CHAPTER TWO
"When are mom and dad coming home?" James asked before sneezing. He'd woken up from his nap about twenty minutes before, and was utterly bored, having been forced by his grandmother to remain on the couch - with the only option being returning to his own bed. At least in the living room, he'd be able to talk to Albus when the boy woke up, and maybe convince Lily to play with him, even if it had to be with her baby toys.
"Soon, sweetheart." She smiled kindly, running a hand through his hair, which was wet with sweat. She noticed he was still feverish, but his temperature had noticeably lowered. "I'll go set the tub so you can have a bath in a moment."
"I don't want to take a bath." He complained, making the woman giggle. The twins had been exactly the same when they were his age.
"I know, but you have to. And then we'll get you out of those wet clothes and you'll feel a lot better."
"Then you'll let me play?"
"Maybe. We'll see." He made a face at her, but she ignored him, picking Lily up. "Come on, little girl. Let's get your brother's bath ready." She smiled, and the baby giggled before engaging in some conversation composed mostly of babbling, occasionally interjected by the adult who pretended to understand what was being said.
When Molly returned to the living room a couple of minutes later - to make things easier, she not only turned on the water in the bathtub with a spell to stop the flow as soon as it reached a certain level, but also separated a clean pair of pajamas for the older boy, and left it over the sink -, she found James sitting on the floor, building some sort of fortress with Lily's piling blocks. A bit divided between lecturing him and being pleased he was now well enough to play, she just smiled to herself and headed for the kitchen to grab Lily's dinner.
"Let's go, Jamie." She smiled at the boy, motioning the stairs. "Let's go take a shower and then I'll let you play."
He seemed to consider the offer for a minute. "Okay!" He said with a smile, rushing up the stairs. By the time she reached the bathroom - she'd cast a spell over the sleeping boy, to be notified when he woke up -, the brunet was already soaking in the warm water. She sat with the baby on the closed toilet, and mercifully this time food was enough to entertain Lily while she supervised James's bath.
"Don't forget to wash behind your ears, your belly button and between your toes, Jamie." She reminded him, trying to keep the food inside the bowl while Lily put some in her mouth and decided the rest looked better on grandma's lap.
"I know, grandma." He replied slightly annoyed, but immediately cleaned where he was told. He was already playing with his toys - ten minutes, Molly said, no more -, when Albus woke up, and the redhead had a string of advices and orders out before leaving him alone in the room.
"Hi, Albus." She smiled at the boy who was still lying down, his eyes still distant as he wasn't fully awake yet. "Are you feeling better?"
"Yeah." He smiled, rubbing his eyes and sitting up. "Where's everybody?" He asked, looking around.
"Your mom and dad went shopping, and should be home soon. Jamie is taking a bath, and you're next." She smiled at him, who stuck his tongue out. Another one who wasn't too fond of water. "Are you hungry?"
He thought for a moment. "A little."
"I'll get you something to eat, then." She stood up, but Lily started squirming in her arms. "Will you look after Lily while I go, sweetheart? It seems she wants to stay here with you."
"Okay." He nodded.
Molly put the baby down on the carpet, where the girl immediately proceeded to destroy whatever her older brother was building, and smiled as she cast a protective spell around her. Albus was responsible for his age, but he was still three, and it would be better if the little girl stayed away from anything she could climb or hurt herself with.
Less than five minutes later, she was back with much the same assortment of food she'd given Lily: some mac-and-cheese incremented with peas and corn. Albus smiled, gratefully grabbing his bowl and diving in. He was hungrier than he realized.
"I'll go get James out of the water. Do you want to come with me, Lily?" She asked the girl, pointing up the stairs, and the girl vehemently shook her head. "Will you be okay with her for a few minutes, Al?" The boy nodded. "Okay, then. I'll be right back."
After arguing with the five-year-old for a few moments, she managed to get him out of the water, dried and dressed. As promised, she left him in his room, sitting on the floor playing with his toys, but only after making sure he was coated up - and that he wouldn't strip down to his pajamas as soon as she left. She cast a heating spell on the water in the tub before heading down again.
"Ready for your bath, Al?" She invited with a smile, and the boy nodded, handing her his now-empty bowl.
Two hours later, all three children were tucked in and fast asleep, but there was still no sign of either Harry or Ginny. Telling herself they probably decided to add a romantic dinner to their day out, now they finally had some time alone to themselves, she roamed the study in search of something to read and sat comfortably before the fireplace to wait for their return.
Several hours later, Molly shifted her position in the couch and woke up, never having realized she'd fallen asleep. Rubbing her eyes, she put away the book resting open on her chest and put on her glasses to consult her watch. It was just past four in the morning. Feeling distinctly uncomfortable, but still unable to pin down why, she got up and stretched, ready to go home. Perhaps Harry and Ginny saw her sleeping when they turned in and decided not to wake her up. So perhaps she should extend the same courtesy to her husband - certainly the other two would've told Arthur she was staying over - and headed to the guest room.
