Before the Beginning

For most of the year they had no problem sneaking out. They just made sure to stay out of sight as best they could. However, one night, a silly dare caused a slew of problems.

"So you've been sneaking out for months? I want to go!" Cap was complaining.

"If you go they'll get caught!" Elijah replied.

"Aw, come on, Lij, he's not that bad... usually," Edmund said with a chuckle.

"Uh, the whole point of our walks, Cap, is for them to be romantic... not for you to tag along for the thrill," Arthur pointed out.

"Please, Art! I'd even let Molly invite Aemilia if that would make it better for you. A double date with some danger. Please?" Arthur couldn't help but pity the begging Cap.

"Fine. I'll talk to Molly about it. Our next walk is in a few days."

"Thanks, Art! You're a really great mate!"

Molly agreed to allow Cap and Aemilia to double date with them. Aemilia was on cloud nine at the thought of Cap actually wanting to take a walk with her. However, they didn't realize Cap had a different agenda.

"So, what exactly do you two do on your walks?" Cap teased when they finally made it out of the castle undetected.

"None of your damn business, Cap," Arthur said checking around corners.

They walked around the perimeter of the property and took a break behind Hagrid's shack, who seemed to not be home.

"So many people don't realize what a nice fellow Hagrid is," Molly said leaning up against the wall of the hut.

"Well, he is pretty big. Most people are just scared of his sheer size. It seems like he has giants blood in him or something," Cap said.

"Being big doesn't make you any more horrible than being small," Aemilia replied.

"Hey, Art, I've been thinking," Cap said turning to his best friend.

"Uh oh... that's never good," Arthur sighed. Aemilia giggled.

"Seriously, I had an idea. Let's explore the Forbidden Forest."

"Are you insane?!" Molly hissed at him. "It's dangerous in there!"

"How do you know? You've never been in it!" Cap retorted.

"The headmaster is always telling us..."

"He tells us lots of things. Most of it I think is a bunch of rubbish. Come on, Molly! Live on the wild side! Do something dangerous!" He turned to Aemilia. "You in?"

"I don't know..." Aemilia said hesitantly.

"I thought you always wanted to go on a date with me? Well, this is what a date with me is like."

"Alright, I'm in," she decided. She obviously liked Cap a lot; however, she had always been the gutsiest of all Molly's friends.

"Why don't we go back, Mol..." Arthur started.

"I'm going," Molly stated, interrupting Arthur. She didn't want Cap to think she was a chicken.

"Well, I guess I have no choice then," Arthur said with a shrug. Truthfully though, he wanted to go. He had always been curious as to what was lurking within the forest. Headmaster Dippet was often telling them how dangerous the creatures in the forest were, but at the same time, he remembered all of the amazing creatures he had been told lived in the forest during his Magical Creatures class.

"Well, come on then!" Cap said making his way into the thicket of trees.

They walked for a good half hour before they stopped.

"This was a bad idea, Cap. Let's go back," Aemilia said quietly.

"We haven't run into anything good... what a waste," Cap sighed. "Alright, let's go ba...."

The frantic snapping of twigs caught their attention.

"What is that?!" Molly exclaimed in a whisper, grabbing hold of Arthur's arm.

A man came bursting out of a clump of bushes at full speed, knocking over Arthur and Molly. Aemilia instinctively screamed and got shushed shrilly by Cap.

Cap jumped on him and Arthur helped hold him down.

"Who the hell are you?!" Cap exclaimed, his voice suddenly quite raspy.

"My name is Michael Biggs. Please, let me go!" the man sobbed.

"He's a muggle, Arthur!" Molly exclaimed. Looking at his clothing, Arthur came to the same conclusion.

The two boys let go of the man and Arthur noticed a deep wound on his left leg.

"You're wizards, aren't you? And witches!" Michael exclaimed.

"How did you know that?" Arthur asked.

"My brother is a wizard. I was visiting him in Hogsmede for his birthday. Usually they wouldn't allow something like that, but my brother managed to pull some strings. But this group of wizards came and started hassling a bunch of people. They were calling them mudbloods or something. That's when they noticed I was a muggle. They said something about making me an example to the rest. I ran like hell and thought I might lose them in this forest, but they're gonna find me..." Michael began moaning.

"Stop that! We'll get you out of here!" Arthur hissed, helping him to his feet.

"I think they got held up by a few centaurs, but that doesn't buy much time."

"What are we going to do? We can't bring him back with us, Arthur. We'll get in trouble for being out of the castle!" Aemilia was beginning to panic.

"We'll worry about that later. Come on!"

