The truly terrifying part was that they said Ron's entire body was like that. The mediwizards had him floating above the bed to keep pressure off his damaged flesh.
Hermione, Harry, Molly and Arthur Weasley huddled around the bed in St. Mungo's intensive care unit, obviously unable to believe what they were seeing.
Harry looked at the mummy floating above the hospital bed, hardly able to recognize Ron beneath the charred flesh and yards of white bandage. The mediwitch said that more than 90% of Ron's body had suffered these burns.
Thankfully, Ron was unconscious. Harry couldn't imagine the level of pain he'd be in otherwise.
Molly and Arthur appeared beyond tears as they stood at what would be their third son's deathbed. While Severus quietly consulted with Ron's mediwitch near the door, Harry stood with his arm around Hermione's shoulders. She was sobbing soundlessly. Her entire body was shaking like she'd been jinxed.
Harry could appreciate the feeling. He wasn't that steady himself. He still wasn't certain that he wasn't going to throw up. It didn't take a genius to see that Ron didn't have long left for this world.
In the bed across the room, Tom McGregor, the heavy-set, dark haired Auror who'd been so antagonistic towards Severus in October, floated in even worse shape, his mother and sister keeping vigil at his bedside.
"Do we know what happened?" Harry whispered, not wanting to disturb Hermione, but needing to know.
"Chief Lawrence said that Ron and his team actually found Burke when they returned to search one of his holdings a second time," Hermione reported. "Dan Martin and five other Aurors are dead. Only Ron and Tom survived the duel . . . and . . . and . . . ."
Harry tightened his arm around her. His own eyes were stinging. "Burke took out eight Aurors by himself?"
Severus had warned him of Burke's potential level of power back in October, but hearing about how dangerous someone was and seeing him all but kill your oldest friend were two different things.
Hermione gave another of those despairing nods. "What are we going to do, Harry? There's never been anything the three of us couldn't face or fix together, but this . . . ."
Harry gathered her close as she broke entirely. "He's not dead yet. We have to concentrate on that. Where there's life; there's hope."
"Do you really believe that?" Hermione asked in a broken voice.
Feeling Molly and Arthur's red-rimmed gazes settle on him as well, he firmly answered. "I do."
Though what chance there was for the burned husk lying there so still and gruesome, Harry had no idea. But with these people who were more than family turning to him for hope, it was the only answer he could give.
Ron . . . the emotions that swelled up inside him when he tried to equate the horror before him with his beloved more-than-brother all but choked him.
The volume of the conversation behind them rose alarmingly.
"This is all you've done for them?" Severus' voice demanded with a scorn and utter contempt Harry hadn't heard since his own schooldays,
"We've performed every healing spell known to medicine on them," the harassed looking blonde mediwitch insisted.
Severus had accosted the woman as soon as she entered the room, so Harry didn't even know her name.
"Not every spell," Severus corrected, his dark gaze scanning the medical chart he'd taken from the foot of Ron's bed. "I note that the Sanguinis Philos is absent from your chart."
The mediwitch seemed shocked. "Let me rephrase that. We have performed all legal healing spells."
Harry and Hermione drifted over towards the pair at the door.
"What's this Sanguinis Philos?" Hermione asked.
"It's blood magic. The Ministry is debating its legality even as we speak," the mediwitch said.
"I thought all blood magic was illegal by its nature," Hermione said.
"Sanguinis Philos has always been the exception," Severus explained. "Every time the Ministry has come close to outlawing it, something like this happens and they are forced to reconsider their decision."
"I won't sanction blood magic in my ward," the mediwitch insisted.
"Fortunately, for Auror Weasley's sake, the decision is not yours to make," Severus snapped, and then turned to Hermione. "I can have the potion brewed in an hour. I can't promise that it will cure or even save him, but it's the only possibility for survival. Left as he is, your husband will be dead in a day."
"If that long," Hermione, ever the realist in their group, answered.
"You're not seriously going along with this?" the mediwitch demanded.
Hermione stared at the woman. "He's my husband. I'll do anything I can to save him."
"I won't sanction it," the mediwitch insisted.
Hermione's temper seemed to break at that point. "Fine. Maybe you should do us all a favour and just leave so we can get to work here, then?"
With a huff and a flounce of her white robes, the mediwitch departed.
Once the mediwitch was gone, Hermione turned to Severus and asked, "What can I do to help you?"
"I'll need a lock of his hair," Severus said.
"All right. I'll get it now," Hermione said without hesitation, turning quickly towards the bed. Strangely enough, the only part of Ron not completely damaged by burns was the top of his head. A huge patch of his red curls stuck out of the raw flesh.
"What about the blood?" Harry asked.
"It must be the blood of someone who loves him," Severus replied.
"I can come back to your lab with you," Hermione offered, returning with a hank of red hair in her hand.
Severus looked from Hermione to Harry. "It need not be a romantic love. I was thinking that Harry's blood would be more efficacious. The potion will allow the person who donates his blood to physically link his power to the afflicted person and will him to heal. Harry is the most powerful wizard among us."
That seemed to cheer Hermione. "Yes, of course. That makes sense. Harry?"
"I'll go back with Severus and help him brew it," Harry promised. "We'll be back as soon as possible."
"Ah, excuse me, Professor Snape, is it?" The dark-haired young woman who'd been standing beside McGregor's bed approached their group.
"Yes?" Severus answered.
"I couldn't help but overhear what you just said. I'm Tom's sister, Alice McGregor. They – they say there's no hope for him. I was wondering . . . ?"
To Harry's delight, Severus didn't make the young woman beg.
"I'll need a sample of his hair and several drops of a donor's blood," Severus said.
