A/N: This is dedicated to my boyfriend's family at the moment, as they are going through a rough time and though I can't do anything for them personally, I can try and show them I care through fanfiction.

Kaat

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Mother and Son

It was about halfway through the summer that was between Ginny's sixth and seventh and Ginny was outside, under a tree studying when a shout came from the house.

"Gin, we need you inside."

She glanced up to see her father's face and would have almost smiled, had it not been for how her father looked. His eyes were wet from tears and his usual smile and twinkle in his eyes were gone. So she made her way across the garden in haste and when she got to her father, he enveloped her in his arms and held her tightly to him as a second fierce wave of tears gripped him. Ginny's head was squashed tightly against Arthur Weasley's left side of his chest. But that didn't stop her from being able to talk.

"Dad…what's wrong?"

He looked down at her then and Ginny practically felt her heart break as she wondered what had done such a thing to her father. But her father's reaction was nothing compared to her mother's.

--

Up in the attic of the Weasley house, Molly was sitting on a chair. She had been crying continuously since the message had come by owl a few hours ago. Arthur had tried to console her, but had given up after about half an hour when Molly had candidly pointed out to him that he needed to grieve too. He had left her then, to grieve in the only way that he knew how – with his children. But this blow had staggered Molly's happy demeanour and she couldn't face her children right now, with them now knowing the news that had ripped her apart so savagely.

It had been a long hard labour and Arthur's hand hurt a lot by this point and was thankful when the child finally came. She had been exhausted but had beamed like a little child when he was presented to her as her baby boy.

--

It had been his first day at Hogwarts when she cried over him for the first time.

"Be brave my little boy."

He had smiled at her and ran to give her a last hug, whispering in her ear,

"I'll be fine mum. You worry too much."

He had been the first of the Weasley children to tell her that and at such a young age. After that, she hadn't worried so much, knowing that at least one of her children had understood her. She picked up one of the photos that were scattered on the floor around her, trying to find some way that would ease the pain. One of her son's was gone…and by his own choosing. The letter had torn her inside out:

You shan't be seeing me anymore. I have chosen my werewolf brethren over my human ones.

The effects of the wounds from Fenrir had had a catastrophic effect on the boy. Not only did he have the torture of being transformed at every full moon, but also somehow, a bond had been forged between Fenrir and Bill Weasley. Bill had found himself drawn towards Fenrir more than words could ever explain. Bill, though being a Weasley and a strong person, had feared that eventually, if Bill didn't go to Fenrir, Fenrir would come to him and he couldn't put his family in that kind of danger. So he had made the decision to leave, choosing not to tell his family the true reasons why he had left, using that he wanted to be werewolf more than human. Fleur would be destroyed and it had taken a lot of time for Bill to think through whether it would be a wise choice to leave them all without a proper goodbye. But at least this way, none of them knew where he was and the risks of him hurting them now were now non-existent.

Still, none of the Weasleys knew this and as his mother cried for the loss of her son, Bill cried for the loss of everything he had ever held dear. He had given up everything to make sure Fenrir and the other werewolves didn't hurt them. He could have help from Remus, but he saw the state that the Marauder was in from fighting the curse and decided that living with it was better than living fighting it.

He hadn't realised that Fenrir would be crueller than ever before when Bill went to him, offering to join him.

--

It had been a day since they had had the news of Bill and the Weasley children were taking it extremely badly, as was to be expected. Hermione had come to comfort them all best she could, but she was still recovering from the loss of Dumbledore. Harry was at Grimmaulds Place, helping its members plan a final set of attacks on Voldemort before his moment would come – his time to kill another person for the very first time.

Molly stared up at the night sky, trying to seek some solace in its bright stars. So she would never hear the footsteps behind her until the person spoke.

"Mother."

Her blood froze at the sound and turned to face her oldest son. All the others were sleeping and she knew that Bill wasn't here to talk from the look in his eyes that had been so loving and kind. Now all they held in them was malice and lust for something that no mere human dared want.

"Bill…Please. Leave them be."

