for the qlfc training camp, finals

position: seeker

team: the penzance pegai

prompt: write a fic about molly and arthur

thank you to my amazing teammates: the lovely kat (roseusvortex) and wonderful tiggs (whitetiger91) for the beta!

keep close, stand tall

word count: 2029

The first time he talked to her was in the library. He was nervous, clenching his hands to stop their shaking and ignoring the quiet chuckles from his friends behind him. She was sitting alone — quite a rare occurrence — her nose stuck in a book on Animagi and her right hand furiously scribbling out her homework. Her hands were splattered with ink and her vibrant hair was wild and messy, falling in her eyes as they flicked over the words.

His heart was beating so loudly that he almost couldn't hear his own words as he stuttered out a quick "Hello" to her.

She looked up and beamed at him. "Hello, Arthur! I'm so glad you came over." Clearing out the chair beside her own, she gestured for him to sit. "I'm having so much trouble with this part of the lesson — I was wondering if you might help me?"

Arthur was sure that his face was matching his crimson tie as he sat down. "Um, before that, Molly, I was wondering if you might…" Her brown eyes seemed hazel in the evening sun shining through the windows, staring at him curiously, as he stuttered and blushed through his words. "Um, w-would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me this week? L-like on a date?"

Her eyes lit up, and she pursed her lips — was that because she wanted to laugh?

"A date?" She fingered the yellowed pages of the textbook, not quite meeting his eyes.

Arthur felt his blush grow. She didn't want to accept. He knew that it might be too soon, but with his friends egging him on, telling him that it was the best chance to ask her out…

"A date," he confirmed, lowering his eyes so that he could avoid her pitying expression.

"Of course I'll go on a date with you." He looked up, just in time to see her beam. "On one condition, of course — if you could just help me with this Transfiguration homework… I know that you're brilliant at it, and I can't quite understand what the professor was trying to say here…"

Arthur suppressed his wide grin as he bent over her notes, both ignoring the snickers coming from the Gryffindor boys a few tables away and trying not to get lost in her lovely eyes as she listened to what he had to say.

Their hands swung between them as they made their way through the eerily quiet castle, their voices a bare whisper and their smiles stretching from ear to ear. Molly had finally convinced Arthur to accompany him on a walk through the castle during the night. She, like her brothers before her, knew exactly where the kitchens were, and since she was feeling a bit hungry after completing all her homework, Molly had snuck out of the common room — dragging him along despite his quiet protests.

Now, making their way back to the common room, Arthur swung an arm around her shoulders, smiling as she leaned into his touch. He watched as her crimson hair bounced with every step and her eyes filled with affection as she gazed up at him. Love swelled within him and he knew that he was in love with Molly Prewett, irrevocably so.

"I love you," he said, his words loud in the complete silence.

Her answering smile was brilliant as she replied, "Me too."

Perhaps Arthur should've been afraid, with the whispers of war brewing in the background and the uncertainty of his future that stretched out in front of him. Perhaps there were a million things to worry about, but right now, with Molly's warmth surrounding him and her kiss on his lips, he felt that he could face all of those things, only if she stood by him.

"Something tells me that this won't stay this way," Molly said, biting her lip as she scrutinised the little cottage in front of them.

Heaving a heavy box of what seemed to be kitchenware, Arthur laughed, dropping a kiss on his wife's forehead as he passed by.

"Are you thinking that you might burn down the kitchen with your impeccable household charms? Because that is a very real possibility, love — Ouch!" he exclaimed as Molly cuffed him over the ear halfheartedly.

"I'm learning, you know, and Mum said that I'm progressing very well, thank you very much." She sniffed haughtily, before smiling at him. "No, what I meant was, if we do have children, we might just need some more space, Arthur."

His smile morphed into a frown at that. For the first time since he joined the Ministry, he regretted joining an obscure office that was almost ignored — it meant that he earned quite a bit less than his peers and that Molly and he could never live the life that they used to dream about.

This issue came to the forefront when they searched for homes to live in after their marriage. The Burrow, which was the biggest cottage they could afford, was still quite cramped and just enough for them both. Molly was right — if their family grew, the Burrow couldn't accommodate them.

He was drawn out of his thoughts by a soft, warm hand on his cheek. Molly's eyes were bright with compassion and reassurance as she stroked his frown away. "Don't do that to yourself, Arthur. We are happy and we're with each other. I don't need anything more. I know that you must be thinking of the life you think I deserved, that we could never have. But guess what? I'm so happy with this — you and I and a small cottage in a quaint village, that I don't even give a thought to the could-have-beens." She smiled and slipped her strong arms around him. "We'll get through this, Arthur. Together."

The day they lost Gideon and Fabian was a bleak one, foreboding hanging in the air as rain spattered against the spotless windows of the Burrow. It was a week before Bill was due to board the Hogwarts express. Arthur sat on the floor with his eldest son, helping him pack his trunk with an indulgent smile as the boy debated the pros and cons of carrying different things with eager blue eyes.

