Before the Beginning

Another year passed and a new decade arrived. Arthur and Molly had almost forgotten the events of the previous year... almost. It was now 1980 and Death Eater attacks had been growing exponentially and were becoming more and more public. People were afraid, but didn't know what they could do to protect themselves from You-Know-Who. The Ministry of Magic found itself becoming overwhelmed and were steadily losing their large number of aurors.

Because of the increasing attacks, Arthur found himself at the ministry more frequently. They needed all the help they could get to deal with the damage being caused by the rebel group. It pained him to be away from his family during such dangerous times, but he didn't have much of a choice.

However, currently he was quite chipper. Molly had sent him an owl asking to meet him for lunch because she had something she wanted to tell him. He wondered who she'd get to watch the boys since none of the sitters they usually got ever wanted to come back... especially now that Fred and George were in their terrible twos. It wasn't that they were bad, they just were... mischievous. Not to mention they were just starting to discover their powers.

The clock on his desk hit twelve and Arthur quickly packed up what he had been working on and headed out the door to meet Molly.

He found her in a small café in an alley near Gringotts Bank. He greeted her with a kiss and sat down across from her.

"Have you ordered yet?" he asked her.

"No, I was waiting for you," she said, slightly preoccupied.

"What was it you wanted to tell me?" Arthur asked, slightly concerned.

"I'll leave it for after we eat," she said with a gentle smile as the waitress came up to them.

When their meals came, Arthur asked her who she conned into watching the boys.

"Oh," she laughed. "I got Ms. Quiggle to take them. Even Fred and George won't misbehave for her." Molly noticed her husband wasn't listening, but instead was staring out the window intently. "Arthur, what is it?" she asked, touching his arm.

"Get down!" he cried out as the window next to them exploded. He had leapt up just in time up to move over and cover Molly as they both fell to the floor, glass showering over them.

"Arthur!" Molly cried out in fear. When the dust settled she panicked at the number of cuts on his face and hands. "Oh, Arthur... You're hurt..."

Arthur put a hand to her cheek. "So are you, Molly."

She touched her face and found blood on her fingers when she looked at them. She hadn't even noticed.

"Molly, I need you to stay here," Arthur said, helping her to her feet.

"Where are you going?" she asked, fear overtaking her.

"I'm going to go find out what's happening."

"Arthur! What if it's You-Know-Who's people?! You can't go!" Tears began to fall from her eyes and held fast to her husband. She ignored the stinging sensation her salty tears left in the cuts on her face.

"Molly, I'm a member of the ministry. I can't just sit back and do nothing! Now, please! Just do as I say!" He kissed her quickly and ran off, leaving her in tears.

All around him was complete panic and chaos. People were running in every direction; shrill screams filled the smoky air. Arthur grabbed at an older boy trying to run past.

"Where are they? What's going on?" Arthur asked him.

"Death Eaters! Over near the bank! They blew up one of the shops nearby! Please, lemme go!" Arthur released the panicked boy and began running down the alley toward Gringotts.

As he approached he could see a fight going on between two aurors and several Death Eaters. He had never seen such an unfair fight in his life. But the two aurors seemed to be holding their own fairly well. Most of the civilians had been cleared out of the area, Arthur assumed by other aurors, but he did find himself become queasy at the sight of several bodies lying out in the open. But what made him even sicker was when he realized who the two aurors were.

"Gideon! Fabian!" He screamed, beginning to run even faster. Both pairs of eyes shot up in his direction for a moment, not having expected their brother-in-law to be in the area.

As Arthur got closer, he saw Gideon raise his wand in his direction, and just before Arthur reached the mouth of the alley, he ran smack dab into an invisible barrier.

"NO!" he shouted as he jumped back up onto his feet and began pounding on the barrier. However he could do nothing more than watch the horrible scene unfold before him. He felt almost as if he were watching in slow motion. Every curse that flew back and forth between the two parties seemed to take forever to reach its intended and every counterattack or dodge felt like it would never come in time. Arthur felt his heart drop into his feet when a fifth Death Eater joined in the group trying to take the two brothers down.

"Arthur?" he suddenly heard from behind.

He whipped around and saw Molly standing a few yards away. This was the last thing he wanted her to see.

"Molly! Go back, now!" he shouted at her.

She stopped for a moment, obviously frightened by his tone, but then began to move forward again, realizing he was trying hide something from her.

Arthur heard a scream and turned back to the fight. One of the Death Eaters had been hit by a spell cast by Fabian and was flailing around in pain. The Death Eater next to him began advancing on the two brothers, obviously angry. Arthur gasped when he realized who it was... Antonin Dolohov.

"Arthur what's going on?" Molly was right behind Arthur now and he turned to face her with sad eyes. She looked beyond him to see the fight unfolding in front of the bank just in time to see Fabian fall victim to a purple zigzagging light that came from Dolohov's wand. She screamed out and began pounding on the barrier that Gideon had raised to stop Arthur from trying to help them.

Gideon cried out for his fallen brother and moved toward him. Just as he was about to reach Fabian, Arthur heard the words, "Avada Kedavra" and time seemed to stand still.

