A/N: This is for Sam (MissingMommy) for the Gift-Giving Extravaganza 2013. I just sat down to write a Molly/Arthur fic and it kind of went in a completely different direction to where I intended... but I hope you enjoy it anyway, Sam! Also, I have two spaces left for the Gift-Giving Extravaganza, so if anyone else feels like requesting a fic, go ahead! PM me or head over to the GGE forum. :)

Thank you to Vicky (blurs of red and blonde) for the title suggestion.

The preparations for Bill and Fleur's wedding were in full flow, and Molly Weasley was stressed. There was so much to do and organise – sending out letters notifying the guests of the change of venue, changing the guest list and seating plan if necessary, booking the minister, finding somebody with a tent big enough to host the event in… and that was only scratching the surface.

But the strange thing was, Molly didn't know what she'd do once it was over. She needed the stress – it was a distraction from all the much more serious things she had to worry about. A wedding was a happy event. It stopped her from brooding on Mad-Eye's death and agonising over who would be the next to lose an ear – or worse.

"Molly," Arthur called from the other side of the room, where he was reading a report from the Ministry. "You've been scrubbing the same dish for the last fifteen minutes."

Molly jumped out of her daydream. "Don't be so silly," she said abruptly, putting the dish down and picking up the next one, even though she knew that he was right. Her brain had started whirring and her hands had just carried on absently. She didn't understand how Arthur could be so calm through all of this. Although the fact that he seemed to be more focussed on what Molly was doing than reading his report seemed to suggest that his mind was wandering, too.

A movement behind Molly caught her attention. "Ron!" she called; he'd just come down the stairs and gone into the living room, trying to escape his mother's notice, but, as always, she'd seen him out of the corner of her eye.

Ron, looking slightly disgruntled, came back into the kitchen with Hermione in tow. "What is it?"

"I was just hoping that you'd give me a hand with hanging out this washing."

He made a face, but Hermione answered on his behalf. "Of course we will, Mrs Weasley," she said, taking the overflowing washing basket from by Molly's feet and giving Ron a reproachful look.

"Thank you, dear," Molly said, relieved to have her help. She briefly wondered what Hermione was doing there already; she'd thought that Hermione would be coming in a few days, at the same time as Harry. "I'll need all the help I can get if we're to get everything ready in time for the wedding. I don't know when we'll fit in a trip to Diagon Alley to get your school stuff."

Hermione was suddenly very involved in straightening the set of robes she'd just extracted from the washing basket, and Ron seemed to be finding the area around his left shoe very interesting.

After years of living with her children, Molly knew that these were signs that they were hiding something. "What are you not telling me?" she asked without premise.

"I don't know what you mean," said Ron immediately, his ears turning red.

"Hermione?" Molly rounded on her, knowing that the girl couldn't lie to save her life.

Hermione shot a guilty look at Ron, before saying, "I think this is something Ron needs to tell you himself, Mrs Weasley," and leaving Ron alone with his parents.

That sounded serious. Bizarre scenarios started flying around in Molly's head, each as unlikely as the last.

All it took was a glare to make Ron start speaking. "Well… you see, the thing is… we – that's Harry, Hermione and me – we aren't going back to Hogwarts this year."

Molly wasn't sure if she'd heard right. What reason on Earth would Ron have to drop out of school? "Yes you are. What do you mean you're not going back to school?"

"Well I don't know if you know, but before Dumbledore died, he left Harry a task to do. I can't tell you what it is, but it's really important. And Hermione and me have decided to go with him."

Her brain refused to register the information. They were just children. How could Dumbledore really have given them a task so vital that even Hermione was willing to neglect her education for it? They must have misunderstood. Surely. "What kind of a task?" she asked him, trying to keep her tone as gentle as possible. "Tell me; I'm your mother. I have a right to know!"

Ron shook his head regretfully. "If Harry knew I'd told anyone, he'd be furious. I can't. But it's big, Mum. Bigger than anything I'll be learning in that place."

"You can't just leave, Ronald," Molly pleaded. "Think about your future."

"I am thinking about my future!" Ron retorted, anger starting to show in his voice now. "This is about the future of the whole Wizarding world!"

"You must have got it wrong," Molly insisted, starting to tremble. "Dumbledore would have known that you need qualifications."

"Fred and George are doing alright without them!"

"Fred and George are… different."

"Different? What's that supposed to mean? Now you're saying I'm not as good as them?" Ron shouted, enraged. "Thanks a lot, Mum. I was hoping for your support, but it sounds like I'm not going to get that, am I?"

