Stolen Years: The Flower Reborn as a Tree

Chapter 9: The First Awakening

The next day, Septimus was found dead in his home by his neighbor beside Malorie's stiff corpse, the Dark Mark hovering above in the sky. Upon hearing the news of Septimus' death and the discovery of Malorie's body, Albus had Filius Flitwick hid the Burrow using the Fidelius charm. Albus was made the primary secret keeper, the entire Weasley family and a few members of the Order of the Phoenix were granted the information and became secondary keepers. The entire Weasley family hid within their home, only Arthur ever left for work. As a result, Charles arranged Septimus' funeral. On the day of the funeral neither Arthur or his family arrived. A few hours after it had ended, Arthur recieved a howler from Charles blaming Felicis for their father's death and demanding an explanation for not being present at their father's funeral. That same day, Bilius Weasley was found dead, another Dark Mark hovering in the sky above. Arthur was at work when his supervisor informed him. A few minutes later, Arthur was handed a letter from Bilius, telling his Arthur that he had seen the Grimm at their father's funeral and was fearing for his life.
With Felicis not having awoken after those past few days, the Order's most recent member, Poppy Pomfrey, was brought to the burrow to assess Felicis. She was completely taken aback as a basic diagnostic spell told her that Felicis was both dead and comatose. Upon using a much more advance diagnostic spell, Poppy discovered that Felicis was no longer aging. It was assumed this was an effect of the curse and Poppy prescribed a few potions for Felicis to keep her healthy and casted a charm on her to prevent her muscles from atrophy. The morning after, Alastor Moody visited the Burrow upon Albus' request. He told the auror about Felicis' curse and Poppy's diagnosis. Moody informed that the Ministry believed Felicis was dead and were going to announce it in the Daily Prophet tomorrow alongside legally identifying her as a Gaunt. The Trace broke on Felicis the day of her attack and, upon the discovery of Malorie's body the next day, was assumed dead. With the announcement of Felicis' and Malorie's death, the Ministry and the rest of the Wizarding World moved on and forgot about them. Their attention returning to the Dark Lord that was still rising in power.

Albus and Minerva visited the Burrow daily through the rest of July and the beginning of August, but eventually had to return to Hogwarts to prepare for the upcoming year. Arthur was left in charge of taking care of Felicis. Molly never assisted her husband, she inisted the guest room door always be locked and never allowed their children to be near the room. With Arthur still working at the Ministry, he had to spend every moment of freetime checking in on and taking care of Felicis. He even used his breaks at work to rush home and check in on Felicis. His behavior was making his supervisor suspicious, eventually being told that it was time for him to remove the previously approved Fidelius Charm hiding the Burrow. Arthur was able to speak with Albus and came to an agreement to remove the Fidelius Charm after a new Fidelius Charm was created with Albus as the primary secret keeper of the secret that Felicis was alive and hiding in the Burrow. It was an ultimate last resort for Albus. The complex ritual of the Fidelius Charm, especially when used to hide a secret that did not involve a location, left both the castor and secret keeper low on physical and magical energy for at least a month. All of this stress on Arthur alongside his and Molly's conflicting views on Felicis was beginning to put a strain on their marriage. Arthur grew more frusrated with Molly's attitude towards Felicis. Each day that past since her arrival Molly would make more comments about giving up on Felicis and how Albus and Minerva need to find someone else to care for Felicis because she was never going to wake up.

