Before the Beginning

June melted into July, which soon became August. Arthur Weasley had settled nicely into his new office in the Ministry of Magic and was suddenly being introduced to thousands of muggle artifacts he had never heard of before. He never realized how clever muggles really were. In his spare time, he began a collection of spark plugs which he found immensely fascinating.

The journey to becoming a man those few summer months proved stressful for Arthur. Not only did he have his job to attend, but he now had a house to fix up. He had been given a small sum of money from his family to start a life on his own, but it would prove to be trying times for him before he could get his feet firmly planted on the ground. He christened his new home "The Burrow" and made himself a promise that he would soon add several new rooms to it for the throws of children Molly dreamed of.

His engagement to Molly proved to be the biggest problem out of them all, however. Molly's parents had practically exploded at the news. Her father's exact words were "You will not marry a filthy blood-traitor!" Yes, Arthur always knew he'd just love his in-laws. But Arthur refused to be intimidated and they set their wedding date for some time in the fall. He told Rupert and Rosalie that he and Molly would be quite pleased if they showed up, but if they didn't, the ceremony would still continue. That was about the point when Mrs. Prewett burst into tears and Mr. Prewett sent hexes flying in Arthur's direction. That meal definitely ended early.

Molly of course had been his rock. She sent him letters and small pies almost every day. And her letters never spoke of anything dire, only cheerful thoughts of hers and how much she missed him. One of the huge stacks on Arthur's desk was purely devoted to his "Molly Mail" as several of his co-workers had dubbed it.

"Weasley! Have you got that report on the talking socks yet?" Arthur's boss, Mr. Youngstone asked gruffly.

"Uh, yes, Sir! It's right here." Arthur flipped through one of his piles and handed it to the older man.

"Good. You'd never believe how ruthless some of these jokers are. How would you like to put on your socks and have them tell you your feet stink?"

"Oh, I'd be most shocked, Sir," Arthur assured him. Mr. Youngstone was getting quite on in age and took his job very seriously. He didn't trust young people and always kept Arthur on his toes. And while most people didn't think a case about socks was much to fuss about, Mr. Youngstone considered it quite a felony.

"Um, Sir, if you don't mind, I really need to leave a bit early today. I'm having dinner with my soon-to-be in-laws."

"You'd put family in front of your work?" The man sounded almost horrified. "Well, I suppose so. But make sure you work extra hard tomorrow!"

"Yes, Sir!" Arthur almost found himself giving the man a salute.

That night dinner went a bit smoother. Gideon and Fabian were there to ease any tension.

"It was amazing, Mum. You should have seen it. First night on the job as full fledged Aurors and Fabian trips over a trash can, alerting everyone to our position! It was hilarious! Well, minus the almost being killed thing. I could have done without that," Gideon said shoving his face full of food.

"Oh chin up, Gideon," Fabian said. "It was much more interesting that just sneaking up on them. Where's the challenge?"

"You boys never cease to amaze me..." Mrs. Prewett said, her skin becoming slightly ashen. Arthur gathered she hadn't wanted the twins to become aurors due to its risky nature just as Molly seemed weary of it. Most aurors didn't live to a ripe old age as you would in most professions.

"I can't believe you two! Talking as if your job is a big joke... You could be killed!" Molly exclaimed.

"Oh, come now, Molly. It'll take more than a few jerks in an alley to take us down," Gideon assured her.

"Well, I for one am glad they have respectable jobs and are on their way to being upstanding citizens," Mr. Prewett interjected.

"As opposed to us, lower class citizens, right, Sir?" Arthur asked snidely. He had had enough of Mr. Prewett's persnickety attitude toward him.

"Exactly."

"Father! I am disgusted by your behavior! Arthur is my guest and I expect you to be pleasant with him! You can't even handle the few months before we marry to pretend to not hate him?!" Molly all but screamed at her father.

"I wouldn't care if he were the Minister of Magic! I do not want you marrying a penniless blood-traitor!" Rupert yelled back, his face a charming shade of purple.

"Well, guess what, Father? I am! And there is nothing you can do about it because I am an adult now!"

Rupert slunk back in his chair. "Fine, get married... But see if you get one knut out of me!"

"We don't need your filthy money!" Arthur hissed. "See you at the wedding!" He got up and left for the front door. Molly ran after him.

"Oh, Arthur! I'm so sorry Father is being so hard headed about this whole thing!"

"It's not your fault, Molly. And all that matters is that we are together in the end. With or without his blessing."

To Arthur, it seemed as though his wedding day would never come. The summer dragged on horribly, however work kept him motivated. He had just become interested in car engines and was hoping to take one apart that winter and see how it worked. His family ended up doing most of the work getting the wedding ready, which broke his heart. He didn't know how they had managed to scrape any money together for such a nice little event. Thankfully, Molly's family did provide her with a dress and the flowers. And in the end Rupert gave them his version of his blessing.

