No Laughing Matter

Chapter Twenty-Two

"Charlie is making the arrangements to come home," Arthur told Dung as he emerged from the sitting room, wiping fresh tears from his eyes. "Dumbledore had already contacted him; he should arrive tonight, and I told him to go straight to the Burrow for the time being."

Mundungus nodded and said, "Go to Molly now, Arthur. We'll see to things here; I'll see to it that Dumbledore knows where everyone is. Just go."

"Okay," Arthur said. "Keep me posted on anything that comes up."

He left Headquarters by the back door, and Apparated from the back garden into the Apparition point of St. Mungo's Lobby. There were a lot of people waiting, while a Healer seemed to be slowly making his way around the room, evaluating patients. There was a sign posted that re-directed patients to which floor was treating what type of injuries. Arthur took a place in line to talk to the Welcome Witch, and waited until it was his turn. He was surprised to find Suzette Winters sitting behind the counter,

"Arthur!" she said with a gentle smile. "I'm so glad to see you here at last. I was beginning to worry! Molly, Fred, Bill and George are all on the fourth floor, in cubicle twelve."

"Thank you," he answered. "I'm glad to see you made it here as well."

"Nigel and I are lending a hand until things become manageable here," she said. "Let's hope that time will come very soon."

Arthur nodded and let her get back to helping the others that had joined the line behind him. He mounted the stairs and just put one foot in front of the other while his mind was elsewhere. His conversation with Charlie, while brief, and been emotionally taxing. He was leaving his job immediately to come home to work for the Order. The Dragons were important to him, but his need to be at home with his family was greater. Arthur's family's mettle was being tested, and while he knew that they would come out on the other side of this stronger, it would be a hard journey. The first step of the journey would be to re-group and to grieve for their loss. It was very important to Arthur that none of them feel like they held any blame for what happened to Percy. He felt the heavy weight of guilt himself, and did not want it to become a burden that any of his children, or his wife bore.

He found the small room where his family waited. It was quiet, and dimly lit as he saw that Molly and Fred were sleeping. Bill was sitting up at one end of a chaise, and George sat next to him, both seemingly lost in their own thoughts. George was eyeing the wound on his brother's shoulder with a furrow in his brow, but looked up when his father entered the room.

'It's strange,' George thought, 'how disconnected I feel now that I've had a chance to sit and think about everything that's happened tonight.'

Since he had gotten patched up by Carly and had come down here, he and Bill had hardly spoken to each other at all. It was as if it was all too big to put into words, and so they weren't even going to try. Fred was still out cold while the potions did their work, and his mother, thankfully, was also sleeping. He wondered if it would be worse for her when she woke up; the sudden remembering that washes over the few moments after you wake after a big event. It was one of the reasons he'd refused Bill's offer to let him use the chaise to rest. He suspected that it was the reason that Bill was forcing himself to stay awake as well.

"Dad," Bill said, standing up.

"Percy's been sent here to the morgue for the time being," Arthur said without preamble. "Charlie is preparing to come home right now, and Dumbledore is making arrangements for those students to need leave from school to get home. I'd say Ron and Ginny should be home in the next few hours. The Order hasn't all checked in yet, but the heaviest hits were apparently at Azkaban and Hogsmeade. They never even made an attempt on the school."

Bill and George nodded.

"Hello, Mr. Weasley," Carly said quietly from the doorway. "I was just coming to check on everyone. I've got a twenty minute break."

"I'm fine, my dear," Arthur said, putting a welcoming arm around her. "Thanks to you and your family. I actually ran into your Aunt Suzette in the lobby."

"Mr. Weasley," Carly asked calmly and quietly. "What is 'The Order'?"

Everyone fell silent at this question, until a hoarse voice came from Fred. "It's a secret."

All eyes turned to him, and Carly was immediately at his side, checking him over. "You should still be sleeping," she admonished. "That curse did quite a good bit of damage."

"I'm doing fine," he growled sleepily. "That nasty potion's keeping the pain at bay."

"Carly," George said. "We can't tell you what the Order is right now."

