Chapter Ten – The Burrow, Child Four and Five

"Which one's Fred and which one's George?" Bill asked.

Fred and George Weasley had just been born four hours ago. Molly was exhausted. Silently she hoped that child six and seven wouldn't be born at the same time. Molly propped herself up on her elbow.

"We actually haven't decided yet, Bill. Let's do that now, all together," Molly said.

Molly was holding one baby in her arms. Arthur sat next to her and held the other one. Percy, who had turned two only three days ago, was lying on the bed, sleeping. Molly smiled; it was past his bedtime. Charlie and Bill were sitting on the floor looking up.

Out of all of the labors she had been in, this was actually the easiest. Molly's water broke right after lunch. The boys were born at five hours later. She was still tired, though.

"Who are they named after?" Charlie asked. The boys all knew about the person they were named after.

"Fred is named after Grandpa Weasley," Molly said. Grandpa Weasley was Arthur's father. "And George is named after my father, who passed before you were both born."

Charlie nodded, satisfied with the explanation.

Molly and Arthur laid the twins down onto the bed. Percy yawned and rolled over onto his stomach. "These two are identical twins. That means they look exactly alike. We need to see if there's anything different about them."

She closed her eyes briefly, hardly believing she was now the mother of five sons. "There, Mummy!" she heard Charlie cry.

Charlie was pointing at one of the babies' right eye. He had a very small flesh colored mole underneath his eye. Quickly she looked at the other baby, he did not have a mole. "Good job, Charlie!" She picked up the baby with the mole. "Now which one should this be?"

"Fred!" Bill cried, at the same time Charlie yelled, "George!"

"Hmm...baby, who are you?" she asked her tiny son.

"Glurg," the baby blubbered.

Molly laughed, "It looks like you're George!"

Arthur picked up the other baby, "And you're Fred!"

"And it's time for Bill and Charlie to go to bed!" Molly chimed, wanting to go to sleep herself.

Bill laughed, "That rhymed!"

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"Bill! It's time for your lesson!" Molly cried.

"Mum, can I stay out a little longer? Please?" Bill begged.

"No, I already let you stay out longer than usual," Molly scolded. "Charlie, it's your turn to watch your brothers!"

Bill and Charlie walked into the house in bad grace. Molly couldn't really blame them. It was a beautiful October morning. Percy was sitting quietly in a corner, playing with some blocks. He didn't seem to want to play outside like Bill and Charlie. Fred and George, now six months old, were sleeping in their playpen.

Bill sat down at the kitchen table. "What's the subject today?" he asked.

"Grammar," Molly said. "Just think Bill, in three years you'll be going to Hogwarts."

Bill smiled. The children had been told all about Hogwarts. She knew she shouldn't get her hopes up, but she hoped her children would be placed in Gryffindor. There were many factors though. Seven of her nieces and nephews had started Hogwarts. They had been sorted into all of the different houses. Everyone had been surprised when Matthew's daughter, Faith had been sorted into Slytherin. Molly had been worried, since many of the Death Eaters had come from that house. She didn't think she could bare it if one of her sons was a Slytherin.

"Mum!" Charlie cried, "Fred and George just switched places!"

"What Charlie?" Molly asked, taking out the workbooks Bill would be using. She looked at the supply of ink. There was not much left. She would need to take a trip to Diagon Alley soon.

"They just switched places!" Charlie yelled again.

Molly sighed and got up to look at her sons. To make everyone's life easier, Molly had placed signs over the playpen. The left side said "Fred," the right, "George." Then Molly made sure the right baby was put in the right place.

Molly stood over the twins. Sure enough, the baby with the mole was lying under the Fred sign. Shaking her head, she moved the twins to the correct place. "Silly babies," she said under her breath.

Molly walked back to Bill to start the lesson. Ten minutes later, Charlie cried, "Mum! They did it again!"

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It was almost Christmas. Molly had dropped off her sons with her mother for the day. She was going to spend a glorious day in Diagon Alley and do her Christmas shopping. Then she would meet Aelecia and Emma in the Leaky Cauldron for dinner. Molly was almost as giddy as a schoolgirl; she hadn't had a day to herself in ages.

