April Fool's Day

"Arthur!" she cried tearfully, getting up awkwardly and launching herself at her husband, tears pouring down her face again, and in her desperate relief, she failed to notice the worn, sad look in Arthur's eyes.

Arthur hugged her back, totally unsure of the reason for her outburst - how could she already know? - but thankful for it all the same.

"What're the boys doing up?" he asked when they finally drew apart. She looked up at him sheepishly.

"I- your - the clock said - I didn't know what to think, Arthur, I just didn't know..."

He patted her reassuringly on the back. "The clock...?"

"Mortal Peril, Arthur!" she cried, stepping away furiously. "What happened, where were you, what were you doing!?"

"Ah. Moll... it's a long story. Get the boys off to bed," he said quietly.

She sniffed back the last of her tears. "Your dinners in the oven. You must be starving. I'll get this lot to bed - look at the time!"

It took half an hour of complaining and bickering before the three boys were tucked up in bed and quiet. It was only then that Molly lumbered down the stairs to where her husband sat, staring dejectedly into the flicking fire and jumping when the last stair creaked as if to announce her presence.

"Please, Arthur, tell me what's been going on. Something has, I know it." Molly's voice sounded steadier than she felt.

Arthur bit his lip. His brown eyes locked with her hazel ones, his worn and sad, hers bright with unshed tears of worry. She'd never seen him like this before, and it all but broke her heart.

He got up slowly and guided her into the sitting room, where she took up most of the room on the old, creaky couch they sat in together. He found her hand and squeezed it reassuringly, but didn't meet her eyes as he began to speak.

"A- A few months ago, I asked a favour of Mad-Eye Moody... asked him to let me know, straight away, of any trouble here - anything to do with my family. Attacks, that kind of thing. The kind of stuff the Aurors pick up on."

"You think we're going to be attacked?" Molly whispered, looking nervously behind her and out the window.

"It's better to be safe than sorry. Anyway, this evening... I got a message telling me to come straight to his office. He told me they'd picked up on something he thought I'd better know about. I- I thought he meant you lot-" He broke off, looking wretched at the memory. Molly squeezed his hand tighter.

"He was getting a team of Aurors ready to go over. Said he thought it was too late, that the attack was over, and they were going over to- to look for survivors. But it was obvious they weren't hopeful... seeing as it was family, he'd let me go with them. Went by Portkey in case there were Anti-App spells up... I didn't know until I got there... it wasn't here. I've never been so relieved... then I realized whose house it was..."

He looked up at her, his eyes full of regret.

"Mol... It was Gid and Fab's place."

Mol... It was Gid and Fab's place. Gid and Fab's place. Gid and Fab...

Who used to spin her around the garden, her pigtails flying, who used to grab her unexpectedly and pull her onto the front of their brooms, then race and dive around, never letting her go however much she yelled, who used to get her out of trouble, who stood up for her all through Hogwarts, who defended her and Arthur when her parents found out they'd eloped...

Molly shivered and started to cry again, and Arthur leaned in and held her in his arms. She sobbed into his shoulder until she ran out of tears, and then looked up at him with bloodshot eyes.

"So... they were already... when you got there, they were..." she stammered, wiping her eyes.

"When we got there," Arthur continued slowly, "we thought it was... over. The house was dark... everything was dark, except for the Mark in the sky."

Molly gave an involuntary shiver and moved closer to her husband.

"We arrived at the bottom of the garden, in amongst the bushes, so we were looking up at the house and we thought we saw something move inside, but no-one could see well enough to really tell... and then it just started up again... flashes and bangs and yells... by the time we got up there, Fabian was... and Gideon standing over him, giving twice as much as he got... We burst in... take them by surprise, take a few down... but it didn't last long... they had their orders, I suppose... and they were outnumbered. One of them got Gideon... and it was all over. They just left, didn't stop to see if they could take us too... just left, just like that..." he trailed off, looking lost for a moment.

"Merlin, Molly, I'm sorry," he muttered, pulling her still closer. She was pale and shivering, sitting dejectedly on the couch, her arms wrapped around her swollen belly. Beyond crying now, her face was tight.

She shook her head, seeming to come out of a reverie as she looked at him, brown eyes swimming with unshed tears, worry an pain.

"Arthur," she said, her voice wrought with pain but softer and calmer than he had expected, and her words far and away the last thing he had anticipated. "Arthur, the baby's coming. Now."