Moon Behind Clouds

August 10^th 1981. Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole.

The low thrum of a grandfather clock resonated throughout the ground floor of the Burrow as Molly Weasley set the last clean bowl in the kitchen cupboard. The rotund witch was mentally cataloguing a list of groceries for tomorrow as she began her final sweep of the living room. Bread, milk, newt eyes...stuffed animals were tossed into a nearby toy box. Knotgrass, corned beef, radishes...folded towels were levitated into the hall closet. With seven children running about it would be a miracle for any parent to keep any sense of order in their home but Molly managed, even while nine months pregnant.

Deciding that everything was as it should be she removed her wand from her apron. With a few murmurs of Nox, all but one light was put out, so that Arthur could see his way through the living room whenever he came home. Molly also checked the bracelet around her wrist, listening to the sounds of her youngest son, Ronald, who was sleeping in her room, before heading up the rickety set of stairs. She checked each bedroom as she went up the stairs, peering in on each of her older children.

In the first bedroom of the first landing Charlie and Bill slept. Charlie was fast asleep on the top bunk, red hair plastered against his pillow and stuffed dragon tucked under one arm. The plush Welsh Green contentedly puffed smoke out of its nostrils as it lay snuggled in the boy's arms.

Bill slept fitfully below his younger brother. The eldest Weasley had been upset that his letter to Hogwarts hadn't come this year. His mother had tried to explain that the cut-off date for birthdays was November 1^st but Bill would have none of it. He had decided since he was old enough to go to Hogwarts he was too old to sleep with stuffed animals anymore. Despite his waking protests Molly tucked the discarded Gryffindor lion under her son's arm and watched as he rolled over and snored.

In the next room Fred and George slept and were snuggled together in their double bed sucking the other's thumbs. She pattered quietly over stacks of blocks and mangled plush toys to the twins, perfect miniatures of her own brothers, Fabian and Gideon, and gently tugged their thumbs out of their mouths. They grumbled and gurgled in unison before quieting down back to sleep. Molly shook her head at them, before slipping up to the next floor.

Even before opening the door Molly could hear the soft chattering of her children inside the room. She sighed. Of all her children, these two were hardest to put to sleep. Before she had even turned the door knob however the voices stopped and as she swung the door open she caught the slightest flutter of blankets over the two beds. Molly smiled at their feinted sleep.

Percy in his rush to get under the covers had thrown them over his head and his mother could almost hear his heart hammering from under the sheets. Celena, however, was a much better actress than her brother and was doing a masterful job of pretending to be asleep, even managing a little fake snore for her mother's benefit.

Molly tapped her foot lightly on the hardwood floor. She had meant to give them a firm talking to but their efforts at sleep were far too precious. Besides, Molly had such a hard time staying mad at Celena, who was her perfect little princess. Growing up with two brothers and now having six sons, Molly was surrounded on all sides by men. Celena was her small golden relief in the chaos of testosterone and rough-housing. She had also turned out to be quite the opposite of all her brothers. She was frighteningly perceptive and motherly to all her brothers, wrapping each of them, older and younger, around her slender little fingers. As a matter of fact Celena tended to charm everyone around her. As Molly sank gracelessly into the armchair between her son's and daughters' beds, she recalled her family's last trip to Diagon Alley.

The Weasleys had come to London for potion ingredients and to settle the matter of her brothers' estates. Since Molly's parents were long since dead all of her older brothers' wealth and property had gone to her following their deaths. To split the chaos of seven children Molly had taken Bill, Charlie and Ron so that the older boys could help her find ingredients. Arthur had taken it upon himself to go to Gringotts, knowing that dealing with the cold, hard facts of placing values on each and every minute piece of her brothers' life was too hard for Molly now. So with the twins, on magicked toddler-leashes, as well as Celena and Percy, who were generally well behaved, the Weasley patriarch crossed through the shining double doors into Gringotts.

Arthur became rather distracted however when he noticed one of the goblins had a miniature of a football player inside his cubicle space. Keeping a firm grip on the twins' harnesses Arthur began an excited discussion with the goblin and a Muggle-born wizard also standing in line, on the dynamics of 'feet-bowl,' oblivious to the fact that his non-leashed children had left the bank.

When his wife caught up to him in front of Gringotts she was incensed. "In a time like this how can you leave the children unattended, Arthur!" Fabian and Gideon had been murdered by a group of Death Eaters just over a month ago. England was not a safe place. The red-headed witch was teetering between panic and anger, while Arthur was running through a list of Aurors that he thought might be able to help them.

