Author's Note: Sorry that it's taken so long to get this chapter out. I had hoped the last chapter of this and Semper Vigilans would have garnered a lot more reviews than they did and it sort of put me in a writing funk. Plus I wound up getting sick for about a week and didn't do anything, much less write, during that time. This chapter isn't exactly how I wanted it, but I really want to get back to working on the next chapter of Semper, so I'm going to leave it as is and hope you all enjoy it.
Mistaken Identity
- Chapter 5 -
William Weasley stood at the bottom of the stairs, glancing up toward the closed door that sat at the top, leading to the attic his younger brother had chosen as his place of mourning. A trembling hand delved into his pocket, fingers closing around the shrunken Pensieve held within.
He had reasoned with the rest of the family that it was a good idea if George were to have less of an audience when he viewed the memory and they had all agreed, save Molly who was loudly insistent that she should be there to comfort her baby. But Arthur had been gentle, yet firm, in telling her to just let Bill handle it. He had been thankful for his father's intervention, knowing that it would more than likely be - if not easier, then at least less traumatic - for the twin.
Taking a deep, steadying breath, Bill began to ascend the stairs. He tapped lightly on the door, then, a bit more forcefully, when he received no response. Finally, he heard the sound of sluggish movement from within, followed by the sound of a lock being released. The door cracked open a bit, allowing a pair of blue eyes dulled by heartbreak and grief to peer out at him.
Bill's heart ached at the sight. The only thing he had ever recalled seeing in George's eyes was mischief and joy, never this void of despair.
"George," he greeted him gently as if speaking to a skittish animal he was trying to catch. "May I come in?"
George just stared at him for a moment, his haunted gaze not really focusing on the sibling before him. Finally, he stepped back, opening the door a fraction wider in silent invitation, before turning and going back to the small cot set up in the far corner. The room was still dusty, as he hadn't allowed his mother to clean it before he had sequestered himself away. His only companion was the ghoul that had - up until six months ago - wandered freely about the attic.
Now, the creature was bound with a permanent sticking charm to a wall in the small attic closet.
George collapsed into the cot, the rusty springs making an awful sound, like the screaming of a baby Mandrake, and Bill cringed.
Bill pondered how to approach the grieving twin about the memory. He could start off with the same approach that he had used on the rest of the family, but there was the chance that the other boy would tune him out altogether.
"Hey, Georgie, there's something I want you to look at, okay? I know it's going to be tough to process it, but just remember that I'm here for you." the older brother spoke softly as he pulled the shrunken Pensieve from his pocket and proceeded to set it up.
After he was done preparing the Pensieve, he turned back to George. The other boy hadn't even moved from his spot on the cot. Bill gave a silent sigh before walking over and grabbing the other boy by the shoulders and hauling him to his feet, almost dragging his younger brother across the floor for all the help he was not getting.
"This would go a lot faster if you moved your feet, little brother." Bill gave a groan as he hefted him the last few feet to the basin, resigning himself to what he had to do next.
"Sorry, Georgie," he muttered as he all but dunked the other boy's head into the liquid.
George struggled for a brief moment before stilling as the memory took hold. Breathing a sigh, Bill released the twin and moved to sit on the now vacant cot.
Time seemed to pass more slowly than when the rest of the family had viewed the memory, or it could have just been the fact that Bill was more worried about what George's reaction would be. After what felt like an eternity, George stumbled back from the Pensieve slightly before recovering his footing. Since his back was to Bill, the older Weasley could not yet tell how the memory had been received.
Standing slowly, Bill reached out to place a hand on the other boy's shoulder. "Georgie?" he called gently.
George whirled around quickly, more quickly than he had moved in months, and stared at him. Not since that day in the Great Hall, when they had cried over Fred's fallen form, had Bill witnessed the spark that was now in his brother's eyes. A look of pure determination had replaced the lifeless gaze that his younger sibling had come to be known for.
"We have to find him." George rasped, the demand coming from a voice that had been used less and less as the months passed.
Bill gave a nod before replying, "We will."
George returned the nod before moving to grab his wand. Casting a freshening charm on himself and his clothes, as he hadn't had a proper bath in some days (he would take care of that later, as now he had something more important to take care of), he turned to Bill. "I reckon a talk with Kingsley would be a good place to start, yeah?"
Bill was shocked as George took the lead and almost ran from the room toward the stairs.
"Well, he's taking it better than I thought." Bill mused to himself before extracting his memory from the Pensieve and following the twin out of the room.
Bill raced down the stairs and into the living room where Molly had already engulfed George into a crushing embrace. Everyone else present was watching with shock evident on their face. They apparently hadn't expected George to leave the attic anytime soon.
