CH 33 Charlie Weasley Comes Home
Sometimes I think I hate Dragons. I want to thank FriendofMolly for a couple of critical edits and rewrites.
Harry and Arthur Weasley were heading out of the Monday management meeting November twenty first when Arthur received a rather frantic Patronus from Molly. "Charlie has been badly hurt, and we need to go to Romania right now!"
Arthur turned to Harry and said, "When Molly uses a Patronus it's serious!"
"We'll cover for you," said Harry. "Let us know what is going on, when you have time."
Harry then went into his office and called Ginny. "Arthur just got a Patronus that Charlie had been hurt, badly. I think he and Molly are going to Romania."
"A healer from Romania showed up at the New Burrow," Ginny briskly replied, "while I was bringing Lily over here. I need to talk to her. I'll get back to you after I talked to her."
Ginny hung up; leaving Harry wondering what was going on.
Harry had not heard anything for two hours, and it was driving him crazy. Finally he received an e-mail on his phone from Fleur, addressed to all Charlie's brothers and all the in-laws. It read,
"Early this morning Charlie and Stribog were attacked by a dragon. Stribog was killed, incinerated to the point that there is nothing left, just a couple of bits of melted metal from his clothing. Charlie has lost his legs and one arm and that is only the easiest to describe of his injuries. He is in very critical condition. Mom and Dad are with him, and will probably be with him until they know if he will live or die. It's bad. I cannot begin to describe how bad it is. I am going to stay over here until we know more.
"Ivana is terrified, and has been holding on to Ginny, crying. I am sure Ginny will want to stay too. It really does not make much sense for anyone else to come over right now for Charlie. I will keep you informed, and let you know if anything changes.
"Please pray for Charlie
"Fleur"
Mary Lou Creevey saw Harry read the e-mail, and guessed that it was about Charlie, and that the news was not good. She stood at the doorway to Harry's office and they exchanged glances. "Bad news?" asked Mary Lou.
"Probably as bad as it could get, and not have Charlie dead," said Harry. He sighed, and sort of steeled himself for more bad news.
"You are probably not going to be very productive around here," suggested Mary Lou.
"Better get your husband in here," said Harry.
A short time later Dennis Creevey appeared, and Harry explained, "My brother-in-law Charlie was critically hurt by a dragon this morning, and my wife is trying to console the daughter that he and his partner had adopted. Ivana has already lost her parents, and now her uncle, to dragon fire, and she is in danger of losing her other dad."
"I think we can handle everything here, Harry," Dennis said.
"Thank you Dennis, Mary Lou," Harry replied. "I'm going to sit here and try and figure out what I'm going to do for a few moments." Harry went into his office and closed the door. He walked over to a wall and leaned his head against the wall. 'Why' he thought 'does my stomach always get this big pit in it whenever something like this happens? What do I have to do now? I need to talk to Al and Lily, and let them know what is going on, at least be there for them. No use sticking around here.' Harry took out his maps of the Grimmauld Place buildings, and saw that Al, Rose and Jean Granger were at 13 Grimmauld Place, and took the floo over there.
"Hello Jean, hello Al and Rose," said Harry.
"Dad, did you hear what happened to Uncle Charlie?" asked Al.
"Yes, Al," Harry replied.
"Does it make your stomach hurt when you hear about something like that?" asked Al. "It feels like I'm sick, like, oh, like being on a broom and suddenly swerving and leaving your stomach behind."
Harry responded, "I think I know what you feel like. It's not a good feeling. Better than not caring, though."
"You're going over to be with Mum," Al declared. "She needs you, and it sounds like Ivana needs help."
Harry nodded his head.
"I'll stay here, Dad," Al told his father. "Between Grandma Granger and the house elves I'll be fine. But you ought to see if Lily wants to go to be with Ivana. They are good friends, and I think Ivana will need a friend."
"I'm going over to the New Burrow to talk to Lily and the rest of the people over there right now, Al," Harry told his son. Looking at Jean Granger he said, "I'm sure you will be getting regular postings from someone telling you what is going on. I'm leaving Albus in your capable hands."
"Not a problem," Jean Granger responded. "Albus is easy to take care of."
Harry took the floo to The New Burrow, looked at the little map he had, and saw that Lily was in a room with Audrey and a couple of very small children. Harry was not sure where Hugo was. He went to the room and said, "Hello Audrey. Where is Hugo?"
