InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "We've only been together 1h45m"

By the time Gideon got Fabian to the back door of the Burrow, he was half-carrying him. He really needed to be off his feet and horizontal, but they had to be sure they were somewhere safe. Also Molly would be even more furious than she was already going to be about Fabian's wounds--not that Gideon was perfectly intact, but his shields were still better--and the news, for good and ill, that they were bringing from Godric's Hollow. With Gideon busy supporting him, it was up to Fabian to knock the special tattoo they'd come up with on the back door of the Burrow: a warning to Molly that she needed to get the children out of the kitchen because one or both of her brothers was on Order business.

After enough late night calls from Order members bleeding at their door, Molly and Arthur had to implement a way to hear that didn’t wake all the children at the same time. Arthur had charmed an old Muggle megaphone that they kept in the bedroom for just those occasions. Molly was awoken by the wards first and the knock second; the noise had her down the stairs in her dressing gown and her wand ready by the time she reached the back door.

“Bloody-” she gasped as she opened the door to her brothers, ushering them inside and clearing the table with her wand. “Put him on the table. What happened?” she asked even as she started pulling supplies down from the cupboard.

"Armageddon," replied Gideon, sliding his wounded twin onto the table. "Full on war between the sides. Ribs broken for sure, probably the leg, and be careful of the artery. It's compressed, or else he'd've bled out by now. The head wound is superficial, I think." Gideon finished cataloging his brother's wounds. "And I'll take the burn cream, please."

"He's dead," Fabian ground out, moving to apply more pressure to the femoral artery, "and I refuse to go with him."

Molly listened closely as Gideon listed the injuries off, grabbing the necessary potions, only slightly wincing at the mention of Fabian ‘bleeding out’. ‘Could always be worse’ was really the only thing that kept her sane just then. That and adrenaline, of course. She tossed the topical burn ointment to Gideon before setting things on a chair next to Fabian. At least he was conscious, even if she had no idea what he was talking about.

“Who’s dead?” she asked idly, then added, “Take this,” as she handed him a blood replenishing potion. She moved his hand away from his leg and replaced it with her own. Uncorking another potion, she momentarily held only her finger down on the wound so she could pour the concoction around it before replacing full pressure. At least in a few moments the bleeding would stop and she could better assess the injuries.

"The author of our troubles. He Who I Still Have Trouble Naming," replied Gideon. Once Fabian was being treated, Gideon pulled off his shirt. He'd need to replace his wand rig; the heat from the blast he'd taken had ruined it. Better than his arm. His side, however, needed the burn ointment. It wasn't charred, but it was definitely going to blister badly if he didn't take care of it. He was lucky it was where he could doctor it himself, mostly.

"Fabian, I hope your bosses won't mind if you take some time off, this time. We both deserve it, but it's going to be suspicious if people notice me gone." He tried not to groan. He'd only bruised himself all over. Well, someone had.

Fabian swallowed the potion as commanded and made an awful face once he'd swigged it down. "Godric and Salazar, Gid, can we make sure I can walk first? Or don't bleed to death?" He rolled his eyes, which was a sign that despite the serious nature of the injuries, he wasn't that worried about them. And indeed, the potion Molly had applied to his leg was working, which was a sign that the cut wasn't cursed.

“He’s dead?” Molly gasped, looking between her two brothers. Could they really be so lucky that this war was finally over? That she didn’t have to wake up in the middle of the night to tend to bleeding and half-dead patients?

She hardly thought that now was the time to be worrying about their jobs, but she didn’t address that. It was Fabian’s words that caught her attention instead. “Could we all stop saying bleed to death, thanks?” she snapped, more harshly than she’d meant to and focused back on Fabian’s leg. The cut had stopped bleeding, so Molly began mumbling under her breath to heal the wound. As the most life threatening, she had to address it first before she worried about his broken bones.

"There's still quite a few of his best mates around. We weren't the only ones to apparate out when the DMLE decided to do their jobs, but right now, it's looking like a victory, with a cost." Gideon worked his ankle. Not sprained, just stressed. It wasn't supposed to bend that way, but it had kept Greyback from biting Fabian. "More than one monster got taken out tonight."

"Yeah," Fabian agreed. "I think Remus and I got Greyback though I thought I was going to end up with a scar or three. That wasn't him," he explained to Molly. "He didn't get a touch on me."

Victory with a cost? “Cost of what, exactly?” she asked, though she wasn’t certain she wanted to know the answer at this point. None of this sounded very good.

Fabian’s words didn’t really penetrate until she’d finished healing the major wound on his leg. Then it all sort of rushed in at her and she panicked. “Greyback?” she blanched and it was lucky that her brother saw fit to elaborate on the situation before she lost her mind with worry. “Is Remus alright though?” She didn’t want to hear about anyone being mauled by Greyback, especially not her brothers or Remus. “What about Sirius?”

"He was there. It happened at James and Lily's place. You and Arthur missed it by a few hours. Lily took the baby and fled, but everyone else stayed. Dumbledore…" There weren't two ways to say it. "He's gone, Molly. We don't know why, but after we saw him disintegrate the enemy, he just disappeared." Gideon held up his hand. "We don't know everything. We were pretty busy getting out alive and un-arrested."

"And, you know, not passing out from blood loss," Fabian added.

