No Laughing Matter

Chapter Twenty-five

It was mid afternoon when George woke. Sunlight was streaming in through the window of his room. A small carriage clock on the mantle of the room's fireplace told him the time, and he couldn't believe he'd actually slept as long as he had. He still felt tired, but forced himself to his feet and padded over to a washbasin and pitcher that had been left there for his use. The cool water he splashed on hid face was a far cry from the shower he really needed, but it would do for now. He wanted to go to the shop and put a notice in the window telling their customers that they would be closed until further notice, and to collect some personal items. He would need clean robes to change into, and so would Fred; Fred's had been destroyed in the battle, and he was currently wearing the hospital pajama bottoms that had been given him when he was admitted.

It felt weird to be dressing by putting on soiled, borrowed robes more suited to the party they had left the previous evening, but he didn't have much choice. He used his wand to air them out a bit before shrugging into them, and once dressed, left the privacy of his room to find out if anyone else was awake. Arthur had told him that they weren't to travel anywhere without a companion unless it was absolutely necessary, so he would have to see if Bill, Charlie or Rowan was available to take the trip to Diagon Alley with him. He guessed that Bill would be the one to go with him, as he needed to acquire a new wand after last night, and would probably need to check in at the bank where he worked. He wondered idly if Goblins would be sympathetic to the plight of his family and give Bill a few days off for bereavement.

There were sounds of dishes clinking and the low rumble of voices coming from the kitchen, and so George pushed the door open and peeked in, hoping he wasn't disturbing any private conversations. When he saw that it was Bill and Charlie, he pushed the door all the way open and walked inside. A tiny house elf beamed up at George and squeaked, "Come in, come in young master!"

George smiled down at the little female elf, who was clad in a clean and neatly pressed tea towel, and said, "Good morning Toolah. It's nice to see you again; how are you?"

"I is seeing to some food for all of the nice young masters that Mistress Rowan is bringing to stay!" she answered happily. "You just sit right there and let me fix you up with some tea and sandwiches."

"Hey guys," George said by way of greeting as he joined his brothers at the scrubbed kitchen table. "Been up long?"

Bill and Charlie both had blood-shot eyes and both were sporting a day or two's worth of stubble on their chins. George guessed that he must look just as bad. "No," Charlie answered. "Only about twenty minutes. We're waiting to hear from Dad. He sent an owl saying that Mum has been released, but they're keeping Fred at St. Mungo's for at least another day. We're supposed to stay put."

"Uh-huh," George said heavily, gratefully accepting the tea that Toolah brought him. "I need to go to Diagon Alley. I've got to check on the shop and get some fresh clothes together. You guys want to go?"

"Yeah," Charlie said, reaching into the pocket of his robes and withdrawing a small silver flask. He passed it to George, who poured a generous amount of the caramel colored liquid into his tea and passed it back to his brother, who took a swig straight from the flask before returning it to his pocket. George's first sip confirmed that it was brandy, and after a grimace at the taste, drank some more.

"I need to go there, too, " Bill agreed, looking slightly put out that the brandy hadn't traveled back to him, despite the fact that he already had a hefty dose of it in his tea. "I expect things will be in an uproar at the bank; either that, or it will be dead quiet. It's always hard to tell how people will react to something like this. At any rate, I'm in. I've got to get to Ollivanders and replace my wand; he should know what type of wands Mum and Dad use, and we could see about getting them new ones or having them made."

Toolah set three plates piled high with food in front of the brothers and scowled at them all - especially Fred. He stopped with his doctored tea halfway to his lips and asked, "What's the matter, Toolah?"

"You three is aught to be listening to your father! You is to be staying here until you hear from him!" scolded the elf, obviously having listened in to their conversation.

The three men had the grace to look bashful at her comment, and nodded obediently as they began to eat. It was a relief that their parents arrived, just as they finished their meal, making it easier for them to leave the house without an over protective house elf snapping at their heels.

They all hugged their mother as soon as she came in, and sat down again to hear any more news that they might have to impart.

"Well we've been to see the house," Molly said in a matter of fact tone. "It's pretty much a complete loss, but we'll still have to sort through the rubble to make sure that nothing magical accidentally gets vanished off to a Muggle land fill."

