Ron made his way into his twin brothers’ room.   He’d asked a healer where they were so he could check on them.  Fred was lying in bed  with his leg in a raised sling and George was in another bed a few feet away sleeping.

“Hey, Ronnie,” Fred said, using a name he hadn’t used without teasing since his brother was little. 

“Hey,” Ron said as he walked further into the room.

“How are you doing?  You okay?” Fred asked.

Ron raised his broken wrist a bit.  “Yeah, just a broken wrist.”

“They heal it?” Fred asked. 

“No, too many worse off patients.  They wrapped it though.  Same with you, I guess.  How’s George?” Ron asked as motioned towards his older brother. 

“Oh, he’s fine.  Just knocked out from a concussion.  Being a bit lazy if you ask me,” Fred joked halfheartedly.  This was one of the very few times in his life that he didn’t find humor in a situation.  Still, he had to try.  It was who he was.  “How are the others?  Harry and Hermione alright?”

“Hermione’s fine.  She passed out for a bit when it first happened, but she doesn’t have so much as a concussion,” Ron said.

“What about Harry?  Is he alright?” Fred asked.  The way his brother skipped over Harry had not gone unnoticed by him.

Ron sat in the chair next to his brother and looked down at his lap.  “I don’t know.  He’s bad, Fred, real bad.  We couldn’t even find him for a long time.  He was buried under piles of rubble.  When we did find him he was so bad.  H…his arms were both riddled with glass.  He was bleeding so bad.”  His voice was cracking by now.  It was all hitting him so hard now.  He could’ve lost his best friend tonight.  Hell, he still could.  And even if Harry did make it, he still lost friends tonight.  People he hung around with were dead.  They were never coming back.

“How bad?” Fred asked in concern.  He considered Harry like another little brother.  He couldn’t bear it if anything happened to him. 

“Bad.  We didn’t even think he was going to make it out of the Tower,” Ron said.  He still remembered Snape saying that.  He’d said he doubted they would got out of Gryffindor Tower before Harry bled to death.  “He did, but it’s still really bad.  Professor Snape had to use Reducto to get us out of Gryffindor Tower .  It put us all at risk because the Tower could collapse, which it did.  But Snape had to do or Harry would’ve died.

“Did everyone make it out before it collapsed?” Fred asked.

“Everyone accounted for,” Ron said.

“What’s that mean?” Fred asked with dread in his voice. 

Ron looked his brother in the eye.  “It means we stopped looking for people after the fifth body.”

There was a moment of silence between the two brothers as they both thought about the meaning of Ron’s words.

“How many?  How many made it out?” Fred finally asked.  He figured that would the easier question to answer.  He had the feeling less survived than didn’t.

“A handful of us.  There were probably a few stragglers that didn’t make it in before curfew, but I’d say that most were either in the Common Room or the dorms.  The dorms were gone as soon as the Earthquake hit.  Sir Nickolas checked and said there was barely anything left.  The  whole thing was just a pile of rubble.  No one could’ve survived that,” Ron said sadly.

Fred shuddered.  “And that’s just one house.”

“Yeah.  Slytherin got it just as bad, I here.  Many of them are gone too,” Ron said.  That upset him too, more than one would’ve thought.   He didn’t like the Slytherins, but he didn’t wish any of them dead.  

“Bloody hell.  And we were all worried about the damage You Know Who could do,” Fred said. 

“Not even he could create the amount of damage that was caused in such a short amount of time.  Fred, it was so bad.  The castle’s basically destroyed and it took so many of us down with it,” Ron said as he finally lost and broke down crying. 

Fred put a hand on his brother’s arm in an attempt to comfort him. 

Ron immediately wrapped his arms around his brother and cried even harder.

___________

Nearly an hour later, Severus was still waiting for news on Potter’s condition.  He was getting quite impatient actually.  There should be some kind of answer by now at least, even if it wasn’t good.  It wasn’t the same as with Longbottom.  Potter was gravely injured.  He would’ve gotten top priority. 

“Harry Potter?”

Severus turned to see a female healer waiting for someone to inform to.  Severus immediately went over to her.  “How is he?”

“He’s stable for now.  It was touch and go for a while.  He lost a lot of blood and we were having a hard time replenishing it enough to save his life,” the healer said.

“But you did?” Severus asked. 

She nodded.  “We finally managed to stop the bleeding and get enough potion in him to sustain him.  His right arm was the most injured.  Miraculously, we were able save it.”

Severus sighed in relief.  He had been worried about that.  That arm was so messed up that he was afraid Potter would lose it.  “So than he’ll be alright?”

“Well, there was another complication.  Mr. Potter suffered a depressed skull fracture due to a blow to the head,” the healer said.

Severus swore under his breath.  That wasn’t good.  A skull fracture was considered a severe head injury.  All he could think about was the Nott boy who was walking and talking a few hours ago and was now dead because of the unpredictability of a head injury.

“We managed to repair the damage and I think there is minimal risk of any long term affects, but as I’m sure you’re aware, head injuries can be unpredictable.”

Severus nodded.  “Again, Theodore Nott’s face popped into his head as an example of an unpredictable head injury.  “Anything else?”

“He has a broken leg, but compared with his other injuries, I think that’s pretty minor.  You ought to know that you undoubtedly saved this boy’s life by getting him here when you did.  Even one more moment and I don’t think he would’ve made it,” the healer said seriously.

“May I see the boy?” Severus asked.  He wasn’t sure what drove him to ask such a question.  He didn’t care about Potter other than making sure he’d live, right?  So why was he intent on seeing the child?

“Of course.  Follow me,” the healer said before leading the way towards Harry’s room.