Chapter 36:
Alicia felt her feet slam into the ground and she stumbled forwards but managed to stay standing. Instantly a voice reached them as the kettle clattered to the ground.
"Back again, the blood traitor brats, is it true their father's dying…?"
"OUT!" roared a second voice.
Alicia looked up to find her in Grimmaul Place's basement kitchen. The fire was roaring and one handle was illuminating a solitary supper on the table. Kreacher was disappearing through the door to the hall and Sirius hurried forwards looking anxious.
Alicia ran forwards and threw her arms around her Godfather, ignoring how he was still in his day clothes and was as unshaven as usual.
"What's going on?" he said, rubbing Alicia's arm comfortingly. "Phineas Nigellus said Arthur's been badly injured —"
"Ask Harry," said Fred.
"Yeah, I want to hear this for myself," said George.
The twins and Ginny were staring at him. Kreacher's footsteps had stopped on the stairs outside.
"It was —" Harry began; this was even worse than telling McGonagall and Dumbledore. "I had a — a kind of — vision…"
"It was terrible." Alicia mumbled and Sirius patted her back as Harry told them what they had seen, although he changed the story, saying he had been watching from the sidelines instead of being the snake. It was like he felt guilty, like he'd attacked Mr Weasley instead of somehow making his way into the snake's mind and seeing what it saw.
Ginny and Ron, who had heard what he'd told Dumbledore, said nothing about his change of story. They continued to stare at Harry for a moment when he was done. Alicia finally released Sirius and looked at them, she was surprised to see some sort of accusation in their looks.
Maybe she couldn't blame them for that…
"Is Mum here?" said Fred, turning to Sirius.
"She probably doesn't even know what's happened yet," said Sirius. "The important thing was to get you away before Umbridge could interfere. I expect Dumbledore's letting Molly know now."
"We've got to go to St. Mungo's," said Ginny urgently. She looked around at her brothers; they were of course still in their pyjamas. "Sirius, can you lend us cloaks or anything — ?"
"Hang on, you can't go tearing off to St. Mungo's!" said Sirius.
" 'Course we can go to St. Mungo's if we want," said Fred, with a mulish expression, "he's our dad!"
"And how are you going to explain how you knew Arthur was attacked before the hospital even let his wife know?"
"What does that matter?" said George hotly.
"It matters because we don't want to draw attention to the fact that Harry or Alicia are having visions of things that are happening hundreds of miles away!" said Sirius angrily. "Have you any idea what the Ministry would make of that information?"
Fred and George looked as though they could not care less what the Ministry made of anything. Ron was still white-faced and silent. Ginny said, "Somebody else could have told us… We could have heard it somewhere other than Harry…"
"Like who?" said Sirius impatiently. "Listen, your dad's been hurt while on duty for the Order and the circumstances are fishy enough without his children knowing about it seconds after it happened, you could seriously damage the Order's —"
"We don't care about the dumb Order!" shouted Fred.
"It's our dad dying we're talking about!" yelled George.
"Your father knew what he was getting into, and he won't thank you for messing things up for the Order!" said Sirius angrily in his turn. "This is how it is — this is why you're not in the Order — you don't understand — there are things worth dying for!"
"Easy for you to say, stuck here!" bellowed Fred. "I don't see you risking your neck!"
Alicia looked at Fred shocked. What little colour Sirius had in his face, drained. He almost looked like he wanted to hit Fred.
"I know it's hard, but we've all got to act as though we don't know anything yet. We've got to stay put, at least until we hear from your mother, all right?"
Fred and George still looked mutinous. Ginny, however, took a few steps over to the nearest chair and sank into it. Harry looked at Ron, who made a funny movement somewhere between a nod and shrug, and they sat down too. The twins glared at Sirius for another minute and Alicia moved forwards to wrap her arms around Fred and give him a hug. George looked at her and she gave him a look.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled "But at least he's at St Mungo's, he's getting looked at and cared for and so quickly too." she assured before looking at Fred and running her fingers through his hair. "It'll be alright." she said turning to George. The two looked at one another and then as Alicia released Fred, they took seats on either side of Ginny, Fred taking Alicia's hand as though it calmed him down.
"That's right," said Sirius encouragingly, "come on, let's all… let's all have a drink while we're waiting. Accio Butterbeer!"
He raised his wand as he spoke and half a dozen bottles came flying toward them out of the pantry, skidded along the table, scattering the debris of Sirius's meal, and stopped neatly in front of the seven of them. They all drank, and for a while the only sounds were those of the crackling of the kitchen fire and the soft thud of their bottles on the table.
They didn't talk until suddenly there was a burst of fire in midair which illuminated the dirt plates in front of them. Each of them cried out in surprise and a scroll of parchment fell with a thud onto the table, accompanied by a single golden phoenix tail feather.
"Fawkes!" said Sirius at once, snatching up the parchment. "That's not Dumbledore's writing — it must be a message from your mother — here —"
He thrust the letter into George's hand, who ripped it open and read aloud, "Dad is still alive. I am setting out for St. Mungo's now. Stay where you are. I will send news as soon as I can. Mum."
George looked around the table.
"Still alive…" he said slowly. "But that makes it sound…"
"Like it's close…" Alicia finished looking horrified. She buried her face in her hands and shook her head.
This was terrible.
Still exceptionally pale, Ron stared at the back of his mother's letter as though it might speak words of comfort to him. Fred pulled the parchment out of George's hands and read it for himself, then looked up at Harry, who felt his hand shaking on his butterbeer bottle again and clenched it more tightly to stop the trembling.
