Falling (asleep) | Fred Weasley fanfic

The Fallen Warrior

„Mum!" shouted Ginny, pointing to a spot several feet away.
A blue light had appeared in the darkness: it grew larger and brighter, and Remus and George appeared, spinning and then falling. Harry knew immediately that there was something wrong: Remus was supporting George, who was unconscious and whose face was covered in blood.
„Merlin's pants!" I shouted, almost dropping my bottle of brandy. I ran to help Remus and Harry carry George into the house and through the kitchen to the sitting room, where we laid him on the sofa. As the lamplight fell across George's head, Ginny gasped: one of George's ears was missing. The side of his head and neck were drenched in wet, shockingly scarlet blood. No sooner had Molly bent over her son than Remus grabbed Harry by the upper arm and dragged him, none too gently, back into the kitchen, where Hagrid was still attempting to ease his bulk through the back door.
I was helping Molly stop the bleeding, but could still hear them discussing.
„Oi!" said Hagrid indignantly. „Le' go of him! Le' go of Harry!" Remus ignored him.
„What creature sat in the corner, the first time that Remus visited my office at Hogwarts?" he said, giving Harry a small shake. „Answer me!"
„A – a Grindylow in a tank, wasn't it?" Remus released Harry and fell back against a kitchen cupboard.
„Wha' was tha' about?" roared Hagrid.
„I'm sorry, Harry, but I had to check," said Remus tersely, as I walked back into the kitchen.
„We've been betrayed. Voldemort knew that you were being moved tonight and the only people who could have told him were directly involved in the plan. You might have been an impostor," I spoke again absentmindedly, staring throw the window kitchen, waiting for any signs of Dora and Fred.
„You stole my words, Arcadia. Literally," said Remus.
„So why aren' you checkin' me?" panted Hagrid, still struggling to fit through the door.
„You're half-giant,' said Remus, looking up at Hagrid. „The Polyjuice Potion is designed for human use only."
„And me?", I asked.
„Your hair changed the moment you saw George covered in blood. It went from pink to pitch-black in a second. I knew it was you", Remus answered. I hadn't realized that waist-length hair was a different colour, one that I hated about myself. So I changed it back to pink immediately.
„None of the Order would have told Voldemort we were moving tonight," said Harry. „Voldemort only caught up with me towards the end, he didn't know which one I was in the beginning. If he'd been in on the plan, he'd have known from the start I was the one with Hagrid." We all went back into the living room where George was.
„Will George be okay?" I interrupted Harry and Remus, who had been fighting about Harry using a Disarming Spell and blowing his cover.
„Yes, I think so, although there's no chance of replacing his ear, not when it's been cursed off — " said Molly.

There was a scuffling from outside. Two figures had appeared in the yard... Hermione, now returning to her normal appearance, and Kingsley, both clutching a bent coat hanger. Hermione flung herself into Harry's arms, but Kingsley showed no pleasure at the sight of any of them, he his wand and pointed it at Remus's chest.
„The last words Albus Dumbledore spoke to the pair of us?"
„‚Harry is the best hope we have. Trust him,'" said Remus calmly.
But all I could think about was Fred and Dora.
„I'll prove who I am, Kingsley, after I've seen my son, now back off if you know what's good for you!"
„Fred," I whispered. I had never heard Mr. Weasley shout like that before. He burst into the living room, his bald patch gleaming with sweat, his spectacles askew, Fred right behind him, both pale but uninjured.
„FRED! FRED! FINALLY!" his presence got me out of my trance and I ran to him and hugged him around the middle
„Where's George?" Fred asked. He knew.
„Arthur!" sobbed Molly. „Oh thank goodness!"
„How is he?" Mr. Weasley dropped to his knees beside George. Fred seemed to be lost for words. He gaped over the back of the sofa at his twin's wound as if he could not believe what he was seeing.
„How do you feel, Georgie?" whispered Molly.
George's fingers groped for the side of his head.
„Saint-like," he murmured.
„What's wrong with him?" croaked Fred, looking terrified. „Is his mind affected?"
I chuckled. „George, you're an idiot." He was about the tell the worst joke ever.
„Saint-like," repeated George, opening his eyes and looking up at his brother. „You see ... I'm holy. Holey, Fred, geddit?"
Molly sobbed harder than ever. Colour flooded Fred's pale face.
„Pathetic," he told George as he stood up and hugged me from behind. „Pathetic! With the whole wide world of ear-related humour before you, you go for holey?"
„Ah well," said George, grinning at his tear-soaked mother. „You'll be able to tell us apart now, anyway, Mum. Hi Harry – you are Harry, right?"
„Yeah, I am," said Harry, moving closer to the sofa.
„Well, at least we got you back okay," said George. „Why aren't Ron and Bill huddled around my sickbed?"
„They're not back yet, George," I said. George's grin faded.

„It's them!" screamed Hermione.
Dora landed in a long skid that sent earth and pebbles everywhere. I pulled away from Fred and ran to her.
„Remus! Kay!" Dora cried as she staggered off the broom into Remus's arms. His face was set and white: he seemed unable to speak. „Ron was great," said Dora warmly, relinquishing her hold on Remus. „Wonderful. Stunned one of the Death Eaters, straight to the head, and when you're aiming at a moving target from a flying broom — "
„You did?" said Hermione, gazing up at Ron with her arms still around his neck.
„Always the tone of surprise," he said a little grumpily, breaking free. „Are we the last back?"
„No", Ginny said, „we're still waiting for Bill and Fleur and Mad-Eye and Mundungus. I'm going to tell Mum and Dad you're okay, Ron — " She ran back inside.
„What happened to you?" I asked as Dora pulled me into an embrace and stroked my hair.
„Yes. What kept you?" Remus asked sounding almost angry at Dora.
„Bellatrix," said Dora. „She wants me quite as much as she wants Harry, Remus, she tried very hard to kill me. I just wish I'd got her, I owe Bellatrix. But we definitely injured Rodolphus... then we got to Ron's Auntie Muriel's and we'd missed our Portkey and she was fussing over us... So what happened to you lot?" Dora asked, turning to Harry, Hermione and Kingsley. They recounted the stories of their own journeys, but all the time the continued absence of Bill, Fleur, Mad-Eye and Mundungus seemed to lie upon us like a frost, its icy bite harder and harder to ignore.
„I'm going to have to get back to Downing Street. I should have been there an hour ago," said Kingsley finally, after a last sweeping gaze at the sky. „Let me know when they're back." Remus nodded.
„Thank you," said Molly, „for our sons."
„Don't be silly, Molly," said Dora at once.
„How's George?" asked Remus.
„What's wrong with him?" piped up Ron.
„He's lost — " But the end of Molly's sentence was drowned in a general outcry: a Thestral had just soared into sight and landed a few feet from them. Bill and Fleur slid from its back, windswept but unhurt.
„Bill! Thank God, thank God — " Molly ran forward, but the hug Bill bestowed upon her was perfunctory.
Looking directly at Dora and me, he said, „Mad-Eye's dead."