"No! Ron! Wait!" Molly cried desperately as Ron stormed off into the living room. "That wasn't what I meant at all!" It was true – what she had really meant was that Ron had surprised everyone by getting as many OWLs as Fred and George put together. He could really make something of himself if he tried.

Tears began to sting at Molly's eyes. Each one of her sons was leaving her in a different way. Perhaps Ron would be leaving her anyway if he was going to Hogwarts, but he did that every year. She would at least know where he was. But this way, Molly wouldn't be able to go for a moment without worrying about him.

"You can't stop him, you know," Arthur said from the other side of the room, stacking his sheets of paper into a pile.

"Yes I can," Molly argued, wiping her tears away fiercely with her sleeve. "I'm his mother."

"He's of age!"

"Barely! And he needs qualifications!"

Arthur sighed, clearly trying to put everything he was thinking into words. "Molly," he began gently. "There's a war going on. I don't know what this task they're talking about is, but they seem to think it's important, and I don't know what else we can do except trust them."

"But—"

"Look. Maybe they know what they're doing. Maybe this task will mean that all of this is over sooner."

She wasn't going to give up that easily. "Won't it look suspicious? If Harry, Ron and Hermione all disappear from school? That'll put the rest of the family in danger, too."

Arthur shook his head. "We've thought of that."

There was a deathly silence as Arthur realised what he'd said. "What? What do you mean, we? You were in on this?!" Molly demanded, furious once again. "How could you encourage him?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Arthur said hurriedly. "I did keep telling him to tell you. And I made it clear that you would disapprove."

"Good, because I do! I—"

"But Molly," Arthur interrupted, looking unreasonably excited. "Don't you want to know the plan? We're going to pretend that Ron is in bed with spattergroit."

"Wait - what?" Molly asked, momentarily distracted. That plan sounded to her like it would have a number of flaws to it.

"If the Death Eaters come checking, we'll find something to disguise as him - Fred and George are sure to have some ideas - and it's highly infectious, so they won't want to come too close. That way, everyone can carry on at work without minimal suspicion."

Molly didn't think she'd ever heard anything so ridiculous in her life. "I - fine," she said, deciding that she wouldn't bother fighting about it, especially since it wasn't even decided that they were going yet.

"Fine?" Arthur repeated, bemused. "Fine what? You mean you'll let them go?"

"No. I don't know," Molly said despairingly. She didn't want them to go, that much was certain - but neither was she at all sure that she could stop them.

Arthur put his arm around Molly unexpectedly, and she'd forgotten how comforting that felt. "They'll be fine," he said softly.

"I'll worry about them every minute of every day," she whispered as he pulled her into a proper hug, the tears from earlier returning and dripping slowly down her cheek. "It must be dangerous, this task. I don't want him going off Merlin knows where. I want him safe at Hogwarts with Ginny."

Arthur shook his head. "Who knows what Hogwarts will be like without Dumbledore there. It might not be all that safe after all."

"I suppose so," said Molly hesitantly. She wasn't sure if that made her less worried about Ron or more worried about Ginny.

"Who says he can't go back to school for a year when the war's finished? When this is all over?" Arthur argued. "Sometimes, thinking about what's yet to come isn't as important as thinking about what's happening right now."

As always, Molly marvelled at the wise words coming from her husband's mouth. She could feel a small part of her beginning to accept that maybe he was right. "I'll still try and stop them," she insisted, however. "They have to know what's at stake here."

Arthur smiled despite everything. "They know what's at stake, Molly. Hermione's been making preparations for weeks. I'm sure we don't even know the half of the sacrifices they have to make."

"Even so," said Molly firmly. "I'm a mother. It's my job."

"And you do it brilliantly," Arthur assured her. "Just… don't be too hard on them, hey?"

Molly sighed. "Maybe they don't need me anymore. They're all leaving us, Arthur. Bill's getting married, Charlie will be going back to Romania soon, Percy..." She let out a sob at this point; she didn't know what to say about Percy. "Fred and George have the flat... and Ron and Ginny will be leaving soon too."

"That doesn't mean they don't need you! Now they're older, they just need you in different ways. Hey, Bill's getting married – we might even be grandparents before too long," Arthur pointed out, looking slightly nervous at the concept. "Either way, I know that I need you. I don't know where I'd be without you."

"Me too," Molly said, smiling weakly. "What would I do without someone to fuss over?" There was a pause. "We'll get through this, won't we?"

They both knew there was no way either of them could ever guarantee that. But they couldn't say it out loud. "Of course we will, Mollywobbles. We always do," Arthur said finally.

Molly knew that Arthur could see the future no better than she could, but for some reason his words were all the comfort she needed.