Before the Beginning

No one loved Ronald Billius Weasley more than his mother, but his birth had been slightly melancholy. War was creeping up on them and fear engulfed everyone. Everyday Arthur worried that something horrible would take one of his children away from him and that was a thought he just couldn't cope with. He hated feeling the change within him. He was no longer the young man that could face anything so long as his friends were by his side. Now all he did was fear for the lives of his loved ones.

Arthur, however, wasn't the only one that was changing. Since the death of her brothers, Arthur noticed a huge change in Molly's demeanor. She suddenly had become increasingly protective of her children and even Arthur felt mollycoddled at times. He understood her reasoning, however. Gideon and Fabian had been the last link she had left with her family and now they were gone. Even at the funeral her parents had said nothing to her. Family was her life and she had already lost one. He understood that she would do anything at any cost to keep her new family safe. He just wished she wouldn't get so worked up about it.

She was no longer the quiet and content girl he had married, but was now an independent and slightly boisterous woman. However, he didn't care if she suddenly were to become a loony crackpot; he loved her no matter how she acted. And he didn't blame her for no longer being able to take things as they came at her. With six boys to take care of during wartimes, she definitely had her hands full.

A little more than a year passed since the tragic loss of Gideon and Fabian and another Weasley was on the way. When Ron had been born the year before, Arthur found himself very fearful for his children's futures. They could barely survive on what little money he made and he didn't know how they were going to afford all the expenses they would have when they had to start sending the boys off to school. Books, wands, robes, cauldrons... Arthur didn't even want to think of it. Not to mention that he and Molly had brought a new child into the world at a time no child should ever have to witness. War was at its peak and no one could be sure of anything anymore. Evil shrouded the wizarding world in a sickly gray and even the muggles were beginning to notice that the reports they were being told about the increasing deaths didn't seem to make sense. Everyone was on edge and everything was quiet.

With a seventh child on the way, Molly seemed much moodier than she had ever been with the previous pregnancies. Arthur knew that this was because she desperately wanted a daughter and they both knew that this would probably be the last child they could conceive being that they both were getting on in age.

The summer had been painfully hot and it was now at its peak. The boys were becoming restless and Arthur felt horrible for leaving Molly home alone with them all day while he went to work, but it cost too much to hire a sitter.

"Arthur, Bill will be starting at Hogwarts next year," Molly said one evening to him when he had returned from work."

"They grow quickly, don't they?" he replied, not looking up from his paper.

"Like weeds," she replied. She was silent for a moment and it caused Arthur to look up in her direction. She was biting her lip which meant she was worried about something.

"Molly, what's wrong?" Arthur stood from his chair and crossed the room to her. He knew exactly what was wrong, but he knew how badly she needed to talk about it.

"I'm scared, Arthur. It's so dangerous right now and I'm so afraid of sending Bill off to school away from us. None of them have ever been away from us..." her voice cracked a bit.

Arthur took her in his arms and rested his chin on her head. "Molly, you're going to have to let go eventually. You'll still have six beautiful children at home to drive you crazy and soon you'll forget to worry about Bill up at Hogwarts."

"But then two years after that Charlie will be gone, and then Percy soon after that. And when the twins go off I'll be losing two at the same time! And Ron and the new baby..."

Arthur laughed a bit then. He hadn't meant to be rude, but he couldn't help himself. "Honey, don't you think you're getting a bit ahead of yourself? I mean, Ron's only a year old and the new baby hasn't even graced the world with its presence yet."

She chuckled a bit then as well. "I suppose you're right. I need to stop worrying so much. It's going to give me gray hair."

Arthur kissed her forehead and smiled. "That's my girl. Now let's get ourselves to bed and only think of the good things to come."

A week later, Arthur came home rather late from work after working on a large case dealing with an exploding fire hydrant. He was surprised to see all the lights still on since Molly would usually have already turned in for the night.

The sight he beheld as he walked into the parlor was something he never would have imagined.

"Cap!"

Caphis Collier stood a foot from Molly with his wand aimed directly at her forehead. His childhood friend whipped around to look at Arthur. Fury and hatred were the prominent emotions that could be seen in his eyes and Arthur knew something was horribly wrong.

"Stupefy!" Cap yelled, swishing his wand in Arthur's direction. But Arthur easily blocked it with a shield charm.

Even angrier, Cap yelled "Crucio!"

The fact that one of his best friends was using an unforgivable curse took Arthur by such immense surprise that he almost didn't get the chance to block it.

"Cap! What are you doing! I though you were our friend!" Arthur said as he dodged another hex.

Cap said nothing and continued his onslaught of hexes and curses against Arthur. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the boys hiding on the stairs. He wanted to yell to them to get help, but he didn't want to alert Cap to their presence. Plus they all looked too frightened to move anyway.