"Hugo is at Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes," Audrey replied. "His father has him doing something with pricing, practicing his math. Hugo really likes the practical side of learning, and if you can get him to do something productive and learn from it he learns a lot, and likes it. Hugo really likes being at the store with Ron. It's too bad about Charlie. I know Ginny and Fleur both went over there this morning, along with Mum and Dad."
"I'm going to go over too," said Harry. "I found it impossible to concentrate on work, and nothing much is going on. I know Ginny is with Ivana."
"How is Ivana doing, Dad?" asked Lily.
"She probably is feeling very scared herself, Lily. Uncle Charlie is not doing very well, from what I understand," Harry replied. "I think she's feeling scared, confused, and probably a bit lost."
"May I come with you?" asked Lily. "If Ivana does not want me around I will go right back home, but if she wants me around I want to be there for her."
Harry thought 'for all her wildness, and for all the problems she has been, Lily Luna really does have a good heart. I can see that she is hurting for Ivana.'
"Yes, I'll take you along, and we will see how it goes," Harry told Lily. "You can stay over there as long as you are helping Ivana, but promise me that if you being there is a problem at any time, you'll go home without a fight."
"Promise, Dad," a very serious Lily replied. "I promise. I just want to help." Lily's eyes were pleading and sorrowful at the same time. 'This was going to be hard on Lily too' thought Harry.
"I'll let the family know that Lily is with you," said Audrey.
"Albus is with Rose and her grandmother," Harry told Audrey. Harry took Lily's hand and they took the floo back to Grimmauld Place. Harry called Ginny, asking, "Do you need anything? I'm not sure how quickly you left. I'm coming over, at least for a little while."
"We'll talk when you get here," Ginny replied, obviously distracted.
"I'm bringing Lily, for Ivana," Harry said.
"Oh. … Bye," Ginny said as she hung up.
Harry thought that Ginny's quick answer meant that she really wanted Harry to come. He got together his travel items, basic clothes. He went up to Lily's room. Lily had the toiletries she usually traveled with, and had some dresses lain out on her bed. "I have a couple of jeans and blouses," she said, "but I want a couple of dresses, and I don't want Mum mad at me for what I brought."
Harry thought, 'Lily really is being responsible, for a change' as he indicated two dresses he thought were appropriate. "The dress you have on is fine as well," he told his daughter.
Harry called Dobedo, who was there immediately. "Did Ginny take Sue Shook with her, or just Mitzi?" he asked.
Dobedo said "Just Mitzi, plus Jo and Mo. They still guard the Potter family."
The Elves Jo and Mo had been guarding the Potter family since the time Harry and Ginny spent in San Francisco, but they stayed so much in the background that Harry often forgot that they were seldom too far away from the family.
Harry called Jim Shook, and explained what was going on. "I'll go with you," Jim said. "Dobedo and I should be plenty of protection for the family, and if we have any concerns we will take care of it. I'll meet you at the Ministry in 15 minutes." After so many years of guarding Harry and his family Jim had a travel bag ready to go. Jim was almost invisible, but he or his wife or both shadowed Harry, Ginny and family whenever they left 'safe space.'
Harry thought a little. Had he forgotten anything? He remembered one thing, and called "Fawkes." Immediately the large scarlet Phoenix was flying towards him. "We're going to Romania, Fawkes," Harry told the bird. "Maybe you can help heal Charlie."
After about 15 minutes Harry, with his and Lily's travel bags shrunk and in his pocket, walked out of the floo at the ministry. Jim was waiting for them, and with Jim leading the way they took the floo network to Romania, and from the ministry there to the hospital where Charlie and the family were.
Harry and company were led up to a modest size waiting room. Inside were Ginny and Ivana, sitting next to each other, holding hands. It was obvious that Ivana had been crying and was distraught; Ginny was better but even she was having some trouble holding it together. When she saw Harry Ginny stood up, and when Harry got to her she hugged Harry like she wanted their bodies to merge. "Thank you for coming, Harry," she said very quietly. "It's real bad."