After a good mile of running, they stopped to catch their breath. Arthur didn't realize they had gone so deeply into the forest. And were they even going in the right direction? Michael pulled something out of the bag he was carrying and a light came flowing from it.

"I thought you were a muggle!" Arthur breathed.

"I am."

"Well, then how come you can perform the lumos spell?"

"Lumos? What the hell are you talking about?! This is a flashlight!"

"Amazing! You've managed to duplicate lumos without magic! Muggles are astonishing creatures. What else do you have in that bag?"

"No time for that now! We have to move again!"

The group began to run again as fast as they could. It wasn't long before they could hear shouts behind them.

"I'm slowing you down!" the muggle cried out, glancing down at the gash on his leg. "Give me that!" Michael grabbed Arthur's wand out of his pocket.

"What are you doing?! You aren't a wizard!" Arthur cried out.

"I can fend them off for a bit. Go!" Michael screamed at them.

"You're insane!" Cap yelled.

"You may be a wizard with all your fancy magic, but you're also just children and I refuse to have your deaths on my conscience! We muggles have other ways of defending ourselves anyway! Now please, GO!"

"But..." Arthur began.

Michael whipped off his bag and threw it at Arthur. "If you're so fascinated with muggles, then take this as a memento of your first meeting with one!"

"Thank you..." Arthur said, but his words were lost in a gust of wind as he and his three friends began running again. Arthur could see tears streaming from Molly's eyes and he quickly grabbed her hand. "It'll be alright, Molly. I promise!" He hated knowing that they had just left an innocent man to die, but there had been no stopping Michael. And Arthur knew for a fact that he or Cap wouldn't have been able to stand up to those strange men.

They heard a loud shriek from behind them, and then another. Who would have thought a muggle could defend himself so well. Arthur figured he probably poked a few eyes out with the wand. It was silent for a moment and then they heard a blood curdling scream followed by a flash of green light. They knew that at that moment, Michael Biggs' life had ended.

When they finally made it back to the Gryffindor common room, Molly and Aemilia were both sobbing uncontrollably.

"You'll wake everyone!" Cap hissed.

"Is that all that matters to you?!" Arthur bellowed.

"Of course not! But we don't want people to come down wondering what's wrong!"

Arthur just glared at Cap and sat down beside Molly, draping an arm around her shoulder.

"It'll be alright, Molly."

"That man... he gave his life for us! And he was nothing more than a muggle!" she sobbed.

"I know... I feel like a coward... We were the ones with the magic and he was the one that was the hero. Who would have thought muggles were so valiant."

After a bit of coaxing, Arthur finally got Molly and Aemilia to head up to their dormitory.

"I suppose we should get off to bed too," Cap said quietly.

"You go ahead. I'll be up in a bit," Arthur said.

Cap just nodded and left.

Arthur then turned his attention to the bag that had been given to him. Slowly, he began pulling things out. Another flashlight, besides the one Michael had been using in the forest, was on top. Arthur examined it for a moment and found that a strange cylinder shaped object was inside it. "Must be the power source," Arthur decided in a whisper. There were some muggle clothing next that Arthur found interesting. One of the shirts had "The Beatles" in big letters across it. Next was a small package of something called chewing gum. He decided he wouldn't try it until he had properly researched its effects.

Next he pulled out a small book called "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." On the inside cover it was made apparent that the book was meant to be a gift for Michael's brother that he had been visiting. Arthur promised himself he would read it as soon as possible. Even though most muggles didn't know wizards existed, they still had an amazing fantasy based genre on the subject of the magical world.

Realizing how late it was, Arthur carefully returned the objects to the bag and headed up to the 7^th year dormitory. The rest of the bag would have to wait until morning.

The next morning, Cap found Arthur down in the common room fairly early.

"I'm surprised you're awake. You barely got any sleep."

"Speak for yourself," Arthur said without looking up.

"Listen, Arthur... The reason I came down here was... well, I wanted to apologize. It's my fault that all that stuff happened last night."

Arthur sighed and put down the book he had found the previous night.

"It's not your fault. Whether we were in the forest or not, those weird wizards would have found us on the grounds. And I'm glad you were with us. I don't know if I would have been able to be so strong if it was just Molly and me."

"Thanks, Art," Cap said, quietly. "I just... I really want to be an auror and adventures make me feel like I already am one."

"Why do you want to be an auror so badly?" Arthur had been wondering for a long time but never asked.

"My father was one," Cap said, his chest swelling with pride.

"Was one?"

"He died the year before I came to Hogwarts. It destroyed my mother. That's why I usually stay here for holidays and stuff."

"That's why you don't like dating, isn't it?" Arthur pried.

