AN: Sorry about the delay. I had a hard time writing this chapter. This is the third rewrite and very little even hints at what I starte with. Hope you enjoy it!
Gabwr, Zoran, Hatori Soma - thank you all for leaving reviews. If it wasn't for your support I may have given up all together with all the trouble I had with this chapter. Please keep the reviews coming!
William was sitting by Percy's bedside, trying to keep his nephew's fever down, when he heard someone enter the room. He looked up, expecting to see one of the medical staff, Charlie, or an unhappy Molly. Molly had refused to leave Percy's side, even after William had found a small suite of rooms for the family at a hotel only a block away, as Arthur was bringing the other kids here. When she had finally fallen asleep around dawn, William had carried her there. Charlie had been sleeping on the couch. With Molly finally getting some decent rest, William had returned to his nephew's side.
It wasn't any of those people though. Looking up, William saw his brother Arthur standing in the doorway.
"When did you get here?" William asked glancing at the clock on the wall. It was almost noon.
"Just now. I would have been here sooner but Oliver wanted to come. Convincing his parents wasn't a problem. Convincing McGongall was a different story. They're in the waiting room. The hospital doesn't want that many people in here at one time."
"I found a vacant suite of rooms in a hotel only a block from here. There's only two bedrooms but there's cots for the kids. It was the best I could do on short notice. Last I knew, Molly and Charlie are there now resting.
"It'll be fine," Arthur reassured him, surprised at how grown up William was acting. It wasn't that long ago that Arthur had been wondering if William would ever grow up. "You mean you got Molly to leave Percy's side."
"Not willingly," William admitted stifling a yawn. He hadn't realized how tired he was. "I don't think she's going to be to happy when she wakes up there."
Arthur nodded a slight smile on his face. He knew how stubborn Molly could be. The fact that William had gone against her wishes was just going to give her another reason to be angry with him.
"How about we let the kids come in here a couple at the time to see Percy and then you can take them and get them settled and I'll sit with Percy for awhile. Then you can get some sleep yourself," Arthur told his younger brother having seen the yawn that Will had tried to hide.
"Sleep sounds good," Will admitted.
Arthur turned to leave the room and came face to face with his second eldest son.
"Dad!" Charlie said surprised and glad that his father was finally here. "Are the others with you?"
"In the waiting room. The hospital doesn't want us all in here at the same time," Arthur told his son. "Will seeing as Charlie's here, why don't you go get some sleep now. I'll get the kids settled in myself."
"You sure?" Will asked standing up.
"Yes. You look horrible. Go get some sleep," Arthur said ushering his younger brother out of the room. That left Charlie and Arthur. "How you holding up?"
"I'm doing okay," Charlie told his father. "I'm glad you're here though. Mom's taking everything hard and I'm at a loss as to what to do to make her feel any better. She's barely sleeping and getting her to eat hasn't been much easier."
"Well don't you worry about it. I'll take care of it. I'm going to need your help with the kids though. Help me keep them out of trouble and make sure they keep up with their schoolwork."
"You can count on me Dad," Charlie replied. Arthur rested his hand on his son's shoulder.
"I'm going to go back to the others and let them know what's going on," Arthur said after a few moments.
As his father left, Charlie went over to the chair that William had vacated only moments before. Taking the cloth from Percy's forehead, he dipped it into the basin of ice water, wrung it out, and placed it back on Percy's forehead. He had hoped that his brother would have been showing some improvement by now. Charlie could tell that wasn't the case.
It wasn't long before he heard footsteps coming into the room. He looked over his shoulder to see Fred and George coming slowly into the room. It was one of the few times that he remembered ever seeing the twins quiet. He also noted a guilty look on their faces. Charlie made a mental note to question them later.
A low moan caused Charlie to look down. Percy's eyes were open, but he didn't appear to be focusing on anything. Fred and George went around the bed to the side opposite of Charlie.
"Percy," Charlie said taking his brother's hand. He saw Percy's lips move but couldn't make out what he said. " What was that?" he asked leaning closer.
"Where am I?" Percy asked. Even leaning close Charlie could barely hear him.
