Awakening

When he went to work on Hermione's memories, he was appalled. There were far too many for him to remove them all. Despair and hopelessness made her mind a foggy, dark forest. As with Viktor, he selected only the sexual abuse memories to remove and the worst of the physical beatings. The miasma of memories sickened him. However, he managed to retrieve and deposit them into a flask.

One memory, an old one, made him stop and consider his past behaviour towards her. The beginning of her fourth year, the incident where Draco had used a spell to grow her teeth still was painful for her.

I see no difference. The echo of his own words damned him as callous to a young girl's feelings, especially in light of her later efforts to save his life.

In shame, he took that memory as well. He found the memories of the trip to the Shrieking Shack where they found him clinging to life. She had brought potions just in case they found someone...anyone...alive. She had been busy pouring potions down his gullet while Viktor had been doing the hardest part. Even then, Krum had hidden his empathic abilities from her, Snape realised.

Kingsley will have more than enough to send Weasley to Azkaban for life.

As he set about weaving the remaining memories into a coherent whole, he found the memory of the last beating yesterday morning. In it, Ron had handed her the Snitch, telling her that Viktor had killed himself rather than try to free her and that the children had been born dead. She had been trying to make Ron angry enough to kill her outright, but failed. Snape cringed at the despair in her mind. That memory was extracted entirely and marked it for use in Ron's trial.

What kind of a depraved monster did Weasley become? He showed the same disregard for her life that Voldemort would have.

When he finally withdrew from her mind, it had been over six hours. Exhausted, he sat in the chair and called Harry and Ginny into the room. He gave them the antidote for Draught of Living Death and told them to give it to Hermione and Viktor.

He immediately took the flasks of memories to Kingsley Shacklebolt's office in the Ministry.

"Ah, all done, Severus?" The Minister looked up from papers on his desk as Snape entered the office.

"Yes, I took the worst of the memories and deposited them in yon flask. It is unconscionable that Weasley would torture her while she was pregnant. I hope I never have to wade through another morass like that. Kingsley, I saw things during the war that appalled me, but this was worse by far. My report will be on your desk in the morning."

"Don't leave just yet, Severus. Have a drink and look at this report. One is the reading on Weasley's forearm. There is something under the skin there. And the other is a reading on this."

Shacklebolt tossed the ruined locket onto the desk.

"Oh, bloody effing hell, Kingsley. Weasley destroyed that damned Horcrux. I watched him do it. It was giving him all kinds of images of Granger with Harry and with Krum. For a half minute, I was afraid he was going to kill Potter with the Sword of Gryffindor. These reports match. Could there be a shard of the glass under his skin?"

"That is what Alastor thinks. We have most of the other ruined Horcruxes here, even the fragments of the tiara. I want you to evaluate them, and then we are going to have them encased in lead or melted down or some such thing. I never want to have to deal with this shite again, Severus."

"I am perfectly willing to testify under Veritaserum about the memories I removed from Madam Krum. I do not recommend anyone else viewing them. Then we can bundle those memories and the Horcruxes together and drop them in a volcano somewhere."

"Tell me exactly what is going on with Krum, Severus. His Ministry has made him an Ambassador; I'm quite sure that was to cover his arse if he found and dealt with Weasley before we did."

"This goes no farther than this room, Kingsley. Your word on it."

"Of course, you have it. Alastor was in here dithering about an argument you had with Krum last night. He said it had to do with you being found in the Shrieking Shack."

"Krum and Miss Granger, as she was then, found me barely alive and almost paralyzed from the snake's venom. She had a myriad of potions in her bag. Krum started doing diagnostic spells on me. I was in and out of consciousness for some of the time. Suddenly, he put his hands on my face and neck and was chanting in Bulgarian. I felt the wound on my neck closing, the pain leaving me. I was desperately afraid I was dying. Then I saw the wound appear on the boy's neck. He is a damned empath, Kingsley. I don't believe there has been a male empath ever recorded. I challenged him last night. I knew he would try to heal her and reach her mind at the risk of his own life or sanity. I owe those two my life. I could not let him do that. They were soul-mates from the Triwizard year. Igor saw it and reported it to me. A soul-mate bond for an empath is dangerous. He knew and took the risks anyway, a very unusual young man."

"He has always been a deep one, Severus.One thing has come out of this. Percy Weasley has discovered he isn't a fuddy-duddy, his words. He has apparently fallen hard for Miss Lovegood. She is much more level-headed than we previously thought."

"The girl has the makings of a first rate Seer. As ethereal as she is, she does have an excellent grasp of things going on around her. She will be an excellent addition to the Wizengamot at some point. I am going to go home and finish off whatever firewhiskey I have in the house. This has been the worst case I have ever dealt with. Send me an owl when you want me to testify."

"Take care of yourself, Severus. I'm sure the Potters will be contacting you. Have a drink for me. I still have to deal with the fallout from this shite." Kingsley scooped the reports and the ruined locket back into his desk drawer as Snape swept out of the door.

At St. Mungo's, Ginny and Harry administered the antidote to both Hermione and Viktor.

Viktor woke up first. He thanked Harry and Ginny, and then moved from the bed to the chair. He took Hermione's hands in his again and closed his eyes.

Harry drew Ginny from the room, saying, "He is calling to her. Now that the horrible memories are gone, she will wake up, I hope."

