No Laughing Matter

Carly pulled her head out of the fire, and tried to calm herself. She needed to clear her mind of fear and focus on what she would do next, instead of what might already have happened. Fred was on his way, and from there, she imagined that they would go looking for Rowan and George; she needed to get herself dressed and be ready to go when he arrived. She hurried to her room and quickly plaited her hair to keep it out of her face. She traded her dressing gown for some robes, and then pulled some sturdy boots onto her feet, thinking that if her sister was camping, the terrain might be rugged. Her heart was beating faster than it should have been, and she knew that she was feeling some of her sister's emotions along with her own. They had always been able to sense each other's pain or strong emotions, and it seemed they were doing so now. She tried to project a feeling of acknowledgement and hope to Rowan, so that she would know that help was on its way. Once she was dressed, Carly found her medical bag and filled it with some essential potions that would help to heal basic injuries, and a book on various commonly used healing charms, just in case they ran into trouble and needed them.

She was just preparing to put on her cloak when Fred arrived. She opened her door and stepped into his arms for some brief comfort, and soaked in the wonderful feeling of solidness about him. Everything she had been feeling for past few minutes (had it really only been a quarter of an hour?) had seemed so strange, and his presence seemed to help to ground her in her own reality.

"Have you heard anything from Rowan, yet?" he asked as he held her close.

"Nothing," she said, squeezing him a bit tighter before loosening her embrace. She felt she couldn't afford to spend anymore time comforting herself, when she could still feel her sister's urgency. She had just turned away from him and was turning to grab her cloak and bag when with a cry of, "Oh!" she winced, grabbing her right arm. Fred took a step toward her in alarm, and she fell to the ground in an apparent faint.

"Carly!" Fred cried, kneeling down next to her. What was he supposed to do now? He fought back the panic he felt and forced himself to think. He lightly patted her cheeks and called her name, to see if that would rouse her, and finally he pulled out his wand and muttered, "Exsuscito!"

His breath he had been holding came out in a whoosh of air as her eyelids began to flutter, and then opened slowly. She sat up cautiously, "I felt...pain...my arm, my legs...." she said shakily, "It's gone now, but I felt it." She leaned against Fred for support while he helped her to her feet. She seemed a little weak, but her eyes were clear, and held a hint of fear and alarm. He guided her across the room and to the sofa, where he urged her to sit while he went to start some tea.

"I don't want tea, Fred!" she protested. "I want to go find my sister!"

"You've just fainted," Fred pointed out in a voice that was deceptively calm, but firm nonetheless. "And you had pain in both your arm and your legs. If you're going anywhere, it will be to St. Mungo's to be checked over. If you show any more signs of pain, though, I will drag to bodily to the hospital if I have to. I have some people I trust out looking for Rowan and George right now, and they'll contact us here if they find anything at all, so I'm going to go make some tea while we wait for word."

He didn't wait for her to agree or protest, but went straight into the kitchen, where he sagged momentarily against the wall to gather himself. His heart had jumped to his throat when she had fainted, and then once she'd woken up, he told himself that she must have felt something of what Rowan must be going through. If Rowan was in enough trouble to broadcast those kinds of feelings to her sister, then something must have happened to George, as well; he knew his brother would have to be incapacitated to have let any harm come to Rowan. Fred comforted himself with the fact that Bill was out searching for them both, and that he would leave no stone unturned if he found evidence that anything had happened to them. His main priority now was Carly.

He filled her kettle and tapped it with his wand, causing steam to pour from the spout instantly. He added the tealeaves to the diffuser, and warmed the teapot; a simple task to occupy his mind and to keep him from worrying too much. Once the tea was ready, he poured out two cups, and laced hers liberally with a shot of Ogden's Old Fire Whiskey from the sealed bottle he found in a cabinet over the stove. He took the tea to her, and smiled faintly when her eyes rounded and teared up after her first sip. She spluttered a bit before setting the cup aside, and asked, "Who do you have looking for them?"

Fred sipped his own, un-doctored tea, and said, "Well, my brother Bill, for one. He'll have called out as many people as he could find in good time. He has a couple of friends who are Aurors, so I'm guessing they will be on the list of those he gets to help."

"And all of these people will be willing to help, just because I had a premonition?" she asked skeptically.

"I talked to Bill right after I heard from you, and he promised he would do everything he could. I trust him, and he knows I wouldn't have asked him for help unless I believed there was trouble," Fred explained. "I know it's hard just to wait here, but it's the best we can do right now; especially if you're going to be fainting on me."

"But what if they don't find them?" she insisted, avoiding the tea he'd made for her, and sipping from his cup.

He didn't want to think of the implications of that question, and so he said, "I promise that if we don't hear anything from my brother or his friends within an hour, I'll go looking for them myself."

"You mean that we'll go looking for them," Carly corrected with a steely undertone. "Don't believe for a moment that you're going to leave me behind."

"Don't you think you should wait here incase they come back while I'm out looking for them?" he asked, knowing as he said it that she wasn't going to fall for it.

"I'll leave them a note," She said crossing her arms in a posture of defiance. "I'm not letting you walk out that door and have three people that I love missing."

Fred was saved from finding an argument to that by the appearance of Bill's head in the fire. "We've got them both. Get to St. Mungo's, I just arrived, so I don't know what's what yet, but they're both unconscious. They took them to Fourth Floor for Spell Damage."

"You'll Floo mom?" Fred asked, as Carly jumped up to get her cloak.

