The Revival of the Phoenix

Chapter 3

The Many Woes of the Wretched Weasleys

"That machine's out of order."

Ron stared at him in disbelief. "WHAT?"

"That machine's out of order," the doctor repeated patiently.

"WHAT ABOUT GINNY?!!!"

Dr. Raymond Jones (according to his name tag) looked scandalized. "Young man! This is a hospital! Kindly refrain from raising your voice, or I shall be forced to remove you from the premises."

Dean stood up threateningly. "What's happened to Ginny, doctor?"

He looked puzzled. "Ginny? Who's Ginny?" He peered suspiciously at Dean. "Hey, you haven't been drinking have you? I don't know any Ginny?"

Hermione stood up, her last ounce of patience ebbing away. "He means the red haired woman we brought in four hours ago."

His face cleared. "Oh, you mean Irene!"

Dean moved towards him, fists clenched, but Neville stopped him. "Yes, yes, Irene," he said.

"Well, she's just fine, just suffered minor burns and a mild concussion, she'll be out of here in twelve hours."

Some of the color had come back into Ron's face. "Can we see her?"

Dr. Jones looked astonished. "Why, accidents don't make people invisible! Of course you can still see her!"

*

Lavender Brown turned off the shower and dried herself with a towel. She dressed leisurely and walked into the living room, where the first rays of sunlight were streaming through the curtained windows.

She made herself a cup of tea, and walked out on to the front lawn. Birds were chirping merrily, and there was no indication whatsoever that it was going to be another scorcher of a day.

She walked around, surveying the marigolds and petunias carefully. She felt at peace with the world. These were the kind of the days that made you feel glad to be alive. These were the kind of days where nothing could possibly go wrong.

*

Seamus Finningan went down to breakfast to find his wife reading the Daily Prophet, with a stunned look on her beautiful face.

"Lavender, is everything okay?"

She didn't reply. Shaking her head numbly, she slid the paper towards him. His eyes opened wide in shock as he saw the front page.

TERROR! IS THE DARK LORD BACK?

A gang of twenty hooded men and women dressed in gray attacked the Quidditch stadium at Montrose last night. All of them rode dragons, which had been stolen from a Romanian reserve just an hour earlier. Dragon keeper Charles Weasley has come in for severe criticism, as he allowed himself to be duped by the malefactors, (For full report, see Page 8)

A potential disaster was averted due the intervention of two Aurors, Hermione Granger and Virginia Weasley. Miss Granger used the immensely complex Draconis Charm to get rid of the dragons, while Miss Weasley (assisted by a few people, succeeded in banishing the Gray Men. The latter is currently in a Muggle hospital, due to injuries suffered by her during the conflict. Other Aurors could not be summoned to the scene as the criminals had sealed the stadium with a Roof Charm, thus preventing spells from penetrating the stands.

Authorities have criticized the Minister for Magic, Mr. Percival Weasley, for the lack of security at the stadium. Opposition leader Millicent Bulstrode has lashed out at the Minister for his 'weak policies'.

But the most terrifying aspect of the attack is the speculation it opens about the source of the assault. Has the Dark Lord somehow conquered death? As horrifying as it may sound, only time will tell.

Seamus sat down weakly. "Lavender, are you okay?"

She nodded. "Should we go see them? The Weasleys, I mean. I'm sure they could use some support."

"Anything you want. But they haven't mentioned the name of the hospital Ginny's in."

"Yeah, you're right."

There was silence for a while, and then Lavender burst out, "You think its him? You-Know-Who?"

Seamus looked up, startled. "Of course not, I mean, he's... dead."

*

Ginny Weasley was sitting up on the horribly uncomfortable tangle of metal that the hospital liked to call a bed. She was watching the door through which her parents had left the room a few minutes ago. Her usually cheerful eyes had lost their bonhomie, and she mirrored the grim expressions of her three companions: Ron, Hermione and Dean.

" Any idea whom it was?" she said for what felt like the seventeenth time that day, but which was in fact the second.

All three shook their heads in unison.

Hermione turned to Ron. "Your family needs you now, Ron. They're in a horrible mess now, especially with Fred and George getting robbed. Please go. Dean and I will wait here with Ginny."

"You'll be family soon too, Hermione, and I'm not going anywhere without you," he replied stubbornly.