"My precious boy," Molly was babbling into George's good eat as she clung to him tightly.
George allowed it for a moment before drawing back to look at his mother, then his gaze drifted over the rest of the family.
"We're going to the Ministry to speak with Kingsley," George spoke and from behind him, Bill watched in awe the change that had overcome the twin. It was miraculous and he had to swallow back the tears that were threatening to form.
"You sure that's a good idea?" Ron questioned. When everyone looked at him, he shrugged before continuing. "Just saying. It was the Minister of Magic that did this in the first place. I'm sure that law is still in effect and all they'll probably do is Obliviate the lot of us again."
Percy was shaking his head. "I never saw that law when working under Fudge. Maybe it was just some personal vendetta that Minchum had." the undersecretary said.
But Ron wasn't convinced. "Even so, we don't even know what they did with him. It's been over twenty years, not counting the war business" he turned his eyes downward, unable to look at George as he added, "How do we even know he's still alive?"
"He is," the firmly insistent response from George surprised everyone. All eyes turned to stare at him as he, in turn, stared at Ron, as he emphatically continued. "I know he is. I can feel it."
Ever since he'd viewed the memory, and had been made aware of Harold's existence, George had felt as if a link he had thought long dead was resurrected. Suddenly, he could sense his other sibling in the same way he had felt Fred.
The sorrow he felt due to Fred's loss made a comeback and George was momentarily doused with sadness. Then the memory of a triplet that was alive and just waiting to be found again subdued the pain long enough for him to focus on what had to be done.
Percy was already gathering his cloak as Arthur held a shawl for Molly before donning his own cloak. "We'll be joining you, son." his father said to George. "Ron, you and Ginny stay here with Harry. We're going to get this sorted. Have these Obliviates removed and see what information we can wrest from the Ministry."
"Oi! Why do we have to stay behind, he is our brother too! Plus it might not hurt to have two of the members of The Golden Trio at your side." Ron argued.
"Ron, no offense, but the Golden Trio can't fix everything," Bill interjected, trying to be as reasonable as possible. He knew how Ron could get when he thought he was being left out.
Ron looked as if he wanted to protest, but with a few whispered words from Harry, he finally nodded, though a bit begrudgingly.
The Weasleys exited the Floo Network and entered the Ministry's main lobby and Arthur immediately began leading everyone in the direction of the lifts that would take them to the Minister's office. After the rather erratic ride, the five exited on the correct floor and walked down the corridor toward the door which had a plaque stating 'Minister of Magic - Kingsley Shacklebolt' in the center.
Percy entered the office first, seeing as he had been reinstated as the Minister of Magic's undersecretary once Shacklebolt had been appointed. Kingsley looked up from the stack of parchments he had been looking over as the door opened, and upon seeing Percy enter, offered a polite smile.
"Ah, Percy. I wasn't expecting you back so soon." the Minister began, but paused when Arthur, Molly, and Bill entered the room as well. With a look of curiosity, the dark skinned man continued. "Does this impromptu visit have anything to do with the family emergency you left to attend to earlier?"
"It does, sir. We actually needed to talk with you about that." Percy replied, ushering his parents and brothers into the room.
Kingsley gestured to a pair of chairs in front of his desk for Molly and Arthur to sit in while Bill summoned three more for himself, George and Percy. Once the four were settled, Bill proceeded to tell the Minister what had been uncovered at his physical that morning and everything that had transpired since. He then produced the memory for the Minister to view for himself, though Kingsley had argued that it was unneeded. He had no reason to doubt a Weasley's word, not after everything the family had done to help aide in the war. Bill had insisted, however, and the new Minister of Magic could not hold back his shock nor his outrage at such a blatant abuse of power on Minchum's part.
Once he had been appointed the position, Kingsley had been made aware of what some what of the former Ministers had attempted to pull, but this had never been brought to his attention. He informed the Weasleys that he would look into this insane law and if it hadn't already been abolished, he would make certain that it was. He also gave them unrestricted access to any files that they needed to help in their search for their missing family member.
"I'll have to warn you, Arthur," Shacklebolt cautioned. "You are aware that sections of the Ministry suffered damage during the Death Eater take over at the beginning of the war." at the Weasley patriarch's nod, he continued forlornly. "It just so happens that the section that housed the Child Welfare office took the most damage. Most everything in that area was all but destroyed during the chaos."
"Oh, no," Molly looked on the verge of tears again, but a hand settled onto her shoulder and gave a comforting squeeze. Molly gripped it in appreciation, looking up and realized it was George who was offering the gesture. Pride swelled within her at the courage her beautiful son was showing.
"We'll take whatever we can get, Kings." George's voice was less rusty now that it was being used more frequently. "Just show us where to start."
