before he falls.

Arthur Weasley saw it all.

He knew Angelina Johnson well, even though he'd died before she and George had tied the knot. He'd initially met her at Fred and George's first Quidditch match, and it was nothing more than a passing, "Good luck," on his way to the change rooms to see his sons. But she'd come to the Burrow for Easter holidays one year, and Fred and George had stayed with her for two weeks in the summer, and she really was a sweet girl.

Which was why it was so hard to watch her cheat on her husband with the nobody lying on the cliff.

"Do you ever wonder what would have happened?" she was saying. Arthur, invisible to the rest of the world, leaned against a tree, arms folded across his chest. "If we'd done it all differently?"

The nobody shrugged. "If we'd waited for each other, you mean?"

(And it made Arthur's blood boil to hear him talk like that, as if his George was just a stepping stone for Angelina, as if her children and her family and her entire married life were just roadblocks on her way to this Roger bloody Davies, and all he had to do was wait.)

"Or if we'd never had to." Angelina's left hand was resting on the edge of the cliff. Her wedding ring glinted in the sunlight, and Arthur felt rage surge through him. He remembered the day she slid that ring onto her finger for the first time - he'd been dead, of course, but he'd slipped into the church and watched from the back row, and he'd heard every word of the wedding vows. "If we hadn't spent seven years covering up the same feelings for each other."

"You had feelings for me?" asked the nobody.

"Had?" Angelina repeated. "I still have them, Roger."

(Arthur thought it was quite lucky he was only a spirit, because if he had been able to affect the physical world, he would not have hesitated to push them both over the edge of the cliff.)

"I should've told you on this cliff, the night before we even went to Hogwarts."

"What about my son?" Arthur yelled. "When did you decide George isn't good enough for you?"

They didn't hear him. Of course they didn't.

"What about my son?" And this time it was a whisper, it was to himself, and for the first time since he'd been alive he could feel tears welling up behind his eyes. Because Fred was dead, and Charlie was ill, and Percy was unemployed, and Bill was broke, and why couldn't one of his sons get a bloody happy ending?

"But everything was so complicated back then."

And that word - complicated - was the final straw.

"You think things were complicated then?" Arthur roared, and Angelina actually shivered slightly, as if she could feel his rage, as if she knew he was here. "What about now? What about your children? What about Roxanne, and Freddie? You'd leave them behind - you'd throw away your loving husband, and your loving children, and you loving bloody family - over this?" His hands were clenched into fists, and he couldn't explain the throbbing in his chest, because it felt almost like a heartbeat, but Merlin knew he hadn't had a heartbeat in years. "They all love you so much, Angelina," he said, and he was on his knees, because it was one thing to have your own heart broken, but watching someone break your child's heart is a different matter entirely, and it was burning him.

"Kiss me," Angelina whispered, and the nobody did, and Arthur let out a sob.

He followed her home that night, stood in her kitchen while she fixed dinner and hummed to herself and gave George a peck on the cheek. "I love you," she said to him, and George returned the sentiment, and Arthur could smell the poison on her tongue, and the only word in his head was liar, liar, liar.

Just as they all sat down to eat, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it!" Roxanne volunteered, springing up from her chair, and Arthur barely flinched as she ran through his non-corporeal form to answer the door. "Mummy?" Roxanne asked when she returned a moment later. "It's a man. He says he wants to talk to you."

"A man?" Angelina said, and nobody but Arthur saw the way her eyes got a little wider, or the way her cheeks flushed, just a little. "I'll be right back, then," she said, rising from the table. Arthur followed her to the door, where the nobody was standing with his hands in his pockets. "Roger. What are you doing here?" she asked, voice hushed, and Arthur wished he could find a way to get George's attention.

He's here, George. He's here, he's here, he's here.

"I had to come after you," the nobody said. "You don't understand - I'm not happy with Tricia. I don't love her. I never have. It's always been you, Angie. I spent years waiting for you, and now that I get the chance to have you, you want to leave me again. And I won't let you go without a fight."

"You're asking her to break her family apart," Arthur snapped.

"You're asking me to break my family apart," Angelina whispered, and for a second, Arthur wondered whether she could hear him after all.

"They'll be alright," the nobody said.

Angelina shook her head. "I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression," she said. "I had a crush on you once, a long time ago, and I never got to resolve those feelings. But I don't love you. I love my husband. And my children. And I'm going to have to ask you to get off my property before I get George involved."

Arthur stared at her, mouth hanging open.

"You asked me to kiss you," the nobody said after a moment of shocked silence.

"And I'm glad I did. Because now I know for sure: I don't love you, and I can't be with you."

"But - I'm going to leave Tricia for you," he said desperately.

Angelina actually laughed at that. "You're willing to leave your wife for another woman," she said, shaking her head. "So what happens when someone better than me comes along, hm? Are you going to up and leave then, too?"

(Arthur wasn't totally sure, but he thought Angelina might have just won the title of Favourite Daughter-In-Law.)

"You know," the nobody said, "that it's not like that."

She laughed again. "Get off my porch," she said, making to close the door.

He stuck his foot out and seized her left shoulder. "You can't just change your mind like this!"

"I'm not changing my mind. Quite the opposite - I'm sticking to my wedding vows. Let go of me."

But he didn't. "You have to come with me," he hissed, and Arthur wanted to pull back his fist and punch the nobody in the jaw.

(Angelina beat him to it, and that was when Arthur knew she was the Favourite Daughter-In-Law.)

"Get off my property," she said again, and he slunk away into the darkness, one hand clutching his jaw.

"Who was that?" George asked when Angelina came back into the dining room.

"Friend from Hogwarts," Angelina said. "Just wanted to see how I was doing."

"And what'd you say?"

"Did you tell him about my loose tooth, Mummy?" Roxanne asked.

Angelina smiled. "I told him I'm very happy with my lovely family."

Arthur put a weightless hand on his son's shoulder. "Hold onto her, George," he said. "You'll have a happy ending yet."

[Before I Fall Competition: Last Day Three - POV of Arthur Weasley]

[100 Prompts Challenge: "I've spent years waiting for you and now you want to leave me. I won't let you go without a fight!"; cheating]

[Disney Character Competition: Nani - write about Arthur Weasley. Prompt: Fist]

[Het-Pairings Boot Camp: ring]

[Twelve Days of Christmas Style Challenge: Five Eras - Next Gen (3/5)]