Mid-morning one day, Andromeda was surprised by the sound of her mother-in-law calling her urgently. Quickly sound-warding the nursery, so the twins would stay asleep, she took her nearly three-year-old son into her arms and hurried to find the witch.
Cedrella was standing at the doorway of her room, her face pale. "Mum?" Andromeda asked in concern.
"It's—Septimus," Cedrella breathed, her eyes full of tears. "He's very ill. Give me Will, and go get Arthur from the Ministry."
"Oh," Andromeda said, shocked. "Will, stay with Gran. Mum's got to go get Dad, okay?" She set the boy down next to Cedrella, and Will nodded seriously. "What about the other boys?" Andromeda asked, summoning her cloak.
"Have him contact them," Cedrella whispered. "Hurry up, girl."
Andromeda turned and rushed to leave the house, disapparating to the Ministry. She'd never specifically been to Arthur's office, but she knew where to find it, and made her way to the lifts. She received some very curious looks, and she knew for a fact that several people had confused her with Bellatrix.
Andromeda reached the correct floor and walked down the hall, catching the attention of a few Aurors near the Entrance of their office. "Ooh," one of them said. "Andromeda, isn't it? Five years as a Weasley doesn't seem to have changed you much."
"Blacks are very difficult to change," Andromeda replied coolly, continuing down the hall. She entered the room and one of the men looked up.
"You're Arthur's wife, aren't you?" the man said, looking impressed. "Wow."
"Don't mind him," the other man said, rolling his eyes at his co-worker. "Here to see your husband, I assume?"
"Why else would I be here?" Andromeda raised an eyebrow at the men.
"I'll get him," said the first man, and disappeared into the back room.
Minutes later, Arthur walked out to meet her, confused but smiling. "Andromeda, what's going on?" he asked her.
"Something's happened to your father," Andromeda said quietly. "I came to bring you home for the day."
Arthur stared at her. "Something's wrong with Dad?" he repeated.
"Get your case," Andromeda said gently, "and tell your boss it's a family emergency. We need to go."
He obeyed her, seemingly in a daze. They made their way to the lift and he asked, "So is he sick? Or…?"
"Your mother was upset," she said, taking his hand. "She didn't say what was going on."
Arthur bowed his head. "Do my brothers know?"
"No," Andromeda answered. "She was hoping you would contact them."
Arthur disentangled his hand from her and drew his wand, casting a spell. Andromeda watched in amazement as she recognised the Patronus Charm and heard Arthur give it a message for his brothers.
When they reached the main floor, the lift doors opened and the Patronus bounded right through the man standing in front of the gates. Twenty-one-year-old Lucius Malfoy frowned cautiously, as if expecting to be under some kind of curse, but Andromeda took her husband by the arm, the two hurrying by on their way to the apparition points.
Andromeda kept a hold of his arm. "I've got it," she said, and apparated them home.
Arthur pulled away from her as soon as they arrived, and she said, "They're in their room. Just set the case outside the room for now."
"Come with me," he said quietly, and she nodded. "Mother?" Arthur asked, knocking softly on his parents' door.
The door swung open, and the two entered the room to see Cedrella sitting by her husband, Will in her arms. Andromeda marveled at how calm and content the child was, and moved to the side of the bed with her husband. "Dad?" Arthur whispered, seeing his mother begin to cry again.
Septimus said nothing, merely squeezing his son's hand when Arthur reached out to him. The weakened man didn't want to talk, and his wife and son stayed at his side as Andromeda inevitably had to take Will out of the room.
Arthur's brothers showed up to see their father, but Andromeda hid herself away, worried about her husband and what would happen once the Weasley patriarch died.
The man lingered for three days before dying with most of his family around him. Cedrella was sobbing as her youngest son held her tightly, tears running down his own face. Bilius seemed calm, and Arthur simply stood there at his father's bedside, seemingly in denial.
Andromeda hushed Will when the child wanted to know what was going on, and that's when Arthur turned and left the room quickly. She followed him to their room, finding him sitting on their bed.
"Arthur," she murmured, but there was nothing to say, so she sat down and wrapped her arm around him.
"Dad?" the nearly three-year-old said timidly, never having seen his father cry before. "Are you hurt?"
"No," Arthur sniffed. "No, Will—I'm sad." And he closed his eyes, taking his son into his arms and holding him close. "My dad's—gone."
Arthur struggled to stay relatively calm in front of the child.
"I sorry," Will said, hugging his father.
"Me too," Arthur sniffed.
Andromeda was glad that he managed to stay calm until Will was in bed for the evening. She curled up next to her husband in their bed and held him close as he cried in his grief and loss. She said nothing, simply being there for him and letting him know she cared. After a few minutes, he buried his face in her shoulder and clung to her as she stroked his back gently.
She fell asleep holding him and in the morning, woke to an empty bed. She sat up quickly and hurried to shower and dress for the day, realising that her husband must have removed the Waking Charms she had placed to warn her about the children waking up.
Flicking her wand to tighten her corset, she hurried to the mirror to style her hair before hurrying from her room toward the twins' room. She entered the room quietly, finding the three children curled up with their father as he read them a story.
"Mum!" the kids cheered, and Dora clapped her hands happily.
"Hi, beautiful," Andromeda said, taking up the child and sitting down next to her husband. Dora's hair was black this morning, and far too long for a normal child of twenty months. Andromeda gently combed the child's hair with her fingers, then braided it into two braids to keep Dora's hair out of the way.
