Chapter Four – London, Year One
"Molly, we need another copy as soon as you can," Sergeant Mora told her.
Molly nodded and waved her wand, and a minute later a copy of the Enforcer report appeared.
"Here you are, sir," Molly said cheerfully. After two months of constant searching, Molly had found the perfect job for herself. She was working as an office assistant for the Magical Law Enforcement department in the Ministry. She didn't particularly like the work, but she loved being in the middle of a busy office like this.
She was very content with life. She had a job she loved, lived in a town she loved and almost every night, was with the man she loved. Arthur, true to his word, did in fact find a job in muggle relations. Right now it was a temporary position, but could turn into a full-time job.
Molly allowed herself a brief glance out of the window. Above ground, there was snow on the ground, however, looking out the window, one would think that the building was in Cancun.
"Green smoke above the building? That's the second report I've heard this year," Sergeant Mora was talking to the Chief, "Must be some nutter."
Being curious, Molly tried to overhear the conversation. Another attack? Molly thought. Two months ago, a month after Molly had started working, a wizard had been found dead. Someone had used the unforgivable curse, Avada Kedarva, on him. That was bad enough, but there was a puff of green smoke that almost looked the shape of a skull floating above the wizard's house. Now it looked like the murderer had found another victim. The green smoke must be his calling card.
Hours later, Molly apparated to the small bed-sitter she lived in. She quickly lit a fire, in case Arthur wanted to call. She looked around the room with pleasure. It was quite small, but perfect for her. And so festive! She had it all decorated of Christmas, which was in a week.
Settling on her bed, Molly picked up the latest copy of Witch's Weekly. "Molly!" she heard Arthur cry from the fire. She looked at her fiancé, and smiled at his head, which was in the fire. "Can I come over?" he asked.
"Why do you even bother asking?" she teased, "It's not like I'm going to tell you no!"
He gave her a grin, and his head disappeared. Moments later, he was in the room. Molly got off of the bed and gave him a kiss. She looked at his face, "What's the matter?" she asked worriedly.
He sat down on her bed, "I've been sacked," he said.
"What?"
"Don't make me say it again, Molly. I've been let go. They decided that the job wasn't going to ever need to be full time. A week before Christmas, too."
Molly sat down next to him and took his hand. "We'll get through this, Arthur," she told him.
He buried his head in her shoulder, "I'm going to be just like my old man, a failure," he said softly.
"I won't have you talking about your father that way, Arthur. He's a good man, just unlucky. He is not a failure. Just like you're not a failure."
Arthur looked at her, "I know, I'm just upset."
"Of course you are; the timing couldn't be worse," Molly said, putting her arm around him. "Think of this way, the Ministry is shut down for the holidays next week. That gives us lots of time to be together."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Even with Arthur's unemployement, Christmas was still wonderful. Her entire family was together Christmas Eve dinner. Her mother magically expanded the dining room so that fifteen place settings could fit easily, along with the children's table. Molly loved spending the time with her nieces and nephews, now eight with two on the way.
Malcolm was teased endlessly that evening, being the last sibling not to have a significant other. Molly was thrilled that it wasn't her being the one teased for once. Even Arthur joined in the fun, and said that at nineteen, Malcolm was turning into an old maid.
"Well, now I can never get married, just to spite you all!" Malcolm said good naturedly.
"Ollie!" cried Betsy, her oldest niece.
Molly laughed, and went to pick up the girl. "Look at those curls! Maddox, are you sure she's one of ours? I could never get my hair to curl like that."
Marlene laughed, "She's becoming more like her father everyday, Molly."
Molly held her niece to her, "I have a test for you," she told her, "Can you name all of your cousins?"
Betsy shook her head, unwilling to even try. Molly walked around pointing them out to her. "Here's Marvin, Jr. and Gail, then Charles and Richard, Faith and Charity and of course your brother Edward. And we just don't know the names of the new babies-to-be yet."
A couple of her brothers started hollering, "Molly's under the mistletoe!" Molly looked up, embarrassed; she indeed had unknowingly walked underneath some.
Arthur cleared his throat, "That's my cue, I guess." Slowly he walked over to her and gave her a slow, lingering kiss that was only interrupted by Betsy making kissy noises. Molly had almost forgotten that her family was in the room.
A week later, Molly and Arthur went to a dance for New Year's Eve. Together, they watched the clock and toasted 1969. "May this be the best year ever!" they told each other.