"That can wait for a while," Arthur said. "We've put more wards in place to keep any Muggles from wandering around, and we're pretty sure no one in the village has any idea that there's even a family that lived there, so that's taken care of. We made arrangements for Percy to be buried at the Ottery St. Catchpole cemetery the day after tomorrow. Your Mum and I would like to have him close to us."

All three nodded in understanding.

"Ron, Ginny and Harry will be arriving here by portkey this evening. Hermione may be coming as well, but Dumbledore needs to get permission from her parents, and frankly, I wouldn't blame them if they said no," Molly told them. "Fred should be released from St. Mungo's sometime tomorrow."

"One more thing you boys need to be aware of," Arthur said. "I've discussed it with your Mum, and I have decided to accept a position - at least temporarily - as Head of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry. We lost Sharpe yesterday to the Azkaban break, and they need someone as soon as possible. I'll start tomorrow and will be able to take time for Percy's funeral, but then I'll be gone a lot; at least at first."

All three of them looked surprised at this news, but then broke into grins. "You'll be brilliant at it, Dad," George said sincerely as the others nodded.

"Thank you, boys, but my absence is going to put a lot of extra burden on your mother and you all to keep things going."

"You can count on us, Dad," Bill said sincerely. "We'll take good care of Mum."

"And Mum will take good care of us," Charlie added, putting an arm around her.

"We'll all be taking care of each other," Molly said firmly. "I would especially like it if the you four boys could take some time to talk things out with Ron and Ginny. This is going to be hard on them, having been away at Hogwarts and all... they don't know about the house. We thought it best if the news came from us instead of Dumbledore or McGonagall."

"Of course," Charlie said. "Don't worry."

"Mum," George said. "We were all about to go to Diagon Alley. Bill needs a new wand, and to check in at work, and Charlie needs new everything, having lived in Romania for so long. I need to check on the shop and to pick some fresh robes. Why don't you and Dad come with us? We can get you a new wand and some robes, and anything you can think of that you'll need for the next few days.

"I think that I should come," Molly said thoughtfully. "But Arthur needs to go get some sleep."

"Toolah will show Master George's father to the guest room she has all prepared for him!" The elf said cheerfully, happy to have even more people to wait upon.

Arthur nodded gratefully and followed the elf away, and the others all congregated in the drawing room before using Floo powder to travel to the Leaky Cauldron. Once there, they decided that the first order of business was to visit Gringotts. The three boys bullied Molly until she agreed that she wouldn't take any money out of her own vault; Bill claimed that he had not had much to spend his money on in Egypt, and Charlie said the same about Romania. George insisted that since she had never accepted a pay packet from working in the shop, that it was time she did so for past services rendered. When she had scowled at them all and looked as if she would protest further, Charlie simply said, "Let us do this, Mum. We promised Dad that we would look after you." She relented while dabbing at proud tears, and they left Bill to check on his work and promised to come back in an hour for him.

They walked through Diagon Alley toward Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, noting that there were still many shoppers going about their business, but it was quieter than usual, and people didn't seem as friendly and social as they normally did. As they reached the stained purple stoop, George was surprised to see the 'Open' sign displayed in the window and find the door unlocked. As they entered, it was in time to see Lee Jordan releasing an owl with a package tied to it's legs out of the small owl window behind the counter.

"George!" Lee said in surprise. "I didn't expect to see you today, mate. You look bloody awful!"

"Thanks, mate," George gave his friend a weary smile. "I did expect to see you either."

Lee smiled uncertainly at Charlie and Molly, and then answered, "Well I figured after I got your Dad's owl, that I should at least come in and take care of any potions still brewing and send out any owl orders. While I was checking the orders, some customers came rattling the door and so I let them in. Can you believe that some of the people out there have no idea what's happened yet? We're certainly not overloaded with business today, but we're not as desolate as I expected. I figure it shouldn't be too hard to hold things down here for a few days. Until... you know."

"Thanks," George said. "I appreciate it. You just close up whenever you need to. It's what I was going to do today, anyway."

"Sure. How's Fred?"

"He'll be out of hospital tomorrow. I just came to get some clothes. We're all staying at the Winters's for now."

His eyes were full of questions, but Lee could tell that now was not the time to ask them. He nodded and said, "Okay."

