A/N: It's been a while since I posted the first chapter, but here's another moment out of Arthur and Molly's life.

This chapter was also written for Budapest All Over Again's Creatures of Hogwarts Competition, category "Dragon" (write about a redhead), for Being A Wallflower's Diagon Alley Challenge, category "Second Hand Shop" (write about the Weasleys) and for The Original Horcrux' Family Boot Camp with the prompt "apology".

For what seemed like the umpteenth time – and it probably was – Molly rearranged some minor thing or the other on the table. So far, she had fretted over the glasses, the knifes, forks and spoons, the napkins, the candles… And she kept aligning everything to what seemed the perfect angle – but appeared completely wrong five minutes later.

She wanted everything to be perfect.

She felt two arms envelop her and Arthur nuzzled in her hair. "They won't kill you over not perfectly placed cutlery, you know."

"Is the cutlery off?" a look of panic spread over her face and Arthur sighed. "Come here you." He pulled her tighter to him. "Look at me." He spun her around. "Sure, it'll probably not be the pleasantest of Christmas evenings we'll ever spend, but we'll survive. They aren't going to eat us."

Molly thought back on the Howler her parents had sent her two weeks prior, when they had found out the two of them had eloped and gotten married, and wasn't too sure about that.

"And if they will, well, at least the cutlery is meticulously placed."

A shaky laugh left her lips at his attempt to cheer her up. She wished she could just cancel the entire evening. But it was too late now, any moment now, their parents could turn up on their front door step.

There was a sound of knuckles on wood and Molly froze. No turning back now. She took a deep breath, wiped her sweaty hands on her simple yet elegant dress and opened the door. Not one, but two sets of parents stood in front of her and she inwardly groaned. Why did they have to arrive at the exact same time? It was almost like they had planned it – and who knew, perhaps they had.

"Um, hi," she said, not really knowing what posture to give herself.

"Aren't you going to let us in?" her mother asked.

"Yeah, yeah, of course," Molly said and stepped aside. "Come in."

Her mother stepped over the threshold first. Her father gallantly let Arthur's mother go after her before coming in himself too. Arthur's father entered last.

They had no vestibule yet and Arthur hasted himself to take their coats and placed them out of sight. Both mothers looked around the living room critically.

"It's rather small, isn't it?" Mrs Prewett said.

"It already didn't look like much on the outside but I thought perhaps it had been magically enlarged on the inside or something. Alas, I was wrong," Mrs Weasley added. Molly's courage melted away. Why had she ever agreed to this? Because you have to get through this some time anyway, a little voice inside her head answered. Better be now. She sighed. She might as well take the pill and swallow it.

"Yes, this is our living room," she said defiantly. "We've decorated it ourselves."

"The table is set," Arthur came to her aid. Molly smiled at him.

"What's for dinner?" Arthur's father boomed.

"Casserole," Molly replied. For casserole really was the only thing she knew how to cook properly and she didn't want to take any risks on a day like today. As Arthur poured everyone drinks, Molly served the casserole.

"Say, you appear to have gained some weight. You're not pregnant, are you?" her father asked suspiciously after a couple of glasses of wine. "Is that the reason you kids got married so sudden?"

"I'm not pregnant," Molly replied through gritted teeth.

"Good. Because if you were, then you'd be in trouble mate, for getting her into trouble." The last words were directed at Arthur.

"Excuse me?" Arthur said and blinked.

"Now wait a minute," Mr Weasley said. "If she got pregnant, it's as much Molly's fault as it is Arthur's."

"Is that so?" Mr Prewett rose from his seat, his glass of wine clutched tightly in his hand. "So your saying my daughter is a whore?"

Mr Weasley rose as well, an angry expression on his face. "You're implying my son is a charlatan?"

The fathers got into a heated verbal fight. Arthur tried to come between them, but they told him to 'keep out of it'. He looked at Molly, perplexed, whilst Molly felt the tears sting into her eyes.

