Author's Notes:
First of all, a HUGE thank you to all of the fans who have been patiently waiting for this update. I'm sure that I pushed quite a few of you to the point where you were contemplating stamping your feet and begging, but very few of you caved into the temptation and I appreciate that.
As much as I'd like to blame the delay on the holidays, I'm afraid they were only a contributing factor. This chapter was difficult to write for many reasons, the main one being that there are so many characters in it, most of whom only know half of what's been happening. Everyone has their own piece of the puzzle and putting all of those pieces together was harder to do than I expected. Not because I didn't know how the puzzle fit together myself, but because most of the characters had their own questions, concerns and agendas to contend with as well. Just like any real life discussion, the more people that participate, the more likely they are to divert the conversation off track. I tried to have Dumbledore bring things back into focus when that happened, but it does happen.
A very special thank you to Emmilyne, who was kind enough to sneak away from her family for a couple of hours and help me work out some of the issues I was having. If not for her advice, I'd probably still be busy banging my head against the table rather than posting an actual update.
As always, thanks to my pre-betas, Doraemon, Aurelia, and Jmnauth, and my official beta, Amelia. You ladies are always a tremendous help. I know I didn't ask much of you this time around. I thought it was more important to let you all spend time with your friends and families. But I really do appreciate the fact that you're so willing to help.
And finally, kudos to those of you that read between the lines in chapter 76 and figured out Dumbledore hurt his hand Horcrux hunting. That makes two more Harry can cross off his list (once he finds out there is a list that is).
Well, enough with the comments, onto the story. Enjoy.
Chapter 77
"Over there," Harry heard Madam Pomfrey say just as Bill pushed the doors of the hospital wing open and moved aside so the rest of his party could enter. "Put him in that bed over there."
"What happened?" Ginny asked as she quickly followed Harry into the room and saw her father and Lupin lowering Fred into the bed beside his twin brother. "What happened to Fred?" she asked, her voice laced with panic when she realized that not only was he unconscious, but bleeding as well. "He was fine when we left him?"
"Merely exhausted," Dumbledore replied, separating himself from the group of people clustered around her brothers. "Nothing to worry about, I assure you. Although I wouldn't advice trying to revive him," he added, as Madam Pomfrey waved her wand over Fred's outstretched hand and healed his wound, before moving back to George to repeat the process all over again. "He'll need time to recuperate."
"What about George?" Charlie asked anxiously, watching his mother hurry across the room and gather his sister in her arms. "Do you think it worked?"
"Only time will tell, I'm afraid," Dumbledore admitted. "Fortunately your brothers have plenty of that. What they both need now is rest."
"Both?" Harry questioned almost immediately. "Does that mean Hermione's figured out how to save Ron? Where are they?" he demanded, his eyes jumping to the disheveled bed that sat empty at the opposite end of the room. "What did you do with Ron and where is Hermione?" he asked, racking his brain to come up with an explanation to explain why he hadn't seen her as soon as he entered the hospital wing.
Unfortunately all he could think of were negative reasons. Ron's dead and she's fallen apart. Ron's dead and she refused to let them stuff him in some make-shift morgue all by himself. Ron's soul is still out there, floating around in limbo with George's and she's barricaded herself in the library. Even as we speak, she's buried behind a mountain of books trying to figure out what to do. Ok, so maybe that option isn't so bad, Harry decided. At least we'd still have a chance. But if that's the case, where is Ron? Why isn't he in one of these beds?
"Is Hermione in the library?" Harry asked, latching on to that idea, despite his doubts. "Does she need help? Because I can go back to Gryffindor tower and get her notes. Obviously I can't get into her dorm," he amended as that fact dawned on him, "but I can Summon them or ask somebody else to…"
"That won't be necessary," Dumbledore said calmly.
"WHY NOT!" Harry shouted, completely drowning out Hermione, as she tried to get his attention by calling his name. Of course it didn't help that Molly had chosen the same moment to blubber all over her daughter.
"GINNY!" she cried, hugging her tightly, before shoving her away and scanning her head to toe for any sign of a wound that might need healing. "Oh Ginny, thank goodness. I was so worried," she said, pulling her close again. "Are you sure you're all right? Maybe you should lie down."
"What happened to Fred?" the young red head asked again, struggling to break free of her mother's grasp. "And what about Ron and George?"
"HELLO!" Ron said loudly, stepping away from the adults that were clustered around the twins' beds. "Are you two blind or something?" he asked, grabbing Hermione by the hand and tugging her away from Snape so Harry could see her too. "All right there, mate?" he asked with a lopsided grin when Harry's mouth fell open.
"Fine," Harry forced himself to reply, although he sounded anything but. "You?" he asked, still gaping at his friends with a combination of relief and uncertainty plastered across his face.
"Can't complain," Ron said in return.
" But…"
"Tonks said you were dead," Ginny stated, renewing her efforts to get away from her mother as Harry stepped into the room and shifting his gaze to Hermione.
