Special As Your Mum
"Mum?" Ron asked, voice quivering in obvious fright. Arthur jumped at the unexpected voice, pressing a hand to his heart as he looked up and saw his youngest son poised nervously in the doorway, obviously caught off guard at seeing his father instead of Molly, who was usually the one to stay up late (she'd come down with a cold, and Arthur was taking the moment to catch up on some much-needed relaxation). The Weasley patriarch sighed and slowly put down the book he'd been reading before pushing his glasses further up his nose. He needed some mental preparation for this—Ron was usually quite hard to console.
"Ronnie, what's wrong?" he asked, motioning for the little boy to sit on his lap, which Ron didn't hesitate to do. His lower lip was trembling, and his eyes were wide with tears he was trying so hard to keep in. Arthur smiled reassuringly and wiped at them, causing Ron to scrunch and his nose. "Did you have a bad dream?"
"Yeah-huh," he finally mumbled, still sniffling. Arthur's forehead creased in though; Ron had been having nightmares off and on for almost a month now, and it was beginning to really concern him and Molly. It was their job to protect their children, even from their own consciousnesses.
"Well, what happened?" Arthur asked. He always thought talking out your fears helped one to overcome them. It hadn't worked thus far with Ron's phobia of spiders, but perhaps nightmares were on a smaller scale.
The young boy took his time in replying, fiddling with his fingers and picking at the corner of Arthur's book. It struck the older man then just how much Ron was like him; he remembered quite well often his mum would snap at him for chewing at his fingernails or dawdling. It wasn't that he was slow or stalling… he just liked to think things through. Maybe Ron didn't have quite the same thought process, but it touched him to know that his boy had inherited just one thing from Arthur, especially since the boy seemed to have gained so much of Molly's passion (and temper).
"It was mum," he finally whispered, "And Ginny. They w-were trapped, and I couldn't get to 'em." He looked absolutely miserable at the prospect, and it was no wonder as to why. As Gryffindors, loyalty and the importance of family was instilled in the Weasley family from day one. Not being able to save a loved one was an all too common bad dream—in fact, one that Arthur still had.
"Ronald," he began quietly, "Do you know what makes us stronger than any other family in the world?" His son's nose scrunched up again, this time in confusion. He shook his head, biting his lip apologetically. Arthur smiled and gently tilted his son's face up, to make sure he was listening as the older man said, "We're stronger than any other family in the world, because we love each other so very much, and Molly and I have figured out that teaching you all to love each other is the best thing we can do. As long as you and your siblings stick together, nothing can stop you. Nothing can hurt you. And you know what? I'll bet that if anything ever were to happen to your sister, you'd be there to save her in a flash."
Ron smiled a little, wiggling anxiously on his father's lap. "You think so?" he asked uncertainly. Arthur took the opportunity to retrieve a hanky from his pocket and wipe the snot from his son's face, which earned him a scathing look.
"I know so," Arthur nodded.
"But how?"
"Because," Arthur smiled, "you are so much like your mother—and a little like me, dare I say—and your mum would move heaven and earth to save her family. I'd attempt to, of course, but your mum would actually do it, Ron. Your mum is something special, and so are you." Ron had to grin at that, his little dimples making Arthur's heart warm. He was suddenly struck by how proud he was of his boys—all of them—and how happy he was to have Molly as his wife. No matter what they went through, she would always be at his side.
"Mummy is pretty scary," he finally agreed, and Arthur had to laugh. Scary was a good descriptive word for his wife; scary beautiful, scary passionate, scary brilliant, scary good at cooking… Yes, Arthur was definitely lucky to have her.
"Thanks dad," Ron murmured, burrowing his face into his father's chest one last time before getting to his feet and stretching, scratching at his fiery red hair once and then turning for the stairs. He paused and threw another quick grin at Arthur before heading back up to bed.
"Goodnight, Ron," he called softly, aware that the young boy was probably halfway to his room already. Ron was definitely something of a mystery—so unlike Bill and Charlie, who were brash and hardworking, and Fred and George, who were humorous and cunning. When Molly was pregnant with him, they'd imagined he'd be like Percy—brilliant, if a little proud… Of course, he was something entirely new. Ginny was growing to be quite a bit like her mother, but Ron was temperamental and loyal to a fault; a perfect mix of Molly and Arthur.
Their children all had something unique inside them, but it was only Ron who seemed to impersonate both of his parents so well. For that, Arthur couldn't deny that he had a special sort of fondness for his youngest son. And maybe it was awful of him, but he couldn't help but believe there was a future especially great for Ron—something none of them would see coming.
A destiny that none of them could ever have imagined.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
This was written for the FanFiction School of Imagination and Creativity, Science Assessment Three over at the HPFC Forum. xD It's a cool place!
Please drop a review with your thoughts, as I had a terribly fun time writing this! ^_^