Harry and Ginny turned to look at Ivana and Lily. They were standing up just inches from each other staring at each other. Finally Lily turned to her mother, without words asking her mother what she should do. "You don't need to do anything, Lily," said Ginny. "Just be here for Ivana, if that's what she wants. Ivana, would it help if Lily stayed with you too? I will be right here for you too. I'm not leaving"
Ivana strongly nodded yes, and then burst out in big sobs and put her arms around Ginny. When Lily went to hold on to Ivana's hand Ivana grabbed onto Lily's hand and held on tightly. They stayed that way for some time as Ivana gradually calmed down.
A short time later Fleur came into the room. She noticed Fawkes the Phoenix right away, and said, "Fawkes! Fawkes to Sharls, ze burns, ze fire, Fawkes tears maybe heals."
Harry responded "That's why I brought Fawkes. Fawkes, go with Fleur."
Fawkes accompanied Fleur out of the waiting room. Only Fleur was back, about half an hour later. "Sanks sank you Arry" Fleur said. "Iz maybe a leettle better."
Harry noticed that Fleur, who normally had very little of an accent, had reverted back to a very heavy French accent. Harry thought that Fleur must be under a lot of strain, and wondered just how bad Charlie was.
"I'm hungry," whispered Lily.
"Az anybody ad lunch?" asked Fleur. "Eet's almost two!"
Everybody shook their heads.
Fleur said, "Arry, we get lunch for," and Fleur spread her hands out to indicate the assembled group. Fleur and Harry looked at each other, turned and left the room.
"I'm glad to talk to you alone," said Harry as he and Fleur walked towards the cafeteria, "without Ivana and Lily in the room. Is Charlie really that injured?"
"Eet's real bad! All burned," replied Fleur. "No much left, what left all burned."
"How are Mum and Dad Weasley holding up?" Harry asked.
"Maybe as hard as Fred, maybe worse," Fleur responded. "Oh Arry, ere is so little left and what is left is so bad shape. Maybe easier, if Sharles dead."
"That bad," Harry said, not as a question but just as an affirmation.
Fleur nodded. They did not say much as they picked up sandwich platters for everybody, and drinks. Just before they got back to the special waiting room Harry asked, "Should we call the family? If Charlie is dying his brothers would want to be here."
"Dangerous," Fleur replied, shaking her head no. "Infection. I go to outer room, only sterile Ealers inside, and Mum and Dad. Stay ere for Ivana, not Sharles, Arry." They stopped right outside the waiting room and Fleur repeated "For Ivana, and Ginny, and Lily. Ze need you."
Harry and Fleur brought the food in. Lily finished her sandwich plate promptly, obviously famished. Fleur and Harry also made short work eating. Ginny ate, but spent a fair amount of time looking at Ivana. And Ivana ate very slowly, between sighs, obviously close to tears the entire time. When Ivana finished eating Lily and Harry surrounded her with their arms, as Weasley/Potter hugs helped in most situations.
Neither Harry nor Ginny could ever tell you exactly what they did the rest of the afternoon and evening. Not much. They had another light meal at about 9:00 PM.
About 10:00 PM Harry had an e-mail message that was obviously sent to everybody from Fleur; Harry could see Fleur composing it, and she asked Harry about it before she sent it.
The e-mail read;
"Charlie is doing a little better. Harry and Ginny and Lily are over here for Ivana. Ivana does not need any more people over here. No one can go into the room to see Charlie because of the danger of infection. Mum and Dad are inside, but they cannot easily leave. I do not go into the restricted area, just talk to Mum and Dad through the window, and talk to the healers. I will send another e-mail twice a day.
"Keep saying prayers, please.
"Fleur"
After she sent the e-mail Fleur told Harry and Ginny "I get otel so we can sleep." About 11:00 PM Fleur came back in saying "I ave otel rooms for us. Sharles is doing better. We sleep."
They took a floo to a small Magi hotel. There were adjoining rooms, one for Harry and Ginny and next to them, with a door between the rooms, one for Ivana and Lily. Fleur had gone to Ivana's house and gotten a nightgown and new clothes for the next day. Fleur had her own room (although Mitzi, Ginny's house elf shadow, also slept there), and there was another room that Jim Shook and Dobedo were going to be sharing. After they had changed, Lily asked Ivana, "Should we sleep in separate beds? Do you want me to sleep with you?"
"With me," Ivana said.