Cap nodded. "You don't have time for family when you're constantly putting your life on the line. It wouldn't be fair for me to start a family and then end up leaving them."

Arthur nodded in agreement.

Slightly uncomfortable, Cap quickly changed the subject. "So what have you got there?" he asked, looking at the book Arthur was reading.

"It's a muggle book I got out of Michael's bag. Lot's of strange stuff. Like, look at this!" He pulled out a roll of some strange silvery circle. "The label says it's called duct tape." Arthur ripped a piece off and watched in fascination as it stuck firmly to his hand. "Amazing!"

"Er, we'd better get ready for transfiguration," Cap said, trying to pretend he wasn't as equally fascinated by the strange duct tape.

In transfiguration, Professor Dumbledore explained to them how they would be learning to transfigure themselves.

"Mr. Weasley, where is your wand?" Dumbledore asked.

"Er..." Arthur had just realized that he no longer had a wand. But he couldn't tell the professor that a muggle took it to fake out a bunch of guys in black cloaks. Not to mention that a mere muggle had more courage to stand up to death than he did. "I lost it," he finally said, very simply.

Dumbledore looked at him intensely for a moment. Arthur felt as though the older man could see right through him. Or... maybe he already knew. Arthur knew Dumbledore was regarded as a great wizard. He wasn't about to put knowing about their little adventure past him.

"Well, borrow Mr. Collier's then when he's done," Dumbledore finally said. Arthur could have sworn he saw a twinkle in his eye.

The last day of classes came much too soon and Arthur found himself packing his trunk very slowly. He didn't even care what his N.E.W.T scores would be; he just couldn't believe it was all over. Hogwarts would soon be a distant memory in his aging mind. He couldn't imagine himself anywhere else. No more moonlit walks with Molly, no more partying with Cap, Eddie and Lij, no more adventures. It was really the end.

"Cheer up, Art. You'll be seeing Molly soon. And we'll always be there for you," Edmund said, clapping him on the back.

"Yeah, I know," Arthur sighed.

"So when do you head off to America, Lij?" Cap asked.

"In a few weeks actually."

"Why are you going there again?" Edmund asked.

"They needed teachers for a new American wizarding school. Magic is not as prominent out west, so they need as much help as they can get."

"When do you think you'll be back in town again?" Arthur asked, throwing his last robe into his trunk.

"Next summer most likely. I'll have plenty of time then. When do you start your job, Caphis?"

Cap shuddered at the full use of his name. He knew Lij was just trying to get to him one last time. "In a month or so I begin training. I still have some serious work to do before becoming an auror, but its well worth it."

"I still can't believe you managed the marks to be able to have a career as an auror. If I didn't believe in miracles before..."

"Shove it, Lij," Cap said as he clamped his trunk shut. "Locomotor Trunk! How about you, Eddie? What are you planning to do as your next big step?"

"Not too sure, actually. I think I'm gonna do a bit of traveling. See what's out there, you know?"

"Sounds interesting, Mate. I wish you the best of luck," Elijah said, tipping his hat. "And you Arthur, what were you going to do again? Didn't you want to be Minister of Magic last I heard?" Eddie giggled and Cap just smirked.

"Funny, Lij. I actually have an interview with the Ministry of Magic. If all goes well, I should be working in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts department."

"Um, pray tell, Art... why?"

"Well, let's just say I have a newfound respect for our non-magical counterparts."

"What do you think your parents are going to say?" Cap asked.

"We've long been known as blood-traitors in the wizarding world. I don't see why this would be much of a surprise to them."

"Well, we wish you luck, Art," Cap said clapping him on the back. "And I'll make sure to save loads of your precious muggles when I become an auror."

Arthur just smiled.

The train ride was a quiet one for the cars filled with seventh years. None seemed able to comprehend that the chapter entitled Hogwarts in their life histories was closed. Arthur, Cap, Eddie, Lij, Molly, Aemilia and Mariana all talked quietly and sporadically, but they really had no idea what to say. Arthur and Molly stayed close the whole time, and when the train came to a halt at the station, Molly burst into tears.

"Arthur, promise me we'll be together again soon!"

"I'll do more than just promise you, Molly." He bent down on one knee and pulled a small box out of his pocket. "It isn't much since I don't have much to spend... but, well, Molly... will you marry me?"

Aemilia squealed then proceeded to grab Cap's hand (which he quickly pulled away from her) and Mariana made a funny moaning sound.

Molly's hands went to her face in surprise and then a huge smile appeared on her face. "Oh yes! Yes, I'll marry you, Arthur Weasley!" She threw herself into his arms.

"I love you, Molly Prewett..." Arthur sighed into her hair.

"I love you too, Arthur..."