"You didn't seriously think Hermione was going to let me off that easy?" Ron joked. "Hey!" he yelped, jumping away when Hermione's elbow dug into his recently healed ribs. "That hurt," he whined, rubbing the spot with his hand.
"What did Dolohov do to you?" Harry asked Hermione, narrowing his green eyes behind his glasses as he took in her hospital attire.
"How did you…" she started to ask, before Ginny beat her to the punch and answered the unfinished question.
"Pettigrew told Voldemort that you killed him," Ginny said, successfully shoving her mother's arms aside when Molly gasped in surprise. "Dolohov that is," Ginny amended. "He said you killed Dolohov."
"She did not," Ron insisted, reaching out and clasping Hermione's hand again when she flinched and shrank backwards. "The stupid bastard killed himself. Don't you dare feel guilty about it," he said, turning around to face Hermione when he felt her bewilderment give way to shame. "He got exactly what he deserved and I'm glad he's..."
"Not another word," Tonks said sternly, whipping her wand out and pointing it at the doorway Bill was standing in. "Move," she barked, flicking her wrist even before he complied, causing the door to slam shut and lock as he stumbled into the room. We don't have a lot of time," she said, turning back around to face Dumbledore. "Scrimgeour will be here soon looking for answers. We need to get our stories straight. The last thing any of us wants is him interrogating this lot," she said, looking pointedly at Harry.
"Indeed," Dumbledore agreed.
"You two," Madam Pomfrey said, points a finger at Ron, who'd made the mistake of crying out in pain, before wagging it in Hermione's direction. "Back to bed this instant. And you," she said, reaching for the bottle of Blood-Replenishing Potion as she rounded on Charlie. "Drink," she insisted, pouring a generous amount into a cup that she Conjured out of thin air and thrusting it into his hand. "I can dress your wounds, but I can't heal them so you'll still need to go to St. Mungo's, and the sooner the better," she added.
"I'm not going anywhere," Charlie stated, wrinkling his nose up in disgust as he swilled down the thick medicine as ordered. "Not until I'm sure that my brothers are going to be all right."
"You most certainly will," Molly fired back, placing one hand on her hip. "Even if I have to stun you to make sure it happens. And don't waste your breathe argue with me about it," she said sternly. "You won't do your brothers any good if you drop dead out of sheer stubbornness. And the same goes for you two," she snapped, twisting just enough to direct her scowl at her youngest son and his bride. "Do as you were told and return to your beds this instant."
"Welcome to the family," Ron whispered to Hermione, holding her in place when she started to do what she'd been told. The fact that his mother had included her in the reprimand had clenched it for him. She might not like the way the two of them had gone about things, but she'd accepted what they'd done.
"Arthur," Dumbledore said, taking control of the situation, "perhaps it would be best if you used the floo connection in Poppy's office to get young Charles to St. Mungo's. The fewer people here when our new Minister arrives, the better," he added, shifting his gaze to Bill, before glancing at Remus. "I'd prefer it if he were forced to deal with me," he explained.
"Right," Lupin said, moving forward and grabbing Bill by the arm. "There's nothing more we can do here," he said, urging Bill to follow his father, who was shoving a rather belligerent Charlie towards the closed door at the opposite end of the room.
"Severus," Dumbledore continued, as the four men stepped into the other room, "Find Minerva and apprise her of the situation. The longer the two of you can hold Rufus off, the better."
"She's probably on the third floor," Hermione said just as Snape started moving towards the door Tonks had secured. "There is a secret passageway behind the statue of the humpbacked witch that leads to the cellar of Honeydukes. I told Neville to take Professor McGonagall there so the teacher's could guard it. There are at least three Death Eaters trapped inside," she added, this final bit of information stopping the Potion Master dead in his tracks. "Macnair and two others I've never seen before."
"Well, that will certainly give Scrimgeour something else to focus on," Tonks said to herself.
"Stop it," Hermione hissed at Ron, when his mouth fell open and he gaped at her in horror right along with Harry. "I used an ancient Egyptian spell that Bill taught me to seal them inside," she forced herself to continue, despite the hesitation she was sensing from Ron. "I cursed both sides of the tunnel actually," she said, "so I wouldn't advise anyone else go inside unless they want to get stuck as well. Not unless they have Bill with them," she added as an afterthought. "Provided he's worked out the counter-curse."
"You might have mentioned that before Bill left," Tonks said with a sigh. "I'll go to St. Mungo's and retrieve him then, shall I?"
"Not just yet," Dumbledore replied, stilling the young Auror with a look before refocusing his attention on Snape, who was still standing beside the closed door eyeing Hermione in a calculating manner. "Do be sure and pass that message along, Severus," the headmaster instructed. "We wouldn't want the Minister putting any of his Aurors at risk unnecessarily. Merely guarding both ends of the passageway should suffice at present. Now then," he added, disregarding his Potions professor and looking straight at Harry. "I'm afraid Tonks is right. We don't have time to delve into this matter as deeply as I'd like," he said, sitting down on the edge of the nearest unoccupied bed, "but a brief explanation of what you've been up to while I was away would be most helpful."