"I'll be your sister, forever," said Lily, hugging Ivana for maybe the 50th time. "Even if Uncle Charlie and you live somewhere else I'll be your sister, just like Teddy Lupin is sort of a brother. You're family."
"You're all I have left!" said Ivana. The two girls hugged again, and got into opposite sides of the bed.
Neither Harry nor Ginny could go to sleep until they knew that both of the girls were sound asleep. "I need you to make love to me, Harry," said Ginny. "Then we need to open the door, but I need to feel you, know you're alive." They made gentle love, put on night clothes, and re-opened the door between the rooms.
The next morning Harry woke up first as usual. He went to the loo, did a shaving spell, and got dressed. He quickly made a little map of the hotel. It looked like Fleur was in bed. Harry saw that Ginny and Lily were still sleeping. He could not see Ivana in the bed, but then the door to the loo opened and he could see Ivana come out. "I'm not sure if I can go back to sleep, Uncle Harry," she whispered.
Harry motioned for her to come over to the other room, and they sat down on a sofa that was in the hotel room. Ivana leaned close to Harry and whispered, "Uncle Charlie's real bad. I've seen people missing an arm or leg or eye or worse. Some of my classmates have a parent or a relative that was hurt by dragons. Uncle Harry, I've never seen anyone missing both legs and an arm! I'm scared! Is Uncle Charlie going to die?"
"We don't know yet, Ivana," Harry quietly answered back. "We just don't know. He's a little better since Fawkes tears touched his wounds, but he's still in real serious shape."
"I have a classmate," Ivana said, sort of looking off in the distance, "my only relative, sort of a distant cousin, who's dad was, is, real bad. She feeds him sometimes, and they have to do everything for him. Her mother has to change him just like a baby. I've not ever seen him, but it is real sad." Ivana looked right at Harry with panic in her eyes saying, "Am I going to have to take care of Uncle Charlie like that?"
"No, Ivana," Harry replied, holding her and patting her on the back. "We will get Uncle Charlie all the help he needs. You will be able to help as much as you want, but nobody will force you to do any more than what you really want to do."
A panicky Ivana squeezed Harry's hand tightly saying quite loudly, "Where will we live? Who'll take care of me? I don't have anyone!"
"You have us," Harry said firmly. "I promise you that you and Uncle Charlie will always have a place to live, and enough to eat, and you will be well taken care of."
"I'm going to have to leave here," Ivana said sadly. "When classmates have a parent hurt and they go home, the children have to go back with their parents. At least I know you and your family, Uncle Harry, but I have to leave everyone here. Leave my home, my school classmates and friends, everyone and everything.
"Uncle Harry, I don't even remember my mum and dad anymore. I see photographs and I sort of remember, but only a little. I'm afraid I'll forget Uncle Stribog, forget how happy we were here." Ivana looked at Harry, tears obviously very close to the surface again. "How can I ever be happy with all the bad things that have happened to me? What's wrong with me, that I've lost everybody I ever loved!?" At this she burst into tears.
"Nothing is wrong with you, Ivana," Harry promptly replied. "You have us. You have met Teddy Lupin. He was just a week and a half old when both his mother and his father were killed in the Battle of Hogwarts. Aunt Ginny nursed him for three months, and she was only 16. Then when she had to go back to school Grandma Molly took over, and between Grandmother and Grandfather Weasley and Aunt Ginny and me, plus Teddy's grandmother Tonks, we have raised and loved Teddy, and he is pretty happy most of the time. He knows his parents died, and he is not happy about that, but he is still happy.
"I lost my parents when I was one year old, and for the next ten years was raised by an Aunt who was not nice and an Uncle who was one of the nastiest persons you could ever meet. It was not fun at all, but the Weasley family loved me, one beautiful red-headed little girl in particular, and I'm pretty happy."
"Harry's red-headed girl will love you too," Ginny tenderly said. She had awakened and was sitting at the end of the bed listening.
"I thought I was your red-headed little girl," said Lily standing at the door between the rooms.
"See Ivana," Harry beamed, "Another one! I started out loving one red-headed girl, and now I've got another one, plus a red-headed boy plus a boy with dark hair like mine and one whose hair keeps changing color. We have room for a tall leggy blond girl too. It's not like there is less love with more people. Love just keeps growing and growing."
"Is it all right if I'm not happy now?" softly cried Ivana. "Thank you but … Oh thank you for telling me it's all right to be happy someday."