"At St. Mungo's," Charlie told him. "Everyone's here now."
"Yeah you got us all out of school for a few days," Fred said from where he was standing, just behind George who was sitting on the edge of the bed.
Percy started to laugh but ended up coughing instead. Charlie grabbed the glass of water off the bedside table and supporting Percy's shoulders held the glass to his lips while he drank some of the water.
"I feel so tired," Percy said softly as he leaned back against the pillows.
"Percy, don't give up now," Charlie said hearing the defeat in his brother's voice as he took Percy's hand again but Percy had already fallen back asleep.
The twins hung around for a little while longer and then left. Ron and Ginny came in next. Ginny wasted no time. She went right over to the bed and perched on the side of it, taking one of Percy's hand in hers. Charlie suppressed a smile as Ginny started telling Percy things that had happened at school as if she knew he could hear her.
Listening to Ginny chatter, Charlie looked over at his brother Ron. Ron had only taken a couple steps into the room. He stood there looking toward the bed. It took Charlie a few moments to realize that his youngest brother was crying. Getting up from the chair he crossed over to him and knelt down in front of him.
"Ron what's wrong?" Charlie asked.
"The last time I talked to Percy I said some mean things to him. I told him he cared more about becoming Head Boy than he did his family."
"Oh Ron, you know that isn't true. Percy cares about you. About all of us."
"I know, I was just angry, and now those might be the last words I ever said to him," Ron said more tears falling.
Charlie reached out and pulled him into a hug.
"I'm sure Percy knows you didn't mean it," Charlie told him reassuringly, hoping to make Ron feel better.
As expected, Molly had not been happy when she woke up in the bedroom at the hotel. Arthur had been there at the time and after twenty minutes had managed to calm her down some. After hugging each of her other children, Molly was heading back to Percy's room.
Charlie had given his mother the chair next to Percy's bed when she came in, Arthur not far behind. He had hung around for a little while but then had left the room. He couldn't stay in the room any longer, listening to his brother's labored breathing and his mother's crying, not knowing which was worse.
Feeling helpless, he had slipped out of the room leaving his parents sitting silently by Percy's side. He had started walking away from the room, with no destination in mind. Just walked.
Eventually he had found himself sitting on a park bench watching the squirrels and the birds who were hanging about, trying not to think about anything. Not about losing a brother. About how that would affect his family. Affect the other students at the school too. And what if Percy didn't die but he also didn't make a full recovery? How would all their lives change then?
As much as he was trying not to think about those things, he still couldn't seem to keep his mind off them. Tears began to blur his vision. He wiped the first few away, but as they kept coming he finally just let them roll down his cheeks.
Charlie didn't know how long he had been siting there when he felt a hand come to rest on his shoulder. He jumped at the touch even as he turned to see who was there, expecting his uncle or his father. It wasn't either of them.
"Bill!" Charlie said surprised to see his older brother. Charlie stood up wiping tears away although Bill probably had already seen them even in the dim light coming from nearby street lamps. Darkness had fallen while he had been sitting there. "When did you get here?"
"About twenty minutes ago. Mom sent me to find you. When Uncle Will told her you hadn't gone back to the hotel after you left she started to get worried," Bill said giving his younger brother a hug.
"I just needed some time alone," Charlie said stepping back from his brother. " I didn't mean to be gone this long though," he said looking around and realizing that night had fallen. "How's Percy doing?"
"Mom said there hasn't been much change," Bill said.
"Bill what if . . . " Charlie's started to say, his words fading off as he got choked up.
Bill reached out and pulled Charlie into a hug again. He wanted to tell him that everything was going to be okay. That Percy would make it. However, he had seen his brother and knew he couldn't make those kinds of promises. He shared Charlie's fears. They really could lose Percy this time.
Bill had always taken his role as the eldest seriously. Had always gone out of his way to try and protect them. Try as he may though, he had long ago learned that he couldn't protect them from everything and this was one of those times.
"How about we head back before she sends someone looking for the both of us," Bill told his brother a few minutes later.