"It wasn't our fault," Ron said almost immediately, glancing at his mother out of the corner of his eye. "Bellatrix Lestrange snatched Ginny right out from under us. We couldn't just let her…"
"Yes," Dumbledore said, cutting Ron off because justifications were not what he was looking for. "Professor Snape has already relayed that portion of the story. What I need to know," he said, his keen blue eyes still locked on Harry, "is what happened after that. What happened once you reached Hogsmeade? Beginning with how you knew where Voldemort was holding Miss Weasley."
"He showed me," Harry replied almost instantly. "He wanted me to know that he had Ginny so I'd come after her, just like I did with Sirius. Only this time I knew for a fact it was true. I knew it was a trap," Harry admitted, but I didn't really care, he finished in his head. "And when he entered my mind, I realized they were inside the Shrieking Shack, which made sense. He wanted to keep her somewhere close by and no one would pay any attention to sounds coming from that part of the woods. If anyone in the village heard them making a ruckus, they'd just assume it was ghosts and steer clear."
"I see," Dumbledore said softly.
It was just two simple words and yet they were more than enough to convey to Harry just how disappointed Dumbledore was with him. Two little words. They hadn't even been said in anger, but they made Harry feel both foolish and ashamed. He thought he'd been so smart figuring out Voldemort's plan. He thought that saving Ginny was what really mattered, but maybe he'd been wrong. Maybe Dumbledore thought it was just as important for him to learn from his past mistakes.
And what did I learn from that whole mess is the Department of Mysteries? Harry rebuked himself. Not to drag my friends into the traps I'm about to spring? Yeah, that really worked. Ron and George both… they… No, he wasn't going say it. Not even in his head. He didn't want to think about what happened to them; about what saving Ginny could have cost them and all because he hadn't wanted to wait.
I know what you're thinking, Harry thought instead, shifting his eyes off Dumbledore's face and focusing on the blackened sleeve of the headmaster's robes as he allowed the guilt to wash over him. I'm not supposed to spring the trap at all. I'm supposed to be smarter than that. I'm supposed to place as much value on my life as I do the lives of my friends. Probably more, he amended. Dumbledore would want me to place even more value on my life because I'm the bloody 'chosen one'; the only Wizard in all of Britain that stands a chance of defeating Voldemort once and for all. God damned prophecy, Harry silently swore, shifting from one foot to the other and glancing up just long enough to confirm that Dumbledore was still staring at him.
And where will your friends be if you continue to allow the Dark Lord to manipulate you? How safe will they be if your luck runs out and you get yourself killed next time? the look said to Harry, although in all honestly he was reading more into it than was meant to be there.
"So what?" Molly asked, obviously believing that some sort of verbal reprimand was in order, "You decided to keep that information to yourselves rather than share it with your professors? Because clearly, the best course of action would be to mount a rescue operation all on your own," she said sardonically. "Of all the foolishness…"
"It wasn't like that," Ron protested, looking at his feet so he wouldn't have to meet his mother's angry gaze. "We sent Hermione to get help and…"
"Only because you wanted to ditch me," Hermione said, jerking her hand out of Ron's as if she suddenly remembered that she was supposed to be angry with him.
"It wasn't just you," Harry informed her, taking the blame for that decision onto himself despite the fact it had been Ron's idea. He was responsible for everything else that had happened, he might as well take the blame for all of it. The least he could do was give Ron that much. "I ditched everybody," he added, "including Ron. Like I said, I knew it was a trap and I didn't want anyone else I care about getting hurt because of me. It was bad enough that Voldemort was using Ginny to get to me. When I realized where he was holding her, I sent Ron and the twins to help you. Ron said you were in trouble," Harry elaborated, when Hermione crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared at him. "Don't look at me like that. I was there when Ron fell over. I know that you were attacked, that they Stunned you."
"Don't you dare try and use that as an excuse," Hermione shot back. "You know perfectly well that you revived me when you used the counter-spell on Ron. Both of you knew that I wasn't really unconscious. Macnair and his friends didn't know that though, which is why I was able to get away."
"Slow down," Tonks said, trying to make sense of what she'd just heard. She was at a distinct advantage though, because unlike Molly, she understood the unique way in which Ron and Hermione's bond worked. She had spent the first week of their holiday helping them sort it out after all, so the part about them sharing the effects of spells was no surprise to her, or Dumbledore either for that matter. "So what you're saying is that Harry left you here, so you used that tunnel on the third floor to get to Hogsmeade and you ran into a group of Death Eaters while you were down there?"
"No," Hermione replied. "They were in the cellar, not the tunnel. I had to use myself as bait to get them to come in after me. But I'd already cursed the opening by that point, so I knew once they came down, they wouldn't be able to get back out unless..."
