Vault 712:
A Harry Potter Treasury
PenPatronus
Chapter / List Three:
Close Calls

1) Make no mistake, Molly Weasley was an excellent mother. But even an excellent mother will accidentally leave bathwater running when her twin sons set a houseplant on fire.

Nine-month-old Ginny didn't mind that the sink was filling with water. It meant that the bubbles were easier to reach, and her pudgy pink fists liked nothing more than to splash. But she did get a little nervous when the suds reached her chin. She squeaked in the direction of the smoke rolling in from the living room. No one came.

But then the rat on the windowsill, who was snoozing in the sunlight, woke up. He blinked, sniffed, and studied the baby, then dove into the water. Scabbers struggled against her flailing limbs for several seconds before wrapping his jaw around the plug at the bottom of the sink. He yanked it out, and managed to out-swim the whirlpool.

When Molly hurried back in a minute later, she found Ginny sitting in an empty sink, petting a shivering rat.

2) Hermione was in labor with Rose for ten hours.

Ron had Apparated away the day before on an urgent mission with the Aurors. He and Harry were in Egypt, a thousand miles away.

She couldn't stop crying. The pain reminded her of lying on the floor of Malfoy Manor, writhing under the Cruciatus Curse. She remembered Bellatrix's breath, the crack when her wrist broke, the feel of the floor each time her head smacked against it, the hiss of the fire, the sound of Ron screaming her name.

Impossibly, incredibly, the pain grew worse as the night went on. Worse than the Unforgivable. A half-dozen medi-witches fretted over her, and in her feverish state she heard the words "if" and "hopefully," and phrases like "too late" and "maybe we can still save the baby."

And then, in the tenth hour, when her voice was hoarse and her energy was spent, a freckled nose caressed her cheek and lips leaned into hers.

Ron was there. He whispered, "Hermione." The only other time she'd heard such fear in his voice was back at the Manor. "Hermione, breathe."

She forced her eyes to meet her husband's. And she said something Ron never thought he'd hear her say.

"I can't do it…"

Ron shook his head and whispered, "You're Hermione Granger. There isn't a damn thing you can't do!" He cupped her entire face in his hands. "Push!"

3) The first in a series of assassination attempts on Harry Potter occurred just a few days after the Battle of Hogwarts. The Death Eaters neglected to lift their Imperius Curses, and the first order they'd given all of their victims was "Kill Harry Potter."

Stan Shunpike snuck into the Gryffindor common room and found Harry asleep on the couch. He got as far as saying "Avada-" before Ginny stunned him.

4) There were still Death Eaters on the prowl six months after Voldemort's demise. They were out for fun, not revenge. The blood they drank through Voldemort's lips wasn't nearly as sweet as the blood they tasted on their own.

They captured Ron.

They heard about Ron and Harry bringing down a troll when they were just first years. For their own amusement, the Death Eaters arranged a rematch, and Ron didn't have a wand. They tossed him into a pit and made bets on how long it would take the troll to rip him apart.

When Harry and Hermione found him (using the Deluminator), Ron was still on his feet. When Hermione returned two minutes later with reinforcements, only Harry was on his feet, protecting Ron's prone body.

Harry escaped with just a few broken bones. Ron was in a coma for over a week.

5) Harry Potter wasn't the only one who fainted on the Hogwarts Express when the dementors boarded. Dean Thomas had just walked into the loo when the wave of cold hit him. He heard his father screaming, heard his sister crying and saw his mother lying unconscious on the carpet.

Seamus found him, and Dean made him promise to never tell anyone.

6) It was bad enough when Fred's dad was bit by a snake, when his sister disappeared into the Chamber of Secrets, when he was banned from Quidditch, when Ron was poisoned…

…but the worst moment of his life was when his Harry-Potter-shaped twin was hit by Snape's curse.

He had a front row seat. He saw the curse hit George, watched him slump against Lupin while blood exploded from his head. He was slipping, mere inches away from falling off the broom and into some Muggle's chimney. Fred pleaded with his dad as desperately as Harry pleaded with Hagrid, but they had no choice but to retreat. Fred had never felt so helpless, so scared.

That night he didn't get a wink of sleep. He just sat on the edge of George's bed and looked at him.

7) When Ron Weasley was eight, he tried to shimmy up a tree after Fred and George, and ended up sliding back down it. A sharp stub of bark left a scar down the inside of his right thigh as long as a quill. It was in such an embarrassing spot that he refused to let his mother near enough to heal it.

When Hermione discovered that scar she couldn't keep her lips off it.

8) There were still dementors and giant spiders loose after The Battle of Hogwarts. It took weeks to catch them all.

One spider got past the Order and followed its nose into the kitchen.

Kreacher killed it with a saucepan.