"I will never approve of this union come heaven or hell. However, I'd rather have you do it in front of my face rather then behind my back, so let's get on with it already."

The ceremony was beautiful and the party afterward was a blast. All their friends from Hogwarts had managed to come in for it, and Cap even danced with Aemilia. Of course, he had been drinking a bit.

Arthur had to admit, however, that his favorite part of the whole day was the start of their honeymoon. Rupert had given them the money to spend a few days in Paris, and the two of them got in plenty of "family-making" practice.

Molly immediately moved in with him at the Burrow. Although it was small, Molly told him it was the most adorable house she had ever seen and that she'd soon turn it into the best living space ever. In no time the house looked as though it had been lived in for years. Molly even added a garden so that they wouldn't have to buy too many supplies for food.

"Molly, did I ever tell you how much I love you?" Arthur asked one night while they lay in bed after making love.

"Several times, but if you want to keep reminding me, I won't stop you," she said with a girlish giggle.

He snorted and pounced on her, making her let out a loud laugh. "I'm so glad we're together."

"I'd have it no other way, Arthur Weasley," she said flicking his nose affectionately.

"And I wouldn't want anyone but you, Molly Weasley."

"I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing that," she said with a sigh, pulling herself closer to him.

"Hearing what?"

"Molly Weasley."

"Ah, me too. Molly Weasley, Molly Weasley, Molly Weasley, Molly Weasley..."

"Okay, I spoke too soon. I'm suddenly tired of hearing it."

Arthur let out a hardy laugh. "Well, you'll just have to get used to it," he said holding her close to him, "because you're mine and I won't ever give you up."

After a little more than a year, Arthur and Molly had easily slipped into the routine of living as husband and wife. It didn't take long for Molly to become pregnant with her first child.

"Are you sure you should be gardening, Molly?" Arthur asked one morning.

"Don't be silly, Arthur. I'll be fine. Have a good day at work," Molly said shooing him out of the yard.

However, no more than three hours later one of the ministry workers ran into Arthur's office.

"Arthur! Your wife went into labor!"

After getting over the initial shock, Arthur apparated over to the hospital as fast as he could and was surprised none of his limbs were missing due to how sloppily he had performed the spell.

"How may I help you?" a nurse asked him.

"My wife! Molly Weasley! Where is she?!" He cried out frantically.

"Calm down, Mr. Weasley. You'll be happy to know you now have a beautiful baby boy."

"Ha!" He hugged the nurse in glee and practically lifted her off the ground. "I have a son! I'm a father!"

"She at the end of the hall if you'd like to go see her," the nurse said, fixing her hair that Arthur had mussed.

He quickly ran down to her room and almost melted when he saw Molly in bed holding the most beautiful tiny baby he had ever seen.

"Oh, Molly..." he breathed.

"Arthur... come say hello to your son, Bill," Molly said with a huge smile.

Arthur came over to her and his son beaming with pride. Molly carefully handed Bill to him.

"Hello there, Bill. You're a very handsome boy. I bet one day you won't be able to keep the ladies off of you."

"He must get that from his father," Molly said with a grin.

Arthur kissed the top of Molly's head.

"Have I ever told you how beautiful you are and how much I love you?"

"More times than any woman could ever hope for. I'm a lucky woman."

Arthur loved how much of a natural Molly was at motherhood. From the moment she brought Bill into the nursery he knew he wanted to have throws of children with her and make all her dreams come true.

Gideon and Fabian came by a couple weeks after they brought Bill home from the hospital.

"He looks a lot like you, Arthur," Fabian remarked. "He's going to be tall."

"And I'm fairly sure he and any other children you have are going to be lovely redheads," Gideon said with a smile.

"Where did you get that scar, Fabian?" Molly suddenly asked, looking at her brother.

"Just a little run in with those gits running around trying to kill muggles. We finally have begun learning more about them and their leader, Lord Voldemort." Fabian rolled his eyes a bit when he saw Molly shudder at the name.

"I've been hearing more about them at the Ministry," Arthur added. "Death Eaters, right?" Fabian nodded. "Lately everyone has just started calling the leader You-Know-Who. They're too scared to say his name. I don't blame them though."

"Right now they seem like a pretty small extremist group, but they're growing. They obviously do not like muggles or anyone that associates with them," Gideon stated. "You might want to be a bit careful, Arthur. Your family is well known for advocating muggle rights," he added.

"I'll be ready for anything that comes my way," Arthur said, quietly.

"Also, be warned that we have already found several witches and wizards under the influence of the Imperius Curse. So if any of your friends or family begin acting strange, be warned that they might not be who they seem," Fabian said quietly. "This is a time when nothing is as it was and no one is to be trusted."