The dark-skinned man stood from behind his desk, rounding it and gestured for the five red heads to follow him. Through various corridors and a number of lifts, they finally emerged into a section of the building that could be considered - even though it was still under heavy construction - a disaster area.
"Any and all files that were the least bit recoverable have been placed over there." Kingsley gestured to a more ordered area where files had been stacked as neatly as possible amidst the rubble. "You can go through those while I see about rounding up any remaining staff that might have been appointed to this department." turning to leave, he looked back to add: "Good luck, and I hope you find something useful." With that, Kingsley bid them farewell before the family turned to look at the pile of parchments.
George was the first one to dive into the paper work, Bill and Percy quickly following their brother's lead, as did Molly and Arthur. Sadly, Kingsley had been correct in the amount of damage the documents had sustained. There was hardly anything complete and what bits they could piece together for the week of April 1st, 1978 was random at best.
"This is going to take a while," Bill said, shaking his head as he tried to read a particularly singed piece of parchment.
The Weasley clan filtered through what they could of what was left in the debris that was the Department of Welfare for Magical Children but came up with next to nothing. Ron and Ginny, along with Harry, had joined them in the search. When Charlie had finally made it down from Romania a couple days later, he with Percy, Molly and Arthur had gone to have their Obliviates removed by the same goblin healer that had removed Bill's. With the memory now entirely their own, it hit the close knit family all the harder and ratcheted their determination to find their lost loved one up ten-fold.
Through their search, they found a few partial pages with a reference to a Harold Weasley and their hearts had leaped for joy before finally realizing that most of the pertinent information had been unreadable and no amount of reparos could restore the document. For weeks the entire clan combed through what they could.
Their progress was slowly winding down to nothing, after all the weeks of searching they had uncovered no important information. Harold Weasely was just a name on papers that led them no closer to finding the missing man.
"This is so ridiculous, we've been coming up empty for weeks now," Ron muttered as he threw yet another partially readable paper to the side when he made out that it was for a little girl.
The whole family was scattered around the pile of documents that were left. Harry and Ginny were off to one side sorting through a stack that was almost four feet tall. Molly and Arthur were going back over the parchments that had been connected to Harold. Bill and Charlie each had their own stacks almost as tall had Harry's and Ginny's and Percy had been going back and forth between work and helping the family in the search. Kingsley had been helping them whenever he could.
George had set up a small fort of papers to go through. He was working almost non-stop on it. He had even fallen asleep more than once in the department, as he searched for his lost brother.
They had been unable to talk to anyone who would have been employed in Department of Welfare for Magical Children at the time that the triplets had been born, which hindered their search a good deal. Seems that anyone who would have been able to help them was either dead, missing or had been discovered as loyalist to Voldemort.
It was nearing the six months mark from when Bill had first recovered the memory of Harold Weasley's existence that they finally got a lead. After months of dead ends and heartache, one of Kingsley's officials entered the room where the Weasley clan had once again gathered to inform them that had been employed in the DoMCW at the time of Harold's birth, had been located.
"There's just one catch," the gray haired wizard stated. "Isadore Grimm was a supporter of You Know Who and is currently serving a sentence in Azkaban. If you wish to speak to her to find out what, if anything, she knows, you will have to do so there."
It was decided that Molly and Arthur be the ones to go to the Wizarding Prison to confront Isadore Grimm. The woman had apparently been a case worker in the department and everyone was hoping she held the key to finding Harold.
Molly glanced around at the stone walls of Azkaban and shivered. It truly was a dreadful place to visit, much less have to stay in, unless the person deserved the fate of occupying one of the dingy cells, like most of the prisoners here.
Arthur reached back and grabbed Molly's hand in a comforting manner as he, too, could feel the unease and despair that rolled through the air.
One of the specially trained Aurors that was now the new guards at the Wizarding prison lead the couple through a stretch of cells until they reached one at the very end of the hall. A small form was huddled near the back of the cell, clothed in a shapeless dress that was in need of washing, but at least it wasn't rags like the former inmates had been forced to wear under the prior Minister of Magic's term.
Arthur stepped forward, clearing his throat and began as polite a tone as he could muster. "Mrs. Grimm? My name is Arthur Weasley. My wife, Molly and myself are here because we were told that you used to work in the Department of the Welfare of Magical Children during Harold Minchum's time as Minister."
The entire time that he spoke, the figure remained huddled near the back of the cell, not even bothering to turn and face who was speaking to her.
After a moment and no response, Arthur continued. "There was a case that involved our son, Harold Weasley. We're hoping you can help us find information on where he is. You see, he was born on April 1, 1978, the same time as our other two sons, George and... and Fred." Arthur clutched Molly to him for support. "They were triplets and Minister Minchum apparently had a problem with that."