"You used yourself as bait?" Molly interrupted, horrified by the only part of the explanation that she really understood.
"It was a calculated risk," Hermione admitted, but that answer did nothing to appease her mother-in-law. "There were only three of them and Ron and I share the effects of most spells," she added. "So as long as they didn't use any Unforgivables …"
"Excuse me, you what?" Molly asked in surprise.
"We share the effects of spells," Hermione repeated. "It has something to do with our dual Lànain bond working in combination with the Coupling Potion, but the point is that when I was Stunned, the spell was divided between both Ron and myself. Neither of us lost consciousness. And since Ron was with Harry, all Harry had to do was revive Ron to revive me as well."
"This is insane," Molly stated, her eyes wide alarm. The world had gone insane around her. Her youngest son was married, by the use of a Lànain talisman no less, and his wife was standing there just as calm as could be, talking about using herself as bait to lure wanted killers into a trap of her own making, because there were only three of them and clearly three didn't pose a significant risk. How many did it take to be deemed a significant risk by this lot? Four? Six? Ten?
Insanity, Molly decided, that's what this is. And it all started with Ron catching Bellatrix Lestrange. Now Hermione is hunting Death Eaters and Harry, he's the worst of the lot. Sneaking off on his own so he can confront You-Know-Who without putting anyone else at risk. All three of them are mad. They're lucky they aren't dead, each and every one of them.
Or is it really luck, a voice Molly didn't really want to listen to asked in the back of her mind, because Ron did get himself killed this time around. But Hermione…
"…brought him back," she muttered to herself.
"Actually it's rather useful," Tonks said in response to Molly's previous statement. "From a defensive standpoint."
"They shouldn't be put in a situation where they need to take a defensive stance to begin with," Molly argued. "They aren't members of the Order, they're just …"
"Maybe they should be," Tonks cut in, taking everyone except Dumbledore by surprise. "You know how this lot is," she said, when Molly puffed up and sucked in a deep breath as she prepared to mount her counter attack. "There is no way they're going to stay out of things, no matter how much we might like them to. They've proved that how many times now? And this whole plan of theirs, besides the chasing down Voldemort on their own bit, was bloody brilliant if you ask me. I mean look at him," she said, pointing at Ron. "And George," she added, "George was hit by the Killing Curse and now? Do you understand what this means? The kind of advantage this can give us? Honestly Molly, don't you think they'd be safer working in combination with the rest of us, rather than on their own? The way it is now, they're reluctant to reveal anything they know because they're afraid we'll pat them on the head and lock them in Gryffindor tower for their efforts. Is that what you really want?"
To lock us in the tower? Ron thought, unconsciously stepping backwards as he watched the flush in his mother's cheeks spread until her entire face was beet red. That's exactly what she wants. Talk about insane? No one talks to Mum like that and Dad's not here to hold her back or calm her down or anything.
"Actually, I was hit with the Killing Curse too," Hermione said softly, knocking the wind out of Molly's sails before she had a chance to explode. "That's what happened to Dolohov," she said, sounding far more regretful about it than Ron had. "His own curse rebound on him. I told you that I was going to find a way to block that spell," she reminded her mother-in-law, who was opening gaping now. "Only Ron did the actual blocking."
"By sacrificing himself," Dumbledore said, understanding exactly what Hermione was hinting at. "He gave up his own life to protect hers," he elaborated, when Molly shifted her wide eyes to him as she searched for answers. "Much the same way Lily gave her life and unwittingly saved Harry's. It is ancient magic; magic at its most fundamental level," Dumbledore explained. "This type of magic cannot be corrupted or manipulated to serve an end other than that which it was intended, so until very recently, it is something that Voldemort has underestimated. The kind of magic of which I speak can only be invoked by genuine, heartfelt actions and is, therefore, of no use to him. But there is power in doing the right thing; power in self-sacrifice; in the very nature of love itself, which Miss Granger very wisely realized."
"Weasley," Hermione said softly, but not so softly that the headmaster failed to hear her. "I'm going by Weasley now," she added uncomfortably, after watching Dumbledore arch one eyebrow momentarily and suppress a smile.
"You are?" Ron sputtered in surprise. "Since when?"
"Since you dropped dead for me."
"Is that all it took?" he asked, trying to cover his own discomfort with a joke. "It sure beats standing up in front of my entire family and every person they've ever met and making a complete berk out of myself."
"Ronald Weasley," his mother gasped, completely horrified by his statement. "That is just about the most insensitive thing I've ever heard come out of your mouth. You owe it to Hermione to do things correctly. There will be a proper ceremony just as soon as I can arrange it and you will participate without so much as a complaint. Do you hear me, young man?"
"It's all right, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione interjected as she felt Ron balk at his mother's words. "He didn't mean it the way it sounded," she assured Molly.