No one knew then that 1969 would be a year that changed Britain forever.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Months later, the office was in a panic. Molly was speaking to someone through the fire. "Green smoke above your house?" she asked. "Oh, I'm sorry. Don't go in alone, please don't. I'm going to send someone out to be with you right away."
Molly was now a dispatcher for the Magical Law Enforcement team. She sighed, too many people these days spoke of the same thing. No one was safe any more.
Sergeant Mora sat on her desk. "Did you hear, Molly? We have a name for who's behind this."
Molly sat upright. "That's great! Now we know who to look for."
He shook his head, "He's calling himself Lord Voldemort. Apparently, he's been gathering some followers who are calling themselves Death Eaters. Death Eaters. What kind of a name is that?"
"Voldemort," Molly repeated. "So he's the one behind all this, eh? Wonder what he wants?"
"Probably just to cause mayhem," Mora said, "In any case, he's been officially classified as a dark wizard. The Aurors are going to be hunting him now."
"That's good," Molly said brightly, "He'll be caught in a week!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lord Voldemort was not caught in a week. Two months later, Molly and her mother were out to lunch, starting to plan some details for her wedding. They had decided to wed in May of 1970, which was only nine months away.
Molly's mother wanted a lavish wedding, with no expense spared. Molly and Arthur wanted nothing of that; just a simple ceremony with family and friends. Molly was finding it harder and harder to stand up to her mother.
Today, her mother was worried, and not about the wedding. "Mum, you'd tell me if anything was wrong, wouldn't you?"
Her mother sighed. "I'm worried about you father, Margaret. He was contacted by one of the Death Eater people. And he hasn't gone to the Aurors yet,"
Molly was shocked. "He wouldn't join them, would he?"
Her mother glared at her, "Of course he wouldn't. How could you think that?"
"I didn't think that, Mum," Molly said quickly, "I know Dad would never become a dark wizard. I just see so much of this at work. This month alone, three people have been killed. There's even talk that the Death Eaters are going after muggles."
Mrs. MacKenzie straightened up, a clear sign to Molly that the confidences were over. "Now dear, about you wedding dress..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Molly, someone's in the fire for you," an office assistant told her a month later.
"Take a message, please, I'm swamped," Molly pleaded.
"Molly, you better take this, it's your mum."
Molly looked up, startled. Her mother had never contacted her at work before. Something must be wrong. She ran over to the fire.
"Mum?" Molly asked worriedly.
"Margaret, I'm in a neighbor's house. There's a serpent above our house!" her mother said frantically.
Molly felt her insides turn cold. "Green smoke?" she whispered.
The head in the fire nodded. "Margaret, I can't go in there!"
"Stay where you are, Mum. I'll be right there!" and with that Molly stood up and apparated to the house she grew up in.
Her mother was running from her neighbor's house and hugged her. Molly looked up. It was the first time she had ever seen the Dark Mark in person. Anger was beginning to boil over in Molly.
Slowly, she unwrapped herself from her mother's grip. Taking her hand, she said, "Let's go inside."
Together they walked inside the house. The living room was wrecked. The couch was overturned, and pictures broken. Molly tried to take her mother's hand, but Mrs. MacKenzie brushed her away. Walking into the kitchen, Molly gasped. There was her father, lying on the floor. Someone must have done the killing curse; he looked like he was sleeping.
Mrs. MacKenzie sat down hard on a chair, and brought her hand to her mouth. "What am I going to do?" she moaned.
Molly quickly ran to the nearest fireplace and lit it. She spoke to her co-workers, who arranged a patrol to get to the house as soon as possible. Then she started the hard task of telling all of her brothers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An hour later, Molly was in her parent's living room with her six brothers and her mother. The Law Enforcement squad had already been by; they cleaned the place up a bit, and took her father's body. There weren't many arrangements to be made.
"I don't believe this," Maddox said.
"It seems unreal," Matthew added.
"How could someone do this?" Magnus asked.
"This isn't the first time," Molly said. "This is happening to families all over the country. No one is safe. I see it at work."
Maddox sat down next to Molly and held her hand. Touched by this, Molly let herself finally cry since seeing her father's body on the floor.
"Why Daddy?" she sobbed into Maddox' shoulder. Maddox sat there, stroking her hair.
Ten minutes later, the group decided to go back to their own families. Molly would stay with her mother for the night. After the funeral, her mother would stay with one of her brothers for a while.