"Go and get dressed, girls," said Ginny. "I need to get dressed too. Open the door when you are ready."
The girls went next door and closed the door.
Ginny quickly took off the nightgown she was wearing and put on a dress, took her wand which helped her with her balance, and went into the loo and took her medicine. Harry followed her as Ginny scarily wobbled towards the bathroom.
Ginny did a quick makeup charm, looked in the mirror, and said, "Good enough for today." She charmed a piece of paper and wrote down a few things. "You need to go back to Grimmauld Place and get a few things for me, Harry," she said.
"When?" Harry asked.
"Mid-morning," Ginny replied. "Whenever you can get away for an hour or so. I really want to keep Mitzi with me in case I have to walk any distance."
"Being here for Ivana, and your parents and Charlie, there isn't any way to have anyone else do it," Harry said.
"Maybe because we have had so much joy as well as sorrow I know we will laugh again," said Ginny, "but keeping vigil like this is hard. Thank you for being here for me."
"I'm glad I brought Lily," said Harry. "This is going to be very hard on her, but good for her too."
"Tears heal, Mum says," Ginny replied. "I think maybe the shared tears will help Lily and me as well as Ivana. Sometimes in the middle of fights I forget she really is good deep down. She is impulsive, careless, and willful, but not evil, not bad. Maybe this will help her grow up; she has a lot of growing up to do."
"So some good will come out of even the worst situation," said Harry.
At this point the door between the rooms opened and the girls peered into Harry and Ginny's room. Harry called, "Dobedo," and the Elf was standing there. Ginny called, "Mitzi," and the little Elf that was almost Ginny's shadow was there helping her mistress walk without losing her balance. "We are going to breakfast," Harry said. "Mr. Jim and I will be there with you," said Dobedo as he disappeared again. When Harry opened the door and looked out Dobedo was standing in the hall, and Jim was just closing the door to their room.
Harry noticed the Elves Jo and Moe at opposite ends of the hall. One or the other must have been on guard all night. It was easy to forget that Jo and Moe also were always helping guard the Potter family.
There was a modest restaurant on the ground floor of the hotel, and they all had breakfast. Harry got a copy of the Daily Prophet from England. On the front page was a prominent article with the Headline "Charlie Weasley (OM2) critically injured by a Dragon."
Below an old file photograph of Charlie was an article that read "Early Monday Charlie Weasley (OM2) was critically injured by a dragon. Charlie had over twenty years working with Dragons in Romania before he was injured. Charlie's partner, Stribog Romanoff, was killed in the same incident. Stribog is survived by his niece Ivana, who is also Charlie's adopted daughter.
"Charlie's parents Arthur Weasley (OM2), Head of the Magical Law Enforcement office, and his wife Molly (OM2), famous as the witch who took down the notorious Bellatrix Lestrange, are with their son. Also in Romania are Head Auror Sir Harry Potter (3OM1, O.B.E.), and his wife, the former Quidditch star and current Quidditch editor of the Prophet Ginny (OM1), who are watching over Ivana Romanoff.
"All communication is being handled by Charlie's sister-in-law Fleur Delacour Weasley (OM2) through the Potter/Weasley family reporter Cindy Base Hudson." Harry folded the paper and shrunk it; he was going to give it to the rest of the people to read later.
Before they were done Fleur greeted them. "I ave food at zee ospital" Fleur said, as she obviously took charge and whisked them all to the floo to go to the hospital.
Once they were there they all went into the private waiting room, and Fleur disappeared to the rooms where they were treating Charlie. A short time later she was back with Arthur Weasley. Arthur sat down rather heavily, and said "Charlie is resting, what is left of him anyway. The healers expect him to survive, although something could still go wrong. It will probably be a day or two before anyone else can see him.
"Harry, the healers want to keep Fawkes for another day at least. I need to go back home to get some things for Molly and me; it looks like we are going to be here several more days."
"I have to go back to get some things for Ginny" said Harry. "We can go together."
Jim Snook said "I'll come with you and leave Dobedo here." Harry nodded his OK and gave the Prophet to Ginny.
Arthur noticed that Ivana and Lily were standing next to each other, holding hands and listening. "Thank you for coming over for Ivana, Lily," said Arthur.
