A/N – From this week I am adding an additional update to this story. I will now be posting on a Wednesday along with the usual Tuesday and Thursday. This is so I can get this story finished over the next few weeks, before I turn my attention to my xmas stories. Annoyingly, I am still not getting e-mails from the site, and despite complaining virtually every day, nothing is being done to sort the problem. However, I will not be abandoning either of my ongoing stories, or the xmas ones I've got planned. So I hope you all enjoy the remaining chapter of Slytherin Princess.
Following their visit to Hogsmeade, Harry and Ron savoured the task of finding the perfect words to send to Hermione. In the end they settled on something that was short and to the point. Knowing they were dealing with someone smart, they didn't have to spell out they were responsible for what had happened to Draco, but they'd left no doubt about their involvement. They also couldn't resist having a dig about hoping he was still in pain as he knew they would anger her even further.
When the letter was sent, they just then had to sit back and wait for her response. Before sending the letter they'd discussed what sort of retribution they could expect from Hermione with the others, and it had been decided to warn the rest of the Weasleys that trouble could be heading their way. However, with Arthur and Percy still in hospital the rest of the family were either safe at Grimmauld Place, or at St Mungo's. Which did of course leave The Burrow vulnerable, but Bill and Charlie had added a few wards of their own around the house so they would know if that was where Hermione struck.
In the days following the letter, everyone was anxiously waiting for Hermione's response. Given Harry and Ron's rather disastrous meeting with Dean and Seamus, it was decided that writing to them for clues as to how Hermione had reacted to their note was not an option. Ginny did write to her friend, Luna Lovegood, but Luna wasn't the gossiping sort and while she could confirm that Draco was rumoured to be laid up injured, she hadn't noticed Hermione receive and react to any letters. In the end, Remus had contacted McGonagall, under the guise of checking how things were going at Hogwarts. In amongst her bitter complaints about having the likes of Bellatrix on the staff, she mentioned Draco's broken leg which was keeping him out of lessons for the time being. She also mentioned Hermione storming out of breakfast after receiving an owl, but she'd been followed by her friends and a couple of Professors, and next time McGonagall had seen her, she was her usual self.
"Maybe we underestimated her self control," Bill remarked as they scoured the letter from McGonagall, which had reached them on the Friday afternoon, four whole days after Hermione had received the letter from Harry and Ron.
"Or maybe we underestimated how much influence the other Slytherins have on her," Ginny countered. "We've seen for ourselves how they were able to calm her down. And while Malfoy did it the best, Zabini and Nott could also keep her calm. We figured with Malfoy hurt, she would be less likely to listen to them, but clearly we were wrong."
"Maybe it's not them she was listening to," Charlie said, offering another option. "McGonagall said Snape and Lestrange went after her as well. What if they were the ones to calm her down?"
"Bellatrix, calming someone down?" Sirius barked with humourless laughter. "My cousin couldn't calm anyone down. Even as a child she was highly strung and prone to rashness. If anything, she would have been encouraging Hermione's vengeance."
"Whatever the reason, something had clearly gone wrong," Harry muttered. "She should have responded by now."
"Maybe she's just formulating her plan," Ron suggested.
"If she is, that's bad news for us," Remus said softly. "This plan was supposed to anger her and get her to lash out. If she is taking her time and planning her revenge, she's not going to play into our hands. A rational Hermione is a dangerous Hermione."
"Maybe we should have done more than break Malfoy's leg," Bill mused. "Maybe it wasn't enough to spark her anger."
"It would have been enough," Harry predicted confidently. "Our problem was underestimating the people around her. Ginny's right, we figured that with Malfoy hurt, she wouldn't be thinking clearly. But someone has managed to get through to her."
"So what do we do now? Try again?" Ron asked.
"That would be too dangerous," Remus quickly replied before anyone else could agree with Ron's idea. "You can't keep targeting Malfoy and making it look like an accident."
"Who says it has to be Malfoy?" Charlie questioned. "Yes, he was the best option, but Hermione and that monster she calls father do seem to care about other people. There's the other Slytherins, Hermione's mother, even the older Malfoys. If a few of them had accidents, who knows what might happen. We might even hit the jackpot and get You-Know-Who himself to react."
