, because she would have used other means to contact us if that had been the case. We thought she only wanted to talk to us about something. My sister was bathing her youngest son, so I came in her place. I cannot heal your son, but she will. I'll go and bring her, ok?" The girl said, and smiled reassuringly at Mrs. Weasley. The woman couldn't discern the smile through her tears, but she had to hope the girl was saying the truth and she would come back, so she just nodded.

The girl disappeared in a flash. Arthur went to his wife, Remus and Dumbledore looked at each other, not knowing what to do. It didn't matter though, because the very next moment the girl was back, another girl at her side, wearing a red kimono embroidered with gold. She was extremely beautiful too and looked remarkably like her younger sister, only she was much shorter, and her hair was so long that it almost reached the floor. Six pairs of eyes fixed on her, but she ignored them all and went straight to Bill's side.

"I'll need boiling water," she said.

"Here," Remus said, going to the fireplace to take the cauldron.

"Not hot enough," the woman said, and then put her hand into the water and, to everybody's surprise, it started to boil. She didn't seem to care, though. After a while, she took her hand out of the water. It looked perfectly normal, not covered in boils, as it should have been.

She said something in Chinese to her sister, and the younger girl went to the other side of the bed, kneeled on it, at Bill's side, and put her hands on his chest.

"Maybe you shouldn't watch," the older ashanrii said, looking at the Weasleys.

"I'd rather stay," Mrs. Weasley managed to say.

The woman just nodded. She extended her left hand and suddenly a gold ornate dagger appeared in her palm. She took it with her right hand and before anybody could react, stabbed Bill in the heart. Her sister pushed the boy's chest with both hands, but no blood came out. An unearthly cry filled the room, and the water in the cauldron started to turn red.

The Weasleys were all petrified. Remus and Dumbledore couldn't even blink, the scene in front of them was too fascinating.

After a while, the cry started to sound muffled, as if from far away, and finally the voice extinguished completely. The water in the cauldron now looked as thick and as red as blood.

The older ashanrii said something to her sister, and she stopped pushing Bill's chest and then removed her hands from his body. The healer took the dagger off, went to the fireplace and put it in it, then came back, and put the blade of the dagger flat on the cut on Bill's chest. A small burning appeared there, and then disappeared, as if there had never been a wound at all.

The two girls went once more to the fire and put their hands in it, moving them in the flames as if they were washing them under water. Then the younger one went to Mrs. Weasley's side and stood there, while her sister went back to Bill, sat on the bed close to his head, bent, and kissed his lips soundly. Little by little, Bill started to react, as if he was just awakening from a deep slumber.

When the woman straightened again, he opened his eyes, blinking at first, and then looked around with surprise all over his face. He lifted his head a bit and looked around him once more. His parents, Charlie and Percy were there, all looking as white as ghosts, Remus Lupin and Dumbledore looked likewise speechless, and then he looked at an incredibly beautiful girl next to her mother and at another as wonderfully beautiful by his side. And then he realised he was completely naked in front of all this people, and he turned as red as his hair. Finally, he managed to utter "Mum?".

That was too much for Mrs. Weasley, who threw herself at her son's neck crying rivers of joy. Her husband took his glasses off to dry his tears too, and the other four men in the room breathed freely for the first time in the last minutes.

The older girl left the bed and went to the cauldron full of blood. She muttered something, and it disappeared. Then she put her right hand in her long left sleeve and after searching for something for a while, took off a tiny black nacreous bottle. She cleared her throat, and Mrs. Weasley let go of her son's neck very slowly, it was obvious it was costing her a great effort.

The girl gave Bill the bottle, and then said: "Drink this every night before going to bed. Just empty the bottle every night, and it will refill itself magically until your body doesn't need it anymore, then it will remain empty. Just keep it in a safe place, it will serve you as an amulet. Breaking it purposely or throwing it away would bring you bad luck. If it breaks by accident, you have nothing to worry about. We all have bad days sometimes." And then she smiled for the first time, and an indescribable sensation of wellbeing filled them all.