Lily, who did not earn a lot of compliments from her grandfather, in a small shy voice very different from her usual boisterous self, whispered, "You're welcome, Grandfather."
As Harry and Arthur were walking towards the floo to start their trip back home Harry said, "Charlie is a lot worse than just loosing limbs, isn't he."
"Yes," Arthur replied. "They were having a lot of problems with the dragons, and had gotten some extra help. When Charlie was burned they had someone apparate him to the hospital right away. It was only that, and that they have had so much experience with this kind of traumatic injury, that saved Charlie's life. Good thing, I guess." Arthur looked at Harry and shook his head in a way to indicate that he was not all together sure it was a good thing.
Harry volunteered, "Ivana said one of her classmates has a dad that cannot do anything for himself. They have to feed him and everything. Is it that bad?"
"With luck Charlie will be able to feed himself," said Arthur. "His left arm is pretty bad, not from this accident but from other ones. After seeing the arm and hand I realized that we had not seen Charlie in short sleeves in years. They had a couple of major rebuilding's of it, but it works, more or less. Charlie never wanted us to know just how dangerous Dragon Tending is."
"More than legs?" asked Harry.
"Everything below the waist, Harry," Arthur responded. "Both hips are gone, a couple of bags for urine and solid waste, spells to hold everything together. The Phoenix has really helped heal the right side, but it will never be right. They have sort of rebuilt the skin, put the face back. It is going to take a couple more weeks before his face even begins to look normal. They could not save the eye; the optic nerve is too damaged for an artificial eye. No hair on that side either. They'll build an ear, but it won't function."
Harry asked, "Can Charlie talk, can he communicate?"
"He can sort of talk, although it's hard to understand what he is trying to say," Arthur replied. "The healers say that will get better, although he will probably be hard to understand if you don't know him. The magic of the healers has done major work rebuilding his vocal cords and airways, but they will never be back to normal."
"Does he know that Stribog died?" Harry asked.
"Oh, we're almost positive he knows," Arthur answered. "I think he saw it. I think he saw Stribog get burned up. He only asks about Ivana, and when we have told him that Ginny and Lily and you are taking care of her he was very happy."
"I am glad I brought Lily over," Harry said.
"Can you get in touch with Granger and Grunt, Harry," Arthur asked. "We are going to be bringing Charlie back home, and Ivana, and we have been told that he will need a full time person to help take care of him. That's three more rooms, including a reasonably large one for Charlie. We need to add another floor to the New Burrow."
"I will take care of it, Dad," Harry said.
By this time they had gotten to the Ministry in London, to the floo section, where they were going to part ways. "Meet you back here at ten," Arthur said. "I need to get a few things, and I may want to just sit in our bedroom and think for a few minutes. I don't cry, Harry, but this sort of thing is hard. It takes something out of you."
"So far our children have been safe," said Harry "but I worry about Teddy, and Albus."
"It's harder seeing your children get hurt, or going through hard times, than it is to be hurt yourself, Harry," Arthur replied. "You will have your moments; it's part of being a parent. I hope not like this, or Fred, or …" Arthur could not finish the sentence, and briefly had a terrible haunted expression on his face.
As they parted Harry thought that they still could not talk about baby Fabian.
At about ten both were back, and the trip back to Romania was uneventful. Nothing of note happened until late in the afternoon. Two people entered the waiting room, a middle age witch healer, and a girl they learned was about thirteen. The girl was tall, big boned but reasonably thin and curvy, the same long blond hair as Ivana. "Hello Ivana," said the girl. "I'm sorry about your uncles."
The two girls hugged, and then Ivana turned and said, "This is Olga Romanoff. We have three common great-grandparents, so we're some sort of cousin. Her dad is the one they have to feed. Is he missing arms too?"
"No," Olga replied. "A dragon broke his back, and he cannot move anything below his neck. Even his head is messed up. Mother and I can sort of understand him, but no one else can. He communicates by looking at a Muggle computer setup and moving his eyes." Olga looked at everyone, took a deep breath and fidgeted a little, like she was trying to get something out. "I miss my dad's voice. It's like he is sort of there, but only sort of. Sometimes I think maybe I hate dragons."
Ivana started to introduce people. "This is my cousin Lily Luna Potter, and her parents Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny. Aunt Fleur Weasley comes in and out, and Uncle Charlie's mum and dad are in the room with him."