Her first stop was Gringotts. Her stomach tightened as she walked through the door. She hated worrying about money. She was quickly taken to her small vault. She looked inside and her shoulders drooped. She was half hoping that there would be more. Grabbing what was left, she walked out of the bank, determined to do the best she could with the money.

She had made sweaters, which Bill and Charlie referred to as "Weasley sweaters," for the entire family. The important gifts were finding Fred and George's Christmas ornaments.

Before she went to look for the ornaments, she went to the candy shop to buy some Christmas candy for the boys. She then worked her way over to the junk shop, to try to find a muggle object for Arthur. After searching the bins for almost an hour, she found a brightly colored object. It was about the same length as a wand, but much thicker. On one end, there was some clear plastic. The man at the counter called it a flashlight. It ran on batteries. Arthur would love it.

She went to the Christmas shop that had been set up. These two were very hard to shop for. So far, Molly had succumbed to the identical twin cliché. She dressed them alike all the time. She didn't want to buy two of the same ornaments though.

Browsing through the aisles, she found one ornament for Fred. It was a simple silver wizards cap. Now she needed something for George. She took her time, and finally found a silver broomstick. Perfect. Now she just had to get them engraved.

She brought them up to the cash wrap. After waiting in line for ten minutes, the witch at the register rang them up. She said the total, and Molly's jaw dropped.

Molly didn't have enough money.

Thinking quickly, she asked the witch, "Could you hold them for me? I want to look at something else."

The witch looked bored, "We only hold things for two hours."

"That's fine. Thank you!" Molly walked out of the shop quickly. She knew her cheeks were bright red, she could feel the blush. What was she going to do? She couldn't not buy the ornaments, that wasn't an option.

Walking down the street, she saw a sign in a window. Before she could change her mind, she walked purposely into the store.

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"Molly, your hair looks wonderful," Marlene exclaimed, when Molly stopped by to pick up the boys.

"Thanks," Molly blushed. Molly had gone into a hair salon that was offering a wig service. Molly's hair had fallen halfway down her back before she walked into the salon. Now it was in a short bob, shorter than her chin.

The wig maker was thrilled with Molly's unusual colored hair. He asked several times if Molly really wanted to cut her hair. She hadn't worn her hair down in years; the boys would always pull on it if it was down. This was the best thing to do. She walked out of the salon with plenty of money for Christmas.

She never told Arthur.

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"Fred! George! Get back here!" Molly screamed. The twins were fourteen months old. They had learned to walk very easily. Now they liked to sneak out of the house when Molly had her back turned.

The twins walked faster, which in truth was not very fast. One of them fell down and started crying. The other twin started crying right along with him, even though he was still standing up.

Molly scooped them up in her arms. "Honestly, you two. Why can't you be more like Percy? He never gives me any trouble."

She swore that Fred understood her. He was shaking his head in a vigorous, "no." She looked into the distance. Bill and Charlie were flying in the nearby field. She hated to admit it, but Charlie a much better flyer than Bill. But then, Bill was more studious than his brother.

She brought the twins back into the house and bewitched the stairs so they could not go upstairs. Molly would never forget the heart attack she almost had when she watched Fred push George down two steps. Then to her horror, George simply giggled, stood up and pulled Fred down the stairs.

Percy was sitting at the kitchen table. Even though he was only three, he told Molly that he wanted to start lessons. He couldn't read yet, but Molly gave him pictures to color and told him that was his homework.

"Homework done, Mum!" Percy said proudly.

Fred and George went to the living room and started watching each other jump up and down. Really, those two had more energy than all her other sons combined. Percy handed her the sheet of paper.

"Hmm..." Molly said, studying the paper, as Percy watched her face. "Very good, Percy. You get a gold star!"

Percy smiled and started on another coloring book. She sat down at the table with her son and decided to color with him. Percy was such a good child. He preferred sitting down and looking at books rather than going outside and playing. Bill and Charlie at that age couldn't be outside enough. Still couldn't be outside enough. Suddenly, she heard Arthur apparate into the house.

