Harry followed the Weasley siblings, sprinting all the way to the Headmaster's Office. By the time he charged up the spiral staircase, his lungs felt as though they were on fire.
The office was extremely crowded. Standing in the room, surrounded by the Weasleys, was none other than Remus Lupin.
The Weasley siblings had all visited Lupin's home with Harry before and were familiar with him. They immediately began firing questions at him from all sides:
"Mr. Lupin, what happened?"
"Why was Dad hurt?"
"Is it serious? How is he now?"
Lupin raised both hands in a calming gesture. "Calm down, children. First of all, Arthur is alive—thank goodness there were Silent Ones working at the Ministry of Magic even on the weekend. They found him and sent him to St. Mungo's immediately."
Ginny asked tearfully, "He'll be all right, won't he?"
Lupin looked at them, doing his best not to show his worry, and said gently, "St. Mungo's has the best Healers. They will do everything they can to save him."
Ron stared at him blankly, while the others all turned pale at once.
Lupin had not answered directly. Did that mean Arthur Weasley's condition was even worse than they had imagined?
George asked in a dry voice, "Does Mum know?"
"Sirius went to tell Molly," Lupin said. "He should be able to bring her there soon."
"We're going too!" Fred said anxiously. "We're going to St. Mungo's Hospital right now."
"Of course. That's why I'm here," Lupin said patiently. "But wait a moment. To connect the school's fireplace to the Floo Network, we need Dumbledore's personal authorization..."
"Where is Professor Dumbledore?" Fred asked irritably.
Ron seemed to come to his senses only then. His voice trembled. "It's sunday. Why was Dad at the Ministry of Magic? Wasn't he...