An hour later, her mother was asleep, with a glass of dreamless sleep. Molly realized she hadn't told Arthur the news. Quickly, she apparated to his apartment. He wasn't there. She tried her apartment, he also wasn't there. She even flooed to his parents house to check, he wasn't there. Molly was starting to get hysterical. She had to see Arthur.
Molly wanted to stay in her parent's house, in case her mother needed her. However, every ten minutes, she apparated to her bed-sitter, seeing if Arthur was around. Two hours later, she saw his head in the fire. "Molly! I have good news. I'm coming over." Thirty seconds later, he was in there.
"Molly, I got the job! In the Ministry of Magic, the one I was telling you about," he stopped when he saw her face, "Molly what's wrong?"
"Arthur Weasley! Do you have any idea how worried I've been? Where have you been?" she yelled.
"I was in the Leaky Cauldron with Michael, having a drink," he said, eyes wide open.
"Don't you have any consideration for me? I had no idea where you were!" Molly knew it wasn't fair to take out her anger on Arthur.
Arthur looked afraid, "Molly, what's wrong?" he repeated.
"My father's dead," and with that, the tears started all over again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The funeral was beautiful, everyone agreed, except for Molly. The heat of the August sun seemed to mock Molly's pain. The sound of children laughing made Molly even more upset. She could barely look at her ten nieces and nephews, with two more on the way.
Molly held the urn that held her father's ashes. The group was slowly making its way to a small forest. There was a pond there, where Molly's father had asked her mother to marry him. That was where he wanted his ashes scattered. Molly had no idea her father was such a romantic.
Molly saw Marvin Jr., looking so sad that her heart started melting. "Where's grampy?" he asked over and over. No one could help him understand. She picked him up, his little legs, getting tired from walking. "Grampy's in the afterlife, sweetie. You'll see him again someday."
"Ghosty?"
"No Marvin, he's not a ghosty, he's moved on."
She watched her mother take the urn and slowly spread some of the ashes over the lake. Molly played with the sapphire engagement ring Arthur had given for Christmas. A completely selfish thought entered her head, who would give her away at her wedding? Tears silently fell down her cheeks. Within a moment, Arthur was there, slowly wiping them off her face. She grabbed his hand with her free one and quickly kissed it.
It was now Molly's turn to spread the ashes. She gently put Marvin Jr. down and took the remaining ashes. "Good-bye Daddy," she whispered, as the ashes sank slowly into the water.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After her father's murder, Molly became a bit paranoid. She would become hysterical if Arthur was five minutes later than he said he would be. Molly was incredibly grateful that Arthur was so understanding. He never was cross with her if she asked him endless questions about where he was and if he was safe.
One day, a month after the funeral, Molly and Arthur were talking about practical matters. It was decided that Molly would work until their first child was born. Hearing Arthur talk about having a small family, Molly knew it was time to tell him.
"Two children will be perfect, Molly," Arthur said, beaming.
"We're going to have more than two children, Arthur," Molly said in a low voice.
"Do you want more than two?" Arthur asked, "Three?"
"We're going to have seven," she said, not looking at him.
"Seven!" Arthur exclaimed, "Are you mad? Seven children?"
"Seven."
"Molly, I don't...I mean to say...I don't know if I want that many children," Arthur stuttered.
Molly looked at him miserably. "If you marry me, you won't have any choice!"
"What do you mean, if I marry you? Molly what are you saying?"
She took a deep breath. "Arthur, there is a curse in the women in my family. The women all have the same amount of children. Six boys, followed by one girl. Arthur, it's been like that for seven hundred years!"
"Seven children?"
Molly nodded. "I know this is a lot to deal with Arthur. No one knows how to break the curse. I'm so sorry!"
Arthur was silent. "Please say something," Molly begged.
"How will we be able to afford seven children?" he asked.
"We'll manage. Maybe the stupid curse won't come true. Arthur, I don't want to lose you over this!"
Arthur took Molly in his arms and smiled. "It's a good thing I like kids!"
A/N – Seems like Molly is becoming the force of nature she is in the books! Just so you all know, I can no longer work on this story at work. Someone saw me and I got in trouble. Oops! I will not be updating this story on a regular basis for a bit. Fic wise, my priority is finishing my epic story "The Forgiveness Within," (check it out if you have a chance, hint, hint) I will continue this as soon as I have some spare time, which isn't often. Cheers!