The monotony of the rain against the glass, and Molly's voice whispering to Ginny — who was just a few weeks old — was broken by the tap-tap-tap of an owl knocking at the window. Arthur frowned. Who'd send a letter this late in the evening, and in the middle of a storm at that?

When he saw Dumbledore's elegant script inscribed on the paper, dread filled him. His hands shook as he opened the letter, scanning the words quickly.

Dear Molly and Arthur,

It is with the deepest regret that I inform you that Fabian and Gideon Prewett were killed in action during their mission. They fought bravely, against a cowardly and unfair attack by five Death Eaters who are now in the custody of the Aurors…

The letter fluttered to the ground as his grip slackened. Molly, throwing a concerned look towards her husband, picked it up, a strangled sob escaping her as she perused the contents of the letter.

Fabian and Gideon… Molly's dearest brothers, his brothers, who welcomed him into the family with open arms. Five Death Eaters…

Arthur had never felt so overwhelmed with fear as he had then. Catching Molly as she stumbled forward, her tears flowing freely down her face, he comforted her. The war had never really broken them so badly, but here it was, ripping through their family furiously, maliciously, destroying that little ray of hope they had left.

The next few days were a blur — explaining to their children that they'd never see their Uncles Gideon and Fabian again, supporting each other through their grief, and organising a quiet funeral to honour the twins one last time.

When the day of the funeral finally loomed on them like a monstrous black cloud, Molly and Arthur entered the chapel with intertwined hands, their three eldest sons following them with somber expressions. Compared to the previous days, the funeral seemed to be painfully slow, every excruciating moment filled with sorrow and Molly's quiet suppressed sobs as she looked down at her hands, listening to the soothing voice of the priest as he requested everyone to pray for the lost souls.

When they were finally home and Arthur had spent an hour comforting his children, he searched for Molly, worried for her — losing her brothers might've been the most terrible thing in the whole war.

He found her in the kitchen, crying into his robes as he encased her into a warm hug. "W-what is the point, Arthur?" He hummed, not quite sure about what she meant. "What is the point, if we might all die, after everything we've done. Why do we need to fight so hard? Every single time Gideon or Fabian or you disappeared, I thought the worst would happen, and now that it has… I can't understand this, this war, our fight, nothing."

He shushed her. "I promise you that I'll protect you and the kids, and that I'll keep myself safe. We're going to survive this, Molly, if I have anything to say about it."

"It's over, Molly," he told her when he returned home from a jubilant Order meeting. An exultant smile covered his face as he dropped a joyful kiss on her lips. "Dumbledore confirmed it — Harry killed him; Harry, a mere baby defeated Voldemort." He felt no fear in vehemently spitting the name out now — the war was over, the terror of Voldemort's reign had vanished.

Molly laughed, a beautiful sound, full of relief. "James and Lily?"

Arthur shook his head. "They died trying to protect Harry. Albus said that without Lily's protection, Harry wouldn't have been able to defeat him. I know," he added, seeing his wife's confused expression. "I didn't know what that meant, too, but I think that we had too much to think about to actually care." He offered a sad smile. "Harry is at his aunt's now — Albus said he had his reasons for that decision. Remus protested vehemently, but without Sirius, his words were futile. Apparently, Lily's sister was always jealous of her and Remus thinks that her hatred for Lily and her world will extend to her son. Harry won't have the best of lives until he's old enough to go to Hogwarts."

Molly looked horrified at the thought — Arthur could understand why. Even though they were not well-off in terms of money and position, the Weasley children had everything they needed, and were loved unconditionally by their parents. Arthur couldn't bear the thought that Harry, who was as old as Ron, would be shunned and hated.

"But where was Sirius? Surely, as Harry's godfather, he'd have a say in what happened to him?" Molly's indignation made Arthur think that she'd march right over to Hogwarts and tell Dumbledore off for his decision. For the first time in what seemed to be an aeon, Arthur's lips twitched into an amused smile at Molly's words.

"Sirius hasn't been seen since he left the Potters' destroyed cottage... Molly, he was the Potters' Secret Keeper… so you see, it might be possible that Sirius betrayed them…"

Arthur hated to think about it. He'd known all of them — the Potters, Sirius, Remus and Peter, and they had seemed so close-knit, especially Sirius and James. The thought that Sirius was a traitor was too terrible to consider.

"It's really over then," Molly breathed, forgetting the Potters' tragedy for a moment. "We're safe now. We're safe…"

"I'd promised you, remember? I told you that we'd be safe. Tell me, when have I broken a promise to you?" His cheeks crinkled with his grin and she pecked his lips.

"Come on, now, you must be famished. I'll whip something up for you. God knows that you need to be fattened up a little after that ordeal…"

Arthur didn't protest as Molly pulled him into the kitchen, talking a mile a minute, her fingers perfectly intertwined with his.

All would be well.