The three girls spent about half an hour talking, while the healer spoke to Harry and Ginny. For the rest of the week Olga was over for a while in the afternoon, sometimes with other classmates who knew Ivana.
Thursday afternoon Fleur came into the room and said, "We go and see Sharles. Tomorrow we take him to St. Mungo's." Fleur led the way to a room, and when they went in they saw that it was sort of a waiting room or outside room. They all had to have a healer go over them several times with his wand to clear anything that could be a problem, and wash their hands and face in a sink with special soap, before they could go into the room with Charlie.
When they were ready the curtains in the room were opened, and they could see the bed with Charlie in it. Harry was shocked. He looked to see how Ginny, Ivana and Lily were holding up.
Lily was over at the sink trying to keep from throwing up, not totally successfully. She looked at her dad in embarrassment, and over a few minutes gradually got control of her emotions.
Ivana started out holding on to Ginny, and gradually became able to look at her uncle. Ginny was working hard to control her emotions, gradually able to look at Charlie over about fifteen minutes. And Harry divided his time between looking at Ginny and the children and looking at Charlie, trying to get used to looking at what was left of Charlie.
Charlie's right side looked as if it had been melted, all hairless skin generally conforming to a head, neck and upper trunk. The left side was raw but looked like a person. The right arm was not only missing but it looked like part of the shoulder was as well, and it was just shocking seeing how little was left of the bottom part of Charlie, with his body ending not where his legs started but just above his missing hips.
After fifteen minutes everybody could look at Charlie, but the healer with them had them stay in the room another fifteen minutes getting used to Charlie and talking about him before going in.
Ivana walked up to where Charlie could see her and said "Hi, Uncle Charlie."
Charlie voiced a barely understandable "Hi." You could see he was trying to smile.
"Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry are here for me," Ivana told Charlie, "and Lily too. Lily's been great. We're all going back to England, and Lily will be my sister, so I'm not all alone, even if we live at the New Burrow, and she lives with her family, because we will see each other every day, and we'll be sisters and cousins, and at least I'll have a family to love me. You too, Uncle Charlie, you'll have a family to love you, and we'll be happy, and I'll love you, at least what's left of you, and I'm sorry you got hurt so bad, but Lily and Aunt Ginny have …" Ivana was hyperventilating, losing it.
Ivana turned to Ginny and held on to her, grabbed Lily's hand, and tried to catch her breath. "I'll be all right, Uncle Charlie," she finally got out, tears pouring out.
Lily was crying too, almost as much as Ivana. Ginny was holding her emotions in check, but just barely.
Harry went over, and looking at Charlie said, "Thank you for living, Charlie, for Ivana at least, and for us. We'll make the best of a bad situation."
Charlie tried to say something that may have been; "Thank you for Fawkes," although it was hard to understand what he was trying to say.
Harry mouthed, "Fawkes," and the big scarlet Phoenix was on his shoulder. "Time to go?" he asked and Fawkes nodded. "Fawkes at least thinks you're better," Harry told Charlie.
They left a very short time after; having visitors was very hard on Charlie.
Friday they moved Charlie to St. Mungo's in a big box carried by four Magi, with a couple of healers inside the box. This way they could use the floo network, with special floo powder because of the size of the box. Grainger and Grunt were in the process of adding another floor onto the New Burrow, more bedrooms. There was a special wing for Charlie and a full time healer, plus a room for Ivana, on the remodeled second floor. The rest of the second floor and the third floor were more rooms for the children and grandchildren who stayed at the house in the summer and over Christmas. The Attic area was expanded as well, so the house was three full and two half stories, the small windows in the upper half a story for the five foot high bedrooms for Elves, with the attic also being an Elf area.
Grainger and Grunt built the story and a half addition on the ground next to the house, and then by magic raised the roof and slid the addition in place. It only took them a couple of weeks, but they had a lot of their staff working hard to get so much done so quickly.
Friday morning December sixteenth the addition to the New Burrow was finally done, and Friday afternoon they moved Charlie to the new Burrow. Charlie and an unnaturally cheery never married witch healer by the name of Caroline Fawcett came through the floo, Charlie suspended in a special wheelchair. The wheelchair was built on the framework of one of those special Muggle battery powered wheelchairs, but it had magical additions to it. Charlie was learning how to control it with his 'good' left hand and arm, but it was like a baby learning how to walk; pretty wobbly and rough right now. Although Charlie was getting stronger he could only be up for an hour at most before he needed a couple of hours rest.