"Molly, we need another copy as soon as you can," Sergeant Mora told her.
Molly nodded and waved her wand, and a minute later a copy of the Enforcer report appeared.
"Here you are, sir," Molly said cheerfully. After two months of constant searching, Molly had found the perfect job for herself. She was working as an office assistant for the Magical Law Enforcement department in the Ministry. She didn't particularly like the work, but she loved being in the middle of a busy office like this.
She was very content with life. She had a job she loved, lived in a town she loved and almost every night, was with the man she loved. Arthur, true to his word, did in fact find a job in muggle relations. Right now it was a temporary position, but could turn into a full-time job.
Molly allowed herself a brief glance out of the window. Above ground, there was snow on the ground, however, looking out the window, one would think that the building was in Cancun.
"Green smoke above the building? That's the second report I've heard this year," Sergeant Mora was talking to the Chief, "Must be some nutter."
Being curious, Molly tried to overhear the conversation. Another attack? Molly thought. Two months ago, a month after Molly had started working, a wizard had been found dead. Someone had used the unforgivable curse, Avada Kedarva, on him. That was bad enough, but there was a puff of green smoke that almost looked the shape of a skull floating above the wizard's house. Now it looked like the murderer had found another victim. The green smoke must be his calling card.
Hours later, Molly apparated to the small bed-sitter she lived in. She quickly lit a fire, in case Arthur wanted to call. She looked around the room with pleasure. It was quite small, but perfect for her. And so festive! She had it all decorated of Christmas, which was in a week.
Settling on her bed, Molly picked up the latest copy of Witch's Weekly. "Molly!" she heard Arthur cry from the fire. She looked at her fiancé, and smiled at his head, which was in the fire. "Can I come over?" he asked.
"Why do you even bother asking?" she teased, "It's not like I'm going to tell you no!"
He gave her a grin, and his head disappeared. Moments later, he was in the room. Molly got off of the bed and gave him a kiss. She looked at his face, "What's the matter?" she asked worriedly.
He sat down on her bed, "I've been sacked," he said.
"What?"
"Don't make me say it again, Molly. I've been let go. They decided that the job wasn't going to ever need to be full time. A week before Christmas, too."
Molly sat down next to him and took his hand. "We'll get through this, Arthur," she told him.
He buried his head in her shoulder, "I'm going to be just like my old man, a failure," he said softly.
"I won't have you talking about your father that way, Arthur. He's a good man, just unlucky. He is not a failure. Just like you're not a failure."
Arthur looked at her, "I know, I'm just upset."
"Of course you are; the timing couldn't be worse," Molly said, putting her arm around him. "Think of this way, the Ministry is shut down for the holidays next week. That gives us lots of time to be together."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Even with Arthur's unemployement, Christmas was still wonderful. Her entire family was together Christmas Eve dinner. Her mother magically expanded the dining room so that fifteen place settings could fit easily, along with the children's table. Molly loved spending the time with her nieces and nephews, now eight with two on the way.
Malcolm was teased endlessly that evening, being the last sibling not to have a significant other. Molly was thrilled that it wasn't her being the one teased for once. Even Arthur joined in the fun, and said that at nineteen, Malcolm was turning into an old maid.
"Well, now I can never get married, just to spite you all!" Malcolm said good naturedly.
"Ollie!" cried Betsy, her oldest niece.
Molly laughed, and went to pick up the girl. "Look at those curls! Maddox, are you sure she's one of ours? I could never get my hair to curl like that."
Marlene laughed, "She's becoming more like her father everyday, Molly."
Molly held her niece to her, "I have a test for you," she told her, "Can you name all of your cousins?"
Betsy shook her head, unwilling to even try. Molly walked around pointing them out to her. "Here's Marvin, Jr. and Gail, then Charles and Richard, Faith and Charity and of course your brother Edward. And we just don't know the names of the new babies-to-be yet."
A couple of her brothers started hollering, "Molly's under the mistletoe!" Molly looked up, embarrassed; she indeed had unknowingly walked underneath some.
Arthur cleared his throat, "That's my cue, I guess." Slowly he walked over to her and gave her a slow, lingering kiss that was only interrupted by Betsy making kissy noises. Molly had almost forgotten that her family was in the room.
A week later, Molly and Arthur went to a dance for New Year's Eve. Together, they watched the clock and toasted 1969. "May this be the best year ever!" they told each other.