Charlie's thankfully keen eyesight saved them a Floo call however as he spotted a flash of Weasley red hair across the street at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. The entire family rushed into the small shop to find the two children perched at the counter eating ice cream and listening to Mr. Fortescue tell them stories of medieval Muggles, dragons and what was left of former after meeting the latter.

Molly immediately swept her children up into near bone-crushing hugs in between a new tirade of admonishments and beratings for having run off from their father.

"But Papa was busy talking to the goblin."

"The goblin smelled, Mummy."

"Feet-bowl sounds so boring, Mum."

"And Mr. Florean was just about to tell us about Merlin and some silly Muggle boy with a sword."

"The Muggle boy has the same name as Papa."

"And the man bought us ice cream, look." Celena held up her frozen treat but was ignored.

The last sentence caught the attention of all of the Weasleys and they finally took the time to look around the ice cream parlor. To the utter shock of Arthur, Lucius Malfoy was also seated at the counter his pale son at his side.

"Your daughter is quite amusing, Arthur," Lucius remarked.

Arthur Weasley listened hard to the words, expecting a hint of mocking in the voice, but heard none. Arthur knew very little of Lucius Malfoy but rumors suggested that the blonde was involved with the Death Eaters that had been ravishing the countryside. The sight of the man both angered and frightened Arthur.

"Is she now?" He hoped his voice sounded as calm and solicitous as he was trying to be and not as wary and panicked as he felt.

"She had been lamenting to Draco here --" Ah that's the boy's name! "--about how she has to share everything with all her siblings and how lucky he was to be an only child."

Celena looked incredibly shame-faced as Mr. Malfoy revealed this in front of her brothers. She thought it had sounded much less mean and whiney when she said it earlier. "But she said she didn't mind sharing with her little brother here." He made a genial wave to the younger boy who grinned sheepishly through a mouthful of chocolate ice cream.

"She said she even looked forward to sharing with her new baby sister." Lucius inclined his head in Mrs. Weasley's direction as he recounted the tale. The young witch tried to smile but unconsciously placed a hand over her bulging stomach, unnerved by this man's cat-like smile.

"I offered to buy the children each a treat so they wouldn't have to share." Lucius made a sweep of his hand towards the children and their half-eaten ice creams to corroborate his story.

Celena then noticed the envious looks on the twins' faces as their eyes locked onto the frozen sweets as well. Ice cream was a treat that the Weasley children didn't often indulge in, except at family get-togethers. She felt incredibly greedy now that she thought about what she had said and waved over at her little brothers, handing them her spoon. She laughed as the two began tearing into the triple fudge and almond treat in between a duo of garbled "Fanks sissy!"

Percy stared down guiltily at his own ice cream a moment before offering it to Charlie and Bill, but not before taking one last bite himself. He could be a big boy and share like Cici too.

"That is quite a daughter you have there, Weasley." Lucius gave another strange smile at Celena's actions. "You should be very proud."

"We are, Lucius. Thank you," said Arthur as he instinctively took a step towards Celena.

"I imagine she will make quite an impression on the world." Lucius gently patted the girl on the head and she beamed at him, unaware of how her father flinched at the same gesture.

"I really must be going, however. Mr. Fortescue. Let the other Weasley children have their pick of anything on your menu and put it on my account. I owe my new friend Celena my thanks. After all, she has been wonderful company," and with that Lucius and little Draco made their exit.

Arthur had wanted to refuse but the pleading looks on his sons' faces and the look of pure joy from Celena made him crumple. So the family dug into the Flo Fortescue Special, two scoops of every flavor in one huge punch bowl to share while Celena pestered Florean for more stories. It was, after all, on Lucius Malfoy's sickle.

Molly chuckled softly to herself as she recalled the memory and suddenly she felt the soft movements of the baby inside of her and she was glad she had chosen to stay sitting. With a contented sigh she leaned further back into the cushy chair and rested her hand on her stomach. The sigh had alerted her daughter however, who was no longer content to pretend sleeping.

"Is the baby kickin' mum?" Cici sat up with her hair now thoroughly mussed. Her tresses were another way Celena seemed to differ from her brothers. Rather than the deep red that both the Weasleys and Prewetts tended to sport, Celena's hair was a softer reddish-gold that Molly supposed she had inherited from her great-grandmother.

"Yes, sweetheart. Want to feel?" Celena nodded enthusiastically and slid out of bed to press her small hands over her mother's stomach. Percy, believing that if it was okay for Celena to be out of bed it must be okay for him too, tumbled out of bed as well. After quickly righting himself, Percy inched behind his sister.

