This was also written for the The Last Ship Standing Competition on the HPFC, where my ship is Molly/Arthur. I had to use at least three out of the following prompts:

ACTION: a character must hug someone/something

EMOTION: crushed

QUOTE:"life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" - John Lennon (Beautiful Boy)

SONG:Cha-Ching (Till We Grow Older) by Imagine Dragons

WORD: sociopath

DIALOGUE: "Stop it, please!"

I used the emotion (not literally, but described), the action, the quote, the song (partially) and the dialogue.


Molly clutched the letter tightly. She was shocked and angry and scared, all at once. It felt like a thousand pounds pressing down on her shoulders. She could still not quite wrap her mind around it. All this time, one question kept bugging her: Why?

Arthur found her pacing up and down the living room. "What's with you? I've never seen this side of you?"

"What's wrong? This is what's wrong!" She waved the letter in Arthur's face. She sounded upset rather than angry, so Arthur took gently took the letter from her.

"Is it okay if I read it?"

Molly nodded. "Sure." She shrugged in a fake attempt of disinterest and resumed the pacing.

Arthur began reading the letter and turned a bit pale. Once he had finished reading, he lowered the letter. "Molly…"

"It was bound to happen some day, wasn't it? Knowing my brothers. I just hadn't expected it to happen so quickly…"

Arthur bit his lip. Only a month ago, Molly's favourite aunt had died. For over a year

now, mysterious deaths occurred all over Britain, and Elisabeth had been one of those deaths. She had opposed the upcoming Dark Lord perhaps just a little too avowedly to go unnoticed.

"I know," he spoke softly. "But like you said, when did something like that ever stop Fabian and Gideon?"

"Never, I suppose."

They were both silent.

"I just thought that, given aunt Elisabeth's death, they would not join the resistance so…openly. I would have thought they'd be more careful."

Arthur laughed. "Honey, this is your brothers were talking about. Careful is not a word that's found in their dictionary."

Molly laughed as well, albeit a bit shaky. "You're right of course."

"But I understand that you're worried. Come here, love." Arthur opened his arms and wrapped them around Molly, enveloping her in a tight hug.

Molly sighed and hugged him back.

"I hate this. Do you think there really is going to be a war?

"I honestly don't know. I hope not."

"Arthur?"

"Yes?"

"I want to fight too."

Now it was Arthur's turn to remain silent. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" he asked eventually. "What about our... plans?"

A couple of weeks ago, they had decided that they liked to have kids.

"Is it smart to have a baby when we're both fighting in a war and don't have the faintest idea how long it's going to last?"

"I don't know if it's smart, but I can't sit around doing nothing. Well, I guess that's life, isn't it? It's what happens while you're busy making other plans and then it just sneaks up on you," she replied wryly. "I do wish for us to have a baby, but I can't justifie it to our future son or daughter that we failed to take responsiblity because of that desire. What message will that give them? That it's okay to forsake your responsibilities in favour of your own gain? That's not a messge I want to pass on to our children."

She shook her head.

"And besides, who knows how long it'll take before I get pregnant. It might just take a year and then all that time we would do nothing. I couldn't live with that."

"I don't think I could live with that either," Arthur replied. "It's not the most pleasant of decisions to make, but I think you're right. I don't want our son or daughter to think us cowards for not stepping up when we could."

They kissed each other.

"So we're both okay with this then?" Arthur asked softly. "We are going to fight?"

"Yes, we're going to fight."

"And we'll be damn good at it too," Arthur added. "We wouldn't want our future child to grow up without his parents, right?"

Molly let out a shaky laugh.

"Oh, stop it you."

"I mean it. Our son'd better be proud at us later on."

"How are you so sure we'll have a boy?"

"Honey, I'm a Weasley. There hasn't been a daughter born to a Weasley in centuries."

"Well, change has to happen sometimes," Molly replied.

"Alright, we'll make sure our children are proud of us, boy or girl. Though most likely boys," he grinned and Molly gave him a slight punch.

"I'll write Fabian and Gideon and tell them that we're joining too."

"They probably won't agree with you fighting, you know."

"Then that's their problem. I'm fighting, period."

"And I'll fight beside you."

They did not know what the future had in store for them, but they'd make the best of it. There was no room for fear, they just knew this was the right thing to do. They owed it to themself and to their children-to-be to stand up for what they believed in.