No one knew then that 1969 would be a year that changed Britain forever.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Months later, the office was in a panic. Molly was speaking to someone through the fire. "Green smoke above your house?" she asked. "Oh, I'm sorry. Don't go in alone, please don't. I'm going to send someone out to be with you right away."
Molly was now a dispatcher for the Magical Law Enforcement team. She sighed, too many people these days spoke of the same thing. No one was safe any more.
Sergeant Mora sat on her desk. "Did you hear, Molly? We have a name for who's behind this."
Molly sat upright. "That's great! Now we know who to look for."
He shook his head, "He's calling himself Lord Voldemort. Apparently, he's been gathering some followers who are calling themselves Death Eaters. Death Eaters. What kind of a name is that?"
"Voldemort," Molly repeated. "So he's the one behind all this, eh? Wonder what he wants?"
"Probably just to cause mayhem," Mora said, "In any case, he's been officially classified as a dark wizard. The Aurors are going to be hunting him now."
"That's good," Molly said brightly, "He'll be caught in a week!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lord Voldemort was not caught in a week. Two months later, Molly and her mother were out to lunch, starting to plan some details for her wedding. They had decided to wed in May of 1970, which was only nine months away.
Molly's mother wanted a lavish wedding, with no expense spared. Molly and Arthur wanted nothing of that; just a simple ceremony with family and friends. Molly was finding it harder and harder to stand up to her mother.
Today, her mother was worried, and not about the wedding. "Mum, you'd tell me if anything was wrong, wouldn't you?"
Her mother sighed. "I'm worried about you father, Margaret. He was contacted by one of the Death Eater people. And he hasn't gone to the Aurors yet,"
Molly was shocked. "He wouldn't join them, would he?"
Her mother glared at her, "Of course he wouldn't. How could you think that?"
"I didn't think that, Mum," Molly said quickly, "I know Dad would never become a dark wizard. I just see so much of this at work. This month alone, three people have been killed. There's even talk that the Death Eaters are going after muggles."
Mrs. MacKenzie straightened up, a clear sign to Molly that the confidences were over. "Now dear, about you wedding dress..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Molly, someone's in the fire for you," an office assistant told her a month later.
"Take a message, please, I'm swamped," Molly pleaded.
"Molly, you better take this, it's your mum."
Molly looked up, startled. Her mother had never contacted her at work before. Something must be wrong. She ran over to the fire.
"Mum?" Molly asked worriedly.
"Margaret, I'm in a neighbor's house. There's a serpent above our house!" her mother said frantically.
Molly felt her insides turn cold. "Green smoke?" she whispered.
The head in the fire nodded. "Margaret, I can't go in there!"
"Stay where you are, Mum. I'll be right there!" and with that Molly stood up and apparated to the house she grew up in.
Her mother was running from her neighbor's house and hugged her. Molly looked up. It was the first time she had ever seen the Dark Mark in person. Anger was beginning to boil over in Molly.
Slowly, she unwrapped herself from her mother's grip. Taking her hand, she said, "Let's go inside."
Together they walked inside the house. The living room was wrecked. The couch was overturned, and pictures broken. Molly tried to take her mother's hand, but Mrs. MacKenzie brushed her away. Walking into the kitchen, Molly gasped. There was her father, lying on the floor. Someone must have done the killing curse; he looked like he was sleeping.
Mrs. MacKenzie sat down hard on a chair, and brought her hand to her mouth. "What am I going to do?" she moaned.
Molly quickly ran to the nearest fireplace and lit it. She spoke to her co-workers, who arranged a patrol to get to the house as soon as possible. Then she started the hard task of telling all of her brothers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An hour later, Molly was in her parent's living room with her six brothers and her mother. The Law Enforcement squad had already been by; they cleaned the place up a bit, and took her father's body. There weren't many arrangements to be made.
"I don't believe this," Maddox said.
"It seems unreal," Matthew added.
"How could someone do this?" Magnus asked.
"This isn't the first time," Molly said. "This is happening to families all over the country. No one is safe. I see it at work."
Maddox sat down next to Molly and held her hand. Touched by this, Molly let herself finally cry since seeing her father's body on the floor.
"Why Daddy?" she sobbed into Maddox' shoulder. Maddox sat there, stroking her hair.
Ten minutes later, the group decided to go back to their own families. Molly would stay with her mother for the night. After the funeral, her mother would stay with one of her brothers for a while.