The house was quiet, and she tried her best to avoid the creaky wooden steps, but not knowing quite which ones they were, some noise was unavoidable. Having reached the second floor without, seemingly, waking anybody up, she headed to the guest room, just down the hall from the master bedroom. Everything was silent, and still sleepy, she didn't look twice when she walked past the open door. If she had, she would've noticed the bed was still perfectly made.
It was only the next morning, when Lily's insistent crying woke her up, that she remembered the discomfort from the previous night. Her gut told her something was wrong, but she was decided to ignore it. Certainly it was only her mother's heart over-worrying. She scrambled out of bed and stumbled towards the baby's room, this time noticing the master bedroom empty. Perhaps they went out again, she thought. I just wish they would've woken me up before they did. She repressed a yawn.
Pulling Lily out of her crib - she would've long climbed out herself, but nowadays all wizard cribs came with multiple spells to prevent it -, she repressed another yawn and headed to the bathroom, mindlessly talking to the baby to distract her. Morning ablutions done, she focused on getting Lily ready for the day and then, after making sure both boys were still asleep, getting started on their breakfast.
Looking downstairs, she didn't find any notes from her daughter or son-in-law, and again something pressing in the back of her mind warned her something was awfully wrong. Shaking her head to try and dissipate the feeling, she put Lily in a high chair and handed her a sippy cup with milk while she scouted the fridge.
Though she knew it wouldn't have made a difference, later she wished she hadn't ignored her instincts. Right then when she put the kids to bed, she should've contacted someone, anyone, who might know Harry and Ginny's whereabouts. When she woke up at four and saw, but didn't register, the empty bedroom, she should've woken up anyone who might know anything. And when she didn't find a note, she should've expected a visit from someone in her family bearing news which, by then, couldn't be good.
She turned when she heard knocking on the door, momentarily confused. None of the boys would've done that, and her heart was already racing, and her breath was already short as her brain worked things out, even though she wasn't fully aware of it. Hermione was standing there, and no amount of makeup would've been able to cover up her red and swollen eyes. It was clear she'd been crying, a lot and recently.
"Come, sit, Hermione dear!" She ushered the brunette, pointing to an empty chair. "I'll make you some breakfast and we can talk about whatever's bothering you so-" She stopped dead in her tracks as she watched the other woman shake her head and snif. "Okay, no breakfast then..." She said quietly. "At least have a seat." She wasn't smiling anymore.
"Mrs. Weasley..." She started, and her voice trembled. She felt she would pass out at any moment, and knowing the other woman would need to be seated to hear the news as much as she would to relay them, she accepted the offer. "Molly..." she tried again as the older woman held her hand in hers, her tears starting to fall again.
"What is it, dear? You know you can tell me anything, right?" She offered gently, weakly rubbing her thumb on the back of Hermione's hand.
The brunette shook her head. "H-How can I ever t-tell you something like this?" She sniffed hard, withdrawing one hand to brush the tears away. She had to be strong, she reminded herself. She'd volunteered for the task, even because none of the redheads was in any condition of doing it.
"I'm certain that, whatever it is, it can't be that bad." She tried to sound reassuring, but the pounding in her chest and the hesitation in the young woman before her were making her extremely uneasy. "Just tell me and we'll find a way to sort it out."
Hermione shook her head again. "I-It can't be sorted out." She whispered. "It can't be fixed. It..." Her voice trailed off, and she bit her lower lip, scenes from the Diagon Alley returning to mind. "Molly... Yesterday... H-Harry and G-Ginny, they..."
Fighting her urge to interrupt, to demand answers, Molly took a deep breath and silently waited until the other woman was ready to continue.
"T-There was an attack at Diagon Alley. T-They were at Florean's, and witnesses said they came out of nowhere... There were explosions and curses flying everywhere. I-I guess Harry wanted to stay and p-protect the innocent..." She bit her lower lip again, looking down.
"That sounds like him." She offered gently, fighting the tightness in her chest.
"A-and Ginny wouldn't leave him... T-They said they had them surrounded... And they k-knocked down a bunch of them, even k..." She stumbled on the word and swallowed hard before continuing. "Killed some. B-but something happened, something went wrong, the aurors didn't get there in time, nobody is sure of what exactly happened..."
"And what happened?"
"H-Harry... Harry's in a c-coma, and G-Ginny... G-Ginny... Died." She whispered the last word, but Molly had no doubt about what had been said, even over Lily's insistent babbling.
The redhead's mind couldn't seem to wrap itself around the news. How could it possibly be? Just the day before, she saw them, they were fine, they went shopping... The war had been over for so long, how could this be happening now?
"Who... Who's them? The attackers?" She asked weakly.
She watched Hermione take a deep breath and search for her eyes before whispering the words that raised every hair in her body. "Death Eaters."
The two sat in silence for a long time. What was there to be said anyway?
Lily, forgotten, was becoming fussy, her insistent attempts at interactions proving fruitless and her milk long over. She started hitting the cup on the tray, but still she wasn't able to get either women's attention.