"They're coming for you all Mother. Trying to make me one of them completely." The words were spoken with such compassion that belied the expression in his eyes. Bill stared at his mother and despaired at the task he had been sent to perform.

"I was told to take you. Turn you. The perfect punishment for me."

"Bill."

"Without all of you alive, the only family I'll have left is them and that's what they want. Run." His voice broke as he heard the howls of his brethren clearly. He ran to his mother and held her in his arms for a moment, before he felt the curse take hold of him.

"Run!" He let her go then and stared at her as his mother for as long as his human mind could hold out against his other side. Even when his eyes closed, Molly did not flee. She wouldn't leave her son alone in the world. She knelt beside him on the grass and held him in her arms. A growl emerged from the half-man. A growl that suggested anger and desire for the kill. Terrified but never letting go of her son, she reached for the bell that they had gotten just after the end of sixth year, only to be used when the Weasleys were in danger. She pulled the bell cord and it rung soundly, initiating a two-pronged effect. Werewolves had sensitive hearing and the bell made Bill howl in distress, buying her family the few precious seconds that they needed to work their way down to the shelter that could be accessed through the floor of the kitchen.

But Molly still held a fear that someone would come to search for her, not blinded by panic or love for their family enough. She was correct in her fear when she heard a voice call her name,

"Mother! We have to get inside, everyone else is already there!" Molly Weasley looked up into the eyes of Ginerva Weasley and shook her head. Ginny didn't see Bill for the moment and gasped.

"But mother, the danger."

"I have to be here for my son when the werewolves come."

Ginny's eyes widened but nodded and came to sit by her mother, finally seeing Bill and despairing.

"Ginny, back inside the house, now!"

Her youngest shook her head firmly.

"I can't. I can't tell them I couldn't find you, knowing where you are now and I can't lie to them, knowing where you are."

"But if you don't go back, they'll send someone else after you and then what I wanted to prevent from happening will happen. I don't want to lose more than one child tonight."

"I don't want to lose my mother." Ginny's firm voice nearly broke Molly's resolve and she was tempted to leave Bill to his fate and make sure she could protect her other children, but at the last moment, she couldn't do it.

"Ginny…Please. It's my last wish that you are all well and alive after tonight. I want to know that."

Ginny's eyes were brimming now and she hugged her mother tightly before running away, stopping her own resolve making her stay any longer. She didn't know what she would tell the rest of them, but she'd think of something.

Molly smiled sadly at her daughter's disappearing figure and turned back to Bill, who had now fully changed and was looking at her savagely, like she was a piece of meat in a butcher's window.

"Oh Bill." She whispered as the werewolf pounced towards her and she crouched on instinct and that movement saved her life that day. Bill collided with Fenrir Greyback and they both flew backwards onto the front porch of the house, taking out the porch supports. Molly Weasley's eyes flew open at the collision and turned to see the fight before her eyes. Aghast, a sudden thought struck her.

Bill wasn't jumping at me. He was jumping at Fenrir, who was trying to kill me.

Molly watched the fight in distress, praying that Merlin would save her son from the death that almost inevitably awaited him from a scrap with Greyback. She closed her eyes when a howl came from the tussle, a howl that sounded horribly like Bill's shout of pain. Then a hard thud as a body fell to the ground, dead.

"Bill?" No answer and she cried as footsteps came towards her, unheeded by her ears.

"Mother?"

Her eyes snapped open in surprise, which quickly turned to horror as she took in the sight in front of her. Bill was alive but only just. His arm had been horribly shredded by Greyback's claws and the cuts, scratches and bites that were all over his body were not just superficial, that was evident enough from Bill's obvious pain to stand. Even though he was a werewolf in appearance, Molly could see all Bill's facial traits and pained to see her son suffer. She wished she could say goodbye to her son, the one she had known before all this before he passed away, which from all his wounds, he was sure to do.