Molly took over after Arthur's voice failed to gain the cell's inhabitant's attention, hoping that perhaps a female voice would have a better result. "Mrs. Grimm, I know it has been a while, but, if there is any information you could give us on the whereabouts of our Harold? Anything at all..."
The huddled form shifted finally, turning over on the material that had been heaped together to form a pallet and faced Molly and Arthur. The woman's face was void of expression, neither anger, sadness, or despair was present in her eyes. There was only acquiescence. Rising to her feet, Isadore Grimm swayed a bit as she made her way closer to the bars that separated her from her visitors.
"Ah, so you're the couple that fell victim to the reign of Heretic Harold, are you?" the incarcerated witch cackled.
Molly and Arthur shared a look. "We were the only ones he did this to?" Molly asked softly.
Isadore nodded her head slightly before verbally answering. "You were the only couple that had triplets under his reign. You see, old Minchum had a severe case of Triskaphobia, which is a phobia of the number three. He would never have anything to do with it. Never went to any of the floors with the number three in it. He was a nutter, that's for sure."
"Please, Mrs. Grimm, is there anything you remember about our boy? Where he ended up? If he was alive?" Molly pleaded with the woman. It was a long shot, but Molly was hoping a little woman to woman chat would help them gain information.
"I wasn't assigned that particular case, so I don't know the specifics." Isadore began, giving Molly an apologetic look. Well, as much of an apologetic look as a Voldemort supporter could give. "I just know that he was around two when he came through our Department. As far as anyone knew, he'd been kept elsewhere since his birth, but Heretic Harold brought him in and signed all the necessary papers just before the end of his term. I believe I heard him order some charms be put into place to alter the boy's appearance before placing him in Muggle adoption system. I didn't catch the name of the institute or where it was located, I'm sorry."
Molly's gasping sobs echoed off the stone walls as her husband thanked Isadore Grimm before gently leading his wife out and away from the prison.
"Oh, Arthur, we'll never find him now!" Molly bawled into the front of her husband's robe after he had Apparated them into the front yard at the Burrow. The door to the house was thrown open and George came running. The rest of the family came rushing out behind him in their anxiousness to hear of any new leads. George's hopeful look dimmed when he saw his mother crying. He gave a wordless look to his father, who answered with a solemn shake of his head.
"I'm sorry, son. The only thing new we learned wasn't useful at all. In fact, it more than likely will make it impossible to find your brother now." he explained sadly.
"What did you find out," George asked insistently. He needed to know.
"That horrible man kept him hidden away for two years." Molly's voice trembled as she spoke. "Right up until he was about to go out of office, he did. Then he put our little boy into some Muggle orphanage and we don't know where."
Everyone was silent at hearing this. It seemed as though their search had reached a fruitless end, that is until Harry spoke up.
I bet Hermione could help us." The Boy Who Lived stated from within the circle of red heads. "If he's somewhere in the Muggle world, then she would probably have at least some idea of where to look."
Ron and Ginny both nodded in agreement, while the rest of the Weasleys, especially George, looked positively ecstatic at the bolstering of hope.
"Is that a good idea, though?" Percy asked, drawing everyone's attention. "I mean, she specifically told us all that she didn't want to be bothered by anything Magical for the next year while she reconnected with her parents."
"You're kidding, right?" Ron asked, staring in disbelief at Percy. "This is 'Mione we're talking about. Of course, she'll want to help. We're like family to her."
Percy frowned at his youngest brother. "That's not what I was saying, Ronald." he snapped. "I just meant that she had asked not to be disturbed. I know she would want to help, that's the way Hermione is."
"I'll go ask her."
Everyone in the yard turned in sync to look at George, who had surprisingly been the one to make the offer.
"Er, George, I think Harry or I should go. We are her best mates, after all." Ron said, even though Harry didn't look like he cared who went, as long as someone did.
George shook his head, his eyes holding a determined look. "No. I'm going. If anyone is going to be there when we find him, it's going to be me."
Ron looked like he might argue, but a touch and a shake of the head from Harry made him back down. Molly and Arthur gathered George into their arms and hugged their son for a moment before the former prankster pulled back and turned to Bill.
"Can I borrow that memory of yours Bill?" he asked, and when Bill nodded, turned to Harry. "And the Pensieve?" Harry nodded as well and within a few moments, George was Apparating away to the Granger residence.
Author's Note: Well, hopefully, this answered some of your questions about the last chapter if you had any. There's still more that needs to be explained but that will come in due time. Next chapter we shall get back to where we left off in chapter 3! Finally, some George/Hermione interaction! And more on Morris and his life as well. ^_^
