date: august 12th, 1979
location: the burrow
status: closed for @momweasley
She wasn’t one of the ones taken, thank God, thank Everything, but she had been used as what was basically a body shield, which wasn’t much better, and wasn’t good at all. But she was here, she was in the next room, she hadn’t been taken, and for that, Arthur had to be at least somewhat thankful.
It wasn’t as though he had very much to be thankful for, however. People actually had been taken, by an organization meant to instill fear on others, by people who had worn masks because they were too cowardly to show themselves. There’d been people taken from the Order, and then there were people who didn’t even have a place in the war, not that anyone did.
If Arthur could find just one of the people responsible, he wouldn’t be sure if he could stop himself from being just as bad as they, but he hadn’t found any of them. He’d been home, taking care of the children as Molly rested, taking care of Molly and making sure she didn’t get up, making sure she didn’t strain herself. There were a lot of “No, Molly”’s and “Please, Molly”’s, and “Trust me, Molly”’s. He just wanted to be there for her, took the majority of two weeks off of work to just be there for her. All he wanted was to know that she was safe, and that she was home.
Arthur wasn’t dumb enough to think that it was his fault. It was the fault of the person that attacked her, obviously. That didn’t stop him from replaying the events prior to her capture over again in his head. Maybe if he had stayed at work and not gone home for his break, not told Molly that he’d watch the kids while she went out, maybe she wouldn’t have been attacked. Maybe he could’ve been at the ministry during the attacks, been able to protect the people there. Maybe that would have been enough to protect the baby. Stopped Molly from… From what happened.
He and Molly had put the boys to bed a few hours ago, and Arthur had practically forced Molly to go and rest when he’d gotten the news. His stomach dropped as he scanned the letter. Hostages returned - good, torture - bad, scars - bad, someone dead - . He saw who it was and yet couldn’t look. He didn’t want to confirm. Anyone would be a tragedy, but somehow, somehow this was like some sort of light turning off completely. Something in Arthur just… shut off. And it was fitting, because without Dorcas Meadowes, the world was a darker place.
Arthur didn’t know what to do. Well, he did know what he had to do, but he still didn’t know how to do it. Molly, how was he going to tell Molly? He couldn’t wait until morning for this, but he didn’t want to wake her up and tell her… Arthur was unfortunately getting used to being the barer of bad news, could be the shoulder to cry on, but… how, how was he going to do this?
He walked into the bedroom, letter still in his hand, and took a seat on his bed. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, then finally looked to where his wife was lying in their bed. “ Molly, ” his voice was thick, despite the fact that he hadn’t cried. He hadn’t done anything, he’d just come to Molly. Maybe if he just focused on her he could get through this. “ We have news on the hostages. ”
molly had always loathed the feeling of imminent war that spread across the wizarding world. she hated what it meant, she hated the consequences it would eventually bring. she hated how war always took over and over again. it had taken so much already and it seemed as if it would only take more. truth be said, molly hadn’t cared that much about voldemort and his followers until the order got together -- and she had to watch her baby brothers and husband getting ready to fight. it only got worse after the attack at the ministry, the one that still kept baby percy up at night. and now? now molly had been on the other side of the wand -- the helpless victim who couldn’t take care of herself.
it all happened so fast. one moment she was kissing arthur and the boys goodbye to have a day to herself -- something that hadn’t quite gotten the chance to enjoy in so long and was desperately in need of. but then, the next moment, she was being used as a shield to protect daisy hookum from a masked person. molly had no regrets, she would always rather get hurt herself than watch someone else be in pain. but she felt so weak and useless. yet again she had failed to protect those she loved most. like she failed her brother-in-law, like she failed percy -- and now she had failed their baby.
emerald eyes fell shut at the mere thought of their child, fingers stroking her belly instinctively. molly could barely believe it -- their baby was gone. it had been a rough couple of days, to say the least. she had been trying to go back to normal and be there for arthur and their sons, but it was too hard. molly was grateful that her husband had taken time away from work to be at home because she truly didn’t know what she would do without him. the thought of taking care of the boys when her entire body hurt was too much.
she tried, of course. molly forced herself to smile and play with the boys so they wouldn’t know what was happening. she tried keeping appearances and pretending she was okay so they wouldn’t worry too much. the redhead got out of bed and baked them their favorite sweets so they wouldn’t feel her absence too much and so they would know she still cared about them. but the light in her eyes was gone -- anyone could see that. and the woman didn’t quite know how to move on from losing her child.
it also didn’t help that frank was still a hostage. aside from arthur and her brothers, frank longbottom had been a part of molly’s life -- he was her best friend. she could not quite imagine herself moving on without him. more than that, she didn’t know just how she would feel if she lost someone else. as the days went by, the woman grew more and more certain that she had lost him -- as well as amelia, remus, gilderoy and dorcas, even andromeda black. voldemort was slowly succeeding in his mission -- taking away the light of the world. he and his followers had taken it from molly’s heart, what would be next?
the woman didn’t move once she heard arthur walking into the room, empty gaze focusing on the wall as she kept on stroking her belly. it was almost automatic now, how she would keep on protecting it -- as if there was still something, someone to protect. his words, however, brought her eyes to his figure. “what happened?” molly asked, sitting up so she could face him properly. “is everyone okay? did they make it out? amelia, andromeda, remus, gilderoy, dorcas -- frank?” the woman added, her voice cracking at the mention of her dear friend.