"The aurors got there as it was happening... The Death Eaters were about to start celebrating... They managed to capture some that engaged in battle... And of course the ones who were knocked out... There were a few casualties... They think they've got them all, but they're not certain... Nobody could say how many there were, and in the chaos... Some might have apparated... I told them, I told them it was too soon to relax security measures..."
The brunette's words floated vaguely in Molly's brain, mostly unabsorbed. They weren't much more than background noise, the same as that constant banging... What was that banging anyway? That was when she noticed the baby, now fully crying, and it hit her: She'd not only lost a daughter and possibly a son-in-law. Those three little children had lost their parents. And somebody would have to tell them.
"The... The kids." She managed to say weakly.
Hermione nodded. "They have to know. And I don't suppose Harry or Ginny left any kind of..." Her voice was steady, but she faltered over the word. "Will or anything, but as they made Ron and me their godparents... We'd be glad to care for them until Harry recovers."
"Of course... Arthur and I would be glad to help with whatever we can, as I'm sure would the rest of the family." The ghost of a smile, a tentative reassuring gesture, flashed through Molly's face, but was all too soon washed out by the reality of the facts. "Who... Who should tell Jamie and Albus?"
Hermione sighed. "I... I'll do it if you want me to. Ron and I discussed it before I came, and I personally don't think him or any of his brothers should. They're... in no condition."
"Maybe I should." Molly suggested. Hard as it might be, perhaps it would be easier on the boys...
The brunet nodded. "I also think it would be better. Would you like me to come with you?"
Half an hour later, the two were cradling crying boys in their arms, fighting their own tears. Lily, still too young to understand, was sitting on the floor with her toys, oblivious to what was happening around her. None of them had breakfast that morning, and the boys, exhausted from crying, fell asleep again and only woke up when it was time for lunch.
"Where's mommy and daddy?" Albus asked, standing at the kitchen door.
It felt like a knife piercing through her heart. Taking a deep breath, Molly left the stove and kneeled in front of him. "Remember what we talked about this morning, Al?" She asked as gently as she could. "Mommy is in Heaven now, sweetie. And dad is very sick in the hospital."
"When can I see them?" He tilted his head sideways, looking curiously at her. Perhaps he was too young to understand, she thought.
"You can't, honey."
"Why not?" He pouted his lip.
"Because... Because mommy is in Heaven now, Al. She's up there," She pointed to the sky beyond the ceiling, "watching over you. And daddy is too sick to see anybody." The older women had agreed it was better not to let them see Harry until he started recovering. The truth was, he wasn't just in coma; several of his bones had been crushed under the weight of the wall, and there were bruises all over him. None of the kids needed anything else to have nightmares about.
"But I want my mommy and daddy!" He started to cry again, and she picked him up.
"I know, sweetie. I know." She whispered, rubbing one hand on his back.
The entire day consisted of Molly - and later on, some other relatives showed up to help - explaining to the boys what had happened, soothing the older two and trying to keep Lily distracted enough not to be too fussy. Still hesitant to move the children, the Weasley matriarch volunteered to sleep at Grimmauld Place again, but Hermione (for Ron's despair, as he was left alone with a baby and a toddler), insisted they switched places, and some of the other aunts took turns the following morning.
Three days later, it seemed they had pinned down a working routine: they all took turns watching over the younger two and getting James to preschool - if anything, it provided him some much-needed distraction -, and were making considerations as to how the move should go. Though their house wasn't too big, there was enough room at Ron and Hermione's to shelter three others, and they were working on sorting out the space and making lists of what would go and what would stay at Grimmauld Place.
Hermione also had talked to a colleague at the Ministry, and he reassured her it was only a matter of bureaucracy before they were the children's legal guardians. With the usual excess of paperwork going on, it was taking a while to make sure if any of the parents had registered a will appointing guardians, but with Harry and Ginny being who they were, they had every set of hands they could spare on the job. As long as the children didn't disappear, they should care for them the way they thought it best.
As such, it was a surprise when, as Molly got ready to leave her shift and Hermione settled in, a Ministry worker knocked at the door. The knocking itself had been surprising; usually he would've solicited passage through the fireplace, but the two women courteously invited him inside and the redhead readily presented him with a hot cup of tea. Hermione thought he seemed familiar, and it took her a beat to realized he was about two years her junior at Hogwarts, and that they had in fact crossed paths in the Ministry a few times.
"So, what brings you here today, Mr. Jones?" She smiled at him before taking a sip.
He mimicked her gesture before replying. "We have found a will in the name of one Harry James Potter."
"Oh!" Both women said in unison, surprised.
"I hadn't realized..." Hermione began.
"Did Ginny have one too?" Molly questioned, but the man shook his head.
"Well, and what did it say?" Hermione asked, confidently. Certainly he left his inheritances to be shared between the children, and have her and Ron care for them. Perhaps Molly and Arthur, if Ginny had a disagreement with her brother short before Harry wrote the will. It should be pretty simple and short.
"We found that Mr. Potter appointed a legal guardian to his children should anything happen to him and his wife." Both women nodded. That should solve any legal problems they might encounter. "He requests his children be raised by Mr. Draco Lucius Malfoy."