Having a direct link to Ron's emotions could be a pain at times, but there were definitely benefits as well. Hermione no longer had any doubts as to the sincerity of his feelings for her, so she knew better than to take comments like that to heart. Ron wasn't interested in a more traditional wedding ceremony because he was a typical teenage bloke and the idea of being thrust into that type of spot light terrified him. He wouldn't have even proposed to her properly if she hadn't insisted on it. If there was an easy way out, Ron was sure to try and take it. It had nothing to do with her.
"It most certainly is not all right," Molly argued. "What will people think?"
The words 'who cares' barely had time to form in Ron's mind before Hermione's elbow dug into his side again. They were in enough trouble as it was and clearly she did not want him getting into it with his mother about this. "It's none of their business, but if anyone asks," he said, despite Hermione's better judgment, "just tell them we eloped. It was good enough for you and Dad."
"Your parents eloped?" Hermione asked in surprise. "You never told me that?"
"I'd be happy to offer my services," Dumbledore said to Molly politely. "Anything I can do to help, but perhaps it would be prudent to table this particular discussion for the time being. There are more pressing matters to discuss after-all," he reminded her.
"Of course," Molly replied straight away, but not without giving Ron a stern look that let him know she was far from finished with him.
"Now then, Mr. Weasley," the headmaster asked once he'd managed to steer the conversation back in the appropriate direction, "I'm curious," he said, turning his keen eyes gaze on Ron. "Did you take the curse that was meant for your wife and protect her in that way, or did you use the counter-spell she mentioned when the two of you discussed this matter at Grimmauld Place?"
"I used the spell," Ron admitted, albeit reluctantly.
"Fascinating," Dumbledore said, not even bothering to suppress his smile this time. "And Peter Pettigrew witnessed this, you say?" he asked Harry. "He informed Voldemort in your presence?"
"Not exactly," Harry replied. "He just told him a few minutes ago. Voldemort was so angry when he found out about Dolohov that he let his mental walls slip. I don't think he meant for me to see them, but…"
"What exactly did Pettigrew tell him?" Dumbledore asked.
"That Hermione killed Dolohov," Harry answered straight away. "He said that Dolohov was going to kill her, but Ron got in the way. He made it seem like she did it to avenge him or something."
"But that's not what happened," Tonks said, glancing at Ron and Hermione briefly, before directing her gaze at Dumbledore. "Why would he lie about it?"
"Why indeed?" Dumbledore said cryptically.
"It's not exactly a lie," Hermione muttered. "I did use… but I wasn't seriously trying to kill him," she said, jumping from one thought to another as she went on the defensive. "I mean I used spells that I knew he'd be able to block. They were a bit dodgy and it's true, if they'd hit him, I probably wouldn't have cared at that particular point in time, but I wasn't seriously trying to kill him. I wasn't trying to get revenge or anything like that. I just wanted him out of my way."
"Dodgy spells, but not illegal, right?" Tonks asked, already searching for a way to explain things when the Minister arrived. As the first Auror on the scene and Hogwarts current Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, she was sure to be questioned about any questionable spells her students used. Naturally the Ministry would want to know where they learned them.
"A blood boiling hex," Hermione said, shifting her eyes to her bare feet, "and a suffocation spell. But I would have lifted it once he lost consciousness. I just wanted him out of my way. I needed to focus on Ron," she said, fighting back tears. "I had to breathe for him and I wasn't going to be able to do that as long as Dolohov was conscious," she said defensively. "I wanted him out of the way, but he didn't have to be dead for that to happen. I suppose I did have a fairly good idea what would happen if he tried to use the Killing Curse against me," she admitted, shame-faced.
"Which is why you provoked him," Dumbledore said, nodding his head ever so slightly in understanding.
"She didn't make him kill himself," Ron said irritably. He was not happy with the way this conversation was making Hermione feel. She'd already had so much thrown at her, she didn't need anyone heaping accusations on her right now. Besides, if anyone was to blame for what happened, other than Dolohov himself, Ron knew that it was him. He was the one that cast the spell that protected Hermione in the first place.
"Dolohov could have stunned her," Ginny interjected. "That's what Lestrange did. First she stunned David and then me. I barely had time to see it coming."
"Except for the fact that Dolohov wanted her dead," Ron insisted. "He wanted her dead from the moment he laid eyes on her. He said as much. Only rather than do it himself, he thought it would be more entertaining to force me to do it. Twisted bastard," he growled angrily. "We didn't use the Imperius against him," Ron said hotly. "We didn't force him to do anything and he's got no one to blame for what happened but himself. Don't you feel bad just because you defended yourself," he said to Hermione. "Harry doesn't feel guilty when he does it, do you mate?"
I haven't killed anyone, Harry thought, the words 'either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives' playing in the back of his mind. Not yet anyway. But I did try and use the Cruciatus on Bellatrix, so who am I to judge. "Ron's right," he agreed. "Sounds like Dolohov offed himself to me. Besides, it wasn't just yourself that you were defending, it was Ron as well."