"Me too mum?" Molly smirked and nodded, feeling another warm hand against her abdomen. She felt a more forceful movement from the baby and her children squealed as they felt it too.

"What are you going to name her, mum?" Celena asked, her eyes bright. It amused Molly greatly that Celena assumed the new baby was going to be a girl and her daughter had, since the day Molly announced her pregnancy, referred to the baby as 'she.' Of course, Molly supposed, she had been right about Fred, George and Ron being boys. Celena had even predicted that she was going to have twins.

"You two lil' boys are gonna be trouble, but you'll be the bestest of buddies and you'll make everyone laugh. Nobody laughs enough now," Celena had said to Molly's tummy, nearly three years ago. The troubles in Britain had been going on for more than five years at the time, and the intuitive young girl had picked up on the tension and fear in the adults around her, even then.

Her predictions had amused the family at first but after she had been right a second (or would it be a third?) time with Ron's birth, Charlie and Bill and taken to calling her 'Cici the Seer.' Molly had been concerned at first, thinking the teasing might upset her little girl, but as it hadn't troubled Celena in the slightest she hadn't bothered to correct them.

Molly had begun to wonder herself if Celena indeed had the Sight. No one on her side of the family had ever been a diviner as far as she knew and though she hadn't asked Arthur she assumed no one on his side of the family had either. Seers were, after all, primarily witches and there weren't very many female Weasleys by blood.

Perhaps she would encourage Celena to take Divination when she went to Hogwarts and see what came of it. Headmaster Dumbledore had recently hired a Divination teacher for the first time in over sixty years as she recalled, so Molly assumed she must be very good to have convinced Albus of her credentials.

"What do you think we should name 'her,' Cici?" Molly asked, using the boys' nickname for their sister. Celena chewed thoughtfully on her bottom lip as she considered a name.

"How about Guinevere, the Queen Mr. Fortescue told us about? Then we'd have a Percival and a Arthur and a Guinevere like the story." Percy nodded enthusiastically; he liked the thought of all their names having something in common. Of course Percy usually agreed with everything that Celena said, and they two of them had a shared interest in everything historical.

"That's a wonderful idea. As a matter of fact one of my favorite cousins was named Ginevra, which is Italian for Guinevere. What if we named her Ginevra?"

"Yes." Percy and Celena chorused.

"Alright then and what about a middle name for her?" Celena sucked thoughtfully on her bottom lip. Her mother was just about to scold her for the habit that left her lips so badly chapped when a single word interrupted her thoughts.

"Diana." Molly and Celena turned to look at Percy questioningly. "Like the new Muggle princess. Then she would be named after a queen and a princess."

"Ginevra Diana Weasley. I like it," Celena stated smartly, as if that settled the matter completely. Percy beamed brightly. He lived to please his big sister.

"Alright. We are agreed then. Now it's time for bed." Molly added firmly as she struggled out of the cushy armchair. The children giggled as their mother hobbled up but they obeyed and crawled into bed.

"Night mum," chirped the children.

"Goodnight Celena. Goodnight Percy." Molly closed the door behind her and listened a few moments to check that they were indeed going to sleep before she stepped up to the top of the stairs and into her bedroom, glad that the day was finally over and she could sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The nearly full moon above was both a blessing and a curse. On one hand it cast enough light to see by and made it easier to be able to tell the time. But the moonlight could also alert others to the presence of the cloaked figures that were currently hiding in the forest.

They knew their mission and it would be easy. Infiltrate the home of a pregnant witch and her brats while the husband is out working late. Be quick, be efficient, and try not to kill anyone. So of course Bellatrix would not be joining them on the mission. She tended to be a bit too spell-happy to be useful on the more covert operations.

There were six of them ready and hovering amongst the trees, waiting for one last member of their group to join them before they moved in on the ramshackle dwelling. The tallest amongst the group of black-cloaked, figures was getting impatient for the late-comer. If they didn't begin this soon then the husband would arrive home before they could carry out their orders. It wasn't as if another person would be able to stand up against all of them but it would make things significantly more complicated if they had to deal with a fully capable, trained wizard.

A muffled crack and a short burst of gray smoke alerted the tall man to the arrival of his final companion. The man stalked over to his significantly shorter cohort and the men engaged in a lengthy but subdued exchange of curses before joining the others.

The tip of the tall man's wand lit up in blue and he waved it in a complicated matter that must have meant something to the others because they quickly fanned out across the woods. After giving his companions a few minutes to get into place he made another series of movements with his wand and they began moving towards the house.