"Good afternoon, everybody. We're here!" announced a bubbly Caroline as she and Charlie came through the floo. "Charlie, let's see the rooms they have for us."
Ivana and Lily were there to greet Charlie and Caroline, and of course Arthur and Molly were there as well. Andromeda Tonks had not seen Charlie before, but she did introduce herself to Ivana and Caroline, before disappearing into her rooms. Ginny was there with Ivana and Lily, with most of Ivana's possessions. They had cleaned out the house that Charlie and Stribog and Ivana had been living in, with most of Ivana's possessions shrunk and stored in Lily's room while they were waiting for the rooms to be done at the New Burrow, and for Charlie to come home. Albus and Rose were also there; Albus indicated he wanted to be there for Uncle Charlie, and also for Lily and Ivana.
There had been a couple of additional articles about Charlie, never near as much as the Magi press wanted. Cindy was there to give what she said to the people getting her news feed was, "The last update on Charlie."
"Welcome home, Charlie," said Molly. "I'm sorry you're moving home in these circumstances, but welcome." Molly knelt down to give Charlie as much of a hug as she could, then turned to Caroline and said, "Welcome to our house, Caroline." Molly gave Caroline one of the big Molly Weasley hugs, and Caroline hugged her right back.
"Charlie and Caroline have to take the elevator," Ginny told the girls, "but we can go up the stairs."
Caroline maneuvered Charlie to the middle back of the house, where a new elevator had been installed. It was just big enough for two people, if one of them was in a cumbersome and rather large wheelchair, normal looking except that the inside elevator doors were built sort of like a Dutch door, with bottom doors just under five feet high and then top doors. The elevator went up all 5 stories, and the doors had to be much smaller for the two Elf areas. Of course the size of the elevator shaft was way too small for the size of the elevator that ran up and down inside it, but that was common magical construction.
Ivana, Lily and Rose went into Ivana's new bedroom, along with Ginny. Rose loved to decorate rooms, and she helped arrange the room to feel as at home as possible for Ivana. Before they were done Ivana was very pleased with her room.
Albus was not all that interested in decorating and arraigning Ivana's room; this was obviously going to be a girl thing. He went into the room with Charlie and Caroline, Arthur and Molly, and the Hudson's who were getting ready to write an article about how severe Charlie's injuries were, the marvelous job that the healers in Romania and St. Mungo's did in saving Charlie's life, and the adaptations including the wheelchair and more that were going to allow Charlie to function. Albus was fascinated by all the technical stuff, magical and Muggle, and as a consequence ended up in several of the photographs, and with his name in the article and identified in photographs, to his great embarrassment.
Molly and Narcissa met the next Tuesday. Andromeda Tonks was with Molly.
Before they sat down Narcissa said, "I am so sorry about Charlie, Molly."
"I never thought I would say someone was better off dead," Molly said. "I am glad that Charlie is alive, but sometimes I look at what is left of him, and what shape what is left of him is in, and I wonder."
Molly and Narcissa hugged. Then Narcissa said, "Good to see you, Andy."
Andromeda said, "Good to see you again, Cissy. I am glad we could meet when Molly was in Romania."
Narcissa said, "How are you handling Charlie, Andy."
"I am handling it," Andromeda said. "When I am with Charlie, or after when I am with the family, I am handling it. I just spend some time in my room crying, and Charlie isn't even my son. I cannot believe Molly. She seems so strong."
"I cry too," Molly said, "But you cannot live in the tears. You must remember the happy times in the past, and build … and build … happy times for the future. Happy times for Ivana and … and …Oh, there is just so little left of Charlie, and what is left is in such bad shape." By this time Molly's tears were starting to come, and you could see Molly was having a hard time.
The women spent a good hour and a half, sharing a meal, and sharing the emotions of the part weeks. After they got home Molly realized that, for this time, Narcissa was there for her, and not the other way around. It was good for both of them to have the roles reversed occasionally. Molly was very grateful for Narcissa's friendship.
Molly did think it was a shame that neither Andy nor Cissy felt that they could visit the other publicly.