"What about the other one?" Tonks asked. "The scumbag behind the counter? What spell did you use on him?"
"I did that," Ron admitted, sounding rather proud of himself. "I might have been unarmed at the time, but I didn't need my wand once the idiot touched her."
"You used the Lànain against him?" Tonks persisted.
"You're damn right I did," Ron replied, "and I'm not the least bit sorry. It's why we put the charms on in the first place."
"Speaking of which," Hermione said softly, but the rest of her statement went unheard by everyone save Ron, when Dumbledore turned to Harry and asked his next question.
"And you were in the Shrieking Shack while all of this was taking place?"
"I suppose," Harry replied. "As far as I know, Ron was going to take the twins and go straight to Honeydukes after we split up, only Fred and George… I didn't see them, but they must have followed me instead. I reckon it took them a while to figure out how to get inside though."
"And you didn't have a problem getting inside?" Dumbledore asked.
"The front door was wide open when I arrived," Harry answered. "Open and unguarded," he amended. "But it sealed itself the instant I stepped inside. It was similar to what happened in the Department of Mysteries," he explained. "Voldemort didn't try and make a move against me until he had me exactly where he wanted me. Maybe they thought it would lull me into a false sense of security if they held back, but just because I didn't see anyone, that didn't mean that I was stupid enough to believe no one else was there. I knew they'd show up as soon as I found Ginny. Voldemort likes to toy with people that way."
"And after you found her?" Dumbledore asked, knowing that he needed to move the story along so he could get Harry out of the hospital wing before the newly appointed Minister showed up.
"I revived her," Harry answered. "Voldemort left her stunned, on the floor, in one of the rooms upstairs, so I revived her, which turned out not to be such a good idea," he admitted. "All of her emotions came pouring into me at once and… it was bit overwhelming at first."
"I don't know where he came from," Harry admitted, looking around and taking note of the fact, that everyone, even Ron and Hermione who'd been whispering mere moments earlier, was now hanging on his every word, "but I knew when they entered the room because my scar started to burn. And when Ginny realized he was there, she started to…"
"Go ahead and say it," she said after Harry unexpectedly went silent. "I panicked," she admitted, "which only made things worse for Harry."
"You said 'they', when 'they' entered the room?" Dumbledore pressed on.
"I heard him call one of them Lestrange," Harry replied, "and there were two others… One of them was a mad looking bloke, but he didn't stay long and it was rather difficult to focus." What with my scar about to split open and all.
"Real unkempt looking," Ginny elaborated, making it clear that she'd paid a bit more attention to the details Harry had missed, "like they just busted him out of Azkaban or something and he hadn't bothered to bathe or comb his hair. He had these ghastly yellow fingernails."
"Greyback," Tonks spat the name out as if it were a curse word.
"Fenrir Greyback?" Ginny asked, some of the color draining out of her cheeks, causing her freckles to stand out in stark comparison. "The werewolf?" As sheltered as her mother tried to keep her when it came to the cruel details of the war, even Ginny had managed to hear stories about Greyback and what he did to little kids for fun. "That might explain the comment then."
"What comment?" Dumbledore asked immediately.
"He muttered something about smelling something or maybe it was someone to the third Death Eater, before pushing him out of the room and dragging him out of sight. I just though he was mental, but now that I think about it," she added. "It was only a few minutes after that that we heard the explosion."
"That would be Bill," Tonks explained. "From what he told me on our way back here, Fred and George were trying to find a more subtle way to get inside the Shrieking Shack when he found them. They didn't think it was a good idea to risk Apparition. When they told Bill that they'd seen Harry use the front door, he set to work trying to break through the spells that were on it. He blew it completely off its hinges on his fourth try. So much for being subtle. Fortunately Arthur and Charlie were fairly close by at that point and heard him. All five of them were in the thick of things when Remus and I arrived. But the situation started going downhill just when we thought we had them on the ropes. The next thing I knew, Remus was chasing Greyback into the forest, Fred and George were gone, and Charlie had been bitten by the biggest snake I've ever seen. Bloody thing came out of nowhere. It went for his neck, but Charlie managed to get his arm in the way just in the nick of time. I have to hand it to him," Tonks said approvingly. "He's even quicker now than he was when we were in school. Dropped his wand into his good hand and cut the snakes head clean off even as it was pulling back to strike him again."
"Charlie killed it?" Dumbledore asked, clearly startled by this news. "He killed Voldemort's snake? The same one that attacked Arthur last year? You're sure of that?"
"Unless it can re-grow its head," Tonks replied, but even as the words left her mouth, her eyes widened a bit. "Wait, it can't really do that, can it? It's not going to sprout three more heads or anything, because we just left it there in the woods. I mean it looked pretty dead to me, but…"
"And how did Voldemort react to this?" Dumbledore asked Harry, ignoring Tonks' questions. "He was monitoring the situation downstairs through the snake, was he not?" he asked with keen interest. "How did he react when the snake was dispatched?"