"Molly!" Arthur cried, "Oh Molly, you'll never believe it!" Arthur picked her up and spun her around once.

Molly started laughing, "What, Arthur?"

He sat down. "I've been promoted."

Molly stopped in her tracks. "You haven't," she said,

"I have! The Ministry is making a new office in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. It's called the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts. Molly, it's perfect, and I'm to be the head!"

"Oh Arthur, that's wonderful!" Molly cried. She ran over to her husband and put her arms around her. "I'm so proud of you."

Arthur pulled Molly down, so that she was sitting on his lap. "It does come with a bit of a raise," he said softly.

Molly waved her hand, "That doesn't matter. What matters is that you're finally moving up! And in a department that you will really care about."

Arthur kissed her suddenly. Molly was almost taken aback. Their lives were so busy that they hadn't really kissed in quite a while. Normally it was just a quick peck. Molly let herself relax and enjoy the kiss until she felt someone pulling on her apron. Molly looked down and saw Fred and George giggling.

"Oh, you two!" Molly laughed, getting up. "We'll finish this tonight," she whispered in Arthur's ear.

She missed the signs at first. But eight weeks later, she knew she was pregnant.

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"Mum, why can't I have a wand?" Bill asked.

"Here, hold mine for a moment," Molly offered.

"I want a wand. How am I ever going to learn if I don't have a wand?" he asked, as he took Molly's wand.

"You know you can't have your own until you go to Hogwarts, Bill. That's only in two years," Molly said. She watched as he gave the wand a flick. Smoke came out of the tip. Molly quickly took her wand back.

"Can I have a wand?" Charlie asked.

"No, mister," Molly said.

"Me!" Percy cried.

"No more talking about wands," Molly said, in the tone the boys knew meant business.

Just then, she heard a small explosion in the kitchen. "The twins!" she cried. She ran to the kitchen and saw that Fred and George were sitting on the floor. Both of the boys' hair were standing straight up and their faces were smudged. Fred was holding a toy wand, which was smoking.

Molly groaned. Toy wands weren't supposed to cast any spells. She decided to look at the bright side; at least she knew the twins weren't squibs.

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Molly was now seven months pregnant. She was waiting in Aelecia's office for her appointment. She would be alone at this appointment. Arthur was writing a very important piece of legislation called the "Muggle Protection Act." She joked that as long as he was there for the actual birth, he could miss one appointment. She was reading a copy of Witch Weekly when another women walked into the office.

The woman looked young, maybe only twenty years old. She had dark red hair that fell almost to her waist. For some reason, she reminded Molly of herself at that age.

The woman sat down uneasily. "Hello," Molly said to her.

The woman nodded. "Are you going to have a baby?" Molly asked.

"Yes."

It was obvious the woman didn't want to talk. Molly went back to her magazine. After three minutes, Molly heard, "Is this your first?"

Molly put down the magazine and smiled. "No," she laughed. "Believe it or not, it's my sixth."

The woman's eyes went wide. "Your sixth?"

"I'm Molly Weasley," she said.

"Lily Potter," the woman said. She had beautiful green eyes.

"How far are you along?" Molly asked.

"Just three months. I can't believe I'm going to have a baby," she said.

"Is this not a good thing?" Molly asked quietly.

"I didn't want to bring a child into the world right now. Not when we're at war," Lily said sadly. "But what's done is done. I'm going to fight so that he lives in a better world," she said determinedly.

"You live in London, I take it," Molly said.

"How do you know?" Lily asked.

"I live out in Devon, I'm not experiencing the war like Londoners. That's one of the reasons I moved out there," Molly told her.

"You didn't want to fight?" Lily asked.

Molly shook her head. "I want to raise my family in peace. If this goes on long enough, who knows, maybe I will fight someday. I would, if my family was in danger."

"I'd like to live in peace, too," Lily said.

"Don't fight too much," Molly warned, "You have another life to think about now."

Lily nodded. The confidences were over. A witch called Molly's name, and she slowly waddled in for her appointment. She never saw Lily Potter again. A year and a half later, Molly cried when she heard the news of Lily's death.

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Ronald Weasley took his time entering the world. He was eleven days late.