Disclaimer: If I was as smart as JK to create such a magical world, I would've done. Everything belongs to her, I own nothing.
In Ottery St Catchpole, a misshapen house stood nestled among hills, hidden from view. If you were to stumble upon this dwelling during daylight, you would notice the constant buzz of activity, from children throwing gnomes over hedges, to arguments in the orchard over Quidditch, the house is alive. However, during the cover of night-time, when the only light around for miles is that from the kitchen, the house has a sense of peacefulness about it, with all the children in bed, asleep and only the garden gnomes moving about.
Molly and Arthur Weasley were both winding down in the kitchen after successfully managing to get their children off to bed. Arthur was sat at the table reading the Daily Prophet; his occasional mutterings could be heard in the otherwise silent room. Molly was stationed at the sink, her hands submerged in the water where she was washing up, but now stood stoically, staring out into the darkness, her brow furrowed. A sudden bang shook the Burrow, waking both Molly and Arthur from their dazes.
"The wards!" They both gasped simultaneously and without the need to say anymore, shot up the rickety stairs to their children. With each flash from outside the windows, another resounding explosion followed, echoing throughout the house, causing Molly and Arthur to become even more panicked and concerned with their children's safety. They separated at the first floor where Molly rushed into Ginny's room and Arthur carried on up the stairs to get the boys out safely.
Moly Weasley froze upon entering her daughter's room to find a cloaked figure already occupying the space next to her cot, holding a bundle within their arms.
"Ah, Mrs Weasley, what a pleasure," The distinctly male voice of the stranger smirked through the darkened room causing Molly to sneer distastefully at him, one eye trained on him and another on Ginny. "I am so glad you could be here to witness this. For tonight shall be the night where I eliminate any hope you people have of stopping me,"
"Step away from my daughter." She threatened as the stranger's menacing laugh cut through the air between them, fuelling Molly's rage.
"Do you have any idea who I am?" His voice grew with increasing anger and demand for power. The tension in the room intensified as the two participants became more aggravated, all the while Ginny was staring at the situation completely naive to the seriousness of what was happening. "I am Lord Voldemort!"
"And that is my daughter you are holding!" Mrs Weasley shouted back. "Do whatever you want with me, but if you dare hurt one of my children, I will personally hunt you down and give you the most painful death possible," she threatened, knowing full well that she would never let anyone harm her children for as long as she lived.
However, this only caused Lord Voldemort to chortle and raise his wand intimidatingly in response, "You'll be dead before you can take a single step, my dear."
"I am Lord Voldemort!" A voice echoed throughout the house, causing Arthur Weasley to shudder. He was tremendously worried for his wife and only daughter, but he knew he had to get his sons out first; he would not put another member of his family in jeopardy. Entering Percy's room and almost tripping over his many piles of books, Arthur awoke his son.
"Daddy?" Percy groggily asked.
"Come on, Percy, you need to wake up. I need you to be a responsible young man and go up to Mummy and Daddy's room and wait there for me and your brothers. Can you do that for me?" Arthur tried to get across the importance of the situation to Percy, hoping he was smart enough to understand the urgency in his father's voice.
"What's happening, Daddy?"
"We're being attacked, son, you need to go upstairs now." This seemed to pull Percy out of his sluggish state.
As Percy ran upstairs to wait in his parent's room, Arthur set about waking his other sons up, telling them the same thing he told Percy. Once all his sons were convened in his and Molly's room, he spoke to his second oldest son hoping he would be responsible enough to protect the rest of his brothers.
"Now, Charlie, I want you to take Ron and floo to Aunt Muriel's, you'll be safe there. Your brother's will be right behind you. Under no circumstances are you to return," Arthur hurriedly tried to explain to Charlie.
"What about you, Mum and Ginny?" Charlie asked, he could sense his father's worry which he reflected in his tear-filled eyes. "What about Bill?"
"Bill is perfectly safe at Hogwarts with Dumbledore, don't you worry about him." Arthur reassured him. "As for me, I've got to go and get Mum and Ginny and we'll meet you at Aunt Muriel's, I promise. Okay?" Charlie nodded whilst he took Ron out of his father's grasp and walked over to the fireplace taking a pinch of floo powder with him
Arthur Weasley watched sombrely as each of his sons were engulfed by the green flames until they were all gone and safe. After taking a breath to wish for his family to be reunited soon, Arthur destroyed the fireplace, ensuring no one could follow his sons, completely ignorant to the absent Death Eaters no longer attacking the Burrow.
A bedraggled, breathless Arthur ran into his daughter's room to only collapse at what he saw. His wife, his love, lying lifeless on the floor, a faint look of defiance upon her face. That beautiful face, never to smile again, never to fill up with love. The sudden silence of the Burrow screamed out at Arthur, as if it was no longer the Burrow, just an empty shell.
A piece of Arthur Weasley broke that night, a piece that could never be fixed, because it no longer belonged to this world.
Later that night, Albus Dumbledore found Arthur Weasley curled on the floor, holding Molly Weasley's motionless body, cradled in his arms. Dried tear tracks stained his cheeks, his eyes focused on Molly's face, oblivious to the environment around him. A whimper from a small bundle in the corner of the room caused Albus' attention to be diverted away from the frozen form of Arthur. Making his way over to the bundle, Albus couldn't distinguish exactly what it was in the diminished light from the early sunrise. Picking it up he realised it was a baby. Ginevra Weasley was wrapped in blankets, seemingly dreaming, ignorant to the impact she had just made to the Wizarding World.
A/N: Originally I was going to wait until I'd written at least half of the story before posting any of it, but as it's my first story, I wanted to post this first chapter so I could hopefully receive some feedback/constructive criticism. I think my main concern is whether I've portrayed Molly, Arthur and Voldemort correctly. So if you could give me any kind of feedback, I would be tremendously grateful. Thank you :)