"If several accidents befall people close to Hermione and her father, we could all be killed before anyone gets a chance to decide to fight with us," Remus cautioned. "We can't just rush into this blindly. Maybe it's time we accepted that we can't win this fight."
"Never," Sirius hissed, glaring at his best friend. "I can't believe you are suggesting this, Remus. After everything he has done, you want us to just sit back and accept him as Minister? You want him to get away with what he did to James and Lily?"
"Of course I don't," Remus shot back angrily. "I want him gone as much as you do. But at this moment in time, it is not an equal fight. If we start something with so few of us, we will lose. I don't want anyone else to die fighting a fight we can't win."
"I don't want anyone to die either, but we can't just do nothing," Sirius argued, the anger seeping out of his voice as he focused on his best friend. "The longer he's in charge, the less change we have of gaining people's support. Right now people are keeping their heads down because they're scared, not because they believe in him. But if we don't fight and don't show the world his true colours, people will start to believe in him. People will start to think he's genuinely changed. And once that happens, we're doomed. He'll have all the power he wants. Power someone like him should never have."
"You're right about doing something, but all I'm saying is lets be sensible," Remus cautioned in a tired voice. "It's clear now that provoking them into attacking without provocation is going to be nigh on impossible. So we need to work out how we can get support before we ignite a war we can't possibly win at the moment. How do we convince people to fight without being the first ones to strike? Because once we strike and start something, we're the bad ones. We're the ones people will blame for another war."
Leaving the others to think on his words, Remus got up and left the room. For a moment there was silence as everyone digested what the former Professor had said. Everyone could see he'd made valid points, but they were outweighed slightly by their desire to do something. It was slowly killing them sitting around doing nothing while Voldemort lorded it up as Minister and gained more control over their world every single day. Action had to be taken, and they all knew it had to be taken soon - before it was too late.
Slowly conversation resumed and they discussed how right Remus's words of caution had been. However, despite everyone agreeing that they needed to listen to his advice, they also agreed that they needed to start making plans of their own. They could no longer sit back and wait for the dark to make a mistake. They needed to be the ones to take the initiative. However, ideas of how to strike at the dark were only just starting to flow when the front door flew open and the shouts of Sirius's mother echoed around the house.
Before anyone even got a chance to jump to their feet, the door to the living room banged open and an out of breath Fred rushed in. Instantly everyone jumped to their feet, wondering if they'd given up too soon and Hermione had struck after all. Maybe now they didn't need the be the ones to initiate a new wave of fighting.
"What's wrong?" Bill asked his younger brother. "Has something happened?"
"It's Dad," Fred answered, taking everyone by surprise. Both Arthur and Percy were still in hospital, and while both of their conditions were critical, they were also deemed stable.
"What's happened?" Ron asked. "Has he woken up?"
"No," Fred answered with a shake of his head. "His condition is deteriorating. Mum sent me to get you all. It's not looking good."
"No," Ginny whimpered, shaking her head. All the family had been visiting her father and brother every day, and while there had been no signs of either of them waking up, nor had there been any signs that they would get worse.
"We should go," Bill said softly.
"Let's hope we're not too late," Charlie muttered as everyone moved towards the front door.
Harry also joined the group of red-heads as even though Arthur wasn't his family, he had been like a father to him since he'd arrived in the wizarding world. Sirius also opted to join the group heading to St Mungo's as he wanted to be there for his godson if the worse did happen and Arthur passed away, although since he was a wanted criminal he had to go in his animagus form of a dog.
Rushing off to St Mungo's, leaving Remus to hold the fort at Grimmauld Place, the group made their way to the critical care unit where both Arthur and Percy had been since their admittance over Christmas. When they arrived at the unit Charlie had to persuade the medi-witch to allow Sirius onto the ward in his dog form, but since she seemed to have a soft spot for him, she agreed on the condition he didn't run amok. Entering the ward, they found a sobbing Molly sitting in the waiting area with George comforting her while healers and medi-witches hurried about, rushing in and out of Arthur's room.
"Is Dad … Is he ..." Charlie stumbled, unable to to get the words out.
"They're still trying to save him," George answered quietly as Ginny said down on the other side of Molly and the two witches clung to one another.