Dora was fascinated by the story for only a little longer until she wriggled down from her mother's lap to play on the floor. Charlie followed his twin, and Andromeda moved to sit on the floor as well.
She gasped when Charlie immediately jumped on her with a shout of laughter and Dora followed suit. Arthur glanced up to make sure they were all right, then continued reading to Will. The twins were highly amused as they play-wrestled their mother, both of them laughing.
It was after breakfast that Cedrella told them she needed all three of her sons to meet her in the study so they could go over their father's will. They all nodded somberly, but Andromeda excused herself to remain with the children. She was concerned to see the expression on his face when she returned, and set the toys on her lap back onto the floor, getting to her feet.
"What's wrong, Arthur?" she asked, approaching him.
"Everything was given to my older brother," Arthur said very quietly. "The property, the house, the elves—everything. We're going to have to move."
"What?!" Andromeda gasped. "Everything?"
"Cole and I were each given a sum of money and a few things," Arthur said with a sigh. "I'm grateful for that—but seriously, what the hell was my father thinking? I wouldn't mind if it were just me, but I have a family—my brothers have barely started theirs!"
Andromeda nodded, recalling the birth announcement of their first nephew, Cole's son, a couple months before. Dora tilted her head, looking at them. "What the hell," she mimicked clearly, her brothers echoing her.
"No," Andromeda said sharply to the three. "Those are adult words for Mum and Dad. Will, hush."
The twins were giggling, but Arthur ignored them. "We're going to have to move," he told his wife again. "And it's not going to be a really nice house."
"Arthur," she said, placing her hand on his arm, but to her shock, he pulled away sharply, just looking at her. He was very upset by this news, she realised, as she knew he took providing for his family very seriously.
"We're going to do what we have to," she said firmly, but quietly. "If we live a much more simple life for a while, we might be able to recover from this later."
"You won't like it," Arthur said darkly.
"It doesn't matter what I like," Andromeda said to him as Dora grabbed at her leg, begging her to come back and play. "No, Dora, play with your brothers."
"Mum!" Dora cried, and her mother sighed, picking her up.
Andromeda turned to her husband again as Dora giggled and began to play with her mother's hair. "As long as we are fed and clothed and sheltered, we'll be okay."
Arthur didn't move. "And if that's all we can do?"
"We'll have each other," Andromeda said softly, wincing at Dora singing nonsense in her ear while pulling her hair.
Arthur stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her, surprising Dora. After a few seconds, Dora joined in the hug, making her parents smile. "It'll be difficult," he said. "I think Mum's going to come with us: she doesn't want to be here anymore."
"All right," Andromeda replied.
"I don't think you understand," Arthur sighed. "We won't have house elves, and that means we have to do the cooking and cleaning. And all the washing."
"I'm sure we'll be all right," Andromeda said firmly. "Cleaning is easy, and I'm sure I can learn the other things."
"That's a big responsibility," Arthur told her, and she huffed in annoyance.
"Yet it's normal for non-pureblood women," she retorted. "If they can do it, so can I."
Arthur kissed her forehead apologetically. "I just want you to be prepared. I'll let you know when I have more information."
Andromeda watched him leave the room and returned to playing with the children. She was about to become a real housewife.
The following month, Arthur took Andromeda to see the house he was thinking of, and she was glad to see that it was in a fairly quiet, safe area. She was shocked, however, that it had no defined grounds, though there was a small orchard in the back. It truly was a tiny house.
Upon entering the place, she saw the living room and kitchen and dining room all very close, while a set of rickety steps led upstairs. There was a small bathroom downstairs, and as they walked up the steps, Arthur said, "I know it's tiny, Dromeda, but I was thinking we can expand it later if we need to."
Andromeda nodded, looking around the second floor to see what was there. Three small bedrooms and one bathroom were all she found, besides a small hallway closet. They continued to the third floor.
"Our room?" she asked, seeing the large room and bath.
"Yes," he answered.
"How am I going to get up and down to our room if I get pregnant again?" Andromeda asked him, raising an eyebrow.
"Wingardium Leviosa," said Arthur solemnly, and she laughed as he wrapped his arms around her from behind, kissing her neck. "Could you be happy here?"
"It seems cozy," she agreed, feeling him pull her closer.
"It's ours, if you like it," he said. "Just needs approval."
"I like it," she said. "So you think we'll just add on to it if we have more children?"
"How many children do you want?" he asked her thoughtfully.
"I—I don't know," Andromeda said nervously, "but the twins have to be at least two before I get pregnant again, and I would appreciate it if I could have one child at a time, though."
He nodded ruefully. "Sorry, I can't control that, but you are aware that we'll be able to have children until you can no longer conceive?"
"Oh." She bit her lip. "Well, how many do you want?"
"I...don't know," he sighed as they left the room and began to walk down the stairs. "Honestly, Dromeda, you're still hardly more than a child, even though you're very mature."
"But we already have children," Andromeda sighed. "We'll just have to see what happens. I would love to have another little girl."
"That might be more difficult than you think," he warned her. "Dora is a miracle baby."
"In more ways than one," Andromeda sighed as the man slipped his arm around her waist. "One at a time, Arthur."
He kissed her cheek, then disapparated back to his childhood home.