Hermione gave up, exasperated. She had enough on her mind already.

*

Fred Weasley slammed the counter with his fist and looked around at the empty shelves of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, unable to come to terms with the fact that he and his brother had just suffered a loss of three thousand galleons.

"Ruined! It's all ruined! How will we ever be able to make this up?"

George walked towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "The Magical Law Enforcement Department will find them," he said, in what he had hoped would be a confident voice, but which now gave the impression of a diffident earthworm.

Fred turned towards him, his eyes blazing with a fury that had never been there before. " Do you realize that in order to start over, we'll have to spend at least two thousand five hundred galleons? Where are we going to get that money? We only have five hundred in our Gringotts account!"

George cold not find a reply to this. The Weasleys' new found affluence had been mainly due to the success of the twins' joke shop. And now... this had happened. He was too afraid to think of the consequences of the robbery. He didn't think he could bear poverty again... especially after having discovered prosperity.

*

Bill Weasley marched into the office of the Quibbler angrily, slamming the door behind him. The pudgy receptionist stared at him reprovingly.

"Sir!"

Bill strode towards her, brandishing the latest edition of the Quibbler, which had contained some rather unsavory (and untrue) information about his life, which had led to his unemployment. Most unfortunately, people had been taking the Quibbler seriously ever since it uncovered the corruption scandal amongst the goblins of Gringotts in Russia.

"WHATS THE USE OF SAYING 'SIR'? I WANT TO SEE LOVEGOOD! SHE'S LOST ME MY JOB!"

"Have you got an appointment?" she asked coolly.

"TO HELL WITH YOUR DAMN APPOINTMENTS!" He threw the magazine at her and walked through the door that said LUNA LOVEGOOD-EDITOR.

Luna looked up in surprise. Her astounded look made her seem even more eccentric than she normally was. She had been balancing her wand on her nose when he came in, and it fell off when she stood up indignantly.

"William Weasley! How dare you barge into my office like this? I shall-"

"SAVE IT, LOVEGOOD! AND SHUT UP FOR ONCE! YOU LOST ME MY JOB!"

She eyed him frostily. "Oh? You deserved it. I just thought the world ought to know the dastardly deeds of William Weasley." She paused thoughtfully for a while. "Hm... Maybe that should have been the headline. Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

Bill had now reached the last vestiges of his self-control. He inhaled deeply. "If not for the fact that I never hit ladies, Lovegood, you'd be in an astonishingly deep mess. You know perfectly well I don't entertain... those types of people in my office. "

Luna's eyebrows shot up. "Oh, really? Who was it then that was in your office in Egypt at seven fifty three pm on the twenty third of July?"

"That," said Bill with dignity, "was my mother."

*

Arthur Weasley made his way through the horde of protestors that thronged the hallway of the Ministry of Magic. He could hardly hear his own muttered curses over the din that the redundant fools were making. He managed to plough his way through to the end of the hallway, where a harried looking Percy Weasley was standing, appearing to be on the verge of hysterics.

"Oh my god, Percy... sonorus. SHUT UP YOU IDIOTS!!" His voice echoed through the silence that followed his words.

"Listen to me. Whatever happened last night was not Percy's fault. You forget that he raised a proposal for a security system for public areas, but it was the opposition led by Millicent Bulstrode who ridiculed his idea."

Millicent Bulstrode, who was standing right under Mr. Weasley' s nose, stiffened visibly. She drew herself up. "All very well, Arthur, all very well. I do not deny that I had rejected that bill. However," her face twisted into an ugly smile, "however, isn't it part of Regulation 2292GL that all stadiums must be sealed with certain enchantments to prevent some sort of misdemeanor? Auror Hermione Granger was forced to handle a precarious situation on her own, all because Mr. Percy Weasley, Minister of Magic, rejected my proposal for a better communication system for Aurors."

Arthur Weasley bit his lip, unable to think of a response to this. He glanced at Percy, who was looking extremely harried.

Millicent grinned hideously, pleased at the distress she had caused. "Do you know what I propose to do, Arthur? Percy? You are going to love this. I propose to raise a motion for impeachment today. And given the circumstances, Percy, I'd say you'll be looking for a new job at this time tomorrow."