"What happened?" Bill asked quietly, drawing the twins away from where Molly was sitting as Ron took George's place at her other side.
"We're not sure," George answered. "Fred and I visited both him and Percy this morning, and they were the same as always. We'd gotten Mum to agree to take a few hours off this afternoon, and we'd just arrived to pick her up when Dad started to convulse. The healers quickly shooed us out, and we haven't heard anything since."
"Did anything happen just before Dad took a turn for the worst?" Bill asked.
"Not that we know of," Fred answered with a shrug. "But as George said, we'd only just arrived. And there was no sign of any change this morning."
"I guess all we can do is wait," Bill said with a sigh as everyone settled down to wait for news.
Waiting for news was torturous, and aside from the sound of Molly and Ginny crying, everyone was silent. Every time some rushed past them they watched intently, and their eyes were glued to Arthur's door as the medical professionals went in and out. Eventually the comings and goings slowed and for almost ten minutes no-one passed them in either direction. And then slowly the door to Arthur's room opened and the healer in charge of the department exited.
"No," Molly wailed upon seeing the sombre expression on the healer's face and the sympathetic look in his eyes. "No, no, no, no, no."
"I am so sorry Mrs Weasley," the healer said softly, bending down and taking Molly's hands in his. "We did all we could for your husband, but his injuries got the better of him. It looks like an infection began overnight and it was too far advanced before it revealed itself."
"So if you'd spotted it sooner, you could have saved him?" Bill demanded sharply.
"Not in the condition your father was in," the healer said with a shake of his head. "His injuries were severe when he came in. To be honest, it's surprising he hung on this long. In his condition anything like an infection was going to finish him off. I'm so sorry. I know we were trying to hold onto hope as he'd survived this long, but it just wasn't to be."
"Can we see him?" Charlie asked in a thick voice as he choked back the tears. Molly and Ginny had already been crying before the healer had delivered the bad news, but now Ron and the twins were also crying along with Harry. He and Bill were the only ones not in tears, but Charlie knew both him and his older brother would shed more than their fair share of tears over the next few days.
"Yes," the healer said as he got back to his feet. "Just give the medi-witches a few minutes to get things straight. You can then go in and see him. And please, take as long as you need."
When one of the medi-witches appeared from Arthur's room and gave them permission to enter, Bill helped his mother to her feet and guided her into the room, while Ginny clung onto Charlie. The twins entered with Ron tucked between them, and Sirius and Harry followed, with Sirius still in his dog form.
In Arthur's room, Molly flung herself down onto her dead husband, sobbing into his chest while their children gathered around them, tears streaming down all of their faces. Standing at the other side of the bed, Harry gazed down at Arthur, who looked so peaceful.
"Thank you," he whispered, taking hold of Arthur's hand. "Thank you for being like a father to me."
"He loved you, Harry," Fred said, smiling weakly over to where Harry was standing. "You were like another son to him."
"Yeah, the one who could answer all his questions about muggles," George added with a watery smile of his own.
"We all love you, Harry," Molly said softly as she straightened herself up. "You're part of this family, so come over here."
With a nudge from Sirius, Harry made his way over to the other side of the room and found himself in the middle of a large Weasley hug. As the entire family clung together to mourn Arthur, Harry was very much included and he was just as devastated as anyone else by the loss of the Weasley patriarch.
As the Weasleys mourned their loss and spent some time saying their goodbyes to Arthur, none of them were aware that a medi-witch who had been working on the critical care unit was taking her break and had hurried out one of the back exits to meet with a shadowy figure.
"He's gone," the medi-witch whispered.
"Excellent," the figure in the shadows replied with a slow smirk. "And the cause of death?"
"It was put down to an infection developing overnight," the medi-witch answered. "The snake venom won't be detected."
"It doesn't really matter if it is," the figure chuckled. "No-one can connect Weasley's death with me. I was never here, do you understand?"
"Of course Lucius," the medi-witch replied.
Nodding in satisfaction, Lucius reached into his robes and handed the medi-witch a bag of gold for her troubles. With an evil cackle, thinking about the suffering the Weasleys and Potter were going through, he turned and vanished on the spot. No-one hurt his son and got away with it.