An hour later, her mother was asleep, with a glass of dreamless sleep. Molly realized she hadn't told Arthur the news. Quickly, she apparated to his apartment. He wasn't there. She tried her apartment, he also wasn't there. She even flooed to his parents house to check, he wasn't there. Molly was starting to get hysterical. She had to see Arthur.
Molly wanted to stay in her parent's house, in case her mother needed her. However, every ten minutes, she apparated to her bed-sitter, seeing if Arthur was around. Two hours later, she saw his head in the fire. "Molly! I have good news. I'm coming over." Thirty seconds later, he was in there.
"Molly, I got the job! In the Ministry of Magic, the one I was telling you about," he stopped when he saw her face, "Molly what's wrong?"
"Arthur Weasley! Do you have any idea how worried I've been? Where have you been?" she yelled.
"I was in the Leaky Cauldron with Michael, having a drink," he said, eyes wide open.
"Don't you have any consideration for me? I had no idea where you were!" Molly knew it wasn't fair to take out her anger on Arthur.
Arthur looked afraid, "Molly, what's wrong?" he repeated.
"My father's dead," and with that, the tears started all over again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The funeral was beautiful, everyone agreed, except for Molly. The heat of the August sun seemed to mock Molly's pain. The sound of children laughing made Molly even more upset. She could barely look at her ten nieces and nephews, with two more on the way.
Molly held the urn that held her father's ashes. The group was slowly making its way to a small forest. There was a pond there, where Molly's father had asked her mother to marry him. That was where he wanted his ashes scattered. Molly had no idea her father was such a romantic.
Molly saw Marvin Jr., looking so sad that her heart started melting. "Where's grampy?" he asked over and over. No one could help him understand. She picked him up, his little legs, getting tired from walking. "Grampy's in the afterlife, sweetie. You'll see him again someday."
"Ghosty?"
"No Marvin, he's not a ghosty, he's moved on."
She watched her mother take the urn and slowly spread some of the ashes over the lake. Molly played with the sapphire engagement ring Arthur had given for Christmas. A completely selfish thought entered her head, who would give her away at her wedding? Tears silently fell down her cheeks. Within a moment, Arthur was there, slowly wiping them off her face. She grabbed his hand with her free one and quickly kissed it.
It was now Molly's turn to spread the ashes. She gently put Marvin Jr. down and took the remaining ashes. "Good-bye Daddy," she whispered, as the ashes sank slowly into the water.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After her father's murder, Molly became a bit paranoid. She would become hysterical if Arthur was five minutes later than he said he would be. Molly was incredibly grateful that Arthur was so understanding. He never was cross with her if she asked him endless questions about where he was and if he was safe.
One day, a month after the funeral, Molly and Arthur were talking about practical matters. It was decided that Molly would work until their first child was born. Hearing Arthur talk about having a small family, Molly knew it was time to tell him.
"Two children will be perfect, Molly," Arthur said, beaming.
"We're going to have more than two children, Arthur," Molly said in a low voice.
"Do you want more than two?" Arthur asked, "Three?"
"We're going to have seven," she said, not looking at him.
"Seven!" Arthur exclaimed, "Are you mad? Seven children?"
"Seven."
"Molly, I don't...I mean to say...I don't know if I want that many children," Arthur stuttered.
Molly looked at him miserably. "If you marry me, you won't have any choice!"
"What do you mean, if I marry you? Molly what are you saying?"
She took a deep breath. "Arthur, there is a curse in the women in my family. The women all have the same amount of children. Six boys, followed by one girl. Arthur, it's been like that for seven hundred years!"
"Seven children?"
Molly nodded. "I know this is a lot to deal with Arthur. No one knows how to break the curse. I'm so sorry!"
Arthur was silent. "Please say something," Molly begged.
"How will we be able to afford seven children?" he asked.
"We'll manage. Maybe the stupid curse won't come true. Arthur, I don't want to lose you over this!"
Arthur took Molly in his arms and smiled. "It's a good thing I like kids!"
A/N – Seems like Molly is becoming the force of nature she is in the books! Just so you all know, I can no longer work on this story at work. Someone saw me and I got in trouble. Oops! I will not be updating this story on a regular basis for a bit. Fic wise, my priority is finishing my epic story "The Forgiveness Within," (check it out if you have a chance, hint, hint) I will continue this as soon as I have some spare time, which isn't often. Cheers!