None of them left the kitchen. Sirius suggested they all went to bed but without any real conviction, and the Weasleys' looks of disgust were answer enough for him to drop the idea. They mostly sat in silence around the table, watching the candle wick sinking lower and lower into liquid wax, now and then raising bottles to their lips, speaking only to check the time, to wonder aloud what was happening, and to reassure one another that if there was bad news, they would know straightaway, for Mrs. Weasley must long since have arrived at St. Mungo's.
Fred fell into a doze, his head sagging sideways onto Alicia's shoulder. Ginny was curled like a cat on her chair, but her eyes were open; Harry could see them reflecting the firelight. Ron was sitting with his head in his hands, whether awake or asleep it was impossible to tell. And he, Alicia and Sirius looked at each other every so often, intruders upon the family grief, waiting… waiting…
And then, at ten past five in the morning by Ron's watch, the kitchen door swung open and Mrs. Weasley entered the kitchen. She was extremely pale, but when they all turned to look at her, Fred, Ron, and Harry half-rising from their chairs, she gave a wan smile.
"He's going to be all right," she said, her voice weak with tiredness. "He's sleeping. We can all go and see him later. Bill's sitting with him now, he's going to take the morning off work."
Fred fell back into his chair with his hands over his face. George and Ginny got up, walked swiftly over to their mother, and hugged her. Ron gave a very shaky laugh and downed the rest of his butterbeer in one.
"Breakfast!" said Sirius loudly and joyfully, jumping to his feet. "Where's that accursed house-elf? Kreacher! KREACHER!"
But Kreacher did not answer the summons. Alicia looked around surprised, didn't Kreacher have to obey Sirius? And of course he would have heard Sirius… She looked around the room cautiously. There wasn't a chance he'd left the mansion was there?
"Oh, forget it, then," muttered Sirius, counting the people in front of him. "So it's breakfast for — let's see — eight… Bacon and eggs, I think, and some tea, and toast —"
Harry hurried over to the stove to help. Alicia did the same as to give the Weasley's some family time. She worried slightly about Mrs Weasley's reaction to the two of them, would she blame them like her children did?
It seemed the answer was no, for she instantly grabbed her and Harry in a hug.
"I don't know what would have happened if it hadn't been for you, Harry, Alicia," she said in a muffled voice. "They might not have found Arthur for hours, and then it would have been too late, but thanks to you he's alive and Dumbledore's been able to think up a good cover story for Arthur being where he was, you've no idea what trouble he would have been in otherwise, look at poor Sturgis…"
Alicia smiled up at her.
"I'm just glad he's okay, and what with all you and Mr Weasley do for us," Alicia looked at Harry.
Mrs Weasley patted her cheek before turning to Sirius and thanking him for looking after her children through the night. Sirius said that he was very pleased to have been able to help, and hoped they would all stay with him as long as Mr. Weasley was in hospital.
"Oh, Sirius, I'm so grateful… They think he'll be there a little while and it would be wonderful to be nearer… Of course, that might mean we're here for Christmas…"
"Really!?" Alicia asked excitedly. Never had she had a Christmas with a family member besides Harry. She grinned at Sirius at the idea.
"The more the merrier!" said Sirius with such obvious sincerity that Mrs. Weasley beamed at him, threw on an apron, and began to help with breakfast.
"Sirius," Harry muttered. "Can I have a quick word? Er — now?"
Harry grabbed Alicia's hand and walked into the dark pantry with Sirius following. Without preamble Harry told his godfather every detail of the vision he had had, including the fact that he himself had been the snake who had attacked Mr. Weasley.
When he paused for breath, Sirius said, "Did you tell Dumbledore this?"
"Yes," said Harry impatiently, "but he didn't tell me what it meant. Well, he doesn't tell me anything anymore…"
"I'm sure he would have told you if it was anything to worry about," said Sirius steadily.
"Or he has a reason for not talking to Harry." Alicia added but it was brushed aside.
"But that's not all," said Harry in a voice only a little above a whisper. "Sirius, I… I think I'm going mad… Back in Dumbledore's office, just before we took the Portkey… for a couple of seconds there I thought I was a snake, I felt like one — my scar really hurt when I was looking at Dumbledore — Sirius, I wanted to attack him —"
Alicia reached up for her scar and Sirius saw the movement as Alicia remembered the pain.
"But your scar hurt too…" she mumbled "And that happens when Voldemort's involved…" she cut off and her eyes widened slightly.
They knew Harry could see in Voldemort's mind… what if the process was reversed?
"It must have been the aftermath of the vision, that's all," said Sirius. "You were still thinking of the dream or whatever it was and —"
"It wasn't that," said Harry, shaking his head. "It was like something rose up inside me, like there's a snake inside me —"
"You need to sleep," said Sirius firmly. "You're going to have breakfast and then go upstairs to bed, and then you can go and see Arthur after lunch with the others. You're in shock, Harry; you're blaming yourself for something you only witnessed, and it's lucky you did witness it or Arthur might have died. Just stop worrying…."
He clapped Harry on the shoulder and left the pantry, leaving Harry standing alone in the dark.
"But… what if there's something to worry about…" Alicia whispered and Harry looked at her. "Harry, remember how Dumbledore said we had a connection that was deeper than twins?" she asked and he nodded.
"Well… have you noticed how my connection to you, is similar to your connection to Voldemort?" she whispered and Harry looked at her. "I don't understand how you and him can have a connection like you and me when there's no relation between you two that we know of…" she mumbled.
"I think Dumbledore wasn't completely honest when he explained that connection." she said "And now, I think what ever the connection is, the snake's involved too."