Why her?

Ron was having a dreadful nightmare. His mother was on the other side of a solid stone wall without door. He could hear her screaming, over and over, I couldn't reach her. He pounded desperately on the wall, only to see his hands sink into the stone as if it were water.

"Ouch!" Ron sat up in his fourposter bed, clutching the hand he had smashed against the unyielding wall next to his bed. He rocked back and forth, squeezing the throbbing hand between his thighs.

Seamus, Dean and Neville were all three staring down at him, shock clearly written across their faces.

"Hey mate, you have been dreaming. It's okay. But what was that with your mother being ... raped? At least that's what it was sounding like ... but that couldn't be ... sure you don't mean ... do you?" stuttered Neville nervously.

Dean and Seamus seemed just as worried and nervous as Neville. But then Ron noticed that one face was missing.

"Where is Harry?"

Ron tried to change the subject. He didn't want to talk about his mother and what had happened to her. Dean and Neville were his friends, admittedly not as close as Harry that they had helped him through some tough times, but Seamus had lost the trust of his friends when he called Harry a liar.

Dean and Seamus exchanged a curious glance. Neville looked down to the floor and his ears turned pink. It was Dean who answered him.

"Harry's in the hospital wing. He said something about seeing Madam Pomfrey and asking her if he could help with her patients."

Seamus leaned closer to Ron and asked him:

"Do you know what that means? He, too, slept uneasily and woke up sweat-drenched and pale."

"No, I don't know but I think I'll go to the hospital wing myself and ask him what's wrong."

With that Ron got up and dressed. Down in the common room he met the twins.

"Seamus told me that Harry is in the hospital wing. Let go see what happens."

Both his brothers agreed and then left the common room through the portrait hole. The twins were both very quiet and it unusually serious. Neither one of them was in the mood for jokes and pranks. On the contrary, Fred and George were both casting sidelong glances to the youngest Weasley. Bill had told them about Ron's stopping of Lucius Malfoy. Ron had grown substantially in their regard. For the first time he had shown real bravery and neither Fred nor George could be prouder of him. Of course they knew that Ron had been on adventurous with Harry. There the boys had had each other for support and Hermione's brains to get them out of dangerous situations. The twins had been disappointed when they noticed that Charlie and the other order members had kept them out of the real fighting. Now their mother lay in a bed in the hospital wing and neither boy knew how seriously injured she was. One question repeated itself over and over again in their heads: would she be all right? The other question was: why her?

When they enter the hospital wing, Ron instantly noticed Harry sitting on a stool at Prof McGonagall's side. Albus Dumbledore sat next to him and watched his wife with tears in his eyes. Then he noticed both his parents lying on a bed opposite Prof McGonagall's bed. His mother seemed so much better than yesterday. The bruises and cuts on her face had almost vanished completely overnight. His mother was peacefully asleep in his father's arms. Arthur Weasley fixed his gaze on his three sons.

"Your mother is all right. Her injuries are healing and the emotional damage ... well, I hope ... she can handle ... I mean ... she's strong, she'll be fine."

Fred and George came bustling over and Ron followed them hesitantly. Arthur looked up at his youngest son and smiled.

"I heard about your little adventure. Bill told me all about it and I'm very proud of you. You saved his life and that of Emmeline. You are a true hero."

Ron shrugged his father's comment off.

"Then why am I feeling this rotten?", he asked wearily.

Harry walked over to Ron and put on an arm around his best friend's shoulder. He knew exactly what went on in Ron's mind. He too had doubts about the battle and his participation in it. He should have killed Voldemort as was his fate. But he had hesitated and Dumbledore had cursed Voldemort.

His gaze fell onto Mrs Weasley and he sighed heavily. This woman had been like a mother to him ever since the summer after his first year in Hogwarts. He had been just as panicked and worried as her real children. He had asked himself repeatedly why the death-eaters had been after her. He just couldn't find a reason why anyone should abduct Molly Weasley. Then his mind turned to Professor McGonagall in the other bed. She hadn't deserved that hell either. So why her?

His dark thoughts were interrupted by Mrs Weasley who had begun to stirr and wake up. Still tired she sat up. When she noticed her sons, she smiled warmly at all and even gave her husband is soft but shy kiss on the lips.

"Morning everybody. Is Minerva better?"

Albus came over and nodded to Molly Weasley. He smiled are reassuring smile and waved a hand in the direction of the sleeping Minerva.

"Good. I am so relieved. Would you please excuse me? I have to talk to Poppy", she said, got up and disappeared into the matron's office without explanation.

Fred and George looked at each other and came to a decision. Keeping a cautious eye out for their father, the twins extracted extendable ears from their pockets and gave everyone present an ear.

Luckyly the door wasn't protected against their new invention. As soon as they put their ears to the fleshy coloured extendable ear they heard Molly's voice as if standing right next to her.

"Poppy, be honest to me. Could I be pregnant?"

The present company gasped in unison with Madam Pomfrey. Arthur held his breath.

"You could be. I'm not quite sure yet but if you're willing we could do a test. Do you have any reason to believe that you are?"

"Malfoy destroyed my pregnancy charm. I haven't thought about the possibility that Arthur mentioned something along those lines. He ... he made ... made love to me last night to give me, and him, the benefit of the doubt. I ... I can't be pregnant ... it is preposterous ... I mean ... I'M NOT!"

All the men outside involuntarily stepped back from the door, even though Molly couldn't see them. Fred and Ron stared horrified at their father, silently berating him for not waiting until their mother was whole again. George's eyes overflowed and tears streamed down his face.

"Molly, I'm sorry but you could be. The thing is that we can't make a pregnancy test before two weeks have passed. That is the earliest I can do this test with you and be absolutely sure. I'm sorry, Molly."

Everyone could hear Mrs Weasley crying and it seemed that her sons were feeling with her. George in particular seemed overwhelmed. He is the extendable ear away from him and dashed out the hospital wing.

----

Séléne walked quietly along the corridors of the school she loved so much and thanked God that he had saved Molly and Minerva. Suddenly a heavy weight bumped into her and nearly knocked her off her feet. She heard crying and the reprimand on her lips died away. She recognised George.

"What happened? Why are you crying?"

"It's about my mother. She is in the hospital wing, badly injured and probably traumatised for the rest of her life, yet she is more worried about Minerva McGonagall. Mum just asked Madam Pomfrey if she could be pregnant. Isn't that horrible?"

Séléne was shocked but not surprised. As a girl she had thought about a possible pregnancy almost naturally. Of course for George and his brothers, being male, it came as a shock. She had to admit though that the thought was horrible.

"Don't worry. She'll be all right. I mean, she can't be pregnant. Perhaps menopause has already set in. Then she's save."

There was little hope that she wanted to try and comfort her boyfriend.

"Come, let's go out to the lake and talk about it."

The rest of the day George and Séléne spend talking to each other and the Weasley family. George finally shared his knowledge of the danger his mother had been in with his siblings and friends. And she assured him that it was NOT his fault their mother had been abducted nonetheless. Fred wacked him over the head and asked him seriously what he could have done to prevent that anyway.