That moment, it was as Merlin himself had granted Molly's wish, as the moonlight was blotted out by a bunch of thick clouds and Bill's werewolf form deteriorated back into his human one, the fur falling off him, landing on the soft grass around him. His eyes blinked when he was nearly human and they went from their wolfish pale yellow colour to Bill's natural blue colour and Molly ran towards him, eyes filled with tears and enveloped him in her arms as he fell to the ground in exhaustion.

"Mother…I'm so sorry."

But Molly hushed him and just held him close as the remaining Weasleys came out of the house and saw Bill's state.

"Oh Bill, what happened?" Ron exclaimed and tried to take a step closer to Bill and his mother but a firm hand on his shoulder from his father stopped him.

"No Ron. This is Molly's last moments with Bill. I fear she has seen horrors tonight that we can only hope we never see." Molly then looked up then and saw her whole family there, with the werewolves still coming. Her eyes widened in fear and she screamed at them,

"Run! Werewolves are coming! Greyback's group!"

Arthur's eyes widened in horror and as he hurried the remaining children into the house, two werewolves blocked their path.

Ron drew his wand bravely and aimed it at one of the werewolves. His mind raced, trying to think of a spell powerful enough to frighten away the werewolves, but small enough so that he might not mess it up and be the cause for them all to die.

However, the choice was made for him. A loud shout, accompanied by a bright flash of light surged towards one of the werewolves and the targeted yelped in terror as his fur caught fire. Ron, wand lowered, spun to face the kind face of Remus Lupin, though it was slightly marred with regret at what he had just done to one of his own, as much as he rejected them. From the darkness behind him, Nymphadora Tonks and Alastor "Mad-eye" Moody came forward, their wands raised and pointed at the remaining werewolf blocking the Weasley's path, the other had fled for his life.

"Incendio!" Tonks shouted and fired a rather weak version of the spell at the remaining werewolf, just enough to scare him away.

"There's two more. In the house somewhere." Bill's weak voice stated through gritted teeth. The two Aurors moved into the house, whilst Remus remained with the Weasleys, to defend them in an emergency. Arthur turned to the werewolf and smiled.

"I'm sure you only have our best interests at heart, but we could have taken this by ourselves."

"I don't think so Arthur. Molly is in no state to use magic and the children don't really know with how much force to say the spells so that they don't kill. You should go to Molly now. She needs you." Arthur opened his mouth to protest but in his heart, he knew that Remus was right and went over to Molly and Bill and knelt down beside them.

"Dad…hi."

Arthur's features tightened as his heart was seized by a great fear and upset. He was about to lose his eldest son and he didn't know how to handle it.

"We have to save him Molly. Have to." He said half to himself but his wife shook her head in reply.

"No Arthur. We have to let him go. He has suffered enough at our expense. It would be cruel to keep him here any longer." She then looked at Bill and they both knew from each other's eyes that this was for the best, but it was taking them both great strength to do it.

"Thank you mother. I will miss you all."

"No matter where you go, or what form you take Bill, know this. You are always my son and I will always love you."

Bill smiled at that and nodded. He then turned to his siblings, the male participants trying their hardest not to cry at Bill's sorry state and now inevitable death, but Ginny was crying openly and he met her eyes and she froze for a moment.

"Bill…"

He smiled and nodded.

"It's ok Gin. I need to go. But I need you to take care of them all for me, especially Ron and Percy. They don't seem to know what's good for them."

Ginny, despite herself, found laughter escaping her throat and nodded.

"Will do Bill."

He then turned to the boys, who, after that exchange, were all on the brink of tears.

"Always support mum and dad and don't let her down."

Molly then felt his grip on her arms slacken and gripped him all the more tightly.

"Bill!" Her voice was filled with alarm and the tears fell harder from her eyes now and despite his obvious despair, he smiled at his mother and as he slipped away, said the words that she would cherish forever,

"We are Mother and Son, and because of that, our bond will last the struggle against eternity and life. I love you, Mum." His eyes closed and Molly Weasley gripped him tightly, as the life swept out of him and she cried for she had lost her eldest and because of the coming war, how many more would she have to grieve for in the future?

Fin