Chapter 4
St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies had never before seen such an influx of patients. At first the chaos had seemed overwhelming as the wounded had flowed in followed quickly by those attempting to locate missing friends and family.
Now, fifteen hours after the first casualty had staggered in, a general order had quietly taken over. On the ground floor those waiting for news in the reception area had spilled over into the hallways. Every now and again a healer would come looking for relatives of a patient in order to give them an update. All too often it was bad news and the healer’s quiet words would be followed by the sound of someone breaking down and being led away.
The Weasley family, sitting on the floor of a hallway and awaiting news on Bill and Ginny, had seen this happen too many times in their nine-hour vigil. Luna Lovegood’s father had been in a daze after being notified by a healer that there was nothing more they could do for his daughter and would he like to sit with her during whatever hours remained to her? Hermione had buried her head in Ron’s shoulder when they watched Mrs. Finnigan receive the news that her son, Seamus, had died. Mrs. Finnigan was clearly devastated but it was another fellow classmate, Lavender Brown, who had erupted into hysterics. Ironically, Mrs. Finnigan comforted the devastated girl and helped lead her to a quiet place where both of them could mourn their loss.
Ron had thought the previous night would be the longest he would ever have to endure. However, after spending the entire day in St. Mungo’s waiting, which had been the longest day of his life, he found that he had been wrong. Waiting to find out if Bill and Ginny would be alright, with far too many disturbing and upsetting thoughts racing through his head, turned out to be much worse than the previous night.
He and Hermione were sitting on the floor and leaning against a wall between a closed door and the corner of an intersecting hallway. Ron had his arm around Hermione and was holding her tightly, afraid to let her go. There’d been little spoken between them. Ron sat thinking heavily about his brother and sister, his actions the night before, and whose death he would have to hear of next. Briefly, he wondered where Harry was and why he had hadn’t shown up. For all Ron knew Harry might have been there and Lupin, Moody and Tonks had talked him into returning to headquarters with them. While they had wanted to be with the Weasleys as they awaited any kind of news, there was still a lot to do in the aftermath of the battle and so they had left.
Then his thoughts turned to the last time he’d found himself awaiting news at St. Mungo’s.
Ron sighed and Hermione, her head resting on his chest, looked up at him. “What?” she asked.
Shaking his head Ron muttered, “Nothing.” But Hermione was persistent and when he felt her continued gaze on him he sighed again. “It feels like the day Mum died,” he said quietly.
“Oh, Ron. I’m so sorry,” Hermione replied, tears springing to her eyes. She didn’t know what else to say and snuggled closer to him, holding him as tightly as he was holding her.
It had only been a few months prior that the Weasleys had lost their family matriarch when a trip to Diagon Alley had turned deadly. The day had been like any other when Molly Weasley had left the Burrow to go shopping. Until some Death Eaters had apparated into the middle of the street, let fly at least a dozen Avada Kedavras and disapparated before anyone had realized what they’d done. Mrs. Weasley had been one of those unfortunate to be caught in the crossfire of all that deadly green light.
Ron and Ginny had been in classes at the time and Professor McGonagall had quickly pulled them out. Tonks and Lupin had been waiting for them in Dumbledore’s office where the four of them took an authorized portkey that delivered them right to the reception room of St. Mungo’s. There they’d met Bill, Fred and George. The twins had been beside themselves as it had happened right outside their premises though only George had been unfortunate enough to see their mother struck.
An hour passed before Arthur Weasley stepped into the reception room. His eyes were downcast and his face red and blotchy. Ron had never known such pain as he had that day when saw his father’s face.
Now he was waiting again only this time they’d been waiting for a much longer time. He leaned his head back against the wall and shut his eyes tight.
Some time later he heard footsteps stop by where he was seated. A quiet voice asked, “Weasley?” Ron opened his eyes and looked up at the healer standing in front of him. He didn’t bother getting up as his brothers and father rushed over. He could hear all too well from where he was sitting.
The healer coughed a bit and then cleared his throat. Not a good sign, thought Ron. Then the healer turned toward Arthur. The Weasleys and Hermione held their collective breath. Which one would it be, Bill or Ginny? “Mr. Weasley, we regret to inform you that your son, Percy, is dead.”
Ron’s eyes widened. They’d found Percy. His family gasped and George said, “Percy?” Charlie looked sharply at Ron. Clearly he’d forgotten about seeing Percy earlier and it appeared that no one else in the family had spared a thought for the brother who’d left.
“Yes.” The healer took this as a sign to continue. “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid he was a victim of the killing curse. There was nothing we could do.”
There was a pause as they took this in and then Mr. Weasley gathered some words and said, “Thank you and, uhm, well, I was wondering if there’d been any news about my other son, Bill? Or my daughter, Ginny?”
The healer hesitated. “I’m afraid I really don’t know. I’m only on morgue detail just now. I’m sure it won’t be much longer.” He turned to leave as Arthur thanked him.
Ron looked at his dad who wore an expression of surprise. Charlie’s face was thoughtful and he looked again at Ron but said nothing. Ron distantly heard the twins talking but wasn’t paying attention until he heard one of the twins say, “…what side he was on?”
The other twin replied, “And I wonder who killed him?”
At the last comment Ron again closed his eyes as all color drained out of his face. He felt his brothers and father move away to resume their previous seats on the floor as they continued to speculate about Percy and waited for other, hopefully better, news.
Hermione nudged Ron. She had sat up next to him when the healer came and when he opened his eyes to look at her Ron noticed her expression of concern. “What is it, Ron?” she whispered.
Ron opened his mouth a couple of times but nothing came out. Finally he managed to croak a weak, “I can’t.” He was having trouble holding back tears.
“Ron.”
He simply shook his head.
Hermione, however, was not to be put off. “Is it about Percy?” She was still whispering.