"That's next. See you soon." Bill's head disappeared with a quiet pop, and Fred took a pinch of powder from the porcelain box on Carly's mantle. Her Uncle Nigel and Aunt Suzette would want to know what was going on. It wasn't a conversation he was looking forward to.

*-*-*-*-*

George came back to consciousness to find his mother sitting by his bedside, asleep in her chair. It took him a moment to register that he was in a bed, and thought groggily for a moment that he must be in the hospital wing at Hogwarts. He couldn't remember why, at first, and then that morning's events flooded back in on him, leaving him with only one thought: Rowan.

Throwing aside the blanket that covered him; he realized that his muscles were sore and weak. There was a curtain drawn around his bed and the chair that his mother occupied, so he could not see anything else around him. There was an emblem on the curtain, though, that told him that he was at St. Mungo's hospital, though he had no idea how he had come to be there. What he wanted to do right now was to find Rowan and make sure that she was safe. Why wasn't she here? He sat up quickly, and swayed as his vision went gray for a moment, and his head throbbed viciously. He had to fight to keep his stomach from expelling its contents as he struggled to move his feet over the edge of the mattress.

"George!" Mrs. Weasley was on her feet and trying to ease him back down onto the pillow.

"Mum," he said, trying feebly to swat her hands away. "Let go! I need to find Rowan."

"Rowan's here dear, in another bed. Her Aunt and Uncle are with her now, and healers are doing their very best for her," Molly said, pulling her son firmly back into bed. "You'll be able to see her in just a little while. Your father and Bill should be along soon as well."

"Another bed? She's hurt? What happened? How did we get here?" His only thought was that his stupid stunt at the Malfoy estate had given her away; it was the only explanation.

"Hey! Take it easy, bro," Fred parted the curtain and stepped inside. "You've been through the ringer. I just saw Rowan, and she's going to be fine."

The words of reassurance from his brother did for George what his mother's assurances had not. He allowed Molly to tuck him back into bed and let himself relax a bit; Fred wouldn't lie to him about something as serious as Rowan's condition. He was grateful when Fred suggested that Molly fetch the healer in charge and let him know that George was awake. Fred wouldn't talk as openly with his mother sitting there, and George wanted direct answers.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" Fred asked quietly, sitting in the seat his mother had just been dozing in, so that his brother didn't feel the need to sit up again. He knew his mother would take some time in finding the healer, since the man had just announced he was going to take a twenty-minute break.

George explained how he and Rowan had staked out the Malfoy estate and whom he had seen arrive. Fred gave away none of his inner turmoil over Percy's defection; he didn't want to get off of the main subject, he merely nodded his understanding and gestured for George to continue. The story ended when George said that he had never even seen the curse he'd been hit with coming. Seeing the Death Eaters gathered around the map they'd been working on was the last thing he remembered before waking up in St. Mungo's.

"Fred," George swallowed hard. "They're trying to re-create the Marauder's Map. We have to tell Dumbledore."

"I'll take care of it," Fred promised. He could hear his mother and the healer coming their way, and so he stood and touched fists with his brother in an affectionate gesture, and held the curtain aside, sidling out as they came in.

Fred walked along the ward, and stopped at the curtain that surrounded Rowan's bed. She was awake now, and Carly, Nigel and Suzette all had chairs pulled up to her bedside. She looked up as soon as she saw him and asked, "George?"

"He's awake," Fred assured her with a grin that didn't quite reach his eyes. "He's a bit sore and weak, but otherwise, he seems fine to me. He's more worried about you than anything else."

She visibly relaxed at this news, and Suzette patted her hand briskly and said, "You see? I told you he would be fine."

Fred nodded and turned to Carly and gestured her to the other side of the curtain. "I have to go and see some people. It's very important, but I can't take you with me, and I don't want you going home alone."

"Who do you have to see?"

"Look, I don't want to lie to you, but I can't be completely honest," he said quickly. "It's about what George and Rowan saw at the Malfoy estate."

Carly looked into his eyes for a few moments and then nodded in understanding. "Be careful. I don't want you as a patient."

"Always." She promised, kissing her softly before parting the curtain so that she could go back to her sister. He moved to kiss Rowan on the cheek and then did the same to Suzette, who blushed prettily and chuckled.

"I have to go," Fred offered his hand to Nigel, who shook it. "I'd appreciate it if you could take Carly home with you until today's events get sorted out."

"Of course," Nigel said. "It will be our pleasure to have her with us as long as necessary. Our home is her home, as ever."

Fred nodded, kissed Carly once more and left the ward. He headed down the stairs and ran into his father and Bill coming up. They paused on a landing and Fred said without preamble, "I have to talk to Dumbledore. Now."

"What's all this about, Fred?" Arthur asked his son in concern.

"George saw some of what the Death Eaters are planning, and it involves sneaking into Hogwarts. Everyone at the school could be in danger soon. I need to see Dumbledore now, and tell him what I know so that he can do whatever he can to prevent it."

Arthur looked like he wanted to ask more questions, but thought better of it. Instead, he said, "Take Bill with you. I'll make an excuse to Molly until you have time to fill me in later."

Bill clapped his father on the shoulder, and turned to go back the way he came. To his credit, he hadn't even turned a hair at the change of plans, and followed Fred to the hospital's departing apparition point. They agreed to apparate to the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade and walk to the school from there. Fred would have time to fill Bill in while walking up to the castle once they arrived in Hogsmeade.