George jogged quickly up the stairs to his flat and quickly raided both Fred's and his own closets, and stuffed them haphazardly into an old battered suitcase. He used his wand to reduce it down to a size that would fit in his pocket, and then rejoined his Mum and Charlie. Charlie had never seen the shop before outside of photographs, and was wandering around looking at everything curiously, while his Mum was talking quietly with Lee. As he came down the stairs, they turned, and with a little pat on Lee's hand, Molly straightened and they all bid him good-bye as they went o complete their shopping. Since they'd lost almost everything, they went first to Madam Malkin's for new Robes for both Charlie and Molly. Bill had his own place with Fleur (who was in France at the moment visiting her family), so hadn't suffered much of a loss as far as possessions went with the Burrow was destroyed. George and Charlie waited until Molly was being measured before pulling another shop assistant aside and telling her to arrange for several sets of robes for their mother to be delivered to the Winters' home later that day.

They knew that while she might accept basic items from her sons, she wouldn't agree to the scale at which they wanted to provide for her. She had, after all, recently lost everything. As luck would have it, the shop had Arthur's measurements on file, and so they were able to purchase some smart looking robes that befitted a man in his new position within the Ministry. Since their father wasn't there to protest, they decided that it would be the perfect time to make sure that he didn't go without for the sake of his children. Charlie was quickly measured, and he picked out a couple of set of robes to replace some of his own, which had become shabby while working with dragons.

Once they were finished at Madam Malkin's, they returned to Gringotts to find out if Bill would be able to take any time off. He was harried looking as he approached them from a long corridor, and told them that it was a virtual madhouse there. He would be able to take time that day to go and buy a new wand, and then he would be given time off for Percy's funeral, but that otherwise, his availability would depend upon what was happening at the bank.

"So people are panicking and withdrawing their money?" George asked as the hurried down the street toward Ollivander's.

"That's the strange part," Bill said. "A lot of people are making huge deposits. There's a scramble to hire vaults to hold personal items. It seems that a major fear right now is looting by Death Eaters or other opportunists, and so people are coming to Gringotts to secure the valuables that they would normally keep hidden in their own homes."

"That makes sense," Charlie said. "It 's the safest place I know of to keep stuff."

They arrived at Ollivander's to find the proprietor behind the counter, wrapping a wand up for a wizard who looked as though he'd been a rough fight. He nodded curtly to the Weasley family as he left the shop, and they were all thinking the same thing: One more victim of the attacks.

"Terrible! Terrible!" Ollivander exclaimed as they stepped up to the counter. "So many wands lost! I suppose that they were being collected for use by those who escaped Azkaban."

It dawned on George that the pattern of attacks last night had been brilliantly executed. They served multiple purposes for Voldemort's followers. They had been used as a distraction for the Ministry and for Dumbledore to turn attention away from the Azkaban break, and they had spread countrywide terror and chaos for several hours, facilitating the escape of all of the prisoners. Those who had been victimized in the attacks had also been relieved of their wands so that those who had none could be supplied with one. It was a frightening thought. The Azkaban break had provided Voldemort with hundreds of new 'recruits' to fight for him, and at the same time had greatly diminished the number those who opposed him by simply eliminating them.

Mr. Ollivander did, indeed, remember exactly which wands he had sold Bill, Molly and Arthur, and was able to get Bill a duplicate wand right away. Molly and Arthur would have to wait for their wands to be duplicated, however, and were promised that they should be ready in a week.

"Arthur can use Percy's wand until then," Molly said. "Since none of us are really going to be alone for any length of time, it shouldn't be too hard to make do until then."

They walked with Bill back to the bank, and then began the walk back to the Leaky Cauldron. They were surprised to see Rowan, as she stepped from the front door of the Daily Prophet building in the company of another young woman.

"George!" She said in surprise as he strode over to her. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought you were asleep back at the house," he growled, not pleased to find that she had been at work without his having any idea she had gone.

"I had to come in to get my article submitted for the evening edition," she explained. "I had Uncle Nigel and Aunt Suzette come with me and leave me here before going back home and going back to bed. Kimberly, here, was walking with me to the Leaky Cauldron so that we could go home."

George nodded politely to Kimberly, and said, "Please don't go anywhere without at least leaving me a message, okay?"

"Okay," she said, seeing the concern in his eyes. "I promise. I'm sorry if I scared you; I didn't think you'd be up for hours, yet."

They all walked together to the Apparition point inside the Leaky Cauldron and bid Rowan's friend good bye before taking it in turns to Apparate in pairs back to the Winters' home.