All the dark figures had their wands drawn as they moved quickly but silently, probably thanks to a few muffling charms. Once they reached the garden three of the figures began taking down the wards and disarming enchantments with expert speed before anyone else dared get any closer. Once satisfied with their efforts the tall wizard crept up to the door, casting Alohomora and a few other unlocking charms just in case before trying the door. It opened with ease and he waved at the other cloaked figures in sets of two before following behind them.

They picked their way carefully across the surprisingly clean kitchen and sitting room, until they reached the stairs, casting a dozen silencing charms upon it, as if expecting it to be especially creaky. Each set of two wizards checked a bedroom as they went up the stairs.

The first five rooms were of no interest; two bathrooms, a guestroom/nursery and two bedrooms with two children a piece. The tall wizard entered the next bedroom; the dark hood of his cloak covered his crooked smile as he set eyes on what they had come for.

The tall wizard made a movement at one of the pairs of wizards who nodded back at him and made a series of silent gestures to their fellows. The first pair went up the stairs to the next bedroom, presumably where the mother was sleeping, the second pair locked the doors of the sleeping children's rooms and the third pair came into the room with the tall wizard.

He motioned to his companions who crept over to the beds. Moonlight streamed through the sheer blue curtains casting a pale, periwinkle sheen across the faces of a small boy and girl. One of the wizards quickly grabbed the little boy and put a hand over his mouth before the child could scream and the other grabbed the girl. The second wizard seemed to be quite young, not quite grown into his long and lanky limbs, and was not as coordinated as his fellow. He wrapped his arms around the girl but in the process failed to cover her mouth and she let out a scream like a banshee. The young wizard flinched and tried awkwardly to clap a hand over her face but in his awkward attempt to move he slammed his elbow into the bedroom wall. His moment of hesitation gave the little minx a chance and she wriggled out of his arms and scrambled towards the door, her yelling now more coherent.

"Mum! Papa! Help!" The tall wizard didn't much care if she yelled but he had hoped they wouldn't have to wake the mother, just more complications. The first wizard that had tried to grab her made another clumsy reach for the girl.

His fingers seemed to slide over her skin like oil and he fumbled to the side of her, cursing loudly in the process. He made a rather unfortunate step, and slipped on an edge of blanket which further upset his balance, pitching him backwards into a wall. The noise of two people yelling and the thud of a rather large wizard hitting a wall, twice, had no doubt awoken the other residents of the house. The sounds of young children crying and the shouting of slightly older children was a testament to this fact. The tall wizard was getting impatient now and he hissed angrily to her.

"You do that again girl and your brother dies." Celena, who had been halfway out of the room quickly spun around to look at Percy. One of the scary men had him lifted off the ground with a gloved hand over his mouth in his other hand he held a silver knife that glinted evilly. Percy was squirming in the stocky wizard's arms and the tears streaming down his pale cheeks glittered like diamonds as the moonlight touched his face. The sight of her brother had the desired effect and Celena remained stock still in the doorway.

"Good girl. Now come here." The tall wizard beckoned her to him, and she reluctantly shuffled towards him. She didn't need to scream anymore as it was, she could hear Charlie and Bill yelling from the floor below her and she hoped they were alright.

"You won't hurt my brothers?" Celena's small voice was querulous but steady.

"Not as long as you do as I say."

"Not mum either." Celena's voice was stronger, there was no question in her voice this time.

"No. We won't hurt your mum." Celena turned to the wizard holding her brother, her wide eyes scared but steely.

"You put Percy down and let him go downstairs, and I'll do whatever you want." The wizard holding the knife began lowering Percy slowly to the ground.

The tall man nodded approvingly. "Your brother can leave, just come closer, little one." This is going well.

The tall wizard thought too soon however because in the next instant the kitchen door banged open and several loud alert voices filled the lower floors. The father had come home and there were others with him.

"Run Percy!" Celena screamed and turned quickly, her copper hair whirling around her as she ducked from the tall wizard's grasp. The quick little girl grabbed her brother's hand, and dragged him across the room, dodging the arms of the men around her.

The tall man was not to going to get this close only to come away empty handed. He shoved his cohorts aside and with a lunge wrapped a strong arm around the girl's waist, shaking her slightly to loosen her grip on her brother's hand. A quick flash of white light resonated throughout the room and Percy's fingers loosened as he was knocked backwards into the hallway and the bedroom door slammed closed in front of him.

The tall wizard had closed his eyes at just the right moment and pulled a glittering golden object from his pocket to shove into Celena's protesting hands seconds after the other pairs of wizards pulled out their own.

Celena screamed for her brother as she felt a sickening pull behind her navel and was gone.