Chapter 7: Christmas 2016
The tea kettle whistled bringing Hermione to her mother's kitchen to prepare the tea. She loved Christmas Eve, and this year was no exception. Rose and Hugo were set up in front of her parents' Christmas tree trying to assemble the train set with the two grandfathers. Her mum and Mrs. Creevey were sitting with Fiona on the sofa. Fiona had been hurt at work recently, so she was taking it easy and propped up on pillows. Hermione was laying out the mugs to pour the tea as Dennis came up beside her.
"Can I help?"
"Well, sure I suppose. Can you set these plaid mugs up on the tray?"
"Of course. That I can definitely do," Dennis said as he arranged the mugs. "Feels good to do something concrete right now. I have felt rather useless these past few days."
"But Fiona is doing so much better now. You said the doctors said she will be back at full speed in a few weeks."
"I know. She will. Well – if she is patient enough to let herself heal anyway. But knowing that they tried to hurt her, and her partner jumped in front of her to protect her and now he is still unconscious in the hospital – it just, I mean…" Dennis teared up and couldn't finish. Hermione engulfed him in a hug and held him tightly.
"My shoulder is always here for you to cry on, Dennis. It always has been and always will."
She held him as he sobbed quietly.
"Oh no, I've soaked your jumper, Hermione. I am so sorry."
"Never apologize for being honest with your family, Dennis. It's what we are here for."
"I was just scared, you know? I mean, I knew what she did for a living before we got married. I always knew there was a risk with her job. But, she's never ended up in the hospital before. And if it wasn't for her partner, she could have died. And now he still may die. I feel such a mix of relief and gratitude and guilt and anger that I can hardly hold it in."
"I didn't know her partner was still in such critical condition."
"Yes. Ron – I think you met him at the wedding and Hugo's baptism a long time ago. He's quite banged up and still in a coma. The doctors aren't sure if he'll wake up, or if he does if he will still be himself. And here we are celebrating Christmas as usual, and he is in a hospital bed, and his family is sitting in uncomfortable chairs worried about the worst. It's not fair. It's not fair that he's there and Fiona isn't. It's not fair that Ron's family and my family have already felt such loss that this is familiar territory. It's not fair that they have jobs where they can be hurt like this while I safely work with my dad arranging home milk delivery. It's ridiculous!"
"I can't argue with any of that. And I'm a solicitor. I argue for a living."
"Hugo almost lost his mum. And he doesn't know that, of course. But, I do. And part of me wants to ask her to change jobs. Or at least switch to a role with her department that is less dangerous. Or maybe teach at the training academy or something. Then again I know someone needs to be out there protecting society from jerks like the ones who put her in the hospital. And I know I love her for who she is and part of that is that she loves being a detective. I am just a damn mess, Hermione!"
"Well, I know you can't solve it all tonight. Tonight you need to hug your wife and enjoy your son. Tomorrow morning is probably the last time Hugo will wake you up at the crack of dawn believing Father Christmas has left him presents under the tree. You know better than anyone that nothing is guaranteed. So treasure today. And come Boxing Day, be there for her partner and his family. Be there for Fiona as I am sure this is complicated for her too. And if you need to come cry on my shoulder, then do so. I'll be here."
"You're the best, Hermione."
"Yes. Please be sure to mention that to Father Christmas as I am really hoping for a new bicycle," she teased.
Harry pulled the glasses off of his nose and rubbed his eyes wearily. He'd told the family he would stay the rest of Christmas night so that everyone else could be back at The Burrow. He'd enjoyed family time with his kids and Ginny that morning, but truly didn't think he could be at The Burrow for Christmas night without Ron. Ron was his first family and the first person who loved him unconditionally. He'd seen Ron close to death many times, but not for many years. And it had rattled him to the core.
Ron, ever the self-sacrificing twat, had jumped in front of the curse intended for Fiona. In doing so, he'd saved her life and put his own in danger. And given the chance, Harry knew Ron would make the same choice every time.
On top of worrying about when Ron would wake up, he was feeling guilty for assigning this particular case to Ron and Fi. Of course he knew that was his job, but he was Harry Potter. He felt guilty about everything. But worse than that, was he couldn't piece it all together.
Ron and Fi had been trying to bust a smuggling ring where someone was bringing dangerous substances into England and trying to sell them into the potion supply market as pure ingredients. He hadn't been a potions expert, but even he knew that if you think you're adding one thing but add another, things tend to go bad very quickly. And they had – there had been explosions, poisoned children and a whole litany of less serious problems as well. Fi had tip that suggested there would be a delivery of the fake ingredients in this seedy part of London. Ron and Fi had both taken polyjuice to look like some local shopkeepers so they could sit and see everything. They had also taken the standard precautions of putting muggle repelling charms on themselves and the shop. But according to Fi's report, this muggle woman who she actually knew, had wondered into the shop right as the deal was going down. Fi said the muggle woman was actually Dennis' close family friend, and that her daughter and Hugo were as close as his kids and their cousins. Fi said this woman worked with refugees, so her being in this questionable part of town was plausible. But she shouldn't have been able to go into the shop unless she was a witch, and Fi said she was sure she wasn't a witch. The woman hadn't recognized Fi thanks to the polyjuice, but something caught her eye and she started getting really chatty with Fi. Finally Fi got her out, but by then the deal had gone down. All of that would have been nothing but a missed opportunity except for what happened next. The suspect then came into the store to buy some cigarettes, which Fi then sold to him. But right then polyjuice started to wear off. As Fi's distinctive bright colored hair started reappearing, the suspect realized what was going on. He immediately went to curse Fi, and Ron took the hit.