"He had a right little fit," Ginny answered. "The Tom Riddle I encountered in that diary didn't care about anyone or anything but himself," she stated. "He put on a good show, but that's all it was, a show. But the way he cried out…"
"As if he were in pain?"
"No," Ginny said in response to Dumbledore's question. "Not physical pain anyway. It was more….anguished. The way you would shout if you lost someone…or something," she amended, "that you really care about."
Oh, that was smooth, Ginny silently reproached herself as Dumbledore took a few moments to mull this information over. Could you be any more obvious? she thought, blushing because she could feel Harry looking at her and she knew that he had a fairly good idea that she'd been thinking about loosing him, not some great dirty snake.
"Actually," Harry said, clearing his throat as his own cheeks flushed, "he was angry. He wanted to reach out and strike Charlie again; bite him over and over until he stopped moving, only he couldn't. It infuriated him and worried him at the same time."
"But he was worried?" Dumbledore asked, evidently encouraged by this bit of news.
"Definitely," Harry replied straight away. "But it might not have been because of the snake. I had the coupling potion in my pocket and in those few seconds that he was distracted, I gave it to Ginny. As soon as she drank it, as soon as she completed the connection and linked herself to me, Voldemort knew something was up. He started shouting at Lestrange, ordering him to kill Ginny and then George appeared out of no where and shoved her aside."
"Why order someone else to do it?" Tonks asked, creasing her brow as she tried to make sense of this information. "Why warn you? Why not just do it himself before anyone could react?"
"Priori Incantatem," Dumbledore replied with a knowing smile. "Harry's wand and Voldemort's share the same core. You were still armed, I take it?" he asked Harry, who nodded in response. "If Voldemort had made a move against Miss Weasley himself, he would have had to risk the Priori Incantatem effect and Harry has already proven that his will is stronger. If their wands had been forced to duel one another yet again, there is every chance that Voldemort would have lost. He wouldn't take that risk unless it was absolutely necessary. He wouldn't want to place himself in a situation where he might be perceived as the weaker of the two by his followers. By ordering Rodolphus to attack Miss Weasley instead, he put Harry in a position where he'd be forced to choose between defending her or defending himself, and we all know what choice Harry would have made. You do realize that Voldemort would have used that as an opportunity to kill you?"
"But he didn't," Ron interrupted, unable to contain himself, "so what happened?"
"George startled us," Harry said sadly. "All of us," he amended, "and when Lestrange's spell hit him instead of Ginny…"
"Let's just say that none of us took it very well," Ginny finished.
"And since Ginny was connected to me, she was connected to Voldemort as well, and he wasn't expecting to actually feel her grief. It threw him."
"It scared him," Ginny corrected. "And hurt him at the same time, which frightened him even more."
"And then there is the fact that Fred was there."
"Although we still couldn't see him," Ginny added. "I heard him cry out though and so did Lestrange. He spun around and summoned the Invisibility Cloak right off Fred, but before he could do anything else, Harry stunned him from behind."
"Voldemort must have snatched George's wand up off the floor when I did," Harry said, "because when I looked back he had this smug look on his face and two wands in his hand. The words were out of his mouth before any of us could react," he said, "only…it wasn't a real wand."
"Surely not," Molly said, covering her mouth with her hand as her already wide eyes widened a bit more.
"Oh yeah," Ginny said with a slight smile. "It was one of their fake wands. I don't know who was more surprise. Harry when he realized he was still alive or Voldemort when the smoking wand in his hand turned him into a gigantic bat."
"Those transfigurations don't last very long though," Harry said. "I had to physically pull Ginny out of the room. It was hard to leave George," he felt the need to explain as practically everyone stood there goggling at him, "but I knew we didn't have much time and I had to get both Fred and Ginny out of there."
"But I thought…" Hermione sputtered. "They told me that… Professor Lupin made it sound like you started breathing for George straight away," she said, but even as she spoke, Hermione realized that maybe she'd leapt to that conclusion because it was what she wanted to believe. "He was definitely breathing when they brought him in here," she said, more to ease her own fears than for any other reason. "How long did he go without…"
"Not very long," Harry assured Hermione before she got ahead of herself and made the situation worse. He knew what it was that she was afraid of and mentioning the word 'brain-damage' out loud wasn't going to help anyone. Mrs. Weasley would have a whole litter of kitten and Ginny wouldn't be very far behind her. There was no reason to worry them just now. The chances of that were slim. George had only gone without air for a minute, possible two. "We weren't even half way down the stairs before we ran into Bill and Tonks," Harry explained, "and there was no way we could keep Ginny from coming back up with us. Both Voldemort and Lestrange were gone by the time we made it back to George," he said. "Ginny started breathing for him and got his heart beating again almost straight away."