Ron didn’t respond right away. He realized he had started to cry as a couple of tears spilled from his eyes. He angrily swiped at them and nodded at the same time. He felt Hermione waiting next to him and took a gulp of air. Unable to look her Ron whispered, “I killed him.”
There was a horrorstruck pause before Hermione could get out, “What?”
“I killed Percy.”
“How?” Now Hermione’s face was as white as Ron’s.
“What do you mean, how?” demanded Ron angrily. Didn’t she understand? Of all people he would have expected her to realize what this meant. “You heard the healer. With the killing curse.”
“Yes, I heard him, but Ron”“ Hermione broke off. She seemed to have a difficult time grasping what Ron was saying. Ron watched her try to work it out. Finally she asked, “What happened, Ron?”
Taking a deep breath Ron shakily replied, “He killed Neville. And he enjoyed it. Then he was going to kill Ginny so…so I…I killed him first.” And with that Ron started sobbing and Hermione took him in her arms. Ron was oblivious when his family came over and stood behind him, looking questioningly at Hermione. Even stressed out it wasn’t like Ron to cry at all let alone this uncontrollably. Only Charlie suspected it had something to do with the bodies he had seen but he kept his peace. He didn’t have an explanation for what had happened to Percy. Only Ron did.
When Ron began to calm down Hermione pulled away and said, “Tell us, Ron. Tell us what happened.”
And he did.
When Ron finished relating the events of the night before he turned to his father, “I’m so sorry, Dad. It was the only way to stop him.”
Arthur Weasley patted Ron on the shoulder. “I understand, son. You did what had to be done. Don’t think on it anymore.”
Scrambling to his feet and looking his father full in the face, Ron demanded, “What do you mean, ‘don’t think on it?’ I killed my brother!” Ron was now shouting and the others still maintaining vigils in the hallway turned towards the Weasleys to see what was happening.
Arthur didn’t respond. It seemed too much to take in on top of everything else. It was Charlie who finally spoke.
“Ron,” he said and Ron turned toward him. “Percy had become a Death Eater.” He didn’t remind Ron that he’d seen Percy dressed as such and in the company of one of the most notorious Death Eaters, Bellatrix Lestrange, when he’d found Ron and Ginny. Charlie continued, “and this was war. A Death Eater was going to kill our sister. You did the only thing you could.”
“We understand,” Fred added as George nodded.
Ron looked at them. On the one hand he was aghast at his family’s seemingly easy acceptance of the fact that not only was Percy dead but that Ron had been the one to kill him. On the other he was filled with wonder at their lack of condemnation of him. He felt Hermione’s hand on his back as she tried to reassure him and he looked back at his dad.
Arthur swallowed and looked at his youngest son with a mixture of pride and sorrow. He couldn’t say he didn’t regret the loss of Percy but he knew Ron would never have acted rashly toward anyone when something as serious as his life was on the line. He opened his mouth to say this when another voice said, “Weasley?”
They all turned toward a small, dark haired woman who was standing nearby with a clipboard. She smiled nervously as they looked at her expectantly. “I have news for you regarding Bill and Ginny.”
Six people tensed as they awaited the worst. “First, Bill,” she said. “He was pretty badly injured but will recover.” There was some backslapping and a few “Thank Merlins” as she continued. “He will, however, have some pretty serious scarring. We’ve done all we can and some of it has gone but not all of it. And he’ll always walk with a limp but he’s already improving. His wife is with him now and you can all see him tomorrow.”
Fred and George clapped each other on the back again as Charlie beamed and Hermione smiled. Even Mr. Weasley had a small smile on his face. Ron, however, was still grim. “What about Ginny?” he asked abruptly.
The healer’s smile faded. “Well, the news there isn’t as good, I’m afraid.” The Weasleys immediately sobered. “She’s remained in a state of what we can only refer to as shock and has withdrawn so far inside of herself that we can’t seem to reach her.”
“How long will she remain this way?” Mr. Weasley asked.
“That’s unknown. It could be a day, a month or even longer.”
“Longer?” more than one voice queried.
The healer sighed. “I’m afraid there’s a possibility she may never come back.”
No one spoke and the healer, who Ron finally noticed wore a name badge that identified her as Antigone Welsh-Moore, urged the Weasleys to go home and get some rest. They could visit the next day.
After staring at each other for a few moments, Mr. Weasley said, “she’s right. We need some rest.”
Fred and George apparated back to their premises after they all agreed to meet at St. Mungo’s the next afternoon. Mr. Weasley and Charlie looked at Ron and Hermione who told them they’d be along in a minute.
When they were alone Hermione took Ron’s hand. He was looking down at the floor. He didn’t know what to do. He kept thinking about how Bill would be mostly okay and that Fleur was with him but then he’d think how Ginny was not okay and might never be. He briefly wondered what, specifically, had pushed her over the edge and decided it must have been seeing Percy kill Neville though, in the back of his mind he couldn’t help but wonder if it had been watching Ron kill their brother.
“Ron?” He looked up at Hermione and found her looking at him questioningly.
“This won’t go away, Hermione,” he said softly. “Bill will be okay but Ginny might not be and none of it changes what I did.”
“I know.”
“I mean,” he continued as if he hadn’t heard her, “I’m always going to have killed my own brother. Just because he was a prat to all of us, even that he became a Death Eater, it doesn’t change the fact that he was still my brother and I still killed him.”
“I know, Ron.”
“And there’s nothing anyone can say to change that.” He was starting to cry again. “How can I live with having killed my brother, Hermione?”
Hermione stood on her tiptoes to kiss the tears on Ron’s cheeks. He sniffed. She looked at him and said, “I don’t know how, Ron. But we’ll find a way.”
Ron reached out and pulled her towards him and he knew she had just given him the answer.