She met his gaze levelly, and stared at him for a moment before nodding. She would let this matter go for the time being, but she wouldn't forget to ask again when things were less hectic, and she had Rowan around to back her up.

"Don't worry," Fred assured her, capturing her one of her hands with his good one. "They're the good guys."

"So you're not one of them?" she asked.

"Not officially," he said. "That's all I can tell you for now. I promise you'll be told all about it later." He looked up at his father as he said this part, and Carly looked up, too.

"Right," Arthur said. "But for now, there's more to be done. I need to write to Ron and Ginny. They'll be easier knowing that the rest of us are safe and sound. Bill, I think you'll probably be wanting to check on Fleur at her parent's place, and then, I don't like asking you to do this, but we're going to need to see to Percy... arrangements will need to be started. I'd like to have as much of the preparations for his burial handled before your Mum wakes."

Bill nodded and said, "I'll see to it, Dad." He stood and hugged his father, and kissed Carly's cheek before departing.

"George," Arthur continued as Bill walked out. "I would be grateful if you could go back to the Burrow to be there when Charlie arrives. Then you should check in with Rowan; let her know were her family is. I don't want anyone going anywhere on his or her own after this if it can possibly be avoided. You can both come back here after that, if you're up to it. I think Charlie will want to check on Fred and Molly himself."

"You got it, Dad," George said. He stood and his and Fred's eyes met. They communicated without words that each would be fine, and then George walked over to the other bed and kissed Molly's forehead, turned and walked out.

"Fred, Carly," Arthur continued, "Can you think of anyone else that needs to be contacted right now? Anyone you need to check on?"

"My parents won't have heard about all this so soon," Carly said. "And aside from your family and Aunt Suzette and Uncle Nigel, everyone else I know works here."

"No," Fred said tiredly. "Mrs. Dunbar - Eunice, Carly's neighbor. And Lee."

"Oh no!" Carly said. "I didn't even think about poor Eunice! I'll go Floo her as soon as I leave here, to let her know we're all right."

"Right," Arthur said. "I'll send Lee an owl if I can find any available. I'm going to go find some parchment and a quill."

Fred watched his father go, and then brought Carly's hand to his lips. "Scared me," he said quietly. "Bill told me what happened after I blacked out while they were patching me up."

"You scared me too," she said. "I'm having a hard time realizing it all really happened."

"I think we're all going to feel that way for a while, yet," he said. His gaze fell over to his mother, who was still sleeping dreamlessly. "I'm worried about her."

"Your mother is a strong woman," Carly said steadily. "She's a very capable witch, and she'll pull through this. We all will, because we'll help each other; that's the way a family works."

Fred smiled a bit at her fervor, and at the fact that she unconsciously included herself in his family. "Yes it is," he agreed.

"Well I'm going to have to get going if I'm going to Floo Eunice before I get back to work," Carly said reluctantly, leaning down to give him a soft kiss. "Things are starting to slow down, so I should be able to get some sleep in a couple of hours. I'll come back and stretch out in here with you all then."

Fred nodded, and was planning on slipping back into the sleep he'd been fighting off when his father returned with a roll of parchment and a quill and ink. Carly stopped to have a word with him, when Bill came back. Before Bill had a chance to say anything, Charlie, George and Rowan came in, and all of them were out of breath. It was immediately evident that something was wrong, and Fred sat up, despite the pain in his shoulder, and swung his feet to the floor.

"What is it?" came Molly's weak voice from the direction of her bed.

Every head in the room swiveled to see Molly's eyes were open and alert. She actually looked well rested, but there was no doubt in anyone's mind that she was perfectly aware of everything that had transpired that night before she'd been taken to St. Mungo's.

"What's happened?" she asked, her voice gaining strength.

Carly was already at her side, checking her over, but Molly was not to be distracted. All eyes turned back to Charlie, George and Rowan, and finally Charlie took at deep breath.

"It's the Burrow," he said heavily. "It's gone. It's been completely destroyed. The Dark Mark was fading from the sky above just as I arrived."