Healer Ormond brought concentrated nutritional potions for Hermione and gave them to Viktor to give to her.

"Thank you. I vill giff them to her vhile she sleeps. I vant to ease her back avake. Ve still have much sorrow to deal vith."

Ginny overheard those words and decided that Viktor needed to know his children still lived. She instructed Harry to contact Percy to bring Luna and the children to the hospital in an hour or so.

Harry nodded at his tenderhearted wife and went to do her bidding.

Molly, Arthur, Fred, and George were walking into St. Mungo's when Harry went to send the Patronus. He told them simply, "Now is not a good time. We'll owl you when she has finally woken up. Ron is in custody at the Ministry."

Arthur nodded acceptance for all of them and they left again. Harry knew Arthur would go to the Ministry to try to talk to Ron.

Percy replied by return Patronus that he and Luna would bring the children shortly. Part of the exact message made Harry smile. "Luna is absolutely brilliant, Harry. I think I am in love."

Harry chuckled all the way back to where Ginny waited for him. He repeated Percy's message verbatim and Ginny giggled with him.

Just then, Viktor walked out of the room and sat down next to them. "I think she is scared to come back. I vish there vas a vay I could conwince her."

Harry looked at Ginny and got up to look in on Hermione.

Ginny swallowed and began to speak, "Viktor, last night, after your talk with Snape, we got a message that Luna had found where Ron was going to be. He was meeting two of our classmates in Hogsmeade. The Patil girls had two babies in their custody. Harry, Percy, Alastor, Luna, and I went to that meeting. Alastor captured Ron. Moreover, the two children were twins, just a day old. Alastor and I both did the genealogy spell and, oh, Viktor, they are yours. Percy and Luna are bringing them shortly. We don't know what names you and Hermione would have chosen for them, but right now the boy is called Mark and the girl is Jana."

Harry returned just as what Ginny had said sunk in for Viktor. The happiness in his eyes was astonishing. He kissed Ginny's hands and hugged Harry.

"I must tell her. Ve had chosen Marko for a boy so that is not far off. Ve had not chosen a girl's name. She can choose vhen she vakes up. Thank you, my wery dear friends."

He hurried back to his wife's bedside and began to talk rapidly to her. He piled pillows behind her and propped her up all the while he was talking.

The rapid, excited Bulgarian was hard for Harry to follow, so he turned to walk to the lifts. The doors opened, Percy and Luna appeared, each carrying a baby carrier. One of the babies started to cry just then.

The sound brought Viktor out of the room. He stopped and stared at the children, stunned.

Luna brought the carriers to him. "Why don't you take the babies in and let her touch them. You can describe them to her. I think it will heal you both." Luna's words must have touched Viktor's hope. He took the carriers and brought them into the room. He put a baby on each side of her and continued to talk softly.

Hermione's hand rose just a bit and touched the crying baby. Viktor put the child in her arms and she woke. The surprise and joy on Hermione's face was breathtaking.

From where she sat, Ginny could see a wet patch starting on the front of Hermione's hospital gown. She got up and went to the door.

"Viktor, her breasts are leaking. See if she can feed the babies." After having said that, she closed the door to the room.

Harry took her in his arms and hugged her tightly. "Percy, Luna, can you stick around for a bit? You might send the Aurors home, but keep the Ministry security around. I don't want the Daily Prophet folks sneaking around and trying to sensationalise anything."

Percy looked at Luna, whose hand he still had clutched in his own, and replied, "I will not let anyone get near them. Dad has arranged for a Legilimens to look at Ron. It isn't looking good for him right now. If the hospital releases her, do you want them to come to Grimmauld Place?"

"Yes, I think she'd feel safer with us. We have enough room. Tell Viktor to send a message. Thanks for your great work, Luna. You, too, Perce. The two of you make a very good team."

Ginny got a mischievous look on her face and said, "Luna, he hates turnips and loves asparagus. In addition, he snores when he is really tired. But he is much nicer than the twins and very shy. Don't hurt him."

Then Ginny pulled Harry, who was trying desperately not to laugh, into the lift.

The last thing they saw, as the doors closed, was Percy blushing bright pink and Luna planting a kiss on his nose.

Late that afternoon, in Minister Shacklebolt's office, there was a meeting. Arthur Weasley, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Horace Slughorn, who had been called in as the Legilimens, and Alastor Moody were listening to Healer Ormond, and the Healer sent to examine Ron read their reports.

Healer Ormond's report on Hermione's injuries and trauma was nauseating to hear. The other Healer's report on Ron Weasley caused a lot of discussion.

Horace Slughorn, in his capacity as Legilimens, recounted that there were two separate sets of memories in Ron Weasley's head.

"One set, gentlemen, is directly tied to the ruined Horcrux. The shard of glass embedded in his arm has infected his mind, setting up a duality of personalities. The one connected to the Horcrux is the stronger of the two and has gradually undermined the boy's grasp of reality. He has been living in an increasingly violent state of mind. He has no grasp at the present of what he has done. It is my opinion that the shard be removed immediately. He needs to be re-evaluated once that has taken place. I have brought the statement I procured from him during our talk preceding the Legilimency session. He was planning to kill the two children and most probably the Patils as well. He was looking for ways to get into St. Mungo's and killing both of the Krums. That personality is definitely not sane. I could only find traces of the Ron Weasley from before the infection by the shard. It is most distressing."