A/N: This is written for the My Boring Life Competition on the HPFC (prompt: Arthur and Molly decorate the nursery)


Molly had donned an old dress and had tied up her hair. She was ready to go.

Ever since they had found out she was pregnant again, they had been busy preparing the house for the arrival of the new baby. Her bump was barely showing yet, but they wanted everything to be ready before the start of summer because now she still had enough energy to undertake things.

Arthur had expanded the cottage by adding a room where William could sleep once the baby was born. It wasn't entirely fitting, not all corners were a perfect ninety degrees and there was a slight overlap of the current floor on the outside of the house, but Arthur had assured her everything was well in place and magically carpented and as safe as could be, and she would just have to trust him on that. Besides, she thought it gave the house a bit of charming uniqueness that she quite liked.

Today, it was time to redecorate the nursery. They had considered leaving it as it was, but Molly wanted something new for the new baby and eventually, Arthur had complied. The rolls of wallpaper – a soft yellow with little green dragons on it – were lying on one side of the room. They would do that at a later moment. Today, they were going to paint. They only had the two hours during which William was in his cot, but that should be enough to make a head start.

Arthur gave her a brush and grinned. "Ready?"

"Ready," she grinned as well.

She climbed the ladder, and put her bucket of paint on the upper step. She was going to start on the ceiling while Arthur dealt with the walls that wouldn't get wallpaper on them. It was heavy work, painting above her head, and it didn't take long before she had to wipe the sweat off her forehead. Her arms started to ache, and she knew she would have sour muscles for the next couple of days. But Molly didn't complain. It was all for a good cause, she told herself. She hummed along to the radio. Nothing could break her good mood.

They had worked for over an hour, when Arthur declared that it was time for a break.

"I'm nearly done with the ceiling, dear, I'll need about ten more minutes," she told him.

"But you could make tea already?" she suggested.

"I'll do that," he said. She stifled a laugh when she looked at him. He had a streak of green on his forehead and shirt. She imagined she didn't look any better.

Arthur disappeared downstairs and she dipped her brush in the white paint again. On the radio, a Celestina Warbeck song was played. She used her wand to turn up the volume a bit and sang along with the lyrics she knew practically by heart.

When Arthur entered a couple of minutes later, he froze on the spot. Then he let out a shaky laugh.

"What is it, dear?" Molly asked as she put the last hand on the ceiling. "There, that's done," she said contently and descended from the ladder. "Now what were you laughing about?" she inquired.

Arthur could only gesture. Molly turned her head, curious.

In the corner of the room William looked up at his parents. "Bill paint?" he asked.

The wall that Arthur had just finished painting had several white-greenish hands on it, and William was standing with his foot in the paint tray that Arthur had used. His pyjama was covered with green and white specks.

Molly couldn't help herself. She felt laughter bubble up inside her at her son's guilty face.

Arthur laughed as well. "Well, I guess the little tyke learned how to climb out of his cot…"

William looked uncertainly from his father to his mother. "Bill paint?" he repeated.

Molly scooped him up in her arms. "Come on, little man. We'll get you cleaned up. You can paint in the kitchen, on paper."

Arthur sighed. "I'll have to redo the entire wall again. I'll better get started straight away, maybe I can still salvage some of it."

Molly frowned. "You know what? I actually think we should leave it like this."

"Are you sure?" Molly was always the tidy and neat one of them two, so Arthur was surprised by her remark.

"Yes," she said. "Let's leave it like that. That way it'll really be something we created as a family."

Arthur looked at the handprints with other eyes and understood what she meant. There was something quite endearing about the little handprints on the wall. Almost like William was welcoming his brother – for Arthur was sure it was going to be another boy – in.

"We'll leave it like that," he agreed.

"But one of these days we'll have to think up a solution to keep William from climbing out of his cot," Molly said firmly. "We can't have you getting up to more of these shenanigans, now can we?" she said to their son.

"Nangans," William said fondly, liking the sound of this new word.

Arthur and Molly both laughed. "I'll get it fixed first thing in the morning," Arthur promised.

Molly went downstairs to the bathroom, shaking her head slightly. She had a feeling that this would only be the beginning, and that years of (unintentional) mischief making and rascality lay ahead of them.