"Are you sure?" Hermione pressed, despite the fact Harry was giving her his 'drop it' look.
"What aren't you telling us?" Ginny asked, looking from one to the other suspiciously.
"It's nothing," Harry replied.
"Liar," Ginny hissed back. "You're all agitated and worried she's going to say something you don't want us to know. What is it?" she asked again, only this time she directed the question at Hermione.
"It's no good, Harry," Hermione said, glancing at Ron out of the corner of her eye. "He can read me even better than she can read you. I'm sure Harry is right," she said to Ron, who looked as if he were waiting for the other shoe to drop. "Harry just doesn't want you to worry anyone unnecessarily."
"But you are worried," Ron said, "and Harry is too," he added, looking towards Ginny, who nodded her head in confirmation of this. "So what gives?"
"It's just that there's a chance…"
"A really, really small chance," Harry cut in. "Not even worth mentioning really."
"…that there could be some…"
"Complications," Harry practically shouted. "Complications with George," he reiterated before Hermione could say something even more frightening. "But only if he went without oxygen for too long."
"What kind of complications?" Molly demanded, turning to Madam Pomfrey, who remained silent.
"How long is too long?" Ginny questioned. "You never mentioned that?" she said to Hermione in a shrill voice.
"I told you that you had to start the breathing straight away," Hermione argued.
"But how long is too long?"
"It doesn't matter," Harry insisted, "because that's not the case here. It only took us a minute to get back upstairs."
"Then why are you all freaked out?" Ginny said accusingly.
"Because you are all freaked out," Harry fired back, " and I can't not react to that?"
"Oh," Ginny said, and then just like that, her doubts turned to suspicion again. "Are you sure that's all it is?" she asked Harry, who threw his hands up in the air and spun around to face Ron. "I still think you're hiding…"
"How do you put up with this?" Harry asked Ron, genuinely frustrated now. "There has to be a way to make it stop. Some trick…"
"Afraid not," Ron informed him, although strictly speaking, that wasn't exactly the truth. It would stop when one of them fell asleep, but as agitated as they both were, it didn't look like that was going to happen anytime soon. "Best just get used to it, mate," Ron suggested, "because you have two weeks of non-stop girly feelings to deal with. If you bust out crying after a couple days I won't hold it against you, much."
"Oh, for heaven's sake," Hermione sighed, shooting a reproaching look at Ron for trying to lighten the mood with an ill-timed joke. "Just take a deep breathe and calm down. Both of you," she said, glancing at Ginny briefly, before turning back to Harry, who'd covered his face with both hands. "It'll probably get worse before it gets better," she admitted. "The stronger emotion almost always wins out. Just try and ignore it, or better yet," she said to Harry, "use your Occlumency exercises to push whatever Ginny is feelings aside."
"WHAT COMPLICATIONS!" Molly shouted. "I'm waking him up," she said, when no one answered her. "I know you said that we shouldn't," she said to Dumbledore, "but I need to know. Unless," she said, taking two steps forward before second-guessing her decision, "That won't add to the complications will it?" she asked. "It won't make them worse?"
"No," Hermione answered without delay. "We woke Ron up," she added, blushing slightly as she remembered how they'd woken him up, "even if it was accidental. He doesn't seem to be any worse off for it. You feel all right, don't you?" she asked Ron just to be certain.
"I suppose," he replied, after taking a moment to think about it. "My chest still hurts," he admitted, "and I'm knackered, but other than that…"
"So you think it would be all right?" Molly asked Hermione hopefully. "Just for a moment," she said, shifting her gaze to Dumbledore seeking his permission. "Just long enough to be sure that the spell Fred cast worked."
"It would be better to let it happen naturally," Dumbledore stated, "but I understand that as his mother, you'd find it difficult to wait. A few moments," he relented, after glancing at all the eager faces in the room, "provided those of you that are patients do as Madam Pomfrey asked and return to your beds first," he said, looking pointedly at Ron and Hermione. "Your brothers are not the only ones that need time to convalesce."
"Oh, all right," Hermione muttered under her breath, clearly disgruntled about something. Nevertheless, she allowed Ron to steer her back towards her bed. But I'm not going to sleep until I get that talisman back, she vowed, and I'm not taking any sleeping potions either.
"And afterwards," Dumbledore said, as the two teens climbed into their respective beds, "I must insist that those of you that are not patients allow those that are to get their rest. Molly, I'll need you to go to St. Mungo's and retrieve Bill. Tell him we need his assistance and ask him to meet us in my office. Tonks, if you'd be so kind as to escort these two back to Gryffindor tower before meeting us," he said, nodding his head towards Harry and Ginny. "In the meantime, I'll head Rufus off before he has a chance to disturb any of the 'patients'. Now then, about George," he said, shifting his focus back to the young man lying on a hospital cot a few feet away. "Would you like to wake him?" he asked Molly, "or would you rather Poppy or myself do it?"