Stepping back, Charlie nodded. The last thing he wanted to be doing was worrying their mother even more.
Bill kept and arm around his brother's shoulder as they headed out of the park and back toward the hospital.
Charlie walked into the hotel suite. The last two days had been draining. Percy was still hanging on but there had been no signs of improvement. He'd wake up from time to time for a few minutes, each time not being aware of where he was. Between his parents, Bill, Uncle Will, Oliver and himself they had sat at Percy's bedside around the clock. Charlie wondered how much longer this could possibly go on. He had just once again relinquished his spot to his mother.
Charlie looked around the room. The twins and Ron were sitting on the couch, absently flipping through channels on the tv. It had taken awhile but he had finally drug the story about the dare and Percy coming out to find them in the rain out of the twins. Charlie didn't know whether to console his twin brothers or strangle the both of them.
Ginny was sitting at the table next to Oliver, who was helping her with homework. When he wasn't by Percy's side or sleeping, Oliver had been helping out with the younger kids along with making sure that the twins kept up on their homework too. Charlie couldn't help but wonder if he was finding time to keep up with his own studies.
Charlie spotted his father in the kitchenette and headed over toward him.
"Hungry?" Arthur asked his son looking up from the sandwich he was making.
Charlie shook his head. Food was the last thing on his mind.
"Bill?"
"In the bedroom laying down. He's relieving your mother."
Charlie nodded.
"I think I'm just going to lay down myself. Should anything happen . . ."
"Don't worry. I'll let you know," Arthur told his second eldest son patting his shoulder. Arthur watched as Charlie left the room and headed toward the bedroom that he, Bill and Oliver were sharing. His parents and Uncle Will were sharing the other bedroom while the younger kids had sleeping bags out on the floor in the main room. It was cramped but at least they were all together. Getting the younger kids to keep up on their schoolwork was another challenge in itself, especially the twins. Arthur and Molly were happy to have Oliver's help in that area.
Arthur stood in the doorway of the kitchenette watching the scene in front of him. He had especially been keeping an eye on George and Fred. The twins were much quieter than usual. Arthur knew they were still feeling guilty about Percy getting sick. He wished there was something he could do or say to make them feel better but he didn't know what that could possibly be.
Waking up, Bill glanced down at his watch hitting the button to light it up. It was midnight. Time to go and relieve his mother.
Slipping quietly off of the cot, Bill left the bedroom. Out in the main room the lights were out and the others were all asleep now. Being careful not to step on anyone, Bill headed for the door. There were few lights on in the hallway as Bill headed for the elevator. Minutes later he was out on the street heading for the hidden wizard hospital. He had lost count how many times he had walked this route. Didn't want to think about how many more times he would walk it.
Reaching the room, Bill opened the door and walked in. The only light was from a lamp on the bedside stand. It was enough light for Bill to be able to see his mother kneeling by the bedside, head down. He could tell she was crying.
"Mom?" Bill said tentatively walking a few steps into the room. He was thinking the worse.
When she didn't answer he kept walking slowly toward the bed. He kept his eyes on his little brother, looking for some sign of life. When he saw Percy's chest rise, Bill let out the breath he had been holding. His brother was still hanging on.
Bill knelt down next to her and put his arms around her shoulders.
"Are you okay?" he asked her softly.
His Mom looked up at him. Bill could see a small smile on her face.
"His fever broke," she said, relief evident in her voice.
Bill reached out and touched his brother's forehead. Sure enough, it was cool to the touch. Now if only his breathing wasn't so labored.
"Why don't you go get some rest," Bill told herhelping her to her feet.
"But . . ."
"Mom you need to rest yourself or your going to get sick," Bill said interrupting her. He could see the hesitation on her face as she looked back down at Percy. "Do I need to go back to the hotel and wake up Dad?"
"I'm going," Molly told her son giving in. She wrapped her arms around her eldest son, hugging him close. "Take care of your brother."
"I always have Mom," Bill told her softly as he hugged her back.
She let him go, and with one last look down at Percy headed toward the door. Bill sat down in the chair next to Percy's bed to start another vigil.