For the Five Drabbles Competition, with the prompts Arthur/Molly and kettle; for the Famous Witches and Wizards Challenge, with the prompt derelict.
The teakettle whistled, and Molly burst into tears.
"I'll get the tea, Molly, dear," Arthur called from another room, and Molly nodded gratefully, forgetting that he couldn't see her. The day had been long, and she felt ever so exhausted, she was so, so sad, and more than anything, she was angry.
Antonin Dolohov, Sereneus Parkinson, and Egeria Rosier: those were the three that had done it. She would remember their names as long as she would live, because they had done the unforgivable.
Because of them, her brothers lay motionless in twin graves.
Molly sat, sobbing, in the derelict little living room she'd grown so much to hate. It had at first seemed cozy, peaceful, halcyon, and yet by now she had spent her time taking care of her children, not attending to the room, and it was dirty and messy and she hated it and she hated what she had to go through and why did Merlin choose Molly to go through this pain? Why did Fabian and Gideon have to die for this war to be over?!
Arthur rushed in before she could call him, a cup of tea in one hand, the other clamping down over the cup. "Molly," he said softly, handing the teacup to her, and she took it, fingers shaking, as he sat down next to her on their faded red loveseat..
"Molly," Arthur said again, cupping her cheek with his still-warm hand. Her tears only fell faster. "Mollywobbles, I promise you, things will get better."
"But," Molly choked, "but Gid and Fay won't get to see it."
Arthur sighed, watching her chest rise and fall with every short, shallow breath. "No, they won't. But you know who will? Bill, Charlie, Percy, and Fred and George and Ron and our daughter. And we'll experience it for them. Okay? So when we get to Heaven, we'll walk over and see your brothers, and they'll say, 'I'm so proud of you.' Okay?"
"No," Molly admitted. "It's not okay, really. I'm so sorry – "
"I understand, Molly. But I promise: everything will be okay. It's not now, you're right. But there will be a day that we don't have to worry. Okay? Because I love you, Molly, and you love me, right, so we'll make it through this."
Molly tried to smile. "Okay."