Chapter Two: Arthur and Molly
The bundle was called Ginerva.
The youngest of the boys, Ron, was only two when Ginny arrived, and soon forgot about the dead baby. The older boys slowly forgot too. They loved their sister and swung her around and gave her back rides.
One day Great Aunt Muriel arrived, breathless, on the doorstep. She often said things like: "I don't know how you do it with seven children! I could barely manage one! You must be Godric Gryffindor," or "Does that Arthur ever help? He does very little as far as I can see..." Today she said: "I've got some terrible news!"
Molly, a short, plump woman, was wiping breakfast from Ginny's face, not listening.
"Hello, Aunt Muriel," she said. "Come and sit down. Cup of tea?"
"Yes, please. Molly, can you believe this?"
"What's that, then, Aunt Muriel?" asked Molly.
"The Minister of Magic is dead!"
"What?" gasped Molly. She lifted Ginny out of her chair and put her in her baby basket for a nap.
"Dead," repeated Aunt Muriel.
"I don't believe it!" said Molly. "She's just not well after her baby's birth. That's why she hasn't been seen."
Aunt Muriel took the cup of tea Molly had placed in front of her. "Ta. Mmm, lovely. Well, that's what they've been saying, isn't it?"
"Well, yes," Molly poured herself tea. "I suppose I don't understand why she suddenly chose to be guarded by dementors."
Aunt Muriel lowered her voice and looked around, as if expecting to find a dementor hovering up in the corner. "They sucked out her soul."
"What?" exclaimed Molly.
"Shhh. Well, see here..." Aunt Muriel pulled her chair closer to Molly. "There's a story going around… The dementors were hired by Death Eaters. They say it happened the day her baby was born. And they killed Albus Dumbledore, too. That's how come Minerva took over..."
"Albus's dead?" gasped Molly. "I can't believe it; we all thought he'd retired."
Aunt Muriel paused to draw breath and have a large gulp of tea.
"That poor little princess. God help the little one. I wonder where she is now… How's your little one?"
"Oh, just fine," said Molly, who would have talked at length about Ginny's tantrums or new tooth, but had to turn attention away; because Molly now knew who her baby must be.
When Molly waved goodbye to Aunt Muriel she slammed the door behind her and rushed to Ginny's basket to lift her. "I never dreamed you were the princess," murmured Molly as Ginny grabbed at her necklace.
Molly spent the rest of the afternoon gazing at princess Ginny, and cursing Arthur for enjoying a day's fishing with the boys so they could not talk.
On a small beach in the bend of the Black Lake's rapids, Arthur was showing twins Fred and George, the second youngest boys, how to tie jam jars to the ends of their poles to catch fish. George had caught three minnows, but Fred kept dropping his, so was crying.
Arthur had forced Charlie and Bill, the two eldest, to watch Ron, who kept getting in the way. Charlie daydreamed and dangled his foot in the warm, clear water, as Bill, the very eldest, used a stick to poke at a water beetle under a stone. Ron stood up to his ankles in the rapids with his shirt off, wailing.
Percy, nearly seven, had a proper fishing rod from his last birthday, so two small silver fish lay on a rock beside him. He was about to reel in another when Ron began chewing his line.
"Take him away, Dad! He's ruining it!" yelped Percy.
Arthur began wishing they had not brought Ron, and carried him far away to play with some turtles, before sitting beside Percy. Percy held a book in his fishing-pole-free hand.
"Headboy today, headmaster tomorrow," he said. "This summer, I'm working on reading all your old magic books, dad." This one was titled 'Fish-Wish'.
"Fine with me. As long as none of you consider becoming shape-shifters," said Arthur. "My father-"
"Yeah, yeah. He's lost in the Forbidden Forest as a tree and you don't know which one; so you always go on long walks to look for him. Shape shifting is really dangerous and confusing, I already know. But I'm not going into Herbology like mom, that sounds boring. And, no offence, if I became an Apprentice like you, I'll barely be able to pay the bills."
The sky darkened and temperature cooled as Arthur and the boys climbed the beach steps, back toward the Burrow. Soon it was cold as winter. A Dementor, cloaked in black from head to toe, hovered over them. Ron started crying.
"Behave," scolded Arthur. "Especially now. It could suck out your soul."
Arthur stared at the dementor and walked slowly, not wanting to cause trouble with the six boys around him.
"Wizards are allowed to go to the beach, right dad?" asked George.
"I don't know," Arthur replied. "Something strange is going on for a dementor to be trailing us like this." He hurried them up the steps all the way back to the Burrow. Percy dropped his fish and started sobbing. "Shut up," Arthur snapped. "I mean, it's all right."
That evening, when the children were asleep, Arthur and Molly talked about their princess and their boys, and the changes that had overtaken Hogwarts. "We could live off the grid at Shell Cottage, or in the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid..." By the time dawn broke, they'd decided to "Muddle through and hope for the best."
And so, for the next nine and a half years, the Weasleys kept quiet. They locked and barred their door, spoke only to trusted neighbours or relatives and, when Hogwarts closed, taught the children magic at home. And that is why, ten years later, all the Weasleys except one were versed in magic.