"Mrs. Weasley?" a rather important looking man called to a group of women gathered in the garden of the Burrow. Five of the six turned around to meet the voice of the caller,
"I'm Mrs. Weasley," the five said at the same time.
The official, seeing he had more than one Mrs. Weasley, clarified, "Mrs. Charles Weasley."
A young woman with long dark hair and wide gray eyes responded this time, "I-I'm Mrs. Charlie Weasley. Is something wrong?" but Mrs. Weasley knew there was something wrong by looking at the wizard in front of her, but out of shock, panic and fear asked anyway.
"Mrs. Weasley, I'm afraid your husband is missing. He didn't make the meeting," the wizard gave her a grave look and with a 'crack', he was gone. Mrs. Charlie Weasley was caught in the arms of two of her sisters-in-law as she fell.
It was dark when she awoke. She knew that her family had to be as upset as she was about Charlie's disappearance, but she was in no mood to be consoled and coddled by Molly or forced to 'talk about it' with her sisters-in-law. She pulled herself up from the bed and walked around the bedroom she knew had once belonged to her husband. She remembered when he lived here.
Her emotions were getting the best of her, and she allowed herself a bit of a sob. She and Charlie had been through so much and now it was he, not her that was missing. Charlie should never have taken her place. He should have been in Romania with his dragons, where he was the happiest. She knew that this was a trap; they had meant to capture her. She was the one called to a special place in all of this. She was the one they wanted. Charlie had taken her place for this mission, though.
Voldemort was dead, Harry had taken care of that, but that didn't mean the war was over. Immediate danger aside, it was up to Mrs. Weasley and the other Aurors to bring in the rest of the dark wizards who were hiding from justice. Life had thrown a wrench in her plans, however, and immediately following Harry's victory, Mrs. Weasley had married her husband in a double ceremony with his younger brother, Ron and his wife, Hermione. At first, their marriage had been able to work around both of their jobs, but some weeks ago, Mrs. Weasley had awoken her husband very early in the morning with her groans and retching in the bathroom. Mrs. Weasley was going to be a mother and therefore, Charlie had insisted she not go on this particular mission. When he left, she was uneasy, and when the Ministry official had arrived, she knew something had happened.
Mrs. Weasley put a hand to her stomach and let her tears flow for the first time in years. She didn't have many weaknesses, but Charlie was sure one of them. Mrs. Weasley wiped her tears and looked at the picture next to her bed. Charlie had retrieved it from a box Mrs. Weasley had kept from all her children's Hogwarts days. He had left it in the bedroom for her to find after he had left with a note saying, "Remember. Love, Charlie." It was the very first picture they had ever taken together. Despite her grief, Mrs. Weasley managed a small smile. They were so very young then. As Mrs. Weasley looked at her 11-year-old likeness throw a snowball at Charlie, she let herself remember.