Molly began hammering away at the barrier, tears streaming down her face. "Please! No!" Arthur tried to pull her away, but she violently pushed him back.

Gideon then fell, dead as soon as the green light from one of the Death Eater's wand hit him. The barrier disappeared and Molly fell forward on her hands. As soon as she was back on her feet she set off toward the scene to Arthur's horror.

"Molly! Are you INSANE?!?!" he screamed, trying to catch her. He felt every fear he had ever had in his life creep up on him when he saw Dolohov turn toward Molly with his toothy grin. She had thrown herself on top of Fabian who, still barely alive, was breathing raggedly and his eyes were frantically moving in all directions.

Dolohov rose his wand and shouted "crucio!" in Molly's direction. However, Arthur managed to reach her first and it hit him instead.

Arthur couldn't remember the last time he had ever been in so much pain. He felt as though a thousand knives had just stabbed into him all at the same time and he thought his head was going to split at the seams. After what seemed eons, the pain subsided and he heard a laugh come from Dolohov.

He hovered over Molly who was sobbing uncontrollably and trying to wipe away the blood that was trickling out of Fabian's mouth. She hadn't even noticed Arthur taking the crucio curse for her. Arthur looked down at Fabian for a moment and realized the purple light that had come from Dolohov's wand had caused severe internal injury to Molly's remaining brother. He was most likely bleeding to death. Fabian began whispering something into Molly's ear, but Arthur couldn't make out what it was.

"Well if it isn't Arthur Weasley and his little bitch, Molly. I take it you two are married now, eh?" Dolohov said moving a bit closer. The four Death Eaters on the scene snickered, but stayed back understanding this was a fight Dolohov wanted for himself. "You always were a homely looking couple."

"You bastard. How could you do this?" Arthur hissed, his voice breaking ever so slightly.

"If only you could understand just how easy it really is," Dolohov said with a grin. "And seeing how much pain you both are in makes it even better."

"I take it following Curan around wasn't enough for you to get your kicks, eh?" Arthur said. He decided his best bet was to keep Dolohov talking.

"Amherst? I killed that jackass years ago. He was useless. I have a new leader."

Arthur saw Fabian go limp in Molly's arms and she suddenly became rigid.

"Just leave Molly alone. You can do as you please with me," Arthur pleaded.

"Yes," Dolohov said with his trademark grin, "I can." He moved forward a bit. "I think I'll maim you first and then have my way with little miss Molly. I've always had a thing for her. Wouldn't it be torture to have to watch me have my way with her and be able to do nothing?"

Arthur grimaced and he felt Molly shudder against him. He hadn't realized she had joined the conversation.

"Then," Dolohov continued, "I'll kill her while you watch and then finish my torture of you. Wouldn't you like that Weasley?"

Dolohov raised his wand and Arthur threw himself over Molly to protect her as best as he could. However the hit never came.

He looked up and saw another auror, this one he recognized to be Alastor Moody. Arthur wasn't sure what he had done, but the Death Eaters seemed to be retreating. Moody came over to them and examined the scene before him. Molly had stopped crying and was just staring at her fallen brothers in silence.

"I wish I had gotten here sooner," Moody said, quietly to no one in particular. "They were such innocent young men... but damned good at what they did. I couldn't have asked for better people to work with."

Arthur was about to speak, but noticed Molly was now staring directly at Moody.

"What's the Order of the Phoenix?"

Moody looked at her for a moment, obviously shocked by her question. He then looked at the lifeless body in her arms for a moment contemplating whether or not to answer her question. However, he soon began to speak.

"We've been gathering our group together slowly ever since we first realized just how dangerous He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named really was. Albus Dumbledore is in charge and is a damned good leader if I do say so myself. But our numbers aren't big enough and we've lost several of our key people. The Death Eaters are powerful and You-Know-Who is more powerful than any of us could imagine. Dumbledore is perhaps the only one that could face him without fear."

"Where do my brothers fit into this mess?" Molly asked, her tone somewhere between grief and anger.

"They joined as soon as they became certified aurors. Dumbledore thought they would be a good asset considering how witty and talented they were. They could know the enemy's next move far before they ever made it. But I suppose that's how most jokesters are. They can plot your moves and use them against you."

"Why..." Molly tried, but tears filled her eyes again.

"Why didn't they tell you? They couldn't. Simple as that. To tell anyone would put all of our lives in danger. It was a danger for Fabian to even tell you in his last words. But I suppose if he can trust you, I can trust you."

Moody looked down at the morose Molly with pity. "They talked about you a lot... never stopped, actually. I promise you that they didn't die in vain. No one will know of greater heroes than these two."

Several medical wizards had just arrived on the scene and it took two of them to pry Fabian from Molly's grasp. Arthur took one last look at Gideon and suddenly wished he hadn't. The look of pure fear on the man's face would never leave him.

Soon it was just Molly and Arthur huddled together on the pavement alone.

After what seemed a lifetime of silence, Arthur finally spoke. "What was it you wanted to tell me earlier, Molly?"

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. He knew that what she had wanted to tell him was something she had been very pleased about, but now she could think of nothing past grief. Finally she found her voice.

"I'm pregnant."