~*~
Felicis groaned as she slowly opened her eyes, her mouth was dry and her gums and jaw ached. As she slowly began to wake up, she noticed the aching of pain in her hands and wrists. Felicis realized she was lying on her back and attempted to sit up, but found herself unable to. She lifted her head as high as she could, finding herself tucked into an unfamiliar bed. Confusion and panic set in, the memory of her encounter with Walburga, Rabastan, and Bellatrix returning to her. She tugged and pulled on the restraints, somewhere in the distance she heard the ringing of a bell. The muffled pounding of footsteps came soon after, quickly growing louder before stopping outside the door to the room she was in. There was a single click as the door was unlocked, the door knob jiggled then opened.
A balding, red haired man poked his head into the room, his green eyes widened in surprise behind his glasses as he met her gaze. "Merlin, I was starting to worry that you were never waking up," the man said as he rushed into the room, closing and locking door behind him. He went over to the nightstand beside her bed and picked up a potion vial with brown liquid inside.
"Here," he said as he brought the vial to her lips. "Albus said you should take some Calming Draught when you woke up."
Felicis jerked forward in an attempt to bite the man, causing him to jolt back and spill most of the contents within the potion vial.
"Who are you and where have you taken me?!" Felicis demanded. "Felicis, you're safe. No one is going to hurt you,"
"Cut the crap! I'm restrained to a bed in an unfamiliar room with a stranger who knows my name!"
There was the sound of rushing footsteps that stopped outside the door, the doorknob began to erratically jiggle.
"Arthur?! Is everything alright in there?! For Merlin's sake, Arthur, unlock the door!" a woman frantically yelled from the other side, still making a futile attempt to open the door.
Felicis began to calm down at the mention of Arthur's name.
"Molly, dear, it's fine," Arthur said, "She's just frightened."
"Arthur?" Felicis asked, "Arthur Weasley?"
"Yes," Arthur said as he cautiously approached Felicis and grabbed another vial of Calming Draught. "My brothers and I went to Hogwarts, remember?"
Felicis nodded as Arthur brought the potion vial to her lips, this time accepting it.
"Apparently you and them are my brothers well," Felicis said once she finished the potion.
"You know?" Arthur asked in surprise, stopping on his way over to unlock the door.
"The last thing my mother did before she got herself killed was show me a book containing our entire family tree," Felicis responded.
"I see," Arthur said as he unlocked the door.
"Well, why don't we get you something to eat and have you shower and changed into some fresh clothes?"
"I'm not hungry," Felicis said as she struggled to lift her head just enough to see the plump, ginger woman that Arthur had referred to as Molly watching her anxiously from the doorway.
"You need to eat something," Arthur said as he went back towards the bed and pulled back the blankets to reveal the leather straps that restrained her to the bed.
"I'm fine, thank you. Why was I strapped to the bed? You know I'm not a werewolf, right?"
"I know, but you're still going through changes because of your severe partial infection of Lycanthropy. Albus was worried that you might be overwhelmed by all the changes when you awoke from your coma." Arthur said as he undid each strap.
Felicis stared at Arthur for a few seconds.
"I was in a coma?" Felicis asked.
Arthur nodded in response.
"For how long?"
"A month," Arthur replied.
"A MONTH?!" Felicis said as she abruptly sat up, immediately becoming dizzy. "It's alright,"Arthur said as he placed a steadying hand on her lower back.
"I've been in a coma for a month right after I was knocked out by some spell! Who knows what else it's done to me?! Does any of that sound all right?!"
Arthur removed his hand from Felicis and looked back at Molly, unsure of what to do. Molly sighed and entered the room. "Arthur is just trying to help you," she sternly chastised. "This conversation will be continued once Albus and Minerva arrive. Right now you need to shower and calm yourself down. Creating such a fuss isn't going to solve anything."
Felicis glared at Molly for a few seconds before averting her gaze, closing her eyes, and taking a deep, calming breath. "You're right," Felicis said, "My apologies Arthur, Misses Weasley."
Molly looked at Felicis in what appeared to be displeasure before nodding in acknowledgement of he apology. "I'll go get you a towel and some clean clothes," Molly said before briskly leaving the room.

A/N
Timeline clarification
Felicis is cursed and arrives at the Burrow on July 22nd, 1976
Septimus Weasley dies on July 23rd, 1976
Felicis is legally identified as a Gaunt and legally announced dead on July 28th, 1976