So now Ron was unconscious, Fi was injured, their secret investigation was blown, and something was wrong with their basic muggle repelling charm and their polyjuice. The polyjuice issue he could figure out in his head – maybe the auror department had purchased some of the bogus ingredients; maybe it wasn't allowed to brew for the proper amount of time; maybe Ron & Fi hadn't taken it every hour as they needed to. But what was wrong with their muggle repelling charms? He couldn't think of any plausible argument. They hadn't changed the charm. It was just barmy to think that after all these years Ron and Fi simultaneously both screwed up the same charm at the exact same time. So what had changed?
Harry looked at Ron in the bed. His breathing was steady, but he hadn't moved a muscle since he'd been brought in. It was strange to see him so still. He had slept in the same room as Ron for almost ten years, and Ron never slept in one position for very long. He would start on his back, wake himself up snoring and then turn to his side or his stomach for a few hours.
He felt for Ron, too. When Harry had been injured a few times over the years, Ginny was always the one who kept vigil at his side. When Fi was injured, Dennis was constantly with her. But Ron, the most loving and self-sacrificing person he knew, had not found the witch he sought. So it was Harry, Ginny, George, Bill and his parents taking turns. He was deeply loved by his family, but not in the way Harry knew he wanted a family.
Harry was pulled from his thoughts by the growl of his own stomach. Kicking himself for not bringing something from home, he drank some water to try and feel full for a bit. He absolutely refused to leave the room in case Ron woke up. He just would not let him be alone. A few minutes later the door opened slowly, and Harry was surprised to see Dennis Creevey poke his head in.
"Dennis?"
"Happy Christmas, Harry. How is Ron doing?"
"No change, really. Is Fi alight? What brings you here on Christmas?"
"Fi's fine, thanks to Ron. She's at home with Hugo and my parents cleaning up from dinner. I just wanted to bring you some food. I figured it would be you here tonight. Actually I brought two dinners in the hopes that the smell of my mum's Christmas cooking could wake him up. There's some Christmas crackers in there too that Hugo packed for you two."
"That's brilliant, Dennis. Thanks."
"I owe him everything, Harry."
"I know, Dennis. So do I."
"Do you need a break for a few minutes? I could sit here a bit."
"No, now that I have some food I am all set. Thank you so much for that."
"Alright. I'll just leave this here and will pop back home. Don't hesitate to send a patronus if you do need a break. I'd love to do anything I can, you know."
"I promise, Dennis. Thanks again. And tell your family Happy Christmas as well."
"Will do, mate."
And with that, Dennis left the room.
"Did you hear that, Ron? Dennis brought his mum's Christmas dinner for us. It smells amazing. Nothing like that gruel St. Mungo's tries to pass off as food. I know you must be hungry, Ron. Even in the damn tent you didn't go this long without eating at least something. That insane Weasley metabolism must have been impacted by that curse or else the hunger alone would have woken you by now."
Harry unpacked the dinner onto the hospital table that would go over the bed. He decided to set up both places on the off chance Ron woke up. Tucking in to the Yorkshire pudding, Harry concluded that Mrs. Creevey was an excellent cook. Not quite as amazing as Molly Weasley, but pretty darn close.
"You should wake up, mate. This is so delicious that if you don't wake up soon I am going to have to eat your share. And trust me when I say you do not want to miss out on this. You really should wake up, Ron. I've been through the sappy stuff already. But now you just need to wake your arse up and eat this Christmas dinner with me. And your loving godson sent Christmas crackers for you. So – if you don't wake up, I might just have to dress you up in a Christmas crown and take pics to post around the department too. That could be motivation enough to snap you out of whatever dreamland you're in."
Harry accidentally bumped the table and since it was on wheels, it quickly jostled and set off a rather spectacular chain reaction. As he grabbed to steady the drink, his jumper sleeve caught the knife, which hit the fork in such a precise angle that it flung mashed potatoes and gravy right on to Ron's face as well as covering Harry's lap in Brussel sprouts. Laughing, Harry got up to clean everything up. He was about to point his wand at Ron to scourgify him, and saw that Ron's face twitched.
"Ron? Ron, can you hear me? I just covered you in Christmas dinner, so you could wake up and laugh now. Or eat it."
He saw Ron scrunch his face and go to lick his lips and flinch at the taste of something. His eyes popped open as he licked at the mashed potatoes.
"What the? Harry? Where am I? Why are there potatoes on my face?"
Harry burst into a grin. "Happy Christmas, Ron! Really good to see you." Harry proceeded to tell him where he was, and what had happened. As Harry spoke, it all came back to Ron, and he was clearly relieved that Fi was ok. They brought the healer in to check Ron, and everyone was relieved that Ron seemed to have come through it ok. It was near eleven when the healer finished up. Harry sent a patronus to the family letting them know the good news, but said Ron was going to sleep now and to definitely NOT come visit until mid-morning at the earliest. He sent one to Fi and Dennis as well, and then they tucked in to the Christmas feast.