*

Molly Weasley had never taken a trans-national Portkey before, and after taking one from England to Romania, she wished she'd never have to repeat the experience. She had also never run like the wind earlier, and after running from the Romanian forest to the 'public lavatory' where the Romanian Ministry of Magic was located, she wished she'd never have to repeat the experience.

She was presently patting Charlie Weasley' s hand reassuringly in Courtroom 3 of the Romanian Wizengamot. "It'll be alright, Charlie dear. They can't do anything to you. You're innocent."

He smiled weakly in response, but did not feel anywhere near as confident as his mother sounded.

The Chief of the Wizengamot walked in and everyone stood up. He took his place between two rather sinister looking witches. He nodded at an eager looking young man in the front row. He began to read from a piece of parchment.

"Name of accused: Charles Weasley. Crime of which accused: Negligence of duty resulting in possibility of loss of life and property. Chief Interrogator: Malevoleov Sanitrov. Witnesses on behalf of accused: None."

The Chief asked Charlie, "Shall we begin?"

Charlie nodded despondently, turning to look at his mother, who was standing at the entrance to the courtroom. She smiled again, and Charlie felt braver.

"You may start, Malevoleov."

A man leant forward, wrenching his face from the shadows that engulfed the row of benches opposite Charlie.

"We can save a lot of time. You know the date we're referring to; you know the time and the place. Tell us what happened."

"Well, I was patrolling the dragon reserve. All the dragons were asleep. Then, I heard someone screaming. A woman. So I ran forward-"

"All the time fully aware that you had been instructed NEVER to leave the reserve?"

"Yes, but-"

"That's all I wanted to know. Continue."

"So then I ran forward and she was just lying on the ground, staring at the trees. She looked terrified."

"What was she wearing?'

Charlie reddened.

"Uh...well, I...um... uh... it was quite dark...and...uh...well..."

"I see," He said smugly, "and all this time well aware that you were instructed NEVER to leave the reserve?"

"Yes, but-"

"What happened then?"

"Well, she Disapparated, and that was when I thought there might be something fishy going on-"

Malevoleov made an impatient noise. "Are you telling me it never occurred to you that this woman might have some ulterior motive in being present at that location?" he said in mock disbelief.

Charlie chose to ignore this statement. "Then I ran back to the reserve, and noticed that-" he swallowed, painfully resurrecting the events of that night. "I noticed that the dragons were gone."

"Oh please, Mr. Weasley, are you telling me that twenty people could come and ride away twenty dragons without making a sound?"

"Are you suggesting that I had something to do with this?" he said, his voice rising.

"I am not suggesting anything Mr. Weasley, but they say a guilty conscience pricks the mind."

The Chief leant forward. "That will be all Malevoleov. You are crossing too many lines in this interrogation. I have come to a decision."

Charlie sat up rigid in his seat, listening attentively. Mrs. Weasley clutched the doorknob tightly, fearing for the stability of her legs.

"I am reasonably sure Charlie Weasley is not guilty of an criminal conduct."

Charlie nearly screamed with relief. Mrs. Weasley exhaled deeply.

"However, I do find him guilty of negligence of duty. You will not be given criminal punishment, but as of now, you are suspended from employment at the Romanian Dragon Reserve. You may leave."

Charlie stood up angrily. "YOU CAN'T DO THIS!! I WAS TRYING TO SAVE SOMEONE'S LIFE! YOU-"

"Dismissed."

*

The seven Weasleys and Hermione were sitting in the living room of the Burrow, a picture of abject misery. After their newfound prosperity, the Burrow had undergone a dramatic transformation. The shabby, peeling walls had been painted, and a crisp, gleaming new exterior, had replaced the whimsical lopsidedness of the edifice.

Mrs. Weasley began to sob. "What have we ever done to deserve this? It's all so unjust! How will we ever get through this?"

Arthur Weasley went over to her, and put his arm around her. "We'll manage Molly. Ron and Ginny still have their jobs. And we're not even sure Percy will be removed as Minister. Fred and George are geniuses. They'll get back. And if you're worried about Bill and Charlie, they're both highly qualified, and will be able to get even better jobs here. So we're actually better off aren't we?" he concluded cheerfully.

His false enthusiasm fooled no one.

"But Arthur, I don't think I could ever stand being poor again. It used to be so horrible-"

"We aren't poor, Molly. We never will be. We have each other, and that's the greatest treasure I could have ever hoped for."