With his attention on the boys, Arthur was hit by a stunner and fell to the ground. He wasn't down long, but when he did come round, he saw Bill go down, who must have come running into the fight when Molly was left defenseless.

Arthur hit Cap with a very powerful stinging spell which caused the crazed man to fall to the ground and twitch. Just then Charlie came running in with Dedalus Diggle.

"I can't believe it! The boy must be under the Imperius Curse! Seems a lot of folks are lately. Good thing your boy came and got me. I'll take him to St. Mungo's and see if they can do anything for him."

Arthur, however, hadn't really been listening. He was in complete shock from the events that had just unfolded before him. His mind wandered back to the last time Cap had been to the house. He had thought his old friend was acting strange, but thought nothing of it. However, he could have been under the influence of the Imperius Curse the whole time. Arthur suddenly felt sick to his stomach.

"Arthur..." He looked up to see Molly looking at him with tears threatening to fall from her eyes. Quickly he moved to her side and held her close.

"Oh, God... Molly, I thought for sure he was going to kill you..."

"Arthur..."

Arthur looked down at her and saw she was clutching her stomach. "The baby's coming."

A few hours later Ginevra (or Ginny as the boys liked to call her) came into the world. Molly was overjoyed with having a girl. Arthur wondered how she would fare with six older brothers, but he had a feeling she'd manage without any problem. She seemed to already have them wrapped around her tiny fingers.

However, Ginny's birth was only the beginning of good fortune that year. It was a time no one would ever forget and a day that seemed to almost stand still. At the time it seemed like nothing bad would ever happen again from that moment on. Of course, the future can be fickle.

"Molly! Molly! Where are you?!"

Arthur had been so excited to get home that he accidentally apparated a good block away from the Burrow. He was horribly out of breath when he got to the door, but he couldn't contain his excitement no matter how tired he was. Owls filled the sky and he noticed dozens of shooting stars. It was an amazing sight.

"Molly!"

Molly came bustling toward him, Ginny in her arms and Ron around one of her legs. The other boys all leaned over the staircase to listen to the news he had to deliver. "What is it, Arthur?"

"You haven't heard?!" He could barely contain his excitement.

"No, I've been inside all morning trying to get the boys to eat and do their chores. What's going on?"

"I just received a memo a bit ago telling me the best news of my life!"

"Better than the news that you were going to be a father... seven times?" She smirked at him and he just gave her an exasperated look.

"He's gone, Molly! He's gone!"

She of course knew exactly who her husband was speaking of and her jaw practically hit the floor. "Oh my goodness!" She let out a sort of shriek and threw herself at him as best she could without smothering Ginny. "How?"

"You remember the Potters, right?"

"I've heard of them, yes. Never met them though."

"Last night, You-Know-Who turned up in Godric's Hollow looking for the Potters. I'm not sure why he was targeting them, but he was set on killing them. Well, I guess he killed both Lily and James, but when he went to perform the killing curse on their son Harry, it didn't work!"

"What do you mean it didn't work, Dad?" Bill asked from the stairs. Arthur had almost forgotten the boys were all listening.

"Well, somehow, the spell bounced off the boy and hit You-Know-Who instead! It completely destroyed him and all it left the boy with is a lightening bolt shaped scar on his forehead!"

Molly had tears in her eyes and Arthur wasn't sure if they were happy or sad. "This is wonderful news, Arthur... but that poor baby... Losing your parents so young would be horrible. Why, he's got to only be about as old as little Ronnie here." She ran a hand lovingly through her youngest son's hair. "Do you know what will happen to him?"

"I heard something about going to live with some relatives of his mother's but after that the details get a bit sketchy." He looked at the solemn look on his wife's face. It amazed him that even with seven children she still found a place in her heart for every child in the world.

"Molly," he finally said, grasping her free hand. "Don't you realize what this means? He's gone! He's gone for good and will never trouble our world again! It's a time for rejoicing!" He kissed her passionately and then ran up the stairs to hold all of his children tightly. He had waited eleven years for this moment and he was not going to waste it. Sure there had been a few attacks back when he was in school by dark wizards, but nothing had been as terrifying as the reign of Lord Voldemort. No dark wizard had or ever would match his cruelty or malevolence. In less than a decade he had managed to cause every wizard across the world to fear for their lives.

The celebration lasted well into the night and into the next morning. And when Arthur and Molly finally made it to bed, they definitely didn't go to sleep right away and kept on celebrating. No longer did Molly have to worry about her children not being safe when they left for school. No longer did Arthur have to worry about coming home to find the Dark Mark above his home. Life would be better from that moment on... or at least Arthur hoped.