"It's ridiculous that the two of you got married so quickly," Mrs Weasley said and Mrs Prewett nodded in accordance. It was at this point that Molly snapped.

"SHUT UP, ALL OF YOU!" she yelled.

The room fell silent and everyone, including Arthur, stared at her.

"You," she said accusingly to her parents, "you got married when you had only known each other for half a year. And you," she turned and looked pointedly at her mother-in-law. "You abandoned your family and eloped to get married. So don't you dare judge us or criticise us for wanting to get married after four years of dating. Don't you dare make comments about my figure, or about our house. Because thisis our house and whether you like it or not doesn't matter, because it's our house and we have to live in it and we like it. And if you've only come here to insult us, you are kindly requested to leave the property!" She was panting after rattling that entire speech and looked at them defiantly.

"Molly…" her father said.

"Don't 'Molly' me," she said angrily. "We've been listening to this the entire evening and I've had enough." She turned to face both sets of parents again. "Well, what's it gonna be, stay and stop criticising us, or leave?"

The couples exchanged glances with each other and with their spouses. They looked at Arthur.

"Don't look at me," Arthur said grimly. "Molly is right. If you can't behave yourselves, we'll kick you out, parents or no parents."

Mr Weasley was the first one to break the silence.
"Well, I guess you do have a point," he said a bit embarrassed. "I guess the two of us," he gestured at himself and his wife, "have no right to judge you guys as far as eloping concerns. I'm sorry Molly, Arthur."

"And I owe you an apology for insulting you," Mr Prewett said, equally embarrassed.

"I think what bothers us the most…." Mrs Prewett began.

"…Is that you felt it necessary to elope," Mrs Weasley finished.

"You could have just announced to us you'd be getting married," Mrs Prewett continued.

"And you of course would have given us all your blessings and best wishes for the future," Molly smirked.

"Well, then at least you could have taken some proper amount of time to plan everything and then get married in a year or two."

"But we didn't want to get married in two years," Arthur retorted. "There's a war coming and who knows what the outcome'll be? We wanted to get married and enjoy our life together. Who knows what'll happen if Voldemort keeps gaining every battle fought against him? But if something bad were to occur to either one of us, we would at least have this, this time spend together. We love each other and we just wanted to get married more than anything."

He grabbed Molly's hand and smiled at her warmly. She smiled back and for a moment, it seemed like they were the only two persons in the room.

"But how do you know it'll last?"

"How did you know your marriage was going to last?" Arthur replied. "Sometimes you just know."

"We've been dating for over four years," Molly added. "You know Arthur and you know me. And like Arthur said, sometimes you just know. We didn't have to wait two more years to figure it out. We may have handled it the wrong way, but we're happy, and all we want is for you to be happy for us as well."

"Well, at least let us organise a party for you?" Mrs Weasley said.

"And help you find a bigger house," Mr Prewett added.

"The house is fine," Molly snapped.

"Perhaps it's not that big right now, but it'll grow bigger over the years," Arthur said.

"It has a wonderful garden and it is perfect to raise a family," Molly continued, "someday, not now," she added hastily when she saw the look on her parents' faces.

"As for a party, I guess we can live with that?" Arthur turned to Molly, who nodded.

"Yes, a party should be okay."

When the four parents left an hour later, the atmosphere had certainly changed for the better. Arthur and Molly stood in the doorway of their house, Arthur's arms wrapped around Molly's waist. Together, they watched their parents Disapparate. Snow began to fall in thick flakes and in the village, the church bells started ringing, indicating that Christmas had now truly began.

"See, we survived," Arthur said and planted a kiss on Molly's forehead. "Merry Christmas, love."

"Merry Christmas," Molly echoed and rested her head against Arthur's shoulder. She thought about all the Christmases they would be spending here, together, and her heart leapt in joy at the idea. No matter what the outcome of the upcoming war would be, she and Arthur would always have each other.