Chapter 7
"Help"
"I think we all had a long night," said Mr. Weasley running his hand through his hair, "We should all get home and get some rest. The Healers are going to come up and take care of the bodies…" he gulped, "Bill if you could please make sure your mother gets home. I'll wait."
Bill nodded
"Arthur you need to get some rest as well. I will stay and wait for the Healers." Said Madame Pomfery
"Thank you", said Mr. Weasley with a small smile.
"Neville, Dean, Seamus. I would like to thank you for all your help. I trust you can all get home safely?" Asked Mr. Weasley
"Yes", they said in unison and left the hospital wing.
"Let's use a portkey", said Charlie as he bewitched one of the bedside oil lamps, which was completely illegal.
"Charlie you know you shouldn't do that," Mrs. Weasley scolded.
"I'll accept the fine," he held out the lamp.
They all stood in the center of the room and placed a hand on the lamp. They looked around at each other and tears began to fill their eyes once more. Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, Fleur, George, Lee, Ginny, and Harry disappeared to the burrow.
They landed at the end of the driveway and walked towards the house. It seemed different yet at the same time comforting to see the familiar building. They all looked at each other in confusion as they grew nearer to the house. There was smoke coming from the chimney.
"Who do you think is in there", asked Ginny.
"Dunno", said Mr. Weasley as him Bill, Charlie drew their wands walking into the house first.
"Percy?" Mr. Weasley lowered his wand.
"Hi Dad", said Percy as he placed a plate of pancakes on the table.
Everyone filed into the kitchen as the sweet smell of food entered their nostrils.
"What are you doing?" asked Mr. Weasley shocked to find Percy cooking.
"I've made breakfast…" He looked at the clock and smiled. It was a little after noon. "Brunch" he corrected
"You cooked?" said Charlie with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, I thought everyone maybe a bit hungry or… something", he looked at his shoes.
George walked over to Percy and just stared at him and Percy stared back, he was quite sure he was going to hit him. He was convinced he deserved it… George pulled Percy into a hug and Percy hugged him back.
"I love you", whispered George
"I love you too", said Percy
The rest of the family went over and shared a group hug. Fleur went to the cabinet and began to pull out plates. Following her lead Harry began to pull out the cutlery and Lee went to get cups, not wanting to intrude on the moment. They began to set the table, eventually the Weasley's broke their hug and sat down around the table everyone eating silently, until…
"Percy for a stale git you sure can cook", said George smiling across the table at Percy.
"Thanks… I think," said Percy
Everyone laughed
"Remember that time Fred and George tried to lock you in that tomb in Egypt?" Charlie Laughed
They all stared at him.
"What! Too soon," he asked looking apologetic.
"No," Ginny began laughing, "hilarious!"
Everyone started laughing. Mr. Weasley smiled slightly and excused himself from the table. Everyone fell silent again…
"I'll go see if he's okay," said Bill rising from his seat
"No!" Mrs. Weasley put her hand up to stop her son, she looked weary, "I will go check," She gave a half smile rising from her chair, "finish eating."
She left the room and everyone remained silent, the only sound was knives and forks scrapping plates. George pushed his plate anyway from him. He folded his arms on the table and rested his head on them. Everyone stopped eating and stared at him as the muffled sound of his cries filled the room.
It seemed like an eternity before he sat up, his face was red and blotchy he rubbed away any remaining tears and said, "we'll… have to prepare… for the… umm… funeral," another tear fell from his eye at those words and he quickly wiped it away.
"I'll take care of it… I don't want Mum and Dad to have to worry about that right now," said Percy looking down at his hands.
"Don't go staling it up," warned George.
Percy forced a smile, "I know what will suit him perfectly."
_HERMIONE'S HOUSE_
Hermione apparated to the front of her house, she walked up the front steps onto the porch. She placed her hand on the doorknob and stopped. She remembered that she didn't really have any parents. She had placed a memory charm on them and sent them to Australia. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at the lock. "Alohomora." She pushed the door open and stepped into the deserted house. It was incredibly dusty and all the furniture was covered with white sheets. She sat on the bottom step and put her head in her hands.
What am I going to do now? I have no idea where Mum and Dad actually are and there isn't a book to help me out of this one. This day keeps getting worse. I was completely insensitive to Ron, which is weird because that's usually his specialty. Fred is dead and Professor Lupin and Tonks are gone too. To make matters worse Harry is going to stay on my case about the whole Draco incident. Why did Draco Malfoy save my life? Hermione shrugged it off and went into the living room and pulled the sheet off of the sofa. She lay down across the sofa thinking tomorrow would be much better. Ron would be found and Harry hopefully wouldn't act stupid. She turned on her opposite side to look out the window. As the sun shone brightly Hermione's eyes fluttered and she drifted off to sleep.
CRACK!
Ron's eyes shot open at the sound of someone apparating. He put his hands to his face and wiped away the sleep only to become extremely pissed off as he felt the round pussy boils. "I guess that's what I get for agreeing to live with Malfoy." He looked at the gold watch his parents had given him for his birthday. "9:50!" He jumped to his feet so fast he fell over again. He sniffed under his armpits, thought he smelled okay and quickly apparated to the alley behind the Sighler. He walked around to the main entrance.
Draco was already behind the bar filing drink orders. He glared at the sight of Ron and immediately went to assist another costumer. Tim was right it's really busy. Every seat was filled and people were still waiting to be seated.
"WEASLEY!" Shouted Tim from the kitchen doors and then disappeared through them again. Ron walked through the swinging doors. There was a cramped kitchen. On the right were two doors. One was Tim's office the other had lockers and a staff break area. Tim waved Ron into his office.
"Here," he tossed Ron a black T-shirt that said Sighler. "Your locker is number 7, get a lock. What happened to your face?" He asked while walking out of his office with Ron on his heel over to the swinging doors and peered through the window. Ron looked through the window on the other door.
"Umm… I just had a… allergic reaction to umm…" he searched his mind for something, "… squid."
Tim looked at him skeptically and shook his head, "Anyway, as you can see we are very busy. There isn't much time for formal training so here it goes. The tables are numbered from left to right, one through twenty. They are divided into four sections. Your section is three that's tables nine through twelve", he pointed out the tables "Sid, Daphne, and Mike have split up your tables for now. But once they are clear it's all on you. It's not that hard customer looks at menu tells you what they want you write it down." He handed Ron an order book and a pen, "make sure you press hard so the order transfer to both sheets. Top copy goes onto the carousel," he pointed to the round thing holding order slips. "Bottom copy goes to the register to print the bill. Money goes in register and tips in your pocket. We don't have bust boys so you must clear and wipe down your own tables. And it looks like your time has come." Tim picked up a bucket that had a rag and cleanser in it, "table ten is clear. Good luck."
Ron quickly changed into his shirt and apron. He slid the order book into the pocket on the apron, grabbed the bucket and began to clear his first table.
After dropping and magically repairing an uncountable number of dishes, miss counting change, and mixing up almost all the orders Ron was convinced that he was fired. But when Tim didn't say anything he decided not to bring it up. Other then that the night couldn't have been better except for the strange looks he got over his boil situation and unfortunately Draco got a lot of, "poor baby" from girls he told this ridiculous story to about a swarm of bees in the park.
"Help" The Beatles
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