Molly’s mouth fell open at that. “James and...” How could there have possibly been a battle just after she and Arthur had left there? It hardly seemed possible. And to think she and Arthur could have been caught up in it if they hadn’t left when they did. And Dumbledore was missing? She sat herself down in a chair with a hand on her chest. This was a lot of information all at once, worst of which was that she didn’t know if everyone was okay.

She took a moment to regain her composure before standing again and beginning work on the broken bones in Fabian’s leg. If she didn’t take as much care as she normally would have to make it the least bit painful, well that was her brother’s fault for being an arse.

“Merlin, I hope they’re all alright.”

"We came right here, but we didn't see anyone hurt worse than us. I'm sure lots of people are hurt. We need to check in so people don't worry about us. Probably not a good night for selfies, old bean. I don't think either of us has a 'best side' at the moment." Gideon used his wand to summon a pitcher of water. He was about to drink straight from it, but decided to avoid the lecture and summoned a glass as well.

Fabian grumbled something about selfies and Wizpix at Gideon that was mostly under his breath, punctuated by occasional yelps as Molly realigned his leg and his ribs. Even the stiff back they beat into the sons of the Sacred Twenty-Eight could only take so much without complaining a little. "Gid, I can't skive off to be you in the morning. I've got to go to the Guild dinner and see who all is talking to their solicitor after all this. You'll have to deal with Uncle Justin without me."

Gideon smiled, although it hurt his face to do so. "I didn't think you could, you need to take it easy and but I can't. I need to see who else is limping or smelling of Bruise Paste at the Ministry." Gideon groaned. "Tomorrow is the verdict in the Harpies case. The Wizengamot offices will be crawling with sports news people." He looked at his water. "I need a stronger drink."

Molly mostly let the twins prattle amongst themselves as she finished working on Fabian. The worst of it was fixed, but she took a look at his head injury too just to be certain. “That’s the best I can really offer at the moment. Sleep will have to take care of the rest.”

She waited a beat and then punched Fabian in the arm as hard as she could manage without hurting her own hand and then followed it by offering Gideon one of the same. “You’re both stupid prats. You can’t just show up here in the middle of the night harping on about a battle and bleeding out on my sodding kitchen table. It’s not right.”

"Molly," Fabian said, more gently than he might have to the sister who'd just punched him, "If this is what we think it is, we might never have to do this again. If it's just thugs, even rich ones, the DMLE can clean most of them up. We can feed things to friends in the Aurors.

"This is what we've been fighting for: a world where your boys don't have to grow up in the shadow of You-Know-Who. Where we can all be free of that fear. If this is really it, we're ... not done, entirely, but it won't be like this any more."

Molly shook her head. “You don’t even know for certain! Thugs - Death Eaters - they all still reside in the Ministry! How long do you think it will take to wheedle them all out? Nobody knows!” Her hands were flying through the air, though she didn’t hit anyone else again, which was a step toward the better. The stiffer drink Gideon has mentioned earlier sounded rather appealing to her now.

“The only way my boys will grow up outside of the shadow of You-Know-Who is if we leave this bloody country behind… and boy have I considered it.” More often than not. “If things are going to go for the better now, then why the bloody hell would Dumbledore just disappear? He’s supposed to be helping steer things toward something, isn’t he? Excuse my skepticism, but I’ll believe all of this when I see it change for myself. So far this Order hasn’t exactly succeeded in anything but getting people killed and maimed.”

Gideon looked at Molly, marshalling his words. A simple hand in the right place told Fabian this one was his. His voice was soft and filled the silence, but only just. "Whatever 'this Order' has done or not done, you know who I am, and you know who Fabian is. If we were in a position to save lives, you'd know we'd do what we had to do." Gideon rolled up his shirt and held it behind his neck, stretching to see how his wounds would tolerate it. "You're right, there's a lot more to do. But if it can happen without the backdrop of terror murders, then things really have changed. It's not like the Death Eaters have a second Dark Wizard in their back pocket."

Molly sat down heavily in a chair. She knew very well that she was being contrary, but it was difficult not to. She hated this entire situation and Gryffindor or not, she would rather get her family far away from it than to get involved. Maybe when she was younger and hadn’t so many children she might’ve felt differently, but not now with so much at stake. “I don’t want to do this anymore,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m so tired of being terrified for you lot. I really hope you’re right. I hope it’s over.”

She remembered then that she hadn’t checked in on Sirius or Remus and sent out her patronus before picking up her phone and texting them too. There was no reason not to be doubly certain.

Gideon nodded. "We do, too." As she cast her spells, he added, "Molly, if they're at all sane, they're asleep, somewhere deeply warded. You can check on your chicks tomorrow. I think I need to get Fabian somewhere where he can sleep without needing to explain things to your lot in the morning."

He pulled on his shirt and buttoned it. "On your feet, brother dear. Hearts of Oak … "

"Heads to match," Fabian replied, sliding off the table in response to Gideon's command.

It wasn’t even worth trying to explain to her brother how she would absolutely not be able to rest until she knew all her children were safe and if they had any sense, they would know better than to ignore her as well.

She followed them to the door. “Be safe,” she implored even though there was never a guarantee of such and with her family, it was even far less likely to be true. They were all foolish, brave idiots and there was nothing she could say or do to change that.