"How can I ever thank you?" Mrs. Weasley asked, wiping her tears with the back of her hand.

The woman just waved her hand as if taking importance off of the matter.

"Don't worry, I'm always glad to help if I can," she smiled. "Today I helped you, some other day you help someone else, that person helps another, and so on, until someday someone helps me, and then we are all happy."

Mrs. Weasley stared for a moment and then summoned her bag out of nowhere and started rummaging in it. Finally she took a small wrinkled piece of parchment and handed it to the woman. "This is our address," she said. "If you or any of your friends ever need our help, the Weasleys will do everything they can to help you."

The woman looked at the paper and then at Mrs. Weasley as if she had given her the most wonderful thing in the world. "Thanks," she said, and bowed deeply.

"No," Mrs. Weasley said, "I thank you." And bowed too.

At this point, Dumbledore cleared his throat and they all looked at him. To everybody's surprise, he started speaking in Chinese. Both girls listened intently and nodded now and then. They both responded to Dumbledore's questions, and put some more themselves. Meanwhile, the Weasleys had all joined Molly and Bill, and the poor boy had finally managed to ask Charlie to give him back his wand, so he could dress himself.

Remus Lupin stayed back, contemplating the bizarre scene in front of him and wondering if he would ever have the chance of having a loving family like Arthur Weasley had. The conversation between Dumbledore and the two ashanriis seemed to have come to an end, and Remus took the opportunity to remind Dumbledore that the wards on the house were still down.

"Yes," Dumbledore nodded tiredly, "we'll have to search the house, just to make sure nobody managed to get into it and hide."

"There are no Death Eaters here, if that's what you mean," the older girl said, "but I feel the presence of a convicted mass murderer downstairs."

Remus and Dumbledore looked equally astounded. Finally the older wizard managed to say: "It's ok, he was wrongly accused, he's working for me. In fact," he added, "we are at his parents' house right now."

The girl ahed appreciatively. "It's a wonderful house," she said.

Dumbledore couldn't help a tiny smile. He had to tell Sirius that. He was sure the expression on the young man's face would be worth seeing.

The Weasleys were all helping Bill get out of the bed, which made it much more difficult for him, of course.

"We have to go, my sons are waiting for me to go to bed," the older ashanrii said, and looked at her younger sister, who was looking at the Weasleys with an amused face. She nodded, and went to her sister's side.

"Wait!" Bill suddenly shouted. "Won't you tell me your name, so that I can at least know to whom I owe my life?"

"My name is Yamiko Sam, and this is my younger sister, Samako Sam." Then both girls bowed one last time, and disappeared.

"Remus, the wards," Dumbledore told the young wizard. They both started protecting the house again, and then went downstairs to tell the others the danger had past.

When Bill entered the kitchen, everybody else was already there. He felt as if they had prepared him a surprise birthday party, but he didn't complain. He was glad to be there.

*****

Thanks for the reviews!

Thanks all for reading and reviewing!

I'm sorry some of you got scared when I made you think that Bill was dead. It wasn't my intention to upset you. I rescued Sirius from the dead, right?, so I'm not gonna kill someone else. Well, ok, I will, but only Death Eaters and the likes. There will be many near fatal 'accidents' in this story though, so I hope you have a strong heart. :D

I hope you liked Yamiko and Samako. We'll see more about them in later chapters.

Chapter 11 won't be so long, but in it we'll see some more familiar faces from the HP series.

Kady Rilla Wholi: Do you mean I should classify the fic under Harry as a first or as a second option? As you can see, Lupin is very much alive. You didn't expect me to kill a relative, did you? We'll know some more about what happened to him after Harry and the Dursleys left Privet Drive in Chapter 12.

hermionegreen: I hope you feel better now. Sorry I had to hurt Bill, but I needed a good excuse to introduce Yamiko and Samako, and I'll make it up to him in later chapters. I hope you enjoyed this chapter a little more.

lilblondie2182: Thank you very much! Don't worry, Remus is safe with me.